Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Postoperative Analgesic Effects of Continuous Wound Infiltration with Diclofenac after Elective Cesarean Delivery

Background:Postoperative pain mostly results from sensitization of afferent fibers at injury sites driving central sensitization. Recently, peripheral processes have gained attention as mechanisms of hyperalgesia, and prostaglandins are among highly sensitizing agents. To date, perioperative administration of a single local dose of nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs has shown inconclusive efficacy. Rather than a single bolus, the current study evaluates the postoperative analgesic effect of diclofenac continuous intrawound infusion after elective cesarean delivery. Methods:Ninety-two parturients were randomly allocated to receive a 48-h continuous intrawound infusion with 240 ml containing 300 mg diclofenac, 0.2% ropivacaine, or saline. In the ropivacaine and saline groups, patients also received 75 mg intravenous diclofenac every 12 h for 48 h. Postoperative evaluation included intravenous morphine consumption by patient-controlled analgesia and visual analog pain scores. Punctate mechanical hyperalgesia surrounding the wound and presence of residual pain after 1 and 6 months were also assessed. Results:Continuous diclofenac infusion significantly reduced postoperative morphine consumption (18 mg; 95% confidence interval, 12.7–22.2) in comparison with saline infusion and systemic diclofenac (38 mg; 95% confidence interval, 28.8–43.7) (P = 0.0009) without unique adverse effects. Postoperative analgesia produced by local diclofenac infusion was as effective as local ropivacaine infusion with systemic diclofenac. Conclusions:After elective cesarean delivery, continuous intrawound infusion of diclofenac demonstrates a greater opioid-sparing effect and better postoperative analgesia than the same dose administered as an intermittent intravenous bolus.
Electronic commerce adoption by SMEs in Singapore

The study surveys the receptivity of Singaporean small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to the adoption of electronic commerce. Utilising a portion of E.M. Rogers' (1995) model of innovation diffusion as the framework and treating electronic commerce (EC) as a form of new innovation, we analyse factors affecting EC diffusion. A multiple regression analysis is carried out, with the five attributes of innovation highlighted by Rogers, to determine the attributes that affect the willingness to adopt. Of the five factors affecting adoption of electronic commerce by SMEs, only relative advantage, compatibility and trialability appear significant, with the overall regression explaining around 36 per cent of willingness to adopt.
Stretch of Contracting Cardiac Muscle Abruptly Decreases the Rate of Phosphate Release at High and Low Calcium

Background: Phosphate is released by the cardiac actomyosin ATPase during contraction. Results: Stretching active cardiac muscle decreases phosphate release within milliseconds. Conclusion: Mechanical stimuli such as stretch cause an immediate change in actomyosin ATPase kinetics. Significance: Stretch facilitates a powerful contraction by increasing cross-bridges in a pre-power stroke state, and changes cytoplasmic phosphate flux, which may influence energetic homeostasis. The contractile performance of the heart is linked to the energy that is available to it. Yet, the heart needs to respond quickly to changing demands. During diastole, the heart fills with blood and the heart chambers expand. Upon activation, contraction of cardiac muscle expels blood into the circulation. Early in systole, parts of the left ventricle are being stretched by incoming blood, before contraction causes shrinking of the ventricle. We explore here the effect of stretch of contracting permeabilized cardiac trabeculae of the rat on the rate of inorganic phosphate (Pi) release resulting from ATP hydrolysis, using a fluorescent sensor for Pi with millisecond time resolution. Stretch immediately reduces the rate of Pi release, an effect observed both at full calcium activation (32 μmol/liter of Ca2+), and at a physiological activation level of 1 μmol/liter of Ca2+. The results suggest that stretch redistributes the actomyosin cross-bridges toward their Pi-containing state. The redistribution means that a greater fraction of cross-bridges will be poised to rapidly produce a force-generating transition and movement, compared with cross-bridges that have not been subjected to stretch. At the same time stretch modifies the Pi balance in the cytoplasm, which may act as a cytoplasmic signal for energy turnover.
Characteristics of Rat Aortic Baroreceptors with Nonmedullated Afferent Nerve Fibers

Nervous activity was recorded from nonmedullated afferent baroreceptor fibers in the left aortic nerve of normotensive rats. The aortic arch was perfused in vitro with oxygenated Krebs-Henseleit solution. Two different patterns of aortic C fiber discharge were found. One type (5 of 29 fibers) had a regular discharge at constant pressure whereas the other type had an irregular discharge. The differences between the two types were independent of the mean steady state rates of discharge. The average threshold pressure for the receptors with the regular discharge was 87 mm Hg (range, 65–125); it was 152 mm Hg (range, 85–260) for the irregularly discharging receptors. During a pressure step the receptors in either group normally showed an initial high frequency burst of activity and a sustained discharge which had a lower frequency. Furthermore, the peak discharge and the sustained discharge were lower on the average in the receptors with the irregular type of firing. We also found that addition of norepinephrine to the perfusate lowered threshold. Since unmyelinated axons are the predominant fiber type in the rat aortic nerve and since some receptors are activated at physiological pressures they may contribute to the tonic control of blood pressure. Their effects should be particularly important when the blood pressure is increased.
Carcinogenic action of low‐dose cyclophosphamide given orally to sprague‐dawley rats in a lifetime experiment

In a lifelong experiment Sprague‐Dawley rats received cyclophosphamide (CP) in drinking water. Daily doses of 2.5 (I), 1.25 (II), 0.63 (III), and 0.31 (IV) mg/kg body weight were given to groups of 40 male and 40 female rats five times a week. The median survival time (MST) of treated rats proved to be dose‐dependent. In rats treated with dose I the MST was 638 days for males and 642 for females, in those given dose IV it was 906 days for males and 934 days for females. The percentage of control animals with malignant tumors was 11% for males and 15% for females. The corresponding figures for CP‐treated animals ranged from 32 to 43% for male rats and from 30 to 35% for females. At doses I, II, and III CP proved to be carcinogenic (p vs control <0.05). No carcinomas of the urinary bladder were found in controls but one female showed a benign papilloma of the bladder. However, 17 CP‐treated rats died with carcinomas of the urinary bladder and, remarkably, only one of these was a female. In addition, 18 male and 10 female animals showed benign tumors of the same organotropy. No leukemia was diagnosed in controls, but in CP‐treated rats leukemia was found in 8 male and 11 female animals. These findings support the evidence emerging from case reports in humans showing an increased risk of cancer of the urinary bladder as well as of leukemia in patients treated with CP.
Large-scale socio-demographic pattern discovery on microblog metadata

Microblogging services, such as Twitter, generate huge volumes of data reflecting the current zeitgeist. As such they are of enormous potential value to studies ranging from data mining to social anthropology. To realize the potential, this study investigates improvements of algorithms specifically tailored for the discovery of latent socio-demographic patterns in Twitter metadata. These newly improved hybrid algorithms improve on existing ones in terms of speed and scalability (from thousands of records to millions). Testing on a real-world Twitter data set (~7.4 million messages) reveals emergent patterns in global day-to-day Twitter activity. The results demonstrate novel insight when applied to real-world Twitter data, practical large-scale applications of the methods, and suggest potential areas of future research.
INVESTIGATION OF THE RAPID CHLORIDE PERMEABILITY TEST

High-quality impermeable concrete as cover of reinforcing steel is one of the best methods of preventing chlorides from initiating corrosion. American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) T 277 and American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) C 1202-91 Rapid Chloride Permeability Test were developed because of a need to rapidly measure permeability of concrete to chloride ions. Some criticisms have been made, mainly concerning the fact that conditions under which measurements are made may cause changes to the specimens. This work was designed to observe how changes in the testing procedure affect results. Factors such as temperature, AC impedance, initial DC current, charge passed, and chloride ion profiles were monitored during polarization of four different concretes. It was found that simple measurement of initial current or resistivity gave the same ranking as conventional tests for the four concretes and can replace the rapid chloride test with a considerable time saving.
Youth Drinking in the United States: Relationships With Alcohol Policies and Adult Drinking

BACKGROUND: The relationship between the alcohol policy environment (ie, the combined effectiveness and implementation of multiple existing alcohol policies) and youth drinking in the United States has not been assessed. We hypothesized that stronger alcohol policy environments are inversely associated with youth drinking, and this relationship is partly explained by adult drinking. METHODS: Alcohol Policy Scale (APS) scores that characterized the strength of the state-level alcohol policy environments were assessed with repeated cross-sectional Youth Risk Behavior Survey data of representative samples of high school students in grades 9 to 12, from biennial years between 1999 and 2011. RESULTS: In fully adjusted models, a 10 percentage point increase in APS scores (representing stronger policy environments) was associated with an 8% reduction in the odds of youth drinking and a 7% reduction in the odds of youth binge drinking. After we accounted for youth-oriented alcohol policies, the subgroup of population-oriented policies was independently associated with lower odds of youth drinking (adjusted odds ratio 0.94; 95% confidence interval 0.92–0.97) and youth binge drinking (adjusted odds ratio 0.96; 95% confidence interval 0.94–0.99). State-level per capita consumption mediated the relationship between population-oriented alcohol policies and binge drinking among youth. CONCLUSIONS: Stronger alcohol policies, including those that do not target youth specifically, are related to a reduced likelihood of youth alcohol consumption. These findings suggest that efforts to reduce youth drinking should incorporate population-based policies to reduce excessive drinking among adults as part of a comprehensive approach to preventing alcohol-related harms. Future research should examine influence of alcohol policy subgroups and discrete policies.
Serum insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-I and IGF-binding protein-3 concentrations and prostate cancer risk: results from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition.

BACKGROUND Some studies suggest that elevated serum insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-I concentrations are associated with an increased risk of prostate cancer and, in particular, with an increased risk of advanced-stage prostate cancer. METHODS We analyzed the association between prediagnostic serum concentrations of IGF-I and IGF-binding protein-3 (IGFBP-3) and prostate cancer risk in a case-control study nested in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition. This study includes 630 incident prostate cancer cases and 630 matched control subjects. Odds ratios and their 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) were calculated for prostate cancer risk associated with increasing IGF-I and IGFBP-3 concentrations using conditional logistic regression. RESULTS The risk of total prostate cancer in the highest versus the lowest third of serum peptide concentration was 1.35 (95% CI, 0.99-1.82; Ptrend = 0.08) for IGF-I, 1.39 (95% CI, 1.02-1.89; Ptrend = 0.12) for the IGF-I residuals after adjusting for IGFBP-3, 1.22 (95% CI, 0.92-1.64; Ptrend = 0.38) for IGFBP-3, and 1.01 (95% CI, 0.74-1.37; Ptrend = 0.75) for the IGFBP-3 residuals after adjusting for IGF-I. There was no significant difference in the association of peptide hormones and prostate cancer by stage of disease, although the association of serum IGF-I concentration with risk was slightly stronger for advanced-stage disease; the odds ratio for the highest versus the lowest third was 1.65 (95% CI, 0.88-3.08; Ptrend = 0.21) for IGF-I and 1.76 (95% CI, 0.92-3.40; Ptrend = 0.11) for IGF-I adjusted for IGFBP-3. CONCLUSIONS In this large nested case-control study, serum IGF-I concentration is not strongly associated with prostate cancer risk, although the results are compatible with a small increase in risk, particularly for advanced-stage disease; no association for IGFBP-3 was observed.
Gestational diabetes and the risk of offspring obesity.

BACKGROUND Intrauterine exposure to the metabolic alterations of maternal diabetes may increase the risk of later obesity. We determined whether offspring of mothers with diet-treated, gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) have an increased risk of childhood obesity and examined the relationship between childhood obesity and metabolic markers of GDM. METHODS At a health maintenance organization in Seattle, WA, we reviewed medical records to obtain the life-time height and weight measurements of 524, 8- to 10-year-old children whose mothers had been screened for GDM. Maternal plasma glucose and triglyceride levels were obtained in midgestation 1 hour after ingestion of 50 g of glucose. Those with glucose screening levels >/=7.77 mmol/L (140 mg/dL) underwent a 3-hour, 100-g, oral glucose tolerance test to determine GDM status. Cord serum insulin levels also were obtained at birth. Obesity was defined as an average body mass index between 5 and 10 years of age at or above the 85th percentile for age and sex. RESULTS The prevalence of obesity was 19% in the 58 offspring of mothers with diet-treated GDM and 24% in the 257 offspring of mothers with negative glucose screen values. There also was no difference in mean body mass index (adjusted for age and sex) between these two groups of offspring. Among all 524 offspring, there was no significant increase in the rate of offspring obesity according to the quartile of maternal screening glucose, triglyceride, oral glucose tolerance test, or cord serum insulin level. CONCLUSION Prenatal exposure to the metabolic effects of mild, diet-treated GDM does not increase the risk of childhood obesity.
Improving the quality of UML models in practice

The importance of UML models in software engineering is increasing. Inherent to the UML is its lack of a formal semantics, its risk for inconsistency and completeness defects and the absence of modeling norms. These properties are sources for poor model quality and defects. To find out to which extent defects occur and what types of defects occur in practice we empirically investigate the state-of-the-practice of quality in UML models using a practitioners survey and a series of industrial case studies. Additionally we analyze the effects of defects in UML models experimentally. Based on this experiment we present an objective classification of UML defects which allows for prioritizing defects and thus allocate resources for defect removal. We aim at building a rule-set, metrics and visualization techniques to improve the quality of UML models during development. We propose a quality model that is specific for UML models. Finally, we propose modeling conventions, similar to coding conventions, to prevent for defects and to assure uniformity of modeling within an organization. We aim at empirically validating our techniques to provide pragmatic technology that can be transferred to industrial practice.
Intracellular digestion of reovirus particles requires a low pH and is an essential step in the viral infectious cycle

Lysosomotropic drugs such as NH4Cl have been useful for studying the role of low pH in early events in virus infection. NH4Cl blocks the production of infectious progeny virus in mammalian reovirus-infected cells. The inhibitory effect of NH4Cl is mediated by an inhibition of intracellular digestion of reovirus outer capsid proteins. In vitro digestion of viral outer capsid proteins produces infectious partially uncoated particles, called intermediate subviral particles, which are no longer inhibited by the presence of NH4Cl. These results indicate that proteolytic processing of reovirus outer capsid proteins takes place in a low pH compartment of the cell and is an essential step in the viral infectious cycle.
User-defined gestural interaction: A study on gesture memorization

In this paper we study the memorization of user created gestures for 3DUI. Wide public applications mostly use standardized gestures for interactions with simple contents. This work is motivated by two application cases for which a standardized approach is not possible and thus user specific or dedicated interfaces are needed. The first one is applications for people with limited sensory-motor abilities for whom generic interaction methods may not be adapted. The second one is creative arts applications, for which gesture freedom is part of the creative process. In this work, users are asked to create gestures for a set of tasks, in a specific phase, prior to using the system. We propose a user study to explore the question of gesture memorization. Gestures are recorded and recognized with a Hidden Markov Model. Results show that it seems difficult to recall more than two abstract gestures. Affordances strongly improve memorization whereas the use of colocalization has no significant effect.
Anti-Cancer Effect of HIV-1 Viral Protein R on Doxorubicin Resistant Neuroblastoma

Several unique biological features of HIV-1 Vpr make it a potentially powerful agent for anti-cancer therapy. First, Vpr inhibits cell proliferation by induction of cell cycle G2 arrest. Second, it induces apoptosis through multiple mechanisms, which could be significant as it may be able to overcome apoptotic resistance exhibited by many cancerous cells, and, finally, Vpr selectively kills fast growing cells in a p53-independent manner. To demonstrate the potential utility of Vpr as an anti-cancer agent, we carried out proof-of-concept studies in vitro and in vivo. Results of our preliminary studies demonstrated that Vpr induces cell cycle G2 arrest and apoptosis in a variety of cancer types. Moreover, the same Vpr effects could also be detected in some cancer cells that are resistant to anti-cancer drugs such as doxorubicin (DOX). To further illustrate the potential value of Vpr in tumor growth inhibition, we adopted a DOX-resistant neuroblastoma model by injecting SK-N-SH cells into C57BL/6N and C57BL/6J-scid/scid mice. We hypothesized that Vpr is able to block cell proliferation and induce apoptosis regardless of the drug resistance status of the tumors. Indeed, production of Vpr via adenoviral delivery to neuroblastoma cells caused G2 arrest and apoptosis in both drug naïve and DOX-resistant cells. In addition, pre-infection or intratumoral injection of vpr-expressing adenoviral particles into neuroblastoma tumors in SCID mice markedly inhibited tumor growth. Therefore, Vpr could possibly be used as a supplemental viral therapeutic agent for selective inhibition of tumor growth in anti-cancer therapy especially when other therapies stop working.
Towards a Tangible Storytelling Kit for Exploring Emotions with Children

A key aspect of children»s development is the ability to manage personal feelings, understand others» feelings and needs, and interact positively with others. Storytelling is one approach to help children develop emotional literacy and deal with their own feelings constructively. To facilitate and complement this process, we developed an interactive storytelling prototype to help children and parents explore emotional situations. Specifically, the tangible modular toolkit, enables the re-creation of different narratives using a multi-modal user interface. We evaluated the preliminary prototype with parents and children to get feedback on the design and to help us better understand the design space. Our findings revealed how children engaged with tangible storytelling, how they explored emotional states in narratives, and what challenges they faced. We also explored the routines and practices parents used and the issues they faced while helping their children express emotions more easily.
The effects of gender on adolescent suicide in ontario, Canada.

OBJECTIVE Identify patterns of suicide amongst male and female adolescents aged 11-18 years in Ontario. METHOD All 370 adolescent suicides in Ontario between January 2000 and November 2006 were analyzed. Previous attempts, history of psychiatric treatment, location committed and method of suicide were assessed. Data was analyzed using 2-tailed t-tests and chi-square without Yates' correction. RESULTS Male adolescent suicide was twice as common as female suicide. Males were more likely to use violent methods (p=0.0352) and females were more likely to have a history of a previous suicide attempt (p=0.0001). CONCLUSIONS While most of the data agree with previous studies in adult populations, the ratio of male to female suicides was much lower in our adolescent population.
A New Perspective on Neonatal Smiling: Differences Between the Judgments of Expert Coders and Naive Observers

To better understand the form and recognizability of neonatal smiling, 32 newborns (14 girls; M = 25.6 hr) were videorecorded in the behavioral states of alertness, drowsiness, active sleep, and quiet sleep. Baby Facial Action Coding System coding of both lip corner raising (simple or non-Duchenne) and lip corner raising with cheek raising (Duchenne smile) was followed by a smile recognition task using 48 naive observers. Both types of smiles were detected in all behavioral states. Lip corner raising with cheek raising (Duchenne smiling) tended to predominate in active (rapid eye movement) sleep, suggesting a potential tie to early constituents of emotion. A significant portion of the typically briefer lip corner raising distinguished by expert coders was not recognized as smiling by the naive observers. These briefer actions may represent a motor phenomenon idiosyncratic to the neonatal period.
How doctors think

AUTHOR Jerome Groopman PUBLISHER Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 222 Berkeley St, Boston, MA 02116, USA TELEPHONE 617 351-5000 WEBSITE [www.hmco. com][1] PUBLISHED 2008/336 pp/$21.95 OVERALL RATING Very good STRENGTHS Addresses an important but often overlooked topic WEAKNESSES Does not quantify the