Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Characteristics of emergency services personnel related to peritraumatic dissociation during critical incident exposure.

OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to identify characteristics of emergency services personnel related to acute dissociative responses at the time of critical incident exposure, a phenomenon designated "peritraumatic dissociation. " METHOD The authors studied 157 rescue workers who responded to the Nimitz Freeway collapse during the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake in the San Francisco Bay Area as well as 201 rescue workers who were not involved in that disaster. Demographics, level of critical incident exposure, perceived threat at the time of exposure, personality attributes (assessed by the Hogan Personality Inventory), coping strategies (assessed by the Ways of Coping Questionnaire), and locus of control were related to subjects' scores on the Peritraumatic Dissociative Experiences Questionnaire. RESULTS According to univariate tests, the subjects with clinically meaningful levels of peritraumatic dissociation were younger; reported greater exposure to critical incident stress; felt greater perceived threat; had lower scores on the adjustment, identify, ambition, and prudence scales of the Hogan Personality Inventory; had higher scores on measures of coping by means of escape-avoidance, self-control, and active problem solving; and had greater externality in locus of control. Linear modeling with multiple logistic regression analyses indicated that greater feelings of perceived threat, coping by means of escape-avoidance, and coping by means of self-control were associated with a greater likelihood of being in the peritraumatic dissociation group, above and beyond age and exposure to stress. CONCLUSIONS Rescue workers who are shy, inhibited, uncertain about their identity, or reluctant to take leadership roles, who have global cognitive styles, who believe their fate is determined by factors beyond their control, and who cope with critical incident trauma by emotional suppression and wishful thinking are at higher risk for acute dissociative responses to trauma and subsequent posttraumatic stress disorder.
Influence of Irradiated Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells on Both Ex Vivo Proliferation of Human Natural Killer Cells and Change in Cellular Property

Clinical studies with adoptive immunotherapy using allogeneic natural killer (NK) cells showed feasibility, but also limitation regarding the transfused absolute cell numbers. First promising results with peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) as feeder cells to improve the final cell number need further optimization and investigation of the unknown controlling mechanism in the cross-talk to NK cells. We investigated the influence of irradiated autologous PBMCs to boost NK cell proliferation in the presence of OKT3 and IL-2. Our findings demonstrate a requirement for receptor–ligand interactions between feeders and NK cells to produce soluble factors that can sustain NK cell proliferation. Thus, both physical contact between feeder and NK cells, and soluble factors produced in consequence, are required to fully enhance NK cell ex vivo proliferation. This occurred with an indispensable role of the cross-talk between T cells, monocytes, and NK cells, while B cells had no further influence in supporting NK cell proliferation under these co-culture conditions. Moreover, gene expression analysis of highly proliferating and non-proliferating NK cells revealed important phenotypic changes on 5-day cultured NK cells. Actively proliferating NK cells have reduced Siglec-7 and -9 expression compared with non-proliferating and resting NK cells (day 0), independently of the presence of feeder cells. Interestingly, proliferating NK cells cultured with feeder cells contained increased frequencies of cells expressing RANKL, B7-H3, and HLA class II molecules, particularly HLA-DR, compared with resting NK cells or expanded with IL-2 only. A subset of HLA-DR expressing NK cells, co-expressing RANKL, and B7-H3 corresponded to the most proliferative population under the established co-culture conditions. Our results highlight the importance of the crosstalk between T cells, monocytes, and NK cells in autologous feeder cell-based ex vivo NK cell expansion protocols, and reveal the appearance of a highly proliferative subpopulation of NK cells (HLA-DR+RANKL+B7-H3+) with promising characteristics to extend the therapeutic potential of NK cells.
Speech with Gaps: Effects of Periodic Interruptions on Speech Intelligibility

Objective: This study examined the role of central auditory completion in speech understanding. The perception of periodically interrupted speech was investigated. For this purpose, gaps were inserted into speech signals by silencing out defined intervals. The main hypothesis was that word recognition increases with shorter gaps and is less influenced by the total amount of gaps. Patients and Methods: Seventeen normal-hearing young adults took part in this study. Phrases from the German HSM speech recognition test were used as speech material. The examination comprised 220 modulated sentences presented binaurally at 65 dB. Intervals with durations ranging from 50 to 700 ms were taken to silence out 50, 65 and 80% of each sentence, respectively. Results: Mean speech perception values were in the range of 65–92%, 35–92% and 35–95% correct answers for gap ratios of 50, 65 and 80%, respectively. When comparing the same interval duration, word recognition was better for smaller gap ratios. Both, gap ratio and gap duration had a significant influence on identification performance. Conclusions: Speech can be understood even when very large proportions are blanked out. A significant decrease in perception can be observed when gap duration exceeds more than half of the syllable length.
Prevalence of hyperinsulinaemia in patients with high blood pressure

Abstract. A total of 41 patients with hypertension were identified in a survey of 732 healthy factory workers. Twenty‐three of these individuals were receiving antihypertensive medication, whereas 18 cases were newly discovered. Plasma glucose and insulin responses to oral glucose and fasting plasma triglyceride (TG), cholesterol, and high‐density‐lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol concentrations of these 41 individuals were compared with those of 41 other factor workers, with normal blood pressure, matched with the hypertensive group in terms of gender, age, degree of obesity, job in the factory, and leisure‐time activity. Patients with hypertension had significantly higher plasma glucose (P < 0.05) and insulin (P < 0.05) concentrations in response to oral glucose, as well as a higher plasma TG concentration (P < 0.05). Similar findings were obtained when the treated and untreated hypertensive groups were analysed separately and compared with their respective control groups. However, there were no differences between the treated and untreated hypertensive groups. Ninety per cent of the normotensive group had a plasma insulin concentration of < 500 pmol l−1 2 h after the glucose load. Using this value as the criterion for definition of hyperinsulinaemia, 41% of the patients with high blood pressure were hyperinsulinaemic. In addition to meeting this cut‐off point, the patients with hypertension and hyperinsulinaemia were also glucose intolerant and dyslipidaemic. In conclusion, approximately 50% of an unselected group of patients with hypertension were hyperinsulinaemic. Insulin levels were comparable in treated and untreated patients with high blood pressure, and hyperinsulinaemic patients also tended to be glucose intolerant and dyslipidaemic.
Central Corneal Thickness and Corneal Curvature in Pseudoexfoliation Syndrome With and Without Glaucoma

PurposeTo determine the central corneal thickness (CCT) and corneal curvature (CC) in pseudoexfoliative (PE) eyes with and without glaucoma. MethodsCharts of 551 consecutive patients undergoing preoperative examinations for cataract surgery between April 2006 and May 2009 in our clinic were reviewed retrospectively. Fourty-eight PE patients (48 eyes; 19 with glaucoma, 29 without glaucoma) and 48 age-matched and sex-matched control patients were enrolled in the study. The CCT, CC, intraocular pressure, and axial length were measured by ultrasonic pachymeter, autorefractokeratometer, Goldmann applanation tonometry, and ultrasound biometry, respectively. The independent samples t test and paired samples t test was used for the comparisons of the groups. ResultsMean CCT was significantly thinner in all PE and nonglaucomatous PE (Pseudoexfoliation syndrome “PES”) eyes than in control eyes (P=0.004 and P=0.005, respectively). There was no difference in CCT between PE glaucoma (PEG) and control eyes (P=0.089). There was no difference in mean keratometry (K) and axial length in the study and control groups. In 22 unilateral PE eyes, mean CCT and K readings were insignificant between the PE eyes and fellow non-PE eyes. ConclusionsCCT was significantly thinner in eyes with PES compared with control eyes; however, difference between the PEG and control eyes was insignificant. In addition, mean K readings were not different in study and control eyes. Thinner CCT in eyes with PES, both as it is an independent risk factor and as a result of artificially lower intraocular pressure readings, may be an illuminating cause for development and rapid progression of glaucoma in the patients with PES.
The Spread of Inequality

The causes of socioeconomic inequality have been debated since the time of Plato. Many reasons for the development of stratification have been proposed, from the need for hierarchical control over large-scale irrigation systems to the accumulation of small differences in wealth over time via inheritance processes. However, none of these explains how unequal societies came to completely displace egalitarian cultural norms over time. Our study models demographic consequences associated with the unequal distribution of resources in stratified societies. Agent-based simulation results show that in constant environments, unequal access to resources can be demographically destabilizing, resulting in the outward migration and spread of such societies even when population size is relatively small. In variable environments, stratified societies spread more and are also better able to survive resource shortages by sequestering mortality in the lower classes. The predictions of our simulation are provided modest support by a range of existing empirical studies. In short, the fact that stratified societies today vastly outnumber egalitarian societies may not be due to the transformation of egalitarian norms and structures, but may instead reflect the more rapid migration of stratified societies and consequent conquest or displacement of egalitarian societies over time.
An Evaluation of Background Subtraction for Object Detection Vis-a-Vis Mitigating Challenging Scenarios

Background subtraction is a popular technique for detecting objects moving across a fixed camera view. The performance of this paradigm is influenced by various challenges, such as object relocation, illumination change, cast shadows, waving background, camera shake, bootstrapping, camouflage, and so on. In this paper, we present a synopsis on the evolution of the background subtraction techniques over the last two decades. The different ways of mathematical modeling are taken into consideration to categorize the methods. We also evaluate the performance of some of the state-of-the-art techniques vis-a-vis the challenges associated. Eleven different algorithms of background subtraction have been simulated on thirty-four image sequences collected from five benchmark datasets. For each image sequence, seven performance metrics are evaluated and an exhaustive comparative analysis has been made to derive inferences. The potential findings in the result analysis are presented for future exploration. The obtained image and video results are uploaded at <;uri xlink:type="simple">https://sites.google. com/site/soaBSevaluation<;/uri>.
An ontology-based architecture for context recommendation system in E-learning and mobile-learning applications

Distant learning is an alternative way of education that offers a remote learning experience without being in a traditional classroom. With the emergence of mobile devices, distant learning is passing from electronic learning (e-learning) to mobile learning (m-learning) which makes learning even more widely available. This availability has put emphasis on the need of having platforms that are delivering learning contents corresponding to learner's learning environment. With the huge amount of learning materials available on the internet, it's become difficult to find the suitable ones. Although, recommendation systems can be the solution for this problem. However, these systems are still less used in e-learning and m-earning in comparison with other fields (e-commerce, social media…). Hence, to make these systems more relevant and performant, in this paper we propose to take benefits from semantic web technologies by proposing to add a semantic layer in 3-tiers classical web application's architecture. This layer will hold three ontologies: The Learning Context Ontology is a domain knowledge for gathering the learning context information (Profile, Social interactions, learning activities, and device specifications), The Learning Content Ontology is the Learning Object Ontology, and the Learning Design Ontology is the ontology to hold the sequenced learning activities. The OWL Rules filtering will be used as a recommendation technique.
TNFα Modulates Cardiac Conduction by Altering Electrical Coupling between Myocytes

Background: Tumor Necrosis Factor α (TNFα) upregulation during acute inflammatory response has been associated with numerous cardiac effects including modulating Connexin43 and vascular permeability. This may in turn alter cardiac gap junctional (GJ) coupling and extracellular volume (ephaptic coupling) respectively. We hypothesized that acute exposure to pathophysiological TNFα levels can modulate conduction velocity (CV) in the heart by altering electrical coupling: GJ and ephaptic. Methods and Results: Hearts were optically mapped to determine CV from control, TNFα and TNFα + high calcium (2.5 vs. 1.25 mM) treated guinea pig hearts over 90 mins. Transmission electron microscopy was performed to measure changes in intercellular separation in the gap junction-adjacent extracellular nanodomain—perinexus (WP). Cx43 expression and phosphorylation were determined by Western blotting and Cx43 distribution by confocal immunofluorescence. At 90 mins, longitudinal and transverse CV (CVL and CVT, respectively) increased with control Tyrode perfusion but TNFα slowed CVT alone relative to control and anisotropy of conduction increased, but not significantly. TNFα increased WP relative to control at 90 mins, without significantly changing GJ coupling. Increasing extracellular calcium after 30 mins of just TNFα exposure increased CVT within 15 mins. TNFα + high calcium also restored CVT at 90 mins and reduced WP to control values. Interestingly, TNFα + high calcium also improved GJ coupling at 90 mins, which along with reduced WP may have contributed to increasing CV. Conclusions: Elevating extracellular calcium during acute TNFα exposure reduces perinexal expansion, increases ephaptic, and GJ coupling, improves CV and may be a novel method for preventing inflammation induced CV slowing.
Promoting sexual health services to young men: findings from focus group discussions

Context Recently, increasing interest has been shown in men's reproductive health, sexual behaviour and use of contraception. As the majority of sexual health service clients are female, however, little research has been done on the characteristics and needs of male clients. Objective Using data from focus group discussions, this paper considers whether young men need sexual health services, whether current services are appropriate and accessible, and what promotion strategies might increase service uptake. Design Nine focus group discussions with 75 men aged 13–21 years at different locations in England. Results Young men's decision-making around sexual health may involve seeking advice from a close friend, but is less likely in some male social groups. Use of services by young men is most likely to obtain free condoms, or to remedy a crisis situation. While a young man is becoming familiar with obtaining condoms from a service, the need for a quick, straightforward service seems important. The stereotypical view within the groups was that sexual health services are women-oriented. However, suggestions are given to make services more youth- and male-friendly. Promotion should aim to increase awareness and advance a positive image of a sexual health service. Discussion and conclusions Effective promotion campaigns (designed with the input of local young men), combined with appropriate and accessible services, should help to increase service use among young men.
Epidemiology and Clinical Features of Human Infection with Coxiella burnetii in Denmark During 2006–07

Query (Q) fever was virtually unknown in Denmark in 2005, when, after the introduction of new sensitive diagnostic methods for Coxiella burnetii, an increasing number of positive cattle created concern among people with frequent exposure. This led to a dramatic rise in examinations for Q fever among humans in the following 2 years. The aim of our study was to assess indication for testing and symptoms in individuals with serological signs of infection with C. burnetii. We performed a case‐review study of seropositives among all humans tested for Q fever in 2006–07 in Denmark. Seropositive cases were categorized with acute infection: 4‐fold increase in immunoglobulin G (IgG) phase II or concomitant IgM phase II ≥ 1 : 256 and IgG phase II ≥ 1 : 1024; and previous infection: IgG phase II ≥ 1 : 1024. A borderline result was defined as: IgG phase II = 1 : 512. Physicians completed a questionnaire retrospectively. Of the 1613 people tested, 177 (11%) were seropositive [37 (2%) acute infection, 140 (9%) previous infection], 180 had a borderline result. Among 127 seropositives responders, 31% were tested due to symptoms compatible with Q fever after a possible exposure to C. burnetii, 64% were asymptomatic and were tested following relevant exposure only; 64% were males, 43% farmers, 39% veterinarians, 84% had been exposed to cattle. The most frequently reported symptoms were asthenia (25%), myalgia (21%), fever (17%) and headache (13%). About two‐thirds of seropositives reported asymptomatic infections, and were tested for Q fever because of concern for occupational exposure to cattle. One‐third of the seropositives reported symptoms consistent with Q fever, the majority being mild. Our study provided important evidence that increased requests for Q fever testing in 2006–07 arose from heightened public awareness of the disease, and not from an outbreak of clinical disease. Nonetheless, Q fever should be considered endemic in Denmark.
Influence of experimentally induced anxiety on gastric sensorimotor function in humans.

BACKGROUND & AIMS Unexplained dyspeptic symptoms are associated with changes in gastric sensorimotor function and several psychopathologic dimensions, including anxiety. It is unclear whether this reflects common predisposition or a causal relationship. The aim of this study was to investigate whether experimentally induced anxiety would alter gastric sensorimotor function in health. METHODS Fourteen subjects underwent a gastric barostat study to assess gastric sensitivity and accommodation. Eighteen subjects underwent a 10-minute satiety drinking test (30 mL/min) with registration of epigastric symptoms on a visual analogue scale (VAS) at 2-minute intervals. Emotional context was modulated for 10 minutes at the start of each experiment by combined projection of validated facial expressions and an audiotape recalling a neutral or an anxious autobiographical experience. Anxiety levels were assessed using a VAS and the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI). RESULTS VAS and STAI scores confirmed efficacy of anxiety induction. During the anxiety condition, gastric compliance was significantly decreased (57 +/- 5 vs 40 +/- 5 mL/mm Hg; P < .01). Intraballoon pressures inducing discomfort during gastric distention were not altered, but the corresponding volume (630 +/- 47 vs 489 +/- 39 mL; P < .005) was significantly lower. Meal-induced relaxation was inhibited during the anxiety condition and this persisted for the 60-minute measurement (157 +/- 29 vs 100 +/- 24 mL; P < .05). During the satiety drinking test, the anxiety condition was associated with significantly higher scores for satiety, fullness, and bloating. CONCLUSIONS Experimentally induced anxiety alters gastric sensorimotor function, suggesting that psychological factors may play a causal role in the pathogenesis of some dyspeptic symptoms and mechanisms.
The Frontier Culture Complex, a Preliminary Report on a Prehistoric Hunters' Camp in Southwestern Nebraska

This report, a preliminary delineation of a new lithic complex from the Central Plains, is presented for the immediate purpose of aiding other archaeologists working in the area. Once one has left such easily recognizable markers as the Folsom complex, the details of the archaic horizons of the Great Plains are confused until we reach such lithic complexes as those found at Signal Butte (Strong, 1935), Ash Hollow Cave (Champe, 1946), and more recently, Nebo Hill (Shippee, 1948). The primary value of defining the Frontier Culture complex at this time is that it affords a “pure” and relatively complete lithic complex by means of which comparative typological work in the Plains Archaic can be furthered.
Change Detection is Easier at Texture Border Bars When They are Parallel to the Border: Evidence for V1 Mechanisms of Bottom-up Salience

A vertical bar is salient among horizontal ones by orientation contrast, and, traditionally, bottom—up salience is viewed as caused only by feature contrast. Recently, it has been proposed that the primary visual cortex (V1) creates a bottom—up salience map in its outputs, which depends on direct inputs and on contextual inputs by intra-cortical interactions (Li Zhaoping, 2002 Trends in Cognitive Sciences 6 9–16). Since the interactions include iso-feature (eg iso-orientation) suppression, responsible for salience by feature contrast, and collinear facilitation, the V1 proposal predicts that collinear grouping contributes to salience additionally. Accordingly, in orientation textures, texture bars are more salient near texture borders owing to orientation contrast, and are even more salient when they are additionally parallel to the border by collinear grouping. We show that colour changes in texture bars are more detectable when the bars are parallel to the texture border. Since changes are more detectable at salient locations, our finding supports V1 mechanisms for bottom—up salience.