Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Use of Hand Held Devices in a Western Australian Health Sector

This paper outlines the results of wireless development for a private healthcare provider in Western Australia. The case study is presented here discusses the software methodology used, problems encountered in developing the software application and then delivering it. Furthermore, the important issues associated with integration of new software with existing modules, human factors that impeded some aspects of development and issues associated with rigorous testing to ensure user requirements are also discussed
Preferences for groundnut products among urban residents in Ghana.

BACKGROUND The present study identifies factors influencing preferences for common groundnut products using information about product perceptions from residents in Ghana's cities collected in 2011. In Ghana, domestically produced groundnuts, processed into a variety of groundnut products, are a vital source of protein and other nutrients. RESULTS Response summaries provide insights about the eating frequency of various products, whereas a bivariate ordered probit model identifies factors influencing preferences for groundnut paste and roasted groundnuts. Attributes such as taste, protein content and healthfulness are important for roasted groundnuts, whereas aroma, taste and protein content are associated with a preference for groundnut paste. Large households prefer paste, whereas the less educated and those from households with children prefer roasted groundnuts. Adding a child (4-12 years old) increases probability of 'liking very much' roasted groundnuts and an additional adult at home changes that probability regarding groundnut paste. College-educated consumers prefer groundnut paste less than those with less education. Consumers from Tamale and Takoradi prefer roasted groundnuts and groundnut paste more than Accra households. CONCLUSIONS Taste and protein content are attributes of groundnut paste and roasted groundnuts preferred by consumers. Location is a significant factor shaping preference for roasted groundnuts and groundnut paste. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry.
Variations in retinal photoreceptor topography and the organization of the rod‐free zone reflect behavioral diversity in Australian passerines

The avian retina possesses one of the most diverse complements of photoreceptor types among vertebrates but little is known about their spatial distribution. Here we used retinal wholemounts and stereological methods to present the first complete maps of the topographic distribution of rods and cones in four species of Australian passerines with diverse trophic specializations. All species studied have one central and one temporal rod‐free zone. In the insectivorous yellow‐rumped thornbill, the central rod‐free zone is unusually large, occupying ∼17% (56°) of the retinal area (angular subtense), whereas in nectarivorous and frugivorous species it represents only ∼0.1% (5–7°) to 0.3% (10°) of the retinal area (angular subtense). In contrast, the temporal rod‐free zone varies little between species (∼0.02–0.4%; 2–10°). In all species, rods follow a pronounced dorsoventral gradient with highest densities in the ventral retina. The topographic distribution of cones is concentric and reveals a central fovea and a temporal area. In the yellow‐rumped thornbill, cone densities form an extended plateau surrounding the fovea, beyond which densities fall rapidly towards the retinal periphery. For the other species, cone densities decline gradually along a foveal to peripheral gradient. Estimates of spatial resolving power calculated using cone peak densities are higher in the central fovea (19–41 cycles/degree) than in the temporal area (9–15 cycles/degree). In conclusion, we suggest that the unusual organization of the rod‐free zone and the distinct topographic distribution of rods and cones correlate with specific ecological needs for enhanced visual sensitivity and spatial resolution in these birds. J. Comp. Neurol. 523:1073–1094, 2015. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Characterization and Calibration of PILATUS Detectors

Pilatus is a silicon hybrid pixel detector system for detecting X-rays in single photon counting mode. The PILATUS II chip, fabricated in a radiation tolerant design with a standard 0.25 mum CMOS process, was used to construct multichip modules with a size of 84 times 34 mm2 comprising 94'965 pixels. All calibrations and characterizations were carried out with monochromatic X-rays from a synchrotron source. In order to set any required threshold above the noise level between 2.14 keV and 22 keV the detector was calibrated with X-rays. An algorithm to adjust thresholds pixel-by-pixel and create trim files based on X-ray flat-field images was developed. The threshold dispersion was reduced from 343 eV to 36 eV by the means of trim files. An electronic noise of 447 eV has been measured. The PILATUS modules are suitable for various X-ray applications such as diffraction and imaging techniques.
Parieto‐occipital sources account for the increase in alpha activity with working memory load

The role of oscillatory alpha activity (8–13 Hz) in cognitive processing remains an open question. It has been debated whether alpha activity plays a direct role in the neuronal processing required for a given task or whether it reflects idling and/or functional inhibition. Recent electroencephalography (EEG) studies have demonstrated that alpha activity increases parametrically with load during retention in working memory paradigms. While it is known that the parieto‐occipital cortex is involved in the generation of the spontaneous alpha oscillations, it remains unknown where the sources of the memory‐dependent alpha activity are located. We recorded brain activity using magnetoencephalography (MEG) from human subjects performing a Sternberg memory task where faces were used as stimuli. Spectral analysis revealed a parametric increase in alpha activity with memory load over posterior brain areas. We then applied a source reconstruction technique that allowed us to map the parametric increase in alpha activity to the anatomical magnetic resonance (MR) images of the subject. The primary sources of the memory‐dependent alpha activity were in the vicinity of the parieto‐occipital sulcus. This region is not directly involved in working memory maintenance of faces. Our findings are consistent with the notion that alpha activity reflects disengagement or inhibition of the visual dorsal stream. We propose that the disengagement reflected in alpha power serves to suppress visual input in order to devote resources to structures responsible for working memory maintenance. Hum Brain Mapp 2007. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Mutations conferring resistance to zidovudine diminish the antiviral effect of stavudine plus didanosine

This study evaluated the influence of zidovudine (ZDV) resistance mutations on the antiviral effect of the combination of stavudine (D4T) plus didanosine (ddI) in patients treated previously with ZDV plus zalcitabine (ddC). Twenty patients who had been treated with ZDV plus ddC for a median duration of 11 months (range, 7–42 months) were switched to D4T (40 mg twice a day [BID]) + ddI (200 mg BID) in an open pilot study lasting 6 months. The CDC classes were A (n = 10) and B (n = 10). The median baseline CD4 count was 285/mm3 and the median baseline plasma virus RNA (Amplicor HIV Monitor RT‐PCR assay) was 4.6 log copies/ml. Population‐based sequence analysis detected mutations associated with resistance to reverse transcriptase (RT) inhibitors in the RT domain of virus RNA from baseline plasma samples in 13/20 (65%) patients. Twelve patients had mutations associated with zidovudine resistance (3 T215Y ‐ M41L ‐ L210W; 3 T215Y ‐ M41L; 2 T215Y ‐ L210W; 3 T215Y; 1 K70R) and 1 patient had a multi‐dideoxynucleoside resistance mutation (QI5IM). Patients with a resistance mutation had a significantly lower RNA suppression after 3 and 6 months (median RNA reduction −0.5 log and −0.1 log) than the remaining patients (−1.6 log and −2 log). Fifty percent of patients with wild‐type viruses had undetectable plasma RNA after 24 weeks of D4T plus ddI therapy, whereas all those with mutated viruses had HIV RNA concentration > 3 log copies/ml at week 24 (P < .05). Our finding may have implications when deciding on a second line therapy with three or four drugs that includes two new nucleoside analogues. Cross‐resistance between nucleoside analogues deserves maximal attention to ensure optimal antiretroviral therapy and design algorithms for antiretroviral management based on genotypic antiretroviral resistance testing. J. Med. Virol. 59:507–511, 1999. © 1999 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Cholinesterase Its significance in anaesthetic practice

Plasma cholinesterase is an enzyme which has importance to the anaesthetist primarily for its rôle in the metabolism of suxamethonium, although other anaesthetic related drugs that this enzyme metabolises are also increasingly important. In this article we review current thoughts on the function, profile and chemistry of plasma cholinesterase. Causes of variations in the activity of the enzyme are described and the basis of genetic variations is explained.
Interactions between the promoter and first intron are involved in transcriptional control of alpha 1(I) collagen gene expression

The first intron of the human collagen alpha 1(I) gene contains several positively and negatively acting elements. We have studied the transcription of collagen-human growth hormone fusion genes, containing deletions and rearrangements of collagen intronic sequences, by transient transfection of chick tendon fibroblasts and NIH 3T3 cells. In chick tendon fibroblasts, but not in 3T3 cells, inversion of intronic sequences containing a previously studied 274-base-pair segment, A274, resulted in markedly reduced human growth hormone mRNA levels as determined by an RNase protection assay. This inhibitory effect was largely alleviated when deletions were introduced in the collagen promoter of plasmids containing negatively oriented intronic sequences. Evidence for interaction of the promoter with the intronic segment, A274, was obtained by gel mobility shift assays. We suggest that promoter-intron interactions, mediated by DNA-binding proteins, regulate collagen gene transcription. Inversion of intronic segments containing critical interactive elements might then lead to an altered geometry and reduced activity of a transcriptional complex in those cells with sufficiently high levels of appropriate transcription factors. We further suggest that the deleted promoter segment plays a key role in directing DNA interactions involved in transcriptional control.
A future for neonatal alpha1-antitrypsin screening?

A WHO expert group recommends neonatal screening for alpha1-antitrypsin deficiency (alpha1ATD). Homozygous alpha1ATD PiZZ occurs in 1 in 5000 of the U.S. Caucasian population and up to 1 in 500 individuals of the European population, with a large regional variation. It is a risk factor that predisposes mainly to liver disease in early infancy and emphysema in early adulthood. Most importantly, smoking decreases the duration of the asymptomatic phase and life expectancy by 10-20 y. The Swedish alpha1AT screening programme and subsequent information and advice prevented the majority of adolescents from starting to smoke. The involved parents and alpha1ATD adolescents retrospectively recommended neonatal screening. Potential advantages of neonatal alpha1AT screening are: early diagnosis and treatment of neonatal liver disease, optimal treatment of fever and bacterial infections theoretically preventing liver cell damage, genetic advice and information about the consequences of passive and active smoking. Potential advantages of postponing screening until age 11-12y are: identification of alpha1ATD close to the age when smoking may start, and possibility for the child to take part in the screening decision. Disadvantages of alpha1AT screening are: psychosocial reactions--the mother probably being most vulnerable in the neonatal period--and discrimination by insurance companies and employers. Important uncertainties are: lack of knowledge concerning participation in a voluntary alpha1AT screening, psychosocial reactions and the efficacy of anti-smoking advice if the information is given to school-age children and families. Thus the question whether and when to screen for alpha1ATD is still the topic of lively debate.
The fate of female donor blastodermal cells in male chimeric chickens.

In previous experiments in our laboratories, chickens that are chimeric in their gamete, melanocyte, and blood cell populations have been produced by injection of dispersed stage X blastodermal donor cells into the subgerminal cavity of stage X recipient embryos. In some experiments, donor cells were transfected with reporter gene constructs prior to injection as a preliminary step in the production of transgenic birds. Chimerism was assessed by test mating, observation of plumage, and DNA fingerprinting. Methods were sought that would provide a relatively rapid analysis of the spatial distribution of descendants of donor cells in chimeras to assess the efficacy of various methods of chimera construction. To date, the sex of donor and recipient embryos was not known and, therefore, numerous mixed sex chimeras must have been constructed by chance, since donor cells were usually collected from several embryos rather than from individual embryos. The presence of female-derived cells was determined by in situ hybridization using a W-chromosome-specific DNA probe, using smears of washed erythrocytes from 16 phenotypically male chimeric chickens ranging in age from 4 days to 42 months posthatching. The proportion of female cells detected in the erythrocyte samples was zero (eight samples) or very low (0.020-0.083%), although 1% of the erythrocytes from a phenotypically male chick that was killed 4 days after hatch were female-derived. The low proportions of female-derived cells were surprising, considering that most of these chimeras had been produced by the injection of cells pooled from several donor embryos and most recipients had been exposed to gamma irradiation prior to injection, thus dramatically enhancing the level of incorporation of donor cells into the resulting chimeras. By contrast, 0-100% of the erythrocytes were female-derived in blood samples taken at 10 days of incubation from the chorioallantois of seven phenotypically normal male embryos that resulted from the injection of blastodermal cells pooled from five embryos into irradiated recipient embryos. Approximately 70% of the erythrocytes in a blood sample from a phenotypically normal female chimeric embryo were female-derived, and 100% of the erythrocytes examined from an intersex embryo bearing a right testis and a left ovary were female-derived. These results indicate that female-derived cells can contribute to the formation of erythropoietic tissue during the early development of what will become a phenotypically male chimeric embryo. It would appear, therefore, that female-derived cells are blocked in development or destroyed, or certain male-female combinations of cells may be lethal prior to hatching. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
Primary nociceptive afferents mediate the blood flow dysfunction in non-glabrous (hairy) skin of type 2 diabetes: a new model for the pathogenesis of microvascular dysfunction.

OBJECTIVE To test the independent contributions of vascular endothelium, sympathetic activation and inhibition, vessel distensibility, and nociceptor-mediated vasodilation in both glabrous and hairy skin circulations. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS We measured blood flow using laser Doppler techniques in 10 people with type 2 diabetes and 10 age- and BMI-matched healthy control subjects at the pulp of the index finger (glabrous skin) and the dorsum of the hand (hairy skin). A 5-min ischemic block of the arm was used to test vascular endothelium. Warming of the probe site to 45 degrees C tested neurogenic vasodilation in hairy skin only. Vessel distensibility was tested by gravitational pressure. RESULTS Basal blood flow and reactive hyperemia did not differ between groups at either skin site. The vasodilative response to local warming (P < 0.01) and limb lowering (P < 0.05) were significantly different between groups in hairy skin but not in glabrous skin in the absence of objective measured neuropathy. Nociceptor-mediated flow correlated significantly with the warm thermal threshold (r = -0.50, P < 0.05). Endothelial-mediated blood flow correlated with systolic blood pressure (r = -0.76, P < 0.01), LDL cholesterol (r = -0.62, P < 0.001), C-peptide (r = 0.65, P < 0.05), and triglycerides (r = 0.47, P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS These data suggest that neurogenic nociceptor-mediated vasodilation is impaired in subjects with type 2 diabetes when endothelial and sympathetic function are relatively intact. Heat-induced vasodilation may be a specific test of small heat-sensitive C-fiber peripheral neurons and may be an integral part of the metabolic syndrome.
Simply Scoring and Visualizing Portfolio Heterogeneity for Selected Problems

Organizations may seek diversification as a desirable characteristic of a portfolio, be it of research projects, research laboratories, supply vendors, task team personnel, or financial investments. Decision makers typically gauge such diversity subjectively. The very subjectivity of such decisions can make achieving consensus difficult and can open the decision makers to charges of unfairness. An objective measure of heterogeneity can simplify and speed such analysis while girding the decision makers against charges of bias. In this paper we develop and demonstrate a simple heterogeneity measure capable of addressing disparity and balance, two components of interest in measuring heterogeneity.We also note that dynamic 3D visualization, either with 2D projection or true stereoscopic pairs, is easily implement in a spreadsheet.
Comparison of Real-Time PCR for Detection of the tcdC Gene with Four Toxin Immunoassays and Culture in Diagnosis of Clostridium difficile Infection

ABSTRACT We have developed a rapid real-time PCR method using fluorescence resonance energy transfer probes and the LightCycler (Roche Diagnostics), which will detect the presence of the tcdC gene of Clostridium difficile in stool samples. Our PCR method also will identify the presence of base pair deletions, one of which (18 bp) has been associated with the “epidemic” toxin-hyperproducing strains. We compared the results of this PCR with those of three C. difficile toxin-detecting enzyme immunoassays (EIAs), an EIA for the detection of glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH), and culture of C. difficile. A total of 200 stool specimens were studied by the methods under comparison. C. difficile was isolated from 49 specimens by culture, and 44 of these were confirmed as containing one of the genes associated with toxin production (“toxigenic culture”). Using toxigenic culture as the “gold standard”, the sensitivities, specificities, and positive and negative predictive values, respectively, of the assays were 48%, 98%, 88%, and 87% for the Premier toxin A and B test; 48%, 99%, 91%, and 87% for the ImmunoCard toxin A & B test; 48%, 84%, 46%, and 85% for the Xpect C. difficile toxin A/B test; 32%, 100%, 100%, and 84% for the Triage C. difficile panel (for toxin A); and 86%, 97%, 90%, and 96% for the LightCycler PCR. Thus, in comparison to the sensitivity of toxigenic culture, the sensitivities of the toxin immunoassays were unacceptably low, while the LightCycler real-time PCR assay for the detection of the tcdC gene of C. difficile is sensitive and specific.
Effects of insulin-like growth factor-I and growth hormone on the net flux of amino acids across the hind limbs in the surgically traumatized pig.

1. After surgery three groups of six female pigs weighing on average 52.2 kg (SD 3.5) received vehicle, recombinant insulin-like factor-1 (364.4 micrograms day-1 kg-1) or recombinant human growth hormone (467.7 m-i.u. day-1 kg-1) for two post-operative days. Vehicle and peptides were infused intravenously together with total parenteral nutrition providing 129 kJ day-1 kg-1 non-protein calories and 0.35 g N day-1 kg-1. 2. On both post-operative days the mean concentration of insulin-like growth factor-1 in arterial blood samples was clearly below presurgical levels in animals receiving vehicle or recombinant human growth hormone, whereas recombinant human insulin-like growth factor-1 infusions more than restored insulin-like growth factor-1 concentrations. These last samples, however, contained significantly (P < 0.05) less insulin than those from other animals. 3. Infusion of recombinant human growth factor was often associated with higher circulating levels of amino acids compared with recombinant human insulin-like growth factor-1 infusions. Despite this, both hormones significantly (P < 0.05) increased the hind limb net balance of total amino acids on post-operative day 1. Net balances of -44.2, +69.5 and +100.9 mumol/min (pooled SE 35.3) were associated with infusion of vehicle, recombinant human insulin-like growth factor-1 and recombinant human growth hormone respectively. This response was also closely reflected in the group of non-essential amino acids. 4. The net efflux of alanine from the hind limbs was also significantly (P < 0.002) reduced, whereas glutamine was less affected. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
The Relative Contribution of Affect Load and Affect Distress as Predictors of Disturbed Dreaming

This is the first study to empirically investigate the heuristic model of dysphoric dreaming proposed by Levin and Nielsen (2007). Participants indicated their incidence of nightmares (NMs) and bad dreams (BDs) over 21 days, and rated their subsequent distress in daily dream logs. Results support the contention that the 2 constructs identified in the model, affect load (AL) and affect distress (AD), underlie NM production and are active in both the waking and sleeping states. As predicted, AL accounted for more unique variance to the prediction of incidences of disturbed dreaming (DD), whereas AD accounted for more unique variance to the prediction of distress over NMs and BDs. Taken together, these findings are consistent with Levin and Nielsen's (2007) model and bolster earlier findings that suggest that distress about DD remains a crucial component in the relation between DD frequency and waking psychopathology.