Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Achievement of national clinical practice recommendations among those in the Puerto Rican population with diabetes mellitus.

OBJECTIVE To analyze glycemic control among patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) in Puerto Rico (PR) using the 2011 American Diabetes Association (ADA) recommendations and glycemic goals as standards. We also explored other factors that are related to glycemic control. METHODS Glycemic data were obtained from 600 adults with DM from 5 different regions in PR. The patient's health insurance coverage, type of health care provider, type of diabetes treatment, gender, age, physical activity, weight, degree of hypertension and degree and type of dyslipidemia comorbidities (when one or both were applicable), and disease duration were variables of interest. Univariate and bivariate analyses were conducted to describe the population and determine the statistical differences in the glycemic control of the subjects. RESULTS Fewer than half of the participants achieved the ADA-recommended levels for HbA1c (37.3%) and blood pressure (34%). However, relatively more participants met the goals for high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (51.7%), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (59.9%), and triglycerides (61.5%). The percentage of participants reaching the HbA1c, blood pressure, and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol goals at the same time was 9.9%. Patients with private health insurance achieved better glycemic control than did patients in the public-managed healthcare system. Half of the population presented simultaneous hypertension, dyslipidemia, and DM comorbidities. Only 50% of the participants were physically active. CONCLUSION In the sample population, glycemic control levels and blood pressure levels in adults with DM were far from the ADA-recommended standards. Physical activity levels, type of medical insurance, and type of DM medical treatment were the main modifiable factors associated with the goal of attaining glycemic control. Barriers that limit the achievement of this goal should be analyzed in more detail to improve the medical care for people with DM.
Rapid Prototyping of a Mobile SAAS Application

Rapidly developing a customizable mobile application and the related software as a service (SaaS) is challenging and rarely studied. Traditionally, SaaS solutions are mainly accessed using personal computers, but the mobile SaaS solutions are needed in the tourism sector, for example, where users are mobile. This paper presents a case study where the original need was to design a customizable mobile tourism guide service for use by several small tourism companies, and to assess its functionality in a field study. The result of applying the Vaadin 6 Java web framework and LAMP technologies was a robust mobile application SaaS prototype system that fulfilled the essential design needs in the eight field test cases. This study shows that the field testing of a mobile concept can be completed easier when using Vaadin Java web framework, as it provides support for cross-platform functionality and GUI design, and completes, for example, LAMP-based SaaS solution. However, results point it out that new digital navigation features were needed to develop or improved and mobile web approach causes some usability challenges especially in the compass based navigation and user tracking. This study provides an example of how to develop a SaaS-based mobile service prototyping environment, which is needed while field testing new B2B mobile services with various groups of stakeholders. Our case study analysis reveal that the Vaadin development environment facilitates the rapid prototyping for digital services in an affordable way. The overall contribution of this paper is predominantly for software engineers and web application developers.
Critical care staff nurses: empowerment, certification, and intent to leave.

BACKGROUND Certification is a voluntary process that is used to recognize specialized knowledge and skills. Little research has been focused on staff nurses with specialty certification. OBJECTIVE To determine if perceptions of empowerment and intent to leave the position and the profession differed among staff nurses who were certified by the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses, nurses certified by other certifying organizations, and nurses who were not certified. METHODS A comparative descriptive study was used to analyze the results of a 2007 to 2008 Web-based survey of members of the association. Data were available on 4268 staff nurses. RESULTS Total empowerment scores and intent to leave either the position or the profession did not differ between nurses who were certified and those who were not. However, perceptions of informal power, opportunity, and support did differ between the 2 groups. CONCLUSIONS The differences between nurses who were certified and those who were not may be related to variables other than certification. Further research and theoretical model testing is needed to determine the value of certification.
Anti-Toxoplasma gondii antibodies in haemodialysis patients with chronic renal failure.

UNLABELLED This study aimed to determine the prevalence of anti- Toxoplasma gondii antibodies in haemodialysis patients with chronic renal failure (CRF). METHODS One hundred and seventy three haemodialysis patients, and 40 healthy controls, were studied for the prevalence of anti-Toxoplasma gondii antibodies by a micro enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Anti-T. gondii IgG antibodies were detected in 97 (56.06%) haemodialysis patients and 8 (20%) controls with a statistical significance. In addition, anti-T. gondii IgM antibodies were detected in 1.73% of patients, but none of the controls. In conclusion, a high percentage of positivity for Toxoplasma antibodies in patients with CRF undergoing haemodialysis was noticed, thus parasitological surveys of CRF patients should be periodically performed to prevent the possible dissemination of toxoplasmosis through the dialysis procedure.
Structural characterization of reverse transcriptase and endonuclease polypeptides of the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome retrovirus

Automated N-terminal microsequencing of immune affinity-purified acquired immunodeficiency syndrome retrovirus polypeptides from infected cells was used to locate the N termini of 64-, 51-, and 34-kilodalton (kDa) polypeptides within the pol open reading frame (ORF) of the proviral DNA. The 64- and 51-kDa proteins had identical N termini (Pro-Ile-Ser-Pro-IIe-Glu-Thr-Val-) positioned 156 residues from the beginning of the pol ORF. The N terminus of the 34-kDa pol gene product, Phe-Leu-Asp-Gly-Ile-Asp-Lys-, mapped 716 residues into the pol ORF. These polypeptides were absent in an RT-negative, CD4-negative, persistently infected cell line (8E5) carrying a single defective copy of a constitutively expressed, integrated proviral DNA.
Structure and function of voltage‐gated sodium channels at atomic resolution

• What is the topic of this review? The central goal of the research reviewed here is to understand the functional properties of voltage‐gated sodium channels at the level of high‐resolution structure of the channel protein. • What advances does it highlight? The key functional properties of voltage‐gated sodium channels, including voltage‐dependent activation. Sodium conductance and selectivity, block by local anesthetics and related drugs, and both fast and slow inactivation, are now understood at the level of protein structure with high resolution. These emerging high‐resolution structural models may lead to development of safer and more efficacious drugs for treatment of epilepsy, chronic pain, and cardiac arrhythmia through structure‐based drug design.
Maternal uptake of pertussis cocooning strategy and other pregnancy related recommended immunizations

Maternal immunization is an important strategy to prevent severe morbidity and mortality in mothers and their offspring. This study aimed to identify whether new parents were following immunization recommendations prior to pregnancy, during pregnancy, and postnatally. A cross-sectional survey was conducted by a questionnaire administered antenatally to pregnant women attending a maternity hospital with a follow-up telephone interview at 8–10 weeks post-delivery. Factors associated with uptake of pertussis vaccination within the previous 5 y or postnatally and influenza vaccination during pregnancy were explored using log binomial regression models. A total of 297 pregnant women completed the questionnaire. For influenza vaccine, 20.3% were immunized during pregnancy and 3.0% postnatally. For pertussis vaccine, 13.1% were vaccinated within 5 y prior to pregnancy and 31 women received the vaccine postnatally, 16 (51.6%) received the vaccine >4 weeks after delivery. Receiving a recommendation from a healthcare provider (HCP) was an independent predictor for receipt of both pertussis (RR 2.07, p < 0.001) and influenza vaccine (RR 2.26, p = 0.001). Non-English speaking mothers were significantly less likely to have received pertussis vaccination prior to pregnancy or postnatally (RR 0.24, p = 0.011). Multiparous pregnant women were less likely to have received an influenza vaccine during their current pregnancy (p = 0.015). Uptake of pregnancy related immunization is low and likely due to poor knowledge of availability, language barriers and lack of recommendations from HCPs. Strategies to improve maternal vaccine uptake should include education about recommended vaccines for both HCPs and parents and written information in a variety of languages.
Parallelized correlator bank for a 1 GHz bandwidth phase modulated CW radar in the 79GHz band

The interest for mmWave automotive radar systems comes from the booming market for driver assistance systems. The 77-81 GHz band has been allocated for vehicular radar. Such radars can be used for a wide variety of applications such as collision avoidance, adaptive cruise control, lane-change assistance or monitoring the surroundings of the car. The 79 GHz PMCW radar system belongs to this family. It can not only measure the distance but also the velocity of targets. In this paper, we propose an optimized hardware implementation of the correlator bank of a phase-modulated radar system that modulates a 79 GHz carrier with a 1 GSps Pseudo-noise sequence. It leverages an advanced FPGA platform by using the BPS software from BEEcube. After integration of the digital logic FPGA and the analog transceiver, a real target detection test has been performed in the lab to verify the DSP functionality and the specifications of the radar system. The DSP functionality is shown to support the high sampling rate resulting in a range resolution of 0.15 m.
Attenuation correction in confocal laser microscopes: a novel two‐view approach

Confocal microscopy is a three‐dimensional (3D) imaging modality, but the specimen thickness that can be imaged is limited by depth‐dependent signal attenuation. Both software and hardware methods have been used to correct the attenuation in reconstructed images, but previous methods do not increase the image signal‐to‐noise ratio (SNR) using conventional specimen preparation and imaging. We present a practical two‐view method that increases the overall imaging depth, corrects signal attenuation and improves the SNR. This is achieved by a combination of slightly modified but conventional specimen preparation, image registration, montage synthesis and signal reconstruction methods. The specimen is mounted in a symmetrical manner between a pair of cover slips, rather than between a slide and a cover slip. It is imaged sequentially from both sides to generate two 3D image stacks from perspectives separated by approximately 180° with respect to the optical axis. An automated image registration algorithm performs a precise 3D alignment, and a model‐based minimum mean squared algorithm synthesizes a montage, combining the content of both the 3D views. Experiments with images of individual neurones contrasted with a space‐filling fluorescent dye in thick brain tissue slices produced precise 3D montages that are corrected for depth‐dependent signal attenuation. The SNR of the reconstructed image is maximized by the method, and it is significantly higher than in the single views after applying our attenuation model. We also compare our method with simpler two‐view reconstruction methods and quantify the SNR improvement. The reconstructed images are a more faithful qualitative visualization of the specimen's structure and are quantitatively more accurate, providing a more rigorous basis for automated image analysis.
Food systems approach to cancer prevention

ABSTRACT New cancer cases are expected to surge 57% worldwide in the next two decades. The greatest burden will be in low- and middle-income countries that are ill equipped to face this epidemic. Similarly, in the United States, low-income populations are at greater risk for cancer. As most cancers contain over 50 genetic alterations, and as these alterations define dysregulation of over 10 different critical cellular signaling pathways, a “silver bullet” treatment is not effective against most cancers. Instead, the latest World Cancer Report (2012) suggests a research shift toward developing prevention strategies for cancer. Accumulating evidence suggests that a diet high in plant-based foods is preventive of a variety of chronic diseases, including cancer. A plethora of bioactive compounds—such as polyphenols, glucosinolates and carotenoids in fruits, vegetables, grains, and legumes—are shown to suppress a variety of biological capabilities required for tumor growth. While much research has shown that plant bioactive compounds can suppress sustained proliferative signaling, angiogenesis, and metastasis, as well as promote cancer stem cell apoptosis, public health campaigns to increase fruit and vegetable consumption have, overall, been less effective than desired. Thus, there is a need for innovative strategies to support increased consumption of bioactive compounds for cancer prevention particularly in vulnerable populations. Many practices of the farm-to-fork continuum, including preharvest practices, postharvest storage, and processing and consumer practices, affect a food's bioactive compound content, composition, and chemopreventive bioactivity. Food system practices may be adjusted to reduce the toxic compound levels (e.g., glycoalkaloids in potatoes) and improve the bioactive compound profile, thus, elevate the cancer fighting properties of fruits, vegetables, and other food products. This review presents current scientific evidence outlining farm-to-fork effects on fruit and vegetable bioactive compounds in order to aid the development of new and reasonable strategies for cancer prevention.
Modulating Estrogen Receptor-related Receptor-α Activity Inhibits Cell Proliferation*

High expression of the estrogen receptor-related receptor (ERR)-α in human tumors is correlated to a poor prognosis, suggesting an involvement of the receptor in cell proliferation. In this study, we show that a synthetic compound (XCT790) that modulates the activity of ERRα reduces the proliferation of various cell lines and blocks the G1/S transition of the cell cycle in an ERRα-dependent manner. XCT790 induces, in a p53-independent manner, the expression of the cell cycle inhibitor p21waf/cip1 at the protein, mRNA, and promoter level, leading to an accumulation of hypophosphorylated Rb. Finally, XCT790 reduces cell tumorigenicity in Nude mice.
Discussion Papers No . 507 , June 2007 Statistics Norway , Research Department

This paper investigates household purchasing behavior in response to differing alcohol and tobacco taxes near an international border. Our study suggests that large tax differentials near borders induce economically important tax avoidance behavior that may limit a government’s ability to raise revenue and potentially undermine the pursuit of important health and social policy goals. We match novel supermarket scanner and consumer expenditure data to measure the size and scope of the effect for households and stores. We find that stores near/far from the international border have statistically significantly lower/higher sales of beer and tobacco than comparable stores far/near the border. Moreover, we find that households near the border report higher consumption of these same goods. This is consistent with households facing lower prices. Finally, we find measures of externalities associated with the consumption of alcohol and tobacco are higher near the border.
Effect of stress deprivation and cyclic tensile loading on the material and morphologic properties of canine flexor digitorum profundus tendon: An in vitro study

The effect of stress deprivation and cyclic tensile loading on the mechanical and histologic properties of the canine flexor digitorum profundus tendon was examined using an in vitro system. Stress deprivation resulted in a progressive and statistically significant decrease in the tensile modulus over an 8‐week period. Histologically, stress‐deprived tendons demonstrated quantitative changes in the morphology and number of cells and in the alignment of collagen. The change in tensile properties was not associated with an alteration in the water content of the tissue, but the change appeared to be dependent on the presence of a viable cell population. Dead (acellular) tendons did not undergo any alteration in tensile modulus in this in vitro system. In vitro cyclic tensile loading of tendons over a 4‐week time period resulted in a significant increase in the tensile modulus (93% of the control) compared with that of the stress‐deprived tendons (68% of the control). This loading regimen also maintained the normal histologic pattern of the tendons. The results of this study are similar to those previously reported for in vivo studies and suggest that this in vitro model may represent a valid system with which to test the effects of various stress conditions on the tensile properties of tissues.
Novel Texture Pattern Based Multi-level set Segmentation in Cervical Cancer Image Analysis

Computerized framework development is alternate to the Manual Method (MM) of cervical cancer analysis since MM suffers from the human errors, bulk quantities of Pap smear images, work loading and time complexities. Also, severity level prediction via counting of nucleus leads to incorrect prediction under geometric-based feature extraction. The cell-based segmentation evolved in research studies assures the automatic assistance with an assumption of a single cell. Practically, this assumption is not suitable since the image contains more cells. The multiple cell splitting for a number of cells is the challenging task. Also, the complex cell structure, poor contrast, and overlapping affect the cell segmentation performance. The cell contains a nucleus that describes the significant changes due to the disease. Hence, the cell boundary prediction is the complex task of geometric-based feature extraction techniques. This paper proposes the four new methods to update the cervical image processing tasks. First, the Neighborhood Concentric Filtering (NCF) is used to remove the noise present in the image and enhance the intensity level. Then, the cluster formation based on the intensity difference level estimation provides the multi-label output. Second, the Optimal Weight Updating with the Multi-Level set (OWU-ML) estimates the Region of Interest (ROINucleus), extracts the nucleus texture features with an edge intensity information and form the window. Also, the intensity weight update by the OWU efficiently separates the layers that form the active contour over the image. Here, the Gray Level Co-occurrence Matrix (GLCM) extracts the texture pattern features of the nucleus portions in the form of angle variations. Finally, the Neural Network-based RVM classifier predicts the classes of (class 1 and class 2) cervical images. The optimal weight update, the GLCM features based multi-level set segmented output and the NNRVM classification improves the performance of severity level prediction in cancer treatment provision.
Molecular neuron based on the Franck–Condon blockade

Electronic realizations of neurons are of great interest as building blocks for neuromorphic computation. Electronic neurons should send signals into the input and output lines when subject to an input signal exceeding a given threshold, in such a way that they may affect all other parts of a neural network. Here, we propose a design for a neuron that is based on molecular-electronics components and thus promises a very high level of integration. We employ the Monte Carlo technique to simulate typical time evolutions of this system and thereby show that it indeed functions as a neuron.
Veno-venous Extracorporeal CO2 Removal: Can We Reduce Dependence on Mechanical Ventilation During En-route Care?

Abstract : Casualties with lung failure are mechanically ventilated during aero-medical evacuation to the continental USA. Positive-pressure mechanical ventilation is potentially injurious to the lung. Consequences of contemporary lung-protective strategies may include cardiovascular instability, use of high fraction of inspired O2, hypoventilation, hypercarbia, and acidosis. These effects may complicate patient management, motivating a search for better lung-replacement approaches. We investigated the ability of a novel extracorporeal veno-venous CO2 removal (V2CO2R) device to reduce minute ventilation (MV) while maintaining normocarbia. Our goal was to explore the potential utility of this technology to reduce dependence on mechanical ventilation during en-route care.
Evaluación participativa, Aprendizaje-Servicio y universidad

La educacion superior centrada hoy en el aprendizaje basado en competencias ha representado un cambio en el modelo educativo. El modelo competencial, basicamente, apunta a una transformacion de las universidades y no solo hace referencia a la estructura de los estudios sino tambien a los mismos estudiantes, quienes deben pasar a ser protagonistas de su formacion y deben “aprender a ser competentes”. Desde esta perspectiva, el Aprendizaje-Servicio es una metodologia pedagogica que fomenta el aprendizaje de competencias a traves de su participacion activa en experiencias asociadas al servicio comunitario. De esta forma, la metodologia utilizada le permite al estudiante 1) involucrarse directamente con aquellos a quienes les ofrece un servicio, adaptandose a sus necesidades y a una realidad que a menudo es muy diferente a la que vive en el aula 2) desarrollar competencias tanto especificas como transversales o genericas 3) la investigacion ha consistido en una evaluacion participativa para valorar el impacto de un proyecto de APS en la formacion en competencias genericas y especificas de 30 estudiantes de la carrera de Veterinaria de la Universidad de Buenos Aires que participan en la elaboracion, aplicacion y evaluacion de un proyecto de APS. La investigacion contempla tres fases y, en concreto, en este articulo se presentan los resultados de la primera fase. Las tecnicas de analisis de la informacion han sido el analisis estadistico y el analisis de contenido. Se ha realizado triangulacion de tecnicas y de informantes. El analisis de la informacion de la primera fase de la investigacion permite identificar las principales necesidades relacionadas con la tenencia responsable de animales. Asimismo, nos ofrece una evaluacion de las competencias genericas identificadas en esta primera fase de la investigacion; la evaluacion participativa inicial.