Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Vitamins and perinatal outcomes among HIV-negative women in Tanzania.

BACKGROUND Prematurity and low birth weight are associated with high perinatal and infant mortality, especially in developing countries. Maternal micronutrient deficiencies may contribute to these adverse outcomes. METHODS In a double-blind trial in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, we randomly assigned 8468 pregnant women (gestational age of fetus, 12 to 27 weeks) who were negative for human immunodeficiency virus infection to receive daily multivitamins (including multiples of the recommended dietary allowance) or placebo. All the women received prenatal supplemental iron and folic acid. The primary outcomes were low birth weight (<2500 g), prematurity, and fetal death. RESULTS The incidence of low birth weight was 7.8% among the infants in the multivitamin group and 9.4% among those in the placebo group (relative risk, 0.82; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.70 to 0.95; P=0.01). The mean difference in birth weight between the groups was modest (67 g, P<0.001). The rates of prematurity were 16.9% in the multivitamin group and 16.7% in the placebo group (relative risk, 1.01; 95% CI, 0.91 to 1.11; P=0.87), and the rates of fetal death were 4.3% and 5.0%, respectively (relative risk, 0.87; 95% CI, 0.72 to 1.05; P=0.15). Supplementation reduced both the risk of a birth size that was small for gestational age (<10th percentile; 10.7% in the multivitamin group vs. 13.6% in the placebo group; relative risk, 0.77; 95% CI, 0.68 to 0.87; P<0.001) and the risk of maternal anemia (hemoglobin level, <11 g per deciliter; relative risk, 0.88; 95% CI, 0.80 to 0.97; P=0.01), although the difference in the mean hemoglobin levels between the groups was small (0.2 g per deciliter, P<0.001). CONCLUSIONS Multivitamin supplementation reduced the incidence of low birth weight and small-for-gestational-age births but had no significant effects on prematurity or fetal death. Multivitamins should be considered for all pregnant women in developing countries. (ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00197548 [ClinicalTrials.gov].).
Is suboptimal prescribing a risk factor for poor health outcomes in community‐dwelling elders? The ICARe Dicomano study

Mostly because of comorbidity and drugs consumption, older persons are often exposed to an increased risk of sub‐optimal prescribing (SP). At present, few studies investigated the association between SP and long‐term health outcomes. We examined the relation between SP and the risk of mortality and hospitalization in Italian older community‐dwellers.
SHOULDER Neer Award 2015 : A randomized , prospective evaluation on the effectiveness of tranexamic acid in reducing blood loss after total shoulder arthroplasty

Background: Tranexamic acid (TXA) is an antifibrinolytic agent that has been shown to significantly reduce blood loss and transfusion requirements after total knee and hip arthroplasty. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of TXA on postoperative blood loss after shoulder arthroplasty. Methods: A total of 111 patients (62 women; average age, 67 years) who underwent shoulder arthroplasty were prospectively randomized in double-blinded fashion to receive either 100 mL of normal saline or 100 mL of normal saline with 2 g TXA by topical application into the wound at the completion of the case. All patients received a postoperative drain. Drain output representing postoperative blood loss, transfusion requirements, and change in hemoglobin level were recorded. All postoperative complications were noted. Results: The average blood loss recorded after surgery was 170 mL in the placebo group and 108 mL in the TXA group (P 1⁄4 .017). The average change in hemoglobin level was 2.6 g/dL in the placebo group and 1.7 g/dL in the TXA group (P < .001). There were no transfusion requirements or postoperative complications noted in either group. Discussion: In this cohort of patients, those treated with TXA experienced a significantly lower amount of postoperative blood loss and a significantly smaller change in hemoglobin level compared with those treated with placebo. Further work is required to determine the effectiveness and clinical significance of TXA in reducing transfusion requirements in shoulder arthroplasty and, more specifically, shoulder arthroplasty performed for complicated patients or for trauma and fracture patients. Level of evidence: Level I, Randomized Controlled Trial, Treatment Study. 2015 Published by Elsevier Inc. on behalf of Journal of Shoulder and Elbow Surgery Board of Trustees.
Muscarinic and peptidergic excitation of bull‐frog sympathetic neurones.

The large B cells of bull‐frog sympathetic ganglia are well known to be depolarized by slow synaptic transmission, muscarinic agonists, analogues of luteinizing hormone‐releasing hormone (LHRH), and substance P. Voltage‐clamp analysis shows that these actions result from two underlying mechanisms: inhibition of the M‐current, a voltage‐dependent potassium current; and in some cells, an inward current associated with an increase in conductance. The additional inward current appears as a voltage‐insensitive change in the instantaneous conductance (i.e. apparent leak conductance). The additional inward current is typically slower in onset and offset than is M‐current inhibition. It is typically seen for higher concentrations and longer durations of agonist application. In many cells, only a decrease in M‐current can be demonstrated. Muscarine inhibits the M‐current with 50% inhibition (I50) at 0.7 microM. At least 86% of the M‐current is muscarine sensitive. At comparable concentrations, oxotremorine produces less M‐current inhibition than does muscarine. Some analogues of teleost LHRH (T‐LHRH) are more potent as M‐current inhibitors than T‐LHRH itself. Those peptides tend to act more slowly than T‐LHRH. Substance P shows variable potency for M‐current inhibition, with I50 s ranging from 2 nM to greater than 2 microM on different cells. The response to long applications of substance P desensitizes in some cells, which has not been observed for comparable applications of muscarinic or LHRH agonists. Other tachykinins (including substance K) inhibit the M‐current. C‐terminal fragments of substance P are ineffective, and M‐current inhibition by substance P is not blocked by [D‐Pro2,D‐Trp7,9]‐ or [D‐Arg1,D‐Pro2, D‐Trp7,9,Leu11] substance P. The slow muscarinic excitatory post‐synaptic potential (e.p.s.p.) produces a graded inhibition of up to 90% of the M‐current. Occasional cells show an additional inward current with an associated increase in conductance during the slow e.p.s.p. This effect is less marked than with exogenous muscarinic agonists. The late, slow e.p.s.p., which is produced by stimulation of high threshold C‐fibre inputs and is resistant to cholinergic antagonists, also involves M‐current inhibition. An additional inward current can be observed in some cells. M‐current inhibition (by agonists or slow synaptic potentials) increases the number of spikes produced by a given depolarizing current, often allowing maintained firing. This action is not mimicked by equivalent depolarization, and is still seen when the cell is manually clamped to the original resting potential. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
Japanese Joint Research Project on the Thickness Effect to Fatigue Strength

In recent years, fatigue strength issue on tanker structures has been one of the greatest concerns among the industries, and more and more consistent and direct analytical fatigue strength assessment method has been introduced to the international rules, such as the Common Structural Rules for Double Hull Oil Tankers (CSR-O/T). However, as compared with the rigorous analytical approach, the effect of plate thickness has been left alone with simple and conventional application of thickness exponent of n=1/4. In this regard, the Shipbuilders’ Association of Japan (SAJ) has had a great concern, and organized a joint research project with steel makers, classification societies and universities in 2010. Since then, we have carried out many experiments and associated analyses, including series of fundamental mother plate experiments, fundamental joint experiments and structure experiments. This paper outlines the results of the project in combination with some considerations on how the harmonized CSR can incorporate the results of the project, and enhance the quality of structural design and safety of oil tankers.
Kulenovic, Edina (2018) How can student peer assessment be used to improve the quality of student learning? Teacher Education Advancement Network

This study looks at student peer assessment as a learning tool and a way of enhancing student learning at a university in England. Peer assessment is a formative process and has the aim of improving student understanding of learning as it happens, through assessing each other's work against set marking criteria. In addition, the aim is to improve students' subject knowledge, the quality of learning and ultimately the quality of summative assessments. Peer assessment has gained increased popularity in the recent years, with the growing focus on collaborative learning (Pearce, Mulder and Baik, 2009). The aim of this study was to determine if peer review, as part of formative assessment, can improve student understanding of the assessment process, which, in turn, should improve student learning. Moreover, the study was designed as a resource for improving for teaching staff, who may wish to consider integrating student peer assessment in their modules. Although there are benefits and limitations to using this method in teaching, the study suggests that the benefits outweigh the difficulties and recommends that student peer assessment is used as an alternative way of finding the balance between different forms of assessment.
Cutaneous active vasodilation in humans is mediated by cholinergic nerve cotransmission.

During heat stress, increases in blood flow in nonglabrous skin in humans are mediated through active vasodilation by an unknown neurotransmitter mechanism. To investigate this mechanism, a three-part study was performed to determine the following: (1) Is muscarinic receptor activation necessary for active cutaneous vasodilation? We iontophoretically applied atropine to a small area of forearm skin. At that site and an untreated control site, we measured the vasomotor (laser-Doppler blood flow [LDF]) and sudomotor (relative humidity) responses to whole-body heat stress. Blood pressure was monitored. Cutaneous vascular conductance (CVC) was calculated (LDF divided by mean arterial pressure). Sweating was blocked at treated sites only. CVC rose at both sites (P < .05 at each site); thus, cutaneous active vasodilation is not effected through muscarinic receptors. (2) Are nonmuscarinic cholinergic receptors present on cutaneous arterioles? Acetylcholine (ACh) was iontophoretically applied to forearm skin at sites pretreated by atropine iontophoresis and at untreated sites. ACh increased CVC at untreated sites (P < .05) but not at atropinized sites. Thus, the only functional cholinergic receptors on cutaneous vessels are muscarinic. (3) Does cutaneous active vasodilation involve cholinergic nerve cotransmission? Botulinum toxin was injected intradermally in the forearm to block release of ACh and any coreleased neurotransmitters. Heat stress was performed as in part 1 of the study. At treated sites, CVC and relative humidity remained at baseline levels during heat stress (P > .05). Active vasodilator and sudomotor responses to heat stress were abolished by botulinum toxin. We conclude that cholinergic nerve activation mediates cutaneous active vasodilation through release of an unknown cotransmitter, not through ACh.
A Serum Proteomics Approach to the Diagnosis of Ectopic Pregnancy

Abstract: An ectopic pregnancy (EP) occurs when implantation of the embryo occurs outside of the uterus. If left untreated, the developing fetus will continue to grow, leading to life‐threatening consequences for the mother. A major difficulty with the diagnosis of ectopic pregnancy is that methods of detection are limited, and some, such as ultrasound, are not very reliable in the earliest days of gestation. Currently, no effective serum test exists to distinguish an ectopic pregnancy from a normal intrauterine pregnancy. The incidence of ectopic pregnancy is increasing and has doubled in the last 20 years. It is now the second most common cause of maternal death in the first trimester of pregnancy. To address this issue, we initiated a project to identify serum markers of ectopic pregnancy. The subjects for these studies presented at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. We obtained over 140 serum samples from women with suspected ectopic pregnancy: women presenting with pain and/or bleeding in the first trimester of pregnancy. The approximate racial breakdown of the subjects is as follows: African American, 36%; Caucasian, 3%; Asian, 2%; Hispanic, 1%; unknown, 58%. Serum samples from 139 women (62 with ectopic pregnancy and 77 with a normal intrauterine pregnancy) were applied to WCX2 (weak ion exchange) protein chip surfaces and analyzed for serum markers using surface‐enhanced laser desorption/ionization time‐of‐flight mass spectrometry (SELDI‐TOF‐MS). Several proteins in the 7500–18,000 Da mass range were identified that may discriminate an ectopic pregnancy from an intrauterine pregnancy. The most promising markers were analyzed using classification and regression tree analysis (CART) with and without clinical variables (serum hCG value, length of amenorrhea). Two different algorithms were developed that classify the patients on the basis of sensitivity (number of EPs who screen positive/# of EPs) or specificity (# of healthy patients who screen negative/# of healthy). Our current approach is to refine these two “rule sets” to segregate patients into three groups: those who need immediate intervention for a probable ectopic pregnancy, those who appear to have a normal pregnancy, and those who need further monitoring for diagnosis.
PSOSAC: Particle Swarm Optimization Sample Consensus Algorithm for Remote Sensing Image Registration

Image registration is an important preprocessing step for many remote sensing image processing applications, and its result will affect the performance of the follow-up procedures. Establishing reliable matches is a key issue in point matching-based image registration. Due to the significant intensity mapping difference between remote sensing images, it may be difficult to find enough correct matches from the tentative matches. In this letter, particle swarm optimization (PSO) sample consensus algorithm is proposed for remote sensing image registration. Different from random sample consensus (RANSAC) algorithm, the proposed method directly samples the modal transformation parameter rather than randomly selecting tentative matches. Thus, the proposed method is less sensitive to the correct rate than RANSAC, and it has the ability to handle lower correct rate and more matches. Meanwhile, PSO is utilized to optimize parameter as its efficiency. The proposed method is tested on several multisensor remote sensing image pairs. The experimental results indicate that the proposed method yields a better registration performance in terms of both the number of correct matches and aligning accuracy.
The Construction of Brand Personality Dimensions of Fresh E-commerce Platform from the Perspective of Consumption Perception

Driven by the competition in the fresh e-commerce market and the demand of consumers, China's fresh e-commerce platform is paying more and more attention to the construction and development of brand personality. Considering the particularity of the fresh e-commerce market, the existing brand personality dimension scale is difficult to accurately measure the brand of fresh e-commerce platform. In view of this, based on the existing brand personality scale, combined with consumer perception, design There are 5 dimensions of “Benevolence, Wisdom, Courage, Music, and elegance” and a brand personality scale of 21 characteristic words. Finally, from the theoretical and practical significance, it puts forward feasible suggestions for the brand personality of China's fresh e-commerce platform.
Cross-border mergers and acquisitions in East Asia: Trends and Implications

Mergers with, or acquisitions of, domestic firms by international firms—cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&A)—increased dramatically in East Asia following the financial crisis of 1997. It is still too early to draw strong conclusions from this experience, but examining the preliminary evidence may nonetheless be of interest. The new wave of M&A was triggered by important policy changes following the crisis, particularly in Korea and Thailand. Some people expected the mergers and acquisitions to speed up much-needed corporate and financial restructuring and, hence, facilitate a faster economic recovery. Economic recovery from the crisis, however, received little impetus from cross-border M&A. But neither were cross-border mergers and acquisitions mainly predatory, as other observers had feared. It is also important to note that the mergers and acquisitions were concentrated in nontradable services sectors, which had traditionally been insulated from competition. Such M&A can bring long-term benefits when they are accompanied by policies to facilitate competition and improve corporate governance.
Role of surface promoter mutations in hepatitis B surface antigen production and secretion in occult hepatitis B virus infection

The production, secretion, and localization of surface proteins of hepatitis B virus (HBV) and the ratio of large to small surface protein S was studied in HepG2 cells transfected with the wild‐type and mutant pre‐S1 and pre‐S2/S promoters of HBV molecular clones 313.1 (GenBank accession no. AY161147) and 761.1 (GenBank accession no. AY161159) from two patients with occult HBV infection. Fusion constructs were made by in frame fusion of the wild‐type surface gene to the mutant pre‐S1 and pre‐S2/S promoters and wild‐type promoter so that the structural part of the small surface protein remains identical. HepG2 cells transfected transiently were used for analysis. HBV surface proteins production and secretion was determined by enzyme linked immuno assay (ELISA) and localization by immunofluorescence. Immunoprecipitation of the large, middle, and small surface protein was carried out in transient transfected and metabolically labeled cells to determine the ratio of the large to small surface protein. The results indicate that HepG2 cells transfected with mutant HBV promoters had reduced HBV surface proteins secretion compared to wild‐type HBV. HepG2 cells transfected with mutant HBV pre‐S1 and pre‐S2/S promoters showed cytoplasmic aggregation of HBV surface proteins compared to wild‐type HBV promoters, which showed diffuse cytoplasmic localization. In all cases, the HBV surface proteins localized to the endoplasmic reticulum. The ratio between the large and small surface protein was 1.89 and 0.56 with mutant HBV 313.1 and 761.1 pre‐S1 and pre‐S2/S promoters, respectively, compared to 0.17 in wild‐type. Thus, the aggregation of surface proteins, altered ratio and secretion of surface proteins were possibly the causes of occult hepatitis B infection. J. Med. Virol. 79:220–228, 2007. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Female seafarers adopt the high risk lifestyle of male seafarers.

OBJECTIVE: To study the mortality of women in an occupation known to have a high mortality among men. METHODS: A total of 6788 female seafarers of all job categories who had been employed on Danish merchant ships, passenger ships, and privately owned ferries between 1986 and 1993, were followed up until the end of 1993. RESULTS: Standardised mortality ratio (SMR) was 1.20 (95% confidence interval (95% CI) 0.89 to 1.58) for all causes of death and job categories together. For women in traditionally male jobs, SMR was 2.82 (1.41-5.05), whereas galley and catering staff had SMRs close to the general female population. The high mortality among women in traditional male jobs could be explained by a high risk of fatal accidents including occupational accidents. In the whole cohort, there were fewer deaths from natural causes than expected but an excess risk of death due to lung cancer, heart diseases, and non-natural deaths. CONCLUSION: The increased mortality could primarily be explained by an excess risk of fatal accidents and suicide. Especially, female seafarers entering traditional male jobs had a high risk of fatal accidents, not only at sea but also ashore. An excess risk of dying of lung cancer and heart diseases probably reflects a high tobacco consumption. Female seafarers are probably influenced by their occupation towards hazardous behaviour and a high risk lifestyle but people with a high risk lifestyle may also be attracted by or forced into high risk jobs such as traditional male jobs at sea.
A spectroscopic study of the mitochondrial transit peptide of rat malate dehydrogenase.

A peptide corresponding to the N-terminal sequence of the rat malate dehydrogenase, comprising the transit sequence and two residues of the mature protein (MLSALARPVGAALR-RSFSTSAQNNAK) has been chemically synthesized, and its structural characteristics investigated by Fourier-transform i.r. (FT-IR), c.d. and 1H-n.m. r. spectroscopy. FT-IR and c.d. spectra of the peptide were recorded in a variety of environments (aqueous solution, trifluoroethanol) and after incorporation into phospholipid bilayers. The peptide was found to be mainly in aperiodic or undefined conformation in aqueous solution. However, in trifluoroethanol a marked increase in alpha-helical content was observed. An increase in alpha-helical content was also observed in negatively charged lipids (dimyristoylphosphatidylglycerol and cardiolipin). However, when reconstituted in a zwitterionic phospholipid (dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine), no alpha-helical structure was observed. N.m. r. spectroscopy was used to characterize the helical structure in greater detail in trifluoroethanol. The 1H-n.m. r. spectrum of the peptide in this solvent was assigned using standard homonuclear two-dimensional methods. The observed patterns of nuclear Overhauser enhancements confirmed the deductions obtained from c.d. and FT-1R spectroscopy concerning the solution conformation, suggesting a region of flexible nascent helix between Ala-4 and Ser-18. This structure is discussed in terms of the possible function of the peptide.
Deep Learning Method to Extract Implicit Keywords for Historical Essay Questions

AI and deep learning technology have been successful for reading comprehension [1] and shown effectiveness for multi-choice questions [2, 3, 4]. However, it is still challenging to answer the essay questions that require the examinees to write an essay for the question. Especially, the historical essay questions in the entry tests of universities usually provide few materials and require the examinees to search the related knowledge in their brain and organize them into an essay. In such questions, stories are not provided together like those in the reading comprehension task. The machines need to recall some additional related keywords that are not in the question text and search an external knowledge base. Moreover, historical terms have much less frequency which makes them hard to learn. Thirdly, because of the large knowledge base, it is expensive to build an end-to-end neural network model like that for reading comprehension. In our works, we pay attention on the extraction of the implicit keywords for the retrieval of the related knowledge. Implicit keywords here refer to the keywords that are the scoring points but do not appear in the question text. They are important to answer essay questions and also help the machine get related knowledge. It has the following challenging points: