Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Optimisation of the frequently sampled intravenous glucose tolerance test to reduce urinary glucose spilling in horses.

REASONS FOR PERFORMING STUDY The frequently sampled i.v. glucose tolerance test (FSIGTT) is used to evaluate glucose and insulin dynamics in horses, but it has not been determined whether urinary glucose spilling (UGS) affects results. HYPOTHESIS UGS occurs in horses during the FSIGTT and this problem can be minimised by adjusting the dextrose and insulin dosages used. METHODS Six mature mares were included in this study. In the first phase, 6 FSIGTT procedures were performed in each horse to evaluate 6 different dextrose dosages. Six different insulin dosages were evaluated during the second phase of the study after administration of 300 mg/kg bwt dextrose. Area under the glucose (AUCg) and insulin (AUCi) curves were calculated and minimal model analyses performed. UGS was measured in the third and fourth phases of the study during the combined glucose insulin test and established FSIGTT. A new FSIGTT was developed and evaluated. RESULTS Positive linear effects of dextrose dosage on AUCg, AUCi and acute insulin response to glucose were detected, with AUCg reaching a plateau at doses > or =200 mg/kg bwt. Insulin dosage had an inverse linear effect on AUCg, but other values remained unaffected. UGS occurred during all 3 tests and was the highest for the established FSIGTT and the lowest for the new FSIGTT. The type of FSIGTT performed did not affect minimal model results. CONCLUSIONS Results indicate that the dextrose dosage of 300 mg/kg bwt used in the established FSIGTT is too high. UGS can be reduced by lowering the dextrose dosage to 100 mg/kg bwt. POTENTIAL RELEVANCE A new FSIGTT involving the administration of 100 mg/kg bwt dextrose followed by 20 mu/kg bwt insulin 20 min later is recommended for use in horses because this test provides adequate data for minimal model analysis while minimising UGS.
Changes in renal function associated with indinavir

Background:Indinavir use is associated with a spectrum of renal and urinary tract complications including nephrolithiasis, renal colic and pain without recognizable lithiasis, and a picture of crystalluria-dysuria. A frank nephropathy has not been recognized as part of the spectrum. Methods:A retrospective analysis of 106 HIV-infected individuals receiving indinavir was performed with the purpose of identifying the frequency and risk factors for indinavir-associated nephropathy and urinary complications. Individuals receiving ritonavir or nelfinavir served as controls. Results:A sustained elevation of creatinine (> 20%, into abnormal range) was identified in 20 (18.6%) subjects treated with indinavir but not with other protease inhibitors. Creatinine elevation was associated with treatment duration of more than 54 weeks [odds ratio (OR), 7.1; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.8–27.7], low baseline body mass index ≤ 2 0 kg/m2 (OR, 4.0; 95% CI, 1.0–16.6), and use of trimethoprim-sulphamethoxazole (TMP-SMX; OR, 4.6; 95% CI, 1.5–13.8). Lower urinary specific gravity (P = 0.015), and leukocyturia (P < 0.001) were frequently associated features of indinavir nephropathy. No patient developed severe renal impairment and abnormalities were reversible upon discontinuation of the drug. Complications (renal colic, or pain and dysuria) occurred after a mean of 36 weeks (95% CI, 23–48) of indinavir treatment in 13 subjects (12.3%), eight of whom (62%) presented elevated creatinine during follow-up. Only long-term exposure to TMPSMX (> 160 weeks) was identified as a potential risk for the occurrence of a clinical event (OR, 4.7; 95% CI, 1.2–19.2). Conclusions:A crystal nephropathy, characterized by serum creatinine elevation, loss of concentrating ability of the kidney, leukocyturia, and renal parenchymal image abnormalities, is a frequent complication of indinavir therapy. Identification of individuals at risk, particularly those with low body mass index or receiving TMPSMX prophylaxis, may help the decision to initiate indinavir or chose an alternative protease inhibitor in order to minimize renal and urinary tract adverse events.
Drivers of farmers’ decisions to adopt agroforestry: Evidence from the Sudanian savanna zone, Burkina Faso

Abstract In most developing countries, there has been a long-standing conflict of interest between using land for agriculture and the conservation of biodiversity. This paper reports on a study of factors influencing farmers’ decisions to integrate trees into their agricultural practice. We also discuss the possibility of protecting and managing planted and naturally regenerating trees on farmland in order to restore degraded land and improve biodiversity. Data were collected from interviews with farmers in the Center-West region of Burkina Faso and analyzed using Principal Component Analysis, multiple linear regression and binary logistic regression. The results show that farmers’ decisions to incorporate trees into their farmland were mainly influenced by silvicultural knowledge and skills, participation in farmers’ groups or other social organizations with an interest in tree conservation, the social value of biodiversity in the rural landscape, and the perceived economic benefits of trees on farmland. The most important factors associated with variation in levels of motivation to conserve trees on farms included household wealth, gender, age, education level, marital status, residence status, farmland size, household size and technical support. We conclude that an agroforestry project will be more successful if the local biophysical conditions and diversity of smallholder socio-economic characteristics and their perceptions, needs and preferences are considered in its design. There is also an immediate need for coordinated development of information and training to raise local community awareness of the potential of agroforestry as well as to disseminate information about adding value to tree products in order to encourage farmers to protect on-farm trees.
The Pharmacokinetics and Neuromuscular Effects of Rocuronium Bromide in Patients with Liver Disease

To determine the effect of liver disease on the pharmacokinetics of rocuronium, the authors administered 0.6 mg/kg (twice the ED95) to 10 patients with liver disease and compared these results to values in 10 healthy surgical patients. Anesthesia was induced with thiopental and maintained with isoflurane (0.9%-1.1% end-tidal concentration) and nitrous oxide (60%). Venous blood samples were obtained for 6 h after rocuronium injection and plasma concentrations were measured using gas chromatography. Pharmacokinetic differences between groups were determined using a population-based pharmacokinetic analysis (NONMEM). Hepatic impairment did not alter the plasma clearance of rocuronium (217 +/- 21.8 mL/min, mean +/- SE, for both groups), but did increase the volume of the central compartment (5.96 +/- 1.01 L for controls, 7.87 +/- 1.33 L for patients with liver disease) and volume of distribution at steady state (16.4 L for controls, 23.4 L for patients with liver disease). In turn, elimination half-life was longer in patients with liver disease (111 min) compared to controls (75.4 min). The authors conclude that liver disease alters the pharmacokinetics of rocuronium by increasing its volume of distribution. The longer elimination half-life might result in a longer duration of action of rocuronium in patients with liver disease, particularly after prolonged administration. (Anesth Analg 1995;80:754-9)
Predicting changes in physical performance in a high-functioning elderly cohort: MacArthur studies of successful aging.

BACKGROUND Performance-based measures of physical performance were examined for an older cohort of relatively high-functioning men and women. Relationships between baseline physical performance and sociodemographic and health status characteristics were also examined. Three-year pattern changes in performance are described, and sociodemographic and health status predictors of change are investigated. METHODS A cohort of relatively high-functioning men and women, aged 70-79, was identified in 1988 by subsampling from three community-based studies on the basis of physical and cognitive function. Baseline in-home assessments included tests of physical performance and measurement of sociodemographic characteristics and health status. A summary measure of physical performance was developed from tests of balance, gait, lower body strength and coordination, and manual dexterity. In-home assessments were repeated at follow-up in 1991. RESULTS Better physical performance at baseline was more common among males, Whites, those reporting higher income and education, and those with fewer chronic conditions. In linear regression models, declines in performance were predicted by older age, lower income, higher education, relative weight and blood pressure, lower peak expiratory flow, prevalent diabetes and incident health conditions and hospitalizations during follow-up. Improvements in performance were also observed; the only significant association was with race (i.e., being Black). CONCLUSIONS Declines in physical performance within a high-functioning cohort are predictable from sociodemographic and health status characteristics. The patterns of both decline and improvement in performance observed in this cohort suggest that older age is not uniformly associated with declines, indicating the potential for effective interventions to promote more successful aging.
A comparative evaluation of oxygen consumption and gait pattern in amputees using Intelligent Prostheses and conventionally damped knee swing-phase control

Objective: To compare the gait of amputees wearing conventionally damped pneumatic swing-phase control knees and microchip-controlled Intelligent Prostheses. Design: Crossover trial. Setting: An amputee rehabilitation centre in a teaching hospital. Participants: Ten established unilateral transfemoral prosthetic users were asked to participate in the trial; all agreed. Interventions: The amputees were assessed wearing pneumatic swing-phase control knees and then with the Intelligent Prosthesis. Main outcome measures: Oxygen consumption while walking at different speeds on a treadmill, video-recording of gait assessed by a panel and temporal–spatial parameters of gait whilst walking at slow, fast or normal speeds in a gait laboratory. Results: Mean oxygen cost for all subjects at 0.69 m/s was 0.33 ml/kg.m with the conventional limb and 0.30 ml/kg.m with the Intelligent Prosthesis (p–0.01). At 1.25 m/s the mean oxygen cost for the conventional limb was 0.24 ml/kg.m and for the Intelligent Prosthesis was 0.22 ml/kg.m (not significant). The ANOVA analysis showed that oxygen cost was similar at normal walking speeds but increased more at lower speeds for the pneumatic swing-phase control leg compared to the Intelligent Prosthesis (p<0.02). There were no significant differences in subjective gait evaluation or temporal and spatial gait parameters. Conclusion: At lower speeds oxygen cost was lower with the Intelligent Prosthesis. Gait analysis detected no significant changes between the two legs.
Fluoride varnish in the prevention of dental caries in children and adolescents: a systematic review.

OBJECTIVE To develop a scientifically current and evidence-based protocol for the use of fluoride varnish for the prevention of dental caries among high-risk children and adolescents. METHODS Previous systematic reviews on this topic were used as the basis for the current review. Ovid, MEDLINE, CINAHL and several other relevant bibliographic databases were searched for English-language articles, with human subjects, published from 2000 to 2007. RESULTS A total of 105 articles were identified by the literature search; relevance was determined by examining the title, abstract and body of the article. Seven original research studies met the inclusion criteria. These articles were read and scored independently by 2 reviewers, and evidence was extracted for systematic review. RECOMMENDATIONS The following recommendations were developed on the basis of the evidence: 1. For high-risk populations (e.g., people with low socioeconomic status, new immigrants and refugees, First Nations and Inuit children and adolescents), fluoride varnish should be applied twice a year, unless the individual has no risk of caries, as indicated by past and current caries history. This schedule of application would permit sealants to be checked biannually to ensure retention. 2. Single-dose packages of fluoride varnish should be used for children; the varnish in such packages should be stirred vigorously before application, to ensure that any precipitated fluoride is redissolved. 3. There is good evidence of the complementary efficacy of preventive strategies such as sealants and varnish, as well as toothbrushing and nutritional counselling; oral healthcare programs should therefore include as many complementary strategies as possible.
mPGES-1 expression in non-cancerous liver tissue impacts on postoperative recurrence of HCC.

AIM To investigate whether microsomal prostaglandin E synthase-1 (mPGES-1) expression in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and in non-cancerous liver affects HCC prognosis after hepatectomy. METHODS The relationship between patient clinical profiles, tumor factors, surgical determinants, and mPGES-1 expression and the recurrence-free survival rate were examined in 64 patients who underwent curative hepatectomy between March 2003 and December 2006. RESULTS The scores for mPGES-1 expression were higher in well differentiated and moderately differentiated HCC tissues than in poorly differentiated HCC tissues (well differentiated, 5.1 ± 2.7; moderately differentiated, 5.1 ± 1.7; poorly differentiated, 3.0 ± 1.8). In non-cancerous liver tissues, the mPGES-1 levels were higher in injured liver tissues than in normal tissues. Cirrhotic livers had higher mPGES-1 levels than livers with chronic hepatitis (normal livers, 3.3 ± 0.7; chronic hepatitic livers, 5.4 ± 1.9; cirrhotic livers, 6.4 ± 1.6). A univariate analysis revealed that the recurrence-free survival rate was significantly lower in patients with vascular invasion, a higher mPGES-1 level in non-cancerous liver tissue, a larger tumor diameter (≥ 5 cm), and a lower serum albumin level (≤ 3.7 g/dL). The mPGES-1 expression in HCC tissues did not correlate well with postoperative recurrence. A multivariate analysis demonstrated that the presence of vascular invasion and higher mPGES-1 levels were statistically significant independent predictors for early postoperative recurrence of HCC. CONCLUSION Increased mPGES-1 expression in non-cancerous liver tissues is closely associated with the early recurrence of HCC after curative resection.
Sentiment Analysis for Emiriti Dialects in Twitter

Sentiment analysis is not a new field of study and in research there has been focus on word polarity to distinguish between positive, negative, or neutral sentiments of words. However, the Emirati Dialect (and by extensi on the Arabian Gulf dialects) had received little attention. This paper aims to provide a feasibility study of the possibility of assigning a sentiment value to a word when it comes to the UAE's Arabic Dialect (Emirati). In this study, ten keyword phrases were selected from the Emirati Dialect and were examined to assign their polarity from Twitter collections. During the course of this study and based on the statistical results of the examination of the test sets, it became apparent that it was indeed possible to assign a sentiment value to certain Emirati words.
An analytical model to predict the electric field and excitation zones due to magnetic stimulation of peripheral nerves

The main unknown factor in understanding magnetic stimulation of peripheral nerves is the distribution of the induced electric field. The authors have applied the so-called reciprocity theorem and developed an analytical model to compute the electric field and its spatial derivatives inside pseudocylindrical structures. The results can be used to predict the site of excitation in magnetic stimulation of peripheral nerves. <<ETX>>
Performance-Oriented Precision LARC Tracking Motion Control of a Magnetically Levitated Planar Motor With Comparative Experiments

Magnetically levitated planar motor is a new-generation motion device in modern precision industry, while its advanced motion controller design is still of main concern. In this paper, a learning adaptive robust control (LARC) motion controller is proposed for a magnetically levitated planar motor developed in our laboratory to achieve good tracking performance. The planar motor consists of a Halbach permanent magnetic array as the stator, and a levitated platen containing four groups of three-phase windings as the mover. Based on the Lorentz force law, the mover placed in the magnetic field is subjected to vertical force for levitation and horizonal force for planar motion through dynamics decoupling and current allocation. An LARC control scheme containing adaptive robust control (ARC) term and iterative learning control (ILC) term in a serial structure is then proposed for the magnetically levitated planar motor to achieve high-performance tracking even there exist parametric variations and uncertain disturbances. Comparative experiments between traditional lead, ARC, ILC, and the proposed LARC are carried out on the planar motor to track sinusoidal, point-to-point, and planar circular motions, respectively. The experimental results consistently validate that the proposed LARC control strategy outperforms other controllers much, and possesses not only good transient/steady-state tracking performance but also parametric adaptation ability and uncertain disturbance robustness. The proposed scheme actually provides a practically effective technique for motion control of magnetically levitated planar motors in industrial applications.
Effectiveness of educational programs on reducing the burden of caregivers of elderly individuals with dementia: a systematic review.

OBJECTIVE This study's objective was to analyze the effectiveness of educational and support programs for caregivers on reducing their burden. METHOD The method used was a systematic review. The following were searched; MEDLINE, LILACS, Embase, Cochrane, Web of Science, SciELO and CINAHL. RESULTS Seven randomized clinical studies were included. These studies compared an educational program with standard care delivery, assessing the burden of caregivers through the Zarit Burden Interview. After the analysis of sensitivity, four studies were grouped in the meta-analysis showing a statistically significant reduction in caregiver burden among the participants of educational and support programs. CONCLUSION The evidence obtained in this study suggests that educational and support programs have a positive impact on the reduction of caregiver burden when compared to standard care. Therefore, the inclusion of these programs in institutions providing care to the elderly is effective and should be encouraged. These programs should also share non-pharmacological management strategies for the behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia.
When Crowdsourcing Fails: A Study of Expertise on Crowdsourced Design Evaluation

Crowdsourced evaluation is a promising method of evaluating engineering design attributes that require human input. The challenge is to correctly estimate scores using a massive and diverse crowd, particularly when only a small subset of evaluators has the expertise to give correct evaluations. Since averaging evaluations across all evaluators will result in an inaccurate crowd evaluation, this paper benchmarks a crowd consensus model that aims to identify experts such that their evaluations may be given more weight. Simulation results indicate this crowd consensus model outperforms averaging when it correctly identifies experts in the crowd, under the assumption that only experts have consistent evaluations. However, empirical results from a real human crowd indicate this assumption may not hold even on a simple engineering design evaluation task, as clusters of consistently wrong evaluators are shown to exist along with the cluster of experts. This suggests that both averaging evaluations and a crowd consensus model that relies only on evaluations may not be adequate for engineering design tasks, accordingly calling for further research into methods of finding experts within the crowd. [DOI: 10.1115/1.4029065]
ANALISIS KINERJA KEUANGAN PERUSAHAAN SEBELUM DAN SESUDAH INITIAL PUBLIC OFFERING (IPO) DI BURSA EFEK INDONESIA

Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui bagaimana gambaran kinerja keuangan sebelum dan sesudah Initial Public Offering (IPO) pada perusahaan yang terdaftar di BEI tahun 2010 dan 2011 dilihat dari likuiditas yang diukur dengan current ratio (CR), solvabilitas yang diukur dengan debt to equity ratio (DER), dan profitabilitas yang diukur dengan return on assets (ROA), serta mengetahui apakah terdapat perbedaan saat sebelum dan sesudah IPO. Metode penelitian yang digunakan adalah deskriptif dan verifikatif. Sampel diambil dengan teknik purposive sampling. Teknik analisis yang digunakan adalah uji deskriptif komparatif dan uji hipotesis menggunakan uji non parametrik peringkat bertanda wilcoxon. Hasil penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa terdapat perbedaan yang signifikan pada likuiditas yang diukur CR sebelum dan sesudah IPO, yaitu mengalami peningkatan. Terdapat perbedaan yang signifikan pada solvabilitas yang diukur DER sebelum dan sesudah IPO, yaitu mengalami penurunan. Sedangkan tidak terdapat perbedaan yang signifikan pada profitabilitas yang diukur ROA saat sebelum dan sesudah IPO. ----------The purpose of this study was to see how the financial performance before and after Initial Public Offering (IPO) at listed companies on IDX in 2010 and 2011 seen from liquidity as measured by current ratio (CR), solvability as measured by debt to equity ratio (DER), and profitability as measured by return on assets (ROA), and know whether there is a difference while before and after IPO. The research methodology used is descriptive and verification. Samples taken with purposive sampling technique. Analitycal techniques used are descriptive comparative and hypothesis test used a nonparametric rank signed wilcoxon test. This research result indicates that there were significant differences in liquidity as measured CR before and after IPO, that is increased. There were significant differences in solvability measured DER before and after IPO, that is decline. While there is no significant difference in profitability measured ROA while before and after IPO.
[Changes of phospho-JNK expression during the skin burned wound healing].

OBJECTIVE To observe the changes of expression of phosphorylation c-Jun NH2-terminal kinase (p-JNK) during the skin burned wound healing in patients and discuss the molecular mechanism of burned wound healing. METHODS The staining intensity and distribution of p-JNK were detected by immunohistochemistry and routine histology in burned skin samples of 12 patients and normal skin samples of 12 control subjects. RESULTS In normal skin, the positive signals of p-JNK were mostly localized in basal layer cells of the epidermis, with a positive rate of (8.8+/-1.3)%. In the burned group, the positive signals of p-JNK were mainly localized in the epidermal cells and some inflammatory cells, with a significantly higher positive rate of (31.2+/-3.3)% than the normal group(P<0.01). CONCLUSION The changes of p-JNK expression after skin burned might correlate with wound healing.