Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The annual direct costs of stable COPD in Greece

Introduction Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) places a major burden on health care systems and has substantial economic effects; however, the cost of stable disease in Greece has never been thoroughly explored. The objective of the study was to estimate the annual COPD patient cost during the maintenance phase and explore the relationships between the cost and disease severity. Methods Data were collected from 245 COPD patients (male: 231, mean age: 69.5±8.8 years) who visited the outpatient unit of University Hospital of Larissa in 2014 and 2015. Patients were classified according to Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) guidelines, and the patients’ direct cost during the maintenance phase was calculated. Results Eleven percent of COPD patients were stage I, 48.2% were stage II, 29% were stage III, and 11.8% were stage IV. According to the GOLD groups, 23.3% of patients were grade A, 15.5% were grade B, 22.9% were grade C, and 38.4% were grade D. The mean annual direct cost for stable disease was estimated at €1,034.55 per patient, of which €222.94 corresponded to out-of-pocket payments. The annual cost ranged from €408.23 to €2,041.89 depending on GOLD stages (I–IV) and from €550.01 to €1,480.00 depending on GOLD groups (A–D). The key cost driver was pharmaceutical treatment, which reflected almost 71% of the total expenses for the management of stable disease. The mean annual per-patient cost was two to three times higher for those with advanced disease (stages III–IV) compared to those with stages I–II disease, and it doubled for “high-risk” patients (groups C–D) compared to “low-risk” patients (groups A–B). Conclusion The cost of COPD during the maintenance phase is remarkable, with the key cost driver found to be pharmaceutical treatment and social insurance funds the key payer for treating COPD patients in Greece. The cost of stable disease is proportional to the severity of COPD, and it is doubled in patients who belong to high-risk groups.
Effects of Natural Weathering on Properties of Recycled Newspaper-filled Polypropylene (PP)/Natural Rubber (NR) Composites

Natural weathering has been applied to investigate the properties of recycled newspaper (RNP)-filled polypropylene (PP)/natural rubber (NR) composites. Three sizes of RNP (11 mm, 23 mm, and 53 mm) were used in this study. These composites were subjected to natural weathering conditions; i.e, tropical climate in Penang, Malaysia, for 3 and 6 months. Different techniques including mechanical tests, Fourier transform infrared spectrometry (FTIR), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used in order to obtain a comprehensive view of degradation occurring during the natural weathering of the composites. Results of mechanical tests show that an increasing content of RNP in composites decreased the tensile strength and elongation at break (EB), while increasing the Young's modulus after exposure of 3 and 6 months. Scanning electron microscopy on surfaces after weathering shows that the filler was poorly wetted by the matrix. This explains the reduction in tensile strength and elongation at break after weathering. The Fourier transform infrared spectrometry results on the composites after exposure to natural weathering indicate the presence of carbonyl, vinyl, and hydroxyl groups, which formed from various chemical reactions taking place during weathering.
Ethanol-induced chromosomal abnormalities at conception

Preliminary findings have indicated that mouse eggs exposed briefly in vivo or in vitro to a dilute solution of ethanol activate parthenogenetically1,2. Cytogenetic analysis of the first-cleavage chromosomes of haploid parthenogenetic embryos indicated that up to 20% of this population were aneuploid as a result of non-disjunction2. Anaesthetics also can induce parthenogenesis of rodent eggs3–5, and in studies using anaesthetics6, colchicine3,7–9 and colcemid10, abnormal chromosome segregation and heteroploidy of rodent embryos have been observed. I now report that when recently mated female mice are given a dilute solution of ethanol by mouth, non-disjunction can be induced in the female-derived, but apparently not in the male-derived, chromosome set of fertilized eggs. Taken together, these findings suggest that ethanol consumption (as well as exposure to other ‘spindle-acting’ agents11,12) at the time of conception may be the cause of certain types of chromosomal defects commonly observed in human spontaneous abortions.
Tensile Strength of Some Natural-Fibre Composites

The conversion of natural fibre into biocomposites is rapidly being exploited globally. Locally, there are some viable natural fibres that can be utilised for this. In this research project, several types of composites were produced, all of which were made from natural fibres. Four different natural cellulosic fibres were chosen, namely, kenaf, pineapple (pina), banana and coir. Hybrids of kenaf blended with each of these fibres were also woven. The samples were woven manually as weft yarn while the warp yarn used plied polyester thread. The samples were fabricated into composites using four types of matrices which were epoxy, polyester, polypropylene and polyethylene. The composites were fabricated using the manual compression method. These composites were then tested for their tensile strength in weft direction. All results were also analysed using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and ranked accordingly. It was found that woven samples made of 100% kenaf fibre exhibited the best tensile strength for all types of resin while coir was found to be the poorest. All kenaf hybrid composites mostly exhibited better results than the non-hybrid composites.
When emotion and expression diverge: The social costs of Parkinson’s disease

ABSTRACT Introduction: Patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) are perceived more negatively than their healthy peers, yet it remains unclear what factors contribute to this negative social perception. Method: Based on a cohort of 17 PD patients and 20 healthy controls, we assessed how naïve raters judge the emotion and emotional intensity displayed in dynamic facial expressions as adults with and without PD watched emotionally evocative films (Experiment 1), and how age-matched peers naïve to patients’ disease status judge their social desirability along various dimensions from audiovisual stimuli (interview excerpts) recorded after certain films (Experiment 2). Results: In Experiment 1, participants with PD were rated as significantly more facially expressive than healthy controls; moreover, ratings demonstrated that PD patients were routinely mistaken for experiencing a negative emotion, whereas controls were rated as displaying a more positive emotion than they reported feeling. In Experiment 2, results showed that age-peers rated PD patients as significantly less socially desirable than control participants. Specifically, PD patients were rated as less involved, interested, friendly, intelligent, optimistic, attentive, and physically attractive than healthy controls. Conclusions: Taken together, our results point to a disconnect between how PD patients report feeling and attributions that others make about their emotions and social characteristics, underlining significant social challenges of the disease. In particular, changes in the ability to modulate the expression of negative emotions may contribute to the negative social impressions that many PD patients face.
Evaluation of Vitamin D3-Calcium Therapy in Rachitic Dogs

This study was designed to evaluate the influence of treatment on clinical signs, cortical indices (CI) of radius and ulna (measured radiographically), and serum concentrations of the Calcium (Ca), Phosphorus (P), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), 25-Hydroxyvitamin D and osteocalcin (OC, bone biomarker) in 12 rachitic dogs. The dogs were treated with vitamin D3 @ 20, 000 IU/kg body weight (BW) intramuscularly at a weekly interval along with daily oral Ca supplementation @ 25 mg/kg BW for two months. Dogs were re-evaluated at 30th and/or 60th day post-treatment. Nine apparently healthy dogs were kept as control for comparison of CI and biochemical parameters. Data were analysed by paired and two-sample t-tests. Results showed appreciable improvement in most of the clinical signs within the 1st month of treatment. When compared to control group, at day 0, serum P concentration did not vary significantly (p 0.05) while serum Ca increased (p<0.05) and ALP decreased (p<0.05) from the baseline values. There were significant differences between the pre-and post-treatment values of CI and Ca to P ratio (p<0.05). Serum concentrations of 25-Hydroxyvitamin D and OC increased post-treatment at day 60 (p<0.05). In this study, treatment with vitamin D3 and Ca stimulated bone remodelling, as demonstrated clinically and by significant increase in the serum concentrations Ca, 25-Hydroxyvitamin D and OC.
Rheological behavior of alginate solutions for biomanufacturing

The rheological behavior of alginate solutions were investigated for the optimal design of a biomanufacturing system to produce alginate structures for tissue engineering. Its rheological properties were determined by a rheometer through rotational and oscillatory tests. Experimental results were used to model the alginate solutions characteristics. The findings suggest that alginate solutions undergo shear-thinning effects with increasing shear rates. It is also possible to observe that its loss modulus is higher than the storage modulus ones being both modulus dependent upon the frequency, which is a typical characteristic of dilute solutions. 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2009
A dietary pattern derived to explain biomarker variation is strongly associated with the risk of coronary artery disease.

BACKGROUND In previous studies, dietary patterns were derived in different populations without regard to a specific outcome. OBJECTIVE The objective was to apply a new statistical method to construct a specific dietary pattern that is strongly associated with the risk of coronary artery disease (CAD). DESIGN We applied reduced rank regression to a sample of 200 cases and 255 controls from the Coronary Risk Factors for Atherosclerosis in Women (CORA) Study. The CAD-specific dietary pattern was constructed by choosing intake data for 49 food groups as predictors and 5 established biomarkers for CAD as responses. RESULTS A high score for the constructed dietary pattern was characterized by high intakes of meat, margarine, poultry, and sauce and low intakes of vegetarian dishes, wine, vegetables, and whole-grain cereals. After adjustment for known CAD risk factors, the relative risks from the lowest to the highest quintiles of the pattern score were 1.0, 1.1, 3.6, 6.2, and 12.3 (95% CI: 4.9, 30.9; P for trend < 0.0001). There was an approximate 4.5-fold difference in C-reactive protein and a 2-fold difference in C-peptide between the highest and lowest score quintiles of the study population. HDL-cholesterol concentrations ranged from 70 mg/dL in the lowest quintile to 49 mg/dL in the highest quintile of dietary pattern score. CONCLUSION The new statistical method, reduced rank regression, may be a useful tool for identifying dietary patterns that simultaneously affect the concentrations of known CAD biomarkers and the risk of developing CAD.
The role of number of meals, coffee intake, salt and type of cookware on colorectal cancer development in the context of the Mediterranean diet

Abstract Objective To investigate the association between dietary behaviours and colorectal cancer (CRC) in the context of the Mediterranean diet. Design Case–control study. Setting All patients (cases) were recruited from Saint Savvas Cancer Hospital and Alexandra General Hospital in Athens, Greece. Controls were voluntarily selected from the general population and matched to cases by age group (±10 years) and sex. Subjects Two hundred and fifty cases with newly diagnosed CRC (mean age 63 (sd 12) years, 59·6 % males) and 250 controls matched on age and sex were studied. A standardized questionnaire assessing sociodemographic, clinical, lifestyle, dietary characteristics and nutritional behaviours was applied. Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to evaluate the aforementioned factors in addition to the MedDietScore (an index that evaluates adherence to the Mediterranean diet) on CRC development. Results The higher the daily number of meals, the lower the likelihood of having CRC (OR = 0·74, 95 % CI 0·61, 0·89); coffee drinking was associated with higher likelihood of having CRC (OR = 3·27, 95 % CI 1·09, 9·8); the use of non-stick cookware was positively associated with CRC (OR = 1·57, 95 % CI 1·02, 2·4). However, these associations slightly lost their significance when adherence to the Mediterranean diet was taken into account. Moreover, a 1/75 increase in the modified-MedDietScore plus the aforementioned nutritional behaviours was associated with 13 % lower odds (95 % CI 0·83, 0·91, P < 0·001) of having CRC. Conclusions Nutritional behaviours in addition to dietary habits should be taken into account in detecting individuals prone to the development of CRC.
Empirical Study of Influential Factors of Online

There is not a unanimous conclusion about the influential elements of online customers’ repurchase intention. We established a concept model and discussed how utilitarian values (perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness), social values (satisfaction and trust) and the hedonic value (perceived enjoyment) directly and indirectly influenced customers’ repurchase intention in the context of online shopping. It adapted questionnaire to collect data and testified the hypothesis by structural equation model. The results showed that perceived usefulness, online customers’ satisfaction and perceived enjoyment had significantly positive impact on online customers’ repurchase intention. Moreover, we found that compared with utilitarian factors, the hedonic factor had a stronger positive impact on repurchase intention.
Thin Film Deposition on Open-Cell Foams by Atmospheric Pressure Dielectric Barrier Discharges

Thin films are deposited on open-cell polyurethane (PU) foams using an atmospheric pressure dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) fed with helium and hexafluoropropene (C3F6). During deposition processes, a foam substrate is sandwiched between the dielectric-covered electrodes of a parallel plate DBD reactor, so that the discharge can ignite also inside its three-dimensional (3D) interconnected porous structure. This affords the deposition of a fluorocarbon coating on both the exterior and interior of the foam. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) observations allow estimating the thickness of the coating deposited on the foam struts, while X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analyses show moderate changes in surface chemical composition moving from the outer to the inner surfaces of the plasma-treated foams under all explored experimental conditions.
Implant Supported Fixed Dental Prostheses Using a New Monotype Zirconia Implant—A Case Report

Currently, titanium or specific titanium alloys are the most often used materials for the fabrication of dental implants. Many studies have confirmed the osseointegrative capacity and clinical long-term performance of moderately rough titanium implants. However, disadvantages have also been reported with regard to peri-implant infections and the titanium metal properties. Tooth colored ceramic implants have attracted the interest of clinicians since the end of the 1960s. Initially, alumina was used for the fabrication of ceramic implants; however, due to the poor biomechanical properties, alumina implants are not commercially available any more. Since end of the 1990s, zirconia has been established in dentistry due to its superior biomechanical properties compared to other oxide ceramics such as alumina. Currently, zirconia is the material of choice for the fabrication of ceramic implants. Zirconia implants show superior biocompatibility compared to titanium and other metals. Additionally, it has been reported that zirconia implants with a micro-rough surface topography show at least a comparable osseointegrative capacity and similar clinical survival rates to moderately rough titanium implants. The present case reports a fixed implant-supported reconstruction of a large edentulous space with compromised local bone conditions using new monotype zirconia dental implants with a micro-rough surface topography.
Corrosion behaviour of a dissimilar joint TIG weld between austenitic AISI 316L and ferritic AISI 444 stainless steels

Abstract The AISI 444 stainless steel (SS) has become an option to substitute the AISI 316L SS because of its low cost and satisfactory corrosion resistance. However, the use of AISI 444 alloy tubes in heat exchangers causes the welding of a dissimilar joint. The aim of this study was evaluate the corrosion resistance of the tube-to-tubesheet welded by a TIG process composed of AISI 316L and AISI 444. Preparation of samples was executed through replication of tube-to-tubesheet joints. In order to test the corrosion resistance of the welded joint, the following tests were applied: sensitisation, mass loss from room temperature up to 90 °C and electrochemical corrosion tests in 0.5 mol/L HCl and 0.5 mol/L H2SO4 electrolytes. The results have shown that the dissimilar joint suffers galvanic corrosion with increased degradation of the heat-affected zone of the AISI 444 tube. Nevertheless, the mechanisms of localised corrosion (pit and intergranular) were more active in the AISI 316L alloy. It is concluded that the dissimilar joint showed better corrosion resistance than the welded joint composed solely of AISI 316L at temperatures up to 70 °C, as the conditions observed in this work.
Symmetries of 2-Lattices and Second Order Accuracy of the Cauchy-Born Model

We show that the Cauchy--Born model of a single-species 2-lattice is second order if the atomistic and continuum kinematics are connected in a novel way. Our proof uses a generalization to 2-lattices of the point symmetry of Bravais lattices. Moreover, by identifying similar symmetries in multispecies pair interaction models, we construct a new stored energy density, using shift gradients but not strain gradients, that is also second order accurate. These results can be used to develop highly accurate continuum models and atomistic/continuum coupling methods for materials such as graphene, hcp metals, and shape memory alloys.
Guided maxillary sinus floor elevation using deproteinized bovine bone versus graftless Schneiderian membrane elevation with simultaneous implant placement: Randomized clinical trial

OBJECTIVE The aim of this study is to evaluate the analytical difference between the use of xenograft (control group) and graftless tenting (test group) technique after sinus lift procedure with simultaneous implant placement. MATERIALS AND METHODS Seventeen patients and 20 sinuses where operated for sinus lift procedures using lateral window approach with simultaneous implant placement. Deproteinized bovine bone (Xenograft) was used as a filling material in control group while nongrafted sinus lifting was performed in the test group. Multislice CT was obtained preoperatively and CBCT were obtained immediately postoperative and 6 months after operation. Osstell readings were taken at the time of implant placement and implant exposure (6 months) RESULTS: Mean bone height gain in the xenograft group was 8.59 ± 0.74 while that of the tenting group was 4.85 ± 0.5 and it was statistically significant (P < .05). Mean bone density values in the xenograft group was 375.59 ± 49.38 while that of the tenting group was 269.08 ± 16.27 and it was statistically significant (P < .05). Mean ISQ values for the xenograft group was 78.3 ± 5.08 while that of the tenting group was 74 ± 3.19 and it was statistically significant (P < .05). CONCLUSIONS Within the limitation of this study, sinus lift procedures with simultaneous implant placement using xenograft as a filling material or graftless technique are considered reliable procedures, however, the use of xenograft provide better results in all aspects regarding (bone height gain, bone density, and implant stability).
Enzymatic Antioxidant Systems in Early Anaerobes: Theoretical Considerations.

UNLABELLED It is widely accepted that cyanobacteria-dependent oxygen that was released into Earth's atmosphere ca. 2.5 billion years ago sparked the evolution of the aerobic metabolism and the antioxidant system. In modern aerobes, enzymes such as superoxide dismutases (SODs), peroxiredoxins (PXs), and catalases (CATs) constitute the core of the enzymatic antioxidant system (EAS) directed against reactive oxygen species (ROS). In many anaerobic prokaryotes, the superoxide reductases (SORs) have been identified as the main force in counteracting ROS toxicity. We found that 93% of the analyzed strict anaerobes possess at least one antioxidant enzyme, and 50% have a functional EAS, that is, consisting of at least two antioxidant enzymes: one for superoxide anion radical detoxification and another for hydrogen peroxide decomposition. The results presented here suggest that the last universal common ancestor (LUCA) was not a strict anaerobe. O2 could have been available for the first microorganisms before oxygenic photosynthesis evolved, however, from the intrinsic activity of EAS, not solely from abiotic sources. KEY WORDS Archaea-Atmospheric gases-Evolution-H2O2 resistance-Oxygenic photosynthesis. Astrobiology 16, 348-358.
Communication context, explanation, and social judgment

The effects of the communication context on explanations and judgments were investigated in two experiments where participants explained a boy's violent behavior either to a disciplinarian or to a permissive addressee. The results of Study 1 showed that the participants' explanations varied as a function of communication context, but their judgments of responsibility were not influenced. In Study 2, the communication demand was either subtle or blatant. The participants' explanations varied as a function of communication context independently from the communication demand. However, participants' responsibility judgments were influenced only when this demand was subtle. The implications of this for explanations in everyday social settings are considered. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.