Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Public Health Approach in Responding to the Spread of Helium Suicide in Hong Kong: A Case Report

Background: The use of the helium suicide method has been increasing in popularity in Hong Kong since 2012. We have learned a valuable lesson in curbing the spread of charcoal burning (CB) suicide in the past 15 years and hope to prevent the helium suicide method from taking off in the community. Aims: To document what actions have been taken to contain the spread of the helium suicide method and review the preliminary impact of these actions. Method: We adopted a public health approach by engaging stakeholders from multiple sectors, including the police force, the fire services department, coroners, pathologists, mass media, and online media outlets. Results: A monitoring system was established by compiling data extracted from news reports, coroners' reports, and police investigations. Risk and protective factors were identified. Intervention strategies were developed to strengthen protective factors and minimize risk factors. This novel suicide method has not spread as rapidly as the CB suicide method. The preliminary outcomes suggest our actions to be effective. Limitations: The count of helium suicides in 2015 might be low. The impacts of the interventions are only estimated and require additional empirical verifications. Conclusion: The public health approach of engaging multiple partners in the early phase of a potential epidemic can be a good guide to meeting the challenges posed by any new suicide methods that emerge in the future.
Primary visual cortex volume and total neuron number are reduced in schizophrenia

A number of studies that assessed the visual system in subjects with schizophrenia found impairments in early visual processing. Furthermore, functional imaging studies suggested changes in primary visual cortex activity in subjects with schizophrenia. Interestingly, postmortem studies of subjects with schizophrenia reported an increased density of neurons in the primary visual cortex (Brodmann's area 17, BA17). The observed changes in visual processing may thus be reflected in structural changes in the circuitry of BA17. To characterize the structural changes further we used stereological methods based on unbiased principles of sampling (Cavalieri's principle and the optical fractionator) to estimate the total volume and neuron number of BA17 in postmortem brains from 10 subjects with schizophrenia and 10 matched normal comparison subjects. In addition, we assessed cortical thickness. We found a marked and significant reduction in total neuron number (25%) and volume (22%) of BA17 in the schizophrenia group relative to the normal comparison subjects. In contrast, we found no changes in neuronal density or cortical thickness between the two groups. Subjects with schizophrenia therefore have a smaller cortical area allocated to primary visual perception. This finding suggests the existence of a schizophrenia‐related change in cortical parcellation. J. Comp. Neurol. 501:290–301, 2007. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Nanosized zinc oxide particles induce neural stem cell apoptosis

Given the intensive application of nanoscale zinc oxide (ZnO) materials in our life, growing concerns have arisen about its unintentional health and environmental impacts. In this study, the neurotoxicity of different sized ZnO nanoparticles in mouse neural stem cells (NSCs) was investigated. A cell viability assay indicated that ZnO nanoparticles manifested dose-dependent, but no size-dependent toxic effects on NSCs. Apoptotic cells were observed and analyzed by confocal microscopy, transmission electron microscopy examination, and flow cytometry. All the results support the viewpoint that the ZnO nanoparticle toxicity comes from the dissolved Zn2+ in the culture medium or inside cells. Our results highlight the need for caution during the use and disposal of ZnO manufactured nanomaterials to prevent the unintended environmental and health impacts.
The strigolactone story.

Strigolactones (SLs) were originally isolated from plant root exudates as germination stimulants for root parasitic plants of the family Orobanchaceae, including witchweeds (Striga spp.), broomrapes (Orobanche and Phelipanche spp.), and Alectra spp. , and so were regarded as detrimental to the producing plants. Their role as indispensable chemical signals for root colonization by symbiotic arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi was subsequently unveiled, and SLs then became recognized as beneficial plant metabolites. In addition to these functions in the rhizosphere, it has been recently shown that SLs or their metabolites are a novel class of plant hormones that inhibit shoot branching. Furthermore, SLs are suggested to have other biological functions in rhizosphere communications and in plant growth and development.
Predicting the onset of instabilities in frequency multipliers

Microwave multipliers are notoriously unstable with input power, bias and load variations. In this paper, we predict the onset of a chaotic type of instability using the Hopf bifurcation concept as the input power level is increased. The measurement and the predicted theoretical results are in agreement to within 1.5 dB. <<ETX>>
Modified FOLFIRINOX Regimen With Improved Safety and Maintained Efficacy in Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma

Objectives FOLFIRINOX (5-fluorouracil [5-FU], oxaliplatin, and irinotecan) as compared with gemcitabine in pancreatic cancer (PC) has superior activity and increased toxicity. The bolus 5-FU contributes to the toxicity. We hypothesized that the elimination of bolus 5-FU and use of hematopoietic growth factor will improve the safety profile without compromising the activity of FOLFIRINOX. Methods Sixty patients with PC treated with modified FOLFIRINOX (no bolus 5-FU) were reviewed. Patients were divided into metastatic or nonmetastatic (locally advanced or borderline resectable) disease. Toxicity, response rate, progression-free survival, and overall survival were evaluated. Results Nonmetastatic and metastatic disease were present in 24 (40%) and 36 (60%) patients, respectively. The incidence of grade 4 neutropenia, grade 3/4 diarrhea, and fatigue were 3%, 13%, and 13%, respectively. Response rate was 30%. The median progression-free survival for nonmetastatic disease was 13.7 months (95% confidence interval [CI], 9.6–24.6 months), and that for metastatic disease was 8.5 months (95% CI, 3.7–11.0 months), respectively. The median overall survival for nonmetastatic disease was 17.8 months (95% CI, 9.9 months to not estimable), and that for metastatic disease was and 9.0 months (95% CI, 7.1 months to not estimable), respectively. Conclusions Modified FOLFIRINOX has an improved safety profile with maintained efficacy in metastatic PC. Modified FOLFIRINOX has promising activity in nonmetastatic disease.
Toward a Normative Definition of Medical Professionalism

In recent years, professionalism in medicine has gained increasing attention. Many have called for a return to medical professionalism as a way to respond to the corporate transformation of the U.S. health care system. Yet there is no common understanding of what is meant by the word professionalism. To encourage dialog and to arrive eventually at some consensus, one needs a normative definition. The author proposes such a definition and asserts that the concept of medical professionalism must be grounded both in the nature of a profession and in the nature of physicians' work. Attributes of medical professionalism reflect societal expectations as they relate to physicians' responsibilities, not only to individual patients but to wider communities as well. The author identifies nine behaviors that constitute medical professionalism and that physicians must exhibit if they are to meet their obligations to their patients, their communities, and their profession. (For example, “Physicians subordinate their own interests to the interests of others.”) He argues that physicians must fully comprehend what medical professionalism entails. Serious negative consequences will ensue if physicians cease to exemplify the behaviors that constitute medical professionalism and hence abrogate their responsibilities both to their patients and to their chosen calling.
Gestures Enhance Foreign Language Learning

Language and gesture are highly interdependent systems that reciprocally influence each other. For example, performing a gesture when learning a word or a phrase enhances its retrieval compared to pure verbal learning. Although the enhancing effects of co-speech gestures on memory are known to be robust, the underlying neural mechanisms are still unclear. Here, we summarize the results of behavioral and neuroscientific studies. They indicate that the neural representation of words consists of complex multimodal networks connecting perception and motor acts that occur during learning. In this context, gestures can reinforce the sensorimotor representation of a word or a phrase, making it resistant to decay. Also, gestures can favor embodiment of abstract words by creating it from scratch. Thus, we propose the use of gesture as a facilitating educational tool that integrates body and mind.
Combining LBP and SIFT in Sparse Coding for Categorizing Scene Images

Local descriptors, Local Binary Pattern (LBP) and Scale Invariant Feature Transform (SIFT) are widely used in various computer applications. They emphasize different aspects of image contents. In this letter, we propose to combine them in sparse coding for categorizing scene images. First, we regularly extract LBP and SIFT features from training images. Then, corresponding to each feature, a visual word codebook is constructed. The obtained LBP and SIFT codebooks are used to create a two-dimensional table, in which each entry corresponds to an LBP visual word and a SIFT visual word. Given an input image, LBP and SIFT features extracted from the same positions of this image are encoded together based on sparse coding. After that, spatial max pooling is adopted to determine the image representation. Obtained image representations are converted into one-dimensional features and classified by utilizing SVM classifiers. Finally, we conduct extensive experiments on datasets of Scene Categories 8 and MIT 67 Indoor Scene to evaluate the proposed method. Obtained results demonstrate that combining features in the proposed manner is effective for scene categorization. key words: scene categorization, local binary pattern, scale invariant feature transform, sparse coding, feature combination
Coordinating Supply Chain with Demand and Price Factor Disruptions

This paper represents coordination policies for a one-supplier-one-retailer supply chain that experiences demand and price factor disruptions at the same time in the planning horizon. Up to now, in the context of supply chain the disruption management models have only incorporated a single disruption factor. We analyze the disruption management decisions from the supplier's point of view when demand and price factor disrupt simultaneously. We provide the coordination policies when the supplier and retailer take part in a Stackelberg game and supplier is the leader. The results show that the original production plan of the supplier has some robustness when the two disruptions happen at the same time. But the retail price of the retailer should change with the disruptions. The all-unit quantity discount policy AQDP or the capacitated linear price policy CLPP can be used to coordinate the supply chain in this case but the coordination policies should change with the disruptions too
Trace replay based I / O performance studies for enterprise workload migration

Predicting the performance of an application before migrating and deploying on a target system is a daunting but important task. The performance benchmarking of an application in a new environment is a time consuming and expensive process. An approach that performs performance benchmarking of complex application in a new environment without deploying will be an advantage. We have developed and tested a method for predicting the performance of an IO intensive multithreaded enterprise application workload on target storage systems. Our approach is based on well-known trace and replay method. We extract traces of an IO intensive enterprise workload representing temporal and spatial characteristics (e.g. read and write requests) for a smaller workload. These traces are replayed on the target storage system. Using our previously developed tool called PerfExt [1], we can predict the performance of two realistic web applications with less than 15% error on traditional hard disk drive (HDD) and Solid State Drive (SSD) as storage system on the target platform.
In vitro approaches to investigate mechanism-based inactivation of CYP enzymes

Mechanism-based inactivation (MBI) of human drug-metabolising CYP enzymes is an important consideration in the preclinical ADME evaluation of new drug candidates. In this report, the in vitro approaches used to investigate MBI of CYP enzymes are described, with an emphasis on the characterisation required to assess potential drug–drug interactions. Recent disparities in MBI data between in vitro test systems are also reviewed, highlighting the limitations of Escherichia coli-expressed human recombinant CYP in the prediction of drug–drug interactions that arise via MBI.
Beam tracking approach for single–shot retrieval of absorption, refraction, and dark–field signals with laboratory x–ray sources

We present the translation of the beam tracking approach for x–ray phase–contrast and dark–field imaging, recently demonstrated using synchrotron radiation, to a laboratory setup. A single absorbing mask is used before the sample, and a local Gaussian interpolation of the beam at the detector is used to extract absorption, refraction, and dark–field signals from a single exposure of the sample. Multiple exposures can be acquired when high resolution is needed, as shown here. A theoretical analysis of the effect of polychromaticity on the retrieved signals, and of the artifacts this might cause when existing retrieval methods are used, is also discussed.
HIV infection in patients admitted to a general hospital in Malawi.

This study presents data revealing the patterns of disease of medical inpatients of Zomba General hospital during 1986-1988 who were positive for Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) antibody. In total 352 inpatients were diagnosed as having illnesses related to HIV infection. The average age of the male subjects was 31.4 years with a range of 17-66. The female subjects averaged 24.1 years with a range of 15-39. Tests for HIV antibody were performed only if immune deficiency was suspected using the World Health Organizations definition of a clinical case of Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome. 2 or more of the following major signs and 1 or more minor signs in the absence of other causes were required: unexplained major signs specific diagnosis and conditions for example atypical Kaposis sarcoma and cases of tuberculosis. Tuberculosis was the commonest infection related to HIV accounting for 115 admissions followed by "Slim disease" and Kaposis sarcoma. Appreciable weight loss chronic cough and prolonged fever respectively were the most common signs evidenced. The average number of patients positive for HIV antibody rose from 2 per month to over 30 per month by the 3rd quarter of 1988. By the middle of 1988 over 10% of all patients with medical admissions had illnesses related to HIV. The magnitude of the AIDS epidemic in Malawi is considered to be seriously underestimated and the spread of HIV is inevitable. Limitations of the World Health Organizations guidelines are discussed particularly as regards testing of patients with tuberculosis.
A novel management database in obstetrics and gynaecology to introduce the electronic healthcare record and improve the clinical audit process.

OBJECTIVES To design a system capable of recording complete and accurate electronic patient records with respect to obstetrics and gynaecology, with the ability to perform instant statistically summaries of data. BACKGROUND Electronic patient records have been shown to provide numerous benefits for the clinician, with respect to patient consultation, accurate recording of data, medical audit and statistical analysis. In Northern Ireland there is no database designed to cover all the major clinical aspects of obstetrics and gynaecology. This project incorporates all aspects of obstetrics and gynaecology into a single database. METHODS Database designed using Filemaker pro 7, Macromedia Fireworks 8, and Microsoft photodraw. Problems specific to obstetrics and gynaecology included recording multiple pregnancy data, and the lack of a unique patient number (the current system in Northern Ireland gives patients a unique hospital number, and a separate maternity number for each pregnancy). Linking all of these sources was a major component of this database. The database contains many intrinsic tabulations, relationships, programming scripts and calculations to combine files and calculate important statistical information for clinicians automatically. RESULTS A successful audit of delivery statistics for December 05 was performed using the system. Several additional audits are currently under completion using the database. The major audit, completion date end April 06, is a 5 month summary of delivery data (Dec-April) based on mode of delivery, Robson groups, and Caesarian -Section rate among specified patient sub-groups. CONCLUSION The system has been successful in its initial stages with obvious improvements to the medical audit process already apparent. The system should prove to be a valuable addition to the department and ultimately improve patient care. The ability to provide instant access to clinical data and statistics will simplify and improve the audit process, improving clinical governance. The management of the OB/GYN department should benefit greatly.
Effects of business internships on job marketability: the employers' perspective

– This paper seeks to report the results of an empirical investigation of the relationship between internship participation and student employment marketability. The study aims to identify the value that employers attribute to internships as a qualification for employment and as a factor in determining compensation. , – The study presents the results of a survey of 185 employers of 392 interns enrolled in an AACSB‐accredited business college in a Northeastern US university. The survey examined the perceived value of the internship experience, the effect of intern performance on internship value perceptions, and the relationship between internship participation and employer selection and compensation decisions. , – The survey results indicate significantly more full‐time opportunities for undergraduates with internship experience, corroborating earlier published empirical research. Additionally, while even average‐performing interns were significantly more likely to receive full‐time job offers than non‐interns, high‐performing interns were more likely to receive higher starting salaries. Finally, the study shows that high intern performance results in enhanced employer‐perceived value of the internship program. , – Field internships are endorsed by business schools as an effective way to gain practical experience and enhance employment marketability. However, few studies have provided empirical evidence linking internship participation to success in postgraduation employment. The study confirms the value of an internship in job marketability. In addition, the study provides an estimate of the perceived value of internship experience in employee compensation. Finally, the paper affirms the internship as a component of experiential learning that can enhance the employability development opportunities offered by institutions of higher learning.
Recombinant Human Parvovirus B19 Vectors: Erythrocyte P Antigen Is Necessary but Not Sufficient for Successful Transduction of Human Hematopoietic Cells

ABSTRACT The blood group P antigen, known to be abundantly expressed on erythroid cells, has been reported to be the cellular receptor for parvovirus B19. We have described the development of recombinant parvovirus B19 vectors with which high-efficiency, erythroid lineage-restricted transduction can be achieved (S. Ponnazhagan, K. A. Weigel, S. P. Raikwar, P. Mukherjee, M. C. Yoder, and A. Srivastava, J. Virol. 72:5224–5230, 1998). However, since a low-level transduction of nonerythroid cells could also be detected and since P antigen is expressed in nonerythroid cells, we reevaluated the role of P antigen in the viral binding and entry into cells. Cell surface expression analyses revealed that ∼75% of primary human bone marrow mononuclear erythroid cells and ∼31% of cells in the nonerythroid population were positive for P antigen. Two human erythroleukemia cell lines, HEL and K562, and a human promyelocytic leukemia cell line, HL-60, were also examined for P antigen expression and binding and entry of the vector. HEL and K562 cells showed intermediate levels, whereas HL-60 cells demonstrated high levels of expression of P antigen. However, the efficiency of vector binding to these cells did not correlate with P antigen expression. Moreover, despite P antigen positivity and efficient viral binding, HEL, K562, and HL-60 cells could not be transduced with the vector. Low levels of P antigen expression could also be detected in two primary cell types, human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) and normal human lung fibroblasts (NHLF). In addition, vector binding occurred in both cell types and was inhibited by globoside, indicating the involvement of P antigen in virus binding to these cells. These primary cells could be efficiently transduced with the recombinant vector. These data suggest that (i) P antigen is expressed on a variety of cell types and is involved in binding of parvovirus B19 to human cells, (ii) the level of P antigen expression does not correlate with the efficiency of viral binding, (iii) P antigen is necessary but not sufficient for parvovirus B19 entry into cells, and (iv) parvovirus B19 vectors can be used to transduce HUVEC and NHLF. These studies further suggest the existence of a putative cellular coreceptor for efficient entry of parvovirus B19 into human cells.
Validating CPT Typical Times for Medicare Office Evaluation and Management (E/M) Services

Every 5 years, the federal government reviews the Medicare Fee Schedule for changes in the work effort physicians personally devote to office visits. Using physician face-to-face times reported in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Ambulatory Care Survey (NAMCS), guideline office visit times associated with the 1997-1998 mix of Medicare claims averaged 9 percent longer versus NAMCS; Medicare billed visits with new patients were 32 percent longer. Surgeons and dermatologists had the largest discrepancies in Medicare versus NAMCS times. If CPT guideline times currently in use are now overstated, then intraservice work effort is likely overstated given the high correlation of time with work effort, and Medicare payment levels need to be reduced. Upcoding visit content to higher paid CPT visit codes may also explain seemingly longer Medicare billed times and call for payment reductions as well.