Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Nursing clinical handover improvement practices among acute inpatients in a tertiary hospital in Sydney: a best practice implementation project

Background: The nursing handover normally occurs at the beginning of a nurse's shift and is considered essential for continuity of care. Nursing handovers have the potential to communicate accurate information about a patient's condition, treatment and anticipated needs but also to be ineffective or even harmful if information is incomplete or omitted. The Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care has recognized clinical handover as a National Standard, thus reinforcing its importance. Objectives: This project aimed to conduct an audit of nursing clinical handover practices to implement evidence-based best practice recommendations to assess the effectiveness of these strategies to maximize the effectiveness of clinical handover across 11 units in a large tertiary hospital. Methods: The project used the Joanna Briggs Institute's Practical Application of Clinical Evidence System and Getting Research into Practice audit tool for promoting change in healthcare practice. A baseline audit of 330 observations of nursing clinical handover was conducted and measured against seven best practice recommendations, followed by the implementation of targeted strategies and a follow-up audit. Results: The baseline audit revealed significant deficits between current practice and best practice in all but one criterion. Barriers for implementation of nursing clinical handover best practice criteria were identified by the project team, and a bundled education strategy was implemented. There were significantly improved outcomes across all best practice criteria in the follow-up audit. Conclusions: The findings showed how audits may be used to promote best practice in healthcare and that focused education and provision of relevant resources can have an immediate and positive impact on clinical practice. Some of the measured criteria improved to a moderate degree, leaving room for improvement; however, by the end of the project attitudes toward nursing clinical handover had been “transformed” from a passive routine “must do” task to an active process with a focus on safety and patient/carer engagement. Future audits are planned to ensure sustainability.
Essays on the impact of farm input subsidies on farm households in Malawi

Farm input subsidies are assumed to improve agricultural production and productivity for small resource poor farmers in developing countries by promoting the use of improved farm inputs, mainly inorganic fertilizers and hybrid seeds. This is expected to contribute to increased income from produce sales, improved food security at household and national levels, and consequently, contributing to poverty alleviation. Limited existing empirical evidence on the impact of farm input subsidies on food marketing, household welfare and migration suggests marginal effects. This thesis contributes to the existing literature by analysing the impact of farm input subsidies on farm households' maize market participation, welfare and migration by using the most recent nationally representative integrated household panel survey data for Malawi of 2010 and 2013. This thesis uses the quantity of subsidised fertilizer the household redeemed to measure the impact of farm input subsidies. Different indicators and empirical models from the ones used in the existing literature on food marketing, household welfare and migration effects of farm input subsidies are used to explore more empirical evidence. The main findings are that farm input subsidies increase farm households' market participation and food security; and reduces household members' migration. The results on market participation indicate that subsidised fertilizer increases both farmers' maize market participation as sellers and quantities they sell. On migration, subsidised fertilizer reduces rural to urban and rural to rural migration of household members. While on household welfare, the results suggest that subsidised fertilizer increases available per capita calories per day, household's months of food secure, and probability of being food secure from own production of cereals and legumes, but has statistically insignificant effects on household annual consumption expenditure.
Essays on the economics of human trafficking, migration and remittances

This chapter presents a theoretical model from economics perspectives that develop understanding of the illegal migration process. A key feature of the theoretical model is the payment of additional sums beyond the initial contracted price to alter the trafficker’s queue order. The optimal level of such payment is derived. The types of data needed to rigorously test the model are discussed, together with policy implications.
On-Line Analytic Processing (OLAP) modeling for graduation data presentation

The greatness of an educational institution can not be separated from the success of its graduates in bringing the name of their educational institution background when the graduation are working. However, a problem frequently arise when leaders or decision makers can not obtain a quick and accurate information about their graduates condition to be used as a reference to take policy because of the large amount of data and the data are not yet integrated into a single database. With the existence of the tools that can quickly and accurately process and display graduation related information, can be obviously helpful for leaders / decision makers, and therefore an information system to handle the data is needed to be provided. The data warehouse is used to store accurate data and has been through the ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) stage. OLAP (On-Line Analytical Processing) is one tool that can be used to process graduation data that has been through the filtering process before it is stored into the data warehouse and can present the report according to the user's request. With this problem, it is necessary to create a model for presenting graduation data by creating a data warehouse and presenting the data in multi-dimensional (OLAP) form. By applying the nine steps to design a data warehouse, a proper design of data warehouse can be obtained as needed.
Low-density inhomogeneity corrections for 22-MV x-ray therapy.

The intent of this paper is to present a status report on the examination of correction factors to be used with 22 MV x rays in low-density inhomo-geneities. The problem arose in an attempt to deal with lung in betatron dose distributions. Some interesting values, which will be described, were obtained when electronic equilibrium had not been established before the beam entered the lung. The experimental data were obtained as follows. A phantom was constructed, using Lucite as the tissue-equivalent material and cork as the low-density material simulating lung. LiF capsules were spaced at l-cm intervals along a polystyrene rod on the central axis of the betatron beam and within the cork around the central axis, so that one capsule would not be in the shadow of another. Experiments were performed, varying the thickness of the cork and the thickness of Lucite overlying the cork. The results were compared with values obtained in a solid phantom. All values were adjusted to account for the non-tissue density o.
Class I MHC genes and CD8+ T cells determine cyst number in Toxoplasma gondii infection.

To determine roles of MHC class I and II genes in protection against Toxoplasma gondii, H-2 congenic and mutant mice were infected perorally with bradyzoites of T. gondii and brain cysts were enumerated 30 days later. As B10 mice (H-2b) are cyst susceptible and B10.A mice (H-2a) are cyst resistant, B10 congenic mice having the same alleles but different H-2 haplotypes were used to locate the controlling gene. Genes located at H-2L (i.e., class I genes) were found to regulate the number of brain cysts which form following peroral infection with T. gondii (p less than 0.001) with Ld being resistant and Lb being susceptible. The regulatory function of the H-2L gene product was confirmed through the study of D mutant (dm) mice. B10.D2-H-2dm1 (dm1) mice have a gain-loss mutation in Dd and Ld (i.e., recombination of Ld and Dd) and BALB/c-H-2dm2 (dm2) mice have a deletion of the Ld gene. Both these dm strains were cyst susceptible (p less than 0.001). These results provide the first direct evidence that class I genes regulate numbers of T. gondii cysts that form. In vivo ablation of CD8+ T cells with mAb YTS 169.4 converted cyst resistant B10.BAR12 mice to cyst susceptible. This result is consistent with a role for MHC restricted CD8+ cytotoxic (or suppressor) T cell regulation of cyst formation. A mutation in Ia in B6.C-H-2bm12 (bm12) mice amplified cyst numbers in susceptible mice, which is consistent with the importance of helper/inducer T cells in the induction of cytotoxic T cells. These findings are relevant to understanding the complex immunologic mechanisms that protect against T. gondii infection, development of protective preparations, and provide a conceptual basis for determining whether similar immunogenetic regulation of susceptibility is also operative in humans.
Innovation, complementarity, and exporting. Evidence from German manufacturing firms

Abstract This paper assesses whether there might be complementarities between different types of innovation activities (product, process and organizational) and how these effects may be linked to the likelihood that a firm will export. Complementarity is addressed through the properties of supermodular functions, and firm heterogeneity by export destination is explored. A new econometric strategy to test for pairwise complementarity in a function with three independent variables and a binary dependent variable is proposed. Exogenous and endogenous innovation variables are considered by using bootstrapping for hypothesis testing, propensity score matching and treatment effects models. The empirical analysis shows that complementarity relationships between innovation strategies are more likely to exist when firms export to multiple foreign markets.
Restricted replication of mouse hepatitis virus A59 in primary mouse brain astrocytes correlates with reduced pathogenicity

Temperature-sensitive (ts) mutants of mouse hepatitis virus A59 (MHV-A59) are drastically attenuated in their pathogenic properties. Intracerebral inoculation of mice with 10(5) PFU of mutant ts342 results in prolonged infection of the central nervous system, whereas 100 PFU of wild-type virus are lethal (M. J. M. Koolen, A. D. M. E. Osterhaus, G. van Steenis, M. C. Horzinek, and B. A. M. van der Zeijst, Virology 125:393-402, 1983). In the Sac(-) cell line ts342 grows as well at 37 degrees C (the body temperature of mice) as at 31 degrees C (the permissive temperature). There is, however, a difference in primary cultures of mouse brain astrocytes. After infection with ts342, astrocytes produced low levels of infectious virus (5.2 +/- 3.7%) compared with virus yields after infection with wild-type virus. The fraction of wild-type virus- and ts342-infected cells was similar. Electron microscopy showed in wild-type virus-infected cells abundant virions in smooth vesicles usually closely associated with a well-developed Golgi apparatus. In mutant-infected cells no mature ts342 virus particles were found. There was no difference between ts342 and wild-type virus regarding the intracellular virus-specific RNAs. In ts342-infected cells the viral glycoproteins E2 and E1 were not detectable or were barely detectable. Either the mRNAs for the glycoproteins are not translated or the proteins are rapidly broken down. Revertants of ts342 were isolated. They grew as well as wild-type virus in astrocytes, indicating that they apparently produced sufficient amounts of E2 and E1, the ts defect itself rather than a second site mutation is responsible for the defect in replication, and the ts defect acts in unison with host-cell factors. The revertants also regained the lethal properties of wild-type virus.
Axonal Amphoterin mRNA Is Regulated by Translational Control and Enhances Axon Outgrowth

High mobility group (HMG) proteins concentrate in the nucleus, interacting with chromatin. Amphoterin is an HMG protein (HMGB1) that has been shown to have extranuclear functions and can be secreted from some cell types. Exogenous amphoterin can increase neurite growth, suggesting that the secreted protein may have growth promoting activities in neurons. Consistent with this, we show that depletion of amphoterin mRNA from cultured adult rat DRG neurons attenuates neurite outgrowth, pointing to autocrine or paracrine mechanisms for its growth-promoting effects. The mRNA encoding amphoterin localizes to axonal processes and we showed recently that its 3′-UTR is sufficient for axonal localization of heterologous transcripts (Donnelly et al., 2013). Here, we show that amphoterin mRNA is transported constitutively into axons of adult DRG neurons. A preconditioning nerve injury increases the levels of amphoterin protein in axons without a corresponding increase in amphoterin mRNA in the axons. A 60 nucleotide region of the amphoterin mRNA 3′-UTR is necessary and sufficient for its localization into axons of cultured sensory neurons. Amphoterin mRNA 3′-UTR is also sufficient for axonal localization in distal axons of DRG neurons in vivo. Overexpression of axonally targeted amphoterin mRNA increases axon outgrowth in cultured sensory neurons, but axon growth is not affected when the overexpressed mRNA is restricted to the cell body.
Contextual Treatment of Dissociative Identity Disorder

Abstract Evidence for the effectiveness of contextual therapy, a new approach for treating adult survivors of prolonged child abuse (PCA), is provided via case studies of three women with Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID). Contextual therapy is based on the premise that it is not only traumatic experiences that account for PCA survivors' psychological difficulties. Even more fundamentally, many survivors grow up in an interpersonal context in which adequate resources for secure attachment and acquisition of adaptive living skills are not available. As a result, they are left with lasting deficits that undermine not only their current functioning, but also their ability to cope with reliving their traumatic memories in therapy. The primary focus of this treatment approach, therefore, is on developing capacities for feeling and functioning better in the present, rather than on extensive exploration and processing of the client's trauma history or, in the case of DID, of identity fragments. Treatment of the three cases presented ranged from eight months to two and one-half years' duration, and culminated in very positive outcomes. The women's reports of achievements, such as obtaining and maintaining gainful employment, greater self-sufficiency, and the establishment of more intimate and gratifying relationships, indicated marked improvements in daily functioning. Objective test data obtained at admission and discharge, and in one case, at follow-up, documented substantial reductions in dissociative, posttraumatic stress, depressive, and other symptoms.
Pseudo-optimal regularization for affine projection algorithms

In the application of acoustic echo cancellation the adaptation process is disturbed by local background noise as well as by the speech of the local speaker. Furthermore, the loudspeaker-enclosure-microphone (LEM) system has time-variant nature. Therefore, adaptation control is absolutely necessary. If fast algorithms like affine projection are applied also numerical stability problems caused by matrix inversion arise. In this contribution both problems are addressed and by introducing a pseudo-optimal regularization a common solution is derived.
Analysis on speed characteristics of Five Leg Inverter for different carrier based PWM scheme

This paper focused on the performance analysis of two induction motor drive fed by the Five Leg Inverter (FLI). Two carrier based PWM scheme for FLI are used in these motor control analysis which are known as Double Zero Sequence (DZS) Injection Method and Two Arm Modulation (TAM). Simulink/MATLAB is used as the simulation tool for analysis. Detailed investigation of the speed response characteristics under speed command change, load disturbance, steady state stability and dynamic response is performed based on these two schemes. The results reveal that both methods have good capabilities of independently controlling the two motors. Comparison of these methods show that, DZS method has better speed and torque ripple disturbance performance at half rated speed while TAM have better performance at lower rated speed. Further analysis for the same speed demand shows that TAM has better capability for a higher same speed operation range.
Oxidant-induced activation of cGMP-dependent protein kinase Iα mediates neuropathic pain after peripheral nerve injury.

AIMS Emerging lines of evidence indicate that oxidants such as hydrogen peroxide exert specific signaling functions during the processing of chronic pain. However, the mechanisms by which oxidants regulate pain processing in vivo remain poorly understood. Here, we investigated whether cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP)-dependent protein kinase Iα (cGKIα), which can be activated by oxidants independently of cGMP, serves as a primary redox target during pain processing. RESULTS After peripheral nerve injury, oxidant-induced cGKIα activation is increased in dorsal root ganglia of mice. Knock-in (KI) mice in which cGKIα cannot transduce oxidant signals demonstrated reduced neuropathic pain behaviors after peripheral nerve injury, and reduced pain behaviors after intrathecal delivery of oxidants. In contrast, acute nociceptive, inflammatory, and cGMP-induced pain behaviors were not impaired in these mice. INNOVATION Studying cGKIα KI mice, we provide the first evidence that oxidants activate cGKIα in sensory neurons after peripheral nerve injury in vivo. CONCLUSION Our results suggest that oxidant-induced activation of cGKIα specifically contributes to neuropathic pain processing, and that prevention of cGKIα redox activation could be a potential novel strategy to manage neuropathic pain.
Initial Experience With Biologic Polymer Scaffold (Poly-4-hydroxybuturate) in Complex Abdominal Wall Reconstruction

Objective: To evaluate the use of the new absorbable polymer scaffold poly-4-hydroxybutyrate (P4HB) in complex abdominal wall reconstruction. Background: Complex abdominal wall reconstruction has witnessed tremendous success in the last decade after the introduction of cadaveric biologic scaffolds. However, the use of cadaveric biologic mesh has been expensive and plagued by complications such as seroma, infection, and recurrent hernia. Despite widespread application of cadaveric biologic mesh, little data exist on the superiority of these materials in the setting of high-risk wounds in patients. P4HB, an absorbable polymer scaffold, may present a new alternative to these cadaveric biologic grafts. Methods: A retrospective analysis of our initial experience with the absorbable polymer scaffold P4HB compared with a consecutive contiguous group treated with porcine cadaveric mesh for complex abdominal wall reconstructions. Our analysis was performed using SAS 9.3 and Stata 12. Results: The P4HB group (n = 31) experienced shorter drain time (10.0 vs 14.3 d; P < 0.002), fewer complications (22.6% vs 40.5%; P < 0.046), and reherniation (6.5% vs 23.8%; P < 0.049) than the porcine cadaveric mesh group (n = 42). Multivariate analysis for infection identified: porcine cadaveric mesh odds ratio 2.82, length of stay odds ratio 1.11; complications: drinker odds ratio 6.52, porcine cadaveric mesh odds ratio 4.03, African American odds ratio 3.08, length of stay odds ratio 1.11; and hernia recurrence: porcine cadaveric mesh odds ratio 5.18, drinker odds ratio 3.62, African American odds ratio 0.24. Cost analysis identified that P4HB had a $7328.91 financial advantage in initial hospitalization and $2241.17 in the 90-day postdischarge global period resulting in $9570.07 per case advantage over porcine cadaveric mesh. Conclusions: In our early clinical experience with the absorbable polymer matrix scaffold P4HB, it seemed to provide superior clinical performance and value-based benefit compared with porcine cadaveric biologic mesh.
Fibronectin Type III Repeats Mediate RGD-independent Adhesion and Signaling through Activated β1 Integrins*

Many cell-surface and extracellular matrix proteins contain multiple modular domains known as fibronectin type III (FNIII) repeats. Cells adhere to the extracellular matrix proteins fibronectin and tenascin in part by the interaction of certain integrins with the Arg-Gly-Asp (RGD) sequence, displayed on specific FNIII repeats. We have found that, after experimental activation of β1 integrins, a number of cell types adhere and spread on FNIII repeats lacking RGD, derived from extracellular matrix proteins and cytokine receptors. Interaction between individual FNIII domains and β1 integrins mediates focal adhesion kinase phosphorylation and subsequent stress fiber and focal contact formation. These data suggest that many FNIII-containing proteins may bind and signal through activated β1 integrins, dramatically expanding the potential for integrin-dependent intercellular and cell-matrix communication.
The Influence of Joint Loading on Bone Marrow Lesions in the Knee

Background: Bone marrow lesions (BMLs) are considered as predictors of pain, disability, and structural progression of knee osteoarthritis. The relationship between knee loading and BMLs is not yet completely understood. Purpose: To summarize the available evidence regarding the relationship between joint loading and the prevalence and progression of BMLs in the tibiofemoral joint. Study Design: Meta-analysis. Methods: Three databases (PubMed, Web of Science, and The Cochrane Library) were systematically screened for studies encompassing BMLs and changes in knee loading. A methodological quality assessment was conducted, and a meta-analysis computing overall odds ratios (ORs) was performed where possible. Results: A total of 29 studies involving 7641 participants were included. Mechanical loading was categorized as body weight and composition, compartmental load, structural lesion, and physical activity. High compartmental loads and structural lesions increased the risk for BMLs (overall ORs ranging from 1.56 [95% CI, 1.13-2.15] to 8.2 [95% CI, 4.4-15.1]; P = .006). Body weight increased the risk for BMLs to a lesser extent (overall OR, 1.03; 95% CI, 1.01-1.05; P = .007). Contradictory results for the effect of physical activity on BMLs were found. Conclusion: Augmented compartmental loads and structural lesions increased the risk of the presence or progression of BMLs. Body weight increased the risk for BMLs to a lesser extent. Contradictory results for the effect of physical activity on BMLs may be explained by a dose-response relationship, knee alignment, and structural lesions. Clinical Relevance: It has been shown that unloading the knee temporarily may induce beneficial effects on osteoarthritis-related structural changes. Therefore, an early recognition of BMLs in the aging athlete’s knee may provide information to counter the onset and aggravation of symptomatic knee osteoarthritis by reducing the knee load.