Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Sexual Risk Behavior of Married Men and Women in Bangladesh Associated With Husbands’ Work Migration and Living Apart

Objectives: This study aimed to ascertain the prevalence of sexual risk behavior among married men and women who had, or had not, lived apart from their spouse as a result of the husbands’ work migration. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among a random sample of 1,175 married women and 703 married men in 2 rural areas of Bangladesh. Results: Extramarital sex was reported by 64.2% (95% confidence interval [CI] = 58.7–69.7) of 296 men and 8.6% (95% CI = 7.6–9.6) of 779 women who had lived apart from their spouse, 2 to 3 times higher than the proportions among those who had not lived apart (P <0.05). The proportions of men who reported sex with a female sex worker (50.7%; 95% CI = 45.0–56.4) or with another male (5.4%; 95% CI = 2.8–8.0), while living away, were double the proportions reporting they had done so before living away or among men who had not lived away (P <0.05). Only 2 men had ever used had a condom during sex with another male, and less than one third of men had used a condom during sex with a sex worker or during marital sex. Conclusions: The sexual risk behavior of married men living away from home may put themselves and their wives at risk for HIV infection and other sexually transmitted diseases.
Allele excess at neutrally evolving microsatellites and the implications for tests of neutrality

Skews in the observed allele–frequency spectrum are frequently viewed as an indication of non–neutral evolution. Recent surveys of microsatellite variability have used an excess of alleles as a statistical approach to infer positive selection. Using neutral coalescent simulations we demonstrate that the mean numbers of alleles expected under the stepwise–mutation model and infinite–allele model deviate from the observed numbers of alleles. The magnitude of this difference is dependent on the sample size, mutation rates (? –values) and observed gene diversities. Moreover, we show that the number of observed alleles differs among loci with the same observed gene diversity but different mutation rates (? –values). We propose that a reliable test statistic based on allele excess must determine the confidence interval by computer simulations conditional on the observed gene diversity and ? –values. As the latter are notoriously difficult to obtain for experimental data, we suggest that other statistics, such as lnRV, may be better suited to the identification of microsatellite loci subject to selection.
RNA thermometer controls temperature-dependent virulence factor expression in Vibrio cholerae

Significance Vibrio cholerae causes the life-threatening diarrheal disease cholera. These bacteria live in aquatic environments and are introduced into humans through contaminated water sources. The bacteria express virulence factors upon entry into the human gastrointestinal tract. The present study shows that virulence factor expression is controlled by the shift in temperature to 37 °C, through an RNA thermometer that controls translation of the major virulence regulator protein ToxT. This simple mechanism allows maximal virulence factor expression within the mammalian host and may be more widespread among human pathogens than currently known. Vibrio cholerae is the bacterium that causes the diarrheal disease cholera. The bacteria experience a temperature shift as V. cholerae transition from contaminated water at lower temperatures into the 37 °C human intestine. Within the intestine, V. cholerae express cholera toxin (CT) and toxin-coregulated pilus (TCP), two main virulence factors required for disease. CT and TCP expression is controlled by the transcriptional activator protein ToxT. We identified an RNA thermometer motif in the 5′ UTR of toxT, with a fourU anti-Shine-Dalgarno (SD) element that base pairs with the SD sequence to regulate ribosome access to the mRNA. RNA probing experiments demonstrated that the fourU element allowed access to the SD sequence at 37 °C but not at 20 °C. Moreover, mutations within the fourU element (U5C, U7C) that strengthened base-pairing between the anti-SD and SD sequences prevented access to the SD sequence even at 37 °C. Translation of ToxT-FLAG from the native toxT UTR was enhanced at 37 °C, compared with 25 °C in both Escherichia coli and V. cholerae. In contrast, the U5C, U7C UTR prevented translation of ToxT-FLAG even at 37 °C. V. cholerae mutants containing the U5C, U7C UTR variant were unable to colonize the infant mouse small intestine. Our results reveal a previously unknown regulatory mechanism consisting of an RNA thermometer that controls temperature-dependent translation of toxT, facilitating V. cholerae virulence at a relevant environmental condition found in the human intestine.
'Between the Holes': Emerging Identities and Hybrid Patterns of Consumption in Post-socialist Russia

IN THE SUMMER OF 1998 participants of an international social science conference held in one of the leading Russian research institutes in Moscow witnessed the following scene. 1 The speaker, a Russian academic in his 60s, was presenting a paper dedicated to the social and cultural developments that took place in Russia over the past 10 years. Dressed in a grey three-piece suit and holding himself very upright, he spoke slowly and emphatically, and one could see from his looks and demeanour that this was far from the e rst time he was addressing large audiences with his concerns regarding the moral and sociopolitical decline of the country. The rhetoric and presentation of the speaker all worked to suggest the gravity of the events he was assessing, and he frequently used superlatives, such as ‘ unprecedented’ , ‘ ultimate’ and ‘ irreversible’ . ‘ In short’ , the narrator concluded, ‘ the social fabric of Russia is gone. All that we have left is merely the existential holes’ . The audience was silent; while some were deeply impressed and ready to accept the argument, others remained unconvinced. After a few seconds, somebody raised a hand and asked, sceptically: ‘ Well, what is between the holes? ’ It took several minutes for the presenter to grasp the point of the question, but as soon as he did, he answered without hesitation: ‘ Between the holes are also holes’ , he said, ‘ but of a different order’. The logic driving this exchange is not too hard to understand. The decade of 1990‐2000 has been a time of dismantling, both physical and conceptual, of many structures and legacies left over after the collapse of the socialist regimes in Russia and Eastern Europe. Both in the eyes of the local population, and in those of the social scientists and outsider observers, this period presented enormous challenges to the habitual organisation of social life and the constitution of identities and groups in an unstable and risk-ridden setting. Socialised to see and value particular kinds of
A Polymorphism of the Bactericidal/Permeability Increasing Protein (BPI) Gene Is Associated With Crohn's Disease

Background: The bactericidal/permeability increasing protein (BPI) is involved in the elimination of gram-negative bacteria. A functionally relevant single nucleotide polymorphism of the BPI gene causes an amino acid exchange (Glu216Lys). Study: To evaluate whether this single nucleotide polymorphism contributes to the predisposition to inflammatory bowel disease, we compared the allele frequencies of 265 patients with Crohn's disease, 207 patients with ulcerative colitis, and 608 healthy controls. Results: The Glu/Glu genotype frequency was decreased significantly in Crohn's disease patients as compared with controls (P < 0.027). No differences were obvious in patients with ulcerative colitis. Conclusions: Failure of the innate intestinal immune system could be involved in the pathogenesis of Crohn's disease via reduced/impaired defense against gram-negative bacteria.
Organochlorine Exposures During Pregnancy and Infant Size at Birth

Background: Organochlorines, including polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and pesticides, are environmentally persistent contaminants that concentrate in the food chain as well in human adipose tissue and readily cross the placenta. Methods: To follow up on studies suggesting an association of organochlorine exposure with reduced birth size, we investigated the association of PCBs and organochlorine pesticides (including p,p′-dichlorodiphenyl dichloroethene [p,p′-DDE], the major degradation product of p,p′-dichlorodiphenyl trichloroethane [p,p′-DDT], and hexachlorobenzene [HCB]), with birth weight, crown-heel length, and head circumference. We evaluated a cohort of 722 infants born between 1993 and 1998 to mothers residing near a PCB-contaminated harbor and Superfund site in New Bedford, Massachusetts. Results: Small negative associations were observed for PCBs and birth weight; associations were weaker for birth length and head circumference. There was evidence for effect modification by smoking during pregnancy on the association between PCBs and birth weight. No associations were found with p,p′-DDE or HCB for any measures of birth size. Conclusions: This study supports the growing literature that demonstrates at most a weak association between very low-level organochlorine exposure and birth size.
Retrospective studies provide valuable information

ical Journal 1998; 317: 61–5. 6. Smith R, Hiatt H, Berwick D. Education and debate. Shared ethical principles for everybody in health care: a working draft from the Tavistock Group. Introduction – a shared statement of ethical principles for those who shape and give health care. British Medical Journal 1999; 318: 248–51. 7. Bolsin S, Faunce T, Oakley J. Practical virtue ethics: healthcare whistleblowing and portable digital technology. Journal of Medical Ethics 2005; 31: 612–8. 8. Bolsin S, Barach P. The role and influence of public reporting of paediatric cardiac care outcome data. Progress in Paediatric Cardiology 2012; 33: 99– 101.
Combination of Protease Inhibitors for the Treatment of HIV-1-Infected Patients: A Review of Pharmacokinetics and Clinical Experience

The use of highly active antiretroviral therapy, the combination of at least three different antiretroviral drugs for the treatment of HIV-1 infection, has greatly improved the prognosis for HIV-1-infected patients. The efficacy of a combination of a protease inhibitor (PI) plus two nucleoside analogue reverse transcriptase inhibitors has been well established over a period of up to 3 years. However, virological treatment failure has been reported in 40–60% of unselected patients within 1 year after initiation of a PI-containing regimen. This observation may, at least in part, be attributed to the poor pharmacokinetic characteristics of the PIs. Given as a single agent the PIs have several pharmacokinetic limitations; relatively short plasma-elimination half-lives and a modest and variable oral bioavailability, which is, for some of the PIs, influenced by food. To overcome these suboptimal pharmacokinetics, high doses (requiring large numbers of pills) must be ingested, often with food restrictions, which complicates patient adherence to the prescribed regimen. Positive drug–drug interactions increase the exposure to the PIs, allowing administration of lower doses at reduced dosing frequencies with less dietary restrictions. In addition to increasing the potency of an antiretroviral regimen, combinations of PIs may enhance patient adherence, both of which will contribute to a more durable suppression of viral replication. The favourable pharmacokinetics of PIs in combination are a result of interactions through cytochrome P450 3A4 (CYP3A4) isoenzymes and, possibly, the multi-drug transporting P-glycoprotein (P-gp). Antiretroviral synergy between PIs and non-overlapping primary resistance patterns in the HIV-1 protease genome may further enhance the anti-retroviral potency and durability of combinations of PIs. Many combinations contain ritonavir because this PI has the most pronounced inhibiting effects on CYP3A4. The combination of saquinavir and ritonavir, both in a dose of 400 mg twice-a-day, is the most studied double PI combination, with clinical experience extending over 3 years. Combination of a PI with a low dose of ritonavir (≤400 mg/day), only to boost its pharmacokinetic properties, seems an attractive option for patients who cannot tolerate higher doses of ritonavir. A recently introduced PI, lopinavir, has been co-formulated with low-dose ritonavir, which allows for a convenient three-capsules, twice-a-day dosing regimen. In an attempt to prolong suppression of viral replication combinations of PIs are becoming increasingly popular. However, further clinical studies are needed to identify the optimal combinations for treatment of antiretroviral naive and experienced HIV-1-infected patients. This review covers combinations of saquinavir, indinavir, nelfinavir, amprenavir and lopinavir with different doses of ritonavir, as well as the combinations of saquinavir and indinavir with nelfinavir.
Pediatric laparoscopic inguinal hernia repair: a review of the current evidence.

M inimally invasive surgical (MIS) approaches to nearly all pediatric surgical conditions are becoming part of the armamentarium of most pediatric surgeons. This is true for the management of pediatric inguinal hernia repair, with a variety of laparoscopic techniques being reported over the last decade. However, the widespread adoption of the laparoscopic approach for inguinal hernias in infants and children among pediatric surgeons remains to be seen. This delay is attributed to concerns regarding the potential for higher recurrence rates, increased cost, longer operative time, and need for advanced surgical skill training, as well as with a lack of significant comparable benefit over the traditional open hernia repair. In contradistinction to these concerns, some literature suggests that the laparoscopic hernia repair has several advantages, including minimal dissection (decreased risk for vas injury), fewer complications, superior visual exposure, easy alternative to incarcerated, recurrent, or preemie hernias, comparable recurrence rates, and improved cosmetic results. Furthermore, the laparoscopic approach allows for laparoscopic evaluation of the contralateral internal inguinal ring for the presence of a patent process vaginalis (PPV), with repair of the contralateral hernia during the same operation. It is not surprising that over the last several years there has been growing interest by numerous groups around the world in improving the laparoscopic technique while simultaneously addressing the concerns noted above. The results of these studies have shown that the laparoscopic approach is safe and effective. As expected, the traditional open hernia repair is considered the gold standard with which laparoscopic techniques should be compared. However, the open approach does have associated disadvantages as well, including inability to evaluate the contralateral internal ring and a reported recurrence rate of 1%–5%. Furthermore, the open repair can be challenging in certain cases such as recurrent hernias, incarceration, hernias in premature infants, and obese adolescent patients. Finally, in a report with 50year follow-up on childhood inguinal hernia repair from the Mayo Clinic, the most common cause of recurrence after open high ligation was found to be a direct hernia. This raises the question of the possibility that a predisposition to a direct hernia is created subsequent to open high ligation, as well as the potential for misdiagnosis at the time of repair. The laparoscopic approach allows for prevention of both of these possibilities. With these points in mind, it’s not unreasonable to consider the laparoscopic approach as a possible alternative to open hernia repair. This article is a review of the history and current literature on the laparoscopic approach to pediatric inguinal hernia repair in infants in children. It reports the current state of laparoscopic inguinal hernia repair and will provide surgeons with the most recent data to assist them in their decision of whether to approach these repairs in a minimally invasive fashion.
Understanding immortal time bias in observational cohort studies

MP. High-risk surgery: epidemiology and outcomes. Anesthesia and Analgesia 2011; 112: 891–901. 16. Dripps RD, Lamont A, Eckenhoff JE. The role of anesthesia in surgical mortality. Journal of the American Medical Association 1961; 178: 261–6. 17. Sutton R, Bann S, Brooks M, Sarin S. The Surgical Risk Scale as an improved tool for risk-adjusted analysis in comparative surgical audit. British Journal of Surgery 2002; 89: 763–8. 18. Grocott MP, Pearse RM. Prognostic studies of perioperative risk: robust methodology is needed. British Journal of Anaesthesia 2010; 105: 243–5. 19. Khuri SF, Henderson WG, Daley J, et al. Successful implementation of the Department of Veterans Affairs National Surgical Quality Improvement Program in the private sector: the Patient Safety in Surgery study. Annals of Surgery 2008; 248: 329–36. 20. Barry MJ, Edgman-Levitan S. Shared decision making – pinnacle of patientcentered care. New England Journal of Medicine 2012; 366: 780–1. 21. Pearse RM, Moreno RP, Bauer P, Pelosi P, Metnitz P, Spies C, Vallet B, Vincent JL, Hoeft A, Rhodes A; European Surgical Outcomes Study (EuSOS) group for the Trials groups of the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine and the European Society of Anaesthesiology. Lancet 2012; 380: 1059–65. 22. Pandit JJ. The national strategy for academic anaesthesia. A personal view on its implications for our specialty. British Journal of Anaesthesia 2006; 96: 411–4. 23. Donabedian A. Evaluating the quality of medical care. Milbank Memorial Fund Quarterly 1966; 44: 166–206. 24. Grocott MPW. Improving outcomes after surgery. British Medical Journal 2009; 339: b5173. 25. Mythen M. Fit for surgery? Anesthesia and Analgesia 2011; 112: 1002–4.
Extending Large Sets of t-Designs

A large set of disjointS(Â? ;Â t,Â k,Â v) designs, denoted byLS(Â? ;Â t,Â k,Â v), is a partition ofk-subsets of av-set intoS(Â? ;Â t,Â k,Â v) designs. In this paper, we develop some recursive methods to construct large sets oft-designs. As an application, we construct infinite families of large sets oft-designs for allt. In particular, we show that ifv=2tÂ? 3mÂ? 2,k=2tÂ? 3Â? 1, andt,Â mÂ? 2, then aformula]exists.
The Glacidorbidae ( Mollusca : Gastropoda : Heterobranchia ) of Australia W

The heterobranch gastropod family Glacidorbidae (? Pulmonata) is known only from temperate Australia and Chile. The Australian taxa are reviewed and three new genera, Benthodorbis, Striadorbis and Tasmodorbis are described based on differences in their shells, especially the protoconchs, and in their opercula and radulae. Nineteen species of Australian glacidorbids are recognised, all but four of them new. Of the four Australian species previously included in Glacidorbis, only two, G. hedleyi (Iredale) from New South Wales and Victoria, and G. occidentalis Bunn & Stoddart from south Western Australia, are retained in that genus. Eleven new species of Glacidorbis are described, seven from Tasmania ( G. bicarinatus, G. catomus, G. atrophus, G. decoratus, G. costatus, G. tasmanicus and G. circulus), one (G. isolatus) from New South Wales, two ( G. otwayensis and G. rusticus) from Victoria and one ( G. troglodytes) from South Australia. Striadorbis contains the Tasmanian S. pedderi (Smith), and two new species, S. spiralis from western Victoria and S. janetae from Tasmania. Benthodorbis contains two species, both from old lakes in Tasmania; B. pawpela (Smith) from Great Lake and B. fultoni from Lake Sorell. Tasmodorbis contains a single species found in western Tasmania, T. punctatus , unique in having internal shell pores. Glacidorbis costatus is known only from Pulbeena Swamp in NW Tasmania and appears to be recently extinct, possibly as a result of draining of the swamp in the early part of this century. A cladistic analysis with the South American member of the family, Gondwanorbis , as the outgroup, supports the monophyly of the genera recognised. PONDER, W.F. , & G.J. AVERN, 2000. The Glacidorbidae (Mollusca: Gastropoda: Heterobranchia) of Australia. Records of the Australian Museum 52(3): 307–353. Records of the Australian Museum (2000) Vol. 52: 307–353. ISSN 0067-1975 Small-sized Australian freshwater molluscs have, in recent years, been shown to be much more diverse than previously imagined. Nearly all of this diversity is contained within the caenogastropod family Hydrobiidae (see Ponder, 1991 and Ponder & de Keyzer, 1998 for review), while other families of small-sized freshwater gastropods such as the Assimineidae, Bithyniidae, Planorbidae and Glacidorbidae are known to contain a several undescribed taxa. This paper revises the taxa included in the Glacidorbidae. A tiny flat-spired gastropod, Glacidorbis hedleyi , was described by Iredale (1943) from Blue Lake, Mount Kosciuszko, NSW. Iredale included his new taxon in the basommatophoran pulmonate family Planorbidae but Meier-Brook & Smith (1976) showed that the genus was operculate and reviewed the known species. While they suggested similarities with the hydrobiids, they did not make any decision on the placement of the genus pending anatomical investigation and Smith (1979) placed
Storage mites are the main sensitizers among adults in northern Vietnam: Results from a population survey

Pediatr Int 2009;51:657–660. 3. Hasegawa S, Hirano R, Hashimoto K, Haneda Y, Shirabe K, Ichiyama T. Characteristics of atopic children with pandemic H1N1 influenza viral infection in atopic children: pandemic H1N1 influenza reveals ‘‘occult’’ asthma in childhood. Pediatr Allergy Immunol 2011;22:e119–e123. 4. Kaida A, Kubo H, Sekiguchi J, Kohdera U, Togawa M, Shiomi M et al. Enterovirus 68 in children with acute respiratory tract infections, Osaka, Japan. Emerg Infect Dis 2011;17:1494–1497. 5. Imamura T, Fuji N, Suzuki A, Tamaki R, Saito M, Aniceto R et al. Enterovirus 68 among children with severe acute respiratory infection, the Philippines. Emerg Infect Dis 2011;17:1430–1435.