Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Family Functioning Mediates the Association Between Neurocognitive Functioning and Health-Related Quality of Life in Young Adult Survivors of Childhood Brain Tumors.

PURPOSE Childhood brain tumor (BT) survivors experience significant neurocognitive sequelae that affect health-related quality of life (HRQOL). A model of neurodevelopmental late effects and family functioning in childhood cancer survivors suggests associations between survivor neurocognitive functioning, family functioning, and survivor HRQOL. This study examines the concurrent associations between survivor neurocognitive functioning, family functioning, and survivor emotional HRQOL, and the indirect effects of neurocognitive functioning on survivor emotional HRQOL through family functioning. METHODS Participants included young adult-aged childhood BT survivors (18-30 years old; N=34) who were on average 16 years post-diagnosis, and their mothers. A brief neuropsychological battery assessed working and verbal memory, processing speed, and executive functioning. Survivors and mothers completed measures of family functioning, and mothers completed a proxy-report measure of survivor HRQOL. RESULTS Spearman bivariate correlations examined the associations between indices of survivor neurocognitive functioning and concurrent family functioning and survivor emotional HRQOL. Poorer survivor processing speed, working memory, verbal memory, and executive function were significantly associated with worse survivor- and mother-reported family functioning (r's range: 0.36-0.58). Additionally, worse survivor processing speed and executive function were significantly associated with poorer survivor emotional HRQOL (r's range: 0.44-0.48). Bootstrapping analyses provided evidence for the indirect effects of neurocognitive functioning on survivor emotional HRQOL through family functioning. CONCLUSION These findings suggest that family functioning is an important variable that might mitigate the negative influence of neurocognitive late effects on survivors and is a potential target in future interventions.
Identifying patterns of communication in patients attending memory clinics: a systematic review of observations and signs with potential diagnostic utility.

BACKGROUND Subjective cognitive complaints are commonly encountered in primary care and often result in memory clinic referral. However, meta-analyses have shown that such concerns do not consistently correspond to objective memory impairment or predict future dementia. Memory clinic referrals are increasing, with greater proportions of patients attending who do not have dementia. Studies of interaction during memory clinic assessments have identified conversational profiles that can differentiate between dementia and functional disorders of memory. To date, studies exploring communication patterns for the purpose of diagnosis have not been reviewed. Such profiles could reduce unnecessary investigations in patients without dementia. AIM To identify and collate signs and observable features of communication, which could clinically differentiate between dementia and functional disorders of memory. DESIGN AND SETTING This was a systematic review and synthesis of evidence from studies with heterogeneous methodologies. METHOD A qualitative, narrative description and typical memory clinic assessment were employed as a framework. RESULTS Sixteen studies met the criteria for selection. Two overarching themes emerged: 1) observable clues to incapacity and cognitive impairment during routine assessment and interaction, and 2) strategies and accounts for loss of abilities in people with dementia. CONCLUSION Whether the patient attends with a companion, how they participate, give autobiographical history, demonstrate working memory, and make qualitative observations during routine cognitive testing are all useful in building a diagnostic picture. Future studies should explore these phenomena in larger populations, over longer periods, include dementia subtypes, and develop robust definitions of functional memory disorders to facilitate comparison.
Cell Cycle Arrest of Proliferating Neuronal Cells by Serum Deprivation Can Result in Either Apoptosis or Differentiation

Abstract: Apoptotic cell death plays a critical role in the development of the nervous system. The death of mature nondividing neurons that fail to receive appropriate input from the target field has been extensively studied. However, the mechanisms mediating the extensive cell death occurring in areas of the developing brain where proliferating neuroblasts differentiate into mature nondividing neurons have not been analyzed. We show here that the cell cycle arrest of a proliferating cell of neuronal origin by removal of serum results in either apoptotic cell death or differentiation to a mature nondividing neuronal cell. The proportion of cells undergoing death or differentiation is influenced in opposite directions by treatment of the cells with cyclic AMP and retinoic acid. This suggests that following the withdrawal of signals stimulating neuroblast cell division, neuronal cells either can cease to suppress a constitutive suicide pathway and hence die by apoptosis or, alternatively, can differentiate into a mature neuronal cell. Regulation of the balance between apoptosis and neuronal differentiation could therefore play a critical role in controlling the numbers of mature neurons that form.
Tunneling radiation and entropy correction of arbitrary spin particles in Kerr-de Sitter black hole

Using the method beyond semiclassical approximation, the tunneling behavior of the arbitrary spin particles at the event horizon of Kerr-de Sitter black hole is researched, and the corrected Hawking temperature and the quantum tunneling rate are obtained. By the corrected temperature and the trace anomaly theory, the corrected entropy of Kerr-de Sitter black hole is derived.
An evaluation of a new prehospital pre-alert guidance tool

Background The requirement for guidance regarding ambulance crews pre-alerting patients into hospital emergency departments (ED) has been well established, but a clear guidance tool that supports a decision to pre-alert a receiving hospital is lacking. Aims To investigate the impact of a new pre-alert tool on current alerting practice and evaluate its ability to take the place of a prehospital early warning system. Methods Data were collected for a sample of patients brought by ambulance to the resuscitation area of Aberdeen Royal Infirmary ED over a 7-week period. Basic demographic information plus alert status and guidance prompt status was collected and compared with a pragmatic alert requirement. Analysis of ambulance crew alert decisions and the pre-alert guidance prompt advice was undertaken and compared. Results Ambulance crew decisions to alert had a sensitivity of 72% (CI 62% to 80%), specificity of 50% (CI 27% to 73%), positive predictive value (PPV) of 90% and negative predictive value (NPV) of 22%. The pre-alert guidance alert prompt had a sensitivity of 99% (CI 94% to 100%), specificity of 64% (CI 39% to 84%), PPV of 95% and NPV of 90%. 28% of patients were under-alerted by ambulance crews, mostly medical patients presenting with chest pain. Conclusions The pre-alert guidance tool shows face validity and superior ability to advise a pre-alert than ambulance crew decisions. It supplements a practitioners’ clinical decision-making and has been regarded as having a positive impact on ED triage and utilisation of resources. Further levels of validity are expected to be achieved with continued audit and ongoing use of this tool.
An efficient rule-based OPC approach using a DRC tool for 0.18 /spl mu/m ASIC

The increasing complexity and data volume of VLSI designs demand an efficient optical proximity correction (OPC) technique. In this paper, we address the issues related to the gate bridge, which is serious in sub-quarter micron technology, and the wide range of contact CD (Critical Dimension) variation. We present the efficient gate CD control method by introducing the critical area correction. In addition, the contact CD variation is reduced under the target CD range due to the combination of the contact biasing and the process calibration. The correction time and output data volume are drastically reduced by the hierarchical data manipulation using a DRC (Design Rule Check) tool, which basically exploits the characteristics of the design layers in ASICs. The newly proposed incremental on-line violation filtering method also reduces the correction cycle time significantly.
The Physiopathology of Endometriosis: Pollution and Dioxin

Reports in the literature of an increasing incidence of endometriosis in industrialized countries and increasing problems with pollution in these countries leads to speculation about a possible link between one of the most harmful components of pollution, dioxin, and endometriosis. To establish this link, we need to examine three issues more closely: What are the effects of dioxin, what is the true incidence of endometriosis, and what is the nature of the association between endometriosis and dioxin. This report reviews current thinking on these issues.
Two caspase‐mediated apoptotic pathways induced by rotenone toxicity in cortical neuronal cells

Our results presented here suggest that cortical neurons degenerate via two caspase‐mediated apoptotic pathways when challenged with 0.5 μM rotenone. Although these two pathways can be attributed to the loss of mitochondrial integrity, the triggers for these pathways are likely due to two separate subsequent events (the release of cytochrome c and the emergence of mitochondrial permeability transition [MPT]). Despite some reports suggesting that the release of cytochrome c is a consequence of MPT, the results of our time course experiments suggest otherwise. In fact, we observed that the release of cytochrome c occurred much earlier than MPT; hence, the former is unlikely to be a consequence of the latter. In addition, we observed that the presence of an MPT inhibitor did not attenuate the activation of caspase‐3, and that caspase‐1‐mediated cell death did not exhibit nuclear condensation and DNA fragmentation. Taken together, these results suggest that there are two routes by which cortical neurons degenerate during ischemic injury or in neurodegenerative diseases.
DEMOCRACY AND THE STRUGGLE FOR POLITICAL EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN IN NIGERIA

This paper discusses women's participation in politics and governance in Nigeria, in order to unravel the dynamics and factors that limit their visibility in the political system. Women's participation in politics in Nigeria has remained a contentious issue, despite many decades of struggle to improve their lot politically. Following an analysis of the ways in which gender relations shapes the lives of Nigerian women, and an extensive review of the trajectories of women's political participation in Nigeria, it is contended in this paper that a conundrum of factors, including contestable notions of citizenship, monetization of politics and poor socio-economic conditions of women, prevailing cultural attitudes towards women in politics,militate against women’s advancement. Other factors like corrupt, violent and prebendal electoral officialdom and a state-centered policy of quotas, collude to limit women's political advancement. Noting the role of unfavourable gender relations and state-centered structures and institutions in the political exclusion of women, it is suggested that a core group of women political activists mobilize around a vision of radical transformation and pursue incremental access to political power beginning at the local government level.
TaskGuides: instant wizards on the Web

IBM’s TaskGuide technology puts the power of wizards in the hands of Information Developers and Human Factors professionals. Based on the premise that task analysis is the most difficult part of creating an effective wizard, our tools help you create worldclass wizard help without writing code. This paper contrasts wizard-style help with cue cards, coaches, and agents, with a discussion of when each technology is appropriate. In addition, we outline our approach in designing the TaskGuide technology for maximum reuse. We also explain the main features of the TaskGuide Viewer, the display engine for TaskGuide scripts. Finally, we examine a recursive wizard that creates other wizards, demonstrating the flexibility of our SGML-based approach.
SemAligner: A Method and Tool for Aligning Chunks with Semantic Relation Types and Semantic Similarity Scores

This paper introduces a ruled-based method and software tool, called SemAligner, for aligning chunks across texts in a given pair of short English texts. The tool, based on the top performing method at the Interpretable Short Text Similarity shared task at SemEval 2015, where it was used with human annotated (gold) chunks, can now additionally process plain text-pairs using two powerful chunkers we developed, e.g. using Conditional Random Fields. Besides aligning chunks, the tool automatically assigns semantic relations to the aligned chunks (such as EQUI for equivalent and OPPO for opposite) and semantic similarity scores that measure the strength of the semantic relation between the aligned chunks. Experiments show that SemAligner performs competitively for system generated chunks and that these results are also comparable to results obtained on gold chunks. SemAligner has other capabilities such as handling various input formats and chunkers as well as extending lookup resources.
New Frontiers of Necrotizing Enterocolitis: From Pathophysiology to Treatment

Necrotizing enterocolitis [NEC] is an inflammatory disease of intestine largely occuring in preterm infants with a wide range of damage from minimal injury limited to mucosa to extensive necrosis of bowel wall and perforation. Despite advancements in neonatal care, mortality remains high [30% - 50%] and controversy still persists with regards to the most appropriate management of neonates with necrotizing enterocolitis. The main factors thought to be involved in the pathogenesis of NEC are: relatively hyper-reactive state of premature intestine, enteral feeding and bacterial colonization. In this review, we discuss current knowledge about the epidemiology, pathophysiology, imaging, medical and surgical management of necrotizing enterocolitis and describe novel strategies for prevention and treatment.
Vers l’intégration de l’approche interculturelle dans l’enseignement apprentissage du FOU à l’université marocaine

Il s’agit d’un article intitule « Vers l’integration de l’approche interculturelle dans l’enseignement apprentissage du FOU a l’universite marocaine » dans lequel nous essayons de presenter l’approche interculturelle et de voir comment nous pouvons l’integrer dans l’enseignement apprentissage du FOU (francais sur objectif universitaire) a l’universite marocaine, nous prenons comme public cible les etudiants de la Faculte Polydisciplinaire de Tetouan. Partant du principe que la dimension interculturelle est un element incontournable dans toute formation car elle permet de developper chez les etudiants des idees nouvelles. Nous cherchons par le present article de voir les demarches a adopter pour integrer l’interculturel dans la formation des etudiants de premiere annee filiere Sciences Economiques et Gestion. Dans un premier temps quelques definitions seront presentees pour mettre en exergue le terme interculturel. Ensuite, un etat des lieux de la formation Langue et Terminologie sera presente. Enfin, dans le cadre de l’approche didactique et pedagogique de l’interculturel, une formation a l’interculturel est developpee dans le but de tirer profit de cette experience tres enrichissante.
In vitro activity of several antimicrobial agents against Neisseria gonorrhoeae in the western region of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Introduction The causative organism of gonorrhoea, the gonococcus Neisseria gonorrhoeae was discovered byNeisser in 1879.Leistikow in 1882 and Bumm in 1885 grew the organism on culture medium and the latter also successfully inoculated the male urethra, producing characteristic symptoms and signs of gonorrhoea. Considerable changes have occurred over the last century in the incidence of gonorrhoea and other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) worldwide. Penicillin has been used as first line of therapy for gonorrhoea for over 40 years, but increased resistance of N gonorrhoeae to penicillin has been reported from many centres around the world. At present, the World Health Organisation guidelines recommend one of the following single dose drugs as the first line of therapy: ciprofloxacillin, 500 mg orally; ceftriaxone, 250 mg intramuscularly; or spectinomycin, 2 g intramuscularly. Penicillin is only recommended where resistance is rare. The aim of this study was to determine the antibiotic susceptibility of all N gonorrhoeae organisms isolated during a period of 3 years, and to compare the finding with similar published studies.
Questlab: A Web-Framework for Gamification of Seminars

This paper presents the concept and implementation of Questlab, a web-based platform for Gamification of seminars and classes. It will show how game elements and game mechanics can be used in learning environments and will present all aspects of the implemented platform. These aspects contain several game mechanics like avatars, experience points, achievements and some others. Combined with a usable user interface the system's focus is to offer a flexible, versatile learning environment which engages the user's motivation.
Balloon-assisted coil embolization of wide-necked aneurysms of the internal carotid artery: medium-term angiographic and clinical follow-up in 22 patients.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE The management of broad-necked cerebral aneurysms by Guglielmi detachable coils (GDCs) is technically challenging owing to a variety of factors, including difficulty in defining the aneurysm/parent vessel interface angiographically and problems in achieving complete occlusion, later predisposing the aneurysm to regrowth/recanalization. We sought to determine whether the use of intraluminal balloons to remodel the parent vessel/aneurysm interface during GDC embolization would provide a safe means of improving the efficacy of endovascular treatment of broad-necked aneurysms. METHODS Twenty-two saccular aneurysms of the internal carotid artery were treated with GDCs by using balloon remodeling techniques. All aneurysms were characterized by wide necks or were small with unfavorable neck/fundus ratios and required balloon assistance for coil embolization. Patients were followed up both clinically and angiographically. RESULTS By using a microcatheter-mounted nondetachable balloon to provide a temporary barrier across the aneurysmal neck, we were able to deploy GDCs safely within a variety of aneurysms. Among the 22 patients treated, aneurysmal occlusion on follow-up angiography (mean, 19 months) was found in 17 of 20 patients (two patients died and no follow-up studies were available). Observed or suspected thromboembolic events occurred in four of 22 patients, resulting in one permanent deficit. Twenty of the 22 patients had good to excellent clinical outcomes. CONCLUSION Although balloon-assisted coiling of cerebral aneurysms requires manipulation of a second microcatheter and an inflatable balloon, increasing its technical complexity, we believe that this method has utility in treating broad-necked aneurysms and small aneurysms that are otherwise suboptimally managed by conventional GDC deployment.
Design and implementation of intelligent systems with LEGO Mindstorms for undergraduate computer engineers

We provide a set of projects to put in practice artificial intelligence techniques using LEGO Mindstorms in an undergraduate computer degree, covering reactive and deliberative agents, rule‐based systems, graph search algorithms, and planning methods. The projects have been applied for teaching in a third‐year undergraduate subject of a computer engineering degree at the University of Granada (Spain). After the contextualization and development of the projects, we discuss the results, advantages, and drawbacks of our experience. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Comput Appl Eng Educ 22: 153–166, 2014
#LetThemStay: : Visual Representations of Protests and Community Mobilization for Asylum Seekers in Australia

This article is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC). Users may reproduce, disseminate, display, or adapt this article for non-commercial purposes, provided the author is properly cited. See https:/creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.
A man in his 30 s with recurrent vomiting and abdominal pain relieved by hot showers 2134 – 6

A man in his 30s was admitted to the medical ward with nausea, retching, vomiting and abdominal pain. Seven years previously he had been admitted with stabbing retrosternal pain that worsened with intake of food and drink. At that time a small hiatus hernia of 1 – 2 cm and a small protrusion down towards the Z line were demonstrated. Over the following years the patient was admitted several times with corresponding symptoms. During the last admission it appeared that he smoked marijuana once a week. On examination on admission the patient had epigastric pain, he was sweating, felt nauseated and vomited green fluid. He had a lean stature. His blood pressure was 140/ 90 mm Hg, pulse 48 and the temperature measured in his ear was 35.4 °C. There was slight tenderness on light palpation in the epigastrium. There was no diarrhoea, he had had a normal bowel movement the same morning. His medication was pantoprazole 40 mg  1. He had smoked marijuana on the day before admission. Pantoprazole infusion was started. He had metabolic acidosis with base excess (BE) – 9.0 mmol/l (–3 – 3 mmol/l) and lactate 5.1 mmol/l (0.5 – 2.2 mmol/l) but the circulation was not affected. Blood tests showed a haemoglobin of 17.7 g/100 ml (13.4 – 17.0 g/100 ml), leukocytes 12.9  109/l (3.7 – 10.0  109/l), potassium 4.9 mmol/l (3.5 – 4.4 mmol/l) and glucose 8.4 mmol/l (4.2 – 6.3 mmol/l). The serum ethanol was negative.
Sonography in the diagnosis of carpal tunnel syndrome: A critical review of the literature

Advances in ultrasound technology have made it possible to gain higher spatial resolution and even depict nerves with excellent visual quality. In this article, the literature concerning sonography in the diagnosis of carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is critically reviewed. We searched Medline for studies on sonography in the diagnosis of CTS and used the reference lists of the articles found. A total of seven studies on the diagnostic capabilities of sonography was found. There were considerable differences in study design. A reliable diagnosis of CTS could be made sonographically, mainly based on an increase in cross‐sectional area of the median nerve at the level of the pisiform or hamate bone. However, most studies could not compare the diagnostic capabilities of sonography to those of electrodiagnostic studies, because the latter was applied as the gold standard. Several other reports on the possible extra value of sonography in CTS are mentioned (mass lesions, anatomical variants, rheumatological diseases, renal dialysis–related amyloidosis, surgery, corticosteroid injection). It is probable that sonography will not replace electrodiagnostic studies, but may serve as an additional investigation. To gain further insight into the possible additional value of sonography, it is necessary to examine subcategories of CTS patients in which electrodiagnostic studies are equivocal. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Muscle Nerve 27: 26–33, 2003