Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Efficacy and Safety of 3 Nasal Packing Materials Used After Functional Endoscopic Sinus Surgery for Chronic Rhinosinusitis: A Comparative Study in China

Background This study aimed to investigate the efficacy and safety of 3 nasal packing products (silicone tube, Beschitin-F, and Aquacel1-Ag) after functional endoscopic sinus surgery (FESS) for chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) patients in China. Material/Methods Sixty-six CRS patients undergoing FESS surgery were randomly divided into 3 groups (22 patients in each group): the silicone tube group, the Beschitin-F group, and the Aquacel1-Ag group. Postoperative headache, nasal pain, nasal bleeding, and swelling of the nasal mucosa were observed at 1 month after FESS surgery. Bacteriology of chronic rhinosinusitis was conducted by culturing the removed nasal packing. Results The VAS scores of nasal pain in the silicone tube group were lower than in the Beschitin-F and the Aquacel1-Ag groups. The volume of nasal bleeding in the Beschitin-F group was higher than in the silicone tube and Aquacel1-Ag groups. The adhesion rate of the nasal cavity in the Beschitin-F1 group (2/22, 9.1%) was also higher than in the silicone tube group (0/22, 0%) and the Aquacel1-Ag group (0/22, 0%). The results of bacterial culture from removed nasal packing showed that coagulase-negative staphylococci (CNS) was more frequent in the silicone tube group than in the Beschitin-F and Aquacel1-Ag groups, but Streptococcus pneumonia, Haemophilus influenza, and Gram-negative rods were more common in the Aquacel1-Ag group than in the silicone tube and Beschitin-F groups. Conclusions These results indicate that the silicone tube may be more effective and safe than Beschitin-F and Aquacel1-Ag as nasal packing after FES surgery for CRS.
Combining fish-oil supplements with regular aerobic exercise improves body composition and cardiovascular disease risk factors.

BACKGROUND Regular exercise and consuming long-chain n-3 fatty acids (FAs) from fish or fish oil can independently improve cardiovascular and metabolic health, but combining these lifestyle modifications may be more effective than either treatment alone. OBJECTIVE We examined the individual and combined effects of n-3 FA supplements and regular exercise on body composition and cardiovascular health. DESIGN Overweight volunteers [body mass index (BMI; in kg/m(2)): >25] with high blood pressure, cholesterol, or triacylglycerols were randomly assigned to one of the following interventions: fish oil (FO), FO and exercise (FOX), sunflower oil (SO; control), or SO and exercise (SOX). Subjects consumed 6 g tuna FO/d ( approximately 1.9 g n-3 FA) or 6 g SO/d. The exercise groups walked 3 d/wk for 45 min at 75% age-predicted maximal heart rate. Plasma lipids, blood pressure, and arterial function were assessed at 0, 6, and 12 wk. Body composition was assessed by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry at 0 and 12 wk only. RESULTS FO supplementation lowered triacylglycerols, increased HDL cholesterol, and improved endothelium-dependent arterial vasodilation (P<0.05). Exercise improved arterial compliance (P<0.05). Both fish oil and exercise independently reduced body fat (P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS FO supplements and regular exercise both reduce body fat and improve cardiovascular and metabolic health. Increasing intake of n-3 FAs could be a useful adjunct to exercise programs aimed at improving body composition and decreasing cardiovascular disease risk.
Nanostructured Transparent Conducting Oxides for Advanced Photovoltaic Applications

Transparent electrodes are a key component in new photovoltaic devices. With the development of organic and hybrid solar cells, electrical conductivity and optical transparency of transparent electrodes must be accompanied by other functionalities, such as large surface area, effective light management, preferential charge transport directions, mechanical flexibility and compatibility with polymer substrates. This work describes the investigation of the structure/property relation in nanostructured Al-doped ZnO (AZO), with the aim of obtaining multifunctional AZO transparent electrodes by room temperature Pulsed Laser Deposition, with the functional properties mentioned above. By a deep investigation of the structure/property relation in AZO with different morphologies, state-of-the-art compact transparent conducting films and mesoporous forest-like hierarchically assembled layers, optimal for light scattering and trapping, were obtained at room temperature. The properties of interest were combined by two independent approaches, leading to the synthesis of electrically conducting AZO nano-forests and functionally graded architectures, which were tested to demonstrate a significant improvement in light harvesting for of organic photovoltaic applications.
Creep Damage Estimation based on the Softening Behavior of 10Cr-1Mo-1W-VNbN Steel

Synopsis : Microstructural observations were carried out on 10Cr-1Mo-1W-VNbN steels artificially deteriorated by ageing, creep and creep interrupted tests under various conditions. Martensitic lath structure was collapsed during high temperature exposure regardless of stress. The quantitative analysis of lath structure was performed by measuring lath width. The mean lath width increased with time and the increasing trend corresponded to both the creep strain and softening. The theoretical formulation of the softening was designed based on the kinetics of the dislocation structure. The formula gave quantitative correlation among the creep stress, temperature, time and hardness. The creep damage at any given condition was estimated by this formula, and the estimated result was in good agreement with the experimental value of the hardness at any creep time fraction t/tr.
Abnormal loading of the hip and knee joints in unilateral hip osteoarthritis persists two years after total hip replacement

A total hip replacement (THR) is a common and routine procedure to reduce pain and restore normal activity. Gait analysis can provide insights into functional characteristics and dynamic joint loading situation not identifiable by clinical examination or static radiographic measures. The present prospective longitudinal study tested whether 2 years after surgery a THR would restore dynamic loading of the knee and hip joints in the frontal plane to normal. Instrumented gait analysis was performed shortly before surgery and approximately 2 years after THR on 15 unilateral hip osteoarthritis (OA) patients. 15 asymptomatic matched individuals were recruited as healthy controls. Results showed that abnormal joint loading persisted 2 years after THR. The 2nd external knee adduction moment in terminal stance in the affected (−34%, p = 0.002, d = 1.22) and non‐affected limb (−25%, p = 0.035, d = 0.81) was lower compared to controls and thus indicated a shift in the knee joint load distribution from medial to lateral. A correlation analysis revealed that a smaller hip range of motion explained 46% of 2nd knee adduction moment alterations. In contrast, the 2nd external hip adduction moment in terminal stance was postoperatively higher in the affected (+22%, p = 0.007, d = 1.04) and non‐affected limb (+22%, p = 0.005, d = 1.05). Here, 51% of 2nd hip adduction moment alterations can be explained with a greater hip adduction angle. Patients with a THR may therefore be at higher risk for abnormal joint loading and thus for the development of OA in other joints of the lower extremities. © 2018 Orthopaedic Research Society. Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Orthop Res 36:2167–2177, 2018.
Healing efficiency of polystyrene electrospun nanofibers with Grubbs’ catalyst in thermosetting composite

The study presents a novel method for the protection of Grubbs’ catalyst, by incorporation in polystyrene fibres via electrospinning technique. Epoxy-glass fibre composite with embedded self-healing agents (polystyrene fibres with Grubbs’ and microcapsules with dicyclopentadiene) was processed. Fibres retained pale purple colour during processing, revealing that fibres provided good protection of the catalyst from the amine hardener. The influence of self-healing agents’ content and thermal treatment on self-healing efficiency was investigated. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy revealed that a polydicyclopentadiene formed at the healed interface. Thermal analysis revealed that ‘bleed’ at the healing sites from different samples had similar concentration of polydicyclopentadiene, indicating that the same amount of the catalyst has been provided to dicyclopentadiene for polymerization. This finding lead to assumption that electrospun polymer fibres enabled good dispersion of the catalyst in the composites. The low energy impact tests of the samples showed a recovery of 90% after 24 h at room temperature and up to 111% after repeated heating cycles.
Association between Serum 25-hydroxy Vitamin D Concentration and TaqI Vitamin D Receptor Gene Polymorphism among Jordanian Females with Breast Cancer

Background: Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer among females. Genetic polymorphisms might have a role in carcinogenesis. The aim of this study was to determine whether C to T base substitution within TaqI Vitamin D receptor (VDR) gene (rs731236) in exon 9 was a risk factor among patients with breast cancer. Methods: Peripheral blood was drawn from 122 Jordanian breast cancer patients and 100 healthy Jordanian volunteers in Al-Basheer Hospital during the summer months (from June to November of 2013, 2014, and 2015). DNA was amplified using polymerase chain reaction (PCR), followed by TaqI restriction enzyme digestion. Quantification of serum 25-hydroxy Vitamin D (25[OH]D) level was determined by competitive immunoassay Elecsys. Results: Genotypic frequencies for TaqI TT, Tt, and tt genotypes were 41%, 46%, and 13% for breast cancer compared to 42%, 50%, and 8% for control, respectively. Vitamin D serum level was significantly lower in the breast cancer patients (8.1 ± 0.3 ng/ml) compared to the control group (21.2 ± 0.6 ng/ml; P = 0.001). This study showed an inverse association between 25(OH)D serum level and breast cancer risk (odds ratio [OR], 22.72, 95% confidence interval [CI], 10.06–51.29). Conclusions: An inverse association was found between 25(OH)D serum level and breast cancer risk. Statistical difference was also found between different VDR TaqI genotypes and circulating levels of 25(OH)D among Jordanian females with breast cancer.
Chronic rhinosinusitis increases the risk of hemorrhagic and ischemic stroke: A longitudinal follow-up study using a national sample cohort

Background Several studies have reported that chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) increases the risk of stroke. The aim of this study is to elucidate the putative association between CRS and stroke (ischemic or hemorrhagic) using large population-based national health insurance data. Methods Using the national cohort study from the Korean Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service, CRS patients (n = 22,959) and control participants (n = 91,836) were selected and matched at a rate of 1:4 (age, sex, income, region, hypertension, diabetes, and dyslipidemia). A Cox-proportional hazard model was used to analyze the hazard ratio (HR) of CRS for hemorrhagic stroke and ischemic stroke. We divided the participants according to age and gender for the subgroup analysis. Results The HR for hemorrhagic and ischemic stroke was significantly increased in the CRS patients compared to that in the controls (adjusted HR = 2.43, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 2.10–2.80 for hemorrhagic stroke; adjusted HR = 1.76, 95% CI = 1.61–1.92 for ischemic stroke) after adjusting for age, sex, income, region of residence, hypertension, diabetes, dyslipidemia, ischemic heart disease, migraine, chronic kidney disease, depression, sleep disorder, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder. In the subgroup analysis, the HR of hemorrhagic stroke was significantly increased in the CRS group regardless of age and gender. The HR of ischemic stroke was also significantly increased in all subgroups of the CRS group. Conclusion CRS consistently increased the risk of ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke regardless of age and gender.
Predicting advertising effectiveness by facial expressions in response to amusing persuasive stimuli.

We present a psychophysiological study of facial expressions of happiness (FEH) produced by advertisements using the FaceReader system (Noldus, 2013) for automatic analysis of facial expressions of basic emotions (FEBE; Ekman, 1972). FaceReader scores were associated with self-reports of the advertisement’s effectiveness. Building on work describing the role of emotions in marketing research, we examined the relationship between the patterns of the FEBE and the perceived amusement of the advertisements, attitude toward the advertisement (AAD) and attitude toward the brand (AB). Differences were observed between FEH scores in response to high-, medium-, and low-amusing video advertisements (AVAs). Positive correlations were found between FEH and AAD and FEH and AB in high- and medium- but not in low-AVAs. As hypothesized, other basic emotions (sadness, anger, surprise, fear, and disgust) did not predict advertisement amusement or advertisements’ effectiveness. FaceReader enabled a detailed analysis of more than 120,000 frames of video-recordings contributing to an identification of global patterns of facial reactions to amusing persuasive stimuli. For amusing commercials, context-specific FEH features were found to be the major indicators of advertisement effectiveness. The study used video-recordings of participants in their natural environments obtained through a crowd-sourcing platform. The naturalistic design of the study strengthened its ecological validity and demonstrated the robustness of the software algorithms even under austere conditions. Our findings provide first evidence for the applicability of FaceReader methodology in the basic consumer science research.
Advances in stent drug delivery: the future is in bioabsorbable stents

This expert opinion review offers a perspective on the future developments in drug-eluting stent design. Initial efforts were focused on reduction of in-stent restenosis, which the drug-eluting stents addressed effectively. Current concerns are predominantly with regard to risk of stent thrombosis and delayed endothelialization. All three components of the stent have been modified to achieve the goal of endothelialization and vessel healing: drug, polymer and the platform. We review different approaches to reduce this risk from design of different drug combinations, through less traumatic metallic stent platforms, via biodegradable polymers and, finally, fully biodegradable stents. It seems at this time that fully biodegradable solutions to stenting hold the greatest promise, but larger long-term studies are needed to evaluate fully their safety and efficacy in ‘all-comer’ patient populations. At the time of this review, design of a safe drug-eluting stent still remains a challenge.
PHARMACEUTICAL STUDY ON EXTENDED RELEASE LYOPHILIZED MILK TREATED IBUPROFEN BEADS

The aim of this work is to produce a fast dissolving ibuprofen (IBU) by applying lyophilized milk (LM) as a natural solubilizing agent. Then the lyophilized milk treated ibuprofen (LMTIBU) beads were formulated using Chitosan as a cationic polymer aiming to extend the drug release, eliminate drug irritation to gastrointestinal tract and ensure drug plasma concentration for a longer time. Beads were prepared using Chitosan drug carrier using the inotropic gelation process. The sodium pyrophosphate (SPP) concentration and drug: Polymer ratios were found to influence the drug loading efficiency. Results from infrared spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimetry revealed the absence of interaction between the drug and lyophilized milk. Sodium Pyrophosphate concentration and the drug to polymer ratio were found to influence the time required for 90% of the drug to be released. Lyophilized milk increased to great extent the solubility and homogeneity of Drug distribution throughout the Chitosan matrix. Chitosan polymer prolonged the drug release for a longer time.F2 showed an ideal drug release extended for a longer period of time (T90%= 12 hrs).
SceneTextReg: A Real-Time Video OCR System

We showcase a system for real-time video text recognition. The system is based on the standard workflow of text spotting system, which includes text detection and word recognition procedures. We apply deep neural networks in both procedures. In text localization stage, textual candidates are roughly captured by using a Maximally Stable Extremal Regions (MSERs) detector with high recall rate, false alarms are then eliminated by using Convolutional Neural Network (CNN ) verifier. For word recognition, we developed a skeleton based method for segmenting text region from its background, then a CNN based word recognizer is utilized for recognizing texts. Our current implementation demonstrates a real time performance for recognizing scene text by using a standard laptop with webcam. The word recognizer achieves competitive result to state-of-the-art methods by only using synthetical training data.
Long-Term Outcomes of Non-ST-Elevation Myocardial Infarction Without Creatine Kinase Elevation　- The J-MINUET Study.

BACKGROUND According to troponin-based criteria of myocardial infarction (MI), patients without elevation of creatine kinase (CK), formerly classified as unstable angina (UA), are now diagnosed as non-ST-elevation MI (NSTEMI), but little is known about their outcomes.Methods and Results:Between July 2012 and March 2014, 3,283 consecutive patients with MI were enrolled. Clinical follow-up data were obtained up to 3 years. The primary endpoint was a composite of all-cause death, non-fatal MI, non-fatal stroke, cardiac failure and urgent revascularization for UA. There were 2,262 patients with ST-elevation MI (STEMI), 563 NSTEMI with CK elevation (NSTEMI+CK) and 458 NSTEMI without CK elevation (NSTEMI-CK). From day 0, Kaplan-Meier curves for the primary endpoint began to diverge in favor of NSTEMI-CK for up to 30 days. The 30-day event rate was significantly lower in patients with NSTEMI-CK (3.3%) than in STEMI (8.6%, P<0.001) and NSTEMI+CK (9.9%, P<0.001). Later, the event curves diverged in favor of STEMI. The event rate from 31 days to 3 years was significantly lower in patients with STEMI (19.8%) than in NSTEMI+CK (33.6%, P<0.001) and NSTEMI-CK (34.2%, P<0.001). Kaplan-Meier curves from 31 days to 3 years were almost identical between NSTEMI+CK and NSTEMI-CK (P=0.91). CONCLUSIONS Despite smaller infarct size and better short-term outcomes, long-term outcomes of NSTEMI-CK after convalescence were as poor as those for NSTEMI+CK and worse than for STEMI.
The Role of Posterior Parietal Cortex in Beat-based Timing Perception: A Continuous Theta Burst Stimulation Study

There is growing interest in how the brain's motor systems contribute to the perception of musical rhythms. The Action Simulation for Auditory Prediction hypothesis proposes that the dorsal auditory stream is involved in bidirectional interchange between auditory perception and beat-based prediction in motor planning structures via parietal cortex [Patel, A. D. , & Iversen, J. R. The evolutionary neuroscience of musical beat perception: The Action Simulation for Auditory Prediction (ASAP) hypothesis. Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience, 8, 57, 2014]. We used a TMS protocol, continuous theta burst stimulation (cTBS), that is known to down-regulate cortical activity for up to 60 min following stimulation to test for causal contributions to beat-based timing perception. cTBS target areas included the left posterior parietal cortex (lPPC), which is part of the dorsal auditory stream, and the left SMA (lSMA). We hypothesized that down-regulating lPPC would interfere with accurate beat-based perception by disrupting the dorsal auditory stream. We hypothesized that we would induce no interference to absolute timing ability. We predicted that down-regulating lSMA, which is not part of the dorsal auditory stream but has been implicated in internally timed movements, would also interfere with accurate beat-based timing perception. We show (n = 25) that cTBS down-regulation of lPPC does interfere with beat-based timing ability, but only the ability to detect shifts in beat phase, not changes in tempo. Down-regulation of lSMA, in contrast, did not interfere with beat-based timing. As expected, absolute interval timing ability was not impacted by the down-regulation of lPPC or lSMA. These results support that the dorsal auditory stream plays an essential role in accurate phase perception in beat-based timing. We find no evidence of an essential role of parietal cortex or SMA in interval timing.
Increased liver tumor formation in neutral sphingomyelinase-2-deficient mice

Sphingolipids are key signaling lipids in cancer. Genome-wide studies have identified neutral SMase-2 (nSMase2), an enzyme generating ceramide from SM, as a potential repressor for hepatocellular carcinoma. However, little is known about the sphingolipids regulated by nSMase2 and their roles in liver tumor development. We discovered growth of spontaneous liver tumors in 27.3% (9 of 33) of aged male nSMase2-deficient (fro/fro) mice. Lipidomics analysis showed a marked increase of SM in the tumor. Unexpectedly, tumor tissues presented with more than a 7-fold increase of C16-ceramide, concurrent with upregulation of ceramide synthase 5. The fro/fro liver tumor, but not adjacent tissue, exhibited substantial accumulation of lipid droplets, suggesting that nSMase2 deficiency is associated with tumor growth and increased neutral lipid generation in the tumor. Tumor tissue expressed significantly increased levels of CD133 and EpCAM mRNA, two markers of liver cancer stem-like cells (CSCs) and higher levels of phosphorylated signal transducer and activator of transcription 3, an essential regulator of stemness. CD133(+) cells showed strong labeling for SM and ceramide. In conclusion, these results suggest that SMase-2 deficiency plays a role in the survival or proliferation of CSCs, leading to spontaneous tumors, which is associated with tumor-specific effects on lipid homeostasis.