Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Impact of sagittal spinopelvic alignment on clinical outcomes after decompression surgery for lumbar spinal canal stenosis without coronal imbalance.

OBJECT The object of this study was to investigate correlations between sagittal spinopelvic alignment and improvements in clinical and quality-of-life (QOL) outcomes after lumbar decompression surgery for lumbar spinal canal stenosis (LCS) without coronal imbalance. METHODS The authors retrospectively reviewed data from consecutive patients treated for LCS with decompression surgery in the period from 2009 through 2011. They examined correlations between preoperative or postoperative sagittal vertical axis (SVA) and radiological parameters, clinical outcomes, and health-related (HR)QOL scores in patients divided according to SVA. Clinical outcomes were assessed according to Japanese Orthopaedic Association (JOA) and visual analog scale (VAS) scores. Health-related QOL was evaluated using the Roland-Morris Disability Questionnaire (RMDQ) and the JOA Back Pain Evaluation Questionnaire (JOABPEQ). RESULTS One hundred nine patients were eligible for inclusion in the study. Compared to patients with normal sagittal alignment prior to surgery (Group A: SVA < 50 mm), those with preoperative sagittal imbalance (Group B: SVA ≥ 50 mm) had significantly smaller lumbar lordosis and thoracic kyphosis angles and larger pelvic tilt. In Group B, there was a significant decrease in postoperative SVA compared with the preoperative SVA (76.3 ± 29.7 mm vs. 54.3 ± 39.8 mm, p = 0.004). The patients in Group B with severe preoperative sagittal imbalance (SVA > 80 mm) had residual sagittal imbalance after surgery (82.8 ± 41.6 mm). There were no significant differences in clinical and HRQOL outcomes between Groups A and B. Compared to patients with normal postoperative SVA (Group C: SVA < 50 mm), patients with a postoperative SVA ≥ 50 mm (Group D) had significantly lower JOABPEQ scores, both preoperative and postoperative, for walking ability (preop: 36.6 ± 26.3 vs. 22.7 ± 26.0, p = 0.038, respectively; postop: 71.1 ± 30.4 vs. 42.5 ± 29.6, p < 0.001) and social functioning (preop: 38.7 ± 18.5 vs. 30.2 ± 16.7, p = 0.045; postop: 67.0 ± 25.8 vs. 49.6 ± 20.0, p = 0.001), as well as significantly higher postoperative RMDQ (4.9 ± 5.2 vs. 7.9 ± 5.7, p = 0.015) and VAS scores for low-back pain (2.68 ± 2.69 vs. 3.94 ± 2.59, p = 0.039). CONCLUSIONS Preoperative sagittal balance was not significantly correlated with clinical or HRQOL outcomes after decompression surgery in LCS patients without coronal imbalance. Decompression surgery improved the SVA value in patients with preoperative sagittal imbalance; however, the patients with severe preoperative sagittal imbalance (SVA > 80 mm) had residual imbalance after decompression surgery. Both clinical and HRQOL outcomes were negatively affected by postoperative residual sagittal imbalance.
Irrational Delay Revisited: Examining Five Procrastination Scales in a Global Sample

Scales attempting to measure procrastination focus on different facets of the phenomenon, yet they share a common understanding of procrastination as an unnecessary, unwanted, and disadvantageous delay. The present paper examines in a global sample (N = 4,169) five different procrastination scales – Decisional Procrastination Scale (DPS), Irrational Procrastination Scale (IPS), Pure Procrastination Scale (PPS), Adult Inventory of Procrastination Scale (AIP), and General Procrastination Scale (GPS), focusing on factor structures and item functioning using Confirmatory Factor Analysis and Item Response Theory. The results indicated that The PPS (12 items selected from DPS, AIP, and GPS) measures different facets of procrastination even better than the three scales it is based on. An even shorter version of the PPS (5 items focusing on irrational delay), corresponds well to the nine-item IPS. Both scales demonstrate good psychometric properties and appear to be superior measures of core procrastination attributes than alternative procrastination scales.
Pharmacological and Pharmaceutical Profile of Gliclazide: A Review.

Gliclazide is a second generation sulphonylurea oral hypoglycaemic agent used in the treatment of non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM). It improves defective insulin secretion and may reverse insulin resistance observed in patients with NIDDM. These actions are reflected in a reduction in blood glucose levels which is maintained during both short and long term administration, and is comparable with that achieved by other sulphonylurea agents. Gradually accumulating evidence suggests that gliclazide may be useful in patients with diabetic retinopathy, due to its haemobiological actions, and that addition of gliclazide to insulin therapy enables insulin dosage to be reduced. Thus, gliclazide is an effective agent for the treatment of the metabolic defects associated with NIDDM and may have the added advantage of potentially slowing the progression of diabetic retinopathy. These actions, together with its good general tolerability and low incidence of hypoglycaemia have allowed gliclazide to be well placed within the array of oral hypoglycaemic agents available for the control of NIDDM.
Predicting Subcontractor Performance from Past Audits

Utility companies, such as electricity suppliers or telecom operators, typically have to maintain large-scale infrastructure. They typically contract out maintenance work to an extensive collection of local subcontractors, while nevertheless retaining final responsibility. To track the quality of the performed work, the parent company dispatches its inspectors to the sites to perform audits, particularly concerning safety and signalling. Since at any given time hundreds of sites can be open, this requires much effort. In this paper, we investigate how to optimize this effort by focusing audits on those sites that are most likely to exhibit problems. Because poorly executed or indicated maintenance works can have a significant impact on road safety and mobility, especially in cities, this will not only reduce the cost for the utility company but also contribute to a healthier and safer environment for residents.
Self-Management Plans for Asthma Control and Predictors of Patient Compliance

Objective. To evaluate the impact of peak flow or symptom-based self–management plans on asthma control and patients' quality of life and to determine the main psychosocial factors that affect compliance with these plans. Methods. The study sample consisted of 63 patients with persistent asthma outpatients. Data collection included demographics, pulmonary functions, symptom scores, and asthma control parameters recorded over the previous 2 consecutive years. A standard asthma self-management education program including personal action plans was given to the patients who were randomly divided into peak flow meter (PFM) (n = 31) or symptom-based (n = 32) action plan groups. Patients were then assessed prospectively for various study outcomes including symptoms, drug compliance, psychiatric co-morbidities, quality of life, and asthma control over the next 12 months. Psychiatric co-morbidities were assessed using Rotter's Internal and External Locus of Control Scale (RIELCS), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV (SCID-I), Spielberger State-Trait-Anxiety Inventory (STAI), and Short Form-36 (SF-36). Results. Of the 63 patients (79% female; mean age 43), 85% of them had moderately or severely persistent asthma. Baseline demographics, clinical parameters, psychiatric diagnosis, and quality of life were not different between groups. Personal asthma plans increased optimal asthma control significantly. Emergency visits, antibiotic treatments, systemic corticosteroid treatments, and unscheduled visits were fewer than the previous year. Control parameters were better in the PFM group. After the self-management education, the quality of life dimensions, i.e., vitality, total mental and general scores of both groups increased. Frequency of psychiatric co-morbidities decreased from 61.9% to 49.2%. However, state anxiety levels were increased in both groups. These increases were statistically significant in the PFM group. Compliance with the action plans was better in the PFM group. Higher BDI scores were associated with worse compliance. No statistically significant association was found between demographic parameters and the compliance. Although the compliance had decreased in both groups after 6 months, this decrease was greater in the symptom group. Higher RIELCS and mental health scores were associated with better compliance. Conclusion. Introduction of self-management plans improved illness control and quality of life in asthma patients. Use of the PFM and the presence of higher RIELCS and lower BDI scores can be used to predict compliance with the action plans.
The Earth Is Full

The Earth Is Full By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN You really do have to wonder whether a few years from now we’ll look back at the first decade of the 21st century — when food prices spiked, energy prices soared, world population surged, tornados plowed through cities, floods and droughts set records, populations were displaced and governments were threatened by the confluence of it all — and ask ourselves: What were we thinking? How did we not panic when the evidence was so obvious that we’d crossed some growth/climate/natural resource/population redlines all at once?
[Poisoning by pesticides among family fruit farmers, Bento Gonçalves, Southern Brazil].

OBJECTIVE To describe the occupational exposure to acute poisoning by pesticides, especially organophosphates, and its incidence. METHODS A descriptive study was carried out on 290 family fruit farmers in the municipality of Bento Gonçalves, Southern Brazil, conducted in two stages in 2006. Two hundred and forty-one of these workers completed the two stages, which corresponded to periods of low use and intense use of pesticides. Data on the property, occupational exposure to pesticides, sociodemographic data and frequency of health problems were gathered using a standardized questionnaire. Poisoning was characterized by reports of episodes, symptoms relating to pesticides and plasma cholinesterase examinations. Cases were classified according to the matrix proposed by the World Health Organization (WHO). RESULTS On average, each property used 12 different types of pesticides, consisting mainly of glyphosate and organophosphates. Most of the workers used tractors for pesticide application (87%), set aside the containers for selective garbage collection (86%) and used protective equipment during activities involving pesticides (> or = 94%). Among these family farmers, 4% reported occurrences of poisoning by pesticides over the 12 months preceding the investigation, and 19% at some time during their lives. According to the criterion proposed by WHO, 11% were classified as probable cases of acute poisoning. Among the workers who had used organophosphates over the ten-day period preceding the examination, 2.9% presented two or more symptoms relating to pesticides and a 20% reduction in cholinesterase. CONCLUSIONS The poisoning occurrences according to the workers' perceptions were within what was expected, but the estimate based on the WHO classification picked up a larger proportion of the cases. A fall in the harvest reduced the use of insecticides and may explain the low occurrence of abnormalities in the laboratory results. The criteria for defining pesticide poisoning, as well as the official monitoring parameters, should be reevaluated in order to increase the workers' protection.
Environmental Knowledge among Aboriginal Students Norshariani

This research aims to investigate the level and differences of environmental general knowledge and environmental action knowledge among the Aboriginal students based on level of education, gender and tribe. This survey research used a test as the research instrument. A total number of 445 Aboriginal students from Pahang, Malaysia took part in this study. The research findings showed that as overall their environmental knowledge is good. However, a separate analysis showed that their environmental general knowledge is moderate and their environmental action knowledge is good. When analysed from the perspective of level of education, the level of environmental general knowledge of secondary school students was higher than the primary school students. The students of the Proto Malay tribe showed a higher level of environmental general knowledge and environmental action knowledge compared to students of Senoi and Negrito tribe. Nonetheless, the level of environmental knowledge of male students and female students are just the same. Improvement environmental knowledge should be considered in planning the educational development of Aboriginal community towards environmental sustainability.
Validating Measures of Scanned Information Exposure in the Context of Cancer Prevention and Screening Behaviors

Individuals may obtain health information, particularly from the mass media, without engaging in purposeful information searches (called scanning). This study used the Seeking and Scanning Behavior Survey of the General Population (SSBG), a nationally representative survey of adults aged 40–70 years (n = 2,489), to validate measures of scanned information exposure about cancer prevention and screening behaviors. Scanned exposure measures concerning specific behaviors (exercise; fruit and vegetable consumption; dieting; and mammogram, prostate-specific antigen (PSA) text, and colonoscopy screening) have good face validity and are convergent across behaviors (mean correlation across six preventive behaviors = 0.50, sd = 0.09). These measures can be discriminated from measures of general media exposure (mean r = 0.23, sd = 0.02) and seeking exposure for the same behaviors (mean r = 0.25, sd = 0.06). Scanned information exposure was associated with weekly volume of newspaper coverage for two of six behaviors, providing additional evidence of nomological validity. Scanned information exposure at the first round of measurement was associated with identical exposure 1 year later (mean r = .41, sd = .04). Scanned exposure measures also were significantly associated with five of the six preventive behaviors. These results provide evidence that scanned information exposure measures are valid indicators of the construct. Researchers might consider their use to capture scanned media influence on cognitions and behaviors.
Version 4.0 of PaxDb: Protein abundance data, integrated across model organisms, tissues, and cell‐lines

Protein quantification at proteome‐wide scale is an important aim, enabling insights into fundamental cellular biology and serving to constrain experiments and theoretical models. While proteome‐wide quantification is not yet fully routine, many datasets approaching proteome‐wide coverage are becoming available through biophysical and MS techniques. Data of this type can be accessed via a variety of sources, including publication supplements and online data repositories. However, access to the data is still fragmentary, and comparisons across experiments and organisms are not straightforward. Here, we describe recent updates to our database resource “PaxDb” (Protein Abundances Across Organisms). PaxDb focuses on protein abundance information at proteome‐wide scope, irrespective of the underlying measurement technique. Quantification data is reprocessed, unified, and quality‐scored, and then integrated to build a meta‐resource. PaxDb also allows evolutionary comparisons through precomputed gene orthology relations. Recently, we have expanded the scope of the database to include cell‐line samples, and more systematically scan the literature for suitable datasets. We report that a significant fraction of published experiments cannot readily be accessed and/or parsed for quantitative information, requiring additional steps and efforts. The current update brings PaxDb to 414 datasets in 53 organisms, with (semi‐) quantitative abundance information covering more than 300 000 proteins.
Optimization of a Convex Rail Design for Electromagnetic Launchers

A rail geometry with a convex cross section instead of a rectangular one provides a higher contact area, uniform current density, and less transition on the contact surface, and it increases the performance in electromagnetic launchers. In addition, the design of convex rails should be considered together with armature structure, the distance between rails, rail length, and parasitic masses that all have an influence on the overall efficiency and armature/rail transition. A novel complete rail and launch package optimization method is presented in this article. In the first part of this article, the optimum convex rail cross sections for five different separation values are found to obtain uniform current density distribution on rail cross section. For this part, a transient finite element (FE) model in 2-D is developed to calculate the current density distribution and combined with a real-coded genetic algorithm (GA). Then, the armature and sabot petal masses are calculated for each optimized rail geometry and each separation values. In the second part, the efficiency of each optimum design with different separation values is evaluated by a transient 3-D FE model with transient solver taking the calculated armature and sabot petal masses into account. Finally, the length of the rails of the final design is investigated for the transition phenomena. It is observed that 48-mm rail separation with 12.9- and 21-mm elliptical cross-sectional parameters has the highest exit velocity (2355 m/s) for 400-g projectile with uniform current density at inner rail surfaces.
The central corneal thickness in normal tension glaucoma, primary open angle glaucoma and ocular hypertension.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES To compare the Central Corneal Thickness (CCT) of Normal Tension Glaucoma (NTG) with those of Primary Open Angle Glaucoma (POAG) and Ocular Hypertension (OHT) and to study the effect of CCT on the diagnosis and management of glaucoma patients. METHOD A total of 99 patients [35(35.35%) females and 64(64.65%) males] were included in the study with four study groups-37 controls (males-24 and females-13), 22 NTG (males-11 and females-11), 28 POAG (males-21 and females-7), and12 OHT (males-8 and females-4). The CCTs of all the participants were measured by using ultrasonic pachymetry. The IOPs were measured by using applanation tonometry. The measured IOPs were corrected by using a linear correction formula. The measurement significant changes (>=1.5) and outcomes significant changes (>=3.0) for the study groups were calculated. RESULTS The mean CCT of the normals was 527.65± 21.90 μ, the mean NTG was 503.91 ± 11.31 μ, the mean POAG was 525.25± 23.59 μ and the mean OHT was 572.25± 22.71 μ. The difference which was observed in the mean CCT among the groups was statistically significant (p<0.05). The measurement significant change (>=1.5) after correcting the IOP for CCT was observed in 32.258% of the total glaucoma patients, with 27.3% patients ( 6 out of 22) in the NTG, 66.7% patients (8 out of 12) in the OHT and 21.4% patients ( 6 out of 28) in the POAG groups showing it. The difference which was observed was statistically significant (p<0.05). The outcomes significant change (>=3.0) after correcting the IOP for CCT was seen in 6.45% of the total glaucoma patients, with none of the NTG group patients showing outcomes significant changes, whereas 3.57% patients (1out of 28) in the POAG and 25% patients ( 3out of 12) in the OHT groups showed these changes. The difference which was observed was statistically significant (p<0.05). CONCLUSION This study confirmed that the central corneal thickness was significantly lower in the normal tension glaucoma patients as compared to those in the controls and in the primary open angle glaucoma patients, whereas the ocular hypertension patients had significantly higher central corneal thicknesses than the controls and the primary open angle glaucoma patients. No significant difference was found between the primary open angle patients and the controls. Due to the effect of CCT on the measurement of the IOP by using an applanation tonometer, which is the main parameter in the diagnosis and the follow up of the glaucoma patients, many POAG patients are misdiagnosed as NTG patients and the normals are misdiagnosed as OHT patients and they are improperly managed. Measurement of the central corneal thickness aid the ophthalmologist in making a correct diagnosis and in a better management of glaucoma and the glaucoma suspects, especially when their corneal thickness differs markedly from the normal thickness.
Effects of Hypoxia and Drugs on the Cardiovascular Dynamics of the Atlantic Hagfish Myxine Glutinosa

Cardiac output, ventral and dorsal aortic blood pressure and heart rate were recorded simultaneously in unanaesthetized hagfish, Myxine glutinosa L. Mean cardiac output was S.Tmlmin-1kg-1 and mean heart rate 22.3beatsmin-1. The absence of beat-to-beat oscillations in heart rate was consistent with the lack of an extrinsic cardiac innervation in hagfish. Mean blood pressures were 1.04 kPa (ventral aorta) and 0.77kPa (dorsal aorta). Injection of adrenaline into the caudal vein significantly increased cardiac output, stroke volume, heart rate and blood pressures of both aortas. Peak cardiac output was close to 25 ml min-1 kg-1. Injection of the β-adrenoreceptor antagonist sotalol decreased resting heart rate significantly. We conclude that endogenous catecholamines from chromaffin cells of the heart are instrumental in the regulation of cardiac function in Myxine . Injection of acetylcholine had little direct effect on the recorded cardiac variables, but caused marked branchial vasoconstriction. Heart rate increased as the pressor response subsided. The cholinergic antagonist atropine had no effect on any of the resting parameters. Injection of adenosine had no direct cardiac effects but reduced the systemic vascular resistance. Severe hypoxia (PwO2=1.5-2.2kPa for 15–35 min) had very little effect on the cardiovascular variables recorded. The remarkable ability of the hagfish heart to maintain normal cardiac output during severe hypoxia is discussed with respect to the anaerobic pumping capacity of the heart. Pump-perfused, in situ gill preparations were used to examine branchial vasoactivity. Acetylcholine and adrenaline produced dose-dependent vasoconstriction, whereas isoprenaline, noradrenaline and adenosine dilated the branchial vasculature.
Langerhans cell histiocytosis with digestive tract involvement

Gastrointestinal tract (GIT) involvement in Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH) is not commonly described. We present two children presenting with GIT involvement with LCH, one successfully treated on standard protocol and other being treated on a protocol for relapsed disease. A review of literature showed almost 95% children were less than 2 years of age and 62% were females. Vomiting, abdominal pain, constipation, intractable diarrhea, malabsorption, bloody stools, protein‐losing enteropathy, and even intestinal perforation are some of the reported symptoms. More than 50% patients died within 18 months from diagnosis. Pediatr Blood Cancer. 2010;55:748–753. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.