Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Regional Anesthesia in Patients With Preexisting Neurologic Disease

What’s New Since publication of initial recommendations in 2008, there is limited new information regarding the performance of regional anesthesia in patients with preexisting neurologic diseases. However, the strength of evidence has increased since 2008 regarding (1) the concern that diabetic nerves are more sensitive to local anesthetics and perhaps more susceptible to injury and (2) the concern that performing neuraxial anesthesia and analgesia in patients with preexisting spinal canal pathology may increase the risk of new or worsening neurologic symptoms. This increased evidence reinforces our initial recommendations. In addition, since the initial recommendations in 2008, the concept of postsurgical inflammatory neuropathy has been described and is potentially a contributor to postoperative neurologic dysfunction.
Timing of Histologic Progression from Chorio-Deciduitis to Chorio-Deciduo-Amnionitis in the Setting of Preterm Labor and Preterm Premature Rupture of Membranes with Sterile Amniotic Fluid

Background Histologic chorio-deciduitis and chorio-deciduo-amnionitis (amnionitis) in extra-placental membranes are known to represent the early and advanced stages of ascending intra-uterine infection. However, there are no data in humans about the time required for chorio-deciduitis to develop and for chorio-deciduitis without amnionitis to progress to chorio-deciduitis with amnionitis, and the effect of prolongation of pregnancy on the development of chorio-deciduitis and amnionitis in patients with preterm labor and intact membranes (PTL) and preterm premature rupture of membranes (preterm-PROM). We examined these issues in this study. Methods The study population consisted of 289 women who delivered preterm (133 cases with PTL, and 156 cases with preterm-PROM) and who had sterile amniotic fluid (AF) defined as a negative AF culture and the absence of inflammation as evidenced by a matrix metalloproteinase-8 (MMP-8) level <23 ng/ml. We examined the association between amniocentesis-to-delivery interval and inflammatory status in the extra-placental membranes (i.e., inflammation-free extra-placental membranes, choroi-deciduitis only, and chorio-deciduitis with amnionitis) in patients with PTL and preterm-PROM. Results Amniocentesis-to-delivery interval was longer in cases of chorio-deciduitis with amnionitis than in cases of chorio-deciduitis only in both PTL (median [interquartile-range (IQR)]; 645.4 [319.5] vs. 113.9 [526.9] hours; P = 0.005) and preterm-PROM (131.3 [135.4] vs. 95.2 [140.5] hours; P<0.05). Amniocentesis-to-delivery interval was an independent predictor of the development of both chorio-deciduitis and amnionitis after correction for confounding variables such as gestational age at delivery in the setting of PTL, but not preterm-PROM. Conclusions These data confirm for the first time that, in cases of both PTL and preterm-PROM with sterile AF, more time is required to develop chorio-deciduitis with amnionitis than chorio-deciduitis alone in extra-placental membranes. Moreover, prolongation of pregnancy is an independent predictor of the development of both chorio-deciduitis and amnionitis in cases of PTL with sterile AF.
A Preliminary Assessment of the Critical Differences Between Novel Oral Anticoagulants Currently in Development

Chronic anticoagulation represents a clinical conundrum for the health care community that balances unquestionable morbidity and mortality benefits against interindividual variability, leading to drug interactions, adverse events, and thromoembolic events related to underdosing. Despite the growing data regarding the appropriate use and dosing of agents used for chronic anticoagulation, use in clinical practice remains low, thus leading to a theoretical reduction in the risk‐to‐benefit ratio in the clinical setting relative to that reported in the literature. Oral anticoagulants currently in development represent a heterogeneous group of compounds that are specific for the final common pathway in the coagulation cascade and show indications toward a reduced drug interaction profile, reduced interpatient variation in pharmacokinetic parameters, and morbidity and mortality benefits that might be similar to currently available treatment modalities. This review highlights the critical differences among oral anticoagulants in development and places their role in the context of the benefits and limitations of currently available anticoagulants.
Determination of four biochemically distinct, sequential stages during vacuole inheritance in vitro

Vacuole inheritance in Saccharomyces cerevisiae can be reconstituted in vitro using isolated organelles, cytosol, and ATP. Using the requirements of the reaction and its susceptibility to inhibitors, we have divided the in vitro reaction into four biochemically distinct, sequential subreactions. Stage I requires exposure of vacuoles to solutions of moderate ionic strength. Stage II requires "stage I" vacuoles and cytosol. In stage III, stage II vacuoles react with ATP. Finally, during stage IV, stage III vacuoles at a certain, minimal concentration complete the fusion reaction without further requirement for any soluble components. Reagents that inhibit the overall vacuole inheritance reaction block distinct stages. Stage III of the reaction is sensitive to the proton ionophore CCCP, to inhibitors of the vacuolar ATPase such as bafilomycin A1, and to the ATP-hydrolyzing enzyme apyrase, suggesting that an electrochemical potential across the vacuolar membrane is required during this stage. Inhibition studies with the amphiphilic peptide mastoparan and GTP gamma S suggest that GTP-hydrolyzing proteins might also be involved during this stage. Microcystin-LR, a specific inhibitor of protein phosphatases of type 1 and 2A, inhibits stage IV of the inheritance reaction, indicating that a protein dephosphorylation event is necessary for fusion. The definition of these four stages may allow the development of specific assays for the factors which catalyze each of the consecutive steps of the in vitro reaction.
A dynamic approach for teaching algorithms: Integrating immersive environments and virtual learning environments

Utilization of technology in education lead to important changes in methods and techniques, where the use of virtual learning environments and virtual worlds provided a solution of a rich simulation and with a high level of interactivity and immersion. This article provides a summary of a research that searches integrate two different technologies [VLE and VW], by means of a solution called Sloodle. The main focus is demystify the use of this solution, introducing the mainly characteristics involved in the process of installation and insertion of this resources and evaluate the effectiveness of these resources as supporting tools in the teaching of algorithms in Computer Engineering course. The applications used in this research were OpenSimulator as Virtual World; Moodle as VLE; the online software IDEOne for the algorithm exposure and Sloodle. Analysis confirms that the utilization of virtual world combined with Moodle using Sloodle, it is a valid alternative to the process of teaching and learning, motivating the students and stimulating the feeling of immersion during the performance of activities. It allows identifying the difficulties to be overcome in this type of solution, like the utilization of Sloodle and technology limitations of their resources.
EFFECTS OF INTRA‐ORAL SUCROSE ON CRYING, MOUTHING AND HAND‐MOUTH CONTACT IN NEWBORN AND SIX‐WEEK‐OLD INFANTS

To determine whether a single intra‐oral administration of sucrose would calm infants and elicit mouthing and hand‐mouth contact, crying newborn and six‐week‐old infants were given sucrose solution before one feed and sterile water before another in a cross‐over trial. Six‐week‐old infants were also given sucrose and water after feeding. For the newborn infants, the calming effect was rapid, substantial and lasted for at least four minutes. Mouthing and hand‐mouth contact increased, but for shorter durations. For the six‐week‐old infants, sucrose calmed for one minute only before feeding, but had no effects on mouthing or hand‐mouth contact. The results imply that intra‐oral sucrose has acute age‐related effects on crying and suckling‐feeding behaviour mediated by a pre‐absorptive mechanism. Sucrose may tap a functional system for reducing distress related to feeding and/or regulation of infant state.
Heteronuclear quantum gas mixtures

In this PhD tutorial, we present experiments with quantum degenerate mixtures of fermionic and bosonic atoms in three-dimensional optical lattices. This heteronuclear quantum gas mixture offers a wide range of possibilities for quantum simulation, implementation of condensed matter Hamiltonians, quantum chemistry and ultimately dense and quantum degenerate dipolar molecular samples. We show how quantum degenerate mixtures of 40K and 87Rb are created in the experiment. We analyse stages of evaporative cooling and show how a dynamic mean-field collapse occurs during the final stage of the evaporation (Ospelkaus et al 2006 Phys. Rev. Lett. 96 020401) as a result of attractive interactions. The particle numbers observed in our experiment have only been limited by this mean-field collapse, resulting in an excellent starting point for our experiments. We explore magnetic-field-induced Feshbach resonances and demonstrate tuning of interactions (Ospelkaus et al 2006 Phys. Rev. Lett. 97 120403) between 40K and 87Rb by means of heteronuclear Feshbach resonances. We observe both stable attractively and repulsively interacting mixtures. We analyse the mean-field energy of the condensate and find qualitative agreement with a simple model. By making the interaction strong and attractive, we induce a mean-field collapse of the mixture. For strong and repulsive interactions, we observe phase separation of the mixture. When loaded into a 3D optical lattice, a whole zoo of novel quantum phases has been predicted for Fermi–Bose mixtures. We present the first realization of Fermi–Bose mixtures in 3D optical lattices as a novel quantum many-body system (Ospelkaus et al 2006 Phys. Rev. Lett. 96 180403). We study the phase coherence of the bosonic cloud in the 3D optical lattice as a function of the amount of fermionic atoms simultaneously trapped in the lattice. We observe a loss of phase coherence at much lower lattice depth than for a pure bosonic cloud and discuss possible theoretical scenarios including adiabatic processes, mean-field Fermi–Bose–Hubbard scenarios and disorder-enhanced localization scenarios. After considering this many-body limit of mixtures in lattices, we show how fermionic heteronuclear Feshbach molecules can be created in the optical lattice (Ospelkaus et al 2006 Phys. Rev. Lett. 97 120402) as a crucial step towards all ground-state dense dipolar molecular samples. We develop rf association as a novel molecule association technique, measure the binding energy, lifetime and association efficiency of the molecules. We develop a simple theoretical single-channel model of the molecules trapped in the lattice (Deuretzbacher et al 2008 Phys. Rev. A 77 032726) which gives an excellent quantitative agreement with the experimental data.
Bone densitometry in children assessed by dual x ray absorptiometry: uses and pitfalls

The importance of bone growth and mineralisation during childhood for bone health in adult life is increasingly accepted, with both nutritional factors1 and exercise2 being recognised as influential for normal skeletal development. The appreciation that infancy and childhood are important periods of life for bone development has led to a need for suitable methods for monitoring bone health, both for research purposes and for clinical monitoring of individuals, and hence to an increasing use of bone densitometry in children. This review discusses the role and potential pitfalls of this technique.
The Highly Leukotoxic JP2 Clone of Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans and Progression of Periodontal Attachment Loss

The JP2 clone of Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans has been implicated in the etiology of periodontitis in adolescents. The aim of this two-year longitudinal study was to describe clinical attachment loss (CAL) progression and to assess its association with baseline occurrence of the JP2 and non-JP2 types of A. actinomycetemcomitans. Clinical re-examination of 121 adolescents in Morocco was performed. Progression of CAL ≥ 1 mm, ≥ 2 mm, ≥ 3 mm, and ≥ 4 mm on at least one site was found in 58%, 48%, 22%, and 6% of the subjects, respectively. Subjects who, at baseline, harbored the JP2 clone had a significantly higher progression of CAL than did subjects harboring non-JP2 types of A. actinomycetemcomitans. Subjects harboring non-JP2 types displayed a marginally higher CAL progression than did subjects who were culture-negative for A. actinomycetemcomitans.
Presentation of the Leishmania antigen LACK by infected macrophages is dependent upon the virulence of the phagocytosed parasites

We have previously demonstrated that murine macrophages (Mϕ) infected with Leishmania promastigotes, in contrast to Mϕ infected with the amastigote stage of these parasites, are able to present the Leishmania antigen LACK (Leishmania homologue of receptors for activated C kinase) to specific, I‐Ad‐restricted T cell hybrids and to the T cell clone 9.1‐2. These T cells react with the LACK (158 – 173) peptide, which is immunodominant in BALB/c mice. Here, we show that the level of stimulation of the LACK‐specific T cell hybridoma OD12 by promastigote‐infected Mϕ is clearly dependent upon the differentiation state of the internalized parasites. Thus, shortly after infection with log‐phase or stationary‐phase promastigotes of L. major or of L. amazonensis, Mϕ strongly activated OD12. The activity was transient and rapidly lost. However, under the same conditions, activation of OD12 by Mϕ infected with metacyclic promastigotes of L. major or of L. amazonensis was barely detectable. At the extreme, Mϕ infected with amastigotes were incapable to stimulate OD12. Thus, the presentation of LACK by infected Mϕ correlates with the degree of virulence of the phagocytosed parasites, the less virulent being the best for the generation/expression of LACK (158 – 173)‐I‐Ad complexes. While the intracellular killing of the parasites appears to be an important condition for the presentation of LACK, it is not the only requisite. The partial or total destruction of intracellular L. amazonensis amastigotes does not allow the presentation of LACK to OD12. A preferential interaction of LACK (158 – 173) with recycling rather than newly synthesized MHC class II molecules does not explain the transient presentation of LACK by Mϕ infected with log‐phase or stationary‐phase promastigotes because brefeldin A strongly inhibited the presentation of LACK to OD12. Taken together, these results suggest that virulent stages of Leishmania, namely metacyclics and amastigotes, have evolved strategies to avoid or minimize their recognition by CD4+ T lymphocytes.
Electrocortical activity associated with subjective communication with the deceased

During advanced meditative practices, unusual perceptions can arise including the sense of receiving information about unknown people who are deceased. As with meditation, this mental state of communication with the deceased involves calming mental chatter and becoming receptive to subtle feelings and sensations. Psychometric and brain electrophysiology data were collected from six individuals who had previously reported accurate information about deceased individuals under double-blind conditions. Each experimental participant performed two tasks with eyes closed. In the first task, the participant was given only the first name of a deceased person and asked 25 questions. After each question, the participant was asked to silently perceive information relevant to the question for 20 s and then respond verbally. Responses were transcribed and then scored for accuracy by individuals who knew the deceased persons. Of the four mediums whose accuracy could be evaluated, three scored significantly above chance (p < 0.03). The correlation between accuracy and brain activity during the 20 s of silent mediumship communication was significant in frontal theta for one participant (p < 0.01). In the second task, participants were asked to experience four mental states for 1 min each: (1) thinking about a known living person, (2) listening to a biography, (3) thinking about an imaginary person, and (4) interacting mentally with a known deceased person. Each mental state was repeated three times. Statistically significant differences at p < 0.01 after correction for multiple comparisons in electrocortical activity among the four conditions were obtained in all six participants, primarily in the gamma band (which might be due to muscular activity). These differences suggest that the impression of communicating with the deceased may be a distinct mental state distinct from ordinary thinking or imagination.
The Exponential Cubic B-Spline Algorithm for Korteweg-de Vries Equation

The exponential cubic B-spline algorithm is presented to find the numerical solutions of the Korteweg-de Vries (KdV) equation. The problem is reduced to a system of algebraic equations, which is solved by using a variant of Thomas algorithm. Numerical experiments are carried out to demonstrate the efficiency of the suggested algorithm.
Evidence of Molecular Evolution Driven by Recombination Events Influencing Tropism in a Novel Human Adenovirus that Causes Epidemic Keratoconjunctivitis

In 2005, a human adenovirus strain (formerly known as HAdV-D22/H8 but renamed here HAdV-D53) was isolated from an outbreak of epidemic keratoconjunctititis (EKC), a disease that is usually caused by HAdV-D8, -D19, or -D37, not HAdV-D22. To date, a complete change of tropism compared to the prototype has never been observed, although apparent recombinant strains of other viruses from species Human adenovirus D (HAdV-D) have been described. The complete genome of HAdV-D53 was sequenced to elucidate recombination events that lead to the emergence of a viable and highly virulent virus with a modified tropism. Bioinformatic and phylogenetic analyses of this genome demonstrate that this adenovirus is a recombinant of HAdV-D8 (including the fiber gene encoding the primary cellular receptor binding site), HAdV-D22, (the ε determinant of the hexon gene), HAdV-D37 (including the penton base gene encoding the secondary cellular receptor binding site), and at least one unknown or unsequenced HAdV-D strain. Bootscanning analysis of the complete genomic sequence of this novel adenovirus, which we have re-named HAdV-D53, indicated at least five recombination events between the aforementioned adenoviruses. Intrahexon recombination sites perfectly framed the ε neutralization determinant that was almost identical to the HAdV-D22 prototype. Additional bootscan analysis of all HAdV-D hexon genes revealed recombinations in identical locations in several other adenoviruses. In addition, HAdV-D53 but not HAdV-D22 induced corneal inflammation in a mouse model. Serological analysis confirmed previous results and demonstrated that HAdV-D53 has a neutralization profile representative of the ε determinant of its hexon (HAdV-D22) and the fiber (HAdV-D8) proteins. Our recombinant hexon sequence is almost identical to the hexon sequences of the HAdV-D strain causing EKC outbreaks in Japan, suggesting that HAdV-D53 is pandemic as an emerging EKC agent. This documents the first genomic, bioinformatic, and biological descriptions of the molecular evolution events engendering an emerging pathogenic adenovirus.
Frequency and Risk Factors for Deep Focus of Infection in Children With Staphylococcus aureus Bacteremia

Background: Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia (SAB) in children may be associated with development of deep-seated foci of infection, often prompting extensive diagnostic testing. The objective of this study was to establish the frequency and risk factors for deep foci of infection from SAB in pediatric patients. Methods: Medical charts of all children admitted with SAB to a tertiary-care center from January 1992 to June 2006 were reviewed. Study outcome was the presence of a deep focus of infection as documented by positive echocardiogram, bone imaging or abdominal imaging. Results: We studied 298 children, of whom 190 (64%) had echocardiograms, 116 (39%) had abdominal imaging, and 103 (35%) had bone imaging. Forty-seven subjects (16%) had symptoms of a deep focus of infection on discovery of SAB, which then was confirmed by 1 of the 3 tests. Eleven (3.7%) additional subjects had a clinically unsuspected deep focus identified before discharge. All children with an unsuspected deep focus of infection had either an underlying medical condition that potentially obscured the diagnosis or a central venous catheter. More than 1 day of positive blood cultures was associated with an unsuspected deep-seated infection (P < 0.01). Endocarditis was uncommon (2.7%), and occurred only in children with known congenital heart disease or with a central catheter. Conclusions: Deep-seated infections from SAB in children are most often clinically apparent at discovery of bacteremia. Unsuspected deep-seated infection is uncommon and confined to specific hosts. Routine diagnostic imaging is not indicated in all children with SAB.
Mixed Exponentially Weighted Moving Average–Cumulative Sum Charts for Process Monitoring

The control chart is a very popular tool of statistical process control. It is used to determine the existence of special cause variation to remove it so that the process may be brought in statistical control. Shewhart‐type control charts are sensitive for large disturbances in the process, whereas cumulative sum (CUSUM)–type and exponentially weighted moving average (EWMA)–type control charts are intended to spot small and moderate disturbances. In this article, we proposed a mixed EWMA–CUSUM control chart for detecting a shift in the process mean and evaluated its average run lengths. Comparisons of the proposed control chart were made with some representative control charts including the classical CUSUM, classical EWMA, fast initial response CUSUM, fast initial response EWMA, adaptive CUSUM with EWMA‐based shift estimator, weighted CUSUM and runs rules–based CUSUM and EWMA. The comparisons revealed that mixing the two charts makes the proposed scheme even more sensitive to the small shifts in the process mean than the other schemes designed for detecting small shifts. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
A study on tensile strength distribution and its temperature dependence for amorphous alloy ribbons.

Amorphous alloys have superior electro-magnetic properties such as low core loss, high magnetostriction and high saturation induction, so that they have been used as the electro-magnetic materials in a wide variety of magnetic reading heads, magnetic sensors, power transformer cores and so on. Another advantageous property of amorphous alloys is the excellent mechanical property as well as the high registance in the corrosive environments. In order to obtain fundamental data for the mechanical uses, tensile strength of the amorphous alloy ribbons was experimentally examined together with its distribution pattern. Based on the results at some different temperatures, temperature dependence of the tensile strength distribution was analysed by means of Weibull statistics in the present study.Thus we have the following aspects; The strength distribution is independent on the temperature in T≤300°C, but the scatter of the strength becomes distinct at T=400°C in relation to the crystallization. The strength tends to decrease and the scatter becomes small again at T=500°C due to the complete crystallization for all specimens. It was found that the distribution characteristics at T=400°C were well explained by the mixed-mode Weibull distribution consisting of component distributions for amorphous and crystalline specimens.