Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Auditory-Perceptual Speech Outcomes and Quality of Life after Total Laryngectomy

Objective (1) To determine potential relationships between speech intelligibility, acceptability, and self-reported quality of life (QOL) after total laryngectomy and (2) to determine whether relationships are stronger when QOL is measured by a head and neck cancer–specific or discipline-specific QOL scale. Study Design Cross-sectional. Setting University-based laboratory and speech clinic. Subjects and Methods Twenty-five laryngectomized individuals completed disease-specific (University of Washington Quality of Life; UW-QOL) and discipline-specific (Voice Handicap Index–10; VHI-10) QOL scales. They also provided audio recordings that included the Sentence Intelligibility Test (SIT) and a reading passage. Thirty-three listeners transcribed the SIT sentences to yield intelligibility scores. Fifteen additional listeners judged speech acceptability of the reading passage using rating scales. Results The QOL scores were moderate across the UW-QOL physical (mean = 77.63) and social-emotional (mean = 78.02) subscales and the VHI-10 (mean = 17.91). Speech acceptability and intelligibility varied across the samples, with acceptability only moderately related to intelligibility (r = 0.41, P < .05). Relationships were weak between ratings of intelligibility and self-reported QOL (range, r = 0.00-0.22) and weak to moderate between acceptability with QOL (range, r = 0.01-0.46). The only statistically significant, but moderate, relationship was found between speech acceptability with the UW-QOL speech subscore (r = 0.46, P < .05). Conclusion Listeners’ ratings of speech acceptability and intelligibility were not strongly predictive of disease-specific or voice-related QOL, suggesting that listener-rated and patient-reported outcomes are complementary.
Fungal Keratitis in London: Microbiological and Clinical Evaluation

Purpose: To review cases of culture-positive fungal keratitis seen at Moorfields Eye Hospital over a 13-year period to January 2007. Methods: Isolates were identified retrospectively from laboratory reports. The clinical records were reviewed. The fungal type, risk factors for infection, in vitro sensitivity, and clinical outcome were recorded. Results: There were 66 isolates from 65 patients (men, 53.8%). Forty (60.6%) of the isolates were subspecies of Candida. The average interval from the onset of keratitis to confirmation of fungal infection was 3.4 weeks (median, 1.0 week; range, 0-16 weeks). Prior ocular surface disease (OSD) or a penetrating keratoplasty (PK) was present in 38 (97.4%) patients with Candida infection, and 29 (74.4%) patients with Candida infection were using topical steroid at the time of diagnosis. The principal risk factors for filamentary fungal infection were trauma (8 cases, 30.8%) or cosmetic contact lens wear (8 cases, 30.8%), with OSD or a prior PK each present in 5 (19.2%) cases. The difference in the proportions of risk factors between the 2 fungal groups was statistically significant (P < 0.000). The visual outcome was similar between groups, and at final review, 27 (41.5%) eyes had a visual acuity of ≤1/60 and 3 (4.6%) eyes were eviscerated. In vitro sensitivity testing showed full or part sensitivity in 100% of 55 isolates tested against econazole, 87.9% of 58 isolates tested against amphotericin, 75% of 40 isolates tested against itraconazole, and 100% of 20 isolates tested against voriconazole. Conclusions: Candida was the principal isolate, usually from eyes with OSD or a prior PK treated with topical steroids.
Detection of body movements during sleep by monitoring of bed temperature

We have modified a previously developed bed temperature monitor and used it to evaluate a sleeper's body movements. Sleep was monitored both at home and in the laboratory in normal subjects. From laboratory monitoring, a new algorithm to assess body movements using the sum of a square of temperature differences (SSD(t)) method was proposed, and the best conditions for detection of body movements are discussed. The experiment was performed with 12 normal male subjects and the body movement obtained from temperature changes was compared with that from video images. The sensitivity and positive predictive accuracy of body movement at the lower limbs with a sampling interval of 15 s and a threshold value of 0.2 °C2 were 88.7% and 95.4% respectively, over a total of 22 nights' observation. The results show that body movement can be accurately detected by placing one belt sensor under the lower limbs with a sampling interval of 15 s and a threshold value of 0.2 °C2 in SSD(t) analysis. We also found that body movement frequency is different among individuals during sleep, but has a certain range for an individual. No significant relationship between average body movement or average time in bed (TIB) and sleep profiles was observed among individuals for all subjects in one week of home monitoring. However, significant relationships between frequency of body movement or TIB and sleep profiles were observed in the long-term home monitoring for an individual. This suggests that body movements and TIB detected by bed temperature measurement can be used as indices for the assessment of sleep stability and continuity.
Teacher Supply and Demand: The School Level Perspective

This study seeks to investigate the teacher shortage from the school perspective. It was guided by the assumption that activities occurring on the micro level, i.e., strategies implemented by school principals in order to cope with the shortage, mask the situation. Following this assumption the study aimed to reveal these strategies and their impact on teaching and learning in schools. The research methodology included surveys of school principals and regional inspectors and examination over two years of job advertisements appearing on teacher union internet sites. Findings reveal an ongoing search for teachers throughout the school year and a balance between supply and demand toward the beginning of the school year. The most common strategies used by principals to cope with the demand are increasing teaching loads of existing teachers, hiring under-qualified and uncertified teachers, and employing temporary teachers for long periods of time. These findings redirect the problem of a quantitative teacher shortage toward the problem of a hidden shortage that relates to the quality of the teaching force.
Who Cares about Control-Ownership Disparity in Emerging Markets ? †-Unbundling Foreign Portfolio

Using a unique data set that provides detailed information on foreign investors’ holdings of Korean chaebol firms, we report that foreign investors’ home country governance matters when determining the portfolio weights on low and high disparity stocks. More specifically, we show that foreign investors from countries dominated by firms with high control-ownership disparity, countries with civil law origin, or countries with low anti-director rights, tend to show less aversion against the firms with high control-ownership disparity. This finding is in line with the investor’s familiarity story documented in the international finance literature to explain the well-known “home-bias” puzzle. We also report that foreign portfolio investors’ aversion to control-ownership disparity varies over time and, in particular, peaks during economics crisis, which is consistent with the theoretical prediction and the empirical findings of the existing literature.
Electric Field-Induced Modification of Magnetism in Thin-Film Ferromagnets

A large electric field at the surface of a ferromagnetic metal is expected to appreciably change its electron density. In particular, the metal's intrinsic magnetic properties, which are commonly regarded as fixed material constants, will be affected. This requires, however, that the surface has a strong influence on the material's properties, as is the case with ultrathin films. We demonstrated that the magnetocrystalline anisotropy of ordered iron-platinum (FePt) and iron-palladium (FePd) intermetallic compounds can be reversibly modified by an applied electric field when immersed in an electrolyte. A voltage change of –0.6 volts on 2-nanometer-thick films altered the coercivity by –4.5 and +1% in FePt and FePd, respectively. The modification of the magnetic parameters was attributed to a change in the number of unpaired d electrons in response to the applied electric field. Our device structure is general and should be applicable for characterization of other thin-film magnetic systems.
Codes for T-user asymmetric multiple-access channel with independent sources

An asymmetric multiple access channel (AMAC) is a multiple-access channel where a portion of the users can observe the messages of other users. We first propose three 2-user uniquely decodable (UD) codes for two-user AMAC, which are shown to achieve higher sum-rate than the previous 2-user codes. Then, we consider multiuser error correcting codes for T-user noisy AMAC. A theorem shows that given a Ta-user δa-decodable k-ary code A and a Td-subset δa-decodable difference set D a priori, a larger error-correcting T-user code C is obtained by Hadamard matrices. For practical construction, we give 2-user difference sets based on the 2-user UD codes, and obtain multiuser correcting codes for multiuser AMAC. The proposed correcting codes have increasing sum-rate and error-correcting capability with an increasing code length.
[Encephalopathy with methylmalonic aciduria and homocystinuria secondary to a deficient exogenous supply of vitamin B12].

INTRODUCTION A deficient supply of vitamin B12 can appear early during the first months of life, with haematological and neurological symptoms in the form of progressive encephalopathy. CASE REPORTS We describe two patients with megaloblastic anaemia and halted somatic and cranial perimeter development, accompanied by neurological involvement. Both of them had an increased rate of excretion of methylmalonic acid, as well as homocysteine, in urine with extremely low serum levels of vitamin B12, as compared to normal values. Both patients were breastfed only. The study of the mothers revealed asymptomatic pernicious anaemia. Treatment with hydroxycobalamine led to clinical recovery and psychomotor development progressively returned to normal. CONCLUSIONS Vitamin B12 deficiency due to a shortage of supply from the mother must be taken into account in the differential diagnosis of possibly reversible severe encephalopathies.
Transcription of the human beta interferon gene is inhibited by hepatitis B virus

The manner by which the trans-acting factor encoded by the 1,828-base-pair (bp) BamHI DNA fragment of hepatitis B virus (HBV) suppresses the production of human beta interferon was determined. Steady-state levels of RNA specific for human beta interferon were decreased in cells that contained the 1,828-bp BamHI DNA fragment of HBV. The reduced accumulation of interferon-specific RNA was due to an inhibition of transcription of the interferon gene by the HBV trans-acting moiety. The expression of the interferon gene that is under the control of a heterologous promoter such as the simian virus 40 early promoter was not altered by the presence of the 1,828-bp BamHI HBV DNA fragment. In contrast, the HBV moiety inhibited the expression of the cat gene, whose expression is controlled by the regulatory DNA region of the human beta interferon gene. These results indicate that the HBV trans-acting moiety suppresses the expression of the human beta interferon gene at the transcriptional level by interacting with the regulatory DNA sequences 5' to the coding sequences for beta interferon.
Scientific Evidence of Three Different Insecticide-Resistant Profiles in Triatoma infestans (Hemiptera: Reduviidae) Populations from Argentina and Bolivia

ABSTRACT Triatoma infestans (Klug, 1834) (Hemiptera, Reduviidae) is the main vector of Chagas disease in the southern cone South America. Chemical control to the vectors appears to be the best option to reduce the incidence of the disease. However, since 2002, high resistance to insecticides that correlated with field control failures was detected in T. infestans from Argentina and Bolivia. In this paper, we analyzed three T. infestans populations whose pyrethroid-resistance had been recently detected, and we defined at least three resistant profiles according to the toxicological and biochemical characteristics of the studied resistant populations. The resistance profiles were identified as Ti-R1, Ti-R2, and Ti-R3, corresponding to the Argentinean Acambuco, and the Bolivians Entre Ríos and Mataral. Ti-R1 exhibited nymphs and eggs with medium resistance level to deltamethrin (RR = 32.5 and 28.6; respectively). Pyrethroid-esterases played a relevant role in deltamethrin resistance. Ti-R2 exhibited nymphs with high resistance to deltamethrin (RR = 173.8) and low resistance to fipronil (RR = 12.4). Pyrethroid-esterases were involved in resistance. Moreover, eggs showed medium resistance level to deltamethrin (RR = 39.1). Ti-R3 had nymphs with low resistance to deltamethrin (RR = 17.4), and medium resistance to fipronil (RR = 66.8). Pyrethroid-esterases showed increased activity, and eggs possessed low resistance to deltamethrin (RR = 8.4). The characterization of the resistance to pyrethroid in these T. infestans populations from Argentina and Bolivia do not permit the generalization of three forms of resistance profile. So far as we appear to know, the forms of mechanisms and their frequencies reported here are selected independently, so additional sites might well show additional combinations of resistance mechanisms and their frequencies.
Effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of a multidisciplinary intervention programme to prevent new falls and functional decline among elderly persons at risk : design of a replicated randomised controlled trial [ ISRCTN 64716113 ]

Background: Falls are common among community-dwelling elderly people and can have a considerable impact on quality of life and healthcare costs. People who have sustained a fall are at greater risk of falling again. We replicated a British randomised controlled trial which demonstrated the effectiveness of a multidisciplinary intervention programme to prevent falls. The objective is to describe the design of a replication study evaluating a multidisciplinary intervention programme on recurrent falls and functional decline among elderly persons at risk. The study consists of an effect evaluation, an economic evaluation and a process evaluation. Methods/design: The programme is aimed at community-dwelling elderly people aged 65 years or over who have visited an accident and emergency department (A&E department) or a general practitioners' cooperative (GP cooperative) because of a fall. The design involves a two-group randomised controlled trial. Participants are followed for twelve months after baseline. The intervention programme consists of a detailed medical and occupational therapy assessment with referral to relevant services if indicated. People in the control group receive usual care. The main outcome measures of the effect evaluation are number of falls and daily functioning. The economic evaluation will be performed from a societal perspective. A process evaluation will be carried out to evaluate the feasibility of the intervention programme. Published: 14 January 2005 BMC Public Health 2005, 5:6 doi:10.1186/1471-2458-5-6 Received: 10 December 2004 Accepted: 14 January 2005 This article is available from: http://www.biomedcentral. com/1471-2458/5/6 © 2005 Hendriks et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
The Use of Bioaerosol Sampling for Airborne Virus Surveillance in Swine Production Facilities: A Mini Review

Modern swine production facilities typically house dense populations of pigs and may harbor a variety of potentially zoonotic viruses that can pass from one pig generation to another and periodically infect human caretakers. Bioaerosol sampling is a common technique that has been used to conduct microbial risk assessments in swine production, and other similar settings, for a number of years. However, much of this work seems to have been focused on the detection of non-viral microbial agents (i.e., bacteria, fungi, endotoxins, etc.), and efforts to detect viral aerosols in pig farms seem sparse. Data generated by such studies would be particularly useful for assessments of virus transmission and ecology. Here, we summarize the results of a literature review conducted to identify published articles related to bioaerosol generation and detection within swine production facilities, with a focus on airborne viruses. We identified 73 scientific reports, published between 1991 and 2017, which were included in this review. Of these, 19 (26.7%) used sampling methodology for the detection of viruses. Our findings show that bioaerosol sampling methodologies in swine production settings have predominately focused on the detection of bacteria and fungi, with no apparent standardization between different approaches. Information, specifically regarding virus aerosol burden in swine production settings, appears to be limited. However, the number of viral aerosol studies has markedly increased in the past 5 years. With the advent of new sampling technologies and improved diagnostics, viral bioaerosol sampling could be a promising way to conduct non-invasive viral surveillance among swine farms.
Early viral brain invasion in iatrogenic human immunodeficiency virus infection

We report a 68-year-old man who received an IV inoculation of WBCs for an indium radionuclide scan containing 600 to 700 tissue culture infectious doses of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) from an HIV-1-infected individual. The recipient immediately received zidovudine, then was switched to dideoxyinosine and interferon-α, but died of hepatorenal syndrome and hepatic encephalopathy 15 days later. HIV-1 cultures were positive from the recipient's blood on day 14 but not days 0, 1, and 8. At autopsy, cultures of parietal lobe isolated HIV-1. HIV-1 nucleic acid was present in several brain areas, but not in several other organs, by two independent laboratories using the polymerase chain reaction. The brain showed mild perivascular cuffing and a mild lymphocytic meningitis, but there was no evidence of glial nodules, giant cells, or white matter abnormalities. HIV-1 gp41 viral antigen was seen by immunoperoxidase staining in rare infiltrating cells within perivascular and subpial spaces. Thus, HIV-1 was isolated from brain 15 days after mistaken HIV-1 inoculation and 1 day after virus was first recovered from blood.
Studies on immunological paralysis. II. The detection and significance of antibod-forming cells in the spleen during immunological paralysis with type 3 pneumococcal polysaccharide.

The immunocytoadherence (rosette) technique has been adapted to study the immune response to varying doses of type III pneumococcal polysaccharide (SIII). Syngeneic erythrocytes coated with SIII were incubated with washed spleen cell suspensions isolated 0·5–39 days after i.v. injection into CBA strain mice of immunogenic (0·5 or 5·0 μg) or paralysing (500 μg) doses of SIII; the immunizing or paralysing effect of these doses of SIII was confirmed by a passive haemagglutination technique. The number of rosette-forming cells per spleen was significantly increased above the background range in twenty-seven out of forty-two, twenty-four out of thirty-seven and forty-one out of forty-six animals injected with 0·5, 5·0 and 500 μg SIII, respectively. Not only was there a greater incidence of `positive' values in the paralysed group, but the response was better maintained than in the immunized groups. In view of the apparent lack of central inhibition in these experiments, paralysis with SIII was considered to be attributable to the antibody-neutralizing effect of persisting undegraded antigen. It is suggested that the phenomenon of polysaccharide paralysis may be the expression of more than one mechanism.
INVESTIGATING THE EFFECT OF FREE ALDEHYDE / PHENOL ANTIBACTERIAL TO CONTROL THE COMMON HOSPITAL-ACQUIRED INFECTIONS INCLUDING PSEUDOMONAS AERUGINOSA , STAPHYLOCOCCUS AUREUS , ESCHERICHIA COLI , ACINETOBACTER , ENTEROCOCCUS

Present wok is addressed for the evaluation of the efficiency rate of different free aldehyde/phenol antibacterial for the common hospitalacquired infections including Pseudomonas Aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Acinetobacter, and Enterococcus. Based on the results, the maximum and minimum phenol-coefficients were provided for Deconex 53 Plusand Saya sept HI, respectively. However, Deconex 53 Plus and Saya sept HI were the strongest and weakest disinfectants, respectively. Final disinfection under laboratory condition was performed, and it can be concluded that the fifthand fourthgeneration of quaternary ammonium compounds (Saya sept HI and Saya sept HP) showed better effects on hospital-acquired infections.
Search Algorithms in the Selection of Warehouses and Transshipment Arrangements for High-End Low-Volume Products

In this highly competitive and low-profit marketing environment, the challenge that chain-store resale industry face is how to implement inventory management techniques so that cost down is possible and quality of customer service can be improved simultaneously to broaden market share. In this study, a transshipment approach is proposed by selecting several retail stores not only served as a warehouse for high-end, low-volume products but also are responsible for inventory and delivering to share and lower their risk to minimize overall system costs. However, locations of warehouse to products must be considered along with inventory management and transshipment arrangements to achieve their maximum performance for the whole system. To solve this problem, a transshipment model, proposed in this research, is formulated by an integer nonlinear programming methodology. And two efficient local search algorithms based on Simulated Annealing and Tabu search are developed on integer nonlinear programming, instead of using traditional mathematical approaches, having difficulties in solving these problems with time-consuming drawback and restrictions on large scale. Study shows that both algorithms are efficient, obtaining optimal solutions on small-sized problems. In this research, computational results with up to 200 retail stores to evaluate the performance with these two algorithms in large scale are also presented. And based on the acquisition of data, Tabu Search outperforms Simulated Annealing either in time-consuming or calculating quality.
The importance of the VFR market to the hotel industry.

Little research has been conducted to assess the number and characteristics of tourists who visit friends and relatives (VFR) and who purchase hotel room nights during their trips. The travel industry and tourism researchers have paid little attention to VFR travellers because the market has been assumed to be small and hard to track. There has also been a basic assumption that VFR travellers reside at the homes of friends and relatives and do not use commercial tourism facilities such as hotels, restaurants, and sightseeing attractions. For this reason, the VFR segment has been viewed as inconsequential and the existing literature has yet to fully profile this market.