Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Interrogating intervention delivery and participants’ emotional states to improve engagement and implementation: A realist informed multiple case study evaluation of Engager

Background ‘Engager’ is an innovative ‘through-the-gate’ complex care intervention for male prison-leavers with common mental health problems. In parallel to the randomised-controlled trial of Engager (Trial registration number: ISRCTN11707331), a set of process evaluation analyses were undertaken. This paper reports on the depth multiple case study analysis part of the process evaluation, exploring how a sub-sample of prison-leavers engaged and responded to the intervention offer of one-to-one support during their re-integration into the community. Methods To understand intervention delivery and what response it elicited in individuals, we used a realist-informed qualitative multiple ‘case’ studies approach. We scrutinised how intervention component delivery lead to outcomes by examining underlying causal pathways or ‘mechanisms’ that promoted or hindered progress towards personal outcomes. ‘Cases’ (n = 24) were prison-leavers from the intervention arm of the trial. We collected practitioner activity logs and conducted semi-structured interviews with prison-leavers and Engager/other service practitioners. We mapped data for each case against the intervention logic model and then used Bhaskar’s (2016) ‘DREIC’ analytic process to categorise cases according to extent of intervention delivery, outcomes evidenced, and contributing factors behind engagement or disengagement and progress achieved. Results There were variations in the dose and session focus of the intervention delivery, and how different participants responded. Participants sustaining long-term engagement and sustained change reached a state of ‘crises but coping’. We found evidence that several components of the intervention were key to achieving this: trusting relationships, therapeutic work delivered well and over time; and an in-depth shared understanding of needs, concerns, and goals between the practitioner and participants. Those who disengaged were in one of the following states: ‘Crises and chaos’, ‘Resigned acceptance’, ‘Honeymoon’ or ‘Wilful withdrawal’. Conclusions We demonstrate that the ‘implementability’ of an intervention can be explained by examining the delivery of core intervention components in relation to the responses elicited in the participants. Core delivery mechanisms often had to be ‘triggered’ numerous times to produce sustained change. The improvements achieved, sustained, and valued by participants were not always reflected in the quantitative measures recorded in the RCT. The compatibility between the practitioner, participant and setting were continually at risk of being undermined by implementation failure as well as changing external circumstances and participants’ own weaknesses. Trial registration number ISRCTN11707331, Wales Research Ethics Committee, Registered 02-04-2016—Retrospectively registered https://doi.org/10.1186/ISRCTN11707331.
Patent foramen ovale closure: A prospective UK registry linked to hospital episode statistics

Aims PFO closure is a percutaneous intervention, which aims to reduce risk of recurrent stroke by preventing paradoxical embolism. The objective of this study was to measure procedural safety and longer-term effectiveness of PFO closure in a UK setting. Methods and results Prospective registry data from patients with cryptogenic stroke eligible for PFO closure were collected for up to 2 years and linked to routine data sources for additional follow-up. Outcomes of interest included procedural success rate, health related quality of life, and longer-term death and neurological event rates. A total of 973 PFO closure procedures in 971 patients were included in analysis. Successful device implantation was achieved in 99.4 [95% CI 98.6 to 99.8]% of procedures, with one in-hospital death. During median follow-up of 758 (Q1:Q3 527:968) days, 33 patients experienced a subsequent neurological event, 76% of which were ischaemic in origin. Neurological event rate was 2.7 [95%CI 1.6 to 3.9]% at 1-year (n = 751) and 4.1 [95% CI 2.6 to 5.5]% at 2-years (n = 463) using Kaplan-Meier analysis. Improvements in patient quality of life (utility and visual analogue scale) were observed at 6-weeks and 6-months follow-up. Conclusion Our observational study demonstrates that PFO closure for prevention of recurrent stroke is a relatively safe procedure but in routine clinical practice is associated with a slightly higher risk of recurrent neurological events than in randomised trials. We hypothesize that our study enrolled unselected patients with higher baseline risk, who were excluded from randomised trials, but who may benefit from a similar relative reduction in risk from the intervention.
Interaction of helminth parasites with the haemostatic system of their vertebrate hosts: a scoping review

Helminth parasitoses are among the most prevalent health issues worldwide. Their control depends largely on unravelling host–parasite interactions, including parasitic exploitation of the host haemostatic system. The present study undertakes a scoping review of the research carried out in this field with the aim of unifying and updating concepts. Multiple keywords combined with Boolean operators were employed to design the literature search strategy. Two online databases were used to identify original peer-reviewed articles written in English and published before 1st January 2020 describing molecular interactions between helminth parasites and the host haemostatic system. Relevant data from the selected sources of evidence were extracted and analysed. Ninety-six publications reporting 259 interactions were selected. Fifty-three proteins belonging to 32 species of helminth parasites were involved in interactions with components of the host haemostatic system. Many of these proteins from both parasite and host were conserved among the different interactions identified. Most of these interactions were related to the inhibition of the coagulation system and the activation of fibrinolysis. This was associated mainly with a potential of parasites to reduce the formation of blood clots in the host and attributed to biological processes, such as parasite nutrition, survival, invasion, evasion and migration or the appearance of pathological mechanisms in the host. A wide range of helminth parasites have developed similar strategies to exploit the haemostatic system of their hosts, which could be regarded as an evolutionary conserved mechanism that could confer benefits to parasites in terms of survival and establishment in their vertebrate hosts.
Epidemiology, clinical, and laboratory profile of patients with hepatitis C: A prospective, observational study from north-eastern India

Low and middle-income countries (LMICs) contribute to 80% of the global hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection burden. Intravenous drug use (IVDU) is not uncommon in Northeastern India, thus contributing to HCV. Its epidemiology, clinical, and laboratory profile were studied in a tertiary care centre in northeastern India.HCV patients (age >18) of either sex were prospectively assessed for demographic, virological, and genotype distributions. Most were male (M: F, 5.8:1) with a mean age of 37.1 ± 11.8 years. The most common risk factor was IVDU(77.69%), followed by concomitant alcohol use in 69.2%. Besides genotype 3 (59.2%), genotype 1 (26.1%) and genotype 6 were also common (14.6%). The demographics, liver disease severity, and biochemical parameters were similar across genotypes.
Expanding Role of Surgery in Management of High Risk Prostate Cancer

Patients with high risk prostate cancer (PCa) have an increased risk of PSA failure, need for secondary therapy, metastatic progression and death from their disease. Although, definition of high risk PCa is not uniform and associated with a variable prognosis, there is an increased interest in surgery for the treatment of high risk PCa. Reported clinical series have shown that radical prostatectomy (RP) has excellent long-term outcomes for the treatment of the high risk patients and 50% of them can be spared of secondary treatments like androgen deprivation therapy. Surgery is also effective in selected patients with lymph node positive disease as part of a multi-modality management. Also, accurate pathologic staging after surgery ensures the application of proper secondary treatments in a timely fashion. At present, the lack of randomized trials comparing the long-term outcomes of RP and radiotherapy in high risk PCa precludes a certain conclusion if surgery-based management strategy is better or not.
Potential of wireless power transfer for dynamic charging of electric vehicles

Wireless power transfer (WPT) offers a viable means of charging electric vehicles (EVs) whilst in a dynamic state (DWPT), mitigating issues concerning vehicle range, the size of on-board energy storage and the network distribution of static based charging systems. Such charge while driving technology has the capability to accelerate EV market penetration through increasing user convenience, reducing EV costs and increasing driving range indefinitely, dependent upon sufficient charging infrastructure. This study reviews current traction battery technologies, conductive and inductive charging processes, influential parameters specific to the dynamic charging state as well as highlighting notable work within the field of WPT charging systems. DWPT system requirements, specific to the driver, vehicle and infrastructure interaction environment are summarised and international standards highlighted to acknowledge the work that must be done within this area. It is important to recognise that the gap is not currently technological; instead, it is an implementation issue. Without necessary standardisation, system architectures cannot be developed and implemented without fear of interoperability issues between systems. For successful deployment, the technologies impact should be maximised with the minimum quantity of infrastructure and technology use, deployment scenarios and locations are discussed that have the potential to bring this to fruition.
Evaluation of Serum Midkine as a Diagnostic Marker for Hepatocellular Carcinoma in Hepatitis C Virus Patients with Liver Cirrhosis

: Background cancer in the world. Its incidence is increasing worldwide reaching half million cases each year. The primary marker for HCC is Alpha Feto Protein (AFP) which is not secreted in all cases of HCC and may be normal in as many as 40% of patients with early HCC. Midkine(MK) is a heparin-binding cytokine or growth factor, promoting survival, growth, migration, gene expression and other activities of target cells. MK is over expressed in hepatocellular carcinoma. The aim of the study is to evaluate the diagnostic value of MK as a tumor marker of HCC. This study was conducted on 85 patients who were classified into three groups: Group I (HCC) group included 45 patients with HCC. Group II (Liver cirrhosis) group included 30 patients without any evidence of hepatic focal lesions as excluded by ultrasonography and AFP estimation. Group III (control group) included 10 normal people. The level of AFP and MK were estimated for all cases together with full clinical assessment liver biochemical profile, viral markers, conventional US and triphasic abdominal CT for HCC cases. Serum AFP median level was significantly (P <0.05) elevated in the HCC group (116 ng/ml) when compared with both control (2.5 ng/ml) and liver cirrhosis (3.7 ng/ml) groups. Midkine median level was also significantly(P <0.05) elevated in the HCC group (538 ng/I) when compared with both the control (238 ng/I) and liver cirrhosis (292.5 ng/I) groups. There were no significant differences (P <0.05) were found in MK concentration between males and females in each studied group. Serum midkine level was significantly elevated (P <0.05) in HCC patients, so it can be used as a diagnostic marker for HCC.
Edinburgh Research Explorer Trade Transparency and Trading Volume

: The EC Directive on financial instruments markets 2004 (MiFID) has introduced a number of order and trade publication obligations imposed on organised exchanges, alternative trading systems (ATS), and the class of broker dealers that execute transactions in shares internally. This article investigates the impact of MiFID’s trade transparency rules on the trading volume of EU equity markets in a forward-looking mode. We use data extracted from the closest possible precedent and examine trading volume levels before and after trading in FTSE100 stocks on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) shifted from the quote-driven Stock Exchange Automatic Quotation System (SEAQ) to the order-driven securities electronic trading service (SETS). This change resulted in significantly increased transparency standards. Trading volume is measured on the basis of three criteria: volume-based turnover, value-based turnover and turnover ratio. No evidence is found indicating that higher transparency standards lead per se to higher levels of trading volume. Therefore, the impact of MiFID’s transparency rules on trading volume in EU equity markets should become a matter of further study following their implementation. global financial markets. He is the of the International Financial Services Regulation LLM at the University of Manchester and a Senior Research Fellow of InLEGGO. Stavros Degiannakis is an Adjunct Lecturer in Athens University of Economics and Business and Adjunct Assistant Professor in University of Central Greece. He has an extensive number of publications in international journals in the areas of applied economics, econometrics and statistics. He also serves as member of the editorial board and referee in international journals.
Load and Demand Forecasting in Iraqi Kurdistan using Time series modelling

This study carried out within the framework of the Minor Field Studies The MFS Scholarship Program offers Swedish university students an opportunity to carry out two months field work, usually the student's final degree project, in a country in Africa, Asia or Latin America. The results of the work are presented in an MFS report which is also the student's Bachelor or Master of Science Thesis. Minor Field Studies are primarily conducted within subject areas of importance from a development perspective and in a country where Swedish international cooperation is ongoing. Abstract —This thesis examines the concept of time series forecasting. More specifically, it predicts the load and power demand in Sulaymaniyah, Iraqi Kurdistan, who are today experiencing frequent power shortages. This study applies a commonly used time series model, the autoregressive integrated moving average model, which is compared to the naïve method. Several key model properties are inspected to evaluate model accuracy. The model is then used to forecast the load and the demand on a daily, weekly and monthly basis. The forecasts are evaluated by examining the residual metrics. Furthermore, the quantitative results and the answers collected from interviews are used as a basis to investigate the conditions of capacity planning in order to determine a suitable strategy to minimize the unserved power demand. The findings indicate an unsustainable over consumption of power in the region due to low tariffs and subsidized energy. A suggested solution is to manage power demand by implementing better strategies such as increasing tariffs and to use demand forecast to supply power accordingly. The monthly supply forecast in this study outperforms the baseline method but not the demand forecast. On weekly basis, both the load and the demand models underperform. The performance of the daily forecasts performs equally or worse than the baseline. Overall, the supply predictions are more precise than the demand predictions. However, there is room for improvement regarding the forecasts. For instance, better model selection and data preparation can result in more accurate forecasts.
CMAR_A_265671 9905..9913

*These authors contributed equally to this work Purpose: This study aims to investigate the potential role of DUS4L (dihydrouridine synthase 4 like) in lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) and explore its associated pathways in human LUAD. Methods: Firstly, we evaluated the relationships between clinicopathological characteristics and DUS4L expression via analysis of TCGA RNA sequencing data and other publicly available databases. Then, DUS4L was effectively silenced in LUAD cell line A549 using the lentiviral shRNA (short-hairpin RNA) transfection to assess its effects on cell proliferation, cycle and apoptosis in LUAD cells. RNA-seq technology was applied to shDUS4L and shCtrl-transfected cells to generate the corresponding gene expression profiles. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified using the DESeq2 program package. Also, DEGs were subjected to Gene Ontology (GO) and KEGG (Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes) enrichment analysis to explore the associated molecular signaling pathways and relevant biological functions. Results: Analysis of TCGA data revealed that DUS4L was highly upregulated in LUAD tissues which was related to clinical T and TNM stages of LUAD. The knockdown of DUS4L effectively inhibited cell proliferation and promoted apoptosis in A549 cells. Furthermore, the DEGs between the shDUS4L and shCtrl A549 cells were mainly enriched in biological processes associated with spliceosome, ribosome, RNA catabolic process, ncRNA (non-coding RNA) processing, and p53 signaling pathway. Conclusion: Altogether, our results suggest that DUS4L is significantly associated with tumorigenesis and could be utilized as a novel biomarker and therapeutic target for LUAD.
Assessment of genetic variation in some Cucumis sativus L. genotypes in Iraq using RAPD markers

The current study was performed using the RARD markers in detect the Genetic relationship, Genetic diversity, and DNA fingerprint of ten categories of the cucumber genotypes Cucumis sativus L . Isolating Genomic DNA from cucumber’s dry, young leaves, and an amount of DNA was extracted, between 172.6 - 448 Nano gram/microliter,with a purity ranging between 1.788-2.126. 10primers were chosen, which showed contrastive multiplying results among the studied categories. Those primers showed 105 different contrastive bands from the original 158 bands. Each selected primers produced between 52bands OPA-04 to 104 bands OPD-20 . The size of the amplified results was between 110 bp OPA-06 to 1911 bp OPA-06. The primer OPA-05 was given the highest value of the main bands, which were 24 band, and the lower value was given to the primers OPA-10,OPD-02 which were 12band. Higher value for polymorphism in primer OPA-04 While, lowest value for polymorphism in primer OPA-10. The primer OPA-10 was given the highest efficiency which was 0.56 while, Primer OPD-02 was given the lowest efficiency 0.093. Higher number for Monomorphic bands to 5 in primer OPD-20, while primers OPA-04 show no monomorphic bands . Primers gave OPA-01, OPA-03, OPA-05, OPA-10 highest number of unique bands, reached 4 bands while ,OPA-10 gave no unique bands.
Iterative Illumination Normalization: A Pre-Processing Technique to Improve Performance of Face Recognition System

— As one of the most successful applications of image analysis, face recognition has received significant attention, especially during past few years. Automatic human face recognition has received substantial attention from researchers in biometrics, pattern recognition and computer vision communities. The localization of human faces in digital images is a fundamental step in the process of face recognition. Although the existing automated machine recognition systems have certain level of maturity, their accomplishments are limited due to real time challenges. For example, face recognition for the images which are acquired in high contrast with different levels of illumination is a critical problem. It is known that image variation due to lighting changes is larger than that, due to different personal identity, because lighting direction alters the relative gray scale distribution of a face image. In handling these types of practical scenarios, the system must be robust enough to deal with dynamic changes in lighting, hence it is equally important to preprocess the images prior to actual processing and experimentations. This paper proposes a novel method of iterative illumination normalization based on histogram of an image and scaling function. It helps in construction of an optimal global lighting space from these images which improve accuracy of face recognition system. The proposed method helps in recognition of sparsely sampled images with different lighting too. Also, most valuable information of an image, i.e. gray scale value, is not discarded and person’s discriminative information in face image is strengthened. Hence recognition can be carried out using preserved illumination invariant features.
RELATIVISTIC E F F E C TS IN T HE L U N AR M O T I ON

A b s t r a c t. Lunar motion serves for a number of important tests of the relativity theory. Although the final quantitative results come out from the direct numerical treatment of the lunar laser ranging data, the analytical solutions yield important keys for understanding sensitivity of the lunar motion on diverse effects. In the last few years, important relativistic phenomena, notably the equivalence principle violation and the preferred direction effects, have been reexamined using detailed Hill-Brown type theories. Surprising amplification of the former effect, indicated also from the numerical tests, has been explained by intricate coupling with the tidal deformation of the lunar orbit. Similar treatment proved that the lunar mo tion hides potentially a high-quality test of the preferred frame effects. In both cases, fundamental resonances of the problem cause singular amplification of the effects for particular lunar-like orbits.
Investigation of SnO 2 thin film evolution by thermoanalytical and spectroscopic methods Investigation of SnO2 thin film evolution by thermoanalytical and spectroscopic methods.

The thermal evolution process of a SnO 2 thin film from SnCl 2 ⋅ 2 H 2 O precursor dissolved in ethanol was followed by thermogravimetry combined with mass spectrometry (TG-MS), diffuse reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (DRIFT) and infrared emission spectrometry (IRES). The precursor salt solution was deposited on a titanium metal sheet. After evaporation of the solvent, the gel-like film was heated in a thermobalance in an oxidative environment to 600°C. Mass spectrometric ion intensity curves showed the liberation of chlorinated species, alcoholic fragments and CO 2 as combustion product and from the decomposition of surface carbonyls, carboxylates and carbonates. The presence of O-H, C-H and C-O bands in the infrared spectra was confirmed and their assignment was made by the deconvolution of the recorded curves. spectroscopy,