Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Recurrent Laryngeal Nerve Injury With Anterior Cervical Spine Surgery: Risk With Laterality of Surgical Approach

Study Design. A detailed review of anterior cervical fusion procedures from a university-based spine specialty service was completed. Noted were the laterality of approach, number of levels, discectomy or corpectomy, use of instrumentation, and cases of reoperation. Objectives. The primary purpose of the study is to determine whether there is in fact a greater risk of recurrent laryngeal nerve (RLN) injury with approach on the right or left side. Also evaluated is the risk with corpectomy, reoperative procedures, and instrumentation. Background. Anatomic considerations have been used as justification to determine the side of surgical approach. However, few clinical studies have delineated the side of surgical approach in their results. Methods. A total of 328 anterior cervical spine fusion procedures completed between 1989 and 1999 were reviewed. All speech changes reported were noted throughout follow-up. Results. There were 187 anterior discectomy and 141 corpectomy procedures. There were 21 reoperative anterior fusions. There were 173 procedures completed from the right side and 155 from the left. There were nine patients documented to have dysphonia after surgery. Five had a left-sided approach and four had a right-sided approach. Conclusions. The incidence of RLN symptoms after surgery was 2.7% (9 of 328). The incidence of RLN symptoms was 2.1% with anterior cervical discectomy, 3.5% with corpectomy (5 of 141), 3% with instrumentation (8 of 237), and 9.5% with reoperative anterior surgery (2 of 21). There was a significant increase in the rate of injury with reoperative anterior fusion. There was no association between the side of approach and the incidence of RLN symptoms.
Skinning Catmull-Clark subdivision surfaces with incompatible cross-sectional curves

One of the major problems in the generation of skinning B-spline surfaces is the incompatibility of the cross-sectional curves. This occurs when the cross sections are defined by control polygons having different number of control devices. Traditionally, this incompatibility is overcome by knot insertion that makes all control polygons have equal number of vertices. The drawback of this solution is that it can very quickly lead to an explosion in the number of vertices of the control mesh defining the skinning surface. In this paper, we show that this problem can be rectified through the use of subdivision surfaces. We describe an approach to generate a skinning Catmull-Clark subdivision surface through incompatible cross-sections of cubic B-spline curves. The resulting surface has all the properties of subdivision surfaces while requiring a smaller number of control points than those obtained through the more conventional techniques.
Guided acoustic and optical waves in silicon-on-insulator for Brillouin scattering and optomechanics

We numerically study silicon waveguides on silica showing that it is possible to simultaneously guide optical and acoustic waves in the technologically important silicon on insulator (SOI) material system. Thin waveguides, or fins, exhibit geometrically softened mechanical modes at gigahertz frequencies with phase velocities below the Rayleigh velocity in glass, eliminating acoustic radiation losses. We propose slot waveguides on glass with telecom optical frequencies and strong radiation pressure forces resulting in Brillouin gains on the order of 500 and 50,000 1/(Wm) for backward and forward Brillouin scattering, respectively.
Validity of tests performed to diagnose acute abdominal pain in patients admitted at an emergency department.

OBJECTIVE To determine the real importance of anamnesis, physical examination, and various tests in the assessment of acute abdominal pain. METHODS A retrospective observational study with patients complaining of abdominal pain at the Emergency Department, Altiplano Health Area (Murcia) was performed. In our study we considered the following variables: socio-demographic data, history of previous surgery, symptoms, place and type of pain. Imaging tests were labeled as positive, negative, or inconclusive for assumed diagnoses, which were retrospectively assessed by an external radiologist who was unaware of the patient s final diagnosis. RESULTS Our study includes 292 patients with a mean age of 45.49 years; 56.8% of these patients were women. Regarding the frequency of the different acute abdomen diagnoses, appendicitis was the main cause (approx. 25%), followed by cholecystitis (10%). We found a significant diagnostic correlation between pain location in the right hypochondrium (RHC) and a diagnosis with cholecystitis. This location was also significant for acute appendicitis (up to 74%). Regarding clinical signs, we only observed a significant correlation between fever and viscera perforation, and between Murphy s sign and cholecystitis. Sensitivity and specificity found in relation to the psoas sign were similar to those seen in other series, 16 and 95% respectively, and slightly lower than the Blumberg or rebound sign, which we found to be around 50 and 23%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS a) Anamnesis and physical examination offer limited accuracy when assessing acute abdomen; b) ultrasound scans offer a low diagnostic agreement index for appendicitis; and c) laparoscopy may prove useful for diagnosis, and is also a possible treatment for acute abdominal pain despite its low diagnostic efficiency.
Light-dependent hydration of the space surrounding photoreceptors in the cat retina

Abstract We have studied the effect of retinal illumination on the concentration of the extracellular space marker tetramethylammonium (TMA+) in the dark-adapted cat retina using double-barreled ion-selective microelectrodes. The retina was loaded with TMA+ by a single intravitreal injection. Retinal illumination produced a slow decrease in , which was maximal in amplitude in the most distal portion of the space surrounding photoreceptors, the subretinal space. The light-evoked decrease in was considerably slower and of a different overall time course than the light-evoked decrease in , also recorded in the subretinal space. decreased to a peak at 38 s after the onset of illumination, then slowly recovered towards the baseline, and transiently increased following the offset of illumination. It resembled the light-evoked decreases previously recorded in the in vitro preparations of frog (Huang & Karwoski, 1990, 1992) and chick (Li et al., 1992, 1994) but was considerably larger in amplitude, 22% compared with 7%. As in frog, where it was first recorded, the light-evoked decrease is considered to originate from a light-evoked increase in the volume of the subretinal space (or subretinal hydration). A mathematical model accounting for diffusion predicted that the volume increase underlying the response was 63% on average and could be as large as 95% and last for minutes. The estimated volume increase was then used to examine its effect on K+ concentration in the subretinal space. We conclude that a light-dependent hydration of the subretinal space represents a significant physiological event in the intact cat eye, which should affect the organization of the interphotoreceptor matrix, and the concentrations of all ions and metabolites located in the subretinal space.
Specifying the links between household chaos and preschool children's development

Household chaos has been linked to poorer cognitive, behavioural, and self-regulatory outcomes in young children, but the mechanisms responsible remain largely unknown. Using a diverse sample of families in Chicago, the present study tests for the independent contributions made by five indicators of household chaos: noise, crowding, family instability, lack of routine, and television usually on. Chaos was measured at age 2; outcomes measured at age 5 tap receptive vocabulary, attention and behaviour problems, and effortful control. Results show that controlling for all other measures of chaos, children with a lack of routine scored lower on receptive vocabulary and delayed gratification, while children whose television was generally on scored higher on aggression and attention problems. The provision of learning materials mediated a small part of the association between television and receptive vocabulary. Family instability, crowding, and noise did not predict any outcomes once other measures of chaos were controlled.
Development of the egg of the cow up to the stage of blastocyst formation.

The first description of the early stages of the development of the cow egg was given by Hartman, Lewis, Miller & Swett (1931). In this they described the living unsegmented egg and the two-cell stage but gave no details of the sectioned eggs. A brief account of the early development was given by one of us (W.J.H.) at a meeting of the Anatomical Society in 1941. Winters, Green & Comstock (1942) described and illustrated various stages of pre-natal development of the cow but gave few details of the early stages. Reference is made in a table by Amoroso, Griffiths & Hamilton (1942) to the rate of cleavage of the cow egg compared with that of the goat, sheep and pig. Amongst the ungulates a detailed description of the early development has been given by Assheton (1898a) and Heuser & Streeter (1929) for the pig, by Assheton (1898b) and Clark (1934) for the sheep, and by Amoroso et al. (1942) for the goat. The further relevant literature in early ungulate development has been reviewed by Hartman et al. (1931) and Amoroso et al. (1942). The present communication gives an account of the early development of the cow egg from the pre-ovulation stages until the formation of the blastocyst. The material was obtained from forty-six animals which were the subject of experimental work on bovine infertility.
STUDIES IN IRON TRANSPORTATION AND METABOLISM. II. THE MECHANISM OF IRON TRANSPORTATION: ITS SIGNIFICANCE IN IRON UTILIZATION IN ANEMIC STATES OF VARIED ETIOLOGY.

A growing interest in the mechanism by which iron is transported in the blood stream has been stimulated by the desire to understand more fully this essential phase of iron metabolism in the mammalian body. With the clarification of this important detail a more complete understanding of normal erythropoiesis and of the iron deficiency states may be anticipated. Despite a wide variety of observations reported in the literature, an entirely satisfactory and acceptable experimental definition of the manner in which iron transportation is effected has not as yet been presented. A. B. Macallum (1), Ehrlich and Lazarus (2), and Proescher and Arkush (3) observed that histologically many erythrocytes give an iron reaction. They assumed, therefore, that free iron, not identified with the hemoglobin molecule, is present in at least a portion of the red cells. Macallum postulated that iron is transported by the etrythrocytes, and Proescher and Arkush further suggested that this may be accomplished through a loose combination with the lecithin of the erythrocyte corpuscular membrane. Other investigators (4 to 14) have studied the iron content of plasma and serum in the hope that some light might be shed on this problem of mineral transport, but their researches have not yielded conclusive information. Barkan (15, a and b) has assigned to the " easily split-off " blood iron fraction the function of iron transportation and considers plasma iron as the medium of exchange between the tissues and " easily
Prediction of Response to Chemoradiation Therapy in Squamous Cell Carcinomas of the Head and Neck Using Dynamic Contrast-Enhanced MR Imaging

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Tumor microenvironment, including blood flow and permeability, may provide crucial information regarding response to chemoradiation therapy. Thus, the objective of this study was to investigate the efficacy of pretreatment DCE-MR imaging for prediction of response to chemoradiation therapy in HNSCC. MATERIALS AND METHODS: DCE-MR imaging studies were performed on 33 patients with newly diagnosed HNSCC before neoadjuvant chemoradiation therapy by using a 1.5T (n = 24) or a 3T (n = 9) magnet. The data were analyzed by using SSM for estimation of Ktrans, ve, and τi. Response to treatment was determined on completion of chemoradiation as CR, with no evidence of disease (clinically or pathologically), or PR, with pathologically proved residual tumor. RESULTS: The average pretreatment Ktrans value of the CR group (0.64 ± 0.11 minutes−1, n = 24) was significantly higher (P = .001) than that of the PR (0.21 ± 0.05 minutes−1, n = 9) group. No significant difference was found in other pharmacokinetic model parameters: ve and τi, between the 2 groups. Although the PR group had larger metastatic nodal volume than the CR group, it was not significantly different (P = .276). CONCLUSIONS: These results indicate that pretreatment DCE-MR imaging can be potentially used for prediction of response to chemoradiation therapy of HNSCC.
Experimental global food reduction raises resource acquisition costs of brood care helpers and reduces their helping effort

Summary 1. Ecological conditions and constraints are considered to be important for the evolution of cooperative breeding. However, the importance of the costs of resource acquisition to the decision of subordinates to stay or leave and to help or not have been hardly studied experimentally. Here we reduced the overall food availability (zooplankton) for experimental populations of the cooperatively breeding cichlid fish Neolamprologus pulcher in the field and measured effects on subordinates’ spacing, dispersal, interactions, and helping behaviour. 2. When plankton availability was reduced, all helpers increased feeding rate and moved further away from shelter. Helping correlated negatively with feeding, which suggests a trade-off between foraging effort and cooperation. All group members attacked experimentally presented egg predators later in the food reduction treatment and small helpers in particular decreased their defence effort against them. Furthermore, all subordinates tended to perform less work when food was reduced. 3. This is the first study where food availability was generally reduced in the environment of a cooperative breeder, without affecting the resource distribution between territories. Thereby, our experimental manipulation did not provide dispersal incentives to the test animals, which might have interfered with the decision of subordinates to cooperate. The experimental variation of the costs of resource acquisition for group members revealed significant effects on foraging, spacing, social interactions, and helping behaviour, which highlights the potential importance of ecological constraints on the behaviour, social structure and cooperation propensity in highly social vertebrates.
Colorimetric method for estimating methylmalonic acid in urine.

The increased urinary excretion of methylmalonic acid in vitamin B12 deficiency has attracted attention and several studies have suggested that it has clinical value as a test of vitamin B12 deficiency (Cox and White, 1962; Bashir, Hinterberger, and Chromatographic methods of estimation have been used but are either time consuming or only semi- quantitative over a narrow range of methylmalonic acid levels. Giorgio and Plaut (1965) described a quantita- tive colorimetric method using the coupling of methylmalonic acid with diazotised p-nitroaniline after puri- fication of urine by ion exchange resin. The resin they used (Dowex 3) is no longer available. As the rapid detection of methylmalonic aciduria has potential use in the clinical laboratory in patients in whom multiple haematinic deficiencies may be present, it was decided to try to develop a suitable method using this colour reaction.
Adherence to Evidence-Based Therapies After Acute Coronary Syndrome: A Retrospective Population-Based Cohort Study Linking Hospital, Outpatient, and Pharmacy Health Information Systems in Valencia, Spain

BACKGROUND: Pharmacological secondary prevention in patients after an acute coronary syndrome (ACS) has contributed substantially to reductions in cardiovascular morbidity and mortality and, overall, has undergone important improvements in recent years. Nevertheless, there is still a considerable adherence gap and opportunity for improvement. OBJECTIVES: To assess, in a cohort of patients who survived an ACS, adherence to commonly prescribed secondary prevention drugs, factors associated to adherence, and variations among health care delivery areas. METHODS: We combined the medical and pharmacy databases from a regional public health service in Valencia, Spain, to construct a population-based cohort of patients discharged alive after an emergency admission for an ACS to any hospital of the Valencia Health Agency in 2008. We evaluated medication adherence by determining the proportion of days covered (PDC) for each therapeutic group (antiplatelet agents, beta-blockers, angiotensin antagonists, and statins) in the 9 months following hospital discharge. Fully adherent patients were defined as those having enough treatment to cover 75% (PDC75) of the follow-up period. RESULTS: The study cohort consisted of 7,462 patients. PDC75 was reached by 69.9% of patients taking antiplatelet agents, 43.3% taking beta-blockers, 45.4% taking angiotensin antagonists, and 58.8% taking statins. Approximately 18% of patients did not reach PDC75 with any treatment, while 47.6% did so for 3 or more therapeutic groups. Lower adherence was found in diagnoses other than myocardial infarction. Other factors associated with nonadherence were older age, women, having copayment, foreign born, and most comorbidities (except for hypertension and hyperlipidemia, which were inversely associated, and diabetes and peripheral disease, which were not significantly associated). Health care delivery areas showed certain variability in their performance on these adherence measures that remained after the adjustment for covariates, although confidence intervals overlapped except between areas at the extremes. CONCLUSIONS: The proportion of fully adherent patients remains suboptimal, and important improvements are still possible in secondary prevention of ischemic heart disease. The combination of electronic health information systems may be very useful for monitoring adherence and evaluating the effectiveness of adherence and other quality improvement interventions.
Peripheral Nerve Abnormalities in Aging Rats

The sciatic/tibial/plantar nerve complex of normal aged rats displays striking morphological changes that are most pronounced distally. Nerve fiber abnormalities include: (a) large numbers of axonal glycogenosomes, mitochondria, dense membranous bodies, and decorated particles; (b) adaxonal Schwann cell processes sequestering portions of axoplasm; (c) swollen demyelinated and remyelinated axons, some encircled by supernumerary cellular processes; and (d) collagen pockets, denervated Schwann cell columns, and empty basal laminae. Abnormalities a and b were encountered with increasing frequency on descent through the tibial and plantar nerves. Abnormalities b, c, and d were found in lateral and medial plantar nerves, where they were associated with an enlarged endoneurial space. Found in animals kept in cages with smooth or wire-mesh floors, the incidence of these changes increased with advancing age. They are attributed to trauma and ischemia from chronic pressure on the plantar nerve.
Identification of forensically important sarcophagidae (Diptera) by DNA- based method coupled with morphological characteristics

The Sarcophagidae, besides the Calliphoridae, are considered as forensically important insects for investigating postmortem interval (PMI), however, often be neglected. Using decomposing pig bodies with various postmortem intervals, we identified 47 sarcophagid flies from hundreds of fly specimens collected at several Taiwan areas. Species diversity of the sarcophagid flies was further studied based on both morphological identification and DNA analysis at the mitochondrial oxidase subunit I (COI) gene. Seven species, Liopygia crassipalpis, Parasarcophaga misera, P. dux, Liopygia ruficornis, Boettcherisca pergrina, B. formosensis, and Seniorwhitea princeps, were initially identified by microscopic observation. Nineteen of the 47 sarcophagid flies were categorized to be P. dux. The COI DNA sequence variations within intra-species were less than 0.8 % for L. crassipalpis, P. misera, L. ruficornis, S. princes, B. formosensis, 1.2% for B. pergrina, and 1.8% for P. dux. Our results were consistent to the literature's finding; i.e., DNA variations in intra-species of P. dux were higher than those of other sarcophagid species. Neighbor-Joining tree results revealed that there were three subgroups within the population of P. dux, and the COI DNA sequence of the three was found to be highly variable, but was of high similarity within same subgroup. Morphologically, the 19 P. dux specimens had high similarity, though with minor difference among the three subgroups. The difference was found to locate at pregonite and the color of 2 nd genital tergite. The finding of the relationship between DNA sequence variations and
Menopausal hot flushes and vascular health

Abstract Hot flushes are complained of by approximately 75% of all postmenopausal women, and hormone therapy (HT) is the most effective way to alleviate them. Hot flushes are characterized by altered vascular function and sympathetic nervous system activity. Hot flushes occurred more often in women attending large, non-randomized observational studies (e.g. Nurses’ Health Study), where HT use protected against cardiovascular disease (CVD). However, they were absent (or mild) in randomized HT trials where HT use was accompanied with an elevated risk for CVD. Hot flushes, if a factor for cardiovascular health, could partly explain the conflict between observational and randomized trials. Several cross-sectional studies imply that hot flushes are detrimental to the cardiovascular system. However, the data are not uniform, and hot flushes were recalled retrospectively or during HT use. In our prospective study hot flushes were accompanied with a vasodilatory effect during endothelial testing, and this was related to the severity of hot flushes. Night-time hot flushes were followed with transient rises in ambulatory blood pressure (BP). However, no effect of hot flushes on diurnal BP was detected. The use of estradiol showed no harmful effects on endothelial function in women with hot flushes, but in non-flushing women oral, but not transdermal, estradiol led to vasoconstrictive changes. Estradiol complemented with medroxyprogesterone acetate eliminated the vasoconstrictive effect of sole oral estradiol. Thus, both oral and transdermal estradiol are applicable in flushing women, whereas a transdermal route should be favored in non-flushing women if used e.g. for bone protection.