Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Intestinal Parasitic Infections Among Pediatric Patients in a Metropolitan City of Bangladesh With Emphasis on Cryptosporidiosis

Introduction Gastrointestinal parasitic infections are one of the global health concerns in developing countries like Bangladesh. Among them, Cryptosporidium spp. plays an essential role in causing diarrhea, malnutrition, and poor cognitive function, especially in children. This study was conducted to identify the frequency of Cryptosporidium cases and other parasitic agents. Methods A cross-sectional observational study was conducted among 219 hospitalized children with diarrhea. The conventional microscopic technique was applied for parasitic detection. Particular staining (modified Ziehl-Neelsen) procedure was performed to identify oocysts of Cryptosporidium spp. A polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was performed to determine the SSU rRNA and gp60 gene of Cryptosporidium. Results Cysts of Giardia duodenalis (2.3%), ova of Ascaris lumbricoides (1.4%,), Trichuris trichiura (0.5%), and both A. lumbricoides and T. trichiura (0.9%) were identified in samples through wet mount preparation. The distribution of Cryptosporidium spp. as detected by the staining method and nested PCR was 1.4% and 4.1%, respectively. Conclusion Factors independently associated with Cryptosporidium infection are unsafe water, lack of regular hand washing, and insufficiency of exclusive breastfeeding. This study reports, presumably for the first time, the detection of Cryptosporidium oocysts in Chattogram metropolitan city of Bangladesh.
Updating EuroSCORE by including emotional, behavioural, social and functional factors to the risk assessment of patients undergoing cardiac surgery a study protocol

Introduction Conventional risk assessment in cardiac surgery focus on medical and physiological factors and have been developed to predict mortality. Other relevant risk factors associated with increased risk of poor outcomes are not included. Adding non-medical variables as potential prognostic factors to risk assessments direct attention away from specific diagnoses towards a more holistic view of the patients and their predicament. The aim of this paper is to describe the method and analysis plan for the development and validation of a prognostic screening tool as a supplement to the European System for Cardiac Operative Risk Evaluation (EuroSCORE) to predict mortality, readmissions and prolonged length of admission in patients within 90 days after cardiac surgery, as individual outcomes. Methods and analysis The development of a prognostic screening tool with inclusion of emotional, behavioural, social and functional factors complementing risk assessment by EuroSCORE will adopt the methods recommended by the PROGnosis RESearch Strategy Group and report using the Transparent Reporting of a multivariable prediction model for Individual Prognosis Or Diagnosis statement. In the development stage, we will use data derived from three datasets comprising 1143, 3347 and 982 patients for a prospective cohort study of patients undergoing cardiac surgery, respectively. We will construct logistic regression models to predict mortality, prolonged length of admission and 90-day readmissions. In the validation stage, we will use data from a separate sample of 333 patients planned to undergo cardiac surgery to assess the performance of the developed prognostic model. We will produce validation plots showing the overall performance, area under the curve statistic for discrimination and the calibration slope and intercept. Ethics and dissemination The study will follow the requirements from the Ethical Committee System ensuring voluntary participation in accordance with the Helsinki declarations. Data will be filed in accordance with the requirements of the Danish Data Protection Agency.
Automatic detection of atrial fibrillation and other arrhythmias in holter ECG recordings using rhythm features and neural networks

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a disease affecting 1–2 % of the population. Due to its episodic behavior, it is usually detected using Holter recordings. While various AF detection methods have been described in the past, it still remains problematic because holter recordings may contain other arrhythmias (OA) and, moreover, they may be influenced by patient movements. In accordance with the Physionet Challenge 2017, we propose an autonomous and robust method of distinguishing between pathological and normal recordings. First, QRS complexes are identified using envelograms (8–25 Hz and 70–90 Hz). Detected QRS complexes are clustered into morphology groups using a raw ECG signal. If too many morphology groups are produced or less than four QRS complexes are detected, the process is aborted and the recording is considered too noisy. Next, a median shape for the first and the second morphological group of QRS complexes is built. Features are extracted from averaged shapes, from the rhythm of major morphology QRS complexes, from QRS correlation to template shapes and from the convolutional neural network. 277 features are fed into the neural network, resulting in three outputs. The 120 most important features, as well as outputs from the neural network, are fed into a bagged tree ensemble. Machine-learning algorithms and logical rules were trained using 8,138 files from a reduced training set. The resultant F1 score measured using hidden test set (3,658 recordings) was 0.81 (normal 0.91, AF 0.80, OA 0.74).
Sleep Duration and Risk of Atrial Fibrillation: a Systematic Review

Background: Little is known about a possible association between sleep duration and the incidence of atrial fibrillation (AF), in healthy people. In this systematic review, we conducted a literature search to examine possible association between sleep duration and the incidence of AF. Methods : Scientific databases (PubMed, Web of Knowledge and Embase) were searched using relevant Medical Subject Headings and keywords, to retrieve studies written in English and published until November 2017. Only population-based observational studies were included. Since sleep duration categories were not consistent, it was feasible to run a meta-analysis. Results : The average follow-up of the patient population was 1,633.1±1,232.9 (median: 1,438.0) days. Patients who
Hospitalization and death associated with potentially inappropriate medication prescriptions among elderly nursing home residents.

BACKGROUND This study examines the association of potentially inappropriate medication prescribing (PIRx) with hospitalization and death among elderly long-stay nursing home residents. METHODS We defined PIRx using the combined version of the Beers criteria. Data were from the 1996 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey Nursing Home Component. The study sample included 3372 residents, 65 years and older, who had nursing home stays of 3 consecutive months or longer in 1996. We performed multivariate logistic regression analyses of longitudinal data using generalized estimating equations. RESULTS Residents who received any PIRx had greater odds (odds ratio [OR], 1.27; P = .002) of being hospitalized in the following month than those receiving no PIRx. Residents with PIRx exposure for 2 consecutive months were at increased risk (OR, 1.27; P = .004) of hospitalization, as were those receiving PIRx in the second month only (OR, 1.80; P = .001), compared with those receiving no PIRx. Residents who received PIRx were at greater risk of death (OR, 1.28; P = .01) that month or the next. Residents with intermittent PIRx exposures were at greater odds of death (OR, 1.89; P<.001), compared with those with no PIRx exposure. CONCLUSIONS The association of PIRx with subsequent adverse outcomes (hospitalization and death) provides new evidence of the importance of improving prescribing practices in the nursing home setting.
Soil testing and plant analysis to optimize nitrogen management in manured cornfields

Soil testing and plant analysis to optimize nitrogen management in manured cornfields " (1999). Retrospective Theses and Dissertations. Paper 12567. This manuscript has been rqnxxiuced fit>m the microfihn master. UMI films the text directly firom the original or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are in typewriter &ce, while others may be fi-om any type of computer printer. The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleedthrough, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send UMI a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. sectioning the original, beginning at the upper left-hand comer and continuing from left to right in equal sections with small overlaps. Each original is also photographed in one exposure and is included in reduced form at the back of the book. Photographs included in the original manuscript have been reproduced xerographically in this copy. ECgher quality 6" x 9" black and white photographic prints are available for any photographs or illustrations appearing in this copy for an additional charge. Contact UMI directly to order.
Comparison of BHT , ascorbic acid , and clove extract as antioxidants in 1 fresh beef patties at refrigerated storage 2 3

Comparison of BHT, ascorbic acid, and clove extract as antioxidants in 1 fresh beef patties at refrigerated storage 2 3 Md. Ashrafuzzaman Zahid, Jin-Kyu Seo, Rashida Parvin, Jonghyun Ko and Han-Sul Yang 4 5 Division of Applied Life Science (BK21 plus), Gyeongsang National University, Jinju-daero, Jinju, 6 Gyeongnam, 52828, Republic of Korea 7 Institute of Agriculture and Life Science, Gyeongsang National University, Jinju-daero, Jinju, 8 Gyeongnam, 52828, Republic of Korea 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
Population receptive field tuning properties of visual cortex during childhood

Improvements in visuospatial perception such as contrast sensitivity and Vernier acuity continue until late in childhood, but the neural mechanisms driving these age-related changes are currently unclear. One contributing factor could be the protracted development of spatial tuning of neuronal populations across the visual cortex. Here we tested this possibility using population receptive field (pRF) mapping (Dumoulin and Wandell, 2008) in 6-to 12-year-old children and adults. We fitted pRF models to BOLD signals measured in areas V1-V4 and V3a during fMRI whilst participants watched wedge and ring stimuli traversing the visual field. Cortical magnification and the width of pRF tuning functions changed with viewing eccentricity in all participants. However, there were no age-related changes in pRF size, shape, cortical magnification, or map consistency across any of the visual areas measured. These results suggest that visuospatial perception in late childhood beyond age 6 years is not substantially limited by low-level spatial tuning properties of neuronal populations in visual cortex. Instead, performance improvements in this period may reflect more efficient use of the spatial information available in the visual system when forming perceptual judgments. These findings are an important step towards disentangling which neural mechanisms contribute to the eventual emergence of mature spatial vision, and for understanding the processes that determine the scope for visual plasticity at different stages of life.
Entecavir for the treatment of chronic hepatitis B

Chronic infection with the hepatitis B virus remains a serious and life-threatening disease for approximately 5% of the world’s population, despite the availability of effective vaccines. Although prognoses can be improved by chemotherapy, treatment options are limited and none has been consistently successful. Interferon-α, the longest established therapy, has limited efficacy, is slow-acting and frequently causes adverse effects. Newer drugs comprise of mainly nucleoside and nucleotide analogs. The two that are currently approved, lamivudine and adefovir dipivoxil, are well tolerated; both produce rapid and dramatic responses, but their effects may not be sustainable in the long-term due to the emergence of resistant virus. Development of resistance to lamivudine is approximately ten-times more frequent than development of resistance to adefovir dipivoxil (∼60 and 6%, respectively) during the first 3 years of therapy. Entecavir, a carbocyclic deoxyguanosine analog that is active against both lamivudine- and adefovir dipivoxil-resistant HBV, is in the vanguard of new antihepatitis B virus drugs that have progressed to Phase III clinical trials. It is the most potent antihepatitis B virus agent discovered to date.
Nuclease escape elements protect messenger RNA against cleavage by 1 multiple viral endonucleases 2 3

1. Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of California, Berkeley, California, 5 USA CA 94720-3370 6 2. Present address: Department of Microbiology, University of Massachusetts at Amherst, 7 Amherst, MA 01003 USA. 8 3. Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, University of California, Berkeley, California, 9 USA CA 94720-3370 10 4. Howard Hughes Medical Institute 11 12 * Corresponding author; glaunsinger@berkeley.edu 13
Otimização do processamento da energia em sistemas de bombeamento fotovoltaico e conversão monofásica.

Considerando as possibilidades para o uso da gera»c~ao fotovoltaica, e objetivando contribuir para difusao de seu uso, o presente trabalho foi elaborado com base em duas vertentes: (I) otimizacao do processamento da energia para realizacao de bombeamento; e (II) otimizacao do processamento da energia em conversores monofasicos. No sistema de bombeamento a otimizacao consiste em diminuir as perdas no processamento da energia para se obter um maior volume de agua bombeado. Alem do estudo em torno do ponto de maxima eficiencia de operacao da bomba, tambem e realizada uma analise para maximizar a transferencia de potencia entre a gera»c~ao fotovoltaica e a bomba centrifuga reduzindo as perdas em cada estagio do processamento da energia. Na outra vertente deste trabalho, a otimizacao visa reduzir a potencia monofasica oscilatoria que se propaga ao longo de um sistema de conversao de energia, onde esta potencia oscilatoria pode ser indesejavel em sinais que necessitam possuir suas formas de ondas continuas, por provocar varios problemas no conversor monofasico, tais como: dificuldade no seu controle; aumento no volume e diminui»c~ao de vida util dos elementos que o compoem; e diminuicao da vida util dos dispositivos ligados ao seu lado CC e/ou CA. Neste trabalho e feito o estudo aprofundado nos conversores monofasicos, tanto o VSC quanto o CSC, operando nas trâs formas de conversao de energia aqui abordadas: conversao CA-CC, CC-CA e CA-CC-CA.
Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices of Primary School Teachers on Nutrition and Food

Abstract Introdution The teacher's formation is a paramount condition for the education in health. Objective To develop a questionnaire and assess knowledge, attitudes and practices of early years school teachers. Methodology a questionnaire about nutrition and feeding was applied. The subjects were teachers from pre-school to 5th grade of Elementary School. Results There were 288 teachers in the survey. They were all in favor of the promotion of a healthy feeding in school. The source of information mostly used was the textbook. 76% thought they had good knowledge about a healthy diet. The average number of positive/correct answers was 21 (48%). Conclusions The knowledge about nutrition and feeding were insufficient and the general performance in the questionnaire was low. Actions that aim at qualifying the teachers are urgent, so that they can develop the necessary tools to promote a healthy feeding in schools.
Encouraging Greater Compliance: Local Networks and the United Nations Global Compact

Human rights norms are today a central aspect of the corporate social responsibility (CSR) agenda. After decades of exclusive attention to the behavior of states, human rights activists began during the late 1980s and 1990s to increase their pressures on corporate actors and demand commitment to and compliance with basic human rights in the business world. Unlike states, corporations lack international legal personality and cannot express commitment by signing on to formal international human rights treaties. Apart from voluntary standards, codes of conduct, and other UN standard-setting activities directed at businesses, the Global Compact (GC) represents to date the main UN sanctioned soft law designed to commit corporations to international standards of human rights and environmental protection. The GC does not replace the main compliance mechanisms set out by the legal obligations assumed by states under international law, but its goal is to supplement those existing mechanisms with an additional, non-binding avenue of promoting universal human rights principles. This essay argues that the relevance of the GC as a means to move businesses towards greater respect for human rights depends to a large degree on the emergence of local GC networks effectively faciliating engagement with civil society, learning about best practices, and providing a forum of deliberation. These services provided by local networks are particuarly important for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
Identification of multiple genomic DNA sequences which form i-motif structures at neutral pH

Abstract i-Motifs are alternative DNA secondary structures formed in cytosine-rich sequences. Particular examples of these structures, traditionally assumed to be stable only at acidic pH, have been found to form under near-physiological conditions. To determine the potential impact of these structures on physiological processes, investigation of sequences with the capacity to fold under physiological conditions is required. Here we describe a systematic study of cytosine-rich DNA sequences, with varying numbers of consecutive cytosines, to gain insights into i-motif DNA sequence and structure stability. i-Motif formation was assessed using ultraviolet spectroscopy, circular dichroism and native gel electrophoresis. We found that increasing cytosine tract lengths resulted in increased thermal stability; sequences with at least five cytosines per tract folded into i-motif at room temperature and neutral pH. Using these results, we postulated a folding rule for i-motif formation, analogous to (but different from) that for G-quadruplexes. This indicated that thousands of cytosine-rich sequences in the human genome may fold into i-motif structures under physiological conditions. Many of these were found in locations where structure formation is likely to influence gene expression. Characterization of a selection of these identified i-motif forming sequences uncovered 17 genomic i-motif forming sequence examples which were stable at neutral pH.
Evaluation of in vitro Antioxidant Activity and Total Phenolic Content of Methanol Bark Extract of Mimusops elengi

ABSTRACT Introduction: Some researchers suggest that two-thirds of the world's plant species have medicinal value; in particular, many medicinal plants have great antioxidant potential. Antioxidants reduce the oxidative stress in cells and are therefore useful in the treatment of many human diseases, including cancer, cardiovascular diseases and inflammatory diseases. Methods: The present study was projected to evaluate the in vitro potential of methanol extract of Mimusops elengi bark in correlation to the ascorbic acid which was used as a reference standard. The antioxidant properties of methanolic extract that probably involve free radical mechanisms were evaluated by the methods namely DPPH, ABTS, Hydroxy radical and Nitric oxide radical Scavenging assays. Results: The IC 50 values of methanol extract in DPPH radical, nitric oxide, ABTS radical and hydroxyl radical were obtained to be 2.2 μg/ml, 158.49 μg/ml, 7.69 μg/ml and 3 μg/ml respectively. However, the IC 50 values for the standard ascorbic acid were noted to be 0.66 μg/ml, 200 μg/ml, 0.7 μg/ml and 1 μg/ml respectively. Measurement of total phenolic content of the methanol extract of M. elengi was achieved using Folin–Ciocalteau reagent containing 698.7 ± 0.93 mg/g of phenolic content, which was found signicantly higher when compared to reference standard gallic acid. Conclusions: The observed results clearly indicate that M. elengi has a significant anti-oxidant activity and the results correlate positively with total phenol content strongly plead in favour of the use of this plant as potential food additives in replacement of synthetic compounds.
Pharmacovigilance and adverse drug reaction reporting: a perspective of community pharmacists and pharmacy technicians in sana’a, Yemen

Objective: The aim of this study was to compare the knowledge, attitude and barriers of pharmacy technicians and pharmacists toward pharmacovigilance, adverse drug reactions (ADRs) and ADR reporting in community pharmacies in Yemen. Methods: This cross-sectional survey was conducted among community pharmacists and pharmacy technicians in the capital of Yemen, Sana’a. A total of 289 community pharmacies were randomly selected. The validated and pilot-tested questionnaire consisted of six sections: demographic data, knowledge about pharmacovigilance, experience with ADR reporting, attitudes toward ADR reporting, and the facilitators to improve ADR reporting. Results: A total of 428 pharmacy technicians and pharmacists were contacted and 179 went on to complete a questionnaire (response rate: 41.8%). Of the 179 respondents, 21 (11.7%) were pharmacists and 158 (88.3%) were pharmacy technicians, of which, 176 (98.3%) were male and 3 (1.7%) were female. The mean age of the respondents was 25.87 ± 2.63 years. There was a significant difference between the pharmacists and pharmacy technicians in terms of knowledge scores ( P , 0.05). The mean knowledge scores for pharmacists was 3.33 ± 2.852 compared to 0.15 ± 0.666 for pharmacy technicians. With regard to attitudes toward ADR reporting, all pharmacists (100%) showed a positive attitude, while only 43% of pharmacy technicians showed a positive attitude. Conclusion: Pharmacists have a significantly better knowledge than pharmacy technicians with regard to pharmacovigilance. More than half of pharmacy technicians showed a negative attitude toward ADR reporting. Therefore, educational interventions and training is very important for community pharmacists and pharmacy technicians in Yemen to increase their awareness and participation in ADR reporting.