Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Use of routine interventions in vaginal labor and birth: findings from the Maternity Experiences Survey.

BACKGROUND Intervention rates in maternity practices vary considerably across Canadian provinces and territories. The objective of this study was to describe the use of routine interventions and practices in labor and birth as reported by women in the Maternity Experiences Survey of the Canadian Perinatal Surveillance System. Rates of interventions and practices are considered in the light of current evidence and both Canadian and international recommendations. METHODS A sample of 8,244 estimated eligible women was identified from a randomly selected sample of recently born infants drawn from the May 2006 Canadian Census and stratified primarily by province and territory. Birth mothers living with their infants at the time of interview were invited to participate in a computer-assisted telephone interview conducted by Statistics Canada on behalf of the Public Health Agency of Canada. Interviews averaged 45 minutes long and were completed when infants were between 5 and 10 months old (9-14 mo in the territories). Completed responses were obtained from 6,421 women (78%). RESULTS Women frequently reported electronic fetal monitoring, a health care practitioner starting or speeding up their labor (or trying to do so), epidural anesthesia, episiotomy, and a supine position for birth. Some women also reported pubic or perineal shaves, enemas, and pushing on the top of their abdomen. CONCLUSIONS Several practices and interventions were commonly reported in labor and birth in Canada, although evidence and Canadian and international guidelines recommend against their routine use. Practices not recommended for use at all, such as shaving, were also reported.
On securing publish-subscribe systems with security groups

In this paper we present a secure publish-subscribe service conceived to support cooperation between organizations. The service is based on the notion of security group, an overlay composed of brokers representing organizations that guarantees confidentiality and integrity in end-to-end delivery of messages and supports clients mobility. A security group is dynamic and can be formed only by trusted brokers, i.e., brokers fulfilling the group admission policy. An early prototype of the system has been implemented.
Effector Role of the Epithelial Compartment in Inflammational a

Epithelial cells lining mucosal tissues traditionally provide physical defence against external microbes, while allowing selective absorption. A more sophisticated contribution to defence was recognized with the description of the secretory immune system, where transport across epithelial cells was dependent upon surface receptors for dimeric IgA, and the observation that the local immune response could in turn regulate uptake of macromolecules. ’ A more complex relationship between epithelial cells and both innate and adaptive immunity has been recognized with the observation that epithelial cells can present antigen from the environment to lymphoid cells. More recently, it has become evident that epithelial cells can produce a number of cytokine messenger molecules capable of significantly influencing inflammation. These newly recognized functions of mucosal epithelial cells are the focus of this paper.
The Perception of Emotions in Noisified Nonsense Speech

Noise pollution is part of our daily life, affecting millions of people, particularly those living in urban environments. Noise alters our perception and decreases our ability to understand others. Considering this, speech perception in background noise has been extensively studied, showing that especially white noise can damage listener perception. However, the perception of emotions in noisified speech has not been explored with as much depth. In the present study, we use artificial background noise conditions, by applying noise to a subset of the GEMEP corpus (emotions expressed in nonsense speech). Noises were at varying intensities and ‘colours’; white, pink, and brownian. The categorical and dimensional perceptual test was completed by 26 listeners. The results indicate that background noise conditions influence the perception of emotion in speech – pink noise most, brownian least. Worsened perception invokes higher confusion, especially with sadness, an emotion with less pronounced prosodic characteristics. Yet, all this does not lead to a break-down of the ‘cognitive-emotional space’ in a Nonmetric MultiDimensional Scaling representation. The gender of speakers and the cultural background of listeners do not seem to play a role.
Cutting Edge: Regulation of CD8+ T Cell Proliferation by 2B4/CD48 Interactions1

The biological function of 2B4, a CD48-binding molecule expressed on T cells with an activation/memory phenotype, is not clear. In this report, we demonstrate that proliferation of CD8+ T cells is regulated by 2B4. Proliferative responses of CD8+ T cells were significantly reduced by anti-2B4 Ab. The effects were not potentiated by anti-CD48 Ab, suggesting that the observed responses were driven by 2B4/CD48 interactions. Surprisingly, the 2B4/CD48-dependent proliferative responses were also observed in the absence of APCs. This suggests that 2B4/CD48 interactions can occur directly between T cells. Furthermore, when activated 2B4+CD8+ T cells were mixed with 2B4−CD8+ TCR-transgenic T cells and specific peptide-loaded APC, the proliferation of the latter T cells was inhibited by anti-2B4 Ab. Taken together, this suggests that 2B4 on activated/memory T cells serves as a ligand for CD48, and by its ability to interact with CD48 provides costimulatory-like function for neighboring T cells.
The concerted activities of Pax 4 and Nkx 2 . 2 are essential to initiate pancreatic h-cell differentiation

Pancreatic h cells play a central role in maintaining glucose homeostasis because they secrete insulin in response to increased level of blood glucose; failure of this capacity constitutes a major component of the pathogenesis of diabetes. The identification of key regulators of pancreatic h-cell differentiation is relevant for the overall understanding of this process and for future experiments aimed at regenerating insulin-producing h cells from pancreatic or embryonic stem cells. Several studies using transgenic or knockout mice have established that the development and function of pancreatic h cells are controlled by several genes encoding specific transcription factors. By inactivating the homeobox gene Pax4, we previously demonstrated that its function is required for the formation of mature insulin-producing cells. Here, we show that during pancreas ontogeny, Pax4 is expressed in differentiating endocrine cells, including h cells. Pax4 activity appears essential for appropriate initiation of h-cell differentiation because loss of Pax4 prevents the expression of Pdx1, HB9 and insulin in h-cell precursors. This role of Pax4 appears to be accomplished via its genetic interaction with another homeobox gene, Nkx2.2. D 2003 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
MRI measurements of cerebral deoxyhaemoglobin concentration [dHb]—correlation with near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS)

Changes in physiological parameters such as cerebral blood flow, cerebral blood volume, oxygen extraction, and the size and distribution of cerebral blood vessels, result in changes in the local concentration of deoxyhaemoglobin ([dHb]). The purpose of this study was to quantitatively investigate the dependence of the R2* relaxation rate upon the [dHb] per voxel. Five neonatal piglets were studied in a 7 T/20 cm bore magnet. MRI was conducted using a 2.5 cm diameter surface coil placed over the parietal lobes. Four progressively T2*‐weighted images were acquired, allowing the absolute quantitation of R2*. Simultaneous near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) measurements were made from an area encompassing the MR imaging slice, and allowed the absolute quantitation of [dHb]. The arterial oxygen saturation (SaO2) of the piglet was lowered stepwise by decreasing the fractional inspired oxygen concentration (FiO2), which precipitated a change in [dHb]. NIRS and MRI measurements were made at each FiO2 step. The results demonstrate an extremely strong, linear relationship between R2* as determined by MRI and [dHb], as measured by NIRS. Whereas NIRS can only give us a global measure of [dHb], the results suggest the future use of MRI in producing high resolution relaxation rate maps related to the [dHb] distribution of the brain. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Semi automatic MRI prostate segmentation based on wavelet multiscale products

Currently, prostate cancer is the third leading cause of cancer-related deaths among men in North America. As with many others types of cancer, early detection and treatment greatly increases the patient's chance of survival. MRI prostate segmentation allows clinical personnel to design an accurate treatment plan. A novel method for MRI prostate imagery segmentation is proposed in this paper. This method exploits the different behavior presented by signal singularities and noise in the wavelet domain in order to accurately detect the borders around the prostate. The prostate contour is then traced by using a set of spatially variant rules that are based on prior knowledge about the general shape of the prostate. The proposed method yielded promising results when applied to real data.
New approach for a reliable in vitro sun protection factor method – Part II: Practical aspects and implementations

Our previous paper (Part I: Principle and mathematical aspects) presented a new reliable in vitro sun protection factor (SPF) method and demonstrated it to be reproducible and correlated with the in vivo method. Nevertheless, the relevance of an international method should to be adaptable to all products on the market and demonstrated with a blind test. Thus, the aim of this second article was to focus on the practical aspects and implementation (Part II) of a large population of different commercially available sunscreen formulations to obtain similar in vivo SPF results for the purpose of labelling.
Human Computer Interaction

Human–computer interaction (HCI) is the study of interaction between users and computers. Here we discuss numerous ways how the interaction between human and computer can be simplified. In today’s world when technological development throughout world is growing exponentially HCI is a field where we require considerable efforts to match up the current technological progress. Here we discuss various design methodologies which helps us to the futuristic developments that can be achieved. According to the view of computer scientists and Engineers in future we will be having such a technological advancement in this field that amazes world.
Extended dynamic matrix control design for a DC-DC power converter

EDMC is an extended version of the dynamic matrix control (DMC) approach to control nonlinear processes. In this method, control input is determined based on linear model approximation of the process in each control/optimization interval. The difference between linear and nonlinear models of the process is considered as the known part of the feedback signal in DMC control formulation. Usually the fixed point or the secant method is applied to reduce the difference between two models. In this paper, an EDMC controller is designed for a DC-DC power converter of the boost type. The behavior of the scheme is discussed with the transient and steady state response to step and sinusoidal references.
Active Resource Management for Declarative Data-Flow Processing

S-Net is a declarative asynchronous data-flow coordination language. Like many other high-level multi-core programming approaches, the S-Net runtime system makes use of light-weight task abstractions that are automatically mapped to a set of heavy-weight kernel threads for execution. The number of kernel threads is typically motivated by the number of cores in the hardware. We argue that such a fixed choice of kernel threads is suboptimal in two scenarios. Firstly, an application may temporarily expose less concurrency than the underlying hardware offers. In this case the cores waste energy. Secondly, the number of hardware cores effectively available to an application may dynamically change in multi-application and/or multi-user environments. This leads to an over-approximation of the available hardware by individual applications, costly time scheduling by the operating system and, as a consequence, to both waste of energy and loss of performance. We propose an active resource management layer for S-Net that effectively overcomes these issues.
EVENT-RELATED POTENTIALS IN THE ELDERLY WITH NEW MILD HYPERTENSION

Hypertension is a risk factor for cerebrovascular diseases (CVD) and cognitive impairment and the relative risk of CVD at every level of blood pressure (BP) is greater among the elderly. We submitted 20 elderly affected by new mild hypertension and 10 elderly normotensives to 24-hour ambulatory BP monitoring (ABPM), to evaluate their cognitive state using the Mini-Mental-State-Examination and to the recording of related acoustic evoked potentials (P300 and N2). We did not find significant differences for P300 latency between hypertensives and normotensives, while N2 latency recording showed a statistically significant protracted value in elderly hypertensives. In these patients we found a significant correlation between the N2 latency and systolic blood pressure values recorded by ABPM . These results demonstrated early functional alterations of cognitive state in elderly hypertensives, that are related to systolic blood pressure and future data might point to an earlier use of therapy.
Job performance of subcontractor workers in the construction industry

This paper focuses on job performance of subcontractor workers in the construction industry. Every construction project requires the services of many professional subcontractors. The performance of subcontractor workers plays an important role in the quality of a construction project. Several demographic variables, such as age, education, number of children, and payment, affect the level of job performance, and are worthy of manager attention. The results of this study provide insight into the job performance of construction workers, and a base to address ways to improve worker performance to ensure the workforce.
Detection of Hepatitis B DNA Sequences on Polyelectrolyte Based Non-Covalently Functionalized Flexible Plastic Substrates

Development of simple functionalization methods to attach biomolecules such as proteins and DNA on inexpensive substrates is important for widespread use of low cost, disposable biosensors. Here, we describe a method based on polyelectrolyte multilayers to attach single stranded DNA molecules to conventional glass slides as well as a completely non-standard substrate, namely flexible plastic transparency sheets. We then use the functionalized transparency sheets to specifically detect single stranded Hepatitis B DNA sequences from samples. We also demonstrate a blocking method for reducing non-specific binding of target DNA sequences using negatively charged polyelectrolyte molecules. The polyelectrolyte based functionalization method, which relies on surface charge as opposed to covalent surface linkages, could be an attractive platform to develop assays on inexpensive substrates for low cost biosensing.
Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance Imaging—Incremental Value in a Series of 361 Patients Demonstrating Cost Savings and Clinical Benefits: An Outcome-Based Study

Background: This study was designed to assess the clinical impact and cost-benefit of cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging (CMR). In the face of current health care cost concerns, cardiac imaging modalities have come under focused review. Data related to CMR clinical impact and cost-benefit are lacking. Methods and Results: Retrospective review of 361 consecutive patients (pts) who underwent CMR exams was conducted. Indications for CMR were tabulated for appropriateness criteria. Components of the CMR exam were identified along with evidence of clinical impact. The cost of each CMR exam was ascertained along with cost savings attributable to the CMR exam for calculation of an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio. A total of 354 of 361 pts (98%) had diagnostic quality studies. Of the 361 pts, 350 (97%) had at least 1 published Appropriateness Criterion for CMR. A significant clinical impact attributable to CMR exam results was observed in 256 of 361 pts (71%). The CMR exam resulted in a new diagnosis in 69 of 361 (27%) pts. Cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging results avoided invasive procedures in 38 (11%) pts and prevented additional diagnostic testing in 26 (7%) pts. Comparison of health care savings using CMR as opposed to current standards of care showed a net cost savings of $833 037, ie, per patient cost savings of $2308. Conclusions: Cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging provides diagnostic image quality in >98% of cases. Cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging findings have documentable clinical impact on patient management in 71% of pts undergoing the exam, in a cost beneficial manner.
Effectiveness of Total Contact Orthosis for Plantar Pressure Redistribution in Neuropathic Diabetic Patients During Different Walking Activities

Background: Using a total contact orthosis (TCO) is an effective method to offload in diabetic patients with foot neuropathy. However, the redistribution of peak plantar pressure is mostly observed during level walking, which may differ from other walking activities. The aim of this study was to investigate the plantar pressure from 4 regions of the foot during different walking activities (level walking, ramp ascending, ramp descending, stair ascending, and stair descending) in neuropathic diabetic patients with and without a TCO. Methods: Sixteen neuropathic diabetic patients aged 40 to 60 years with calluses and hallux valgus were included in this study and were provided with TCOs made up of multifoam, Plastazote, and microcellular rubber. The plantar pressure and contact area with the TCO and without the TCO were recorded using the Pedar X system during different walking activities. Results: A significant reduction of plantar pressure during different walking activities at the toes and forefoot regions was observed while walking with the TCO compared with walking without the TCO (control condition). Plantar pressure increased at the midfoot region when walking with the TCO, and no significant difference was observed at the hindfoot region between the control and TCO conditions. Furthermore, maximum contact area was observed during level walking with the TCO compared with other walking activities. Conclusion: The TCO significantly reduced and redistributed the peak plantar pressure from the sites where the ulceration rate is higher at the toes and forefoot compared with the other regions of the foot. Level of evidence: Therapeutic level II, lesser quality randomized controlled trial
The KOX zinc finger genes: Genome wide mapping of 368 ZNF PAC clones with zinc finger gene clusters predominantly in 23 chromosomal loci are confirmed by human sequences annotated in EnsEMBL

The chromosome locations of 368 human Kruppel-type zinc finger (ZNF) PAC clones were physically mapped by FISH to human chromosomes in support of recent efforts of assigning KOX cDNAs (KOX1–KOX32) to zinc finger gene clusters. Recent mapping results were validated and confirmed by sequence comparisons to zinc finger gene sequences automatically annotated in EnsEMBL. In toto, 799 Kruppel-type zinc finger genes have been annotated in EnsEMBL of which 290 genes are found to encode KRAB domains. Sequence homologies of the zinc finger domains were used to establish phylogenic trees of KOX zinc finger genes as well as of all KRAB containing human zinc finger and KOX genes documenting the evolution of KRAB zinc finger genes late in primate evolution. A list of 368 assigned ZNF PAC clones is available under http://www.pzr. uni-rostock.de/supplements.
Structure of the rat cytomegalovirus genome termini

The lytic replication cycle of herpesviruses can be divided into the following three steps: (i) circularization, in which, after infection, the termini of the linear double-stranded viral genome are fused; (ii) replication, in which the circular DNA serves as template for DNA replication, which generates large DNA concatemers; and (iii) maturation, in which the concatemeric viral DNA is processed into unit-length genomes, which are packaged into capsids. Sequences at the termini of the linear virion DNA are thought to play a key role in both genome circularization and maturation. To investigate the mechanism of these processes in the replication of rat cytomegalovirus (RCMV), we cloned, sequenced, and characterized the genomic termini of this betaherpesvirus. Both RCMV genomic termini were found to contain a single copy of a direct terminal repeat (TR). The TR sequence is 504 bp in length, has a high GC content (76%), and is not repeated at internal sites within the RCMV genome. The TR comprises several small internal direct repeats as well as two sequences which are homologous to herpesvirus pac-1 and pac-2 sites, respectively. The organization of the RCMV TR is unique among cytomegaloviruses with respect to the position of the pac sequences: pac-1 is located near the left end of the TR, whereas pac-2 is present near the right end. Both RCMV DNA termini carry an extension of a single nucleotide at the 3' end. Since these nucleotides are complementary, circularization of the viral genome is likely to occur via a simple ligation reaction.
Mapping of pharmacological space

The analysis of pharmacological space is becoming highly relevant in light of the emerging polypharmacology paradigm, that is, the increasing evidence that many drugs elicit therapeutic effects and adverse drug reactions through interactions with multiple targets. To better understand desired and undesired polypharmacology and identify new targets for existing drugs, computational methods are of critical importance. Herein we provide an overview of computational approaches for analyzing pharmacological space and put their opportunities and limitations in perspective. Insights into computational approaches for the study of target–ligand interactions and polypharmacology are provided and put into scientific context. The interplay between computational and experimental approaches is rationalized. Computational methods have become indispensable tools for the systematic analysis of drug–target interactions. Because currently most prominent predictive methods are knowledge-based, they are affected by data bias and sparseness. Predictions of drug–target interactions are already carried out on a large scale, but experimentally validated to a much lesser extent. In order to demonstrate true utility of pharmacological space analysis for drug discovery, it will be essential to closely interface computational and experimental target profiling efforts.
Long‐term follow‐up of the Medical Research Council CLASICC trial of conventional versus laparoscopically assisted resection in colorectal cancer

Laparoscopic resection is used widely in the management of colorectal cancer; however, the data on long‐term outcomes, particularly those related to rectal cancer, are limited. The results of long‐term follow‐up of the UK Medical Research Council trial of laparoscopically assisted versus open surgery for colorectal cancer are presented.