Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Qualitative methods in research on healthcare quality

There are no easy solutions to the problem of improving the quality of care. Research has shown how difficult it can be, but has failed to provide reliable and effective ways to change services and professional performance for the better. Much depends on the perspectives of users and the attitudes and behaviours of professionals in the context of their organisations and healthcare teams. Qualitative research offers a variety of methods for identifying what really matters to patients and carers, detecting obstacles to changing performance, and explaining why improvement does or does not occur. The use of such methods in future studies could lead to a better understanding of how to improve quality.
Anesthetic Propofol Overdose Causes Vascular Hyperpermeability by Reducing Endothelial Glycocalyx and ATP Production

Prolonged treatment with a large dose of propofol may cause diffuse cellular cytotoxicity; however, the detailed underlying mechanism remains unclear, particularly in vascular endothelial cells. Previous studies showed that a propofol overdose induces endothelial injury and vascular barrier dysfunction. Regarding the important role of endothelial glycocalyx on the maintenance of vascular barrier integrity, we therefore hypothesized that a propofol overdose-induced endothelial barrier dysfunction is caused by impaired endothelial glycocalyx. In vivo, we intraperitoneally injected ICR mice with overdosed propofol, and the results showed that a propofol overdose significantly induced systemic vascular hyperpermeability and reduced the expression of endothelial glycocalyx, syndecan-1, syndecan-4, perlecan mRNA and heparan sulfate (HS) in the vessels of multiple organs. In vitro, a propofol overdose reduced the expression of syndecan-1, syndecan-4, perlecan, glypican-1 mRNA and HS and induced significant decreases in the nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+)/NADH ratio and ATP concentrations in human microvascular endothelial cells (HMEC-1). Oligomycin treatment also induced significant decreases in the NAD+/NADH ratio, in ATP concentrations and in syndecan-4, perlecan and glypican-1 mRNA expression in HMEC-1 cells. These results demonstrate that a propofol overdose induces a partially ATP-dependent reduction of endothelial glycocalyx expression and consequently leads to vascular hyperpermeability due to the loss of endothelial barrier functions.
Detection of trends in magnitude and frequency of flood peaks across Europe

ABSTRACT This study analyses the differences in significant trends in magnitude and frequency of floods detected in annual maximum flood (AMF) and peak over threshold (POT) flood peak series, for the period 1965–2005. Flood peaks are identified from European daily discharge data using a baseflow-based algorithm and significant trends in the AMF series are compared with those in the POT series, derived for six different exceedence thresholds. The results show that more trends in flood magnitude are detected in the AMF than in the POT series and for the POT series more significant trends are detected in flood frequency than in flood magnitude. Spatially coherent patterns of significant trends are detected, which are further investigated by stratifying the results into five regions based on catchment and hydro-climatic characteristics. All data and tools used in this study are open-access and the results are fully reproducible.
Achilles Tendon Doppler Flow May be Associated with Mechanical Loading among Active Athletes

Background Tendon Doppler flow may be associated with tendon pain in symptomatic patients, but the relationship between Doppler flow and pain among athletes who are still competing is unclear. Hypothesis Among active athletes, Doppler flow may partly reflect tendon adaptation to increased mechanical load and/or asymptomatic tendinopathy. Study Design Cross-sectional study; Level of evidence, 3. Methods The Achilles tendons of 61 badminton players (24 elite, 37 recreational) were examined with gray-scale and color Doppler ultrasound. Achilles tendon pain and activity level (badminton training, badminton playing, badminton years) were measured. Results Doppler flow was not associated with current Achilles tendon pain but was associated with an increased anteroposterior tendon diameter (an indicator of tendinopathy) (P = .02). Athletes who had been playing badminton for longer were more likely to have Doppler flow (P< .01), and there was a trend toward an association between a greater number of badminton playing hours per week and Doppler flow (P = .07). Conclusion Achilles tendon Doppler flow appears to be a sign of asymptomatic tendinopathy rather than pain among active athletes. The association between weekly badminton hours and badminton years and Doppler flow suggests that Doppler flow may be a response to mechanical load in this cohort.
The Pharmacological Mechanism of Angiotensin‐converting Enzyme Inhibition by Green Tea, Rooibos and Enalaprilat – A Study on Enzyme Kinetics

Green tea (Camellia sinensis L.) and Rooibos (Aspalathus linearis Dahlg.) inhibit angiotensin‐converting enzyme (ACE) in vitro and in vivo. The ACE inhibitor enalaprilat has been described previously as a competitive inhibitor and sometimes as a non‐competitive inhibitor. The aim of this study was to investigate the pharmacological mechanism of ACE inhibition of green tea and Rooibos by enzyme kinetics, and to compare this with enalaprilat. A Michaelis–Menten kinetics and Lineweaver–Burk graph showed mean values of Vmax = 3.73 µ m and Km = 0.71 µ m for green tea, of Vmax = 6.76 µ m and Km = 0.78 µ m for Rooibos, of Vmax = 12.54 µ m and Km = 2.77 µ m for enalaprilat, and of Vmax = 51.33 µ m and Km = 9.22 µ m for the PBS control. Incubating serum with green tea or Rooibos saturated with zinc chloride did not change the inhibitory effect. Enalaprilat preincubated with zinc chloride showed a decrease in the inhibitory effect. In conclusion, green tea, Rooibos and enalaprilat seem to inhibit ACE activity using a mixed inhibitor mechanism. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Purification and characterization of constitutive secretory vesicles from yeast

We have developed a purification procedure for the isolation of constitutive post-Golgi secretory vesicles from Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Although the post-Golgi stage of the secretion pathway is normally very rapid, we have used a temperature-sensitive secretory mutant, sec 6-4, to greatly expand the population of secretory vesicles. Following invertase as a marker, intact vesicles are enriched 36-fold from the crude lysate. The final preparation contains few contaminants as assessed by morphologic and biochemical examination. Three proteins (110, 40-45, and 18 kD) co-purify with the vesicle marker enzyme invertase. Metabolic labeling experiments indicate that these vesicle-associated proteins are synthesized during the period of vesicle accumulation. They are not apparent in the corresponding fractions from wild-type cells. Analysis of these proteins indicates that the 110-kD protein is a major glycoprotein residing in the vesicle lumen, while the 40-45- and 18-kD proteins are not glycosylated and are firmly associated with the vesicle membrane, each with at least one domain exposed on the cytoplasmic surface.
Monte Carlo Analysis of Impact of Underascertainment of Mesothelioma Cases on Underestimation of Risk

The accuracy of cancer mortality data varies across different cancers. Mortality records and death certificates may not always reflect the true cause of death for various reasons (e.g., misdiagnosis, improper recording on the death certificate, miscoding of the cause of death recorded on the death certificate). Mesothelioma, a rare tumor which is caused by exposure to asbestos, is a special case. Until 1999 when the 10 th revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10) introduced a specific mesothelioma code, mesothelioma deaths were coded to other causes (e.g., cancer of the pleura, cancer of other or ill-specified sites). Even after the introduction of this mesothelioma code, researchers have shown that estimates of mesothelioma mortality based on death certificates are still biased downward. This article reviews available literature with quantitative information on mesothelioma underascertainment, in particular on different rates of underestimation for pleural and peritoneal mesotheliomas, and suggests two approaches to estimating downward bias in absolute risk estimates due to mesothelioma underascertainment. The choice of approach used depends on whether the information on the proportion of peritoneal mesotheliomas is available. Both approaches are demonstrated and evaluated using a cohort of asbestos workers from Libby, MT. The methods developed in this article may be used in analyses of other asbestos cohorts and in methodologies to predict future mesothelioma burden in populations. Similar approaches can be used to assess the impact of underascertainment of other cancers on risk estimates of other chemicals.
Changes in social support predict emotional well‐being in breast cancer survivors

Breast cancer survivors who have completed surgery and adjuvant treatment have distinct social support needs that may relate to emotional health. There is little research on both levels of social support following treatment and the association between social support and emotional well‐being over time following breast cancer diagnosis and treatment. The aims of this study were to assess (1) the direction and magnitude of change in social support quality and quantity and (2) the degree to which change in quality and quantity of social support predicted change in emotional well‐being over time following completion of breast cancer treatment.
Toward a software testing and reliability early warning metric suite

The field reliability is measured too late for affordably guiding corrective action to improve the quality of the software. Software developers can benefit from an early warning of their reliability while they can still affordably react. This early warning can be built from a collection of internal metrics. An internal metric, such as the number of lines of code, is a measure derived from the product itself. An external measure is a measure of a product derived from assessment of the behavior of the system. For example, the number of defects found in test is an external measure. The ISO/IEC standard states that [i]nternal metrics are of little value unless there is evidence that they are related to external quality. Internal metrics can be collected in-process and more easily than external metrics. Additionally, internal metrics have been shown to be useful as early indicators of externally-visible product quality. For these early indicators to be meaningful, they must be related (in a statistically significant and stable way) to the field quality/reliability of the product. The validation of such metrics requires the convincing demonstration that (1) the metric measures what it purports to measure and (2) the metric is associated with an important external metric, such as field reliability, maintainability, or fault-proneness. Software metrics have been used as indicators of software quality and fault proneness. There is a growing body of empirical results that supports the theoretical validity of the use of higher-order early metrics, such as OO metrics defined by Chidamber-Kemerer (CK) and the MOOD OO metric suites as predictors of field quality. However, general validity of these metrics (which are often unrelated to the actual operational profile of the product) is still open to criticism.
How Does Macroprudential Regulation Change Bank Credit Supply?

In the paper we have assumed that the probability of a bank-run, q, is a decreasing function of q LIQ1+x I D R (1+r D ) . The purpose of the online appendix is to present the microfoundations that justify our assumption. We follow the of Goldstein and Pauzner (2005) who apply the global game techniques of Carlsson and van Damme (1993) and Morris and Shin (1998) in bank-run models. Section 1 derives q, while section 2 discusses existence and uniqueness. We show how our framework satisfies the assumptions underlying the existence and uniqueness of a threshold equilibrium, and refer the reader to the aforementioned papers for details.
Revision of the amphiamerican genus Mysidium Dana, 1852 (Crustacea: Mysida: Mysidae), with descriptions of two new species and the establishment of two new subgenera

Revised definitions are given for the genus Mysidium Dana, 1852, and its eight previously known species, based on material from Curaçao, Bonaire and SE-Brazil, along with the evaluation of published data. Type material of Diamysis columbiae Zimmer, 1915, M. cubanense Băcescu & Ortiz, 1984 and M. rubroculatum Băcescu & Ortiz, 1984 is examined. A lectotype is designated for D. columbiae Zimmer, 1915, a senior synonym of Mysidium columbiae (Zimmer, 1915). Two new species are described, M. triangulare Wittmann sp. nov. from Curaçao and M. antillarum Wittmann sp. nov. from Curaçao and Bonaire. Known ranges are extended by first records of M. cubanense from Curaçao and Bonaire and of M. integrum W.M. Tattersall, 1951 from SE Brazil. Three morphologically different groups are established at the subgeneric level: (1) the nominotypical subgenus Mysidium Dana, 1852 with M. gracile (Dana, 1852), M. integrum, M. cubanense, M. rubroculatum and M. triangulare sp. nov. from the West Atlantic plus M. rickettsi Harrison & Bowman, 1987 from the East Pacific; (2) Occimysidium Wittmann subgen. nov. represented only by M. pumae Ortiz, Hendrickx & Winfield, 2017 from the Pacific coast of Mexico; and finally (3) Orientomysidium Wittmann subgen. nov. comprising M. columbiae and M. antillarum sp. nov. from the West Atlantic. The poorly known M. iliffei Băcescu, 1991 is not assigned to any subgenus. A key to the resulting three subgenera and ten nominal species of the genus Mysidium is given.
PAH–DNA Adducts, Cigarette Smoking, GST Polymorphisms, and Breast Cancer Risk

Background Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) may increase breast cancer risk, and the association may be modified by inherited differences in deactivation of PAH intermediates by glutathione S-transferases (GSTs). Few breast cancer studies have investigated the joint effects of multiple GSTs and a PAH biomarker. Objective We estimated the breast cancer risk associated with multiple polymorphisms in the GST gene (GSTA1, GSTM1, GSTP1, and GSTT1) and the interaction with PAH–DNA adducts and cigarette smoking. Methods We conducted unconditional logistic regression using data from a population-based sample of women (cases/controls, respectively): GST polymorphisms were genotyped using polymerase chain reaction and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight assays (n = 926 of 916), PAH–DNA adduct blood levels were measured by competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (n = 873 of 941), and smoking status was assessed by in-person questionnaires (n = 943 of 973). Results Odds ratios for joint effects on breast cancer risk among women with at least three variant alleles were 1.56 [95% confidence interval (CI), 1.13–2.16] for detectable PAH–DNA adducts and 0.93 (95% CI, 0.56–1.56) for no detectable adducts; corresponding odds ratios for three or more variants were 1.18 (95% CI, 0.82–1.69) for ever smokers and 1.44 (95% CI, 0.97–2.14) for never smokers. Neither interaction was statistically significant (p = 0.43 and 0.62, respectively). Conclusion We found little statistical evidence that PAHs interacted with GSTT1, GSTM1, GSTP1, and GSTA1 polymorphisms to further increase breast cancer risk.
Meiotic Interactors of a Mitotic Gene TAO3 Revealed by Functional Analysis of its Rare Variant

Studying the molecular consequences of rare genetic variants has the potential to identify novel and hitherto uncharacterized pathways causally contributing to phenotypic variation. Here, we characterize the functional consequences of a rare coding variant of TAO3, previously reported to contribute significantly to sporulation efficiency variation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. During mitosis, the common TAO3 allele interacts with CBK1—a conserved NDR kinase. Both TAO3 and CBK1 are components of the RAM signaling network that regulates cell separation and polarization during mitosis. We demonstrate that the role of the rare allele TAO3(4477C) in meiosis is distinct from its role in mitosis by being independent of ACE2—a RAM network target gene. By quantitatively measuring cell morphological dynamics, and expressing the TAO3(4477C) allele conditionally during sporulation, we show that TAO3 has an early role in meiosis. This early role of TAO3 coincides with entry of cells into meiotic division. Time-resolved transcriptome analyses during early sporulation identified regulators of carbon and lipid metabolic pathways as candidate mediators. We show experimentally that, during sporulation, the TAO3(4477C) allele interacts genetically with ERT1 and PIP2, regulators of the tricarboxylic acid cycle and gluconeogenesis metabolic pathways, respectively. We thus uncover a meiotic functional role for TAO3, and identify ERT1 and PIP2 as novel regulators of sporulation efficiency. Our results demonstrate that studying the causal effects of genetic variation on the underlying molecular network has the potential to provide a more extensive understanding of the pathways driving a complex trait.
Isolation and Identification of Urinary Metabolites of Kakkalide in Rats

Kakkalide is a major isoflavonoid from the flowers of Pueraria lobata (Willd.) Ohwi, possessing the protective effect against ethanol-induced intoxication and hepatic injury. The metabolism of kakkalide was investigated in rats. Thirteen metabolites were isolated by using solvent extraction and repeated chromatographic methods and identified by using spectroscopic methods including UV, IR, mass spectrometry, NMR, and circular dichroism experiments. Four new compounds were identified as irisolidone-7-O-glucuronide (M-1), tectorigenin-7-O-sulfate (M-2), tectorigenin-4′-O-sulfate (M-3), and biochanin A-6-O-sulfate (M-4) together with nine known compounds identified as irisolidone (M-5), tectorigenin (M-6), tectoridin (M-7), 5,7-dihydroxy-8,4′-dimethoxyisoflavone (M-8), isotectorigenin (M-9), biochanin A (M-10), genistein (M-11), daidzein (M-12), and equol (M-13). The metabolic pathway of kakkalide was proposed, which is important to understand its metabolic fate and disposition in humans.
Toward Patient-Specific, Biologically Optimized Radiation Therapy Plans for the Treatment of Glioblastoma

Purpose To demonstrate a method of generating patient-specific, biologically-guided radiotherapy dose plans and compare them to the standard-of-care protocol. Methods and Materials We integrated a patient-specific biomathematical model of glioma proliferation, invasion and radiotherapy with a multiobjective evolutionary algorithm for intensity-modulated radiation therapy optimization to construct individualized, biologically-guided plans for 11 glioblastoma patients. Patient-individualized, spherically-symmetric simulations of the standard-of-care and optimized plans were compared in terms of several biological metrics. Results The integrated model generated spatially non-uniform doses that, when compared to the standard-of-care protocol, resulted in a 67% to 93% decrease in equivalent uniform dose to normal tissue, while the therapeutic ratio, the ratio of tumor equivalent uniform dose to that of normal tissue, increased between 50% to 265%. Applying a novel metric of treatment response (Days Gained) to the patient-individualized simulation results predicted that the optimized plans would have a significant impact on delaying tumor progression, with increases from 21% to 105% for 9 of 11 patients. Conclusions Patient-individualized simulations using the combination of a biomathematical model with an optimization algorithm for radiation therapy generated biologically-guided doses that decreased normal tissue EUD and increased therapeutic ratio with the potential to improve survival outcomes for treatment of glioblastoma.
Diversity of trees in a community managed forest: the case of Komolchori VCF, Khagrachari, Bangladesh

ABSTRACT Natural forest in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHTs) of Bangladesh is degrading due to various reasons. Village common forest (VCF) in CHTs is one of the successful forest management schemes without government intervention. This research was conducted in the Komolchori VCF, Khagrachari, Bangladesh to delineate its tree diversity status . A total of 921 individuals belonging to 55 species were found from 25 randomly studied plots. The highest basal area and relative dominance were recorded for Terminalia bellirica which were 1.23 m2/ha and 6.07%, respectively, whereas the lowest basal area and relative dominance were 0.47 m2/ha and 2.30%, respectively, for Protium serratum. In addition, the highest relative density, relative frequency, and importance value index was occupied by Aglaia cucullata which were 20.41%, 7.54%, and 29.65%, respectively. Aglaia cucullata and Schima wallichii were found as the most dominant species based on hierarchical cluster membership. The Shannon’s index, Simpson’s index, species diversity index, Margalef’s (richness) index, species evenness index and dominance of Simpson index for the Komolchori VCF were found as 3.22, 0.07, 66.03, 7.91, 0.47, and 0.93, respectively. This study will progress the further study to ensure proper action on biodiversity conservation in the CHTs of Bangladesh.
Empathic brain responses in insula are modulated by levels of alexithymia but not autism

Difficulties in social cognition are well recognized in individuals with autism spectrum conditions (henceforth ‘autism’). Here we focus on one crucial aspect of social cognition: the ability to empathize with the feelings of another. In contrast to theory of mind, a capacity that has often been observed to be impaired in individuals with autism, much less is known about the capacity of individuals with autism for affect sharing. Based on previous data suggesting that empathy deficits in autism are a function of interoceptive deficits related to alexithymia, we aimed to investigate empathic brain responses in autistic and control participants with high and low degrees of alexithymia. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we measured empathic brain responses with an ‘empathy for pain’ paradigm assessing empathic brain responses in a real-life social setting that does not rely on attention to, or recognition of, facial affect cues. Confirming previous findings, empathic brain responses to the suffering of others were associated with increased activation in left anterior insula and the strength of this signal was predictive of the degree of alexithymia in both autistic and control groups but did not vary as a function of group. Importantly, there was no difference in the degree of empathy between autistic and control groups after accounting for alexithymia. These findings suggest that empathy deficits observed in autism may be due to the large comorbidity between alexithymic traits and autism, rather than representing a necessary feature of the social impairments in autism.