Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Chemoprevention of lung cancer.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW Lung cancer is one of the major causes of cancer-related deaths. Grim mortality figures argue powerfully for new approaches to control this disease. Chemoprevention is the use of specific natural or synthetic chemical agents to reverse, suppress, or prevent carcinogenic progression to invasive cancer. The current article focuses on the field of lung cancer chemoprevention and recent advances. Lung cancer biology and general principles of prevention strategies are also described. RECENT FINDINGS Trials in lung cancer chemoprevention have so far produced either neutral or harmful primary end point results whether in the primary, secondary and tertiary settings. The data suggest that lung cancer was not prevented by beta-carotene, alpha-tocopherol, retinal, retinyl palmitate, N-acetylcysteine, or isotretinoin in smokers. The results from the recently completed Canadian study of anethole dithiolethione in smokers with bronchial dysplasia as well secondary analyses of the phase III trials involving selenium and data from the US Intergroup NCI-91-0001 supporting treatment with isotretinoin in never and former smokers are hopeful and may help define new avenues of chemopreventive treatment after scientists and clinicians analyze the information generated. SUMMARY The concept of chemoprevention in lung cancer is still in its infancy but one day may have a significant impact on the incidence and mortality of this leading cancer threat. An improved understanding of carcinogenesis and cancer prevention mechanisms will no doubt aid in the design of future clinical trials and in the validation of candidate agents as well as the development of new targets. Planned or ongoing trials currently are targeting important molecular markers of lung carcinogenesis and progression including cyclooxygenase-2, the ras-signaling pathway through farnesyl transferase inhibitors and the tyrosine kinase/epidermal growth factor receptor pathway. Until such studies are completed however, no drug or drug combination should be used for lung cancer prevention outside of a clinical study.
[Effects of Logotherapy with Exercise on meaning of life, ego integrity and IADL in the elderly].

PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of 'Logotherapy with Exercise' on the meaning of life, ego integrity and IADL's in the Elderly. METHOD This quasi-experimental study was designed for a nonequivalent control group repeated measurement study. This study was done from Oct. 13. 2004 to Dec. 18. 2004. The subjects were between the ages of 65 to 75, who were literate in Korean and able to communicate and participate in physical exercise without any discomfort. The experimental group was 25 subjects and the control group was 26. The 5-week 'Logotherapy with Exercise' program was given to the experimental group. Data was analyzed by Chi2, t-test, ANCOVA, ANOVA, and post-hoc comparison by Bonferroni correction with the SPSS/WIN 12.0. RESULTS The experimental group had a greater difference in meaning of life, ego integrity and IADL's than the control group. The experimental group had differences in changes in meaning of life, ego integrity and IADL's during time period. CONCLUSION 'Logotherapy with Exercise' can be recommended as an effective nursing intervention for the elderly.
The Public Health Laboratory Service national case-control study of primary indigenous sporadic cases of campylobacter infection

Summary The aetiology of sporadic campylobacter infection was investigated by means of a multicentre case-control study. During the course of the study 598 cases and their controls were interviewed. Conditional logistic regressional analysis of the data collected showed that occupational exposure to raw meat (odds ratio [OR] 9·37; 95 % confidence intervals [CI] 2·03, 43·3), having a household with a pet with diarrhoea (OR 2·39; CI 1·09. 5·25), and ingesting untreated water from lakes, rivers and streams (OR 4·16; CI 1·45. 11·9) were significant independent risk factors for becoming ill with campylobacter. Handling any whole chicken in the domestic kitchen that had been bought raw with giblets, or eating any dish cooked from chicken of this type in the home (OR 0·41–0·44; CI 0·24, 0·79) and occupational contact with livestock or their faeces (OR 0·44; CI 0·21, 0·92) were significantly associated with a decrease in the risk of becoming ill with campylobacter.
Adding whole body vibration to preconditioning squat exercise increases cycling sprint performance.

This study investigated the effect of performing a preconditioning exercise with or without whole-body vibration (WBV) on a subsequent cycling sprint performance. Fourteen trained subjects performed two separate test sessions in randomized order. After a warm-up, the preconditioning exercise (body-loaded half squats) was applied: 30-seconds of half-squats with WBV (40 Hz, 2 mm) or 30-seconds of half-squats without WBV with a 10-second all-out sprint performed after one minute. Surface electromyography (EMG) was measured from the vastus medialis, vastus lateralis and gastrocnemius medialis during the sprints. Blood lactate level (BL), heart rate (HR) and rating of perceived exertion (RPE) were determined immediately after the 10-second sprint. Performing preconditioning exercise with WBV resulted in superior peak (1693 ± 356 W vs. 1637 ± 349 W, p ≤ 0.05) and mean power output (1121 ± 174 W vs. 1085 ± 175 W, p ≤ 0.05) compared to preconditioning exercise without WBV. Effect sizes showed a moderate and large practical effect of WBV vs. no WBV on peak and mean power output, respectively. No differences were observed between the conditions for BL, HR and RPE after the sprints and in EMG activity during the sprints. In conclusion, it is plausible to suggest that body-loaded half-squats with WBV acutely induces higher power output levels. The practical application of the current study is that body-loaded squats with WBV can be incorporated into preparations for specific sprint training to improve the quality of the sprint training and also in order to improve sprint performance in relevant competitions.
Perceptions of physical activity and walking in an early stage after stroke or acquired brain injury

Background Physical activity has been established as being highly beneficial for health after stroke. There are considerable global efforts to find rehabilitation programs that encourage increased physical activity for persons with stroke. However, many persons with stroke or acquired brain injury do not reach recommended levels of physical activity and increased knowledge about why is needed. We aimed to explore views and experiences of physical activity and walking among persons with stroke or acquired brain injury. Method A qualitative study was conducted, among persons with stroke (n = 8) or acquired brain injury (n = 2) from a rehabilitation unit at Sahlgrenska University Hospital in Sweden. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were held about perceptions and experiences of walking and physical activity in general. Data were analyzed using qualitative content analysis, with categories that were determined inductively. Results Physical activity in general and walking ability more specifically were considered very important by the participants. However, physical activity was, regardless of exercising habits pre-injury, associated with different kinds of negative feelings and experiences. Commonly reported internal barriers in the current study were; fatigue, fear of falling or getting hurt in traffic, lack of motivation and depression. Reported external barriers were mostly related to walking, for example; bad weather, uneven ground, lack of company or noisy or too busy surroundings. Conclusion Persons with stroke or acquired brain injury found it difficult to engage in and sustain an eligible level of physical activity. Understanding individual concerns about motivators and barriers surrounding physical activity may facilitate the work of forming tailor-made rehabilitation for these groups, so that the levels of physical activity and walking can increase.
A Hybrid FDTD-SPICE Method for Transmission Lines Excited by a Nonuniform Incident Wave

This paper presents a hybrid finite-difference time-domain-simulation program with integrated circuit emphasis (FDTD-SPICE) method for lossless transmission lines excited by a nonuniform electromagnetic field. An FDTD code is used to compute the excitation fields of the lines. Additional voltage sources, which denote the effect of the excitation fields, are computed with the results obtained by the FDTD method and incorporated into a SPICE model. The hybrid method can be used for nonlinear or time-varying loads, because the SPICE model allows easy incorporation of nonlinear or time-varying loads. Three cases, two transmission lines and a network, all inside a cavity excited by an incident electromagnetic field, are computed by using the presented method. The numerical results are compared with those obtained by using a 3D FDTD code, and the agreement is generally good. The time needed by the hybrid method is much less than that needed by the FDTD code, because the lines can be ignored when the excitation fields of the lines are computed in the hybrid method.
Cell‐type‐specific mechanisms of transcriptional repression by the homeotic gene products UBX and ABD‐A in Drosophila embryos.

The homeotic genes of Drosophila melanogaster, which are required for specification of segmental identities, encode proteins capable of regulating gene expression. We have chosen to study the organization and function of a regulatory target in an attempt to learn how homeotic gene products provide appropriate transcriptional controls. We identified 30 common binding sites for the proteins encoded by the Ultrabithorax (Ubx) and abdominal‐A (abd‐A) genes within a negatively regulated target, the P2 promoter of the Antennapedia (Antp) gene. By systematically mutagenizing binding sites and observing the resulting P2 expression pattern in embryos, we have found evidence for cell‐type‐specific interactions that are mediated by these sequences. In certain neuronal cells, UBX and ABD‐A proteins appear to repress by competing for common binding sites with another homeodomain protein, which we propose to be ANTP acting to induce P2 transcription in an autoregulatory manner. In sets of cells that contribute to the tracheal system, UBX and ABD‐A repress by counteracting the function of a factor acting at independent sites. The latter mechanism of repression requires only that multiple homeodomain binding sequences be present and is not dependent on any particular binding site.
CGP 3466B has no effect on disease course of (G93A) mSOD1 transgenic mice

BACKGROUND: There is an accumulating body of evidence that apoptosis is involved in the motor neuron death that occurs in ALS, and in the (G93A) mSOD1 transgenic mouse model (mSOD1 mice). CGP 3466B, a tricyclic propargylamine structurally related to (-)-deprenyl, was found to inhibit apoptosis in a wide variety of in vitro and in vivo models. We therefore studied the effect of CGP 3466B in mSOD1 mice. METHODS: As the effect of CGP 3466B was previously reported to have a bell-shaped curve, we performed a dose-ranging study. High-copy G93A mSOD1 mice were treated subcutaneously from the age of 50 days until death with four concentrations of CGP 3466B (0.39 μg kg−1, 3.9 μg kg−1, 39 μg kg−1, and 390 μg kg−1). Behavioural tests were performed daily to determine disease onset, disease progression and survival. At the age of 110 days, two mice per group were sacrificed for histopathological analysis of the lumbar ventral horn and for semiquantitative analysis of motor neuron number. RESULTS: We observed no effect on disease onset, disease progression, or survival of the mice. We also did not observe a significant effect on the number of motor neurons due to CGP 3466B. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that in high-copy G93A mSOD1 mice, chronic subcutaneous treatment with CGP 3466B offers no clinical benefit.
Vehicle-to-Vehicle Forwarding in Green Roadside Infrastructure

Smart scheduling can be used to reduce infrastructure-to-vehicle energy costs in delay-tolerant vehicular networks. In this paper, we show that, by combining this with vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) forwarding, downlink (DL) traffic schedules can be generated, whose energy costs are lower than that in the single-hop case. This is accomplished by having the roadside units (RSUs) dynamically forward packets through vehicles, which are in energy-favorable locations. This paper considers both constant bit rate (CBR) and variable bit rate (VBR) air-interface options. We first derive offline schedulers for the DL RSU energy usage when V2V forwarding is added to RSU-to-vehicle communication. Both in-channel and off-channel forwarding cases are considered. The CBR and VBR cases are obtained using integer linear programming (ILP) and time-expanded graph (TEG) formulations, respectively. These schedulers provide lower bounds on energy performance and are used for comparisons with a variety of proposed online scheduling algorithms. The first algorithm is based on a greedy local optimization (GLOA). A version of this algorithm, which uses a minimum-cost flow graph (MCFG) scheduler, is also introduced. A more sophisticated algorithm is then proposed, which is based on a finite-window group optimization (FWGO). Results from various experiments show that the proposed algorithms can generate traffic schedules with much improved DL energy requirements compared with the case where V2V packet forwarding is not used. The performance improvements are particularly strong when under heavy loading conditions and when the variation in vehicle communication requirements or vehicle speed is high. Results that compare the proposed algorithms with conventional nonenergy-aware schedulers are also presented.
Transient surface impedance measurements using spherics — Source identification and characterisation

Transient recordings of the electric and magnetic fields over the audio-band display significant transient pulses (spherics) which can be used for surface impedance measurements providing the lighting strike is distant and predominantly vertical. Horizontal lighting strikes, other atmospheric noise and instrument noise creates incorrect surface impedance data. Automated spheric selection can be made by calculating the sliding window correlation coefficient, and observing a period of elevated values followed by a rapid transition to a negative value. Data selected in this manner yield coherent surface impedance values.
Families' lived experience one year after a child was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes.

AIM This paper is a report of a study to elucidate families' lived experience of diabetes one year after a child was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. BACKGROUND The incidence of type 1 diabetes is rapidly increasing worldwide, with a shift towards younger age groups. This illness is treated by means of an intensive management regimen that often disrupts the child's usual activities and requires disease-focused behaviours from the child and his or her family. However, research elucidating families' lived experience from the perspective of all its members is sparse. METHOD A hermeneutic phenomenological study was carried out in 2004, based on interviews one year after diagnosis with 11 consecutively chosen Swedish-speaking family members with children aged between 9 and 14 years. FINDINGS The families described their one year of lived experience as living an ordinary yet different life. They experienced their lives to be neither particularly difficult nor as easy as they had been before the child was diagnosed with diabetes. Related themes were 'feeling acceptance yet frustration', 'being healthy yet invisibly ill', 'feeling independent yet supervised' and 'feeling confident yet insecure'. CONCLUSION It may be helpful if healthcare professionals make use of the knowledge and experience of families living with the illness to meet their specific needs, especially when the affected child is experiencing fluctuating blood sugar levels. Thus, health-promoting collaboration should be tailor-made for every individual and proceed from each family's everyday life.
3D printed substrates with graded dielectric properties and their application to patch antennas

Effects of using air voids to vary the effective permittivity of Acrylonitrile-Butadiene-Styrene (ABS) TP20280 thermoplastic filament have been investigated. Measurements of the relativity permittivity and loss tangent of 3D printed substrates with different infill fractions have been made. A 3D printer has been used to manufacture heterogeneous antenna substrates, allowing for extra degrees of design freedom; specifically, varying the relative permittivity as a function of substrate location. S11 magnitude responses and performance parameters of heterogeneous antenna prototypes have been measured and validated through comparison with simulated data. Results presented conclude that patch antenna with linear variation of relative permittivity perpendicular to major current direction improved impedance match of the second resonant frequency, when compared with a traditional homogenous substrate patch antenna.
INCOG Recommendations for Management of Cognition Following Traumatic Brain Injury, Part II: Attention and Information Processing Speed

Introduction:Traumatic brain injury, due to its diffuse nature and high frequency of injury to frontotemporal and midbrain reticular activating systems, may cause disruption in many aspects of attention: arousal, selective attention, speed of information processing, and strategic control of attention, including sustained attention, shifting and dividing of attention, and working memory. An international team of researchers and clinicians (known as INCOG) convened to develop recommendations for the management of attentional problems. Methods:The experts selected recommendations from published guidelines and then reviewed literature to ensure that recommendations were current. Decision algorithms incorporating the recommendations based on inclusion and exclusion criteria of published trials were developed. The team then prioritized recommendations for implementation and developed audit criteria to evaluate adherence to these best practices. Results:The recommendations and discussion highlight that metacognitive strategy training focused on functional everyday activities is appropriate. Appropriate use of dual task training, environmental modifications, and cognitive behavioral therapy is also discussed. There is insufficient evidence to support mindfulness meditation and practice on de-contextualized computer-based tasks for attention. Administration of the medication methylphenidate should be considered to improve information-processing speed. Conclusion:The INCOG recommendations for rehabilitation of attention provide up-to-date guidance for clinicians treating people with traumatic brain injury.
Research on the influence factor of kindergarten teachers' information technology use behavior

To study the mechanism of kindergarten teachers information technology use behavior, this article based on the task characters of early childhood teachers, constructed the kindergarten teachers' information technology use behavior model. With 385 kindergarten teachers as the research object, using self-made questionnaire to survey. the results show that: (1) the individual factors through the perceived usefulness and ease of use to influence kindergarten teachers' information technology use behavior; (2) external factors directly decide kindergarten teachers' information technology use behavior; (3) the task technology fit degree through perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use to affect the use of intention, then to affect the use of the kindergarten teachers' behavior.
The Effect of Financial Incentives on Hospitals That Serve Poor Patients

BACKGROUND Providing financial incentives to hospitals to improve quality is increasingly common, yet its effect on hospitals that care for poor patients is largely unknown. OBJECTIVE To determine how financial incentives for quality performance affect hospitals with more poor patients compared with those with fewer poor patients. DESIGN Retrospective study. SETTING U.S. hospitals. PARTICIPANTS 251 hospitals that participated in the Premier Hospital Quality Incentive Demonstration program and a national sample of 3017 hospitals. MEASUREMENTS The association between the disproportionate-share index, a marker of caring for poor patients, and baseline quality performance, changes in performance, and terminal performance for acute myocardial infarction, congestive heart failure, and pneumonia for hospitals in the pay-for-performance program and those in the national sample (which did not receive financial incentives). RESULTS Among both pay-for-performance hospitals and those in the national sample, hospitals with more poor patients had lower baseline performance than did those with fewer poor patients. A high disproportionate-share index was associated with greater improvements in performance for acute myocardial infarction and pneumonia but not for congestive heart failure, and the gains were greater among hospitals that received financial incentives than among the national sample. After 3 years, hospitals that had more poor patients and received financial incentives caught up for all 3 conditions, whereas those with more poor patients among the national sample continued to lag. LIMITATION Hospitals in the Premier Hospital Quality Incentive Demonstration may be atypical, and these results may not be generalizable to all hospitals. CONCLUSION No evidence indicated that financial incentives widened the gap in performance between hospitals that serve poor patients and other hospitals. Pay-for-performance programs may be a promising quality improvement strategy for hospitals that serve poor patients. PRIMARY FUNDING SOURCE Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Unconditional Tests of Linear Asset Pricing Models with Time‐Varying Betas

In conditional affine factor models, estimated risk prices should satisfy certain unconditional constraints. Specifically, a cross-sectional estimate of the unconditional slope associated with a risk factor should equal the average price of risk of the factor. The estimated slope associated with the product of a risk factor and an instrument should be equal to the covariance of the factor risk premium with the instrument. We show that the constraints only apply to the conditional models with time-varying betas. We identify an unconditional constraint on unconditional betas for time-varying beta models and incorporate it into model tests. We show that imposing this unconditional constraint changes estimates of unconditional betas and risk prices significantly.
Blood pressure and ageing

Isolated systolic hypertension, an elevation in systolic but not diastolic pressure, is the most prevalent type of hypertension in those aged 50 or over, occurring either de novo or as a development after a long period of systolic-diastolic hypertension with or without treatment. The increase in blood pressure with age is mostly associated with structural changes in the arteries and especially with large artery stiffness. It is known from various studies that rising blood pressure is associated with increased cardiovascular risk. In the elderly, the most powerful predictor of risk is increased pulse pressure due to decreased diastolic and increased systolic blood pressure. All evidence indicates that treating the elderly hypertensive patient will reduce the risk of cardiovascular events. However, there is no evidence yet for the very elderly. This population is particularly susceptible to side effects of treatments and the reduction of blood pressure, although reducing the risk of cardiovascular events such as stroke, may result in increased mortality.