Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
University of Southern Denmark Variation in Point-of-Care Testing of HbA 1 c in Diabetes Care in General Practice

Background: Point-of-care testing (POCT) of HbA1c may result in improved diabetic control, better patient outcomes, and enhanced clinical efficiency with fewer patient visits and subsequent reductions in costs. In 2008, the Danish regulators created a framework agreement regarding a new fee-for-service fee for the remuneration of POCT of HbA1c in general practice. According to secondary research, only the Capital Region of Denmark has allowed GPs to use this new incentive for POCT. The aim of this study is to use patient data to characterize patients with diabetes who have received POCT of HbA1c and analyze the variation in the use of POCT of HbA1c among patients with diabetes in Danish general practice. Methods: We use register data from the Danish Drug Register, the Danish Health Service Register and the National Patient Register from the year 2011 to define a population of 44,981 patients with diabetes (type 1 and type 2 but not patients with gestational diabetes) from the Capital Region. The POCT fee is used to measure the amount of POCT of HbA1c among patients with diabetes. Next, we apply descriptive statistics and multilevel logistic regression to analyze variation in the prevalence of POCT at the patient and clinic level. We include patient characteristics such as gender, age, socioeconomic markers, health care utilization, case mix markers, and municipality classifications. Results: The proportion of patients who received POCT was 14.1% and the proportion of clinics which were “POCT clinics” was 26.9%. There were variations in the use of POCT across clinics and patients. A part of the described variation can be explained by patient characteristics. Male gender, age differences (older age), short education, and other ethnicity imply significantly higher odds for POCT. High patient costs in general practice and other parts of primary care also imply higher odds for POCT. In contrast, high patient costs for drugs and/or morbidity in terms of the Charlson Comorbidity index mean lower odds for POCT. The frequency of patients with diabetes per 1000 patients was larger in POCT clinics than Non-POCT clinics. A total of 22.5% of the unexplained variability was related to GP clinics. Conclusions: This study demonstrates variation in the use of POCT which can be explained by patient characteristics such as demographic, socioeconomic, and case mix markers. However, it appears relevant to reassess the system for POCT. Further studies are warranted in order to assess the impacts of POCT of HbA1c on health care outcomes.
Shared Literacies: Promoting Thinking and Learning in Art Education Through Movement Literacy

The notion of Shared Literacies describes a process in which specialization in two separate domains merge to generate an opportunity for a new kind of knowledge to evolve. The paper presents a study where "movement literacy" (expertise in the field of dance in both theoretical and practical aspects) meets "graphic-symbolic literacy" (expertise in the creation and decoding of graphic-symbolic representations of any kind of knowledge). The theoretical background contains an overview of the two kinds of literacy, as well as two pertinent pedagogical ideas: the ability to translate information between different modes of representation; and self-generation of representations, an idea which emphasizes the independent design of symbols by learners. Both are tools for constructing a deeper understanding of a given phenomenon. The Shared Literacies' products are independently developed graphic-symbolic representations for dance movements, which emerged through a designated methodology. These reveal new aspects of the participants' insights: in the field of movement, learners became aware of its various aspects, including the ability to analyze, think of and conceptualize the components of bodily movement; in the field of symbolic representation, participants improved their abilities to manage multifaceted information about a phenomenon, using symbolic knowledge already at hand, as well as developing new representational means. The study demonstrates the power of Shared Literacies – the integration between different artistic and general fields of thought – as a novel approach for education in the Arts.
Watermelon sensitivity to residual of pre-emergent herbicide applied in soybean crop

O efeito residual duradouro de alguns herbicidas depende das características do solo e das moléculas, entretanto, a bioatividade do herbicida pode causar danos nas culturas em rotação/sucessão. A maneira mais comum de identificar a presença de herbicidas no solo, é pela implementação de bioensaios que utilizam uma espécie potencialmente sensível às moléculas herbicidas como indicador deste resíduo no solo. O objetivo foi identificar a sensibilidade da melancia como bioindicadora à resíduos de herbicidas pré-emergentes utilizados na cultura da soja. O ensaio foi conduzido em casa de vegetação, em vasos de 3 L, em delineamento por blocos ao acaso, com quatro repetições, em esquema fatorial de 3x4+1, onde o fator A foram os herbicidas diclosulam, [imazapyr + imazapic] e metribuzin, e o fator B as doses dos produtos comerciais [1/8D, 1/4D, 1/2D e D (dose recomendada em bula)] e mais o tratamento controle. Foram semeadas quatro sementes de melancia por vaso, contendo solo argiloso, após a aplicação dos herbicidas. As variáveis analisadas 30 dias após a emergência das plantas foram comprimento de parte aérea (cm), comprimento (cm), volume de raiz (mL), massa seca da parte aérea (g) e massa seca de raiz (g). Verificou-se que a melancia não germinou nos tratamentos com subdoses dos herbicidas diclosulam e metribuzin, e o crescimento reduziu nas subdoses do herbicida [imazapyr + imazapic]. Os resíduos de herbicidas estudados exerceram controle das plantas bioindicadora. Melancia possui sensibilidade aos herbicidas diclosulam, metribuzin e à mistura comercial dos herbicidas [imazapyr + imazapic], possuindo potencial para indicar resíduo destes herbicidas em solo argiloso.
Wearable Functional Near-Infrared (Fnir) Technology and Its Applications in Naturalistic Conditions

Wearable functional near-infrared technology (fNIR) is a noninvasive neuroimaging technology that is affordable, low cost, and user-friendly, making it a promising technology to study how our brain works in naturalistic conditions. A practical user-friendly fNIR device that allows naturalistic use (e.g., home-use) can open unprecedented opportunities with health, psychologic, political/economic, and physiologic impacts. Wearable fNIR devices impose additional requirements compared to laboratory-based fNIR systems, including size, weight, and motion/ambient artifacts, without sacrificing key performance. Furthermore, to ensure user-friendliness, special attentions to cost, power, connectivity, flexibility to adapt to various applications, and comfort have to be properly considered. This manuscript reviews wearable fNIR in naturalistic conditions, covering reported applications and technologies developed to enable fNIR wearability. We also highlight some of the remaining challenges of current wearable fNIR devices including the limited number of optodes. uncorrected artifacts and noise, and the need for user alignment and manual event recording.
Hot MoMents and Hot spots in tHe Bayou : spatioteMporal patterns of road occurrence in a snake asseMBlage in louisiana , usa

—Quantifying temporal and spatial occurrence of road crossing activity by amphibians and reptiles has become increasingly important in conservation efforts. By documenting both the common times (hot moments) and places (hot spots) of individuals, species, and assemblages, effective conservation strategies can help to mitigate road mortality. We conducted a 1-y survey of a snake assemblage on U.S. Highway 51 along the Joyce and Manchac wildlife management areas and the Manchac Land Bridge Area between Lake Pontchartrain and Lake Maurepas, Louisiana, USA. We made 78 road-cruising surveys, which allowed us to investigate both the temporal and spatial patterns of snake road crossing activity. We found 409 snakes representing 11 species within two families, Colubridae and Viperidae. Hot moments occurred in late spring or early summer, potentially coinciding with the breeding season and mate-searching behavior in many colubrid species. Hot spots along Highway 51 were detected at the assemblage level and some species-level hot spots were also detected due to large sample sizes. Both peak times and areas of snake activity along U.S. Highway 51 may help to inform potential management efforts for reducing wildlife road mortality.
Aquios CL flow cytometer performance in the automated quantification of lymphocyte
 subpopulations

Flow cytometry (FC) is an essential tool for diagnosis, prognosis and therapeutic follow-up of several hematologic malignancies. In addition, it performs the quantification of lymphocytes subpopulations for diagnosis and monitoring of primary and acquired immunodeficiencies through the antigenic expressions of CD19 and CD20 for B lymphocytes; CD2, CD3, CD4, CD8 for T lymphocytes; and CD56 and CD16 for the identification of natural killer (NK) cells. The cytometry technique has revolutionized the way that the cells are identified, and over the years this platform has progressed with several advances in hardware and software that aim to improve workflow resulting in higher productivity, quality and cost savings. The Aquios CL – Beckman Coulter (BC) is an example of this advance because it is a complete automation instrument in flow cytometry called “Load & Go flow cytometer” for quantification of lymphocyte subpopulations in the routine diagnosis. In this study, the Aquios CL was validated, and quantification in frequency and absolute numbers of the lymphocyte subpopulations had an excellent correlation with the results obtained by the dual platform quantification performed in the Cytomics FC500 (BC) and automated Sysmex XE-2100 cell analyzer.
Summary report : Assessing Rusty Blackbird habitat suitability on wintering grounds and during spring migration using a large citizen-science dataset

Abundant in previous centuries, the Rusty Blackbird (Euphagus carolinus) is now a rare and declining species (~90% decline since 1966). Rare species present an extraordinary challenge for conservation biologists – while they are of great conservation concern, difficulties associated with locating individuals and low sample sizes often hamper monitoring efforts. Here, we utilize data from eBird and a targeted citizen science program, the Rusty Blackbird Hotspot Blitz, to predict habitat use for Rusty Blackbird populations on their wintering grounds and during spring migration. To address this, we evaluated the distribution of small (1-19 individuals), medium (20-99 individuals), and large flocks (100 and more individuals) of Rusty Blackbirds in environmental space. The size of flocks at a given location in geographic or environmental space is theorized to be indicative of the quality of habitat at that location. Flocking behavior in some species of birds is expected to be fundamental to species perfomance through increasing the ability of birds to access resources (i.e., local enhancement) and reducing individual exposure to predation. Because of this, it is expected that habitats that support large flocks are critical to the population persistence of Rusty Blackbirds. Moreover, the size of social groups represent a trade-off between the benefits associated with acquiring resources relative to the costs of distributing resources across individuals in a flock – thus it is theorized that large social groups are representative of resource rich habitats while smaller groups represent marginal and resource poor habitats. As such, it is expected that habitats supporting large flocks are more important to population persistance of Rusty Blackbirds than are habitats supporting small flocks. Our primary objective was to assess differences in the distribution of Rusty Blackbird observations across climatic and land use variables in order to identify critical habitats for Rusty Blackbirds.
EFFICIENCY OF SOME BACTERIAL CONSORTIA IN THE BIODEGRADATION OF PETROLEUM SOIL-CRUDE OIL

Two soil textures, clay soil (CS) and sandy loam soil (SLS) were used among a simple microcosm system, and artificially spiked with 2% crude oil. The bioremediation process was continued for 60 days at 30C for soil treated with 6 active bacterial hydrocarbon degraders. Results of the microcosm experiment showed that the total bacterial counts were higher in SLS than the CS for all treatments at different times (20, 40 and 60 days). The mixed bacterial strains (Bacillus licheniformis RdI17, Pseudomonas nitroreducens RdI14, Bacillus subtilis ssp. subtilis GH5, Sphingobacterium thalpophilum QBII6, Pseudomonas nitroreducens RdI14 and Enterobacter cloacae subsp. dissolvens) in consortium T5 was more efficient in biodegradation during the time course of experiment than other consortiaT3 and T4. Regarding the three consortia, T3, T4 and T5 results showed that the highest soil respiratory rate was 14 days post incubation during microcosm experiment and being 41.86 and 39.44 mg CO2/100 g.dw. soil for T3, 46.70 and 41.86 mg CO2/100 g.dw. soil for T4, and 49.12 and 46.70 mg CO2/100 g.dw. soil for T5 in the case of SLS and CS, respectively. Overall the GC analysis showed that the highest biodegradation of crude oil in microcosm experiment was achieved with 98.891, 79.102 and 88.724% in sandy loam soil and 93.289, 77.112 and 67.921% in CS due to bacterial consortia application.
Up-regulation of NT-3 expression by miR-132 via ERK signaling pathway and the potentiation of NB 41 A 3 cell proliferation and migration

The proliferation and migration of neural cells play a crucial role for the repair of neural injury. However, it is difficult for neural cells to overcome scar tissues, making it of critical importance to improve migration and proliferation potency of neural cells. MicroRNA (miR) has been known to be involved in cell growth, proliferation and cell cycle modulation. This study thus investigated the role of miR-132 in neural cell migration. Synthesized miR-132 was transfected into neuroblastoma cell line NB41A3, which was tested for migration and proliferation ability using Transwell assay and clonal formation assay, respectively. Cell apoptosis after transfection was quantified by flow cytometry. The activation of ERK signaling pathway and neurotrophin-3 (NT-3) were detected by Western blotting and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, respectively. ERK signaling inhibitor PD98059 was then used to treat cells before transfection, followed by cell migration and NT-3 assays. MiR-132 transfection significantly increased migration and proliferation ability of NB41A3 cells, along with ERK activation and NT-3 up-regulation. The inhibition of ERK signaling pathway suppressed miR132-induced NT-3 potentiation and elevated cell migration/proliferation ability. MiR-132 can facilitate migration and proliferation of NB41A3 cells via ERK-dependent NT-3 pathway.
The Correlation between Trabecular Bone Score and Lumbar Spine Bone Mineral Density in Patients with Normal and High Body Mass Index

Background: Trabecular bone score (TBS) measures the underlying quality of bone texture using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) images. The present study aimed to investigate the correlation between lumbar spine bone mineral density (BMD) and TBS, and subsequently determine whether the association varies with the body mass index (BMI). Methods: Data from 548 patients were collected and categorized into three groups according to the relationship between BMD and age. BMD of the lumbar spine (LS) using DXA and TBS from DXA images were measured. Pearson’s correlation coefficient (SPSS software, version 24.0) was used to investigate the association between LS-BMD and TBS, as well as the effect of BMI and age on these parameters. P<0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: The total mean TBS was 1.31±0.12. LS-BMD and TBS values significantly decreased with age in both sexes. A statistically significant correlation was found between TBS and LS-BMD (r=0.601). An increase in BMI was associated with a higher LS-BMD score and a lower TBS level. The correlation coefficient between LS-BMD and TBS reduced as the BMI increased. By comparing TBS with BMD, the majority of the patients with osteopenia and osteoporosis had fully degraded and partially degraded TBS, respectively. Conclusion: TBS was positively correlated with LS-BMD and decreased with age. Moreover, the extent of the correlation varied with respect to BMI.
Legibility in Print Text for People with

Research on the level of legibility and readability of text are mainly based on subjects with normal eyesight. In Norway, about 180.000 of the population is diagnosed with a visual impairment. In our study, over 800 visually impaired subjects participated in an experiment, which is so far the largest study of legibility and readability ever conducted for this this group of observers. The observers were recruited through the Norwegian association for blind and visually impaired (Norges Blindeforbund) and the number of subjects reveals that the experiment included 4.6 % of the population with visual impairments. In the experiment, the characteristics to be studied included different typefaces, serifs and sans serifs, font sizes, weighting and contrast. We can conclude that the uncontrolled home based experiment was successful regarding the volume of respondents, which resulted in significant findings. This paper gives an overview of the design choices according to experiment method and selection of legibility variables.
USE OF E-LEARNING BY PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN THE REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA

With the rapid technology development, today’s educational systems are obliged to include ICT in the educational processes. Sangra et al (2012) states e-learning represents a broad combination of processes, content, and infrastructure to use computers and networks to improve necessary parts of the learning value chain. In that regard, during the last two decades in the Republic of Macedonia there has been a constant engagement and resource allocation related to the introduction of ICT in the education process. For this purpose, various projects have been implemented at all levels of learning and teaching. Some of the projects were boosted with international support but many other were supported by national relevant institutions aiming to become a digitalized society and entirely introduce ICT in the education sector. This way all necessary legal provisions were adopted, which is the case of adoption of the needed laws and national strategies to introduce this new concept and thus establish the path towards digital education. Moreover, all primary and secondary public schools in the country were equipped with computers, provided software tools for school subjects, organized trainings for teachers and offered interactive on-line teaching and interactive teaching and assessment methods. The idea of this study is to assess and see the overall situation of e-learning in the secondary education in the country, evaluate its use and reflect the actual situation of e-learning use by looking at different demographic categories.
How Soar Agent Learns: Episodic Memory

The main objective of this paper is to make the agent learn from its experiences in order to improve its intelligence. Learning is performed with the help of episodic memory which store the previous experiences in the form of episodes in order to solve the problem. With the help of the implementation in soar of an example, this paper presents the improvement in intelligence. In this paper episodes (previous experiences) which are in the form of WME (working memory elements) work to improve the intelligence. Objective of this paper is to show that learning always improves performance i.e. as agent learns more, the performance will improve.
A Study to Identify the Factors that Inhibit High School Principals and Teachers from Pursuing Bachelor's and Master's Degrees in Busia District in Kenya.

A Study to Identify the Factors that Inhibit High School Principals and Teachers from Pursuing Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees in Busia District in Kenya by Samuel O. Obaki This study sought to examine the factors that inhibited principals and teachers from pursuing bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Busia District in Kenya. Up to the mid1990s, teachers of all professional grades studied for National Examinations as private candidates. Those who met university admission requirements were admitted and the Teachers Service Commission granted each of them a study leave with 80% of his or her salary. Some of those who met university admission requirements were admitted to foreign universities, and the Ministry of Education either granted them study leave with or without salary. On passing their examinations or completion of their studies, they were promoted on academic grounds. After the mid-1990s, the Kenyan Ministry of Education changed its policy from promotions on academic grounds to “merit promotions”. Merit promotion considered a teacher’s teaching effectiveness, co-curricular activities, community involvement, and the principals’ recommendations. Merit promotion was applied to those in job group M and above after serving in one job group for at least three years. Promotions from job group J, which was a starting point of a graduate teacher, to job group K, and from K to L, were automatic, provided that a teacher had been in one job group for three consecutive years of service. Although copies of academic qualifications were required when applying for promotion, the Kenyan Ministry of Education did not promote teachers from one job group to another on the basis of their attainment of higher academic qualifications. Consequently, teachers did not pursue further studies because they were not going to be promoted. The purpose of this study was to determine the factors that inhibited teachers from pursuing bachelor’s and master’s degrees. Stratified purposeful sampling was used to select the participating schools. Thirteen out of 27 high schools were chosen. All teachers in the chosen schools were invited to participate in the study. One hundred thirty-one out of 214 teachers, (61.2% of the total), including principals, completed questionnaires. Nine of the 13 principals invited (69.2%) completed the questionnaire. Conclusions were drawn from the participants’ responses. There were overwhelming data expressing the views that widespread teachers’ poverty and the policies of the Kenyan Ministry of Education were the major inhibitors of teachers’ efforts to pursue bachelor’s and master’s degrees.
Signal regulatory protein a protects podocytes through promotion of autophagic activity

High autophagic activity in podocytes, terminally differentiated cells that serve as main components of the kidney filtration barrier, is essential for podocyte survival under various challenges. How podocytes maintain such a high level of autophagy, however, remains unclear. Here we report that signal regulatory protein a (SIRPa) plays a key role in promoting podocyte autophagy. Unlike other glomerular cells, podocytes strongly expressed SIRPa, which was, however, downregulated in patients with focal segmental glomerulosclerosis and mice with experimental nephropathy. Podocyte SIRPa levels were inversely correlated with the severity of podocyte injury and proteinuria but positively with autophagy. Compared with WT littermates, Sirpa-deficient mice displayed greater agerelated podocyte injury and proteinuria and developed more rapid and severe renal injury in various models of experimental nephropathy. Mechanistically, podocyte SIRPa strongly reduced Akt/GSK-3b/b-catenin signaling, leading to an increase in autophagic activity. Our findings thus demonstrate a critical protective role of SIRPa in podocyte survival via maintenance of autophagic activity. Research Article Nephrology