Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The effects of epidural and spinal analgesia on the mode and duration of delivery

The debate around the effect of epidural or regional analgesia on the progress of labor and the mode of delivery has continued ever since epidural analgesia for labor pain relief was introduced. In the last two decades, numerous studies have been conducted to address this issue. Unfortunately, the results of individual studies have been inconsistent. Three approaches have been used to study the relationship between epidural analgesia and cesarean delivery or the progress of labor. Firstly, patients who chose epidural analgesia have been compared with patients who did not. Women who choose epidural labor analgesia are at a higher risk of dystocia than women who choose other analgesic options. Patients requesting epidural analgesia are shorter, weigh more, have larger babies, and have slower initial cervical dilation. These are also independent risk factors for cesarean delivery. Because analgesic allocation by patient choice does not yield demographically similar groups, this approach can reveal the association between epidural analgesia and cesarean delivery but cannot determine causation. Secondly, prospective, randomized clinical trial is the most widely accepted design for clinical studies. However, parturients are currently aware of the benefits of regional analgesia, and it may hence be difficult to convince patients to consent to randomization when they know that one of the treatments offers more effective labor analgesia than the other. A high rate of patient cross-over from intravenous to epidural analgesia, which must be allowed for ethical reasons, has compromised many studies. Thirdly, another category of observational studies, namely natural experiment studies or impact studies, instead of comparing women with and without epidural analgesia during the same period, compare such factors as the rates of cesarean and instrumental deliveries before and after the use of epidural analgesia was instituted. By design, these studies are retrospective and use historical controls. They allow one to avoid treatment crossover and to study a sufficient number of patients. Naturally, this approach is not current any more.
Optimal administration of lispro insulin in hyperglycemic type 1 diabetes.

OBJECTIVE Lispro is a new rapidly absorbed insulin analog. At present, there are no recommendations for the optimal injection time of lispro insulin in hyperglycemic patients. In contrast to normoglycemic patients with diabetes, we hypothesized that injection of lispro insulin 15-30 min before meal ingestion would improve postprandial glucose excursion in hyperglycemic diabetic subjects. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS In 48 randomized overnight studies, 12 healthy adult type 1 diabetic patients received lispro insulin 0.15 U/kg admixed with human ultralente 0.2 U/kg (as background insulin) subcutaneously at minutes (-30, -15, 0, and +15) relative to the ingestion of an American Diabetes Association breakfast of 8.6 kcal/kg. Pre-breakfast hyperglycemia of 10.2 +/- 0.2 mmol/l was established before the study by continuous overnight infusion of intravenous insulin, which was stopped 30 min before lispro insulin injection. Glucose and insulin levels were measured every 30 min for 5 h after breakfast. RESULTS Results demonstrated that postprandial glucose excursion was reduced when lispro insulin was administered 15 or 30 min before the meal compared with lispro insulin injected at the meal (P < 0.002). The postprandial glucose excursion (millimoles per liter per hour) was -6.4 +/- 3 for the -30-min group, -5.1 +/- 2.9 for the -15-min group, 3.4 +/- 4.1 for the 0-min group, and 5.7 +/- 4.4 for the +15-min group. Although injecting lispro insulin at 30 min before the meal resulted in a significant reduction in postprandial glycemia, it was accompanied by loss of glucose control at 4 h postmeal in two subjects. CONCLUSIONS Optimization of lispro insulin in hyperglycemic patients requires timing of the insulin injection at least 15 min before the meal.
The shifting role of the HR manager in employee engagement (ee) in the Irish banking sector since 2008

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Kidney transplantation: analysis of the expression and T cell-mediated activation of latent TGF-β

Activated T cells infiltrate a renal allograft during rejection and can respond to TGF‐β within the tubules, causing local differentiation and expression of the αE(CD103)β7 integrin. This study was performed to examine the expression of latent TGF‐β within renal allograft tissues and to define a mechanism by which T cells can activate and respond to this latent factor. Rejecting renal allograft biopsy tissues showed increased expression of the latent TGF‐β complex, which was localized around the tubules by a mechanism that might involve interaction with heparan sulfate in the basement membrane. A cultured renal TEC line also expressed the latent complex, but these cells did not respond to this form of TGF‐β by pSmad 3. However, coculture of these cells with activated T cells induced the expression of CD103, suggesting that T cells can activate and respond to the latent TGF‐β associated with TEC. Although activated T cells expressed little cell‐surface TSP‐1, this was increased by culture with fibronectin or fibronectin‐expressing renal TEC. Blockade of TSP‐1 using LSKL peptides reduced the potential of activated T cells to differentiate in response to latent TGF‐β. This study suggests that penetration of renal tubules by activated T cells leads to increased expression of T cell‐surface TSP‐1, allowing activation of latent TGF‐β sequestered on heparan sulfate within the microenvironment. This mechanism may be important for localized phenotypic maturation of T cells that have infiltrated the kidney during allograft rejection.
Estudo das melhores práticas de sistemas de indicadores de desempenho institucionais em organizações públicas de pesquisa, desenvolvimento e inovação (P&D&I), preferencialmente militares

This paper performs a study of the Institutional Performance Indicators Systems practices best in Public Organizations of Research, Development and Innovation (R&D&I), focus on military organizations. In the public sector, especially in the military organizations that are strongly committed to R&D&I, changes have been observed trying to set up a Contemporary Management, based on Performance Indicators Systems as a tool of organizational control over the accomplishment of the settled plans, and the completion of the organization mission, targeting a continuous improvement process. Among the approaches used to develop a Performance Indicator System, since the 90s, the Balanced Scorecard – BSC stands out. It is based on the studies made by Kaplan and Norton, 1986. The BSC approach places strategy and mission – and not control as the core of the indicator system. Everything is considered under a continuous management process, and presents financial and non-financial data, in logical format. This work’s proposal is to understand international and national Institutional Performance Indicator Systems experiences, applicable to public organizations of R&D&I, preferentially military ones, and to identify their best practices with those Systems. At the end of this paper a comparison between the analyzed experiences is conducted and some suggestions are given to build an institutional performance indicators system to R&D&I organizations. This study is in the context of Institutional Performance Indicators Systems, focus on the BSC approach, proposing an innovative aspect to the development of this approach in Brazil, particularly in public organizations with strong performance in R&D&I. At the end of this research it is possible to apply the results to other public organizations, military ones or not, that develop R&D&I activities, or to improve Institutional Performance Indicator Systems already in operation, adjusting them to applicable norms and lines of direction.
Know the Mobile Learning Application Users - Transactional Distance Perspective

We developed a mobile learning application grounded on Transactional Distance Theory. The aim is to engage learners and decrease their feelings of isolation and emptiness when learners and instructor are physically separated. This study was launched in an effort to understand our target learners and provide an indication towards the practicality, possibility, and appropriateness of such theory-based design. The application provides text, video, and recorded audio as media, and includes chat function, game-based learning, and electronic assignment. This paper explores the method and findings of a survey study targeted at first year Computer Engineering and Computer Science student learners at the Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. Our survey results indicated that the learners had a positive attitude towards mobile learning, and they had a lot of experience using the provided media and functions. The theoretical-design was deemed to be practically appropriate for our learners. However, more encouragement and promotions would be needed in order to increase the applicationâs usage and recognition. We performed statistical analysis on the results and clustered the responses to form a persona which will be used in the next stage of this applicationâs development process.
EDICS category 1-SPEC On the Noise-Compensated Yule-Walker Equations

Recently a method of estimating the parameters of an AR(p) random process based on measurements corrupted by additive white noise was described. The method involves solving a matrix pencil, called the Noise-Compensated Yule-Walker (NCYW) equations, for the AR parameters and the variance of the measurement noise. In this correspondence we give a necessary and sufficient condition for there to exist a unique solution to the NCYW equations. submitted to IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing April 20, 2001 I. Background The pth-order AR (AR(p)) Random Process is given by x(n) = −a(1)x(n − 1)− a(2)x(n − 2)− · · · − a(p)x(n − p) + w(n) (1) where w(n) is white noise having variance σ2 w and a(k), k = 1, . , p are the AR parameters. We assume that x(n) is real. The autocorrelation function of the AR process, rx(k), also satisfies the autoregressive property, this leads to the well-known Yule-Walker equations for the AR parameters
The Same Upper Bound for Both: The 2‐page and the Rectilinear Crossing Numbers of the n‐Cube

We present two main results: a 2‐page and a rectilinear drawing of the n‐dimensional cube Qn . Both drawings have the same number 1257684n−2n−33(3n2+9+(−1)n+12) of crossings, even though they are given by different constructions. The first improves the current best general 2‐page drawing, while the second is the first nontrivial rectilinear drawing of Qn .
Responses of olfactory receptor cells to step pulses of odour at different concentrations in the salamander.

1. The response properties of single olfactory receptor cells in the salamander have been analysed in unitary recordings obtained with platinum‐black metal‐filled micro‐electrodes. 2. Stimulation has been carried out using an apparatus which delivers odour pulses of abrupt onset, steady plateau and abrupt termination. The pulses have been monitored near the site of stimulation on the olfactory epithelium during the experiments. 3. The main type of response was a discharge of impulses that was time locked to the stimulus pulse. The pattern of the responses consisted of a relatively brief latency of onset, a rapid rise in impulse frequency, a continuation of impulse firing during the plateau of the pulse, and an abrupt termination of the discharge correlated with the termination of the pulse. 4. There was a clear relationship between the receptor responses and odour concentration. In general, impulse firing frequency increased with increasing odour concentration. The firing frequency ranged from approximately 1‐‐3 impulses/sec at threshold, up to 20 impulses/sec at the highest concentration. 5. Two types of reduced impulse activity were observed. One occurred after the termination of the pulse and lasted 1‐‐3 sec; this was a common occurrence. The other type was seen during a pulse as a reduction of impulse activity compared to the background level; this type was rarely observed. 6. The receptor responses resembled those of mitral cells in the olfactory bulb to odour pulses in their sensitivity to odour concentration. They differed in that mitral cells show primary response categories consisting of brief excitation followed by suppression, and pure suppression, that are rarely seen at the receptor level. These differences may be ascribed to synaptic interactions in the olfactory bulb. 7. It is concluded that the majority of receptor cells have a stereotyped discharge response pattern and a systematic relation to odour concentration. These properties appear to reflect the simple time course of the odour pulses used in these experiments. This represents an initial step toward analysing olfactory coding at the receptor level using stimuli controlled in a manner similar to that used in other sensory systems.
Wolbachia superinfections and the expression of cytoplasmic incompatibility

Strains of Drosophila simulans from Riverside, California (DSR) and Hawaii (DSH) harbour distinct strains of the cytoplasmic incompatibility microorganism Wolbachia, resulting in the expression of bidirectional incompatibility when crossed. D. simulans lines carrying both of these (superinfected) Wolbachia strains were generated by the transfer of infected DSH cytoplasm into DSR embryos by microinjection. The superinfected flies were unidirectionally incompatible with both DSR and DSH individuals. As a result of this pattern, the superinfected state was observed to replace single infections in laboratory populations. The ability of the superinfection to spread was modulated by the production of singly infected offspring from superinfected mothers: strain segregation was observed under crowded larval rearing conditions. An inverse correlation between the penetrance of the cytoplasmic incompatability phenotype and the degree of larval crowding was also observed. The findings have implications for the evolution of bidirectionally incompatible strains, and lead to the prediction that superinfections should be relatively common in field populations. Evidence for a natural superinfection in the mosquito Aedes albopictus is discussed. The results also have applied significance for the generation of insect lines capable of driving desirable genes into populations already infected with Wolbachia, thus allowing repeated opportunities for population replacement.
Understanding Tourism Experiences and Behaviour in Cities: An Australian Case Study

This study aims to enhance the understanding of tourist experiences and behaviour in urban destinations by analysing the spatial movements of tourists, identifying the key attributes they are seeking in urban destinations, determining how important these attributes are to their experiences, evaluating how two urban destinations performed in relation to these attributes, and assessing whether there are key differences between different types of visitors to urban destinations. The ultimate aim of this project is to inform and guide the future governance and improved functioning of urban tourism destinations by developing a better understanding of the tourist in such settings. Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle. net/10453/16847 Publisher: CRC for Sustainable Tourism Pty Ltd. Publication Type: Report Citation: 2009, pp. 1 103 Issue Date: 2009-01 PERMALINK  OPEN ACCESS Files in This Item: Filename Description Size 2010002806OK.pdf 6.95 MB  VIEW/OPEN
Well-Balanced Successive Simple-9 for Inverted Lists Compression

The growth in the amount of information available on the Internet and thousands of user queries per second brings huge challenges to the index update and query processing of search engines. Index compression is partially responsible for the current performance achievements of existing search engines. The selection of the index compression algorithms must weigh three factors, i.e., compression ratio, compression speed and decompression speed. In this paper, we study the well-known Simple9 compression, in which exist many branch operations, table lookup and data transfer operations when processing each 32-bit machine word. To enhance the compression and decompression performance of Simple-9 algorithm, we propose a successive storage structure and processing metric to compress two successive Simple-9 encoded sequence of integers in a single data processing procedure, thus the name Successive Simple-9 (SSimple9). In essence, the algorithm shortens the process of branch operations, table lookup and data transfer operations when compressing the integer sequence. More precisely, we initially present the data storage format and mask table of SSimple-9 algorithm. Then, for each mode in the mask table, we design and hard-code the main steps of the compression and decompression processes. Finally, analysis and comparison on the experimental results of the simulation and TREC datasets show the compression and decompression efficiency speedup of the proposed SSimple-9 algorithm. key words: Successive Simple-9, successive storage, inverted index, decompression performance
Immunogenicity of herpes simplex virus type 1 mutants containing deletions in one or more alpha-genes: ICP4, ICP27, ICP22, and ICP0.

Replication defective mutants of HSV have been proposed both as vaccine candidates and as vehicles for gene therapy because of their inability to produce infectious progeny. The immunogenicity of these HSV replication mutants, at both qualitative and quantitative levels, will directly determine their effectiveness for either of these applications. We have previously reported (Brehm et al., J. Virol., 71, 3534, 1997) that a replication defective mutant of HSV-1, which expresses a substantial level of viral genes without producing virus particles, is as efficient as wild-type HSV-1 in eliciting an HSV-specific cytotoxic T-lymphocyte (CTL) response. In this report, we have further evaluated the immunogenic potential of HSV-1-derived replication defective mutants by examining the generation of HSV-specific CTL following immunization with viruses that are severely restricted in viral gene expression due to mutations in one or more HSV alpha genes (ICP4, ICP27, ICP22, and ICP0). To measure the CTL responses induced by the HSV alpha-mutants, we have targeted two H-2Kb-restricted CTL epitopes: an epitope in a virion protein, gB (498-505), and an epitope in a nonvirion protein, ribonucleotide reductase (RR1 822-829). The HSV mutants used in this study are impaired in their ability to express gB while a majority of them still express RR1. Our findings demonstrate that a single immunization with these mutants is able to generate a strong CTL response not only to RR1 822-829, but also to gB498-505 despite their inability to express wild-type levels of gB. Furthermore, a single immunization with any individual mutant can also provide immune protection against HSV challenge. These results suggest that mutants which are restricted in gene expression may be used as effective immunogens in vivo.
Molecular epidemiology of rotavirus in four provinces of Angola before vaccine introduction

Angola is a sub‐Saharan country in southern Africa highly affected by diarrhoeal disease with limited epidemiological data regarding etiologic agents. This study was performed during 2012–2013, prior to rotavirus vaccine introduction, with the objective to detect and characterize the rotavirus strains circulating in four provinces of the country: Huambo, Luanda, Zaire, and Cabinda. A high rotavirus detection rate (35%, 117/334) was observed. G1 was the most common G‐genotype (83.6%), whereas P[8] (50.9%) followed by P[6] (38.8%) were the most common P‐types. G1P[8] was identified as the predominant combination (50%), followed by the unusual G1P[6] (29.3%). Strains such G2P[4], G8P[6], G9P[6], and G12P[6] were also found in lower frequencies (5.2–1.7%). The P[6] strains did not cluster in the phylogenetic trees according to their geographic origin or even the corresponding G‐genotype, suggesting a limited number of recent introductions and extensive reassortment events. Our results represent the first report on rotavirus genotype profiles in Angola, showing a wide circulation of the unusual genotype G1P[6], and underline the importance of RV surveillance after the vaccine introduction. J. Med. Virol. 88:1511–1520, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Effect of everolimus treatment on chromogranin A, neuron-specific enolase, gastrin, and glucagon levels in patients with advanced pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (pNET): Phase III RADIANT-3 study results.

10624 Background: Chromogranin A (CgA), neuron-specific enolase (NSE), gastrin, and glucagon are important biomarkers in pNET. The goals of this analysis were to characterize serum CgA, NSE, gastrin, and glucagon concentration changes from baseline in response to treatment with oral everolimus or placebo in patients with advanced pNET in the phase III RADIANT-3 trial (ESMO 2010, Abstract #LBA9). METHODS Patients with progressive, advanced low- or intermediate-grade pNET were randomized to everolimus 10 mg/d orally (n=207) or placebo (n=203). Serum samples were collected and analyzed for CgA, NSE, gastrin, and glucagon at baseline and, if elevated (>ULN), were repeated on day 1 of each subsequent cycle. Changes from baseline over time were analyzed using a mixed-effects model including least squares estimates and P values of treatment effect. RESULTS Patients with elevated baseline values had biomarkers assessed for a median number of 10 cycles in the everolimus arm and 4 cycles in the placebo arm. Everolimus vs placebo resulted in greater reductions of CgA (P<0.0001), NSE (P<0.0001), gastrin (P<0.0001), and glucagon (P<0.0001) over time. During the first cycle, the ratio in fold change from baseline for everolimus vs placebo was 0.617/1.081=0.57 (95% CI, 0.45-0.73) for CgA, 0.478/0.951=0.50 (95% CI, 0.32-0.80) for NSE, 0.581/0.833=0.70 (95% CI, 0.52-0.94) for gastrin, and 0.679/1.034=0.66 (95% CI, 0.49-0.89) for glucagon. This positive treatment effect with everolimus was maintained over subsequent treatment cycles; the ratio in fold change from baseline for everolimus vs placebo groups ranged from 0.39-0.57 for CgA, 0.23-0.51 for NSE, 0.46-0.70 for gastrin, and 0.45-0.66 for glucagon. CONCLUSIONS In addition to the improvement in PFS seen in RADIANT-3, these results demonstrate that treatment with everolimus resulted in early, sustained decreases in serum levels of CgA, NSE, gastrin, and glucagon in patients with pNET.