LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
Epoetin-alpha: preserving kidney function via attenuation of polymorphonuclear leukocyte priming.

BACKGROUND
Polymorphonuclear leukocyte priming and low grade inflammation are related to severity of kidney disease. Erythropoietin-receptor is present on PMNLs. OBJECTIVESxi: To evaluate the effect of 20 weeks of epoetin-alpha treatment on PMNL characteristics in relation to the rate of kidney function deterioration in patients with chronic kidney disease.


METHODS
Forty anemic chronic kidney disease patients, stage 4-5, were assigned to EPO and non-EPO treatment for 20 weeks. A group of 20 healthy controls was also studied. PMNL priming and PMNL-derived low grade inflammation were estimated, in vivo and ex vivo, before and after EPO treatment: The rate of superoxide release, white blood cells and PMNL counts, serum alkaline phosphatase and PMNL viability were measured. EPO-receptor on PMNLs was assayed by flow cytometry. The effect of 20 weeks of EPO treatment on kidney function was related to the estimated glomerular filtration rate. esults: EPO treatment attenuated superoxide release ex vivo and in vivo and promoted PMNL survival ex vivo. Decreased low grade inflammation was reflected by reduced WBC and PMNL counts and ALP activity following treatment. EPO retarded the deterioration in GFR. The percent of PMNLs expressing EPO-R was higher before EPO treatment and correlated positively with the rate of superoxide release. After 20 weeks of EPO treatment the percent of PMNLs expressing EPO-R was down-regulated.


CONCLUSIONS
These non-erythropoietic properties of EPO are mediated by EPO-R on PMNLs, not related to the anemia correction. A new renal protection effect of EPO via attenuation of PMNL priming that decreases systemic low grade inflammation and oxidative stress is suggested.
Drug-Induced Hepatotoxicity: A Review

Liver is the principle organ for maintaining the body’s internal environment. There is currently no way to reimburse for the absence of liver function. Its major influence is on the flow of nutrients and controls the metabolism of carbohydrate, protein and fats. Drugs are an important cause of liver injury. More than 900 drugs, toxins, and herbs have been reported to cause liver injury. Approximately 75% of the idiosyncratic drug reactions result in liver transplantation or death. Various types of drug induced liver diseases are acute-dose dependent liver damage, acute fatty infiltration, cholestatic jaundice, liver granulomas, active chronic hepatitis, liver cirrhosis, liver tumors etc. In the United States, approximately 2000 cases of acute liver failure occur annually and drugs account for over 50% of them (37% are due to acetaminophen, 13% are idiosyncratic reactions due to other medications). Drugs account for 25% of cases of patients hospitalized with jaundice and approximately 10% of all cases of acute hepatitis. Chronic liver disease and cirrhosis account for some 2% of mean in 17 countries with nearly 40,000 deaths per year. Considering the importance of drug-induced hepatotoxicity as a major cause of liver damage, this review throws light on various drugs which induce hepatotoxicity, with their mechanism of liver damage and clinical scenario.
Sport as Cultural Assimilation: Representations of American Indian Athletes in the Carlisle School Newspaper

Abstract The article analyzes archival Carlisle school newspapers to demonstrate how the institution used news representations of athletics and recreation to foster assimilationist aims. The article argues that athletics and recreation were imbued with different meanings for the various constituencies, all of whom used athletics and recreation to construct identities, express emotions, and struggle over the politics of assimilation. The conjuncture of Carlisle's athletic programs and the growth of sports coverage resulted in representations of Indian athletes within the context of a racial ideology that portrayed the Indian as both a noble and primitive savage whose instinctive abilities and cunning allowed him to compete against whites despite a lack of scientific training. In the process, a modern bicultural athletic world came into being, but it was not destined to last. The very cultural system that had supported Indian athletes in the early twentieth century was transformed in ways that rendered Indi...
Characterization and Antibacterial Activity of Synthesized Silver and IronNanoparticles using Aloe vera

The main aim of this study was to evaluate the comparative antibacterial potential of silver and Iron nanoparticles synthesized from aqueous plant extracts of Aloe vera. The synthesized nanoparticles were characterzed by UV-VIS spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infra-Red spectroscopy and Transmission Electron Microscopy. The antibacterial activity of synthesized silver and iron nanoparticles was compared by agar well diffussion method and minimum inhibitory concentration was also calculated. The zone of inhibition varied in range of 9 to 18 mm for silver nanoparticales and 10 to17 mm for iron nanoparticles. The maximum zone of inhibition for silver nanoparticles was 18 mm against Proteus mirabilis. The maximum zone of inhibition for iron nanoparticles was 17 mm against Klebsiella pneumonia. MICs of silver nanoparticles were found to be in a range from 195 to 780 μg/ml and that of iron was 390 to 1560 μg/ml against tested microbes. The synthesized silver nanoparticles of aqueous Aloe vera extracts have shown good antibacterial efficacy as compared to iron nanoparticles and may prove to be better antibacterial agent against wide range of microbes. *Corresponding author: Yadav JP, Department of Genetics, M. D. University, Rohtak-124001, Haryana, India, Tel: +91-9416474640; E-mail: yadav1964@rediffmail.com Received May 19, 2016; Accepted June 14, 2016; Published June 21, 2016 Citation: Yadav JP, Kumar S, Budhwar L, Yadav A, Yadav M (2016) Characterization and Antibacterial Activity of Synthesized Silver and Iron Nanoparticles using Aloe vera. J Nanomed Nanotechnol 7: 384. doi:10.4172/2157-7439.1000384 Copyright: © 2016 Yadav JP, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
A prepaid architecture for solar electricity delivery in rural areas

This paper demonstrates a model for electricity delivery and revenue collection in a rural context with the potential to increase the reliability of service delivery and lower operating costs compared to traditional fixed monthly fee utilities. The microutility in this paper provides power on a pre-paid basis similar to the way cellular phone air-time is sold. This system uses Short Message Service (SMS) messages sent over the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) networks for communication allowing installation in any place within reach of a GSM tower. Several of these individual microutilities are monitored and administered via a central server. These consumers in these systems are using modest amounts of power consistent with lighting usage. Some customers are are unable to maintain positive account credit suggesting a benefit to the prepaid approach. These microutilities are currently installed and have been providing power to approximately 170 households in Mali and 38 households in Uganda beginning in April--August of 2011.
The effect of weight bearing on bone mineral density and bone growth in children with cerebral palsy

BACKGROUND
The present study aims to explore the effect of weight bearing exercise on bone mineral density (BMD) and bone growth in children with cerebral palsy (CP).


METHODS
Twelve children with CP of functional level of gross motor functional classification scale (GMFCS) V and 6 healthy children (control group) were included in the study. Participants underwent a dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry scan to measure the BMD of the femur and full-length anteroposterior radiography to measure the bone length of the femur and tibia at baseline and after 6 months. Patients were randomly divided into 2 groups: group A with programmed standing exercises and assisted standing for more than 2 hours a day, more than 5 days a week; and group B with conventional physiotherapy with a standing program for 20 minutes a day, 2 to 3 days a week.


RESULTS
A 6-month follow-up showed significantly increased BMD on the femur neck in the control group. Although the changes in BMD were not significant in both groups, group A demonstrated an increased trend of BMD, whereas group B showed a decreased trend. Bone length was significantly increased in all 3 groups at the 6-month follow-up. Although this increase was not significant, the change in bone length was greatest in the control group. The smallest changes were observed in group B.


CONCLUSIONS
Weight bearing exercise may play an important role in increasing or maintaining BMD in children with CP and is also expected to promote bone growth. Programmed standing may be used as an effective treatment method to increase BMD in children with CP. However, further studies with a larger cohort and longer follow-up period are required to reveal further information on the benefit of weight bearing exercise and to develop a detailed program.
Effect of large doses of parenteral vitamin D on glycaemic control and calcium/phosphate metabolism in patients with stable type 2 diabetes mellitus: a randomised, placebo-controlled, prospective pilot study.

OBJECTIVE
Vitamin D (D₃) status is reported to correlate negatively with insulin production and insulin sensitivity in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). However, few placebo-controlled intervention data are available. We aimed to assess the effect of large doses of parenteral D3 on glycosylated haemoglobin (HbA(₁c)) and estimates of insulin action (homeostasis model assessment insulin resistance: HOMA-IR) in patients with stable T2DM.


MATERIALS AND METHODS
We performed a prospective, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled pilot study at a single university care setting in Switzerland. Fifty-five patients of both genders with T2DM of more than 10 years were enrolled and randomised to either 300,000 IU D₃ or placebo, intramuscularly. The primary endpoint was the intergroup difference in HbA(₁c) levels. Secondary endpoints were: changes in insulin sensitivity, albuminuria, calcium/phosphate metabolism, activity of the renin-aldosterone axis and changes in 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure values.


RESULTS
After 6 months of D₃ supply, there was a significant intergroup difference in the change in HbA(₁c) levels (relative change [mean ± standard deviation] +2.9% ± 1.5% in the D₃ group vs +6.9% ± 2.1% the in placebo group, p = 0.041) as HOMA-IR decreased by 12.8% ± 5.6% in the D₃ group and increased by 10% ± 5.4% in the placebo group (intergroup difference, p = 0.032). Twenty-four-hour urinary albumin excretion decreased in the D₃ group from 200 ± 41 to 126 ± 39, p = 0.021). There was no significant intergroup difference for the other secondary endpoints.


CONCLUSIONS
D₃ improved insulin sensitivity (based on HOMA-IR) and affected the course of HbA(₁c) positively compared with placebo in patients with T2DM.
A two-stage hybrid credit scoring model using artificial neural networks and multivariate adaptive regression splines

The objective of the proposed study is to explore the performance of credit scoring using a two-stage hybrid modeling procedure with artificial neural networks and multivariate adaptive regression splines (MARS). The rationale under the analyses is firstly to use MARS in building the credit scoring model, the obtained significant variables are then served as the input nodes of the neural networks model. To demonstrate the effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed modeling procedure, credit scoring tasks are performed on one bank housing loan dataset using cross-validation approach. As the results reveal, the proposed hybrid approach outperforms the results using discriminant analysis, logistic regression, artificial neural networks and MARS and hence provides an alternative in handling credit scoring tasks. q 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Facial Biometrics Using Nontensor Product Wavelet and 2D Discriminant Techniques

A new facial biometric scheme is proposed in this paper. Three steps are included. First, a new nontensor product bivariate wavelet is utilized to get different facial frequency components. Then a modified 2D linear discriminant technique (M2DLD) is applied on these frequency components to enhance the discrimination of the facial features. Finally, support vector machine (SVM) is adopted for classification. Compared with the traditional tensor product wavelet, the new nontensor product wavelet can detect more singular facial features in the high-frequency components. Earlier studies show that the high-frequency components are sensitive to facial expression variations and minor occlusions, while the low-frequency component is sensitive to illumination changes. Therefore, there are two advantages of using the new nontensor product wavelet compared with the
Leaky-Wave Radiation Behavior From a Double Periodic Composite Right/Left-Handed Substrate Integrated Waveguide

A double periodic composite right/left-handed ( DP-CRLH ) substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) is proposed based on the transmission line theory. A new leaky-wave radiation is observed at low frequency below the left-handed passband in addition to the composite right/left-handed property. First, the equivalent circuit of the proposed structure is analyzed, and dispersion characteristics are obtained including the expression for the cutoff frequencies. It is noted that transmission lines double periodically loaded with either alternate capacitances, or alternate inductances will contribute the new leaky-wave behavior. Next, SIW implementation of a DP-CRLH transmission line is designed and illustrated with simulated and experimentally demonstrated results. The electric field distribution plots are extracted from a full-wave simulation tool and exhibit the forward and backward wave propagation in the new leaky-wave region and the typical left-handed region, respectively. Finally, a compact leaky-wave antenna based on the DP-CRLH SIW is designed, and the radiation characteristics are tested and demonstrated to exhibit forward radiation at the new leaky-wave region from 5.2 to 5.8 GHz (covering IEEE 802.11a band) and frequency scanning from backward to forward directions in the left-handed and conventional right-handed region from 12.6 to 17.8 GHz.
Surgical treatment of ovarian endometriomas: state of the art?

To define the role of surgery in the treatment of endometriomas, we review the literature available via PubMed and cross-reference the published data. We analyze the arguments in favor of and against surgical treatment of endometriomas and compare surgical techniques. Pain relief and pregnancy rates of more than 50% after surgery are the most important arguments in favor of surgery. Histologic and biologic markers of ovarian reserve show a risk of decreased ovarian reserve that should be taken into consideration, especially in cases of repeated surgery. Considerable surgical expertise is required, and the lack of comparative studies yields no conclusions on the best surgical technique. Despite the risk of decreased ovarian reserve due to the surgical procedure, surgery has an important role in the treatment of ovarian endometriomas, and more studies are required to define the most appropriate surgical technique.
Visual development in infants: physiological and pathological mechanisms.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW
This review summarizes current knowledge on ocular conditions related to abnormal visual development in infants, including prevalence, risk factors, causes, and mechanisms involved. We discuss the role of eyeball growth with pathologic mechanism of visual deprivation and development of amblyopia in infants, particular developmental issues in preterm neonates, methods of visual assessment and screening, diagnosis, treatment, and nutritional issues.


RECENT FINDINGS
Visual development is incomplete at birth, particularly in premature infants; maturation of the visual system--including neurological and ocular components--is influenced by many factors including prenatal and postnatal nutrition and postnatal visual stimulation. In early life, particularly during sensitive periods of development, abnormal visual input, for example caused by visual deprivation mechanism, amblyopia, or ocular misalignment, leads to abnormalities in visual development, including abnormal eyeball growth and neurological changes. Untreated anomalies or abnormal visual development can result in long-term or even permanent visual impairment. Nutrition plays a key role in visual development: infant formulas containing nutrients essential for normal visual development (specifically omega-3 fatty acid docosahexaenoic acid and omega-6 fatty acid arachidonic acid) may protect nonbreast-fed infants against visual development abnormalities.


SUMMARY
Problems related to visual anomalies are common among young children, particularly in preterm neonates. Screening to enable early diagnosis and correction of visual deficiency is important as abnormal visual input can lead to abnormalities in visual development, which can become permanent visual impairment if left untreated. Optimized nutrition can help to reduce the risk of abnormal visual development and prevent long-term or permanent visual deficits.
Meat and heme iron intake and risk of squamous cell carcinoma of the upper aero-digestive tract in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC).

BACKGROUND
Evidence from prospective studies on intake of meat and fish and risk of squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the upper aero-digestive tract (UADT) is scarce. We prospectively investigated the association of meat and fish intake with risk of SCC of the UADT and the possible mechanism via heme iron in the large multicenter European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) study.


METHODS
Multivariable proportional hazards models were used to estimate relative risks (RR) of SCC of the UADT in relation to intake of total meat, as well as subtypes of meat, fish, and heme iron among 348,738 individuals from 7 European countries.


RESULTS
During an average follow-up of 11.8 years, a total of 682 incident cases of UADT SCC were accrued. Intake of processed meat was positively associated with risk of SCC of the UADT in the total cohort [highest vs. lowest quintile: RR = 1.41; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.03-1.94], however, in stratified analyses, this association was confined to the group of current smokers (highest vs. lowest quintile: RR = 1.89; 95% CI = 1.22-2.93). Red meat, poultry, fish, and heme iron were not consistently related to UADT SCC.


CONCLUSION
Higher intake of processed meat was positively associated with SCC of the UADT among smokers. Although this finding was stable in various sensitivity analyses, we cannot rule out residual confounding by smoking. Confirmation in future studies and identification of biologic mechanisms is warranted.


IMPACT
Smokers may further increase their risk for SCC of the UADT if they additionally consume large amounts of processed meat.
The roles of brand community and community engagement in building brand trust on social media

Brand communities and social media often overlap. Social media is an ideal environment for building brand communities. However, there is limited research about the benefits and consequences of brand communities established on social media platforms. This study addresses this issue by developing a model depicting how consumers’ relationship with the elements of a brand community based on social media (i.e. brand, product, company, and other consumers) influence brand trust. The findings include that three of the four relationships positively influence brand trust. However, customer-other customers’ relationships negatively influence brand trust, which is counter intuitive and interesting. The prominent role of engagement in a brand community is also investigated in the model. Community engagement amplifies the strength of the relationships consumers make with the elements of brand community and it has a moderating effect in translating the effects of such relationships on brand trust. Finally, theoretical and managerial implications are discussed. 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Screening for alcohol use in criminal justice settings: an exploratory study.

AIMS
To examine the feasibility and acceptability of alcohol screening and delivery of brief interventions within criminal justice settings.


METHODS
A quantitative survey of those aged 18 or over in English criminal justice settings (three custody suites within police stations, three prisons and three probation offices).


MEASUREMENTS
The Fast Alcohol Screening Test (FAST) and a modified version of the Single Alcohol Screening Question (M-SASQ) were compared with the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) as the 'gold standard'. Participants completed a health status questionnaire (EQ5D), questions on service utilization and the Readiness to Change Questionnaire. Questions relating to the acceptability and feasibility of delivering brief interventions and about perception of coercion were included.


FINDINGS
Five hundred and ninety-two individuals were approached and 251 were eligible. Of these, 205 (82%) consented to take part in the study. The mean AUDIT score was 19.9 (SD 13.5) and 73% scored 8 or more on AUDIT. A higher percentage of those approached in the probation setting consented to take part (81%: prison 36%, police setting 10%). Those scoring AUDIT positive were more likely to be involved in violent offences (36.5 vs 9.4%; P < 0.001) and less likely to be involved in offences involving property (27.7 vs 45.3%; P = 0.03). Three quarters of the sample (74%) reported that they would not feel coerced to engage in an intervention about their alcohol use. FAST and M-SASQ had acceptable screening properties when compared with AUDIT with area under the curves of 0.97 and 0.92, respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
The results confirm that there is a major problem with alcohol use in the criminal justice system and this impacts on health and criminal behaviour. Of the three criminal justice settings, probation was found to be the most suitable for screening. Participants were positive about receiving interventions for their alcohol use in probation settings.
Knowledge Modelling Techniques for Developing Knowledge Management Systems

Knowledge management is fast becoming a commercial necessity for many organizations, in order that they manage their intellectual assets and gain competitive advantage. To maximise that advantage, knowledge management needs to be available across the whole of the enterprise. Before a knowledge management system can be built, the knowledge that pervades the organization must be identified and modelled. This paper reviews four important modelling techniques that are used to develop knowledge management systems.