Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The influence of age on the assessment of motor unit activation in a human hand muscle

Two indices of motor unit recruitment, the ramp‐force and repetitive‐discharge thresholds, were compared in the first dorsal interosseus muscle of ten young and twelve elderly subjects. The purpose was to determine the effect of age on the relationship between the two recruitment thresholds and the spike‐triggered average force of motor units. Each subject performed three tasks requiring isometric abduction of the left index finger: a maximum voluntary contraction (MVC), a ramp‐and‐hold contraction, and a repetitive‐discharge task. The elderly subjects used coactivation of the antagonist muscle (second palmar interosseus) more frequently than the young subjects during the ramp‐and‐hold contraction. Many elderly subjects expressed difficulty with the controlled ramp‐down phase of the ramp‐and‐hold contraction and preferred a coactivation strategy to a derecruitment strategy for this task. There were no differences due to age or gender in the ramp‐force thresholds between the various groups. However, the normalized repetitive‐discharge threshold was significantly less for the younger subjects and for the male subjects. Nonetheless, the two recruitment thresholds were able to predict the spike‐triggered average force with similar success for both the young and the elderly subjects. These data suggest that the recruitment threshold of a motor unit in first dorsal interosseus was characterized equally well by either the ramp‐force or repetitive‐discharge measurement for both young and elderly subjects but that coactivation was used more frequently by the elderly subjects during the ramp‐and‐hold task.
VEGF‐B expression in human primary breast cancers is associated with lymph node metastasis but not angiogenesis

Angiogenesis is essential for tumour growth and metastasis. It is regulated by numerous angiogenic factors, one of the most important being vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). Recently VEGF‐B, a new VEGF family member that binds to the tyrosine kinase receptor flt‐1, has been identified. Although the importance of VEGF has been shown in many human tumour types, the contribution of VEGF‐B to tumour neovascularization is unknown in any tumour type. This study therefore measured the mRNA level of VEGF‐B and its receptor flt‐1 by ribonuclease protection assay and the pattern of VEGF‐B expression by immunohistochemistry in 13 normal breast samples and 68 invasive breast cancers. Flt‐1 expression was significantly higher in tumours than in normal breast (p=0.02) but no significant difference was seen in VEGF‐B between normal and neoplastic breast (p=0.3). There was a significant association between VEGF‐B and node status (p=0.02) and the number of involved nodes (p=0.01), but not with age (p=0.7), size (p=0.6), oestrogen receptor (ER) (p=0.2), grade (p=0.5) or vascular invasion (p=0.16). No significant relationship was present between VEGF‐B and flt‐1 (p=0.2) or tumour vascularity (p=0.4). VEGF‐B was expressed mostly in the cytoplasm of tumour cells, although occasional stromal components including fibroblasts and endothelial cells were also positive. No difference in VEGF‐B expression was observed adjacent to regions of necrosis, in keeping with this VEGF family member not being hypoxically regulated. These findings suggest that VEGF‐B may contribute to tumour progression by a non‐angiogenic mechanism, possibly by increasing plasminogen activators and hence metastasis, as has been described in vitro. Measurement of VEGF‐B together with other angiogenic factors may identify a poor prognostic patient group, which may benefit from anti‐VEGF receptor therapy targeted to flt‐1 (VEGFR1) as well as kdr (VEGFR2). Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Specificity and Evolutionary Divergence of the Antigenic Structure of the Polypeptide Chain Elongation Factors

Antisera have been prepared against two electrophoretically homogeneous “polypeptide chain elongation factors,” T and G, from Escherichia coli. Inactivation and precipitation tests showed that these two fractions were antigenically distinct with no cross-reaction. The immune inactivation curve of G factor from E. coli was distinguishable from that of G factor from Pseudomonas fluorescens. Mammalian factors were not inhibited by antibody directed against the E. coli T and G factors. By Ouchterlony diffusion tests, the antisera also detected significant antigenic variability among different bacterial species. It is concluded that the factors have undergone considerable evolutionary divergence in their antigenic structure.
Public stigmatization of different mental disorders: a comprehensive attitude survey

Dear Editor, Stigmatization of mental disorders is a key issue in the social sciences and one of the most important obstacles in the field of public mental health care. The literature indicates that stigmatization of persons with mental disorders is quite prevalent in the general population (Link et al. 1999; Crisp et al. 2005). Nevertheless, significant variation exists depending on the different components of stigma that have been applied (e.g., stereotypes, prejudice or discrimination; Corrigan, 2004). Recognition is the key element in the concept of ‘mental health literacy’ (Jorm, 2000) and a crucial strategy to reduce public stigma through education and the provision of pertinent information (Corrigan, 2004). However, recognition of mental disorders is rather low in the general public (Jorm, 2000) and several studies revealed that labelling a person as mentally ill is associated with increased stigma (Martin et al. 2000; Peluso & Blay, 2009). Furthermore, stigma is highly related to the disorder to which it is attributed. In this respect a growing body of evidence suggests that stigma is greater towards schizophrenia when compared with depression and that substance-use disorders are even more stigmatized than schizophrenia (Link et al. 1999; Crisp et al. 2005; Pescosolido et al. 2010). Thus, in this study we aimed at expanding the stigma literature by integrating the following three topics as discussed above: (1) different components and measures of stigma, (2) labelling of mental disorders and (3) different types of mental disorders.
Single-incision thoracoscopic surgery for spontaneous pneumothorax using multi-degrees of freedom forceps.

PURPOSE The objective of this study was to assess the perioperative results of a single-incision approach using multi-DOF forceps for spontaneous pneumothorax, in comparison with the traditional 3-port approach. METHODS Between May 2012 and June 2013, 44 patients with spontaneous pneumothorax underwent SITS, and their clinical characteristics and perioperative results were evaluated. We then compared those who had undergone SITS (SITS group) with those who had undergone traditional 3-port surgery before the study period (3-port group). RESULTS The two groups were similar in terms of mean patient age and pneumothorax laterality (p = 0.81, 0.38), but the proportion of male patients was higher in the 3-port group than in the SITS group (p = 0.0026). Operation time in the SITS group (52.4 min) was longer than in the 3-port group (35.9 min, p <0.0001). The duration of postoperative drainage and hospital stay did not differ significantly between the groups (p = 0.19, 0.075). Although 14 of the 56 SITS patients (25%) showed mild adhesion in the pleural cavity, none required conversion to a 3-port approach. The bullous region in two or three lobes was resected in 23 patients (41%). CONCLUSIONS SITS using multi-DOF forceps is a useful approach for treatment of spontaneous pneumothorax in selected patients.
On the relation between polarimetric synthetic aperture radar (SAR) features and sea ice melt pond fraction

In this study we examine the relationship between sea ice melt pond fraction and two polarimetric C-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR) features. Three high-resolution SAR scenes were recorded in the Fram Strait in late summer 2011, covering iceberg-fast first-year and old sea ice. In addition, melt pond fraction was retrieved from photographs recorded during a helicopter flight at the study area. Co-polarisation ratio and relative kurtosis were extracted from the SAR scenes and compared to the retrieved melt pond fraction. A correlation between relative kurtosis and melt pond fraction was found in all scenes. Co-polarisation ratio was correlated to melt pond fraction in one of the scenes. Refreezing of the melt ponds could explain the lack of correlation in the two other scenes. Our results demonstrate a potential of high resolution C-band SAR for retrieval of melt pond fraction, a valuable parameter in climate model parametrization and climate studies.
Automatic gesture recognition based on thermography

We designed a system for automatic recognition of gestures handling surgical instruments using thermography. A tool was developed to process and classify in real time the acquired thermal images. First, the regions of interest including the gestures are extracted using a blob detection algorithm. Then, the gestures are classified in categories corresponding to the instruments and using a hierarchical temporal memory (HTM) network. The classification requires a learning phase. Our tool was tested on thermal images acquired during a simulated scene where the user handled four different instruments. We obtained an overall score of gesture recognition of 98.0%. These first results are very encouraging. The final goal is the automatic recognition of low-level tasks in a surgical workflow.
Bottom-Up and Top-Down Mechanisms of General Anesthetics Modulate Different Dimensions of Consciousness

There has been controversy regarding the precise mechanisms of anesthetic-induced unconsciousness, with two salient approaches that have emerged within systems neuroscience. One prominent approach is the “bottom up” paradigm, which argues that anesthetics suppress consciousness by modulating sleep-wake nuclei and neural circuits in the brainstem and diencephalon that have evolved to control arousal states. Another approach is the “top-down” paradigm, which argues that anesthetics suppress consciousness by modulating the cortical and thalamocortical circuits involved in the integration of neural information. In this article, we synthesize these approaches by mapping bottom-up and top-down mechanisms of general anesthetics to two distinct but inter-related dimensions of consciousness: level and content. We show how this explains certain empirical observations regarding the diversity of anesthetic drug effects. We conclude with a more nuanced discussion of how levels and contents of consciousness interact to generate subjective experience and what this implies for the mechanisms of anesthetic-induced unconsciousness.
Sladovnický potenciál nových genetických zdrojů kolekce jarního ječmene.

Kolekce genetických zdrojů jarniho jecmene, vedena v Zemědělskem výzkumnem ustavu Kroměřiž, s. r. o. , je každorocně rozsiřovana o nove přirůstky. Nově ziskane geneticke zdroje jecmene jsou zkouseny v třiletých cyklech, kde se hodnoti jejich hospodařske, biologicke a morfologicke znaky a vlastnosti a rovněž potencialni využitelnost pro pěstovani a slechtěni nových odrůd. Ke statistickemu hodnoceni výsledků byl použit program REML a statistický software Statistica 7.0. Výsledky ziskane u 113 odrůd jarniho jecmene, pěstovaných v lokalitě Kroměřiž v obdobi 2003-2005, ukazaly progres zejmena ve výnosu a podilu předniho zrna nových sladovnických odrůd, původem předevsim z oblasti středni a zapadni Evropy. Byla potvrzena znacna odlisnost jednotlivých genetických zdrojů jecmene. Materialy jecmene s odlisným typem řadovosti klasu a rozdilnou pluchatosti zrna se v nasich půdně-klimatických podminkach projevovaly diferencovaně oproti standardnim dvouřadým pluchatým odrůdam. Ziskane udaje potvrdily vliv typu a původu na sladařsky důležite charakteristiky odrůd, jako je přijem vody při maceni, obsah bilkovin zrna a extraktu sladu, jakož i na zname vzajemne vztahy mezi nimi.
Analysis of Consumers´ Attitudes Towards Food Additives Using Focus Group Survey

Food additives are getting more and more importance among the consumers´ food safety concerns. In this research attitudes towards food additives were analyzed in three focus groups: common consumers, doctors and food industry experts by qualitative market research methods. It was observed that most consumers knew very little about food additives. While recognizing their technological importance, they are afraid of their health impairing effects. However, this fear is mostly theoretic; other quality characteristics and the price play a much more significant role when choosing foods. Doctors are more familiar with the chemical nature and health effects of food additives, but their shopping habits are mainly the same as the common consumers´. Through their job food industry experts get in closer relationship with food additives, therefore they generally have detailed knowledge of their technological and health functions as well. In their consumer decision process the food additive content of products is a more important factor than in the other groups. It was concluded that, with respect to the consumers´ requirements, food and health authorities should pay much more attention to providing authentic information to the public, because it is the only way to prevent developing the general fear of food additives. This project should include education involving the media and doctors, and additionally, making E-numbers list be available to the customers to help the easy identification of food additives.
Soil Chemical Analysis of Ancient Activities in Cerén, El Salvador: A Case Study of a Rapidly Abandoned Site

Activities performed over long periods of time tend to leave soil chemical residues as evidence of those activities. Some of the questions studied in this paper deal with the interpretive capabilities provided by chemical patterns. Soil samples from Cerén, El Salvador, a well-preserved site, were analyzed for extractable phosphorus and heavy metals. We compared in situ artifacts collected from the site with chemical signatures that indicate activity areas. We found that elevated concentrations of phosphorus were associated with food preparation, consumption, and disposal. Heavy metals were associated with the interior of the structure where pigments and painted gourds were found. In this case, where well-preserved, in situ artifacts were available for analysis, we found that chemical analysis was effective in locating human activity areas. Our findings indicate that chemical analysis can be used to guide interpretation in areas of poor artifact preservation with reasonable accuracy, and in archaeological sites that underwent gradual abandonment.
Role of Probiotics in Short Bowel Syndrome in Infants and Children—A Systematic Review

Short bowel syndrome (SBS) is a cause of significant morbidity and mortality in children. Probiotics, due to their beneficial effects on the gastrointestinal tract (e.g., improving gut barrier function, motility, facilitation of intestinal adaptation and decreasing pathogen load and inflammation) may have a therapeutic role in the management of SBS. To conduct a systematic review of the current evidence for the effects of probiotic supplementation in children with SBS, the standard Cochrane methodology for systematic reviews was used. The databases, Pubmed, Embase, ACTR, CENTRAL, and the international trial registry, and reference lists of articles were searched for randomised (RCT) or quasi-randomised controlled trials reporting on the use of probiotics in SBS. Our search revealed no RCTs on the use of probiotics in children with SBS. We found one small cross-over RCT (placebo controlled crossover clinical trial), one case control study and nine case reports on the use of probiotics in children with SBS. In the crossover RCT, there was no consistent effect on intestinal permeability (primary outcome) after supplementation with Lactobacillus rhamnosus (LGG) in nine children with SBS. The case control study (four cases: four controls) reported a trend for increase in height and weight velocity and improvement in non-clinical outcomes, such as gut flora, lymphocyte count and serum prealbumin. Five of the nine case reports showed that children (n = 12) with SBS were benefited (e.g., cessation of diarrhoea, improved faecal flora, weight gain and weaning from parenteral nutrition) by probiotic supplementation. The remaining four reported on the adverse effects, such as Lactobacillus sepsis (n = 3) and D-lactic acidosis (n = 2). There is insufficient evidence on the effects of probiotics in children with SBS. The safety and efficacy of probiotic supplementation in this high-risk cohort needs to be evaluated in large definitive trials.
Hepatitis C is a predictor of acute liver injury among hospitalizations for acetaminophen overdose in the United States: A nationwide analysis

Acute liver injury (ALI) following acetaminophen overdose (AO) occurs in less than 10% of cases, but that risk is increased among alcoholics and those with chronic alcoholic liver disease. We sought to assess whether coexistent hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection potentiated the hepatotoxic effects of acetaminophen. We queried the Nationwide Inpatient Sample (1998‐2005), a 20% sample of U.S. hospitals, to identify admissions for AO using International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD‐9‐CM) codes. Outcomes were development of ALI (ICD‐9‐CM: 570.0, 572.2, 573.3), in‐hospital mortality, severe liver failure, and resource utilization. There were 42,781 admissions for AO in the sample, yielding a national estimate of 210,436 AO hospitalizations. HCV prevalence increased from 0.5% to 1.5% between 1998 and 2005 (P < 0.0001). The rate of ALI was 7.2%. After adjusting for confounders and excluding patients with cirrhosis, the risk of ALI increased with HCV (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 1.80; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.30‐2.48), nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (aOR 7.43; 95% CI: 3.30‐16.7), alcoholic liver disease (aOR 6.46; 95% CI: 4.53‐9.21), and malnutrition (aOR 3.84; 95% CI: 2.61‐5.65). HCV was associated with greater risk of progression to severe liver failure (aOR 3.55; 95% CI: 1.88‐6.70). Crude mortality was higher in patients with HCV compared to those without HCV (2.1% versus 0.9%, P = 0.01); patients with ALI had an overall mortality of 8.6%. Length of stay was longer in patients with HCV (4.0 versus 2.6 days, P < 0.0001). Admissions with coexistent HCV also incurred two‐fold higher hospital charges than those that did not ($21,400 versus $11,400, P < 0.0001). Conclusion: Our retrospective analysis suggests that patients with HCV may be at increased risk of ALI following AO. These findings warrant further confirmation in prospective studies. (HEPATOLOGY 2008;48:1336–1341.)
Pulmonary Vein Dilation in Patients with Atrial Fibrillation: Detection by Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Pulmonary Vein Dilation in AF. Introduction: The positive relationship between left atrial (LA) size and atrial fibrillation (AF) is well recognized; however, there is little information on the association of pulmonary vein (PV) diameter and AF. The purpose of this study was to investigate by magnetic resonance angiography the change of PV and LA size in patients with no history of AF, patients with paroxysmal AF (PAF), and patients with chronic AF (CAF).
The Dubbo Study of the Health of Elderly: Correlates of Coronary Heart Disease at Study Entry

A prospective study of the health of elderly Australians recently commenced in Dubbo, NSW, the study population comprising 1,237 males and 1,568 females 60 years and older. The prevalence rates of coronary heart disease (CHD) and its associated risk factors have been examined in the baseline data. The age‐standardized rate of CHD was 23.8/100 in males and 18.1/100 in females. The prevalence rate increased with age until 79 years in males, thereafter declining. The rate increased steadily with age in females. In a multiple logistic model, the following possible predictors of CHD were included: age, cigarette smoking, use of alcohol, exercise, religiosity, years of education, hypertension, diabetes, family history of CHD, body mass index, lipid and lipoprotein variables. The presence of CHD in males was significantly predicted by age, hypertension (odds ratio, OR = 1.40), family history (OR = 2.05), and high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol (OR = 0.78). The significant predictors in females were age, years of education (OR = 0.82), hypertension (OR = 1.45), family history (OR = 1.77), serum triglycerides (OR = 1.30), and HDL cholesterol (OR = 0.73). Hypertension was found to be a stronger predictor of CHD in the younger age group (60–69 years), while diabetes was a predictor of CHD in older males (70–79 years). Our findings require confirmation in the prospective study now in progress.
The p53 codon 72 polymorphism, sunburns, and risk of skin cancer in US caucasian women

The p53 gene is involved in the control of cell‐cycle arrest and apoptosis. The germline Arg72Pro polymorphism alters the protein's biochemical functions, and may confer individual susceptibility to skin cancer. We evaluated the association of the Arg72Pro polymorphism with skin cancer risk among Caucasians in a nested case‐control study within the Nurses' Health Study (NHS) (219 melanoma, 286 squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), and 300 basal cell carcinoma (BCC) and 874 controls). Compared to the Arg/Arg genotype, the Pro/Pro genotype had an OR of 1.57 (95%CI, 0.81–3.06) for melanoma risk, and an OR of 1.79 (95%CI, 1.01–3.17) for BCC risk. The positive association of the Pro allele with BCC risk was only limited to women with two or fewer lifetime sunburns (P, trend, 0.002; P, interaction, 0.02). No association was observed between the polymorphism and SCC risk. We also observed that the Pro allele was inversely associated with the risk of childhood sunburn among Caucasian participants pooled from four nested case‐control studies within the NHS. This study suggests that the Arg72Pro polymorphism may play a role in skin carcinogenesis. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Neuropsychological functioning in patients with posttraumatic stress disorder following short-term paroxetine treatment.

UNLABELLED A previous study found improvements in verbal declarative memory in patients with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) following one year of open-label paroxetine treatment. The purpose of the present study was to replicate prior findings and to extend the previous study by comparing the effects of paroxetine versus placebo on cognition in patients with PTSD. METHODS Eighteen participants with PTSD underwent assessment of neuropsychological function, following which they were randomized to receive controlled-release (CR) paroxetine or placebo, given in a variable dose in a double- blind manner for three months. Neuropsychological testing was then repeated. Subjects who had received placebo were then treated with open-label paroxetine CR and re-assessed. RESULTS Paroxetine CR treatment resulted in a significant increase in verbal declarative memory function in the group as a whole, as measured by the Wechsler Memory Scale-Revised, the Selective Reminding Test, and novel paragraph recall, and explicit recall of neutral words. Although we found patterns of improved test performance with paroxetine versus placebo treatment, these differences were not statistically significant. CONCLUSION These findings replicate an earlier finding that open label treatment with paroxetine CR is associated with improvements in verbal declarative memory function. The current study did not show a statistically significant difference between the effects of paroxetine and placebo on memory function, which may in part be related to our small sample size.