Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Magnetic Nanoparticle Mediated Steroid Delivery Mitigates Cisplatin Induced Hearing Loss

Cisplatin (cis-diamminedichloroplatinum) is widely used as a chemotherapeutic drug for genitourinary, breast, lung and head and neck cancers. Though effective in inducing apoptosis in cancer cells, cisplatin treatment causes severe hearing loss among patients. Steroids have been shown to mitigate cisplatin-induced hearing loss. However, steroids may interfere with the anti-cancer properties of cisplatin if administered systemically, or are rapidly cleared from the middle and inner ear and hence lack effectiveness when administered intra-tympanically. In this work, we deliver prednisolone-loaded nanoparticles magnetically to the cochlea of cisplatin-treated mice. This magnetic delivery method substantially reduced hearing loss in treated animals at high frequency compared to control animals or animals that received intra-tympanic methylprednisolone. The method also protected the outer hair cells from cisplatin-mediated ototoxicity.
Validity, reliability, and feasibility of durometer measurements of scleroderma skin disease in a multicenter treatment trial.

OBJECTIVE To determine the validity, reliability, and feasibility of durometer measurements of skin hardness as an outcome measure in clinical trials of scleroderma. METHODS Skin hardness was measured during a multicenter treatment trial for scleroderma using handheld digital durometers with a continuous scale. Skin thickness was measured by modified Rodnan skin score (MRSS). Other outcome data collected included the Scleroderma Health Assessment Questionnaire. In a reliability exercise in advance of the trial, 9 investigators examined the same 5 scleroderma patients by MRSS and durometry. RESULTS Forty-three patients with early diffuse cutaneous systemic sclerosis were studied at 11 international centers (mean age 49 years [range 24-76], median disease duration 6.4 months [range 0.3-23], and median baseline MRSS 22 [range 11-38]). The reliability of durometer measurements was excellent, with high interobserver intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) (0.82-0.92), and each result was greater than the corresponding skin site ICCs for MRSS (0.54-0.85). Baseline durometer scores correlated well with MRSS (r = 0.69, P < 0.0001), patient self-assessments of skin disease (r = 0.69, P < 0.0001), and Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ) disability scores (r = 0.34, P = 0.03). Change in durometer scores correlated with change in MRSS (r = 0.70, P < 0.0001), change in patient self-assessments of skin disease (r = 0.52, P = 0.003), and change in HAQ disability scores (r = 0.42, P = 0.017). The effect size was greater for durometry than for MRSS or patient self-assessment. CONCLUSION Durometer measurements of skin hardness in patients with scleroderma are reliable, simple, accurate, demonstrate good sensitivity to change compared with traditional skin scoring, and reflect patients' self-assessments of their disease. Durometer measurements are valid, objective, and scalable, and should be considered for use as a complementary outcome measure to skin scoring in clinical trials of scleroderma.
Merchandising cigarettes in pharmacies: a San Francisco survey.

There is little doubt that cigarette smoking is injurious to health. The relationship between inhaling cigarette smoke and development of respiratory airway cancers, especially carcinoma of the lung, arteriosclerotic and peripheral vascular disease, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease has been well established.1'0 Yet, powerful merchandising incentives for the sale of cigarettes are created by the fact that over one-third of the adult population of the United States smokes cigarettes.11 The problem of patient compliance with pharmaceutical regimens has become recognized as an important variable in determining the outcomes of health care.12 As one solution to this problem, it has been suggested that the role of the pharmacist as health educator be strengthened. '3 For example, legislation was recently passed in California calling for mandatory inclusion of educational inserts into every dispensed prescription medication. 14 However, the role of health educator can, at times, conflict with the pharmacist's role as merchant. A case in point is the sale of tobacco products in pharmacies. This study documents the prevalence of cigarette merchandising in pharmacies in one large metropolitan area to provide data on the extent of this role conflict.
Histopathologic changes in liver and renal tissues induced by Ochratoxin a and melatonin in rats

Nephrotoxicity and hepatotoxicity induced by Ochratoxin A (OTA) and ameliorating effects of melatonin were investigated in rats exposed to OTA. Experimental groups were as follows: control; OTA-treated; and OTA plus melatonin (MEL)-treated (OTA-MEL). The rats in the control group were administered with only a daily oral administration of 0.5 M NaHCO3. OTA was administered with a dose of 289 mg/kg in the same way. OTA and MEL were administered orally with OTA (289 mg/kg) and melatonin (10 mg/kg) in two different periods of time during the same day. The histopathologic changes in the liver and kidney tissues of control, OTA and OTA-MEL treated rats were examined. There were no significant changes in the kidney and liver tissues of the control rats. Significant histopathologic changes were found in the kidney and liver tissue of rats treated with OTA. These were granular or vacuolated degeneration and necrosis of the liver cells, sinusoidal and central vein dilatation, bile duct proliferation, enlargement of periportal areas with mononuclear cell inflammatory infiltration and mild degree fibrous tissue proliferation, tubular epithelial cells degeneration, necrosis, proliferation and karyomegaly in the epithelial cells nuclei and peritubular and periglomerular lymphocyte infiltration, stromal fibrous tissue proliferation, hyperemic vessels. The severity of the lesions was significantly reduced by administration of melatonin. These results revealed that OTA induced significant histopathologic changes in liver and kidney tissue advocating OTA toxicity (P B-0.001), and administration of MEL-OTA significantly reduced the toxic effect of OTA on kidney and liver tissue of rats (P -0.05).
Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma and Circulating Markers of Inflammation and Adiposity in a Nested Case–Control Study: The Multiethnic Cohort

Background: Because immune dysfunction is thought to underlie the development of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), obesity and chronic inflammation may be involved in its etiology. We examined the association of prediagnostic inflammatory markers and adipokines with NHL risk. Methods: We conducted a nested case–control analysis (272 cases and 541 matched controls) within the Multiethnic Cohort. Luminex technology was used to measure a 10-plex panel of cytokines, ELISA assays for adipokines, and an autoanalyzer for C-reactive protein (CRP). ORs and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for tertiles of analytes were estimated by conditional logistic regression. Results: After a median time of 2.7 years from phlebotomy to diagnosis, interleukin (IL)-10 was significantly related to NHL risk (ORT3 vs. T1 = 3.07; 95%CI, 2.02–4.66; Ptrend < 0.001). TNF-α and IL-8 showed borderline elevated risks, whereas IFN-γ, IL-1β, IL-2, IL-4, IL-5, IL-6, and CRP were not associated with NHL. Leptin but not adiponectin was related to NHL risk (ORT3 vs. T1 = 0.48; 95%CI, 0.30–0.76; Ptrend < 0.001). Adjustment for body mass index did not substantially affect the risk estimates. Stratification by subtype indicated significant associations with IL-10 and leptin for follicular but not for diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. Excluding cases diagnosed less than 1 year after phlebotomy attenuated all associations. Conclusions: IL-10 was the only cytokine and leptin the only adipokine associated with NHL, but due to the short follow-up time, preclinical effects cannot be excluded. Impact: Although markers of inflammation and adiposity may provide new insights into the etiology of NHL, they need to be assessed many years before clinical diagnosis. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev; 22(3); 337–47. ©2012 AACR.
The Kinematics of 3:1 Merger Remnants and the Formation of Low-Luminosity Elliptical Galaxies

We test the formation of low-luminosity elliptical galaxies through collisionless mergers of unequal-mass disk galaxies. The kinematic properties of a small survey of simulated merger end products with initial disk mass ratios of 3 : 1 are compared to a sample of seven low-luminosity galaxies observed by H. -W. Rix and coworkers that were chosen photometrically to be "ellipticals. " In this paper, we go beyond a comparison in terms of global properties (using one number to characterize a model or a galaxy, e.g., ⟨a4⟩, ellipticity at some fixed radius, or central velocity dispersion) and examine the detailed kinematics as a function of galactocentric distance. The merger remnants are "observed" through a slit along the major and minor axes, using a pixel binning and slit width similar to the ones used during the spectroscopic observations. Inside each bin, we determine the line-of-sight velocity distributions and parameterize them with Gauss-Hermite functions. We compare the rotational support of the merger remnants, i.e., the ratio of the mean line-of-sight velocity v to the velocity dispersion σ along the major axis, the normalized rotation on the minor axis, and the major-axis Gauss-Hermite moments h3, to those of the observed galaxies. The N-body remnants are very flattened when viewed edge-on (⟨ϵ⟩ ~ 0.6) and should be inclined before making a fair comparison with the data set of H. -W. Rix and coworkers (which has ⟨ϵ⟩ ~ 0.3). When the merger remnants are appropriately inclined, their v/σ profiles rise slower than the observed ones: v/σmerger is in the range [0.1, 0.8] at 1Reff and [0.2, 1.6] at 2Reff, whereas v/σobserved spans the intervals [0.8, 2.0] at 1Reff and [1.4, 3.5] at 2Reff. Note that even when the remnants are viewed edge-on, the v/σ profiles do not match the observations. The detailed comparison of the observations with our set of purely collisionless 3 : 1 merger remnants shows that these objects and low-luminosity ellipticals do not have similar kinematic profiles. This suggests that this kind of dissipationless merger (or mergers with more even masses, e.g., mass ratios of 2 : 1 or 1 : 1) is not likely to be the dominant formation channel for low-luminosity elliptical galaxies.
The horizon problem for prevalent surfaces

We investigate the box dimensions of the horizon of a fractal surface defined by a function f ∈ C[0,1]2. In particular we show that a prevalent surface satisfies the ‘horizon property’, namely that the box dimension of the horizon is one less than that of the surface. Since a prevalent surface has box dimension 3, this does not give us any information about the horizon of surfaces of dimension strictly less than 3. To examine this situation we introduce spaces of functions with surfaces of upper box dimension at most α, for α ∈ [2,3). In this setting the behaviour of the horizon is more subtle. We construct a prevalent subset of these spaces where the lower box dimension of the horizon lies between the dimension of the surface minus one and 2. We show that in the sense of prevalence these bounds are as tight as possible if the spaces are defined purely in terms of dimension. However, if we work in Lipschitz spaces, the horizon property does indeed hold for prevalent functions. Along the way, we obtain a range of properties of box dimensions of sums of functions.
Determinants of Prelacteal Feeding in Rural Northern India

Background: Prelacteal feeding is an underestimated problem in a developing country like India, where infant mortality rate is quite high. The present study tried to find out the factors determining prelacteal feeding in rural areas of north India. Methods: A crosssectional study was conducted among recently delivered women of rural Uttar Pradesh, India. Multistage random sampling was used for selecting villages. From them, 352 recently delivered women were selected as the subjects, following systematic random sampling. Chi-square test and logistic regression were used to find out the predictors for prelacteal feeding. Results: Overall, 40.1% of mothers gave prelacteal feeding to their newborn. Factors significantly associated with such practice, after simple logistic regression, were age, caste, socioeconomic status, and place of delivery. At multivariate level, age (odds ratio (OR) = 1.76, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.13-2.74), caste and place of delivery (OR = 2.23, 95% CI = 1.21-4.10) were found to determine prelacteal feeding significantly, indicating that young age, high caste, and home deliveries could affect the practice positively. Conclusions: The problem of prelacteal feeding is still prevalent in rural India. Age, caste, and place of delivery were associated with the problem. For ensuring neonatal health, the problem should be addressed with due gravity, with emphasis on exclusive breast feeding.
Optimizing Test Architecture for TSV Based 3D Stacked ICs Using Hard SOCs

In this paper we have addressed the test infrastructure design for TSV based 3D stacked IC (3D SIC). Each of the die consisting of one or more hard SOCs. Main objective of this work is to design the test architecture for the 3D SIC so that overall test time can be optimized. To prove the efficiency of our proposed algorithm we have considered a 3D stacked IC (SIC) using 5 standard SOCs. Obtained test results show that our proposed solution can achieve up to 59 % reduction in test time compared to the baseline method of sequentially testing all the dies in the stack. We have also shown that increasing the number of test access mechanism (TAM) and through silicon vias (TSVs) help in the reduction of test time but the increase in the number of TAM is unnecessary after a certain limit. In this work we have assumed that the different dies in different layers may consist of two SOCs as opposed to previous work, where each die consists of single SOC.
Socioeconomic and racial/ethnic factors affecting non-fatal medically attended injury rates in US children.

OBJECTIVE: Using a representative survey of US children, the purpose was to evaluate separate effects of socioeconomic and racial/ethnic factors, including access to care, on medically attended non-fatal injury rates. METHODS: Multivariate linear regression models were used to determine associations between injuries and health care coverage (insurance or Medicaid), having a place to go for care, race/ethnicity, maternal education, number of adults and children in the household, poverty, and urbanicity. The 1988 Child Health Supplement to the National Health Interview Survey included questions on medically attended injuries, and their cause, location, and effects on the child. Injury categories included total, consequential, occurrence at home or school, falls, and being struck or cut. RESULTS: Lack of health care coverage was consistently associated with lower medically attended injury rates in non-Hispanic blacks or whites and Mexican-Americans, but affected total rates for each group differently due to unequal distribution of health care coverage. Injuries occurred about 40% more frequently to children and adolescents living in single adult households compared with two adult homes for all injury categories except for injuries occurring at school. CONCLUSIONS: Preventive interventions targeted to specific populations based on assumptions that poverty, lack of education, or minority status result in greater risks for injuries require a closer look. Efficient targeting should address underlying factors such as differences in exposures and environments associated with single adult homes or recreational activities. Data sources used to target high risk populations for interventions need to address bias due to access to care.
Ca2+ Scraps: Local Depletions of Free [Ca2+] in Cardiac Sarcoplasmic Reticulum During Contractions Leave Substantial Ca2+ Reserve

Abstract— Free [Ca2+] inside the sarcoplasmic reticulum ([Ca2+]SR) is difficult to measure yet critically important in controlling many cellular systems. In cardiac myocytes, [Ca2+]SR regulates cardiac contractility. We directly measure [Ca2+]SR in intact cardiac myocytes dynamically and quantitatively during beats, with high spatial resolution. Diastolic [Ca2+]SR (1 to 1.5 mmol/L) is only partially depleted (24% to 63%) during contraction. There is little temporal delay in the decline in [Ca2+]SR at release junctions and between junctions, indicating rapid internal diffusion. The incomplete local Ca2+ release shows that the inherently positive feedback of Ca2+-induced Ca2+ release terminates, despite a large residual driving force. These findings place stringent novel constraints on how excitation-contraction coupling works in heart and also reveal a Ca2+ store reserve that could in principle be a therapeutic target to enhance cardiac function in heart failure.
Trajectories of socioeconomic inequalities in health, behaviours and academic achievement across childhood and adolescence

Background Socioeconomic inequalities are a key policy challenge. Studies to date have not taken a unified approach to assess how socioeconomic inequalities in health, behaviour and educational attainment change as children age. Methods We examined maternal education inequalities in multiple offspring health, behavioural and educational outcomes and how these changed across childhood and adolescence in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, a cohort born in 1991/1992 in South-West England (N=5560–11 463). Results Inequalities were observed for some health measures (blood pressure (BP), height, cholesterol, bone mineral density (BMD) and fat-mass (females)) but not in other measures (parent-assessed child health, triglycerides, fat-mass (males), high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol, C reactive protein). The strongest health inequality was systolic BP (mean difference comparing highest to lowest maternal education −0.28 SD (95% CI −0.35 to −0.20), approximately 2.6 mm Hg. Wide inequalities, similar in magnitude to BP, were observed for behavioural outcomes. Even greater inequalities were observed for offspring academic achievement (mean difference comparing highest to lowest maternal education 1.43 SD (95% CI 1.37 to 1.50), a difference of 22%). For all behavioural outcomes and some health indicators, inequality was stable over childhood. For some outcomes (BP, BMD and most education outcomes), inequality narrowed as children got older. Only for height and attainment in English tests was there evidence of widening inequalities with age. Conclusions Our results suggest that within this cohort, maternal education inequalities in offspring health, behaviour and educational attainment are established in childhood but do not increase up to adolescence. Maternal education inequalities in behaviour and educational attainment were considerably larger than in health measures.
Tensile properties of a carbon fiber 2D woven reinforced polymer matrix composite in through-thickness direction

A 2D woven reinforced composite is a typical engineering material used in aerospace applications. For the thickness of these laminated composites is no longer thin, the stress state cannot be considered planar. Therefore, it is necessary to focus on the material’s mechanical properties in the through-thickness (abbreviated TT) direction to fully evaluate their mechanical properties. This article considers the tensile properties of a carbon fiber 2D woven reinforced polymer matrix composite in the TT direction under quasi-static and impact loadings. The quasi-static and impact tensile experiments were performed using a material testing machine and split Hopkinson tensile bars, respectively. The micrographs of the fracture surfaces were examined using scanning electron microscope (SEM) analysis. The results show that, before fracture, the material deforms in the linear elastic mode; the TT tensile strength and ultimate strain are very low; the tensile strength increases significantly with increasing loading rates, and the breakage mode changes. An interpretation on the different breakage modes observed is proposed from the point of view of crack propagation. A simple numerical simulation based on ABAQUS is performed to prove that the mesostructure and layer displacements are the two key factors that affect the TT tensile properties. Additionally, an unexpected result, a two-peak stress–strain curve, was found in one of our experiments. By combining the results with the SEM images, a reasonable explanation is proposed.
Potentially inappropriate medications among elderly Brazilian outpatients

ABSTRACT CONTEXT AND OBJECTIVES: In Brazil, few studies have investigated the prevalence of potentially inappropriate medications (PIMs) among elderly outpatients. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of PIMs prescribed for elderly outpatients, identify the PIMs most commonly involved, and investigate whether age, sex and number of medications are related to prescription of such medications. DESIGN AND SETTING: Observational descriptive study developed in the Geriatrics Service of the Central Institute of Hospital das Clínicas (HC), Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de São Paulo (FMUSP), São Paulo, Brazil. METHODS: Prescriptions issued to 1,270 elderly patients (≥ 60 years) were gathered from a database. These prescriptions had been written by geriatricians at a tertiary-level university hospital in São Paulo, Brazil, between February and May 2008. The prescriptions were divided according to sex and age group (60-69, 70-79 and ≥ 80). The Beers criteria were used to evaluate PIMs. RESULTS: Most of the sample comprised women (77%) and the mean age was 80.1 years. The mean prevalence of PIM prescriptions was 26.9%. Female sex and number of medications prescribed were associated with prescription of PIMs. The chance of having a PIM prescription was lower among patients ≥ 70 years. CONCLUSION: The greater prevalence of PIMs was correlated with female sex. The chance of having a PIM prescription was lower among patients ≥ 70 years and became greater with increasing numbers of medications prescribed (≥ 7).
Effect of the Machining Method on the Catalycity and Emissivity of ZrB2 and ZrB2–HfB2‐Based Ceramics

The emissivity and the catalytic efficiency related to atomic oxygen recombination were investigated experimentally in the range 1000-2000 K for ZrB 2 and ZrB 2 -HfB 2 -based ceramics. In order to evaluate the effect of the machining method, two series of samples, one prepared by electrical discharge machining and the other machined by diamond-loaded tools, were tested. High emissivity (about 0.7 at 1700 K) and low recombination coefficients (on average 0.08 at 1800 K) were found for all the materials. The experimental data showed an effect of the surface machining on the catalytic behavior only on the ZrB 2 -based composite; conversely, small variations were found in the recombination coefficients of ZrB 2 -HfB 2 -based samples for the different machining processes. The surface finish affected the emissivity at lower temperatures in both compositions, with the effect becoming negligible at temperatures above 1500 K.
Defective Chemotactic Migration of Polymorphonuclear Leukocytes in Pelger-Huet Anomaly

Summary A decreased chemotactic migration of PMN in vivo and in vitro was observed in PMN from five individuals with P-H anomaly in a family. The decreased chemotactic migration was more pronounced when the PMN were made to migrate through a filter paper with small pore size. The decreased migration may be in part due to the mechanical hindrance of the large unsegmented nucleus to the migration of the cells. We thank Dr. Elliot F. Ellis, Professor and Chairman, Department of Pediatrics, for his support and guidance throughout this investigation. A portion of this report was presented in the annual meeting of the Federation of the American Society for Experimental Biology on April 13, 1976. This work was supported in part by Grants HL-19628-01 and BRS-342.23. 148 from the NIH.