Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
'Strong medicine': an analysis of pharmacist consultations in primary care.

BACKGROUND Patients often find it difficult to discuss their medications fully with their prescribing doctor. Little is known about what might be said about medications to another professional within the primary health care team (PHCT). Pharmacists are seeking to extend their role within primary care and are ideally placed to provide independent medication advice. OBJECTIVE Our aim was to test the feasibility of using primary care pharmacists as medication counsellors, and to analyse the content of their consultations using qualitative methods. METHOD Some patients were referred by their doctors, some self-referred and others were invited by the pharmacists for medication reviews. Pharmacist-patient consultations took place within GP surgeries and in patients' homes, and were audiotaped, transcribed and analysed qualitatively. The study sample consisted of 25 consultations with three primary care pharmacists conducted over a 3-month period. RESULTS Referrals from the doctors were slow and there were no referrals from nurses. The pharmacists, who all had clinical backgrounds and were not dispensing pharmacists, experienced few problems with the consultations. Patients were willing to discuss their medications in detail with the pharmacists. A theme emerged regarding the perceived potency of medications, and this seemed to have an effect on the experience of side effects and the perceived efficacy of the medications. CONCLUSIONS From this small study, it would seem that pharmacist consultations within primary care are a feasible extension of their current role as prescribing budget advisors. The richness of the consultations reflects the acceptability to patients. Feedback of information to other members of the PHCT, given patient consent, would be very useful for a better understanding of the patient's perspective, which in turn would facilitate concordance in the negotiation of the patient's management.
Prevalence of Human Papillomavirus in Oropharyngeal Cancer: A Systematic Review

PurposeThe global incidence of oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC) has been increasing, and it has been proposed that a rising rate of human papillomavirus (HPV)–associated cancers is driving the observed changes in OPSCC incidence. We carried out this systematic review to further examine the prevalence of HPV in OPSCC over time worldwide. MethodsA systematic literature search was performed to identify all articles through January 31, 2014, which reported on the prevalence of HPV in OPSCC. Articles that met the inclusion criteria were divided into 4 time frames (pre-1995, 1995–1999, 2000–2004, and 2005 to present) based on the median year of the study’s sample collection period. Using a weighted analysis of variance model, we examined the trends of HPV-positivity over time worldwide, in North America, and in Europe. ResultsOur literature search identified 699 unique articles. One hundred seventy-five underwent review of the entire study, and 105 met the inclusion criteria. These 105 articles reported on the HPV prevalence in 9541 OPSCC specimens across 23 nations. We demonstrated significant increases in the percentage change of HPV-positive OPSCCs from pre-1995 to present: 20.6% worldwide (P for trend: P < 0.001), 21.6% in North America (P = 0.013), and 21.5% in Europe (P = 0.033). ConclusionsInterestingly, whereas in Europe there was a steady increase in HPV prevalence across all time frames, reaching nearly 50% most recently, in North America HPV prevalence appears to have plateaued over the past decade at about 65%. These findings may have important implications regarding predictions for the future incidence of OPSCC.
Convergence of General Nonstationary Iterative Methods for Solving Singular Linear Equations

In this paper, we analyze the convergence of the general nonstationary iterative methods for solving consistent singular linear equations (in particular, singular Hermitian positive semidefinite linear systems), and we discuss relations of general stationary results and ours. We utilize the quotient convergence to prove the convergence of the two-stage iterative algorithms for solving the consistent singular Hermitian positive semidefinite linear equations.
Stress-Strain Relationship of Reinforced Concrete Subjected to Biaxial Tension

This paper summarizes results from a research study on the tensile stress-strain relationship of reinforced concrete (RC) membrane elements. Extensive tests of RC panels with varying reinforcement ratios were performed to derive a reasonable constitutive law of the tensile stress-strain relationship of RC. Test results show that concrete carries substantial tensile stress even after initial cracking. The stress-strain relationship of concrete in biaxial tension was derived using the behavior and theory of RC members subjected to uniaxial tension. However, the application of this proposed stress-strain relationship for concrete is limited to cases where the direction of reinforcement coincides with the direction of the applied principal stresses.
Clinical association of baseline levels of conjugated dienes in low-density lipoprotein and nitric oxide with aggressive B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma and their relationship with immunoglobulins and Th1-to-Th2 ratio

Objective The aim of this study was to highlight the clinical association of baseline levels of conjugated dienes in low-density lipoprotein (LDL-BCD) and nitric oxide (NO) with immunoglobulins (Igs) and T helper (Th)1/Th2 ratio in patients with newly diagnosed B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL). Patients and methods Thirty-two newly diagnosed patients with aggressive B-cell NHL and 25 age-, sex-, and body-mass-index-matched healthy controls were randomly selected for a cross-sectional case–control study conducted at the Hematology Department of Tlemcen Medical Centre University (northwest of Algeria). Results Circulating levels of LDL-BCD and NO and those of IgA and IgM were significantly higher in patients than in controls. The levels of Th1/Th2 ratio and plasma total antioxidant capacity were significantly lower in patients compared with controls, while malondialdehyde and protein carbonyl levels were significantly higher in patients. B-cell NHL was significantly associated with high levels of LDL-BCD from 25th to 75th percentile (25th percentile: relative risk [RR] =2.26, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.42–3.59, P=0.014; 50th percentile: RR =2.84, 95% CI 1.72–4.68, P<0.001; 75th percentile: RR =5.43, 95% CI 2.58–11.42, P<0.001). Similarly, the disease was significantly associated with high levels of NO production from 25th to 75th percentile (25th percentile: RR =2.07, 95% CI 1.25–3.44, P=0.024; 50th percentile: RR =2.78, 95% CI 1.63–4.72, P<0.001; 75th percentile: RR =4.68, 95% CI 2.21–9.91, P<0.001). Moreover, LDL-BCD levels were positively and significantly correlated with interferon (IFN)-γ, whereas NO levels were inversely and significantly correlated with IFN-γ and Th1/Th2 ratio. Conclusion LDL-BCD and NO production seem to be associated with aggressive B-cell NHL and alteration of Th1/Th2 ratio. Our results have to be examined using ex vivo mechanistic studies leading to further investigations of these parameters, with an interest in the link between Epstein–Barr virus infection and NO and immunoglobulins.
Feminist Women’s Health Movement Practices, Mindfulness, Sexual Body Esteem, and Genital Satisfaction

There is a significant issue in society today regarding the lack of knowledge about and positive regard attributed to women’s bodies, but more specifically female genitalia. This is detrimental to women in that it causes us to see ourselves in a negative light, or to overly sexualize certain aspects of ourselves, which may lead to severe psychological damage (American Psychological Association Task Force on the Sexualization of Girls, 2010). The 1970’s Women’s Health Movement presented a way for women to get to know their own bodies in a way that was private from society in order to make their own judgments free from the pressures and input of the larger public: vaginal selfexaminations. This study proposed a modified exam, a genital self-exam, as a way to counteract the negative attitudes projected on women’s genitals by giving women a chance to examine and decide for themselves. Participants were encouraged to practice mindfulness, a mental state achieved through focusing one’s awareness on the present moment while calmly accepting one’s feelings, during the exam as accounts of the 1970’s vaginal exams suggest a mindfulness-like attitude was also adopted during exams. This was done by randomly assigning participants to either complete a self-exam or to not and then measuring genital self-image and satisfaction, sexual body esteem, and mindfulness. The results were largely non-significant, save a few interesting minor findings. However, there is evidence to suggest a biased sample; recommendations for further research in this
Printed in the United States of America

Scaling laws for the design of electron linear colliders are obtained for both the familiar "classical" case, in which the particle energy lies well above the classical critical energy which characterizes the beamstrahlung, and the "quantum" case, in which the particle energy lies below it. The SLAC Linear Collider is considered as an example. Some of the problems which have had to be solved to build it are discussed in terms of colliders of the future.
HIV-1 Adenoviral Vector Vaccines Expressing Multi-Trimeric BAFF and 4-1BBL Enhance T Cell Mediated Anti-Viral Immunity

Adenoviral vectored vaccines have shown considerable promise but could be improved by molecular adjuvants. Ligands in the TNF superfamily (TNFSF) are potential adjuvants for adenoviral vector (Ad5) vaccines based on their central role in adaptive immunity. Many TNFSF ligands require aggregation beyond the trimeric state (multi-trimerization) for optimal biological function. Here we describe Ad5 vaccines for HIV-1 Gag antigen (Ad5-Gag) adjuvanted with the TNFSF ligands 4-1BBL, BAFF, GITRL and CD27L constructed as soluble multi-trimeric proteins via fusion to Surfactant Protein D (SP-D) as a multimerization scaffold. Mice were vaccinated with Ad5-Gag combined with Ad5 expressing one of the SP-D-TNFSF constructs or single-chain IL-12p70 as adjuvant. To evaluate vaccine-induced protection, mice were challenged with vaccinia virus expressing Gag (vaccinia-Gag) which is known to target the female genital tract, a major route of sexually acquired HIV-1 infection. In this system, SP-D-4-1BBL or SP-D-BAFF led to significantly reduced vaccinia-Gag replication when compared to Ad5-Gag alone. In contrast, IL-12p70, SP-D-CD27L and SP-D-GITRL were not protective. Histological examination following vaccinia-Gag challenge showed a dramatic lymphocytic infiltration into the uterus and ovaries of SP-D-4-1BBL and SP-D-BAFF-treated animals. By day 5 post challenge, proinflammatory cytokines in the tissue were reduced, consistent with the enhanced control over viral replication. Splenocytes had no specific immune markers that correlated with protection induced by SP-D-4-1BBL and SP-D-BAFF versus other groups. IL-12p70, despite lack of anti-viral efficacy, increased the total numbers of splenic dextramer positive CD8+ T cells, effector memory T cells, and effector Gag-specific CD8+ T cells, suggesting that these markers are poor predictors of anti-viral immunity in this model. In conclusion, soluble multi-trimeric 4-1BBL and BAFF adjuvants led to strong protection from vaccinia-Gag challenge, but the protection was independent of standard immune markers. Soluble multi-trimeric SP-D-4-1BBL and SP-D-BAFF provide a novel technology to enhance adenoviral vector vaccines against HIV-1.
Azithromycin Failure in Mycoplasma genitalium Urethritis

We report significant failure rates (28%, 95% confidence interval 15%–45%) after administering 1 g azithromycin to men with Mycoplasma genitalium–positive nongonococcal urethritis. In vitro evidence supported reduced susceptibility of M. genitalium to macrolides. Moxifloxacin administration resulted in rapid symptom resolution and eradication of infection in all cases. These findings have implications for management of urethritis.
Security and identification indicators for browsers against spoofing and phishing attacks

In spite of the use of standard Web security measures (SSL/TLS), users enter sensitive information such as passwords into fake Web sites. Such fake sites cause substantial damages to individuals and corporations. In this work, we identify several vulnerabilities of browsers, focusing on security and identification indicators. We present improved security and identification indicators, as we implemented in TrustBar, a browser extension we developed. With TrustBar, users can assign a name or logo to identify SSL/TLS-protected sites; if users did not assign a name or logo, TrustBar identifies protected sites by the name or logo of the site, and by the certificate authority (CA) who identified the site. We present usability experiments which compared TrustBar's indicators to the basic indicators available in most browsers (padlock, URL, and https prefix), and some relevant secure-usability principles.
Stimulus-Dependent Modulation of Suppressive Influences in MT

Surround suppression contributes to important functions in visual processing, such as figure-ground segregation; however, this benefit comes at the cost of decreased neuronal sensitivity. Studies of receptive fields at several levels of the visual hierarchy have demonstrated that surround suppression is reduced for low contrast stimuli, thereby improving neuronal sensitivity. We investigated whether this reduction of surround suppression reflects a general processing strategy to boost sensitivity for weak signals by summing them over a larger region of the visual field (spatial integration) or if the reduction is limited to specialized stimulus conditions. To do this, we used stochastic motion stimuli to measure surround suppression in area MT of alert macaque monkeys. While varying stimulus size we also varied the strength of two other critical stimulus features: contrast and coherence (i.e., the proportion of dots moving in the preferred direction of the neuron). We found that reducing stimulus contrast weakened surround suppression, but reducing stimulus coherence had the opposite effect, indicating that diminished surround suppression is not a universal response to stimuli of low signal-to-noise. This can be partially explained by our other finding, which is that surrounds in MT are very broadly direction tuned. Instead of producing a reduction of surround suppression that would improve the ability of the neuron to integrate preferred direction motion, low coherence stimuli activated the broadly tuned surrounds relatively better than the centers, which are generally more direction selective. Our results are consistent with a normalization mechanism of surround suppression that pools broadly across multiple stimulus dimensions.
Large Nearly Regular Induced Subgraphs

For a real $c \geq 1$ and an integer $n$, let $f(n,c)$ denote the maximum integer $f$ such that every graph on $n$ vertices contains an induced subgraph on at least $f$ vertices in which the maximum degree is at most $c$ times the minimum degree. Thus, in particular, every graph on $n$ vertices contains a regular induced subgraph on at least $f(n,1)$ vertices. The problem of estimating $f(n,1)$ was posed long ago by Erdos, Fajtlowicz, and Staton. In this paper we obtain the following upper and lower bounds for the asymptotic behavior of $f(n,c)$: (i) For fixed $c>2.1$, $n^{1-O(1/c)} \leq f(n,c) \leq O(cn/\log n)$. (ii) For fixed $c=1+\varepsilon$ with $\varepsilon>0$ sufficiently small, $f(n,c) \geq n^{\Omega(\varepsilon^2/ \ln (1/\varepsilon))}$. (iii) $\Omega (\ln n) \leq f(n,1) \leq O(n^{1/2} \ln^{3/4} n)$. An analogous problem for not necessarily induced subgraphs is briefly considered as well.
Arginine-supplemented diet decreases expression of inflammatory cytokines and improves survival in burned rats.

BACKGROUND We examined whether the expression of inflammatory cytokines in organs was influenced by the enteral diet supplemented with arginine in burned rats. METHODS Male Wistar rats weighing about 200 g underwent catheter jejunostomy and received scald burns covering 30% of the whole-body surface area. Animals were divided into two groups: a control group (no supplemental arginine, n = 12) and an arginine group (supplemental arginine: 7.7 g/L, n = 10), which continuously received total enteral nutrition for 7 days (250 kcal/kg/d, 1.72 gN/kg/d). The following were measured after the experiment: (1) messenger RNA (mRNA) expression of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma), interleukin-1beta (IL-1beta), and IL-6 in the spleen, thymus, lung, and liver by a semiquantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction method, (2) inflammatory cytokines in the plasma and supernatant of cultured splenic lymphocytes by enzyme-linked immunosorbant assay, (3) nitric oxide (NO) product, NO2-/NO3-, in the plasma and supernatant of cultured splenic lymphocytes by the Griess method, and (4) survival rate by the Kaplan-Meier method. RESULTS The mRNA expression of TNF-alpha was significantly decreased in the spleen and lung (p < .01, p < .05), IFN-gamma in the lung (p < .05), IL-1beta in the spleen (p < .05), and IL-6 in the thymus and liver (p < .05, p < .05) in the arginine group when compared with the control group. The production of TNF-alpha by splenic lymphocytes was suppressed in the arginine group in both concanavalin A (Con A)-treated and -untreated cultures (p < .01, p < .05). The production of IFN-gamma by splenic lymphocytes treated with Con A was suppressed in the arginine group (p < .05). The NO product in the supernatant without Con A was increased in the arginine group (p < .05). The mortality rate of the arginine group (0%) was lower than that in the control group (33.3%) on day 7 after the burn injury (p < .05). CONCLUSIONS The data suggest that dietary arginine supplementation decreases the mRNA expression of inflammatory cytokines in organs and improves the survival rate after thermal injury.
Controversial Cytogenetic Observations in Mammalian Somatic Cells Exposed to Radiofrequency Radiation

Abstract Vijayalaxmi and Obe, G. Controversial Cytogenetic Observations in Mammalian Somatic Cells Exposed to Radiofrequency Radiation. Radiat. Res. 162, 481–496 (2004). During the years 1990–2003 a large number of investigations were conducted using rodents, cultured rodent and human cells, and freshly collected human blood lymphocytes to determine the genotoxic potential of exposure to radiofrequency (RF) radiation. The results of most of these studies (58%) did not indicate increased damage to the genetic material (assessed from DNA strand breaks, incidence of chromosomal aberrations, micronuclei and sister chromatid exchanges) in cells exposed to RF radiation compared to sham-exposed and/or unexposed cells. Some investigations (23%) reported an increase in such damage in cells exposed to RF radiation. The observations from other studies (19%) were inconclusive. This paper reviews the investigations published in scientific journals during 1990–2003 and attempts to identify probable reason(s) for the conflicting results. Recommendations are made for future research to address some of the controversial observations.
Why We Don't Know How To Simulate The Internet

Simulating how the global Internet data network behaves is an immensely challenging undertaking because of the network's great heterogeneity and rapid change. The heterogeneity ranges from the individual links that carry the network's traffic, to the protocols that interoperate over the links, to the “mix” of different applications used at a site and the levels of congestion (load) seen on different links. We discuss two key strategies for developing meaningful simulations in the face of these difficulties: searching for invariants and judiciously exploring the simulation parameter space. We finish with a look at a collaborative effort to build a common simulation environment for conducting Internet studies.
Mice with Markedly Reduced PACAP (PAC1) Receptor Expression by Targeted Deletion of the Signal Peptide

Abstract: In an attempt to study the pituitary adenylate cyclase‐activating polypeptide (PACAP) type 1 (PAC1) receptor (PAC1R) function in vivo and to produce a mouse model with altered expression of PAC1R, we have used gene targeting in embryonic stem cells to disrupt exon 2 of the PAC1R gene, which contains the ATG translation start site and the signal peptide. Un‐expectedly, active transcription of PAC1R mRNA was detected in the mutant mice; however, exon 1 was spliced to exon 3 (skipping exon 2), and 125I‐PACAP27 binding in brain was greatly reduced. PAC1R exon 2‐/‐ mice were viable, fertile, and morphologically and histologically indistinguishable from their wild‐type counterparts. We next examined the ligand binding and cell surface expression of the mutant receptor lacking the signal peptide in transfected COS‐7 cells. 125I‐PACAP27 binding of the mutant receptor was approximately one‐tenth of that in the wild‐type receptor. Although the wild‐type receptor was expressed abundantly in both the plasma membrane and the cytoplasm around the nucleus, the mutant receptor was expressed in the plasma membrane with a markedly reduced level. Digestion of the membranes with endoglycosidase F greatly reduced the size of the wild‐type receptor but only slightly reduced that of the mutant receptor. These results demonstrate that the signal peptide is required for efficient cell surface expression and N‐linked glycosylation of the PAC1R. However, the mutant receptors still functionally coupled to adenylate cyclase in COS‐7 cells, suggesting the presence of sufficient spare receptors such that the mutant receptors are capable of activating the second messenger system. We suggest that the mutant mice with markedly reduced PAC1R expression can serve as a useful animal model or cell culture system for further studies in PAC1R function.
The Gli3 Hypomorphic Mutation Pdn Causes Selective Impairment in the Growth, Patterning, and Axon Guidance Capability of the Lateral Ganglionic Eminence

Previous studies have defined a requirement for Sonic hedgehog (Shh) signaling in patterning the ventral telencephalon, a major source of the neuronal diversity found in the mature telencephalon. The zinc finger transcription factor Gli3 is a critical component of the Shh signaling pathway and its loss causes major defects in telencephalic development. Gli3 is expressed in a graded manner along the dorsoventral axis of the telencephalon but it is unknown whether Gli3 expression levels are important for dorsoventral telencephalic patterning. To address this, we used the Gli3 hypomorphic mouse mutant Polydactyly Nagoya (Pdn). We show that in Pdn/Pdn embryos, the telencephalic expression of Gli3 remains graded, but Gli3 mRNA and protein levels are reduced, resulting in an upregulation of Shh expression and signaling. These changes mainly affect the development of the lateral ganglionic eminence (LGE), with some disorganization of the medial ganglionic eminence mantle zone. The pallial/subpallial boundary is shifted dorsally and the production of postmitotic neurons is reduced. Moreover, LGE pioneer neurons that guide corticofugal axons into the LGE do not form properly, delaying the entry of corticofugal axons into the ventral telencephalon. Pdn/Pdn mutants also show severe pathfinding defects of thalamocortical axons in the ventral telencephalon. Transplantation experiments demonstrate that the intrinsic ability of the Pdn ventral telencephalon to guide thalamocortical axons is compromised. We conclude that correct Gli3 levels are particularly important for the LGE's growth, patterning, and development of axon guidance capabilities.