Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Efficacy and safety of buprenorphine in peripheral nerve blocks: A meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials.

BACKGROUND The duration of analgesia provided by nerve blocks is limited if local anaesthetics are administered alone. Therefore, a variety of additives to local anaesthetics have been investigated to prolong postoperative analgesia following single-shot nerve blocks. OBJECTIVE(S) The aims of the current meta-analysis were to assess the efficacy and safety of the addition of perineural buprenorphine to local anaesthetic compared with local anaesthetic alone, or combined with systemic administration of buprenorphine, or other perineural opioids for peripheral nerve blocks. DESIGN Systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials (RCTs). DATA SOURCES The following data sources were systematically searched: MEDLINE, CENTRAL and EMBASE (till 03/2016). ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA All RCTs focusing on the efficacy and safety of perineural buprenorphine combined with local anaesthetic compared with local anaesthetic alone, or in combination with systemic buprenorphine, or other perineural opioids for peripheral nerve blocks were included. RESULTS We included 13 RCTs (685 patients). Participants treated with perineural buprenorphine combined with local anaesthetic showed a longer duration of analgesia compared with those receiving local anaesthetic alone [mean difference 8.64 h, 95% confidence interval (CI) (6.44 to 10.85); P < 0.01]. However, the buprenorphine group had a significantly higher relative risk (RR) for postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) [RR 5.0, 95% CI (1.12 to 22.27); P = 0.03]. The perineural administration of buprenorphine provided a longer duration of analgesia than an intramuscular application [mean difference 6.87 h, 95% CI (4.02 to 9.71); P < 0.01] without evidence of a difference in the incidence of PONV between the modes of administration [RR 0.76, 95% CI (0.28 to 2.03); P = 0.58]. CONCLUSION This meta-analysis revealed that the addition of buprenorphine to a local anaesthetic peripheral nerve block prolongs postoperative analgesia for about 8 h but significantly increases the risk for PONV. Perineural administration is more effective than systemic application but is associated with a similar risk of PONV. However, these results were influenced by heterogeneity so that further trials (especially head-to-head comparisons) are needed in the future. TRIAL REGISTRATION PROSPERO(www.crd.york.ac.uk) identifier: CRD42016036054.
Efficient computation of the exponential operator for large, sparse, symmetric matrices

In this paper we compare Krylov subspace methods with Chebyshev series expansion for approximating the matrix exponential operator on large, sparse, symmetric matrices. Experimental results upon negative-definite matrices with very large size, arising from (2D and 3D) FE and FD spatial discretization of linear parabolic PDEs, demonstrate that the Chebyshev method can be an effective alternative to Krylov techniques, especially when memory bounds do not allow the storage of all Ritz vectors. We discuss also sensitivity of Chebyshev convergence to extreme eigenvalue approximation, as well as reliability of various a priori and a posteriori error estimates for both methods.
High-accuracy Annotation and Parsing of CHILDES Transcripts

Corpora of child language are essential for psycholinguistic research. Linguistic annotation of the corpora provides researchers with better means for exploring the development of grammatical constructions and their usage. We describe an ongoing project that aims to annotate the English section of the CHILDES database with grammatical relations in the form of labeled dependency structures. To date, we have produced a corpus of over 65,000 words with manually curated gold-standard grammatical relation annotations. Using this corpus, we have developed a highly accurate data-driven parser for English CHILDES data. The parser and the manually annotated data are freely available for research purposes.
Emergency Excision of Cardiac Myxoma and Endovascular Coiling of Intracranial Aneurysm after Cerebral Infarction

Cardiac myxoma is the most common primary tumor of the heart, located mainly in the left atrium. Cerebral embolization or intracranial aneurysm formation as a consequence of left atrial myxomas has been well documented, whereas myxoma embolization causing the combination of cerebral infarction and intracranial myxomatous aneurysm is rare. We report herein, a 67-year-old female with a cardiac myxoma who experienced a left hemispheric embolic ischemic stroke and in addition was found to have right internal carotid artery aneurysm. The patient underwent emergency surgical excision of left atrial myxoma 2 hours after the stroke onset and endovascular coiling of the aneurysm a week later. Although the timing of cardiac surgery is controversial in patients who have had recent ischemic stroke, we recommend immediate resection of cardiac myxoma, if feasible, and early endovascular treatment of associated intracranial myxomatous aneurysms.
‘Microperc’ micro percutaneous nephrolithotomy: evidence to practice

Purpose of review Miniaturization of instruments in percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL) has spawned an interest in so-called ‘microperc’ in which the procedure is carried out through 16-gauge needle. Recent findings The greatest limitation of extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy is its unpredictable results. The main limitation of retrograde intrarenal surgery is high sustainable cost and poor durability. The main limitation of PCNL is its invasiveness and associated morbidity. The interest in reducing the tract size was to potentially reduce the invasiveness of the procedure, and, therefore, attending complications. In a historical study, postrenal biopsy bleeding was found to be significant only after the tract of the needle was less than 16 gauge. Microperc extended the concept of ‘All-seeing needle’ to perform PCNL through a 4.85-Fr (16 gauge) tract. The working hypothesis of the ‘All-seeing needle’ is that if the initial tract is perfect, then the tract-related morbidity could be reduced. The optical needle helps to avoid any traversing viscera and confirms the visual cues of a correct papilla. The other advantage of microperc is that it is a novel single-step renal access procedure, resulting in a shorter insertion to lithotripsy time. This may provide a new standard of obtaining renal access. Summary Only a few published studies have documented efficacy and safety. Till further prospective and multicentric articles are published, it is still an experimental procedure requiring further research.
Characterization of shed medicinal leech mucus reveals a diverse microbiota

Microbial transmission through mucosal-mediated mechanisms is widespread throughout the animal kingdom. One example of this occurs with Hirudo verbana, the medicinal leech, where host attraction to shed conspecific mucus facilitates horizontal transmission of a predominant gut symbiont, the Gammaproteobacterium Aeromonas veronii. However, whether this mucus may harbor other bacteria has not been examined. Here, we characterize the microbiota of shed leech mucus through Illumina deep sequencing of the V3-V4 hypervariable region of the 16S rRNA gene. Additionally, Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (RFLP) typing with subsequent Sanger Sequencing of a 16S rRNA gene clone library provided qualitative confirmation of the microbial composition. Phylogenetic analyses of full-length 16S rRNA sequences were performed to examine microbial taxonomic distribution. Analyses using both technologies indicate the dominance of the Bacteroidetes and Proteobacteria phyla within the mucus microbiota. We determined the presence of other previously described leech symbionts, in addition to a number of putative novel leech-associated bacteria. A second predominant gut symbiont, the Rikenella-like bacteria, was also identified within mucus and exhibited similar population dynamics to A. veronii, suggesting persistence in syntrophy beyond the gut. Interestingly, the most abundant bacterial genus belonged to Pedobacter, which includes members capable of producing heparinase, an enzyme that degrades the anticoagulant, heparin. Additionally, bacteria associated with denitrification and sulfate cycling were observed, indicating an abundance of these anions within mucus, likely originating from the leech excretory system. A diverse microbiota harbored within shed mucus has significant potential implications for the evolution of microbiomes, including opportunities for gene transfer and utility in host capture of a diverse group of symbionts.
Common genetic control of haemangioblast and cardiac development in zebrafish

Over the past few years it has become clear that over half of the mammalian heart derives from outside the heart field as originally defined. Such a second heart field, however, has not been described in zebrafish, which could explain its smaller, two-chambered heart. Instead, zebrafish have a population of haemangioblasts, which is absent in mammalian embryos, raising the possibility that these cells represent the evolutionary ancestor of the second heart field. Here, we show for the first time that the genetic programmes of these anterior haemangioblasts and the adjacent heart field are co-regulated, by transcription factors previously associated with heart but not blood or endothelial development. We demonstrate that gata4, gata5 and gata6 are essential for anterior haemangioblast specification, and for subsequent myelopoiesis, acting as early as cloche and upstream of scl. The requirement for gata4, gata5 and gata6 in myeloid, endothelial and cardiac specification is in the mesoderm, but these factors also control, from within the endoderm and the yolk syncytial layer, the migration of the cardiac precursors as they differentiate. This genetic link between the blood/endothelial and cardiac programmes supports the notion that this haemangioblast population in zebrafish is an evolutionary antecedent of the second heart field, and has implications for the differentiation of haemangioblasts and cardiomyocytes from pluripotent cells, and for the origins of stem cells in the adult heart.
Willingness to Communicate in English as a Second Language: A Case Study of Pakistani Undergraduates

Willingness to communicate (WTC) construct plays an important role in second language teaching and learning. Almost any second language learner is likely to respond to a direct question, but many will not continue or initiate communication. The present study investigates Pakistani undergraduate students' perceptions of their willingness to initiate communication in English across four types of context and three types of receiver. 170 Pakistani undergraduate students participated in this quantitative study. The results reveal that Pakistani collage students’ WTC is relatively high. They preferred to initiate talk in English with friends and acquaintances rather than with strangers. Furthermore, they seemed to prefer to initiate communication in private, rather than communicating in front of a large group and public speaking. Pakistani participants were found most willing to communicate in English to small group of friends, while least willing to give a presentation in English in front of large group of strangers. Keywords: Willingness to communicate, context- type, receiver- type, Pakistani undergraduates
A Model for Measurement Error for Gene Expression Arrays

We introduce a model for measurement error in gene expression arrays as a function of the expression level. This model, together with analysis methods, data transformations, and weighting, allows much more precise comparisons of gene expression, and provides guidance for analysis of background, determination of confidence intervals, and preprocessing data for multivariate analysis.
The pre‐synaptic motor nerve terminal as a site for antibody‐mediated neurotoxicity in autoimmune neuropathies and synaptopathies

The pre‐synaptic motor nerve terminal is a highly complex and dynamic compartment within the lower motor neuron responsible for converting electrical signals into secreted chemicals. This self‐renewing process of synaptic transmission is accomplished by the calcium‐triggered fusion of neurotransmitter‐containing vesicles with the plasma membrane and the subsequent retrieval and recycling of vesicle components. Besides this conventional physiological role, the highly active process of vesicle fusion and re‐uptake into endosomal sorting pathways acts as a conduit for entry of a range of substances into the intracellular compartment of the motor nerve terminal. Whilst this entry portal sub‐serves many vital physiological processes, such as those mediated by neurotrophin trafficking, there is also the potential for substantial pathological consequences resulting from uptake of noxious agents, including autoantibodies, viruses and toxins. These may act locally to induce disease within the nerve terminal, or traffic beyond to the motor neuron cell body and central nervous system to exert their pathological effects. This review focuses on the recent evidence that the ganglioside‐rich pre‐synaptic membrane acts as a binding site for potentially neurotoxic serum autoantibodies that are present in human autoimmune motor neuropathies. Autoantibodies that bind surface antigens induce membrane lytic effects, whereas their uptake attenuates local injury and transfers any potential pathological consequences to the intracellular compartment. Herein the thesis is explored that a balance exists between local injury at the exofacial leaflet of the pre‐synaptic membrane and antibody uptake, which dictates the overall level and site of motor nerve injury in this group of disorders.
A Study of Functional Anatomy of Aortic-Mitral Valve Coupling Using 3D Matrix Transesophageal Echocardiography

Background—Mitral and aortic valves are known to be coupled via fibrous tissue connecting the two annuli. Previous studies evaluating this coupling have been limited to experimental animals using invasive techniques. The new matrix array transesophageal transducer provides high-resolution real-time 3D images of both valves simultaneously. We sought to develop and test a technique for quantitative assessment of mitral and aortic valve dynamics and coupling. Methods and Results—Matrix array transesophageal (Philips iE33) imaging was performed in 24 patients with normal valves who underwent clinically indicated transesophageal echocardiography. Custom software was used to detect and track the mitral and aortic annuli in 3D space throughout the cardiac cycle, allowing automated measurement of changes in mitral and aortic valve morphology. Mitral annulus surface area and aortic annulus projected area changed reciprocally over time. Mitral annulus surface area was 8.0±2.1 cm2 at end-diastole and decreased to 7.7±2.1 cm2 in systole, reaching its maximum (10.0±2.2 cm2) at mitral valve opening. Aortic annulus projected area was 4.1±1.2 cm2 at end-diastole, then increased during isovolumic contraction reaching its maximum (4.8±1.3 cm2) in the first third of systole and its minimum (3.6±1.0 cm2) during isovolumic relaxation. The angle between the mitral and aortic annuli was maximum (136±13°) at end-diastole and decreased to its minimum value (129±11°) during systole. Conclusions—This is the first study to report quantitative 3D assessment of the mitral and aortic valve dynamics from matrix array transesophageal images and describe the mitral-aortic coupling in a beating human heart. This ability may have impact on patient evaluation for valvular surgical interventions and prosthesis design.
Estimates of the Effect of Natural Selection on Protein-Coding Content

Analysis of natural selection is key to understanding many core biological processes, including the emergence of competition, cooperation, and complexity, and has important applications in the targeted development of vaccines. Selection is hard to observe directly but can be inferred from molecular sequence variation. For protein-coding nucleotide sequences, the ratio of nonsynonymous to synonymous substitutions (ω) distinguishes neutrally evolving sequences (ω = 1) from those subjected to purifying (ω < 1) or positive Darwinian (ω > 1) selection. We show that current models used to estimate ω are substantially biased by naturally occurring sequence compositions. We present a novel model that weights substitutions by conditional nucleotide frequencies and which escapes these artifacts. Applying it to the genomes of pathogens causing malaria, leprosy, tuberculosis, and Lyme disease gave significant discrepancies in estimates with ∼10–30% of genes affected. Our work has substantial implications for how vaccine targets are chosen and for studying the molecular basis of adaptive evolution.
The Unanticipated Interpersonal and Societal Consequences of Choice

Choice makes North Americans feel more in control, free, and independent, and thus has many positive consequences for individuals’ motivation and well-being. We report five studies that uncovered novel consequences of choice for public policy and interpersonal judgments. Studies 1 through 3 found that activating the concept of choice decreases support for policies promoting intergroup equality (e.g., affirmative action) and societal benefits (e.g., reducing environmental pollution), but increases support for policies promoting individual rights (e.g., legalizing drugs). Studies 4 and 5 found that activating the concept of choice increases victim blaming and decreases empathy for disadvantaged people. Study 5 found that choice does not decrease Indians’ empathy for disadvantaged individuals, indicating that the social and interpersonal consequences of choice are likely culture-specific. This research suggests that the well-known positive effects of choice for individuals can be accompanied by an array of previously unexamined and potentially negative outcomes for other people and for society.
Neoproterozoic–Early Paleozoic Tectonic Evolution of the South China Craton: New Insights from the Polyphase Deformation in the Southwestern Jiangnan Orogen

A >1500–km–long northeast–southwest trending Neoproterozoic metamorphic belt in the South China Craton (SCC) consists of subduction mélange and extensional basin deposits. This belt is present under an unconformity of Devonian–Carboniferous sediments. Tectonic evolution of the Neoproterozoic rocks is crucial to determining the geology of the SCC and further influences the reconstruction of the Rodinia supercontinent. A subduction mélange unit enclosed ca.1000–850–Ma mafic blocks, which defined a Neoproterozoic ocean that existed within the SCC, is exposed at the bottom of the Jiangnan Orogen (JO) and experienced at least two phases deformation. Combined with new (detrital) zircon U–Pb ages from metasandstones, as well as igneous rocks within the metamorphic belt, we restrict the strongly deformed subduction mélange as younger than the minimum detrital age ca. 835 Ma and older than the ca. 815 Ma intruded granite. Unconformably overlying the subduction mélange and the intruded granite, an intra–continental rift basin developed <800 Ma that involved abundant mantle inputs, such as mafic dikes. This stratum only experienced one main phase deformation. According to our white mica 40Ar/30Ar data and previously documented thermochronology, both the Neoproterozoic mélange and younger strata were exhumed by a 490–400–Ma crustal–scale positive flower structure. This orogenic event probably induced the thick–skinned structures and was accompanied by crustal thickening, metamorphism and magmatism and led to the closure of the pre–existing rift basin. Integrating previously published data and our new results, we agree that the SCC was located on the periphery of the Rodinia supercontinent from the Neoproterozic until the Ordovician. Furthermore, we prefer that the convergence and dispersal of the SCC were primarily controlled by oceanic subduction forces that occurred within or periphery of the SCC.
Enriching cross-curricular work by involving complementary schools

Language is learned most effectively as a tool of communication and understanding, whether it is children’s mother tongue, a second language or a foreign language. Vygotskyan theory highlights this by explaining how learners move from interpersonal to intrapersonal understandings, internalising language and concepts constructed through interactions with others (Vygotsky, 1962). The principle of mainstreaming for children learning English as an Additional Language is based on the idea that they will acquire English more quickly by engaging with the curriculum with the help of peers and teachers. Meanwhile, the increasingly popular foreign language teaching approach of CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) has shown that learning geography through French, for example, aids achievement in both subjects (Coyle et al, 2010).
Spatial Variability of Benthic-Pelagic Coupling in an Estuary Ecosystem: Consequences for Microphytobenthos Resuspension Phenomenon

The high degree of physical factors in intertidal estuarine ecosystem increases material processing between benthic and pelagic compartments. In these ecosystems, microphytobenthos resuspension is a major phenomenon since its contribution to higher trophic levels can be highly significant. Understanding the sediment and associated microphytobenthos resuspension and its fate in the water column is indispensable for measuring the food available to benthic and pelagic food webs. To identify and hierarchize the physical/biological factors potentially involved in MPB resuspension, the entire intertidal area and surrounding water column of an estuarine ecosystem, the Bay des Veys, was sampled during ebb tide. A wide range of physical parameters (hydrodynamic regime, grain size of the sediment, and suspended matter) and biological parameters (flora and fauna assemblages, chlorophyll) were analyzed to characterize benthic-pelagic coupling at the bay scale. Samples were collected in two contrasted periods, spring and late summer, to assess the impact of forcing variables on benthic-pelagic coupling. A mapping approach using kriging interpolation enabled us to overlay benthic and pelagic maps of physical and biological variables, for both hydrological conditions and trophic indicators. Pelagic Chl a concentration was the best predictor explaining the suspension-feeders spatial distribution. Our results also suggest a perennial spatio-temporal structure of both benthic and pelagic compartments in the ecosystem, at least when the system is not imposed to intense wind, with MPB distribution controlled by both grain size and bathymetry. The benthic component appeared to control the pelagic one via resuspension phenomena at the scale of the bay. Co-inertia analysis showed closer benthic-pelagic coupling between the variables in spring. The higher MPB biomass observed in summer suggests a higher contribution to filter-feeders diets, indicating a higher resuspension effect in summer than in spring, in turn suggesting an important role of macrofauna bioturbation and filter feeding (Cerastoderma edule).
Arthroscopic Bankart repair for traumatic anterior shoulder instability with the use of suture anchors

Introduction: The arthroscopic method offers a less invasive technique of Bankart repair for traumatic anterior shoulder instability. The results continue to improve with the advancements made in instrumentation and technique. This study aims to evaluate the outcome of arthroscopic Bankart repair with the use of suture anchors for cases that were followed-up for at least two years from the date of surgery. Methods: This was a consecutive series of 40 shoulders in 37 patients who underwent arthroscopic Bankart repair with suture anchor. The mean age at the time of operation was 26.3 years. The patients were assessed with two different outcome measurement tools (the University of California at Los Angeles [UCLA] shoulder rating scale and simple shoulder test [SST] score). The mean duration of follow-up was 30.2 months. The recurrence rate, range of motion, and postoperative function were