Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Spinal Metastasis in Glioblastoma Multiforme: A Case Study

&NA; Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the most common primary malignant brain tumor. Spinal metastasis is rare. However, as local control of the primary tumor improves, metastatic disease is increasingly possible. The neuroscience nurse plays an instrumental role in caring for patients with GBM, developing a plan of care based on each patient's needs and outcomes.
WHEN DOES MORPHOLOGY MATTER

▪ Abstract The performance of an organism is the crucial link between its phenotype and its ecological success. When does an organism's morphology affect its performance? Quantitative mechanistic analyses of how function depends on biological form have shown that the relationship between morphology and performance can be nonlinear, context-dependent, and sometimes surprising. In some cases, small changes in morphology or simple changes in size can lead to novel functions, while in other cases changes in form can occur without performance consequences. Furthermore, the effect of a specific change in morphology can depend on the size, shape, stiffness, or habitat of an organism. Likewise, a particular change in posture or behavior can produce opposite effects when performed by bodies with different morphologies. These mechanistic studies not only reveal potential misconceptions that can arise from the descriptive statistical analyses often used in ecological and evolutionary research, but they also show how.
A comparison between acoustic output indices in 2D and 3D/4D ultrasound in obstetrics

Three‐dimensional (3D) ultrasound is gaining popularity in prenatal diagnosis. While there are no studies regarding the safety of 3D ultrasound, it is now widely performed in non‐medical facilities, for non‐diagnostic purposes. The present study was aimed at comparing the acoustic output, as expressed by thermal index (TI) and mechanical index (MI), of conventional two‐dimensional (2D) and 3D/4D ultrasound during pregnancy.
Vascular Lesions in Pigs Experimentally Infected With Porcine Circovirus Type 2 Serogroup B

Vasculitis is a hallmark lesion of the severe form of systemic porcine circovirus–associated disease (PCVAD). In 2 experimental studies with porcine circovirus type 2 serogroup b (PCV2b), 2 pigs developed fatal PCVAD with acute vasculitis, and 5 related pigs developed chronic lymphohistiocytic and plasmacytic peri- and endarteritis. Five of these pigs (1 with acute vasculitis and 4 with chronic vasculitis) had also been inoculated with bovine viral diarrhea virus type 1 (BVDV1) or BVDV1-like virus. Vascular lesions were similar, independent of whether pigs had been inoculated singly with PCV2b or dually with PCV2b and BVDV1 or BVDV1-like virus. The acute vasculitis was accompanied by marked pulmonary and mesenteric edema and pleural effusion. In situ hybridization demonstrated abundant intracytoplasmic porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2) nucleic acid in endothelial, smooth muscle–like, and inflammatory cells within and around affected arteries. The pigs with lymphohistiocytic and plasmacytic vasculitis had lesions of systemic PCVAD, including multisystemic lymphoplasmacytic and histiocytic or granulomatous inflammation. PCV2 nucleic acid was detected in renal tubule epithelial cells, mononuclear inflammatory cells, and rare endothelial cells in noninflamed vessels in multiple tissues of these animals. The 2 pigs with acute vasculitis had no PCV2-specific antibodies (or a low titer of), whereas the pigs with lymphohistiocytic and plasmacytic vasculitis developed high antibody titers against this virus. These observations suggest that (1) acute vasculitis observed in the current studies is directly caused by PCV2b, (2) chronic vasculitis may in part be mediated by the subsequent immune response, and (3) host factors and viral strain may both contribute to vasculitis in animals infected with PCV2b.
The Determinants of the Use of Derivatives in the Japanese Insurance Companies

This paper examines the firm-specific factors determining the use of derivatives by the sample of Japanese life and non-life Japanese insurance companies during the period of 2001–2011. We find that the participation rate for the use of derivatives by insurance companies in Japan is 73.2%, much higher than those found in the US, the UK, or Australia. Using the Probit and Tobit regression models, we provide evidence that the decision to use derivatives of Japanese insurance companies is positively related to firm size, leverage, organizational form, and proportion of assets invested in stocks and bonds, but negatively associated with reinsurance dependence. We also find that the decision of Japanese insurance companies to extend their markets by operating globally increases the need for derivatives contracts.
Restoration of axotomy-induced PACAP gene induction in SCID mice with CD4+ T-lymphocytes

PACAP is a neuropeptide with putative neuroprotective, regenerative, and immunomodulatory actions. PACAP mRNA is up-regulated in motor neurons following facial nerve axotomy in wild type, but not immunodeficient SCID mice. Because CD4+ lymphocytes appear to be neuroprotective in facial nerve and other injury models, we studied PACAP gene expression in SCID mice preinfused with CD4+ enriched splenocytes. Whereas the mean number of PACAP hybridizing neurons after axotomy was reduced by 75% in uninfused SCID mice, infusion of CD4+ enriched splenocytes restored the number to a value not significantly different than controls. The CD4+ cell-dependent induction of PACAP in motor neurons may thus be a factor in the cascade of events triggered by immune cells that ultimately lead to nerve regeneration.
Caries-associated micro-organisms in infants from different socio-economic backgrounds in Scotland

Objectives:The aims of this study were: (1) to compare the frequency of isolation of mutans streptococci, ( Streptococcus mutans , Steptococcus sobrinus ), lactobacilli and yeasts (caries-associated micro-organisms) in the saliva of 1-year-old infants with and without dental caries; and (2) to determine if socio-economic background influenced the frequency isolation of bacteria and caries status. Methods:1393 1-year-old consented infants, who comprised 70.3% of children born in Dundee during a 1 year period, had saliva samples taken (tongue-loop method) for microbiological culture and were examined for dental caries ( d1-threshold: enamel and dentine diagnostic threshold). Thirty-nine infants were diagnosed with caries and the frequencies of isolation of caries-associated micro-organisms (and absolute microbial counts) were compared with infants who were caries-free. In addition, associations were sought between the infants’ socio-economic background, the frequency of isolation of caries-associated micro-organisms and caries status. Results: Streptococcus mutans , lactobacilli and yeasts were isolated more frequently from those infants with caries compared to those who were caries-free ( S. mutans : 29.7 vs 9.8%, P 0:0008; lactobacilli: 15.4 vs 4.3%, P 0:0073; yeasts: 23.7 vs 10.4%, P 0:0016—Fisher’s exact test). There were no significant differences between the isolation frequencies of S. sobrinus(2.7 vs 1.3%, P 0:39 from those with and without caries. Significantly, more infants living in areas of high deprivation had caries compared to those from more affluent areas (DEPCAT 6 and 7 vs 1–5: 3.6 vs 1.9%, P 0:049; but, apart from yeasts, socio-economic background was not significantly associated with the isolation frequencies of any of the caries-associated micro-organisms. Conclusions:In infants as young as 1 year of age, salivary S. mutans, lactobacilli and yeasts but not S. sobrinuswere isolated significantly more frequently from those with caries compared to those who were caries-free. Apart from yeasts, socio-economic background did not influence the frequency of isolation of caries-associated micro-organisms. However, infants living in areas of highest deprivation had significantly higher frequencies of caries compared to those from more affluent areas. q 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
Which Economic Freedoms Contribute to Growth

The literature on economic freedom and growth has utilized summary measures of freedom to determine its general significance for economic growth. We believe the summary measures lead to misspecification problems. We utilize Heston-Summers growth data to determine which of the disaggregated categories of economic freedom lead to growth and find that only a few of the indexes significantly affect growth. These growth regressions generate new weights for aggregating the indexes into an overall summary measure. This new measure can be interpreted as deriving a relative ranking of nations that have a relatively higher presence of growth promoting economic freedoms and more restrictions on those economic freedoms that inhibit growth. Copyright 2000 by WWZ and Helbing & Lichtenhahn Verlag AG
Evolutionary Rate Heterogeneity of Primary and Secondary Metabolic Pathway Genes in Arabidopsis thaliana

Primary metabolism is essential to plants for growth and development, and secondary metabolism helps plants to interact with the environment. Many plant metabolites are industrially important. These metabolites are produced by plants through complex metabolic pathways. Lack of knowledge about these pathways is hindering the successful breeding practices for these metabolites. For a better knowledge of the metabolism in plants as a whole, evolutionary rate variation of primary and secondary metabolic pathway genes is a prerequisite. In this study, evolutionary rate variation of primary and secondary metabolic pathway genes has been analyzed in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. Primary metabolic pathway genes were found to be more conserved than secondary metabolic pathway genes. Several factors such as gene structure, expression level, tissue specificity, multifunctionality, and domain number are the key factors behind this evolutionary rate variation. This study will help to better understand the evolutionary dynamics of plant metabolism.
A 200‐amino acid ATPase module in search of a basic function

A fast growing family of ATPases has recently been highlighted. It was named the AAA family, for ATPases Associated to a variety of cellular Activities. The key feature of the family is a highly conserved module of 230 amino acids present in one or two copies in each protein. Despite extensive sequence conservation, the members of the family fulfil a large diversity of cellular functions: cell cycle regulation, gene expression in yeast and HIV, vesicle‐mediated transport, peroxisome assembly, 26S protease function etc. In addition, several members of this family can be found in the same organism (up to 17 in S. cerevisiae). The contrast between functional diversity and structural conservation of the module, from archaebacteria to mammals, suggests that it plays an essential, but as yet unknown, role at key points of the cellular machinery. Two (non‐exclusive) such possibilities are: (1) ATP‐dependent proteasome function and (2) ATP‐dependent anchorage of proteins. Finally, the basic biochemical activity of the AAA module is still a matter of speculation, and we propose that it acts as an ATP‐dependent protein clamp.
Extending NomLex-PT using AnCora-Nom

This work describes how we used AnCora-Nom, a Spanish nominalization lexicon, to extend NomLex-PT, a lexical resource for Portuguese, originally based on the English NomLex lexicon and fully integrated to OpenWordNet-PT, our freely available Portuguese Word-Net. The complete Spanish lexicon, which contains 1,655 entries, was translated to Portuguese and then compared to our previous data. Further comparison between the diﬀerent kinds of nominal classiﬁcation in AnCora-Nom and NomLex-PT is underway.
Posteroventral medial pallidotomy in advanced Parkinson's disease.

BACKGROUND Posteroventral medial pallidotomy sometimes produces striking improvement in patients with advanced Parkinson's disease, but the studies to date have involved small numbers of patients and short-term follow-up. METHODS Forty patients with Parkinson's disease underwent serial, detailed assessments both after drug withdrawal ("off" period) and while taking their optimal medical regimens ("on" period). All patients were examined preoperatively and 39 were examined at six months; 27 of the patients were also examined at one year, and 11 at two years. RESULTS The percent improvements at six months were as follows: off-period score for overall motor function, 28 percent (95 percent confidence interval, 19 to 38 percent), with most of the improvement in the contralateral limbs; off-period score for activities of daily living, 29 percent (95 percent confidence interval, 19 to 39 percent); on-period score for contralateral dyskinesias, 82 percent (95 percent confidence interval, 72 to 91 percent); and on-period score for ipsilateral dyskinesias, 44 percent (95 percent confidence interval, 29 to 59 percent). The improvements in dyskinesias and the total scores for off-period parkinsonism, contralateral bradykinesia, and rigidity were sustained in the 11 patients examined at two years. The improvement in ipsilateral dyskinesias was lost after one year, and the improvements in postural stability and gait lasted only three to six months. Approximately half the patients who had been dependent on assistance in activities of daily living in the off period before surgery became independent after surgery. The complications of surgery were generally well tolerated, and there were no significant changes in the use of medication. CONCLUSIONS In late-stage Parkinson's disease, pallidotomy significantly reduces levodopa-induced dyskinesias and off-period disability. Much of the benefit is sustained at two years, although some improvements, such as those on the ipsilateral side and in axial symptoms, wane within the first year. The on-period symptoms that are resistant to dopaminergic therapy do not respond to pallidotomy.
Gas and star formation in the Circinus galaxy

We present a detailed study of the Circinus galaxy, investigating its star formation, dust and gas properties, both in the inner and outer disc. To achieve this, we obtained high-resolution Spitzer mid-infrared images with the IRAC (3.6, 5.8, 4.5 and 8.0 μm) and MIPS (24 and 70 μm) instruments and sensitive H i data from the Australia Telescope Compact Array and the 64-m Parkes telescope. These were supplemented by CO maps from the Swedish-ESO Submillimetre Telescope. Because Circinus is hidden behind the Galactic plane, we demonstrate the careful removal of foreground stars as well as large- and small-scale Galactic emission from the Spitzer images. We derive a visual extinction of A_V = 2.1 mag from the spectral energy distribution of the Circinus galaxy and total stellar and gas masses of 9.5 × 10^10 and 9 × 10^(9) M_⊙, respectively. Using various wavelength calibrations, we find obscured global star formation rates between 3 and 8 M_⊙ yr^(−1). Star-forming regions in the inner spiral arms of Circinus, which are rich in H i, are beautifully unveiled in the Spitzer 8 μm image. The latter is dominated by polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) emission from heated interstellar dust. We find a good correlation between the 8 μm emission in the arms and regions of dense H i gas. The (PAH 8 μm)/24 μm surface brightness ratio shows significant variations across the disc of Circinus.
Distributed Resource and Routing Assignment Algorithms for Multi-channel WMNs

Guarantees on quality-of-service (QoS) are essential for multimedia applications such as wireless TV and VoIP (voice over IP) to be successfully utilized over a WMN (Wireless Mesh Networks). As a consequence of providing Internet access to many clients over such a network, throughput is affected by the number of hops that a client is from its backhaul and how traffic load distributing. These spatial bias and load- balancing problems are formulated as a mixed-integer nonlinear programming problem that take into consideration the multi-hop delay, both in terms of least-hop and load-balanced routing, and in terms of link capacity constraints in mesh structures. In this paper, we proposed distributed resource allocation scheme and load-balanced routing algorithms combining with Lagrangean Relaxation approach that minimize the maximum multi-hop delay at the MAC layer and network layer, algorithms that achieve load-balanced on each backhaul and each branch of the backhaul with orthogonal channels. Our experiment results demonstrate that the algorithms achieve near-minimum multi- hop delay and outperform other resource allocation schemes and routing algorithms.
Rate of patient workups by non-emergency medicine residents in an academic emergency department.

OBJECTIVE To quantify the number of patients seen per hour by non-emergency medicine (non-EM) residents in a university hospital ED. METHODS This retrospective observational study was performed in a university hospital ED and level I trauma center. The facility had no EM residency, but was staffed with 24-hour EM faculty coverage. A computerized tracking system was searched for the number of patients seen by each of 93 non-EM residents for 12 nonconsecutive months. The ED schedule for each month was used to calculate the number of hours worked by each resident. From these figures, the number of patients seen per hour by each resident was calculated. RESULTS The postgraduate years of training of the residents were as follows: 78 (84%) were PGY1, ten (11%) were PGY2, and five (5%) were PGY3. All the residents combined saw a mean 0.95 +/- 0.20 patients/hour, with a range from 0.58 to 1.75 patients/hour. There was no significant difference between the numbers of patients seen when compared by specialty using the Tukey-Kramer test (alpha = 0.05). CONCLUSION The rate at which non-EM residents work up patients is consistent with previously reported rates for EM residents.
Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy in adults: An overview

Purpose: To present an overview of clinical issues related to adults with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), their presenting symptoms, diagnosis, physical examination findings, treatment, and follow‐up care. Data sources: A comprehensive search of Medline (PubMed) and CINAHL was conducted using the key terms HCM, treatment, diagnosis, sudden cardiac death (SCD), and complications. This search yielded 21 articles used for this article. There were three reference books used for background, diagnosis, and treatment information as well. Conclusions: Although HCM is the most prevalent genetic disorder affecting the heart, it often goes undiagnosed until midlife after patients show symptoms of myocardial remodeling. Adults with cardiomyopathy suffer SCD or adverse events such as stroke and heart failure from HCM. Early diagnosis will prevent SCD, improve quality of life, and slow patient's progression to heart failure. Implications for practice: Early recognition of HCM in adults by their primary care providers will improve patients' quality of life and reduce incidence of SCD, heart failure, and stroke.
Visible/near-infrared spectroscopy detects autolytic changes during storage of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.).

UNLABELLED Visible (VIS)/near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy was used to investigate spectroscopic changes occurring during storage of Atlantic salmon fillets with and without bacterial growth. A storage experiment was conducted for 11 d postmortem. Bacterial growth was inhibited by soaking a group of salmon fillets in 3 mM NaN3 prior to storage, while a control group retained its normal bacterial growth. Spectra were obtained by directly applying the spectroscopic probe onto the loin part of each fillet stored under conditions accelerating degradation. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to monitor and compare spectroscopic development of the 2 groups and the results showed that VIS/NIR spectral changes occurred in the control as well as the treated group of samples within a single day after filleting. After 2 d of storage, stored samples were distinguishable from those fresh in both groups and it was only after the microbial spoilage became pronounced (8 to 9 log colony forming unit [CFU]/g) that the spectra of the spoiled control samples could be differentiated from spectra of the treated samples with no bacterial growth. Microbial growth is therefore not the only explanation for the spectral variations prior to microbial spoilage. Nonmicrobial, autolytic changes including possible changes in the physical properties are also contributing. Our results show that VIS/NIR spectroscopy can detect autolytic changes occurring in salmon muscle during the early stage of storage, independent of microbial growth. PRACTICAL APPLICATION Important spectroscopic changes occur even when microbial growth is not apparent. This indicates that VIS/NIR spectroscopy may be used to determine the degree of freshness before microbial spoilage becomes relevant.
Addition of bevacizumab to chemotherapy for treatment of solid tumors: similar results but different conclusions.

Alberto Ocana and Eitan Amir, Princess Margaret Hospital and University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada Francisco Vera, Centro Universitario Contra el Cancer, Hospital Universitario Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo Leon, Monterrey, Mexico Elizabeth A. Eisenhauer, National Cancer Institute of Canada Clinical Trials Group, Queen’s University, Kingston, Canada Ian F. Tannock, Princess Margaret Hospital and University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
Assessment of use of complementary alternative medicine and its impact on quality of life in the patients attending rheumatology clinic, in a tertiary care centre in India.

PURPOSE Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) has witnessed an increase in use in recent times in rheumatological conditions and is expected to have impact on the quality of life (QOL). We had planned to conduct this study to investigate the extent of use of CAM and its effect on QOL of patients at a tertiary care center. MATERIALS AND METHODS Ethics committee approval was obtained. Sixty patients suffering from osteoarthritis (OA) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) were enrolled as per the selection criteria, after obtaining their informed consent. Each patient was interviewed for CAM use/non-use, and Western Ontario and McMaster Universities (WOMAC) (modified) index for QOL was recorded by the study personnel. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS The normality was checked by using Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. Descriptive statistics was performed and Mann-Whitney U-test was used to compare the QOL of CAM users and non-users. RESULTS Of the 60 patients enrolled with OA (10) and RA (50), 58% (35/60) used CAM. Ayurveda and massage therapy were the commonest [80% (28/35)], followed by yoga asana [34% (12/35)] and homoeopathy [20% (7/35)]. It was observed that combinations of therapies were used too. Nearly half [49% (17/35)] of the CAM users were on self-prescribed medication and 71% (25/35) of them did not inform the physician of CAM use. The QOL of CAM users (WOMAC score: 56.31 ± 6.82) was better than that of CAM non-users (WOMAC score: 60.16 ± 4.02) (P value 0.01). CONCLUSION Patients with RA frequently used CAM and QOL improvised with CAM use. We observed that self-administration of CAM was common and this was not informed to the treating physician.
Drift-driven investigation of phase distribution in phase-change memories

Multi-level programming in Phase-Change Memories (PCMs) requires adequate understanding of the phenomena affecting the stability of the programmed levels. Although crystallization in GST (Ge2Sb2Te5) has been extensively studied, further analysis is needed to understand the phase distribution in intermediate states between the amorphous and the crystalline GST. In this paper, we carry out a drift-driven analysis on a PCM array to investigate phase distribution of intermediate resistance states obtained with partial-SET programming. The analysis shows that the phase distribution after a partial-SET pulse can be more conveniently described by means of a parallel-like model having a crystalline path inside an amorphous cap.