Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Biologics and Tuberculosis Risk: The Rise and Fall of an Old Disease and Its New Resurgence

Tuberculosis (TB) is an ancient disease, recognized in Egyptian mummies and defined by Hippocrates as “phthisis” ( φθίσις , Greek for “consumption”)1. Over the centuries, the epidemiology of TB was characterized by a long period of a relatively stable incidence rate of infection, but the crowding of European cities and the Industrial Revolution favored the spread of Mycobacterium tuberculosis , and TB became an epidemic, a devastating disease with a high mortality rate2. The frequency of TB probably reached its peak in the 18th and 19th centuries with an estimated prevalence in Europe of 900 deaths per 100,000 persons3. This impressive flagellum had a strong influence on social life, and famous artists such as poets John Keats, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and Giacomo Leopardi, authors Robert Louis Stevenson, Emily Bronte, Katherine Mansfield, and Edgar Allan Poe, musicians Niccolo Paganini and Frederic Chopin, and sculptor and painter Amedeo Modigliani were all affected. Contemporaneously, TB became a preferred subject in the arts, as witnessed by Edvard Munch’s portrait of his sister Sophie dying of TB and the touching histories of protagonists of lyric opera such as Mimi in Puccini’s La Boheme and Violetta in Verdi’s La Traviata . Over the following decades, public health measures, improvements in microbiology procedures with the isolation of M. tuberculosis by Robert Koch, and the availability of effective therapies led to a reduction in the incidence of this disease. In the United States, there was a 6% yearly progressive decline in the incidence of TB until 1980, followed by a recrudescence of recorded TB cases, with an increase of 20% between 1985 and 1992 owing to the spread of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)4. Once again, public health …
Recovery of Storage and Emptying Functions of the Urinary Bladder after Spinal Anesthesia with Lidocaine and with Bupivacaine in Men

Background The aim of this study was to evaluate and compare the effects of spinal anesthesia with lidocaine and with bupivacaine on urinary bladder function in healthy men who were scheduled for minor orthopaedic surgical procedures. Methods Twenty men were randomly allocated to receive either bupivacaine or lidocaine. Before spinal anesthesia, filling cystometry was performed with the patient in the supine position and a pressure flow study was done with the patient in the standing position. After operation, cystometric measurements were continued until the patient could void urine spontaneously. The levels of analgesia and of motor blockade were recorded. Results The urge to void disappeared immediately after injection of the local anesthetics. There was no difference in the duration of lower extremity motor blockade between bupivacaine and lidocaine. Detrusor blockade lasted significantly longer in the bupivacaine group (means +/‐ SD, 460 +/‐ 60 min) than in the lidocaine group (235 +/‐ 30 min). Total fluid intake and urine volume accumulated during the detrusor blockade were significantly higher in the bupivacaine group than in the lidocaine group. In the bupivacaine group, the total volume of accumulated urine (875 +/‐385 ml) was also significantly higher than cystometric bladder capacity (505 +/‐ 120 ml) with the risk of over distension of the bladder. Spontaneous voiding of urine did not occur until segmental sensory analgesia had regressed to the third sacral segment. Conclusions Spinal anesthesia with lidocaine and with bupivacaine causes a clinically significant disturbance of bladder function due to interruption of the micturition reflex. The urge to void disappears quickly and bladder function remains impaired until the block has regressed to the third sacral segment in all patients. With long‐acting local anesthetics, the volume of accumulated urine may exceed the cystometric bladder capacity. With respect to recovery of urinary bladder function, the use of short‐acting local anesthetics for spinal anesthesia seems to be preferable.
Lack of correlation between self‐reported symptoms of dyspepsia and infection with Helicobacter pylori, in a general population sample

Objective To investigate any correlation between infection with Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) and overall symptoms of dyspepsia, in a general population sample. Design Analysis of test results and questionnaire replies from a population screening study involving subjects registered at a single general practice in Market Harborough, UK. Methods H. pylori status was established using a commercial enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and frequent dyspepsia was assessed using a previously validated self-completion symptom questionnaire. Results Complete results for dyspepsia and H. pylori status were obtained and analysed for 1524 men and women aged 21 –55 years at the start of the study. In those who attended for screening, the prevalence of dyspepsia was 39%, with a 15% prevalence of infection with H. pylori. No significant correlation was found between H. pylori status and frequent dyspepsia, upper abdominal pain or reflux-like symptoms. Adjustment for age, gender, smoking and alcohol consumption did not alter these findings. Conclusion The analysis suggested that H. pylori infection does not play an important role in overall symptoms of non-ulcer dyspepsia in the community, nor is it important in protecting against acid reflux in patients without duodenal ulcer.
Absorção de água em sementes de coquinho-azedo

O coquinho-azedo Butia capitata (Mart) Becc, e uma palmeira endemica do Cerrado, que se destaca pela potencialidade socioeconomica junto as comunidades carentes da regiao Norte de Minas Gerais. Entretanto, fatores como extrativismo intensivo e expansao agricola, bem como a quase inexistencia de estudos cientificos inviabilizam o seu uso sustentavel comprometendo a sobrevivencia da especie. O presente trabalho objetivou caracterizar a absorcao de agua em sementes de coquinho-azedo com e sem endocarpo, visando propiciar um melhor entendimento sobre o seu processo germinativo. Para tanto, foi mensurado o peso de 1000 sementes, teor de umidade e elaboradas as curvas de embebicoes das sementes de coquinho com e sem endocarpo. Consistindo em nove tratamentos (0, 1, 3, 5, 7, 15, 24, 48 e 72 horas de embebicao), quatro repeticoes e dez sementes por parcela. Pelos resultados, verificou-se diferenca da porcentagem de umidade pelas sementes sem endocarpo (U=35,95%) em relacao as com endocarpo (U=23,74%). Concluiu-se que existe interferencia do endocarpo em relacao a permeabilidade de agua nas sementes de coquinho-azedo.
Teaching Practices that Foster Self-regulated Learning: a case study

The aim of this paper is to present a case study of an elementary school teacher who changed her practices to foster self-regulated learning (SRL) strategies in her students. Specifically, this study describes the process of how she developed her teaching strategies to promote SRL strategies such as self-evaluation, goal-setting and planning, and lastly, rehearsing and memorization. The teacher’s classroom practices promoted opportunities to encourage her students to become conscious of their learning process as they used these specific SRL strategies and as they executed reading and writing tasks from the curriculum of English as a Foreign language. The results reflect the importance of developing SRL strategies in students from early years on in the classroom while accomplishing mandatory tasks from the curriculum.
Lip Height and Lip Width after Extended Mohler Unilateral Cleft Lip Repair

&NA; The purpose of this study was to evaluate the symmetry in lip height and lip width after extended Mohler unilateral cleft lip repair, with long‐term follow‐up monitoring. In the Mohler repair procedure, Millard's C‐flap is used to fill the entire defect created by the downward rotation of the medial lip element. Because a lateral advancement flap is not transposed into this defect, Mohler repair is often expected to produce a short lip. In a retrospective study of 120 patients, anthropometric measurements were made on black‐and‐white photographs. Of those patients, 49 met the study criterion of having a set of photographs taken 13 months or less postoperatively and another set taken at least 2 years postoperatively. The distance from the Cupid's bow peak to a line tangent to the base of the columella (lip height) and the distance from the Cupid's bow peak to the ipsilateral commissure (lip width) were measured with a Vernier caliper. The medial intercanthal distance was also measured, for standardization of all measurements. All values were normalized to the mean intercanthal distance at age 6, as reported by Farkas. Matchedpair t test analyses were used to assess the statistical significance of differences in cleft‐side versus non‐cleftside measurements for each group, as well as changes with time. No statistically significant difference in cleft side versus non‐cleft‐side lip height for the two groups or with time was observed (≤13 months, p = 0.28; >2 years, p = 0.08; change with time, p = 0.69). Statistically significant differences in lip width between the cleft side and the non‐cleft side were observed for both time groups. The average difference in lip width at 1 to 13 months was 8.6 percent (p < 0.001). The average difference in lip width at 2 years or more postoperatively was 5.8 percent (p < 0.001). In comparisons of early versus late measurements, it was noted that lip width significantly increased with time (mean, 0.91 mm; p = 0.035). The findings suggest that extended Mohler repair does not produce a short lip. Interestingly, lip width was observed to be significantly smaller on the cleft side in the immediate postoperative period. However, this deficiency was observed to decrease significantly during long‐term follow‐up monitoring. (Plast. Reconstr. Surg. 111: 17, 2003.)
University of Groningen The predictive value of the antioxidative function of HDL for cardiovascular disease and graft failure in renal transplant recipients

Background: Protection of low-density lipoproteins (LDL) against oxidative modification is a key antiatherosclerotic property of high-density lipoproteins (HDL). This study evaluated the predictive value of the HDL antioxidative function for cardiovascular mortality, all-cause mortality and chronic graft failure in renal transplant recipients (RTR). Methods: The capacity of HDL to inhibit native LDL oxidation was determined in vitro in a prospective cohort of renal transplant recipients (RTR, n 1⁄4 495, median follow-up 7.0 years). Results: The HDL antioxidative functionality was significantly higher in patients experiencing graft failure (57.4 ± 9.7%) than in those without (54.2 ± 11.3%; P 1⁄4 0.039), while there were no differences for cardiovascular and all-cause mortality. Specifically glomerular filtration rate (P 1⁄4 0.001) and C-reactive protein levels (P 1⁄4 0.006) associated independently with antioxidative functionality in multivariate linear regression analyses. Cox regression analysis demonstrated a significant relationship between antioxidative functionality of HDL and graft failure in age-adjusted analyses, but significance was lost following adjustment for baseline kidney function and inflammatory load. No significant association was found between HDL antioxidative functionality and cardiovascular and all-cause mortality. Conclusion: This study demonstrates that the antioxidative function of HDL (i) does not predict cardiovascular or all-cause mortality in RTR, but (ii) conceivably contributes to the development of graft failure, however, not independent of baseline kidney function and inflammatory load. © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Spectral and temperature sensitivity of area de-coupled tandem modules

Area de-coupling is a recently suggested method for current- or voltage-matching two-terminal tandem modules. It has previously been shown that under standard conditions, area de-coupled modules have the same theoretical efficiency as four-terminal tandem cells for any combinations of band gaps. In this work, the spectral and temperature sensitivity of ideal area de-coupled modules is investigated by detailed balance modeling. Voltage-matched area de-coupled modules are found to be considerably less sensitive to changes in the spectrum than current-matched modules. Current-matched modules are, on the other hand, found to be less sensitive to changes in the temperature. Under normal conditions, the difference in temperature sensitivity has a negligible impact on the efficiency compared to the difference in spectral sensitivity, making voltage-matched modules the preferred choice. The difference in efficiency between an area de-coupled voltage-matched module and a four-terminal device is found to be too small to be of any practical consequence even under changing conditions. This finding is in agreement with earlier work by Lentine et al. on microsystem-enabled photovoltaic modules.
Enterovirus molecular detection and typing

Cell culture and neutralization have been considered the gold standard for enterovirus detection and identification for more than 50 years, but molecular amplification technologies are rapidly replacing the traditional methods in clinical and public health laboratories. Assays based on reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction or nucleic acid sequence-based amplification may be used to detect enterovirus genome in all types of clinical specimens. More recently, nucleotide sequence has been used as a surrogate for antigenic typing (determination of serotype) by targeting parts of the enterovirus capsid-coding region that contain serotype-specific neutralization epitopes. This review will describe the molecular methods currently being used to diagnose enterovirus infection and disease, starting with the broadest level (family/genus detection) and proceeding through species/serotype identification to genotyping and molecular epidemiology. The commonly used molecular assays are usually more sensitive and more specific than cell culture and antigenic typing. They can reduce the turnaround time for testing of clinical diagnostic specimens to a clinically relevant timeframe and should supplant culture/neutralization as the gold standard in the near future. However, further evaluation and, in particular, more rigorous validation are required before a molecular diagnostic standard can be established.
Preparation and Electrical Properties of Epoxy Resin Reinforced with Functionalized Carbon Nanotubes

In this study, dielectric properties of nanocomposites of epoxy as a based and multi walled carbon nanotubes before and after functionalization u-CNTs ,f-CNTs respectively as a reinforced materials have been investigated. The solution processing with help of acetone as a solvent have been used to fabricate u- CNTs/epoxy composites, while functionalized MWCNTs with nitric and sulfuric acids used to fabricate f- CNT/epoxy composite with volume fraction(0.0, 0.1 and 0.2) Vp % of CNTs. The effects of u-MWNT and f- MWNT with volume fraction loading on dielectric properties (dielectric constant, dielectric loss and impedance) as a function of the frequency (10 2 - 5x10 6 Hz) at room temperature of an epoxy based nanocomposite system were investigated. The studies showed that dielectric constant, dielectric loss and impedance increased with CNT loading and decreased with frequency increasing. And f-CNT/epoxy composite shows a significant improvement in the dielectric properties when compared with pure epoxy and u-CNTs composites.
Colorectal cancer screening: video-reviewed flexible sigmoidoscopy by nurse endoscopists--a Canadian community-based perspective.

BACKGROUND Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common incident cancer and the second most fatal cancer in Canada. Flexible sigmoidoscopy (FS) is one of the modalities under consideration for CRC screening. The present series reports on a screening program of FS performed by nonphysician endoscopists in a Canadian community setting, with video review of procedures by physicians and recommendation of follow-up colonoscopy where polyps are identified. RESULTS Five hundred twenty-five, average-risk, asymptomatic patients were examined. After exclusion of inappropriate referrals, 488 remained for analysis. The duration and extent of examination were comparable with those of previous studies elsewhere. Compliance with suggested follow-up was 97.3%. Polyps were identified at FS in 15.4% of examinees. In 8.2% of patients, the polyps were neoplastic at subsequent histology. Four malignant lesions were detected, all at an early stage. There were no complications of FS. INTERPRETATION This report shows that FS can be carried out safely and effectively by nonphysician personnel in a community setting in Canada. The manpower cost for nonphysician operators is considerably less than that for specialist physician endoscopists. This approach deserves consideration in cost effectiveness analyses of CRC screening.
Traction Control for Ride-by-Wire Sport Motorcycles: A Second-Order Sliding Mode Approach

This paper addresses the analysis and design of a safety-oriented traction control system for ride-by-wire sport motorcycles based on the second-order sliding mode methodology. The controller design is based on a nonlinear dynamical model of the rear wheel slip, and the modeling phase is validated against experimental data measured on an instrumented vehicle. To comply with practical applicability constraints, the position of the electronic throttle body is used as control variable and the effect of the actuator dynamics is thoroughly analyzed. After a discussion on the interplay between the controller parameters and the tracking performance, the final design effectiveness is assessed via mechanical simulation corporation BikeSim, a full-fledged commercial multibody motorcycle model.
Biochemical parameters of neoplasis. I. "Priming" activity of deoxyribonucleic acid from normal and neoplastic human tissues in a deoxyribonucleic acid polymerase system.

Summary DNA 2 was isolated from surgical biopsies of human neoplastic tissue and from normal tissue of the same organs in the same patients. In a mammalian DNA polymerase system that depends on the presence of a DNA “primer,” DNA from neoplastic tissue appeared to be a more efficient primer than either DNA from corresponding normal tissue or a standard calf thymus DNA preparation used for comparison in all experiments.
Intracellular Pharmacokinetics of Tenofovir Diphosphate, Carbovir Triphosphate, and Lamivudine Triphosphate in Patients Receiving Triple-Nucleoside Regimens

Objective:To evaluate the potential for a pharmacologic mechanism to explain suboptimal virologic responses observed in a triple-nucleoside only regimen containing tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF), abacavir (ABC), and lamivudine (3TC). Methods:This was a prospective evaluation of intracellular concentrations and pharmacokinetics of tenofovir diphosphate (TFV-DP), carbovir triphosphate (CBV-TP), and lamivudine triphosphate (3TC-TP) in patients on triple-nucleoside regimens. Fifteen patients on a stable TDF plus ABC plus a third nucleoside reverse transcriptase (RT) inhibitor (3TC [n = 13], stavudine [n = 2]) regimen discontinued TDF or ABC, replacing it with a nonnucleoside RT inhibitor or protease inhibitor. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells were collected after the last dose of TDF or ABC at baseline and over 12 to 96 hours as well as at days 14 and 28 after discontinuation. Nucleotide concentrations were measured directly using liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry; changes after ABC or TDF discontinuation would provide evidence of an intracellular drug interaction. Results:Intracellular nucleotide concentrations of the continued drugs were unaffected when TDF or ABC was discontinued. Intracellular levels of TFV-DP exhibited less inter- and intrapatient variability than CBV-TP or 3TC-TP. TFV-DP also had persistent intracellular levels on TDF discontinuation (median half-life of 150 hours, range: 60 to >175 hours). CBV-TP concentrations fell to below the limit of detection in all patients by 72 hours after the last ABC dose in accordance with a median half-life of 18 hours (range: 12-19 hours). Conclusions:An intracellular drug interaction does not explain the suboptimal viral response in patients treated with the nucleoside-only regimen of TDF, ABC, and 3TC.
Grip strength and the risk of developing radiographic hand osteoarthritis: results from the Framingham Study.

OBJECTIVE In knees, quadriceps strength may protect against osteoarthritis (OA). Muscle activity is a major determinant of forces at the hand joints, and grip is a common task during which high muscle forces are sustained, especially at the proximal hand joints (metacarpophalangeal [MCP] joints and thumb base). This longitudinal study of radiographic hand OA examined the association between incident OA at different hand joints and maximal grip strength. METHODS Four hand joint groups were studied: distal interphalangeal (DIP), proximal interphalangeal (PIP), MCP, and the base of the thumb (carpometacarpal and scaphotrapezial combined). Subjects were members of the Framingham OA Study who had a baseline radiograph in 1967-1969 and a followup radiograph in 1992-1993 (mean followup 24 years) and had no prevalent radiographic OA in any hand joint at baseline. Incident disease was defined as development of OA defined as a modified Kellgren/Lawrence grade of > or =2. Grip strength was measured in kilograms by dynamometer in 1958-1961 and again in 1960-1963, and the 2 measures were averaged and divided into sex-specific tertiles. Joint-based analysis was performed by adjusting for age, physical activity, and occupational category using the lowest grip strength tertile as the referent. RESULTS Baseline and followup radiographs were obtained from 746 subjects. Of these, 453 subjects with no prevalent OA at baseline were eligible for analysis. In men, higher maximal grip strength was associated with an increased risk of OA in the PIP (highest tertile odds ratio [OR] 2.8 compared with lowest tertile, 95% confidence interval [95% CI] 1.2-6.7), MCP (highest tertile OR 2.9, 95% CI 1.1-7.4), and thumb base joints (highest tertile OR 2.8, 95% CI 1.1-7.4). In women, there was increased risk of OA in the MCP joints (highest tertile OR 2.7, 95% CI 1.1-6.4). CONCLUSION Men with high maximal grip strength are at increased risk for the development of OA in the PIP, MCP, and thumb base joints, and women, in the MCP joints. No association was found between maximal grip strength and incident OA in the DIP joints of men or women.