Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Chronic Indwelling Catheter and Urinary Infection in Long-Term–Care Facility Residents

Abstract From 5% to 10% of residents of long-term–care facilities have urinary drainage managed with chronic indwelling catheters. These residents are always bacteriuric, usually with a complex microbiological flora of two to five organisms and a biofilm on the catheter that may contribute to obstruction. Residents with chronic indwelling catheters have increased morbidity from urinary infection compared to bacteriuric residents without chronic catheters. The most effective means to prevent infection is limitation of chronic indwelling catheter use. While appropriate catheter care and infection control precautions are recommended in managing these patients, the impact of these practices on the occurrence of urinary infection or prevention of symptomatic episodes has not been evaluated. Symptomatic infection can likely be prevented by attention to catheter care, including early recognition and replacement of obstructed catheters and prevention of catheter trauma. Appropriate use of prophylactic antimicrobial therapy prior to invasive genitourinary procedures is also necessary. Asymptomatic bacteriuria should not be treated. When symptomatic episodes occur, patients should be evaluated clinically and microbiologically and treated with appropriate antimicrobial therapy. Further technological advances in catheter material and urine drainage will be needed to have a substantial impact on the frequency of urinary infection with chronic catheter use.
Congenital malaria at University of Calabar Teaching Hospital with reference to haemoglobin and immunoglobulin.

Etude faite chez 107 femmes enceintes. On constate que 42 ont une parasitemie. Un histogramme montre la frequence des concentrations en hemoglobine et une analyse statistique est faite en ce qui concerne le taux d'immunoglobulines dans le sang du cordon chez des femmes enceintes parasitees ou non
Phenotypic and Genotypic Evidence for l-Fucose Utilization by Campylobacter jejuni

ABSTRACT Campylobacter jejuni remains among the leading causes of bacterial food-borne illness. The current understanding of Campylobacter physiology suggests that it is asaccharolytic and is unable to catabolize exogenous carbohydrates. Contrary to this paradigm, we provide evidence for l-fucose utilization by C. jejuni. The fucose phenotype, shown in chemically defined medium, is strain specific and linked to an 11-open reading frame (ORF) plasticity region of the bacterial chromosome. By constructing a mutation in fucP (encoding a putative fucose permease), one of the genes in the plasticity region, we found that this locus is required for fucose utilization. Consistent with their function in fucose utilization, transcription of the genes in the locus is highly inducible by fucose. PCR screening revealed a broad distribution of this genetic locus in strains derived from various host species, and the presence of this locus was consistently associated with fucose utilization. Birds inoculated with the fucP mutant strain alone were colonized at a level comparable to that by the wild-type strain; however, in cocolonization experiments, the mutant was significantly outcompeted by the wild-type strain when birds were inoculated with a low dose (105 CFU per bird). This advantage was not observed when birds were inoculated at a higher inoculum dose (108 CFU per bird). These results demonstrated a previously undescribed substrate that supports growth of C. jejuni and identified the genetic locus associated with the utilization of this substrate. These findings substantially enhance our understanding of the metabolic repertoire of C. jejuni and the role of metabolic diversity in Campylobacter pathobiology.
Aspectual Asymmetries in the Mental Representation of Events: Significance of Lexical Aspect

Aspect contributes important temporal information for the construction of situation models in the human mind. Previous studies examining the effect of grammatical aspect on accomplishment verbs (e.g. bake a cake) show that perfective sentences/utterances are processed faster than imperfective ones (Madden & Zwaan, 2003; Chan et al., 2004; Yap et al., 2004, in press). The present study, however, shows strong interaction between lexical aspect and grammatical aspect. More specifically, the results show that perfective facilitation is found on accomplishment verbs, while imperfective facilitation is found on activity verbs. We suggest that this is because the inherent atelic nature of activity verbs matches the unbounded features associated with imperfectives.
Risk-Adjusted Mortality as an Indicator of Outcomes: Comparison of the Medicare Advantage Program With the Veterans’ Health Administration

Background:The Medicare Advantage Program (MAP) and the Veterans’ Health Administration (VHA) currently provide many services that benefit the elderly, and a comparative study of their risk-adjusted mortality rates has the potential to provide important information regarding these 2 systems of care. Objective:The objective of this retrospective study was to compare mortality rates between the MAP and the VHA after controlling for case-mix differences. Subjects:This study consisted of 584,294 MAP patients and 420,514 VHA patients. Measures:We used the Death Master File to ascertain the vital status of each study subject over approximately 4 years. We used Cox regression models to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for the MAP compared with VHA patients. Results:The average age for male MAP patients was 73.8 years (±5.6) and for male VHA patients was 74.05 years (±6.3). Unadjusted mortality rates of males for VHA and MAP were 25.7% and 22.8%, respectively, over approximately 4 years (P < 0.0001), respectively. The case-mix of VHA patients, however, was sicker than those from MAP. After adjusting for case-mix, the HR for mortality in the MAP was significantly higher than that in the VHA (HR, 1.404; 95% CI = 1.383–1.426). We obtained similar results when we compared the mortality rates of females for VHA and MAP. Conclusions:After adjusting for their higher prevalence of chronic disease and worse self-reported health, mortality rates were lower for patients cared for in the VHA compared with those in the MAP. Further studies should examine what differences in care structures and processes contribute to lower mortality in the VHA.
Errors in self-report of post-traumatic stress disorder after severe traumatic brain injury

Assessing PTSD by questionnaire can lead to false positive diagnosis after severe traumatic brain injury. Sumpter and McMillan, reported quantitative data on 34 people with severe TBI; 59% were PTSD ‘cases’ by questionnaire assessment, but only 3% using a structured interview. The present paper describes ways in which these individuals made errors on questionnaires. Some did not follow questionnaire instructions because of inattention and concrete thinking or instead reported effects of brain injury. Symptom overlap between TBI and PTSD, including insomnia, irritability and impaired concentration can cause errors. Brain injury can also provoke curiosity about loss of memory (during coma, retrograde and post-traumatic amnesia), decreased participation, social withdrawal and difficulty adjusting to injury that may be mistaken for fear-associated PTSD symptoms. Assessment of PTSD by questionnaire can lead to erroneous conclusions and factors related to brain injury must be carefully considered when investigating PTSD.
Event-driven image sensor application: Event-driven image segmentation

We present through this paper an event-driven image sensor with a built-in and native image processing technique. In fact, digital image analysis and processing became one of the most demanding fields due to its wide and various applications. The activity of our event-driven image sensor is limited to the effective and relevant information in the captured scene. Moreover, its event-driven protocol efficiently suppresses any spatial redundancies. Therefore, the image sensor data flow is drastically reduced. Furthermore, we are introducing an effective and cost-free image segmentation technique by taking advantage of the spatial redundancy suppression method.
Live Birth and Infant Death Record Linkage

Abstract Using records from Ohio annual vital statistics tapes, we describe a method for linking live birth and infant death certificates and for dealing with late-registered and unregistered births. In our 1985–87 Cleveland and East Cleveland study population, deceased infants with late-registered births were found to be similar to those with timely registered births. Approximately 4.6% of decedents, however, had unregistered births and these tended to be very premature infants from socially disad-vantaged backgrounds who died shortly after delivery (including homicides following birth at home). We discuss the policy implications of failing to link infant deaths with unregistered births in studies of birth outcomes.
Randomized multicenter trial of the effects of melanoma-associated helper peptides and cyclophosphamide on the immunogenicity of a multipeptide melanoma vaccine.

PURPOSE This multicenter randomized trial was designed to test whether melanoma-associated helper peptides augment CD8(+) T-cell responses to a melanoma vaccine and whether cyclophosphamide (CY) pretreatment augments CD4(+) or CD8(+) T-cell responses to that vaccine. PATIENTS AND METHODS In all, 167 eligible patients with resected stage IIB to IV melanoma were randomly assigned to four vaccination study arms. Patients were vaccinated with 12 class I major histocompatibility complex-restricted melanoma peptides (12MP) to stimulate CD8(+) T cells and were randomly assigned to receive a tetanus helper peptide or a mixture of six melanoma-associated helper peptides (6MHP) to stimulate CD4(+) T cells. Before vaccination, patients were also randomly assigned to receive CY pretreatment or not. T-cell responses were assessed by an ex vivo interferon gamma ELISpot assay. Clinical outcomes and toxicities were recorded. RESULTS Vaccination with 12MP plus tetanus induced CD8(+) T-cell responses in 78% of patients and CD4(+) T-cell responses to tetanus peptide in 93% of patients. Vaccination with 12MP plus 6MHP induced CD8(+) responses in 19% of patients and CD4(+) responses to 6MHP in 48% of patients. CY had no significant effect on T-cell responses. Overall 3-year survival was 79% (95% CI, 71% to 86%), with no significant differences (at this point) by study arm. CONCLUSION Melanoma-associated helper peptides paradoxically decreased CD8(+) T-cell responses to a melanoma vaccine (P < .001), and CY pretreatment had no immunologic or clinical effect. Prior work showed immunologic and clinical activity of 6MHP alone. Possible explanations for negative effects on CD8 responses include modulation of homing receptor expression or induction of antigen-specific regulatory T cells.
Effect of NlpE Overproduction on Multidrug Resistance in Escherichia coli

ABSTRACT NlpE, an outer membrane lipoprotein, functions during envelope stress responses in Gram-negative bacteria. In this study, we report that overproduction of NlpE increases multidrug and copper resistance through activation of the genes encoding the AcrD and MdtABC multidrug efflux pumps in Escherichia coli.
IMMUNOHISTOCHEMICAL STUDY OF RETINOBLASTOMA PROTEIN EXPRESSION IN LARYNGEAL SQUAMOUS CELL CARCINOMA ACCORDING TO LOW AND HIGH OVEREXPRESSION

The aim of this study was to determine the possible relevance of the retinoblastoma protein (pRb) expression in laryngeal cancer as a prognostic criterion and to analyse the correlation between the expression and clinical and pathological features vs. survival rates. The immunohistochemical staining was used to detect the expression of pRb in 130 samples of laryngeal cancer and in 22 specimens of laryngeal nodules. pRb nuclear expression was detected in 90 (69%) out of 130 patients with laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC), and in three (13.6%) samples of laryngeal nodules. pRb expression correlated with high tumour stage. Patients with high expression of pRb (≥ 50%) had worse survival rates than patients with low expression (< 50%) in 3- and 5-year overall survival observation. A multivariate analysis of survival showed that pRb expression was not an independent prognostic factor in laryngeal cancer. The expression of pRb in LSCC is connected with higher tumour stage.
Treatment of Non-gonococcal Urethritis from the Point of View of Efficiency and Cost: Streptomycin with Long-acting Sulphonamides*

Intwoprevious papers (Jelinek, 1957, 1959), I havereported on patients suffering fromnongonococcal urethritis whohadbeentreated with tetracyclines, oxytetracycline, and streptomycin combined withsulphonamides. Thelastmethod compared favourably withthethenmuchmore expensive tetracyclines andthequestion arose whether-after aninterval of5years-the sulphonamides hadstood uptothetest oftime andretained their efficiency. Ialso wanted tofind outwhatresults thenewertypesofsulphonamides wouldgive, especially theverylong-acting RO4-4393, thewhole dosage ofwhichcanbegiven tothepatient inthe clinic. RO 4-4393, a Rocheproduct (formula 4 sulphanilamido 5,6dimethoxy-pyrimidine), hasbeen extensively usedinAfrica, theMiddle East, and SouthAmerica forconditions asvaried asleprosy, trachoma, meningococcal meningitis, staphylococcal pneumonia, andacne. Ithasbeenusedtherapeutically insome11,000 cases andprophylactically in3,000, indosages upto4g.daily for4to5days, orinlesser doses upto21months. Theside-effects werereported tobeless than2*5percent. Theprice hasnotyet beenfixed, butisexpected tobeintheregion of 2s.forone0 5-g. tablet.
Packaging of Live Legionella pneumophila into Pellets Expelled by Tetrahymena spp. Does Not Require Bacterial Replication and Depends on a Dot/Icm-Mediated Survival Mechanism

ABSTRACT The freshwater ciliate Tetrahymena sp. efficiently ingested, but poorly digested, virulent strains of the gram-negative intracellular pathogen Legionella pneumophila. Ciliates expelled live legionellae packaged in free spherical pellets. The ingested legionellae showed no ultrastructural indicators of cell division either within intracellular food vacuoles or in the expelled pellets, while the number of CFU consistently decreased as a function of time postinoculation, suggesting a lack of L. pneumophila replication inside Tetrahymena. Pulse-chase feeding experiments with fluorescent L. pneumophila and Escherichia coli indicated that actively feeding ciliates maintain a rapid and steady turnover of food vacuoles, so that the intravacuolar residence of the ingested bacteria was as short as 1 to 2 h. L. pneumophila mutants with a defective Dot/Icm virulence system were efficiently digested by Tetrahymena sp. In contrast to pellets of virulent L. pneumophila, the pellets produced by ciliates feeding on dot mutants contained very few bacterial cells but abundant membrane whorls. The whorls became labeled with a specific antibody against L. pneumophila OmpS, indicating that they were outer membrane remnants of digested legionellae. Ciliates that fed on genetically complemented dot mutants produced numerous pellets containing live legionellae, establishing the importance of the Dot/Icm system to resist digestion. We thus concluded that production of pellets containing live virulent L. pneumophila depends on bacterial survival (mediated by the Dot/Icm system) and occurs in the absence of bacterial replication. Pellets of virulent L. pneumophila may contribute to the transmission of Legionnaires’ disease, an issue currently under investigation.
The Standard Model of Talent Development and Its Discontents

Despite evident differences between approaches to talent development, many share a set of common characteristics and presumptions. We call this the Standard Model of Talent Development (SMTD). This model is articulated and the relevant literature drawn out to highlight the model’s strengths and weaknesses. The SMTD has been enormously influential, in terms of both policy documentation and practice, and it retains an obvious common sense appeal. However, we will argue that not only is its attractiveness illusionary and inconsistent to the emerging evidence base from research, but it is also undesirable from a variety of perspectives and desired outcomes. In short, we suggest that the most common system for identifying talent is unsubstantiated from both a process and an outcome perspective.
Caractérisation de l'interface de couches minces d'oxyde de praséodyme "High-K" sur surfaces de silicium

L'objectif de ce travail a ete d'etudier, a l'echelle atomique et depuis les tous premiers stades, la croissance de l'oxyde de praseodyme sur des substrats de silicium orientes (111) et (001). L'etude se focalise sur la caracterisation des proprietes structurales, chimiques, et electroniques de Pr2O3 depose sur Si(111) et Si(001), avec un accent plus particulier sur cette derniere surface, importante sur le plan technologique. Cet oxyde de terre-rare a ete considere ces dernieres annees comme un bon candidat "high-k'' pour se substituer a SiO2 comme oxyde de grille dans les transistors CMOS, afin de "miniaturiser'' davantage les composants electroniques. Dans ce contexte, les proprietes des surfaces et des interfaces commencent a dominer sur les performances des dispositifs a base de silicium, puisque le rapport surface/volume augmente. Comme les basses dimensions de ces structures les rendent difficilement etudiables, la brillance de la radiation synchrotron a ete employee pour des analyses de diffraction des rayons X et de spectroscopie de photoelectrons. Les resultats ont ete completes par d'autres techniques de science des surfaces, telles que la microscopie a effet tunnel, la spectroscopie Auger et la diffraction d'electrons a basse energie. Une couche epitaxiale de Pr2O3 hexagonal a ete trouvee sur Si(111). Sur la surface (001), une couche ordonnee de Pr2O3 cubique est recouverte par un silicate. Puisque les surfaces atomiquement propres sont le point de depart de la croissance, elles ont egalement ete caracterisees. En particulier, la structure atomique de la surface reconstruite Si(001)-2x1 a ete analysee.
Relativizations of Unambiguous and Random Polynomial Time Classes

We study relationships between ${\bf P}$, $NP$ , and the unambiguous and random time classes, ${\bf U}$, and ${\bf R}$. Questions concerning these relationships are motivated by complexity issues in public-key cryptosystems. We prove that there exists a recursive oracle A such that ${\bf P}^A \ne {\bf U}^A \ne {\bf NP}^A $, and such that the first inequality is “strong,” i.e., there exists a ${\bf P}^A $-immune set in ${\bf U}^A $. Further, we construct a recursive oracle B such that ${\bf U}^B $ contains an ${\bf R}^B $-immune set. As a corollary, we obtain ${\bf P}^B \ne {\bf R}^B \ne {\bf NP}^B $ and both inequalities are strong. By use of the techniques employed in the proof that ${\bf P}^A \ne {\bf U}^A \ne {\bf NP}^A $, we are also able to solve an open problem raised by Book, Long and Selman [Quantitative relativizations of complexity classes, SIAM J. Comput. 13 (1984), pp 461–487].
Insulin Stimulation of Hepatic Triacylglycerol Secretion in the Insulin‐Replete State

Abstract: Observations on humans, on rats in vivo, and on isolated perfused rat livers indicate that insulin stimulates hepatic very‐low‐density lipoprotein (VLDL)‐TAG secretion when the liver is chronically exposed to the hormone. They suggest that frequent stimulation of insulin secretion throughout the diurnal cycle may result in a chronic stimulation of VLDL secretion and increased delivery of acyl moieties to the periphery, particularly to muscle, the most important site of insulin‐sensitive glucose disposal. If acyl groups are provided in excess of the oxidative needs of the tissue, this may lead to induction of insulin resistance, irrespective of whether obesity is established concomitantly. Dietary factors that stimulate hepatic VLDL secretion may have the same effect and contribute to the induction of a vicious spiral leading to the development of the full‐blown Metabolic Syndrome and its pathological consequences, including type‐2 diabetes, stroke, and cardiovascular disease.
Bronchoscopy in children suspected of lower airway aspiration.

INTRODUCTION Foreign body aspiration (FBA) of the bronchial tree may be a life-threatening condition in children. This retrospective study explores the anamnestic, clinical and objective findings in patients with FBA to the lungs and evaluates the frequency and outcome of the condition in patients in the age group of highest risk. METHOD Medical files from patients below 18 years of age who had a foreign body removed from the lungs in our hospital were extracted using the procedure code for removal of foreign bodies in the lower airways ("Danish Patient Register") in the period 1990-2013. RESULTS In the period, a total of 49 children underwent endoscopic foreign body extraction and for 29 of the patients, the files were available for clinical data collection. The median age was 19 months. In nine patients (33%), no symptoms were recorded at admission. Thoracic X-ray was pathologic in 19 (67%) and pulmonary auscultation in 21 patients (73%). Two patients (7%) were in need of post-operative anaesthetic support as a result of respiratory failure, and the over-all complication rate was 28% (eight patients). No fatal outcomes were observed. CONCLUSIONS The majority of the children in our study were in the 0-3-year age group. A raised suspicion of a foreign body in the lower airways should always trigger bronchoscopy. At admittance, not all patients present with respiratory symptoms. Although no deaths were observed, lower airway foreign body in small children remain a potentially life-threatening condition. FUNDING none. TRIAL REGISTRATION not relevant.
Biochemical Characterization of the Nicotinic Cholinergic Receptors in Human Brain: Binding of (—)‐[3H]Nicotine

Abstract: (−)‐[3H]Nicotine was found to bind specifically to membranes of human brains obtained at autopsy. The binding was stereospecific, (−)‐nicotine being 40 times more potent than (+)‐nicotine in displacing labeled (−)‐nicotine. Saturation binding studies revealed the presence of two binding sites with dissociation constant (KD) values of 8.1 and 86 nM, and maximum binding capacity (Bmax) values of 36 and 90 fmol/mg protein, respectively. In competition studies, nicotinic agonists were 1,000 times more potent than ganglionic, neuromuscular, and muscarinic blocking drugs in displacing labeled (−)nicotine. IC50 values for cholinergic drugs of (−)[3H]nicotine binding were as follows: (−)‐nicotine, 0.51 nM; acetylcholine, 12.6 nM; (+)‐nicotine, 19.9 nM; cytisine, 27.3 nM; and carbachol, 527 nM. IC50 values of α‐bungarotoxin, hexamethonium, d‐tubocurarine, and atropine were larger than 50 μM. (−)‐[3H]Nicotine binding was highest in the nucleus basalis of Meynert and thalamus and lowest in the cerebral cortex and caudate in the brain regions tested. These results suggest that nicotinic cholinergic receptors are present in human brain and that there are regional differences in the density of these receptors.