Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Procaine Compared With Lidocaine for Incidence of Transient Neurologic Symptoms

Background and Objectives Transient neurologic symptoms (TNS) have been reported to occur after 16% to 40% of ambulatory lidocaine spinal anesthetics. Patient discomfort and the possibility of underlying lidocaine neurotoxicity have prompted a search for alternative local anesthetic agents. We compared the incidence of TNS with procaine or lidocaine spinal anesthesia in a 2:1 dose ratio. Methods Seventy outpatients undergoing knee arthroscopy were blindly randomized to receive either 100 mg hyperbaric procaine or 50 mg hyperbaric lidocaine. An interview by a blinded investigator established the presence or absence of TNS, defined as pain in the buttocks or lower extremities beginning within 24 hours of surgery. Onset of sensory and motor block, patient discomfort, supplemental anesthetics, and side effects were recorded by the unblinded managing anesthesia team. Anesthetic adequacy was determined from these data by a single blinded investigator. Hospital discharge time was recorded from the patient record. Groups were compared using appropriate statistics with a P < . 05 considered significant. Results TNS occurred in 6% of procaine patients versus 31% of lidocaine patients (P = .007). Sensory block with procaine and lidocaine was similar, while motor block was decreased with procaine (P < .05). A trend toward a higher rate of block inadequacy (17% v 3%, P = .11) and intraoperative nausea (17% v 3%, P = .11) occurred with procaine. Average hospital discharge time with procaine was increased by 29 minutes (P < .05). Conclusions The incidence of TNS was substantially lower with procaine than with lidocaine. However, procaine resulted in a lower overall quality of anesthesia and a prolonged average discharge time. If the shortfalls of procaine as studied can be overcome, it may provide a suitable alternative to lidocaine for outpatient spinal anesthesia to minimize the risk of TNS.
The role of antecedent soil moisture conditions on rainfall-triggered
shallow landslides

Abstract. Rainfall-triggered shallow landslides have caused losses of human life and millions of euros in damage to property in all parts of the world. The need to prevent such phenomena combined with the difficulty to describe the geo-physical processes over large scales led to the adoption of empirical rainfall thresholds derived from the observed relationship between rainfall intensity/duration and landslide occurrence. These thresholds are generally obtained neglecting the role of the antecedent moisture conditions that should be taken into consideration. In the present manuscript, we explored the role of antecedent soil moisture on the critical rainfall intensity–duration thresholds highlighting its critical impact. Therefore, traditional approaches that neglect such parameter may have a limited value in the early-warning systems. This study was carried out using a record of 326 landslides occurred in the last 18 years in the Basilicata region (southern Italy). Besides the ordinary data (i.e. rainstorm intensity and duration), we also derived the antecedent moisture conditions using a parsimonious hydrological model.
Perfectionism Is Increasing Over Time: A Meta-Analysis of Birth Cohort Differences From 1989 to 2016

From the 1980s onward, neoliberal governance in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom has emphasized competitive individualism and people have seemingly responded, in kind, by agitating to perfect themselves and their lifestyles. In this study, the authors examine whether cultural changes have coincided with an increase in multidimensional perfectionism in college students over the last 27 years. Their analyses are based on 164 samples and 41,641 American, Canadian, and British college students, who completed the Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (Hewitt & Flett, 1991) between 1989 and 2016 (70.92% female, Mage = 20.66). Cross-temporal meta-analysis revealed that levels of self-oriented perfectionism, socially prescribed perfectionism, and other-oriented perfectionism have linearly increased. These trends remained when controlling for gender and between-country differences in perfectionism scores. Overall, in order of magnitude of the observed increase, the findings indicate that recent generations of young people perceive that others are more demanding of them, are more demanding of others, and are more demanding of themselves.
Congenital hypopituitarism and renal failure

Congenital hypopituitarism is potentially fatal in the newborn period but treatable if the diagnosis is made early. We report a neonate who presented with hypothermia and severe hypoglycemia. He also had undescended testis and micropenis. Initial screening revealed panhypopituitarism, which was corrected promptly. He developed renal failure due to initial cardiovascular compromise related to hypotension but recovered quickly with standard management. Magnetic resonance imaging revealed absent stalk of anterior pituitary.
Thermodynamics of RNA-RNA Binding

BACKGROUND Reliable prediction of RNA-RNA binding energies is crucial, e.g. for the understanding on RNAi, microRNA-mRNA binding and antisense interactions. The thermodynamics of such RNA-RNA interactions can be understood as the sum of two energy contributions: (1) the energy necessary to 'open' the binding site and (2) the energy gained from hybridization. METHODS We present an extension of the standard partition function approach to RNA secondary structures that computes the probabilities Pu[i, j] that a sequence interval [i, j] is unpaired. RESULTS Comparison with experimental data shows that Pu[i, j] can be applied as a significant determinant of local target site accessibility for RNA interference (RNAi). Furthermore, these quantities can be used to rigorously determine binding free energies of short oligomers to large mRNA targets. The resource consumption is comparable with a single partition function computation for the large target molecule. We can show that RNAi efficiency correlates well with the binding energies of siRNAs to their respective mRNA target. AVAILABILITY RNAup will be distributed as part of the Vienna RNA Package, www.tbi. univie.ac. at/~ivo/RNA/
Influence of pre-existing inflammation on the outcome of acute coronary syndrome: a cross-sectional study

Objectives Inflammation is a well-established risk factor for the development of coronary artery disease (CAD) and acute coronary syndrome (ACS). However, less is known about its influence on the outcome of ACS. The aim of this study was to determine if blood biomarkers of inflammation were associated specifically with acute myocardial infarction (MI) or unstable angina (UA) in patients with ACS. Design Cross-sectional study. Setting Patients admitted to the coronary care unit, via the emergency room, at a central county hospital over a 4-year period (1992–1996). Participants In a substudy of Carlscrona Heart Attack Prognosis Study (CHAPS) of 5292 patients admitted to the coronary care unit, we identified 908 patients aged 30–74 years, who at discharge had received the diagnosis of either MI (527) or UA (381). Main outcome measures MI or UA, based on the diagnosis set at discharge from hospital. Results When adjusted for smoking, age, sex and duration of chest pain, concentrations of plasma biomarkers of inflammation (high-sensitivity C reactive protein>2 mg/L (OR=1.40 (1.00 to 1.96) and fibrinogen (p for trend=0.035)) analysed at admission were found to be associated with MI over UA, in an event of ACS. A strong significant association with MI over UA was found for blood cell markers of inflammation, that is, counts of neutrophils (p for trend<0.001), monocytes (p for trend<0.001) and thrombocytes (p for trend=0.021), while lymphocyte count showed no association. Interestingly, eosinophil count (p for trend=0.003) was found to be significantly lower in patients with MI compared to those with UA. Conclusions Our results show that, in patients with ACS, the blood cell profile and degree of inflammation at admission was associated with the outcome. Furthermore, our data suggest that a pre-existing low-grade inflammation may dispose towards MI over UA.
Mll5 Is Required for Normal Spermatogenesis

Background Mll5 is currently a member of the Mll family of SET domain histone methyltransferase proteins but studies have also showed that it could be part of the SET3 branch of proteins. Recently, constitutive knock out animal studies have shown that Mll5 is required for proper haematopoietic stem cell differentiation, and loss of Mll5 results in synthetic lethality for genome de-methylation. Mll5 deficient male mice are infertile and here we analyse the consequences of Mll5 deficiency for spermatogenesis. Methodology/Principal Findings Mll5 deficient male mice, but not female mice, are infertile. Here we show using RNA in-situ hybridization that Mll5 is expressed in the germ cells of the testes of wild type mice. Consistent with the expression of Mll5, we demonstrate by electron microscopy, video microscopy and in vitro fertilisation techniques that Mll5 deficient mice have defects in terminal maturation and packaging of sperm. The defects seen include detachment of the acrosomal cap and impaired excess cytoplasm removal. Functional tests of sperm motility show a lack of progressive motility of spermatozoa from Mll5 deficient animals. None of these defects could be rescued by in vitro fertilization. Using microarray analysis we show that transcripts implicated in spermatogenesis are dysregulated. Conclusions/Significance Our data demonstrate a clear role of Mll5 in mammalian spermatogenesis at the level of terminal differentiation providing further support for its classification in the SET3 branch of proteins. Moreover, this study identifies Tlk2, Utx, Gpr64, Sult4a1, Rap2ip, Vstm2 and HoxA10 as possible Mll5 targets that together may account for the observed spermatozoa maturation defects.
OSLER and ODYSSEY LONG TERM: PCSK9 inhibitors on the right track of reducing cardiovascular events

Proprotein convertase subtilisin kexin 9 (PCSK9) inhibitors have emerged as a novel treatment option in patients with hypercholesterolemia. Evolocumab and alirocumab have achieved consistent and significant (around 60%) reduction in low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels when added to statin therapy in short term studies. The Open-Label Study of Long-term Evaluation Against LDL-C (OSLER), and The Long-term Safety and Tolerability of Alirocumab in High Cardiovascular Risk Patients with Hypercholesterolemia Not Adequately Controlled with Their Lipid Modifying Therapy (ODYSSEY LONG TERM) studies are two phase 3, multicentre, randomized, placebo controlled studies that were conducted to evaluate the long term efficacy and safety of evolocumab and alirocumab respectively in reducing lipids and cardiovascular (CV) events. Both studies demonstrated additional 48–53% reduction of CV events when added to statin therapy. Most adverse events occurred with similar frequency in the two groups; however the rate of neurocognitive adverse events was higher with evolocumab and alirocumab than with placebo. These data provide strong support for the notion that lower LDL-C goal is better, and may confirm the role of PCSK9 inhibitors as a new frontier in lipid management. The results of larger long-term outcome studies are still awaited.
Long‐Term Treatment of Major Depressive Disorder With Paroxetine

Recurrent unipolar depression is a common, but undertreated disorder. Many patients require long-term maintenance therapy, and full doses of antidepressant agents may be preferred for the prevention of relapse. We report results of a 1-year, multicenter, open-label study of paroxetine (10 to 50 mg/day) in 433 patients with major depressive disorder, with additional data from 110 patients who entered a long-term extension of the study. The primary measures of efficacy were the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAM-D) total and Clinical Global Impression (CGI) severity of illness scores. During the first 6 weeks of therapy, the mean HAM-D total declined approximately 50% (from 27.9 to 13.5), with continued improvement, at an attenuated rate, throughout the first year. At the end of 1 year, the mean HAM-D total was 6.9. Similarly, the CGI severity of illness score declined from 4.6 at baseline to 2.8 at week 6 and to 1.7 at the end of 1 year. Remission was maintained in the population that entered the long-term extension, with mean HAM-D total and CGI severity of illness scores of 6.4 and 1.8, respectively, after 2.5 years, and 4.2 and 1.3 after 4 years. The most common adverse events reported during long-term treatment with paroxetine were somnolence, nausea, headache, and sweating. Pharmacokinetic analysis showed no clear correlation between the concentrations of paroxetine in plasma and either clinical efficacy or tolerability. There was no increased drug accumulation during long-term treatment. Side effects tended to occur early during therapy; and no new side effects emerged during the long-term extension. These results suggest that paroxetine is effective and well tolerated in the long-term treatment of depression.
INDUCTWISE: inductance-wise interconnect simulator and extractor

We have developed a robust, efficient, and accurate tool, which integrates inductance extraction and simulation, called INDUCTWISE. This paper advances the state-of-the-art inductance extraction and simulation techniques and contains two major parts. In the first part, INDUCTWISE extractor, we discovered that the recently proposed inductance matrix sparsification algorithm, the K-method, albeit its great benefit of efficiency, has a major flaw in the stability. We provide both a counter example and a remedy for it. A window section algorithm is also presented to preserve the accuracy of the sparsification method. The second part, the INDUCTWISE simulator, demonstrates great efficiency of integrating the nodal analysis formulation with the improved K-method. Experimental results show that INDUCTWISE has over 250/spl times/ speedup compared to SPICE3. The proposed sparsification algorithm accelerates the simulator another 175/spl times/ and speeds up the extractor 23.4/spl times/ within 0.1% of error. INDUCTWISE can extract and simulate an 118K-conductor RKC circuit within 18 minutes.
Morphology of the Dorsal Lingual Papillae in the Black Rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis)

The dorsal lingual surface of a black rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis) was examined by scanning electron microscopy. The tongue was about 30 cm in length. There were about 60 vallate papillae on both sides. Filiform, fungiform and vallate papillae were found. The filiform papillae were distributed over the entire dorsal surface of the tongue. The papillae had a hair‐like shape. The fungiform papillae were round in shape, and more densely distributed on the ligual apex. No foliate papillae were seen on the dorsal surface. The vallate papillae were located on both sides of the posterior end of the lingual body. Each papilla was surrounded by a groove.
Variations in stromal signatures in breast and colorectal cancer metastases

The tumour microenvironment (TME) plays an important role in tumour survival and growth, but little is known about the degree of preservation between different stromal response patterns found in primary tumours and their metastases. We have previously identified gene expression profiles for two distinct stromal signatures in breast carcinoma of fibroblast (aka DTF) and macrophage (aka CSF1) response and found them to be correlated with clinicopathological features, including outcome. In this study, we compare the DTF fibroblast and CSF1 macrophage stromal response patterns in primary breast and colorectal cancers to their matched lymph node metastases. In both breast and colorectal cancer, there was a significant positive correlation between the CSF1 macrophage signature in the primary tumours and the matched lymph node metastases, as assessed by immunohistochemical markers. No such correlation was observed for the DTF fibroblast signature. A similar result was seen in independent analysis of two published gene expression microarray datasets. The variations of these stromal reaction patterns from the primary to the metastasis shed light on the relationship between the neoplastic cells and the non‐neoplastic cells in the TME. The preservation of the CSF1 macrophage response pattern in metastases lends support to targeting the CSF1 pathway in cancer. Copyright © 2010 Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
The Determinants of Trust and Credibility in Environmental Risk Communication: An Empirical Study

This study examines a key component of environmental risk communication; trust and credibility. The study was conducted in two parts. In the first part, six hypotheses regarding the perceptions and determinants of trust and credibility were tested against survey data. The hypotheses were supported by the data. The most important hypothesis was that perceptions of trust and credibility are dependent on three factors: perceptions of knowledge and expertise; perceptions of openness and honesty; and perceptions of concern and care. In the second part, models were constructed with perceptions of trust and credibility as the dependent variable. The goal was to examine the data for findings with direct policy implications. One such finding was that defying a negative stereotype is key to improving perceptions of trust and credibility.
Benchmark computations of 3D laminar flow around a cylinder with CFX, OpenFOAM and FeatFlow

Numerically challenging, comprehensive benchmark cases are of great importance for researchers in the field of CFD. Numerical benchmark cases offer researchers frameworks to quantitatively explore limits of the computational tools and to validate them. Therefore, we focus on simulations of challenging benchmark tests, laminar and transient 3D flows around a cylinder, and aim to establish a new comprehensive benchmark case by doing direct numerical simulations with three distinct CFD software packages, OpenFOAM, Ansys-CFX and FeatFlow which employ different numerical approaches to the discretisation of the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations. All the software tools successfully pass the benchmark tests and show a good agreement such that the benchmark result was precisely determined. As a main result, the CFD software package with high order finite element approximation has been found to be computationally more efficient and accurate than the ones adopting low order space discretisation methods.
Alkaloids Isolated from the Lateral Root of Aconitum carmichaelii

Two new alkaloids, aconicarmine (1) and aconicaramide (5), were isolated from the EtOH extract of the lateral roots of Aconitum carmichaelii, together with five known compounds: fuziline (2), neoline (3), N-ethylhokbusine B (4), 5-hydroxymethylpyrrole-2-carbaldehyde (6), and oleracein E (7). Their structures were elucidated by physical and NMR analysis. Pyrrole alkaloids were isolated from A. carmichaelii for the first time. In the in vitro assays, compounds 2 and 3 showed activity against pentobarbital sodium-induced cardiomyocytes damage by obviously recovering beating rhythm and increasing the cell viability, while compounds 5 and 7 showed moderate antibacterial activity.
Internal Carotid Artery Stenosis: Natural History and Management

Extracranial internal carotid artery stenosis is an important cause of ipsilateral stroke. The natural history of the disease is related to the presence or absence of ipsilateral hemispheric symptoms and the severity of stenosis. Doppler ultrasound is commonly used as a screening test, with more advanced noninvasive imaging studies such as computerized tomography angiography (CTA) and magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) utilized as confirmatory tests if invasive treatment is contemplated. With less-invasive imaging techniques, traditional catheter angiography is rarely indicated for the diagnosis of carotid stenosis. Medical therapy remains the mainstay of treatment in patients with asymptomatic stenosis. Invasive treatment of asymptomatic internal carotid artery stenosis is indicated in a selected group of patients with severe stenosis and life expectancy exceeding 5 years. Invasive treatment is indicated for symptomatic patients with stenosis greater than 70% and in selected patients with recent symptoms and moderate (50% to 69%) stenosis. The risk of ipsilateral stroke is highest in the first few weeks following a presenting symptomatic event. Therefore, when indicated, invasive treatment of symptomatic disease should be considered soon after presenting symptoms to maximize the benefit of the procedure. Carotid endarterectomy (CEA) remains the gold standard for invasive treatment of internal carotid artery disease (symptomatic and asymptomatic). However, based on recent evidence, carotid angioplasty and stenting (CAS) is a valid alternative to CEA in an increasing percentage of patients in need of invasive treatment. Regardless of treatment modality, proper patient selection for invasive treatment remains the single most important factor to insure proper use of available technology.
On geometric properties of sets of positive reach in ${\bf E}^d$

Some geometric facts concerning sets with positive reach in the Euclidean $d$-dimensional space ${\bf E}^d$ are proved. For $x_1$ and $x_2$ in ${\bf E}^d$ and $R>0$ let us denote by ${\mathfrak H}(x_1,x_2,R)$ the intersection of all closed balls of radius $R$ containing $x_1$ and $x_2$. For a compact subset $K$ of ${bf E}^d$ we prove that ${\rm reach}(K)\ge R$ if and only if for every $x_1,x_2\in K$ such that $\Vert x_1-x_2\Vert 0$ and $D$ is a closed ball of radius less than or equal to $R$ (intersecting $K$) then ${\rm reach}(K\cap D)\ge R$. We also give a necessary and sufficient condition such that $A\subset{\bf E}^d$ admits a minimal cover (with respect to inclusion) of ${\rm reach}\ge R$.
Schizotypy, dissociative experiences and childhood abuse: relationships among self-report measures.

OBJECTIVES The traits and experiences that are seen as defining the schizophrenic and the dissociative disorders have been found to be present in continuously variable, non-pathological forms in the general population. Although the theoretical accounts that have been offered for the two kinds of disorder differ radically, there are reasons to expect that the measures that have been developed to assess schizotypal traits and dissociative experiences will be correlated. The aims of this study were to investigate the degree of correlation between measures and the extent to which the covariation can be explained by questionnaire items with similar content and experiences of childhood sexual and physical abuse. DESIGN Cross-sectional data from self-report measures completed by 224 participants were subjected to multivariate analyses. METHOD The Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES), three subscales from the Oxford-Liverpool Inventory of Feelings and Experiences (O-LIFE) and two items assessing childhood abuse were mailed to all adult members of a volunteer participant panel. RESULTS Moderately large correlations were found between the DES and both the Cognitive Disorganization and the Unusual Experiences subscales of the O-LIFE. These correlations were hardly affected when items with overlapping content were excluded. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses showed that the measures of abuse accounted for small but significant proportions of the variance in both the DES and the Unusual Experiences subscale, but large proportions of the covariation between the measures of dissociative experiences and schizotypy remained unexplained. CONCLUSION The substantial correlations between measures point to limitations in the discriminant validity of the DES and two of the O-LIFE subscales. Three possible explanations are offered for the observed associations between dissociative experiences and schizotypal traits.