jimnoneill/paper-to-field-training huggingface dataset:
Does the Return/Refund and Retention of Lobolo Violate the Reproductive Rights of Women in South Africa?

Field: Social Sciences (Social Sciences)

One of the main functions of lobolo is to create a marriage relationship between the bride’s kindred and the groom’s family. Lobolo, which must be practised subject to the Constitution, still plays a significant role in the lives of many South Africans today. However, we concede that there are some instances in which lobolo has been abused to infringe women’s reproductive rights. The apprehension that lobolo may be refunded puts unnecessary pressure on women, thereby infringing and violating their right to freely decide on reproductive issues free of discrimination and pressure. The practice of lobolo is evolving, but approaches to its return or refund are not homogenous. Some families may insist that lobolo be returned while others will not. In South Africa, the solemnisation, and the legal process for terminating a customary marriage is now regulated by the Recognition of Customary Marriages Act 1998 (Recognition Act). Lobolo is not explicitly mentioned as a requirement for the validity of a customary marriage. Additionally, the Act does not contemplate refunding or retention of lobolo during the termination of a customary marriage through divorce. Section 8 of the Recognition Act makes it possible for a customary marriage to be terminated by a decree of divorce, approved by a competent court, thus making it possible to dissolve a customary marriage like its civil counterpart. In this article, we interrogate whether the claim for a lobolo refund violates the reproductive rights of South African women. We use feminism as the theoretical lens through which we view and answer the question and draw some modest lessons from Eswatini and Zimbabwe, and to some limited extent, Uganda.
'Interrelated prices' and Sraffa's critique of partial equilibrium

Field: Economics, Econometrics and Finance (Social Sciences)

The early Marshallian literature recognized that, in most significant cases, long-period equilibrium analysis must consider families of interdependent markets which are in direct relation with each other. This perspective, which is different from both standard partial equilibrium and general equilibrium analysis, was developed mainly by two Italian authors, Maffeo Pantaleoni (1857-1924) and Marco Fanno (1878-1964). This paper is aimed at showing that this 'interrelated prices' literature has some points of contact with Piero Sraffa's critique of partial equilibrium analysis. It is argued that Sraffa places the case of a Marshallian decreasing returns industry in a context (rivalry for the use of a common factor in fixed supply) which was familiar to Pantaleoni-Fanno: both maintain that the markets involved are interdependent, even though they evaluate differently the possibility of a sensible equilibrium analysis.
Personal Distributed Exposimeter for Radio Frequency Electromagnetic Field Assessment

Field: Engineering (Physical Sciences)

A personal distributed exposimeter (PDE) consisting of 3 radio frequency (RF) acquisition nodes is constructed using textile antennas and wearable electronics. Numerical simulations are used to design the PDE. Calibration measurements at 950 MHz, using a human subject, are performed in an anechoic chamber. Compared to conventional exposimeters, which only measure in 1 position on the body, an excellent 95% confidence interval of 7 dB on measured power (densities) and isotropy of 0.5 dB are measured.
Intrauterine Contraception

Field: Medicine (Health Sciences)

The mechanism of action of the intrauterine contraceptive device is still unknown despite extensive research. The method is inexpensive, requires only one episode of motivation, and is not associated with coitus. Many women abandon the device because of spontaneous expulsion or bleeding and cramps, and a few become pregnant with the device in place. Despite its limitations, the IUD remains the most effective contraceptive method for women unable to use oral contraception and for family planning among populations whose low level of sophistication precludes effective oral contraception.
Reducing diffuse pollution through implementation of agricultural best management practices: a case study

Field: Environmental Science (Physical Sciences)

A system of agricultural best management practices (BMPs) was implemented on a 2,100 ha watershed in Duplin County, North Carolina, USA, for the purpose of improving water quality. The BMPs included: Nutrient, pest, and animal waste management; and soil conservation practices. Both surface and ground water were continually analyzed to assess the water quality impacts. Nutrient management plans have been developed for over 80% of the cropland. Pest management plans have been developed for over 60% of the cropland. Over one-half of all plans have been implemented. Poultry mortality composting and improved swine waste management have decreased the potential adverse effects of animal operations. A constructed wetland shows promise as a pre-treatment of swine waste prior to land application. Stream monitoring shows decreasing amounts of nitrate- and ammonium-nitrogen in the surface waters of the watershed. Ground water monitoring shows relatively high concentrations of nitrate in areas of intensive swine and poultry operations. Ground water monitoring of pesticides reveals low levels of alachlor, atrazine, and metolachlor even though large amounts of these chemicals are used on crops. The successful implementation of agricultural BMPs appears to be having a positive effect on water quality. Both stream and ground water monitoring will be continued for several years to assess more definitively the changes in water quality.
Transvaginal Ultrasonography and Urodynamic Evaluation After Suspension Operations: Comparison Among the Gittes, Stamey and Burch Suspensions

Field: Medicine (Health Sciences)

Radiological and ultrasonographic imaging enables the objective determination of bladder neck position and movement in stress urinary incontinence. Postoperative results were evaluated in 60 patients after Burch colposuspension (29) or bladder neck suspension according to the Gittes (18) or Stamey (13) method. No differences in continence rates were noted 3 months postoperatively (Gittes 83%, Stamey 85% and Burch 93% of the patients). Late results were assessed by urodynamic evaluation and transvaginal ultrasonography. The largest decrease in continence rate was observed after the Gittes procedure (44% of the patients continent, mean followup 14.7 months), in comparison with the Stamey (69% continent after 34.6 months) and Burch (86% continent after 30.5 months) procedures. Urodynamic parameters showed no significant differences for the 3 groups. Transvaginal ultrasonography did not indicate a correlation between absolute resting or stress position of the bladder neck and continence. The main factor concerning continence was the rotation angle and descent of the bladder neck during stress. Our data indicate that transvaginal ultrasonography is a safe and reliable method to evaluate the postoperative outcome for stress urinary incontinence.
Interpretation of "Guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of adult insomnia in China"

Field: Medicine (Health Sciences)

In order to standardize the diagnosis and treatment of adult insomnia in China, the sleep disorder study group of Chinese Medical Association Neuropathy Branch invited experts to discuss the issue repeatedly and compile the "Guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of adult insomnia in China". The guideline was written on the basis of the principle of evidence-based medicine and also in consideration of our national conditions. It can be used as a practical and authoritative model of clinical diagnosis and treatment of insomnia for clinicians to refer. This article will illustrate some unstated problems due to space limitation and some differences of opinion that may exist in the guideline.
Evaluation of the effectiveness of a mobile application in the management of dental anxiety: A randomised controlled trial

Field: Dentistry (Health Sciences)

Abstract Background The software, which was developed according to the principle of perceived control, can be installed on tablets and smartphones and used by patients to help them control their anxiety. Objective The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a specially designed mobile application developed to provide patients with a sense of anxiety control during the various stages of endodontic treatment. The patients' anxiety was assessed by measuring their salivary cortisol levels. Methods A total of 46 patients requiring endodontic treatment were recruited. The patients were randomly assigned to two groups. The experimental group used the special communication application, while the control group did not. Salivary samples were collected from all patients preoperatively, postanaesthesia, and postoperatively. The samples were analysed with an enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay to measure the cortisol levels. Results A significant difference in cortisol levels was observed between the experimental and the control group (Mann–Whitney U ‐test, p < .05). This difference was significant in the experimental group in each step ( p < .01). No difference was found in the control group steps ( p > .05). Conclusions Perceived control of anxiety using the specially designed software was effective in reducing salivary cortisol levels.
Esophageal Manometry and pHmetry Profile in Obese Patients Selected for Bariatric Surgery

Field: Medicine (Health Sciences)

Background: Obesity is a highly prevalent disease and risk factor for gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) which could predispose to esophageal motility disorders. Few studies exist regarding manometric and phmetric findings in patients with obesity who are candidates to bariatric surgery. The objective was to describe the preoperative profile of patients with obesity selected for bariatric surgery. Methods: Retrospective analysis of 338 patients with obesity, subjected to 24 hour-pHmetry with impedance and manometry prior to bariatric surgery between 2006 and 2021. Descriptive and analytical statistics were used for analysis. Results: The mean age and body mass index was 41.94 ± 0.70 years and 38.75 ± 0.37 kg/m 2 , respectively. GERD symptoms were present in 43.3% (139/321). A 24-hour pHmetry analysis showed a pathologic DeMeester index in 46.7% of patients, of which 64.3% (63/98) were symptomatic. Impedance was abnormal in 53.4%, of which 67% (73/109) were symptomatic. Manometry registered dysmotility in 22.7% (69/304) of patients, a mean lower esophageal sphincter (LES) pressure of 11.93 ± 0.43 mmHg and hypotensive LES in 38.5%. Mean gastric pressure was 9.79 ± 0.33 mmHg after deglutition and only 11.4% (34/299) presented abnormal gastroesophageal gradients. Conclusions: There is a high prevalence of dysmotility and GERD in candidates to bariatric surgery with obesity. Esophageal 24 hour-pHmetry with impedance and manometry should be considered within preoperative tests as pathologic results could guide appropriate procedure selection, at least in symptomatic patients.
Art Therapy as Model of Social Innovation in Health Care: four Italian experiences

Field: Health Professions (Health Sciences)

The idea that all art forms are able to positively influence human health is by now a concept widely acknowledged and clinically tested. The aim of this study is to determine whether or not artistic projects in hospitals, experimentally carried out in Italy by no profit healthcare organizations, can be considered as social innovation. Four cases have been analysed: Fondazione dell'ospedale pediatrico Anna Meyer, Athenaeum Musicale Cooperativa Sociale ONLUS, Associazione Unità Spinale Niguarda ONLUS, Amici di Luca ONLUS. The results show that artistic activities carried out by those healthcare organizations - by supporting the creation of new professional figures, facilitating networking and the co-working between physicians and artists and increasing the capacity to attract art lover's funding - can be considered as a process of social innovation in the Italian healthcare system.
Pigmented villonodular synovitis presenting as a popliteal cyst.

Field: Medicine (Health Sciences)

A rare case is described of giant swelling of the soft tissue around the knee joint. A large popliteal cyst was present, the fleshy walls of which penetrated the muscle layers of the calf. The place of arthrography in diagnosis is stressed. The yellow-brown mass was confirmed histologically to be pigmented villonodular synovitis. The mechanism of formation of a popliteal cyst is discussed. The differential diagnosis and treatment are reviewed briefly: our preference is for radical surgery.
Unemployment, Welfare, and Masculine Citizenship: “So Much Honest Poverty” in Britain, 1870–1930 by Marjorie Levine-Clark

Field: Social Sciences (Social Sciences)

Unemployment, Welfare, and Masculine Citizenship: So Much Honest Poverty in Britain, 1870-1930, by Marjorie Levine-Clark. Houndmills & New York, Palgrave Macmillan, 2015. xix, 304 pp. $90.00 US (cloth). This is not simply another book about the problem of unemployment in Modern Britain. Rather, this is book about how unemployment and provision were intimately connected to shifting definitions of gendered working-class citizenship in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Britain. It tracks how (and sometimes dishonest) poor men, their families, employers, poor law authorities, and policy-makers framed their place in society when they were jobless. A fitting progression from Marjorie Levine-Clark's work on gender, poverty, and family, this is highly original contribution to the vast corpus of research on unemployment in British history and is key reading for British social and political historians and students. Levine-Clark adopts the phrase honest poverty from local newspaper in the Black Country, region in the West Midlands of England and the focus of much of her book. She uses honest poverty to describe a model of working-class masculine status built on the pillars of the male breadwinner ideal: the work imperative, which required men to demonstrate that they were willing to work, and family liability, which required men to support their families responsibly (2). Together, she argues poverty, the work imperative, and family liability demonstrated men's respectability and deservedness. This trifecta of respectable working-class identities was forged alongside what Levine-Clark aptly terms welfare heteronormativity (10), system in which married men, particularly fathers, were privileged over women and single men in the dispensation of poor relief. In chapter six, we see how the 1918 Out-of-Work Donation program pitted unmarried ex-servicemen against married ex-servicemen with children and in chapter eight how single sons were expected to provide for elderly parents in ways married sons were not before, and even after, the introduction of the Old-Age Pensions Act in 1908. The marital preference was compromised when fathers went on strike or neglected their family responsibilities, as illustrated in chapters seven and nine. Mostly, though, married fathers embodied the definition of honest poverty for the entirety of this period. One of the book's greatest merits is Levine-Clark's attention to the enduring strength of honest poverty as the constant ideological thread that persisted through significant policy shifts in British provision. Honest poor married fathers, whose wives and children were seen as innocent sufferers, posed problem to poor law authorities bound by the deterrent aims of the 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act designed to punish the poor for their unemployment. …
THE DYNAMIC OPTIMIZATION OF STS MOVEMENT

Field: Medicine (Health Sciences)

Abstract − The purpose of this study was to clarify the criterion which can predict trajectories during sit-to-stand (STS) movement. Three types of rising movements from the chair, i.e., upright, natural, and leaning-forward rising, were measured for five subjects. The trajectories of the center of mass (COM) predicted by the minimum torque-change model, rather than the minimum jerk model, resemble the measured movements in all rising patterns. The upright rising required greater extension torque of the knee and ankle joints at seat-off. The leaning-forward rising required greater extension hip torque than the natural and upright rising conditions. Natural rising movement might be a result of dynamic optimization.
Adolescents Admitted to In-Patient Treatment with Alcohol Intoxication: Risk and Resilience Factors Associated with Problematic Alcohol Use

Field: Medicine (Health Sciences)

Background and Objectives: Although the number of adolescents admitted to in-patient treatment with alcohol intoxication (AIA) has strongly risen in many countries, knowledge about this patient population with respect to risk and resilience factors is lacking. The objectives of this study were (1) to explore whether the prevalence of substance use and use-related problems in a sample of AIA is elevated compared to adolescents from the general population and (2) to investigate which biopsychosocial factors are associated with prior problematic alcohol use in AIA.
Methods: In a cross-sectional naturalistic study 65 AIA (M and SD age 15.2 ± 1.6 yr) completed questionnaires and were interviewed the morning after admission in two pediatric hospitals in the City of Dresden, Germany. Assessment included substance use, alcohol use disorders, and risk and resilience factors for problematic alcohol use.
Results: Elevated prevalence rates were found for alcohol abuse, alcohol dependence, binge drinking, smoking, and illicit substance use. Exploratory analyses revealed that deviant peer affiliations, a positive family history of alcoholism, an elevated alcohol tolerance, and a parenting style characterized by less supervision and strictness were associated with problematic alcohol use.
Conclusions: The investigated risk and resilience factors for problematic alcohol use should be included in the clinical decision regarding psychosocial interventions following hospitalization.
Sevoflurane enhances neuromuscular blockade by increasing the sensitivity of skeletal muscle to neuromuscular blockers.

Field: Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics (Life Sciences)

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of sevoflurane on skeletal muscle contractility. In the first part, twenty-two American Society of Anesthesiology (ASA I-II) female adult patients undergoing elective hysterectomy surgery inhaled sevoflurane 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 minimum alveolar concentrations (MAC) in succession. Neuromuscular function was assessed at each dose. In the second part, forty-four ASA I-II female adult patients were randomized into four groups: group 1 (propofol + atracurium, sevoflurane 0 MAC), and groups 2 to 4 (atracurium + sevoflurane 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 MAC, respectively). In group 1, patients were anesthetized by propofol. Then 0.01 mg/kg atracurium was injected into the tested arm intravenously after the arterial blood flow was blocked using a tourniquet. For the other 3 groups, patients inhaled 1.0 MAC, 1.5 MAC, or 2.0 MAC of sevoflurane. Then 0.01 mg/kg atracurium was injected. Neuromuscular function was recorded for the 4 groups. Neuromuscular function was assessed by acceleromyography measurement of evoked responses to train-of four (TOF) stimuli (2 Hz for 2 s applied every 12 s) at the adductor pollicis using a TOF-Guard(TM) neuromuscular transmission monitor. Amplitudes of first response (T1) in each TOF sequence and the ratios of fourth TOF response (T4) to the first were similar at 1.0 MAC, 1.5 MAC, and 2.0 MAC sevoflurane. Compared to baseline, there was no significant change in the TOF value after inhaling 1.0 MAC, 1.5 MAC, or 2.0 MAC sevoflurane. Compared to group 1, there was no significant difference in atracurium onset time (time to reach TOF ratio = 0.25) in group 2 ( 5.6 ± 1.8 min vs. 6.5 ± 1.7 min, P>0.05), or degree of adductor pollicis block (subject number with TOF ratio = 0, 5 vs. 2 subjects, p = 0.3). However, inhaling 1.5 or 2.0 MAC sevoflurane decreased atracurium onset time (4.6 ± 1.5 min and 4.0 ± 1.3 min vs. 6.5 ± 1.7 min, P<0.01 and P<0.001, respectively), and enhanced the block degree (9 and 10 vs. 2 subjects, P<0.001) compared with group 1. Sevoflurane has no direct effects on the adductor pollicis contractility, but increased the skeletal muscle sensitivity to atracurium.
Pathogenic germline variants in patients with early-onset colorectal cancer according to phenotype.

Field: Medicine (Health Sciences)

Abstract

We assessed retrospectively the prevalence of pathogenic germline variants (PGVs) in 271 French adult patients diagnosed with colorectal cancer (CRC) before age 41, stratified by phenotype. APC, BMPR1A, CDH1, EPCAM, MLH1, MSH2, MSH3, MSH6, MUTYH, POLE, POLD1, PTEN, PMS2, SMAD4, and STK11were analysed. Overall, 21.4% of cases carried a PGV. A high prevalence was observed in Mismatch Repair-deficient (MMRd) CRC (59.7%, MMR genes) and CRC associated with polyposis (48%, APC, biallelic MUTYH and MSH3, POLE). In contrast, MMR-proficient, non-polyposis cases only had a 1.7% prevalence. The only gene involved in this third group was POLE, and two out of three cases had either two synchronous CRC or a CRC family history. PGV prevalence is dependent on CRC phenotype, questioning the need for systematic germline testing in early-onset cases. A more targeted approach, focusing on MMRd CRC, or CRC associated with polyposis, might be warranted.
THE INCOME SITUATION IN AGRICULTURE AFTER POLAND ENTERED THE EUROPEAN UNION

Field: Economics, Econometrics and Finance (Social Sciences)

The main purpose of the article was to assess Poland’s income situation in agriculture after the country acceded to the European Union. The analysis included, among others, changes in agricultural income per full-time employee and a comparison of household income of farmers and other professional groups. The sources of the materials were data from the Eurostat and CSO databases. The research period covered the years 2005–2018. The real income of the agricultural population in the analyzed period showed an upward trend but was still lower not only than the national average, but also the income of households of employees. Financial resources transferred from direct payments and structural funds under the Common Agricultural Policy had a significant impact on the improvement of the income situation of farmers.