Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Untangling the Roots of Some IMGs' Poor Academic Performance

International medical graduates (IMGs) make up 18% of postgraduate medical trainees in the United States and approximately 20% in Canada. The majority of these IMGs are training in primary care specialties such as family medicine, pediatrics, and general internal medicine. Overall, IMGs are less successful on national licensing examinations, than are graduates of North American medical schools. There is also evidence that some of these trainees do less well during their postgraduate training and require more remediation. As a result, postgraduate program directors may be reluctant to consider IMG applicants to their programs because of perceived difficulties in training these physicians. IMGs themselves have written movingly about the difficulties they face entering medical practice in North America, and faculty have written about the difficulties facing IMGs in training. While many IMGs successfully complete residency training with few serious problems, the problems some do encounter may be difficult to remediate without a deeper understanding of the underlying issues specific to IMGs. Between 1994 and 2000, the University of British Columbia (UBC) Family Practice Residency program trained 18 IMGs in a community-based family medicine program associated with St. Paul’s Hospital, an inner-city, tertiary care teaching hospital in Vancouver. They were part of a cohort of 72 family practice residents who trained at this site during that time. The IMGs accessed the family medicine training primarily through a government-paid program for licensure. These IMGs were carefully selected to minimize training difficulties, and final outcomes were excellent in that all graduates were licensed and are practicing in the community, many providing medical care to the ethnic groups to which they themselves belong. However, both the family practice faculty and the IMG residents experienced problems in the course of training that required careful exploration and new responses. Problems presented as academic, attitudinal, or behavioral issues and the difficulties encountered were complicated by differences in the structure of medical training in the IMGs’ countries of origin, cultural differences, language difficulties, and the different life stages and stresses of the IMG residents. The family medicine program at UBC is a community-based residency, eight months of family medicine training taking place in community family practices, eight months in hospitalbased rotations, and the remainder of the time allotted to elective experiences. In the family medicine rotations, at any sign of academic difficulty, a faculty member with experience in direct observation and evaluation is called in to participate with the preceptor and site director in delineating the problem and recommending interventions. These problems were logged and tracked and the descriptions below arise from our experiences with IMG residents in the two-year program. Some of the scenarios have been altered to protect the anonymity of the residents involved, although the content is derived from actual experiences. SITUATION A
The Torch

Monday 9-23 Last day for Book Fair. Girl’s lacrosse club from 3:00-3:30. Related Arts Day F Tuesday 9-24 Bookshelf Grand Opening from 4:00-6:00 pm. Safety Leader Pinning Ceremony from 6:00-7:00 pm. Torch News from 3:00-3:45. Related Arts Day A Wednesday 9-25 Dad’s Take Your Child to School Day. Dismissal starts at 1:45. Related Arts Day B Thursday 9-26 SAC meeting at 6:00 pm. Boy Scout Sign-up in the Café from 6:30-7:30 pm. Related Arts Day C Friday 9-27 Wear Red for Johnny Appleseed’s Birthday. Related Arts Day D
Effects of beta antagonists on mechanical properties in rabbit ciliary artery.

BACKGROUND We set out to clarify the mechanisms involved in the effectiveness of beta-adrenergic receptor antagonists on the ocular circulation. METHODS The effects of three beta antagonists, timolol, betaxolol and carteolol, on the isolated rabbit ciliary artery were investigated in vitro using isometric tension recording methods. RESULTS Phenylephrine dose-dependently contracted ciliary artery smooth muscle, and bunazosin (1 microM) shifted this dose-response curve to the right. Isoproterenol, on the other hand, had no effect up to the concentration of 1 mM. Betaxolol and timolol had no effect on the ciliary artery. However, carteolol dose-dependently contracted this muscle from a concentration of 1 microM. After precontraction by excess-[K]0 solutions, application of betaxolol or timolol dose-dependently provoked relaxation; the minimum concentration of betaxolol or timolol required to generate the relaxation was 100 microM and 300 microM, respectively. Carteolol did not generate relaxation at concentrations up to 1 mM. After pretreatment with L-NAME (300 microM), the amplitude of relaxation induced by 10 microM carbachol was reduced to 33.0+/-20.2%, while betaxolol- or timolol-induced relaxation was unchanged. Diltiazem (10 microM) induced relaxation which was not inhibited by pretreatment with L-NAME. CONCLUSION Betaxolol and timolol could directly relax rabbit ciliary artery in vitro at relatively high concentrations, and relaxation was not due to NO released from the preparation. Presumably, this relaxation occurs through action similar to Ca antagonists. However, the clinical importance of this effect is not yet clear. Carteolol had no relaxant effect in vitro.
GREENHOUSE AIR TEMPERATURE CONTROL USING THE PARTICLE SWARM OPTIMISATION ALGORITHM

Abstract The particle swarm optimisation algorithm is proposed as a new method to design a model based predictive controller subject to restrictions. Its performance is compared with the one obtained by using a genetic algorithm for the environmental temperature control of a greenhouse. Controller outputs are computed in order to optimise future behaviour of the greenhouse environment, regarding set-point tracking and minimisation of the control effort over a prediction horizon of one hour with a one-minute sampling period.
Study on analyzing and modeling of delay activity for digital circuit

A novel modeling method of longest path detecting for signal transmission and delay time computing of logic circuit is proposed in this paper. The method is based on graph theory so that it is quite simple. This paper introduces matrixes based on the circuit's neighborhood graph, which is a labeled and directed graph G, 2-tuple G (V, E). The gate-level circuit is first transformed into a directed acyclic graph in which the gates appear as edges with certain option value and the signals correspond to the nodes marked with number. The neighborhood graph is then mapped onto a conjunction matrix. The novel method could also give the formulas of calculating the delay time as well as detecting the longest path of delay.
A genome‐wide screen for nicotine dependence susceptibility loci

Genome‐wide model free linkage analysis was conducted for nicotine dependence and tobacco use phenotypes in 607 members of 158 nuclear families consisting of at least two ever smokers (100 or more cigarettes smoked in lifetime). DNA from whole blood was genotyped for 739 autosomal microsatellite polymorphisms with an average inter‐marker distance of 4.6 cM. A peak LOD score of 2.7 was observed on chromosome 6 for scores for the Fagerström Test for Nicotine Dependence. Exploratory analyses were conducted to determine whether sequence variation at other loci affected other measures of dependence or tobacco use. Four additional loci with LOD scores of 2.7 or more were associated with alternative measures of nicotine dependence, one with current frequency of use, and one with smoking cessation. Several of the corresponding support intervals were near putative loci reported previously (on chromosomes 6, 7, and 8) while others appear to be novel (on chromosomes 5, 16, and 19). © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Community survey, treatment and long-term follow-up for human cystic echinococcosis in northwest China.

BACKGROUND Human cystic echinococcosis (CE) is a parasitic zoonosis of major public health importance throughout the world. CE is endemic throughout central Asia including northwestern China. In China, CE has been reported in 21 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities, covering approximately 87% of China's territories. It is most common in the pastoral and semi-pastoral western provinces and regions. This study aimed to reveal the natural history, curative effect and possible re-infection risk factors of human CE through long termed follow-up of treated and untreated CE cases in Hobukesar, Xingjiang, China. METHODS Follow-up studies on CE were performed twice in Hobukesar from August 2005 to October 2008, after an initial mass screening performed in 1995 and 1996. Ultrasound scan was the primary diagnostic method. RESULTS Among 24 patients with confirmed CE, 22 were treated (surgery in 19 and chemotherapy in three). Two recurrent cases and one re-infection case were subsequently found during follow-up. The CE type of one of the recurrent cases reverted from CE4 to CE3, as classified using World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines. CONCLUSIONS Ultrasound was required to differentiate primary, recurrent and re-infection cases during epidemiological investigation and follow-up of CE. Most patients did not change their habits, which may be one possible cause of reinfection. One recurrent case suggested that, despite initial suggestion from the WHO Informal Working Group on Echinococcosis, CE4-type cysts are not inactive.
Absolute Abundance and Relative Scarcity: Announced Policy, Resource Extraction, and Carbon Emissions

We study the effectiveness of climate change policy in a model with multiple non-renewable resources that differ in their carbon content. We find that, when allowing some time between announcement and implementation of a cap on carbon dioxide emissions, emissions from non-renewable energy sources increase at the time of announcement. There are two channels behind this effect. First, since a binding constraint on emissions restricts energy use during some period of time, more must be extracted during other periods. Second, since low carbon energy sources are relatively more valuable when the policy is implemented, it is optimal to conserve them ahead of enforcement. This might induce a switch to high-carbon resources before the policy is implemented.
Hypnosis in the Management of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

AbstractDuring the past 30 years hypnosis has become recognised as a useful adjunct to traditional medical therapies, and has become part of mainstream medicine. Hypnosis societies provide training for health professionals to obtain registrable qualifications. The modality has been incorporated in the management of many medical conditions and diseases, with opportunities for symptom control, building confidence and enhancing the benefits of regular therapies. There are many opportunities for using hypnosis as an adjunctive therapy in the management of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, despite some early difficulties. Problems likely to be encountered are discussed and the structure of the hypnosis session is outlined. Suggestions are given for practitioners to construct useful scripts, which can be used to teach self-hypnosis.
Hematological and Clinical Chemistry Changes Induced by Subchronic Dosing of a Novel Phosphorothionate (RPR-V) in Wistar Male and Female Rats

A novel phosphorothionate [2-butenoic acid-3-(diethoxy phosphinothioyl)-ethyl ester; RPR-V] synthesized at Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (Hyderabad, India) was studied using subchronic doses of 0.033 (low), 0.066 (medium), and 0.099 (high) mg kg− 1 in male and female rats daily for 90 days. Continuous treatment with RPR-V caused significant (p < 0.05) decreases in body-weight gain, feed intake, hemoglobin (Hb), hematocrit (Hct), and total erythrocyte count (TEC), whereas total leukocyte count (TLC), mean corpuscular volume (MCV), mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH), and mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC) were increased. Similarly, RPR-V caused significant elevation in serum clinical chemistry parameters calcium, phosphorus, creatinine, and chloride contents, whereas protein and glucose levels were depressed in both male and female treated rats after 45 and 90 days of treatment. These alterations were significant when compared with two-way ANOVA showing that these changes were dose- and time-dependent. The effects of low dose were generally not statistically significant, whereas medium and high doses caused significant effects. The changes in male rats were not significant when compared with female rats showing no sexual dimorphism by this compound. Recovery was observed after 28 days post-treatment (withdrawal study), indicating that the compound entered into the system was eliminated from the body, and the blood parameters were improved. Hematological and clinical chemistry parameters can be detected rapidly and hence can be used for prediction and diagnosis of pesticide toxicity. Alterations in these parameters show toxic stress in the treated animals especially on blood and blood-forming organs.
Re: "Psychiatric diagnoses in historic and contemporary military cohorts: combat deployment and the healthy warrior effect.

The Journal article by Larson et al. (1) offers new data regarding utilization rates of psychiatric diagnoses in military cohorts. However, crucial information, well known to professionals with knowledge of the military mental health care system and not adequately addressed in the article or accompanying editorial (2), likely renders the results invalid. To begin with, the time periods used in rate calculations were not equivalent. Although the total study period was identical for all 3 contemporary cohorts (July 2001– September 2005), the electronic medical record system used to access data did not capture health care in the combat environment. Consequently, for members of the combatdeployed cohort, mental health care utilization would be zero during the time of their deployment(s), with the exception of rare occurrences such as evacuation to a tertiary-care facility with electronic records capability. Because Marine deployments last 7 months, cohort members who deployed
A gel aspiration-ejection system for the controlled production and delivery of injectable dense collagen scaffolds

A gel aspiration-ejection (GAE) system has been developed for the advanced production and delivery of injectable dense collagen (I-DC) gels of unique collagen fibrillar densities (CFDs). Through the creation of negative pressure, GAE aspirates prefabricated highly hydrated collagen gels into a needle, simultaneously inducing compaction and meso-scale anisotropy (i.e., fibrillar alignment) on the gels, and by subsequent reversal of the pressure, I-DC gels can be controllably ejected. The system generates I-DC gels with CFDs ranging from 5 to 32 wt%, controlling the initial scaffold microstructure, anisotropy, hydraulic permeability, and mechanical properties. These features could potentially enable the minimally invasive delivery of more stable hydrogels. The viability, metabolic activity, and differentiation of seeded mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) was investigated in the I-DC gels of distinct CFDs and extents of anisotropy produced through two different gauge needles. MSC osteoblastic differentiation was found to be relatively accelerated in I-DC gels that combined physiologically relevant CFDs and increased fibrillar alignment. The ability to not only support homogenous cell seeding, but also to direct and accelerate their differentiation through tissue-equivalent anisotropy, creates numerous opportunities in regenerative medicine.
Local seafood: rethinking the direct marketing paradigm

Faced with strict regulations, rising operational costs, depleted stocks, and competition from less expensive foreign imports, many fishers are pursuing new ways to market and sell their catch. Direct marketing arrangements can increase the ex-vessel value of seafood and profitability of operations for fishers by circumventing dominant wholesale chains of custody and capturing the premium that customers are willing to pay for local seafood. Our analysis goes beyond a paradigm that understands direct marketing arrangements as solely economic tools to consider how these emerging business configurations create a set of conditions that can result in increased bonding and bridging capital among fishers by incentivizing cooperation, communication, and information production and organization. To build our case, we report on the economic value being generated for fishers in a cooperatively owned and operated direct marketing arrangement in eastern North Carolina. Over the course of 2 years, fishers participating in the Walking Fish community- supported fishery received 33% more revenue for their catch compared to the average monthly ex-vessel price of finfish and shellfish landed in the surrounding region, and an additional 14% to 18% more per dollar by way of year-end profit sharing. We argue that these economic benefits create an incentive to participate, resulting in cooperation among fishers and increased communication skills that foster bonding and bridging capital that put fishers in a position to identify and respond to challenges that threaten the social- ecological resilience of the systems within which they operate. We suggest that "institutional starters" like these can play a critical role in increasing the resilience of social-ecological systems, including fisheries.
Generalized dominating set based cooperative caching for content centric ad hoc networks

With the growth of smartphone users, peer-to-peer ad hoc networks has become a potent complementary to content dissemination. Content centric networking (CCN) has been demonstrated as a promising fundamental driver for ad hoc networks to enhance the content dissemination. However, most of the existing CCN caching strategies are designed with the assumption that users are located at the edge of the network, which are less effective when migrated to ad hoc networks. Additionally, the battery capacity and cache space of nodes in ad hoc Networks are limited. Considering the aforementioned distinctions, a generalized dominating set based cooperative caching placement strategy (GDSC) is proposed. Accordingly, the analytical model of GDSC is developed and the expressions of miss probability, average round trip hops and power consumption are derived. The simulation results validate the effectiveness of the GDSC strategy for content centric ad hoc networks, and show that GDSC achieves better compromise between cache cost and content retrieval time with lower power consumption by selecting appropriate nodes to deploying caches in ad hoc networks.
Sodium‐Calcium Exchange in Bovine Aortic Endothelial Cells

Regulation of intracellular calcium (Ca,) is an important function for all cells, given the central role this ion plays in signal transduction. In endothelial cells, stimuli such as bradykinin and histamine increase Ca, both by release from the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and by a mechanism dependent on extracellular Ca. 'r2 A portion of the Ca that accumulates in the cytoplasm exits from the cell rather than being returned directly to the ER. Before a second response, the ER Ca pool is refilled, necessitating a Ca-influx pathway that may be independent of receptor stimulation.2 One mechanism that is, in principle, capable of mediating both net influx and efflux is Na-Ca exchange, although it is not known whether endothelial cells express this activity. The data from this study demonstrates the presence of Na-Ca exchange in bovine aortic endothelial cells (BAEC) as a Na-dependent 45Ca influx.
Atrial Fibrillation Is Associated with Severe Acute Ischemic Stroke

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a common risk factor for disabling ischemic stroke in the elderly, but it is not clear that its severity is generally worse than that of ischemic stroke due to other etiologies. We reviewed the clinical presentations of patients with acute ischemic stroke admitted between 1990 and 2001. The etiologies of these strokes were also classified using well-established criteria. Of 1,061 patients with acute ischemic stroke, 216 (20.3%) had AF. The frequency of bedridden state was 41.2% in patients with AF, compared to 23.7% in patients without AF (p < 0.0005). Other measures of clinical stroke severity showed similar disparities between these groups. The odds ratio for bedridden state following ischemic stroke due to AF was 2.23 (95% CI = 1.87–2.59, p < 0.0005) by multivariate logistic regression. Ischemic stroke associated with AF is typically more severe than ischemic stroke due to other etiologies, and this increased severity is independent of advanced age and other stroke risk factors.
GRP2 proteins contain both CCHC zinc fingers and a cold shock domain.

As the number of reported sequences for gene products has grown, severa1 protein domains have been identified that are associated with sequence-specific nucleic acid binding. Among these is the retroviral-type CCHC zincfinger, which is present twice in the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) nucleic acid binding nucleocapsid protein (for review, see Coleman, 1992) and is included in a variety of eukaryotic proteins postulated to bind single-stranded nucleic acids (for examples, see Rajavashisth et al., 1989; Roussell and Bennet, 1993; Webb and McMaster, 1993). While searching sequence databases for proteins containing multiple CCHC zinc finger domains, we noted the occurrence of two of these zinc fingers in the similar glycine-rich proteins GRP2 of Arabidopsis (de Oliveira et al., 1990) and GRPP of Nicotiana sylvestris (Obokata et al., 1991). In Figure IA, the CCHC zinc fingers for the GRP2 proteins are aligned with the seven zinc fingers of the human cellular nucleic acid binding protein (Rajavashisth et al., 1989) and the two zinc fingers of the HIV retrovirus gag polyprotein. The GRPP proteins share the conserved cysteine and histidine spacing as well as the glycines in positions 5 and 8 that are commonly found in proteins that contain more than one CCHC zinc finger. Another nucleic acid binding domain, identified in bacteria as constituting the major cold shock-induced protein (Goldstein et al., 1990), is the “cold shock” domain. Severa1 mammalian transcription factors contain regions similar to this domain (Wistow, 1990). Like the CCHC zinc fingers,
Modulation of tolerance by mutant heat shock transcription factors.

It ought to be possible to recruit normal cellular defenses to mitigate ischemia/reperfusion damage and to reduce toxicity of chemotherapeutic drugs. Stress-preconditioned cells acquire a tolerant state characterized by increased resistance to such insults. This state is widely believed to be mediated, partially, by heat shock proteins (Hsps). Indirect evidence suggests that stress-induced Hsp expression is controlled by heat shock transcription factor 1 (Hsf1), which factor may therefore represent a preferred target for therapeutic modulation of tolerance. In support, positively acting (Hsf1(+)) and negatively acting (Hsf1(-)) mutants of Hsf1 were identified. Inhibition of endogenous Hsf1 activity by Hsf1(-) prevents stress-induced Hsp synthesis and development of tolerance. Hsf1(+) drastically enhances expression of major Hsps in the absence of stress and induces tolerance against heat, simulated ischemia and toxicity by cyclophosphamide. Where compared, tolerance induced was slightly better than that produced by heat preconditioning. Thus, development of the tolerant state is dependent on increased levels of the cohort of Hsps induced by stress preconditioning, and Hsf1 can induce accumulation of a typical set of Hsps, which proteins are alone capable of providing tolerance at a similar level as heat preconditioning. These findings make Hsf1 a preferred target for pharmacological intervention to deliberately induce tolerance.