Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Washing red blood cells and platelets transfused in cardiac surgery reduces postoperative inflammation and number of transfusions: Results of a prospective, randomized, controlled clinical trial*

Objectives: Children undergoing cardiac surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass are susceptible to additional inflammatory and immunogenic insults from blood transfusions. We hypothesize that washing red blood cells and platelets transfused to these patients will reduce postoperative transfusion-related immune modulation and inflammation. Design: Prospective, randomized, controlled clinical trial. Setting: University hospital pediatric cardiac intensive care unit. Patients: Children from birth to 17 yrs undergoing cardiac surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass. Interventions: Children were randomized to an unwashed or washed red blood cells and platelet transfusion protocol for their surgery and postoperative care. All blood was leuko-reduced, irradiated, and ABO identical. Plasma was obtained for laboratory analysis preoperatively, immediately, and 6 and 12 hrs after cardiopulmonary bypass. Primary outcome was the 12-hr postcardiopulmonary bypass interleukin-6-to-interleukin-10 ratio. Secondary measures were interleukin levels, C-reactive protein, and clinical outcomes. Measurements and Main Results: One hundred sixty-two subjects were studied, 81 per group. Thirty-four subjects (17 per group) did not receive any blood transfusions. Storage duration of blood products was similar between groups. Among transfused subjects, the 12-hr interleukin ratio was significantly lower in the washed group (3.8 vs. 4.8; p = .04) secondary to lower interleukin-6 levels (after cardiopulmonary bypass: 65 vs.100 pg/mL, p = .06; 6 hrs: 89 vs.152 pg/mL, p = .02; 12 hrs: 84 vs.122 pg/mL, p = .09). Postoperative C-reactive protein was lower in subjects receiving washed blood (38 vs. 43 mg/L; p = .03). There was a numerical, but not statistically significant, decrease in total blood product transfusions (203 vs. 260) and mortality (2 vs. 6 deaths) in the washed group compared to the unwashed group. Conclusions: Washed blood transfusions in cardiac surgery reduced inflammatory biomarkers, number of transfusions, donor exposures, and were associated with a nonsignificant trend toward reduced mortality. A larger study powered to test for clinical outcomes is needed to determine whether these laboratory findings are clinically significant.
Sex Differences in Attentional Performance in a Clinical Sample With ADHD of the Combined Subtype

Objective: The goal of the present study was to assess whether girls with ADHD express similar deficits in various attention tasks to those described in boys. Method: A total of 175 children with the combined subtype of ADHD (89 females) and 132 normal controls (60 females) aged 8 to 14 years participated. Five different tests were conducted: alertness, sustained attention, focused attention, divided attention, and a set-shifting task. Results: The children with ADHD performed worse on all aspects of attention compared with healthy control participants. Several overall general sex differences could be detected, with boys exhibiting faster reaction times and greater response variability. Controlling for ADHD symptom severity and psychiatric comorbidities, no Sex × Diagnosis interaction was found, suggesting that males and females with ADHD experience comparable attentional deficits. Conclusion: These results indicate that deficits in various attentional domains are a robust component of ADHD in males and females.
Psittacid Herpesvirus 1 and Infectious Laryngotracheitis Virus: Comparative Genome Sequence Analysis of Two Avian Alphaherpesviruses

ABSTRACT Psittacid herpesvirus 1 (PsHV-1) is the causative agent of Pacheco's disease, an acute, highly contagious, and potentially lethal respiratory herpesvirus infection in psittacine birds, while infectious laryngotracheitis virus (ILTV) is a highly contagious and economically significant avian herpesvirus which is responsible for an acute respiratory disease limited to galliform birds. The complete genome sequence of PsHV-1 has been determined and compared to the ILTV sequence, assembled from published data. The PsHV-1 and ILTV genomes exhibit similar structural characteristics and are 163,025 bp and 148,665 bp in length, respectively. The PsHV-1 genome contains 73 predicted open reading frames (ORFs), while the ILTV genome contains 77 predicted ORFs. Both genomes contain an inversion in the unique long region similar to that observed in pseudorabies virus. PsHV-1 is closely related to ILTV, and it is proposed that it be assigned to the Iltovirus genus. These two avian herpesviruses represent a phylogenetically unique clade of alphaherpesviruses that are distinct from the Marek's disease-like viruses (Mardivirus). The determination of the complete genomic nucleotide sequences of PsHV-1 and ILTV provides a tool for further comparative and functional analysis of this unique class of avian alphaherpesviruses.
Tissue‐specific cancer‐related serpin gene cluster at human chromosome band 3q26

Approximately one quarter of the identified human serpin genes are cancer‐related and clustered mainly at two distinct loci: 6p25 and 18q21. We have studied a novel serpin gene cluster at 3q26 containing at least two recently identified members: the pancreas‐specific protease inhibitor, pancpin (PI14), and the brain‐associated protease inhibitor, neuroserpin (PI12). In this, unlike a previous study, both PI14 and PI12 at 3q26 were found to consist of 9 exons and 8 introns and to share a perfectly conserved gene organization whose pattern is very different from that of the ov‐serpin family. This distinct pattern appears identical in the genomic structures of human plasminogen activator inhibitor‐1 (PAI1) at 7q21 and protease nexin 1 (PI7) at 2q33–35, confirming that these four genes in three different chromosomes form a discrete subset within the serpin superfamily. As in the other three members whose gene expression is altered during tumorigenesis, PI12 expression was found to be down‐regulated in tumor brain tissues and in two brain cancer cell lines: U‐87 MG and H4. By screening genomic libraries, we isolated two overlapping clones showing that the marker SGC32223 (centromere) is located within intron F of PI12 and the marker WI‐10077 (telomere) is located downstream of the 3′‐flanking region of PI14. This finding indicates that the distance between human PI14 and PI12 is ∼100 kb, and hence we speculate that other tissue‐specific cancer‐related serpin genes are likely to reside within this 3q26.1 cluster region. © 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Barriers to Entry, Concentration, and Tobin's Q Ratio

In a well-developed capital market, rents will be capitalized in the prices of the firm's outstanding securities. To avoid the difficulties of using accounting rates of return to measure rents, this paper uses capitalized market values in relation to the replacement cost of the firm's capital stock, a measure known as Tobin's q. This measure is used to investigate the relationship between barriers, concentration, and profitability in the context of the traditional theory that asserts concentration fosters cooperative pricing and monopoly rents. In general, evidence that is inconsistent with this theory is found.
Knee pain and osteoarthritis in older adults: a review of community burden and current use of primary health care

BACKGROUND Osteoarthritis is the single most common cause of disability in older adults, and most patients with the condition will be managed in the community and primary care. AIM To discuss case definition of knee osteoarthritis for primary care and to summarise the burden of the condition in the community and related use of primary health care in the United Kingdom. DESIGN Narrative review. METHOD A literature search identified studies of incidence and prevalence of knee pain, disability, and radiographic osteoarthritis in the general population, and data related to primary care consultations. Findings from UK studies were summarised with reference to European and international studies. RESULTS During a one year period 25% of people over 55 years have a persistent episode of knee pain, of whom about one in six in the UK and the Netherlands consult their general practitioner about it in the same time period. The prevalence of painful disabling knee osteoarthritis in people over 55 years is 10%, of whom one quarter are severely disabled. CONCLUSION Knee osteoarthritis sufficiently severe to consider joint replacement represents a minority of all knee pain and disability suffered by older people. Healthcare provision in primary care needs to focus on this broader group to impact on community levels of pain and disability.
Turkish College Students' Attitudes Toward Women Managers: The Effects of Patriarchy, Sexism, and Gender Differences

Abstract The authors examined how patriarchy, sexism, and gender influence Turkish college students' attitudes toward women managers. Turkish undergraduate students (N = 183) from Middle East Technical University completed questionnaires measuring attitudes toward women managers as well as attitudes toward the concepts of hostile and benevolent sexism and support for patriarchy. Participants were of upper- or middle-class Turkish backgrounds. The results showed that male participants exhibited less positive attitudes toward women managers than did female participants. In addition, participants who held more favorable attitudes toward patriarchy and who scored high on hostile sexism also held less positive attitudes toward women managers than those who held less favorable attitudes toward patriarchy and who scored low on hostile sexism. A regression analysis showed that support for patriarchy and hostile sexism was more important for explaining less favorable attitudes toward women managers than was benevolent sexism.
The effect of minimum wage increases on firm productivity

This paper researches the effect of minimum wages on the hygiene quality of restaurants empirically. We use exogenous increases in the minimum wage to identify the effect. The hygiene effect for the entire sample is negative and insignificant but the 25% best scoring restaurants in terms of hygiene score show a significant deterioration in hygiene score due to minimum wage increases. The effect is small: a dollar increase in the minimum wage lowers the hygiene score by 5% of a standard deviation. The effect of minimum wages on hygiene is interesting because minimum wages are common and hygiene is an important quality aspect for consumers.
Role of neutralizing antibodies in controlling simian foamy virus transmission and infection

BACKGROUND: Human infections with simian foamy viruses (SFVs) have been reported after occupational and nonoccupational exposure to infected animals and their tissues, blood, and body fluids, although there is no evidence for human‐to‐human transmission. We previously demonstrated SFV transmission in monkeys by blood transfusion with whole blood from one donor animal that had a low neutralizing antibody (NAb) endpoint titer, whereas blood transfusion from a second donor monkey that had a high NAb titer failed to transmit virus. These results suggested a role for NAbs in SFV transmission and establishment of infection.
Recruitment of ATM Protein to Double Strand DNA Irradiated with Ionizing Radiation*

The product of the ATM gene, which is mutated in ataxia telangiectasia, is a nuclear phosphoprotein, and it involves the activation of the p53 pathway after ionizing radiation. Here we show that the ATM protein is constitutively associated with double strand DNA and that the interaction increases when the DNA is exposed to ionizing radiation. The ATM protein also had affinity to restriction endonuclease PvuII-digested DNA, but not to UV-irradiated DNA nor X-irradiated single-stranded DNA. The immunoprecipitation experiment detected very weak association between ATM and DNA-PK proteins, and immunodepletion of DNA-PK showed little or no effect on the interaction of the ATM protein with damaged DNA, indicating that an interaction with DNA-PK might not be required for the recruitment of the ATM protein to damaged DNA. Furthermore, the association was also confirmed in xrs-5 and xrs-6e cells, which are Chinese hamster ovary mutant cell lines defective in Ku80 function. These results indicate that the ATM protein is recruited to the site of DNA damage and it recognizes double strand breaks by itself or through an association with other DNA-binding protein other than DNA-PK and Ku80 proteins.
Prognostic implications of histologic patterns in multiple surgical lung biopsies from patients with idiopathic interstitial pneumonias.

STUDY OBJECTIVES To determine the prevalence and prognostic significance of histologic discordance in multiple lung biopsy specimens obtained from patients investigated for suspected cryptogenic fibrosing alveolitis (CFA)/idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). METHODS and results: Between 1984 and 2001, 64 patients undergoing investigation for CFA/IPF were identified in whom multiple biopsies were performed that showed either a pattern of usual interstitial pneumonia (UIP) or nonspecific interstitial pneumonia (NSIP). These cases were classified into three groups: concordant UIP-UIP (n = 25, 39.1%), discordant UIP-NSIP (n = 8,12.5%), and concordant NSIP-NSIP (n = 31, 48.4%). The discordant UIP group had survival, clinical, and physiologic features similar to those of the concordant UIP group, and prognosis in both concordant and discordant UIP groups was significantly worse than that of the concordant NSIP group (p = 0.02 and p = 0.04, respectively). The age of the concordant UIP group was higher than that of the concordant NSIP group, with the mean age of the discordant group being intermediate. There were no significant differences among the three groups in smoking history, duration of dyspnea, presence or absence of crackles, FVC, diffusion capacity of the lung for carbon monoxide, or PaO(2). CONCLUSIONS Patients with discordant UIP-NSIP results on multiple biopsies show clinical behavior similar to those with concordant UIP-UIP and should be regarded as having CFA/IPF in the correct clinical context, rather than "idiopathic NSIP" for the purposes of management. Multiple biopsies should be considered in all patients in order to improve the prognostic information provided by lung biopsy.
Population variation of LIN28B in the Mediterranean: Novel markers for microgeographic discrimination

The aim of this study is to determine whether the LIN28B gene is differentially distributed in the Mediterranean region through the analysis of the allele distribution of three single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), namely rs7759938, rs314277, and rs221639, in 24 populations. These SNPs have been recently related to the age at menarche, pubertal height growth, peripubertal body mass index, levels of prenatal testosterone exposure, and cancer survival.
Wireless scheduling for information freshness and synchrony: Drift-based design and heavy-traffic analysis

We consider the problem of scheduling in wireless networks with the aim of maintaining up-to-date and synchronized (also called, aligned) information at the receiver across multiple flows. This is in contrast to the more conventional approach of scheduling for optimizing long-term performance metrics such as throughput, fairness, or average delay. Maintaining the age of information at a low and roughly equal level is particularly important for distributed cyber-physical systems, in which the effectiveness of the control decisions depends critically on the freshness and synchrony of information from multiple sources/sensors. In this work, we first expose the weakness of several popular MaxWeight scheduling solutions that utilize queue-length, delay, and age information as their weights. Then, we develop a novel age-based scheduler that combines age with the interarrival times of incoming packets in its decisions, which yields significant gains in the information freshness at the receiver. We characterize the performance of our strategy through a heavy-traffic analysis that establishes upper and lower bounds on the freshness of system information.
Treatment of hepatitis C virus genotype 3‐infection

The treatment of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection with pegylated interferon (PEG‐IFN) alfa and ribavirin (800 mg daily) (RBV) is the standard of care (SOC) for hepatitis C virus genotype 3‐infection leading to a sustained virological response (SVR) in around 65% of patients.
Choosing among renin-angiotensin system blockers for the management of hypertension: from pharmacology to clinical efficacy

Abstract Background: Hypertension is an important healthcare challenge, yet despite initiatives to improve detection and advances in therapy, the majority of patients do not achieve recommended blood pressure targets and remain at high cardiovascular risk. Physicians are confronted with an array of antihypertensive agents, accompanied by increasingly complex and often conflicting evidence regarding their efficacy and tolerability. Scope: An extensive PubMed and Cochrane database search was conducted to identify clinical literature (published 1990–2009) on the blood pressure lowering efficacy, tolerability and target organ protection of angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEIs) and angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARBs). While not a systematic review, this article reviews the best available evidence in an attempt to clarify current uncertainty within medical practice regarding treatment options in patients with hypertension. Findings: ACEIs have been at the forefront of hypertension therapy for several years, especially in hypertensive at-risk patients. However, their use is restricted by burdensome side-effects and their limited ability to reach target blood pressure. Newer ARBs, such as telmisartan, have more sustained blood pressure control throughout the 24-h dosing period compared with ACEIs and other ARBs. For uncomplicated hypertension, ARBs are preferred to ACEIs because of their superior tolerability and adherence. In specific patient populations, namely heart failure patients, ARBs have previously shown equal cardiovascular protection to ACEIs. ONTARGET showed that an ARB, in this case telmisartan, was as effective as ramipril in reducing cardiovascular events in a wide cross-section of at-risk cardiovascular patients, but was better tolerated even though patients were screened for ACEI tolerance. Conclusion: Telmisartan is currently the only ARB to have demonstrated equivalence to ramipril in reducing cardiovascular events in a broad patient population. In practical terms, telmisartan is superior to the reference standard ramipril because of more powerful blood pressure lowering and superior tolerability. However, in many countries, guidance to physicians prioritizes ACEIs. In these countries, telmisartan should be the first choice ARB for hypertensive at-risk patients who do not achieve adequate blood pressure control with an ACEI, or for whom tolerability is a concern.
The Pueblo incident. A comparison of factors related to coping with extreme stress.

The 82 surviving crew members of the USS Pueblo were evaluated psychiatrically after their release from 11 months of imprisonment in North Korea. A group of men defined as coping with the stress well was compared to a group who tolerated it poorly. Men who did well had personality diagnoses often listed as "healthy" or schizoid. They tended to use a wide variety of ego-defense mechanisms, particularly faith, reality testing, denial, rationalization, and humor. Men in the group defined as handling the stress poorly were frequently diagnosed as being passive-dependent and were more limited in the number of ego-defense mechanisms utilized. Factors such as age, education, and length of military service were not significant in differentiating between the two groups.
A 13‐week toxicity study of acrylamide administered in drinking water to hamsters

Acrylamide (AA) is known to induce tumors in various organs/tissues in rats and mice. Epidemiological studies of oral exposure have generated controversial results but mortality studies of people who work with AA have indicated increased rates of pancreatic cancer. In the present study, for dose selection for chronic toxicity/carcinogenicity studies, 13‐week toxicity of AA was evaluated in Syrian hamsters, which are sensitive to induction of pancreatic ductal carcinogenesis, at concentrations required to provide doses of 0 (control), 20, 30 and 50 mg kg–1 body weight in drinking water. Treatment with AA caused abnormal gait advancing to hind limb paralysis in all males and females at 50 mg kg–1. Body weights in 30 and 50 mg kg–1 males and 50 mg kg–1 females were lower than in the controls. At termination of the study, red blood cells (RBC) and hemoglobin (Hb) were decreased or showed a tendency for a decrease at 20 and 30 mg kg–1 in females. Microscopically, axonal/myelin degeneration of sciatic nerves was observed in all AA‐treated groups with dose dependence. No obvious changes were found in pancreatic ducts/ductules in any groups of animal. These results indicated the maximum tolerated dose for long‐term studies of AA to be 20 mg kg–1 or less in both male and female Syrian hamsters. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Damping of antiferromagnetic spin waves by valence fluctuations in the double layer perovskite YBaFe2O5.

Inelastic neutron scattering experiments show that spin dynamics in the charge-ordered insulating ground state of the double layer perovskite YBaFe(2)O(5) is well described in terms of e(g) superexchange interactions. Above the Verwey transition at T(V)=308 K, t(2g) double exchange-type conduction proceeds within antiferromagnetic FeO(2)-BaO-FeO(2) double layers by an electron hopping process that requires a spin flip of the five-coordinated Fe ions, costing an energy of 5S(2) approximately 0.1 eV. The hopping process disrupts near-neighbor spin correlations, leading to massive damping of zone-boundary spin waves.
Clinical outcome of patients with internal carotid artery occlusion: a prospective follow-up study.

PURPOSE We prospectively evaluated whether, and to what extent, different clinical presentations (symptomatic or asymptomatic) or the presence of atherosclerotic narrowing of the contralateral carotid system modifies the mortality rate and the incidence of nonfatal cerebrovascular events in patients with internal carotid artery (ICA) occlusion. METHODS A prospective cohort study was conducted in the Unit Care of Angiology at the University Hospital of Padua in Italy. Consecutive patients with ICA occlusion were eligible for the study. Between 1990 and 1991, 41 such patients were identified at our center. All patients were observed prospectively for a mean of 44.5 months, except for one patient who was lost to follow-up after 12 months. Patients with severe (ie, more than 75%) stenosis of the contralateral internal carotid artery were scheduled for thromboendarterectomy. ICA occlusion was objectively documented in all patients by using a combination of echo-color Doppler scanning and continuous-wave Doppler scanning (periorbital flow). RESULTS The overall mortality rate was 22.0% (95% CI, 10.6-37.6), and the stroke-related mortality rate was 7.3% (95% CI, 1.5-19.9). No differences in overall and stroke-related mortality rates were observed between asymptomatic and symptomatic patients. None of the patients experienced nonfatal cerebrovascular events. CONCLUSION ICA occlusion seems to represent a relatively benign condition, in both its symptomatic and asymptomatic presentation. The presence of an atherosclerotic stenosis less than 75% of the contralateral ICA does not seem to worsen the prognosis of this condition.