Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effect of Different Single-Session Educational Modalities on Improving Medical Students' Ability to Demonstrate Proper Pressurized Metered Dose Inhaler Technique

Objective. Pressurized metered dose inhalers (pMDIs) remain important therapeutic options for obstructive lung diseases. The ability to instruct and evaluate inhaler technique is a crucial skill that all medical professionals should possess; unfortunately, many professionals lack proficiency with pMDIs. We aimed to determine if brief education interventions of differing modalities can positively affect medical students’ skills over the long term. Methods. The baseline ability of medical students and first year residents to use pMDIs was scored via a 10-point scoring system. Students were randomized to receive no education, one-on-one instruction, or video instruction. Students were then retested immediately after the education and at the 3-month mark for retention of acquired skills. Results. Video, one-on-one and the placebo groups modalities statistically improved the average medical student’s score in the immediate retesting (7.5 and 7.4 vs. 4.7, p < .01, respectively). Moreover, the proportion of passing grades at the immediate recall significantly improved for both modalities. During retention testing, only video education had a statistically significant improvement in pass rate over the control group, as defined by an average score of 7 or better (8 vs. 1, p < .05). Conclusions. One-on-one teaching and video education were able to improve medical students’ ability to use pMDIs in short-term testing. However, only video education retained significant improvement compared with control after 3 months. This suggests that compared with traditional one-on-one teaching, video education is an effective means of teaching medical students how to improve their pMDI technique.
Analytical modeling of MOSFETs channel noise and noise parameters

Simple analytical expressions for MOSFETs noise parameters are developed and experimentally verified. The expressions are based on analytical modeling of MOSFETs channel noise, are explicit functions of MOSFETs geometry and biasing conditions, and hence are useful for circuit design purposes. Good agreement between calculated and measured data is demonstrated. Moreover, it is shown that including induced gate noise in the modeling of MOSFETs noise parameters causes /spl sim/5% improvement in the accuracy of the simple expressions presented here, but at the expense of complicating the expressions.
Feed-forward inhibition as a buffer of the neuronal input-output relation

Neuronal processing depends on the input-output (I/O) relation between the frequency of synaptic stimulation and the resultant axonal firing rate. The all-or-none properties of spike generation and active membrane mechanisms can make the neuronal I/O relation very steep. The ensuing nearly bimodal behavior may severely limit information coding, as minimal input fluctuations within the expected natural variability could cause neuronal output to jump between quiescence and maximum firing rate. Here, using biophysically and anatomically realistic computational models of individual neurons, we demonstrate that feed-forward inhibition, a ubiquitous mechanism in which inhibitory interneurons and their target cells are activated by the same excitatory input, can change a steeply sigmoid I/O curve into a double-sigmoid typical of buffer systems. The addition of an intermediate plateau stabilizes the spiking response over a broad dynamic range of input frequency, ensuring robust integration of noisy synaptic signals. Both the buffered firing rate and its input firing range can be independently and extensively modulated by biologically plausible changes in the weight and number of excitatory synapses on the feed-forward interneuron. By providing a soft switch between essentially digital and analog rate-code, this continuous control of the circuit I/O could dramatically increase the computational power of neuronal integration.
Phenomenological Differences between Familiar and Unfamiliar Odours

Unfamiliar odours are harder to discriminate than familiar odours. We explored the phenomenal basis of this difference. In experiments 1a and 1b, participants profiled odour quality for two sets of familiar and unfamiliar odours. In both cases unfamiliar odours were redolent of more odour qualities than familiar stimuli. In experiment 2, participants received (i) a set of familiar and unfamiliar odours and learnt their names, and (ii) a further set of familiar and unfamiliar odours to which they were exposed. Participants then profiled these stimuli as well as a further unexposed set of familiar and unfamiliar odours. Exposure, but not naming, led to a significantly smaller difference between the familiar and unfamiliar stimuli, in terms of their redolence to other odours, when compared to unexposed control stimuli. Unfamiliar exposed odours were also judged as less redolent than unexposed unfamiliar odours. These observations are consistent with a mnemonic basis for odour-quality perception.
Experimental epileptology before 1900

The available English and other major Western European language literature was reviewed to assess the stage of development of experimental epileptology prior to the end of the 19th Century. The relevant investigations had been carried out in animals of various species employing a number of methods of evoking convulsive seizures, mainly mechanical, electrical or chemical stimulation or surgical removal of parts of the cerebral cortex. The studies had produced some conflicting data but (i) allowed the development of a number of reasonably satisfactory experimental models of convulsive epileptic seizures (ii) confirmed that such epileptic seizures arose from the cerebral cortex, and (iii) suggested that for local onset epileptic seizures to become generalised tonic‐clonic ones, the opposite motor cortex and probably a brain stem, possibly pontine, centre needed to be involved. No generally acceptable animal model of chronic epilepsy had been developed, and the non‐motor manifestations of epileptic seizures were still largely unexplored experimentally. Nevertheless, the pre‐1900 investigations not only laid the foundations for the 20th Century expansion of experimental studies on epileptogenesis but also advanced the understanding of epileptic seizure production.
Relationship between objective and subjective sleep measures in depressed patients and healthy controls

The purpose of this study was to correlate subjective sleep characteristics based on questionnaire response, and objective sleep EEG features based on polysomnography, in 52 patients with major depressive disorders (MDD) and 49 healthy controls. With the exception of the number of awakenings, subjective and objective sleep measures were strongly correlated in both groups. Patients and controls were able to accurately judge time in bed, total sleep time and sleep latency. However, sleep quality, depth, and how rested participants felt upon awakening were not strongly correlated with objective sleep characteristics, particularly in those with MDD
Prediction of race pace in long distance running from blood lactate concentration around race pace

Munoz-Perez I, Moreno-Perez D, Cardona-Gonzalez C, Esteve-Lanao J. Prediction of race pace in long distance running from blood lactate concentration around race pace. J. Hum. Sport Exerc. Vol. 7, No. 4, pp. 763-769, 2012. The aim of this study was to develop an equation for predicting the performance in 10 kilometers road race (10k), Half Marathon (21k) and Marathon (42k), using the blood lactate concentration (bLA) close to race pace. 64 runners of different levels completed the study (10k (n = 19): 32min-56min, 21k (n=24): 1h04min-1h57min; 42k (n=21): 2h38min-4h02min). A few days before their main competition, subjects conducted a test in track at constant pace over 2400m. They ran at two different speeds that were slightly lower (V1) or similar / faster than the competition expected pace (V2). bLa samples were taken during and after every pace. The results did not show any mathematical model to estimate the 10k mark. In the 21k, it was found a model that included V2 and bLA2: V21k (km / h) = (V2*1.085) + (-0.282*bLA2) 0.131, r 2 = 0.97, ETE = 0.414 km / h. In the 42k, it was found a model that included V1 and BLA1: V42k (km/h) = (V1*1.085) + (-0.429*BLA1) -0.170, r 2 = 0.81, ETE = 0.626 km/h. Two equations were capable of predicting performance, for 21k and 42k through bla concentration at a pace close to the expected for the
Gap-null free spectral response of asymmetric ring heads for longitudinal and perpendicular recording

The head field distribution and the signal reproducibility of asymmetric ring heads at several large inclination angles are examined. It is shown that the asymmetric ring heads with large inclination can generate sharp spike-like sensitivity functions and a good smooth spectral-response curve which has no gap-nulls up to very high k(=2 pi / lambda ) values for both perpendicular and longitudinal recording modes. Due to the sharpness in the sensitivity function distribution, the phase angles of the readout voltage vary linearly with k. The importance of symmetry and sharpness in the sensitivity distribution function is discussed in relation to the reading process. It is concluded that an asymmetric ring head with a 30 degrees inclination angle from the horizontal is very appropriate for both high-density perpendicular and longitudinal recording. >
The Price Effects of a Large Merger of Health Insurers: A Case Study of UnitedHealth-Sierra

In this paper, we examine the association between market concentration and prices in the health insurance industry. Specifically, we conduct a case study of a large merger between health insurers— UnitedHealth Group and Sierra Health Services—which caused a shock to market concentration in Nevada's health insurance markets. Using a novel data set on health plan attributes, we exploit that natural experiment to obtain estimates of the association between the merger and premiums. The treatment group consists of health plans in markets affected by the merger, and the control group consists of health plans in similar markets that were not affected. Using a difference-in-difference propensity score matching estimator, we compare the change in premiums of health plans in the treatment group to the premium change in the controls. We find that premiums in Nevada markets increased by 13.7 percent after the merger relative to the control group. Our findings suggest that the merging parties exploited the market power gained from the merger.
Percentile distributions of waist circumference for 7–19‐year‐old Polish children and adolescents

The aim of the study was to develop waist circumference (WC) percentiles in Polish children and youth and to compare these with the results obtained in other countries. The study comprised a random group of 5663 Polish children aged 7–18 years. Smoothed WC percentile curves were computed using the LMS method. The curves displaying the values of the 50th (WC50) and the 90th (WC90) percentile were then compared with the results of similar studies carried out in children from the UK, Spain, Germany, Turkey, Cyprus, Canada and the USA. WC increased with age in both boys and girls and in all observed age periods the boys were seen to dominate. For 18‐year‐old Polish boys and girls the values of WC90 were 86.5 and 78.2, respectively, and were lower than the current criteria developed by the International Diabetes Federation. Both WC50 and WC90 were higher in Polish boys and girls compared with their counterparts in the UK, Turkey and Canada and significantly lower than in children from the USA, Cyprus and Spain. The percentile curves for Polish children and youth, which were developed here for the first time, are base curves that can be applied in analysing trends as well as making comparisons with results of similar studies performed in other countries.
Skeletal dysmorphology in fetus following colloidal silver ingestion in pregnant swiss albino mice

The present industrial sector related to textile industry, medicine product industry, house hold industry have enormously spread the use of Silver nanoparticle. Varieties of teratogenic effects are executed due to silver nanoparticle among which one of the important is skeletal dysmorphology. The discovery of the new facts can be compared with the quotes from some studies [1] reveals that there is some chemical agents and drugs can induce teratogenic effects on the contrary silver nanoparticle induces skeletal dysmorphology in higher dose oral gavages schedules. On the due course of development it evokes major congenital abnormalities of various systems of offspring’s which is seen in developed countries like USA and Canada about 3 to 5% and in developing countries like India, Mauritania etc about 20 to 25% [2]. The devastating effects of drug, manually made colloidal solution, viruses and other facts related to our ecology is responsible for 1% of congenital defects of known and unknown etiology [3]. Old studies on in-vitro risk assessment reported silver nanoparticle translocation which causes decreased cell viability, cell membrane damage and other histological hazardous effects. Several other studies also indicated silver nanoparticle to be most toxic among all metal nanoparticles [4-6]. A toxicity of minimum level is denoted when HL-60 cell grown on metal silver plate. Some researchers did accumulation of nano silver on cells experiment [7-11] and denoted that maximum accumulation can be cytotoxic in rat liver cell and Mammalian germ line stem cells [12].
Healing of dehiscence defects following root surface demineralization with tetracycline: a histologic study in monkeys.

BACKGROUND The purpose of this study was to histologically evaluate the healing of experimental dehiscence defects after surface demineralization with tetracycline hydrochloride. METHODS Six adult male monkeys (Cebus apella) were used in this study. Dehiscence defects were surgically created on the buccal aspect of the mandibular lateral incisors in all animals. The root surfaces were debrided and planed. In a split-mouth design, a 10% tetracycline hydrochloride solution was applied to one tooth for 4 minutes (T group), followed by irrigation with saline. The contralateral tooth served as a control (C group). The flaps were repositioned and sutured. The animals were sacrificed at 6 months postoperatively and histological sections were processed. Computer-assisted histomorphometric analysis was used to evaluate the formation of new cementum, new bone, new connective tissue attachment, and length of the epithelium (junctional and sulcular). RESULTS Bone regeneration was similar in both groups (1.5 +/- 0.3 mm for the T group and 1.5 +/- 0.6 mm for the C group). The C group showed more new cementum than the T group (2.3 +/- 0.3 mm versus 2.2 +/- 0.3 mm) as well as a longer epithelium (1.0 +/- 0.3 mm versus 0.9 +/- 0.2 mm). The T group presented more new connective tissue attachment (3.1 +/- 0.2 mm) than the C group (2.9 +/- 0.6 mm). However, no statistically significant differences were detected between the two groups. CONCLUSIONS The amount of new attachment was similar in both groups. Root conditioning with 10% tetracycline solution did not produce any additional new attachment in comparison to the controls.
Bio-inspired multiobjective clustering optimization: A survey and a proposal

Multiobjective clustering techniques have been used to simultaneously consider several complementary aspects of clustering quality. They optimize two or more cluster validity indices simultaneously, they lead to high-quality results, and have emerged as attractive and robust alternatives for solving clustering problems. This paper provides a brief review of bio-Inspired multiobjective clustering, and proposes a bee-inspired multiobjective optimization (MOO) algorithm, named cOptBees-MO, to solve multiobjective data clustering problems. In its survey part, a brief tutorial on MOO and multiobjective clustering optimization (MOCO) is presented, followed by a review of the main works in the area. Particular attention is given to the many objective functions used in MOCO. To evaluate the performance of the algorithm it was executed for various datasets and the results presented high quality clusters, diverse solutions an the automatic determination of a suitable number of clusters.
Bone marrow‐derived mesenchymal stem cell‐loaded fibrin patches act as a reservoir of paracrine factors in chronic myocardial infarction

The combination of mesenchymal stem cells and tissue‐engineered fibrin patches improves the therapeutic efficacy of stem cells. In vivo cardiac magnetic resonance (4.7 Tesla) and ex vivo high‐spatial resolution CMR were used to track the fate of human bone marrow‐derived mesenchymal stem cell (BMSC) delivered on an epicardial scaffold and more specifically assess their potential intramyocardial migration. Fifty‐seven nude rats underwent permanent coronary artery ligation. Two months later, those with a left ventricular ejection fraction ≤55% were randomly allocated to receive a patch loaded with human BMSC (BMSC‐P, n = 10), a patch loaded with BMSCs labelled with iron oxide nanoparticles (BMSC*‐P, n = 12), an acellular patch (A‐P, n = 8) or to serve as sham‐operated animals (SHAM, n = 7). BMSC secretion of cytokines and growth factors was evaluated with flow‐cytometry. Cardiac functional parameters of cell‐treated groups (BMSC*‐P and BMSC‐P) yielded significantly better outcomes than the SHAM group (p = 0.044 and p = 0.026, respectively, for ejection fraction). Angiogenesis was higher in the cell‐patch than in control groups (e.g. BMSC*P vs. SHAM: p = 0.007). No BMSCs were identified into the myocardium on cardiac magnetic resonance or histological sections, although persisting BMSCs were identified on the epicardial surface 21 days post‐transplantation in 10% of rats hearts (Lamin A/C and CD90 positive). Cytokine and growth factor profiling demonstrated an increase in their release by cells seeded in patches. The absence of stem cell migration into the myocardium and the persistence of stem cells on the epicardial surface suggest that fibrin patches are likely to act predominantly as reservoirs of paracrine factors. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Favourable effects of nilvadipine on cognitive function and regional cerebral blood flow on SPECT in hypertensive patients with mild cognitive impairment

ObjectiveWe compared the effects of nilvadipine and amlodipine on the cognitive function and regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and hypertension. MethodsTwelve patients with MCI and hypertension were randomly assigned to receive nilvadipine or amlodipine for 12–16 weeks. Before and after treatment all patients underwent neuropsychological evaluation and single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) studies with N-isopropyl-p-[123I]iodoamphetamine. ResultsBoth nilvadipine (n=6) and amlodipine (n=6) groups had similar significant reduction in systolic and diastolic blood pressure after treatment. The Logical Memory subscore of the Wechsler Memory Scale-Revised increased significantly in the nilvadipine group, but not in the amlodipine group after treatment. Although SPECT demonstrated no significant differences in rCBF deficits at baseline between the two groups, the nilvadipine group showed an improvement of rCBF in the left frontal lobe, while the amlodipine group showed a decrease of rCBF in the left temporal lobe. ConclusionOur results suggest that nilvadipine, a highly lipophilic agent that easily penetrates the central nervous system, may have additional benefits and be potentially useful for the treatment of patients with MCI and hypertension.
Weighted Average Attitude Consensus of Multiple Spacecraft on Directed Graphs

Abstract This paper investigates the attitude consensus problem of multiple spacecraft on digraphs containing a spanning tree. We propose an adaptive attitude consensus scheme to adapt to the spacecraft model uncertainties. Using the frequency-domain analysis tool and Lyapunov stability theory, we demonstrate the stability of the closed-loop networked system, and we also show that the proposed control is able to guarantee that the attitudes of the spacecraft agents converge to the weighted average consensus value. Simulation results are provided to illustrate the performance of the proposed adaptive controller.
Increased frequency of sister chromatid exchanges in lymphocytes of breast cancer patients

Spontaneous and mitomycin‐C (MMC)‐induced rates of sister chromatid exchanges (SCEs) were studied in peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBLs) of 40 patients with cancer of the breast and 40 healthy female volunteers as controls. Spontaneous SCE per cell value in PBL cultures was 7.72 for the breast cancer patients, which was significantly higher (p < 0.001) than the 6.28 SCEs per cell scored for the controls. Eight of the patients were studied a second time, 3 to 6 months following surgical removal of the tumour. A significant (p < 0.05) reduction in SCE per cell value was observed following mastectomy. MMC‐induced frequencies of SCE remained comparable in patients and controls. Cellular kinetics, calculated as average generation time (AGT) from the frequency of cells in Ml, M2 and M3 cycles, were comparable in patients and controls.
Binding capacity and pathophysiological effects of IgA1 from patients with IgA nephropathy on human glomerular mesangial cells

IgA deposition in glomerular mesangium and the interaction with mesangial cells may well be the final common pathway to IgA nephropathy (IgAN). Altered hinge‐region O‐glycosylation of IgA1 from patients with IgAN may predispose to mesangial deposition and activation of the mesangial cell (MC) by IgA1, via a novel IgA1 receptor, and may be a key event in the pathogensis of IgAN. The aim of this study was to investigate the binding capacity and biological effects of IgA1, from both patients with IgAN and healthy controls, on human mesangial cells (HMC). Serum IgA1 was isolated with jacalin affinity chromatography, heated to aggregated form (aIgA1) and labelled with 125I. Binding capacity of aIgA1 in vitro to cultured primary HMC was evaluated by a radioligand binding assay and the specificity of binding was determined by a competitive inhibition assay. Intracellular calcium release was studied by confocal analysis and phosphorylation of extracellular signal‐regulated kinase (ERK) was determined by Western blot analysis. Change of cell cycles was demonstrated by flow cytometry and HMC proliferation was evaluated by direct cell count. Expression of TGF‐β mRNA and production of supernatant fibronectin were tested by RT‐PCR and indirect competitive ELISA, respectively. aIgA1 from both the patients with IgAN and normal controls bound to HMC in a dose‐dependent, saturable manner, and was saturated at approximately 500 pmoles per 0·5 ml of aIgA1. aIgA1 from patients with IgAN, however, bound to HMC at a higher speed and Scatchard analysis revealed a Kd of (8·89 ± 2·1) × 10−8mversus (4·3 ± 1·2) × 10−7m for aIgA1 from healthy controls (P = 0·026). The binding was specific because it was only inhibited by unlabelled Mono‐IgA1 (mIgA1) and not by serum albumin or IgG. aIgA1 from patients with IgAN could induce release of intracellular calcium, phosphorylation of ERK, DNA synthesis, proliferation of HMC, expression of TGF‐βmRNA and secretion of fibronectin in HMC in a similar time‐dependent manner as aIgA1 from healthy controls, but the effects were much stronger and the durations were much longer (P < 0·05, respectively). We conclude that aIgA1 from patients with IgAN has a higher binding capacity to HMC and stronger biological effects than aIgA1 from healthy controls. This suggests that direct interaction between IgA1 and HMC and subsequential pathophysiological responses may play an important role in the pathogenesis for IgAN.