Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Health Policy Course Based on Fink's Taxonomy of Significant Learning

Objective. To incorporate Fink's Taxonomy of Significant Learning into a course and determine whether doing so increased students' knowledge of and interest in healthcare policy. Design. A healthcare policy course for second-year doctor of pharmacy (PharmD) students was redesigned to incorporate activities reflecting Fink's Taxonomy including completing a required reading, outlining the required reading, presenting the outline to a small group of peers, attending lectures, and completing a final policy project and simulation activity. Assessment. The effectiveness of the course was assessed using a pre-post non-randomized control design, with nursing and social work students serving as the control group. Interest and knowledge scores increased significantly among students in the intervention group. Differences between the low-interest students and the rest of the class identified on the precourse tests were not apparent on the postcourse test. Implications. Applying Fink's Taxonomy to course activities increased students' interest in and importance placed on learning health policy.
Cyclopentenone isoprostanes are novel bioactive products of lipid oxidation which enhance neurodegeneration

Oxidative stress and subsequent lipid peroxidation are involved in the pathogenesis of numerous neurodegenerative conditions, including stroke. Cyclopentenone isoprostanes (IsoPs) are novel electrophilic lipid peroxidation products formed under conditions of oxidative stress via the isoprostane pathway. These cyclopentenone IsoPs are isomeric to highly bioactive cyclopentenone prostaglandins, yet it has not been determined if these products are biologically active or are formed in the brain. Here we demonstrate that the major cyclopentenone IsoP isomer 15‐A2t‐IsoP potently induces apoptosis in neuronal cultures at submicromolar concentrations. We present a model in which 15‐A2t‐IsoP induced neuronal apoptosis involves initial depletion of glutathione and enhanced production of reactive oxygen species, followed by 12‐lipoxygenase activation and phosphorylation of extracellular signal‐regulated kinase 1/2 and the redox sensitive adaptor protein p66shc, which results in caspase‐3 cleavage. 15‐A2t‐IsoP application also dramatically potentiates oxidative glutamate toxicity at concentrations as low as 100 nm, demonstrating the functional importance of these molecules in neurodegeneration. Finally, we employ novel mass spectrometric methods to show that cyclopentenone IsoPs are formed abundantly in brain tissue under conditions of oxidative stress. Together these findings suggest that cyclopentenone IsoPs may contribute to neuronal death caused by oxidative insults, and that their activity should perhaps be addressed when designing neuroprotective therapies.
Mercury-induced membranous nephropathy: clinical and pathological features.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Long-term contact with mercury may induce membranous nephropathy (MN); however, the clinical pathologic features and pathogenesis of mercury-induced MN have not been investigated. DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS, & MEASUREMENTS The present study retrospectively evaluated 11 cases of mercury-induced MN to analyze its causes and its clinical and pathologic features. RESULTS A total of 10 women and 1 man ages 15 to 45 years were enrolled in the present study. Mercury exposure was caused by mercury-containing pills (five patients), skin lightening cream (four patients), hair-dyeing agents (one patient), and mercury vapor (one patient). The duration of contact with mercury ranged from 2 to 60 months, and the urinary mercury concentrations were 1.5 to 50 times higher than reference values. All patients presented with proteinuria and normal renal function; three had nephrotic syndrome. Light microscopy revealed thickened glomerular basement membrane and mildly proliferative mesangial cells. Acute tubulointerstitial injury occurred in three patients. The immunofluorescence findings showed granular deposits of IgG and C3 along the glomerular capillary wall, mostly accompanied by deposits of C4 and C1q. IgG1 and IgG4 (predominantly IgG1) deposits were observed along the glomerular capillary loops. Nine patients reached complete remission in follow-up after withdrawal from mercury exposure. CONCLUSIONS Deposits of IgG1 subclasses in renal tissues indicated that the pathogenesis of mercury-induced MN differs from that of idiopathic MN. It is important that clinicians are aware that mercury exposure should be considered a possible cause of membranous nephropathy.
Marker assisted selection of heifers improved milk somatic cell count compared to selection on conventional pedigree breeding values

Although mastitis in cattle is an important factor for dairy economy and animal welfare and although udder health parameters have a substantial genetic variability, in many countries there is little or no improvement of udder health in the conventional commercial breeding programs. Strategies implementing information about Quantitative trait loci (QTL) via genetic marker information seem to offer new prospects to improve this situation. In a proof-of-principle approach, we show that selection of German Holstein heifers prior to first calving based on marker information regarding a confirmed QTL affecting somatic cell score (SCS) on bovine chromosome 18 (BTA18) (MAS strategy) indeed enabled prediction of halfsibs with a high (q) or a low (Q) number of somatic cells in milk already early in the first lactation. Compared to a strategy relying on conventional breeding values only (CON strategy), selection including marker information resulted in a stronger discrimination between and a higher uniformity within the MAS-Q and -q groups compared to the CON-Q and q groups selected by conventional selection strategies. The selected heifers, which are clinically unaffected, however genetically different in their capacity of mammary gland protection against pathogens, will serve as tools for a comprehensive expression analysis to highlight molecular processes underlying a different genetic predisposition to mastitis susceptibility. Thus, functional mechanisms resulting in a decreased susceptibility of the Q individuals can be identified to further improve selection on udder health in cattle.
Common partial transversals and integral matrices

Certain packing and covering problems associated with the common partial transversals of two families 31 and 33 of subsets of a set E are investigated. Under suitable finitary restrictions, necessary and sufficient conditions are obtained for there to exist pairwise disjoint sets Flt. , Ft where each F¡ is a partial transversal of 31 with defect at most p and a partial transversal of 33 with defect at most q. We also prove that (i) £"= (_JS= i Tt where each 7i is a common partial transversal of 31 and 33 if and only if (ii) E={J\=1 Tí where each T[ is a partial transversal of 31 and (iii) E= Uí = i T" where each T" is a partial transversal of S3. We then derive necessary and sufficient conditions for the validity of (i). The proofs are accomplished by establishing a connection with these common partial transversal problems and representations of integral matrices (not necessarily finite or countably infinite) as sums of subpermutation matrices and then using known results about the existence of a single common partial transversal of two families. Accordingly various representation theorems for integral matrices are derived.
Current concepts in the management of idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss

Purpose of reviewThe purpose of this manuscript is to review the initial management strategies for idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss, with an emphasis on the role that steroids play in treatment of this condition, and discuss options for auditory rehabilitation of persistent unilateral hearing loss. Recent findingsRecent data suggest that hearing improvement may be greater for patients initially treated with both systemic and intratympanic steroid when compared with those treated with systemic steroids alone. Salvage intratympanic steroids have been shown to confer hearing benefit if initial management fails. The ideal dosing regimen for intratympanic steroids has not been established, but evidence supports that higher dosing strategies are advantageous. Cochlear implantation has emerged as a strategy for auditory rehabilitation of persistent unilateral hearing loss. Recent studies have demonstrated high patient satisfaction, subjective improvement in tinnitus, and objective performance benefit after cochlear implantation for single-sided deafness. SummaryPatients can be offered steroid therapy in the initial management of idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss, but should be counseled that the efficacy of steroids remains unclear. If patients fail to improve with initial management, salvage intratympanic steroid administration should be considered. If hearing loss persists long term, options for auditory rehabilitation should be discussed.
Sleep deprivation induces pathological changes in rat masticatory muscles: Role of Toll like signaling pathway and atrophy

The aim of this study was to evaluate the Toll like signaling pathway and atrophy after sleep deprivation (SD) in rat masticatory muscles: masseter and temporal. A total of 24 animals was distributed into three groups: Control group (CTL, n = 8), subjected to SD for 96 h (SD96, n = 8) and subjected to SD for 96 h more 96 h of sleep recovery (SD96 + R, n = 8). Histopathological analysis revealed the presence of acute inflammatory cells, congested vessels, fibrosis, and high cellularity in the skeletal muscle fibers from masseter and temporal submitted to SD. These morphological alterations were not observed in the control group since neither inflammatory cells nor congested vessels were observed to this group. In the group SD96 + R, the absence of inflammation was noticed to the masseter only. In this group, COX‐2 and TNF‐alpha downregulation were detected when comparing to control group. MyD88 and pIKK decreased in SD96 and SD96 + R groups being pNFKBp50 downregulatated in SD96 + R. MyD88 expression increased in rats submitted to SD96 and SD96 + R in temporal when compared to control group. On the other hand, pIKK decreased the protein expression in groups SD96 and SD96 + R while pNFKBp50 showed a decreased protein expression in group SD96 only. The activation of atrophy by means of MAFbx upregulation was detected in temporal muscle in SD96 and SD96 + R when compared to control. In summary, our results show that SD is able to induce morphological alterations in rat masticatory muscles. Toll like signaling pathway and atrophy play important roles in ethiopathogenesis induced by SD, being dependent of skeletal muscle type.
sTREM-1 in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid in patients with pulmonary sarcoidosis, effect of smoking and inflammation.

Soluble TREM-1 (sTREM-1; Triggering receptor expressed on myelocytes) is a new inflammatory marker indicating the intensity of myeloid cells activation and the presence of infection caused by extracellular bacteria and mould.The aim of our work was to detect and compare the levels of sTREM-1 in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) in patients with pulmonary sarcoidosis (PS) and other ILD of non-infectious origin. The sTREM-1 levels were assessed by ELISA in 46 patients suffering from ILD, out of them 22 with PS. The levels of BALF sTREM-1 in PS patients were higher than in control group of ILD patients of non-infectious origin, however, the difference was not statistically significant. Since all PS patients except one were non-smokers we compared non-smokers PS with non-smokers ILD patients and found four times higher levels of BALF sTREM-1 in PS patients (P = 0.001). We also recorded the effect of smoking, ILD smokers had higher sTREM-1 levels than non-smokers (P = 0.0019). Higher concentrations of sTREM-1 were detected in BALF of patients with lymphadenopathy and with elevated inflammatory markers in BALF. Our results show that BALF sTREM-1 could be a good inflammatory marker and could help in diagnosis and PS monitoring. Detection of sTREM-1 in BALF indirectly points to myeloid cells activation in the lungs and helps to complete the information about the number of myeloid cells commonly determined in BALF with additional information concerning the intensity of their activation. This is the first study that analyses BALF sTREM-1 levels in patients with PS (Tab. 8, Ref. 28). Text in PDF www.elis. sk.
PRODUÇÃO DE BIOMASSA DE GENÓTIPOS DE SORGO SACARINO CULTIVADOS EM JABOTICABAL – SP

A crescente demanda mundial por materias-primas para producao de biocombustiveis resgatou o interesse pelo cultivo de o sorgo sacarino [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench]. E uma graminea cultivada em varias regioes do mundo para a producao de graos, e pode ser cultivada em condicoes agroclimaticas de menor exigencia, queda a cana-de-acucar. Dentro deste enfoque e que se desenvolveu a presente pesquisa, objetivando avaliar aspectos biometricos e o potencial de producao de biomassa de dois genotipos de sorgo sacarino. Esta pesquisa foi desenvolvida na fazenda experimental da FCAV/UNESP - Câmpus de Jaboticabal. O delineamento experimental foi em blocos casualizados num esquema de parcelas subdivididas, com 3 repeticoes. Os tratamentos principais foram 2 genotipos de sorgo sacarino CVSW80007 e CVWS80147 e os tratamentos secundarios as 4 epocas de amostragem (69, 97, 125 e 153 dias apos a semeadura – d.a.s). Este material foi encaminhado para o Laboratorio de Agricultura da FCAV-UNESP, onde, determinandou-se a biomassa fresca total, e determinou-se a altura, o diâmetro da base e da ponta, numero de folhas. Os resultados obtidos foram convertidos para hectare, em funcao do estande final de colmos levantado em cada parcela. Nao observou-se diferenca de produtividade de biomasa total entre os genotipos CVSW80007 e CVWS80147. O acumulo de biomassa total a os 153 d.a. s. foi maior que a observada aos 69 d.a. s.
Senescence‐associated β‐galactosidase activity marks the visceral endoderm of mouse embryos but is not indicative of senescence

Summary: Senescence‐associated β‐galactosidase (SA‐β‐gal) activity is widely used as a marker of cellular senescence and as an indicator of organismal aging. Here, we report that SA‐β‐gal activity is present in the visceral endoderm layer of early postimplantation mouse embryos in predictable patterns that vary as the embryo progresses in development. However, determination of the mitotic index and analysis of the expression of Cdkn1a (p21), a marker of senescent cells, do not indicate cellular senescence. Instead, analysis of embryos in culture revealed the presence of SA‐β‐gal activity in apical vacuoles of visceral endoderm cells likely a reflection of acidic β‐galactosidase function in these organelles. SA‐β‐gal serves as a practical marker of the dynamics of the visceral endoderm that can be applied to developmental as well as functional studies of early mammalian embryos. genesis 52:300–308, 2014. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Proactive recruitment in clinical trials: an idea whose time has come

A recently pulished study reported on the reach and efficacy of proactive telephone counselling for smoking cessation.1 Based on a large (N=3008) randomised clinical trial (RCT), smokers who received proactive phone counselling were more likely to report short-term (4 months) and mid-term (6 months) abstinence than those who received mailed quit tips. The paper is described as being the first trial to assess the efficacy of proactive telephone counselling to smokers in the general population. However, a prior study by our group used very similar methodology to recruit US smokers into a clinical trial of cessation induction.2 Briefly, our prior study recruited smokers via proactive, cold calls. Since the primary focus of the trial was cessation induction among smokers unmotivated to quit, the screening process provided enrolment options for those wanting to quit (cessation arm) versus those not wanting to quit (non-cessation arm). Interested and eligible individuals in the non-cessation arm were recruited …
Linear-algebraic list decoding for variants of Reed-Solomon codes ∗

Folded Reed-Solomon codes are an explicit family of codes that achieve the optimal tradeoff between rate and list error-correction capability: specifically, for any ε > 0, Guruswami and Rudra presented an n time algorithm to list decode appropriate folded RS codes of rateR from a fraction 1−R− ε of errors. The algorithm is based on multivariate polynomial interpolation and root-finding over extension fields. It was noted by Vadhan that interpolating a linear polynomial suffices for a statement of the above form. Here we give a simple linear-algebra based analysis of this variant that eliminates the need for the computationally expensive rootfinding step over extension fields (and indeed any mention of extension fields). The entire list decoding algorithm is linear-algebraic, solving one linear system for the interpolation step, and another linear system to find a small subspace of candidate solutions. Except for the step of pruning this subspace, the algorithm can be implemented to run in quadratic time. We also consider a closely related family of codes, called (order m) derivative codes and defined over fields of large characteristic, which consist of the evaluations of f as well as its first m − 1 formal derivatives at N distinct field elements. We show how our linear-algebraic methods for folded Reed-Solomon codes can be used to show that derivative codes can also achieve the above optimal trade-off. The theoretical drawback of our analysis for folded RS codes and derivative codes is that both the decoding complexity and proven worst-case list-size bound are n. By combining the above idea with a pseudorandom subset of all polynomials as messages, we get a Monte Carlo construction achieving a list size bound ofO(1/ε) which is quite close to the existentialO(1/ε) bound (however, the decoding complexity remains n). Our work highlights that constructing an explicit subspace-evasive subset that has small intersection with low-dimensional subspaces — an interesting problem in pseudorandomness in its own right — has applications to constructing explicit codes with better list-decoding guarantees. ∗Preliminary conference versions of the results in this paper appeared as [9] and [15]. This is a merged and revised version of these papers. †Supported in part by a Packard Fellowship and NSF grant CCF 0963975. Email: guruswami@cmu.edu ‡Research supported by an NSF graduate fellowship, NSF grants CCF 0963975 and CCF 0953155, and a grant from the MSR-CMU Center for Computational Thinking. Email: wangc@cs.cmu.edu ISSN 1433-8092 Electronic Colloquium on Computational Complexity, Report No. 73 (2012)
Improved Outcomes Associated With Medical Home Implementation in Pediatric Primary Care

OBJECTIVE: The medical home model with its emphasis on planned care, care coordination, family-centered approaches, and quality provides an attractive concept construct for primary care redesign. Studies of medical home components have shown increased quality and reduced costs, but the medical home model as a whole has not been studied systematically. This study tested the hypothesis that increased medical homeness in primary care practice is associated with decreased utilization of health services and increased patient satisfaction. METHODS: Forty-three primary care practices were identified through 7 health plans in 5 states. Using the Medical Home Index (MHI), each practice's implementation of medical home concepts “medical homeness” was measured. Health plans provided the previous year's utilization data for children with 6 chronic conditions. The plans identified 42 children in each practice with these chronic conditions and surveyed their families regarding satisfaction with care and burden of illness. RESULTS: Higher MHI scores and higher subdomain scores for organizational capacity, care coordination, and chronic-condition management were associated with significantly fewer hospitalizations. Higher chronic-condition management scores were associated with lower emergency department use. Family survey data yielded no recognizable trends with respect to the medical home measurement. CONCLUSIONS: Developing an evidence base for the value of the primary care medical home has importance for providers, payers, policy makers, and consumers. Reducing hospitalizations through enhanced primary care provides a potential case for new reimbursement strategies supporting medical home services such as care coordination. Larger-scale studies are needed to further develop/examine these relationships.
Acute ethanol reduces reversal cost in discrimination learning by reducing perseverance in adolescent rhesus macaques.

BACKGROUND Acute alcohol exposure produces cognitive deficits in adults but less is known about the acute cognitive effects of alcohol in adolescents. The cognitive impact of acute alcohol exposure includes deficits in discrimination and reversal learning, but traditional experimental approaches make it difficult to distinguish the effect of alcohol on discrimination learning from the effect of alcohol on reversal learning. Young rhesus macaques can be used to model some aspects of human adolescence because of their anatomical, neurophysiological, and cognitive similarities with humans. METHODS Adolescent male rhesus monkeys (n = 10) were trained to respond to visual stimuli on touch-sensitive LCD panels controlled by the nonhuman primate version of CANTAB software. Discrimination and reversal learning tasks were subsequently assessed after monkeys were allowed to consume varying amounts of ethanol (EtOH) in a flavored vehicle (vehicle only, up to 0.5 g/kg EtOH, up to 1.0 g/kg EtOH, and up to 1.5 g/kg EtOH). RESULTS Acute exposure to EtOH reduced perseverance, increased response accuracy, and reduced errors during reversal learning when the task was completed within 90 minutes of EtOH consumption. No reduction in reversal errors was observed when EtOH was consumed 3 or 24 hours prior to reversal learning. EtOH only impaired discrimination learning when monkeys had very little previous EtOH exposure. CONCLUSIONS The temporal relationship between EtOH consumption and reversal learning was consistent with selective EtOH-induced impairment of retrieval, but not storage, processes. This was evidenced by diminished perseverance on the previously correct stimulus leading to decreased errors to criterion.