Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Helper T cells (CD3 + /CD4 + ) within the autologous peripheral blood stem cell graft positively correlate with event free survival of multiple myeloma patients.

BACKGROUND The microenvironment in the bone marrow - including lymphocytes - is part of the pathophysiology of multiple myeloma (MM). High dose chemotherapy followed by autologous stem cell transplantation is standard of care for younger patients. AIM To determine the influence of reinfused lymphocyte subsets on event free survival (EFS) and overall survival (OS). METHODS In peripheral blood (PB) and aphaeresis products (AP) of 41 MM patients lymphocyte subsets were determined by flow cytometry and were correlated with clinical outcome. RESULTS PB lymphocyte subsets did not influence EFS or OS. Residual plasma cells in the AP were not correlated with poor outcome, whereas a high percentage of B cells (CD19+) showed a trend towards reduced EFS (P = 0.051). A high amount of CD4 cells and an increased CD4/CD8 ratio were significantly associated with prolonged EFS. In contrast, high percentage of HLA-DR positive lymphocytes showed negative impact on EFS and OS (P = 0.03 and 0.02, respectively). CONCLUSION Obtained data suggest the non-activated (HLA-DR negative) helper CD4+ T cells in the AP to be tumour protective.
Initial thrombolysis treatment compared with anticoagulation for acute intermediate-risk pulmonary embolism: a meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND The use of thrombolysis in patients with acute, intermediate-risk pulmonary embolism (PE) remains controversial. This meta-analysis compared the efficacy and safety of thrombolysis and anticoagulation treatments for intermediate-risk PE patients. METHODS Two investigators independently reviewed the literature and collected data from randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of thrombolysis for intermediate-risk PE in the PubMed, MEDLINE, EMBASE, the Cochrane Library, and Chinese Biomedical Literature Databases (CBM). RESULTS A total of 1,631 intermediate-risk PE patients from seven studies were included. Significant differences were not found regarding the 30-day, all-cause mortality rates between the thrombolytic and anticoagulant groups [odds ratio (OR), 0.60; 95% confident interval (CI), 0.34-1.06; P=0.08]. The rate of clinical deterioration in the thrombolytic group was lower than that in the anticoagulant group (OR, 0.27; 95% CI, 0.18-0.41; P<0.01). Recurrent PE in the thrombolytic group was also significantly lower than that in the anticoagulant group (OR, 0.34; 95% CI, 0.15-0.77; P=0.01). Comparing the thrombolytic and anticoagulation groups, the incidence of minor bleeding was significantly higher in the thrombolytic group (OR, 5.33; 95% CI, 2.85-9.97; P<0.00001), but there were no difference in the incidences of major bleeding events (OR, 2.07; 95% CI, 0.60-7.16; P=0.25). CONCLUSIONS Thrombolytic treatment for intermediate-risk PE patients, if not contraindicated, could reduce clinical deterioration and recurrence of PE, and trends towards a decrease in all-cause, 30-day mortality. Despite thrombolytic treatment having an increased total bleeding risk, there was no difference in the incidence of major bleeding events, compared with patients receiving anticoagulation treatment.
Experimental Infection of Lone Star Ticks, Amblyomma americanum (L.), with Rickettsia parkeri and Exposure of Guinea Pigs to the Agent

Abstract The maculatum agent, Rickettsia parkeri (a member of the spotted fever group rickettsiae), was inoculated into a colony of the lone star tick, Amblyomma americanum, and followed for two tick generations. In addition, guinea pigs were exposed to the agent by direct injection and by feeding infected ticks on them. Eighty (53%) of 150 nymphal A. americanum that were inoculated with suspensions of R. parkeri were positive by hemolymph test and fluorescent antibody test for rickettsial infection when examined as adults. One-month survival of R. parkeri-infected ticks was similar to that of control (noninfected) ticks. Transstadial and transovarial transmission of R. parkeri in the laboratory was demonstrated in A. americanum. When guinea pigs were exposed to the maculatum agent by either direct injection of Vero cell-grown R. parkeri, injection of homogenates of infected ticks, or by feeding of infected ticks, they developed mild fevers and occasional scrotal reactions. These data indicate that R. parkeri can remain viable in lone star ticks for two generations and suggest that guinea pigs may become infected, displaying mild clinical signs.
Profiling the ageing wellness consumers in the retailing context

Abstract In the context of retailing, ‘wellness consumption’ cannot be defined by a product or service category, but by shopping motives. As previous research strongly suggests our consumption patterns to be influenced both by age and generational effects, in the current study we explore the wellness orientations of consumers at different ages/belonging to different generations as they manifest in everyday practices, especially in the context of retailing. Drawing on that, we aim to shed light on implications of the population ageing on retailing-related wellness industry. The main focus is on Baby Boomers. Starting with a random sample of 18–75-year-olds (N=1600), we extracted six dimensions connected to different aspects of wellness. Next, the dimensions extracted among aged 18–75 and 55−64 were fed into respective cluster analyses which both yielded seven segments. The differences in the composition of wellness dimensions indicate that age-/generation-specific segmentation is warranted and will return in more accurate estimations of the market potential and more targeted marketing activities. Examination of the parallel typologies enabled us to gain a broader understanding of differences between generations. There was an obvious age-/generation-based pattern in the cluster memberships in the 18–75 sample, all clusters offering different opportunities for the wellness market.
Bacteriology of endoscopically normal maxillary sinuses

Abstract The bacteriology of maxillary sinuses with normal endoscopic findings is reported in this study. When transantral sinoscopy was used to examine the maxillary sinuses, the whole maxillary sinus was inspected with different-angle endoscopes. If no lesion was seen over the whole maxillary sinus mucosa, no secretion existed in the maxillary sinus cavity, and the maxillary sinus ostium was wide open, the maxillary sinus was considered endoscopically normal. The bacteriology of these endoscopically normal maxillary sinuses was studied by passing cotton-tipped sticks through the cannula to collect swab specimens. In some cases, a biopsy forceps was also passed to obtain mucosal specimens. The specimens were sent to the laboratory for aerobic and anaerobic cultures. Between July 1990 and May 1998, 83 swab and 31 mucosal specimens were collected from 69 patients who had not taken any antibiotic within 10 days before endoscopy. The culture rates were 62.3 per cent (35/53) from swab specimens and 57.1 per cent (eight out of 14) from mucosal specimens in patients with the diagnosis of chronic paranasal sinusitis, and were 46.7 per cent (14/30) from swab specimens and 41. 2 per cent (seven out of 17) from mucosal specimens in patients without this diagnosis. This study shows that endoscopically normal maxillary sinuses are not sterile.
EFFICACY AND SAFETY OF NALTREXONE HYDROCHLORIDE FOR ANTAGONIZING CARFENTANIL CITRATE IMMOBILIZATION IN CAPTIVE ROCKY MOUNTAIN ELK (CERVUS ELAPHUS NELSONI)

We evaluated efficacy and safety of naltrexone for antagonizing carfentanil immobilization in 12 captive Rocky Mountain elk (Cervus elaphus nelsoni) using a randomized incomplete block experiment. In three replicate trials, elk were hand-injected with 10 μg carfentanil citrate/kg body weight intramuscularly. Fifteen min after each elk became recumbent, we administered naltrexone HCl (25% of dose intravenously, 75% subcutaneously) dosed at 0 (control), 25, 50, or 100 mg/mg carfentanil; after an additional 15 min of immobilization, controls received 5(H) mg naltrexone HCl/mg carfentanil. Elk were immobilized in 34 of 36 attempts; the mean (±SE) induction time was 3.1 ± 0.2 min. Regardless of dose, all elk stood <9 min after receiving naltrexone; controls remained immobilized until they received antagonist. Mean recovery times did not differ with increasing naltrexone dose (P = 0.31) or among individuals (P = 0.16). None of the elk receiving 100 or 500 mg naltrexone/mg carfentanil renarcotized, but three of eight and seven of nine elk receiving 50 and 25 mg naltrexone/mg carfentanil, respectively, showed signs of mild renarcotization 8 to 24 hr later (P = 0.0002). We observed no adverse clinical effects in elk receiving ≤500 mg naltrexone/mg carfentanil. Based on these data, we recommend 100 mg/mg carfentanil as a minimum effective dose for rapidly antagonizing immobilization and preventing renarcotization.
itigating the consequences of a health condition : The role of intra-nd interhousehold assistance

The behavior of noncoresident family members motivates much of the literature on consumption smoothing, risk-sharing, and informal networks, yet little is known empirically on the topic due to a lack of data simultaneously observing multiple households in an extended family. This study utilizes genealogically linked longitudinal data to examine how extended family networks insure against financial risks from severely limiting health conditions. We find that nonhealth consumption of unmarried households declines in response to worsening health, whereas married households smooth expenditures in a way xtended family ealth shocks onsumption smoothing nformal insurance that is consistent with full insurance. Families mitigate losses by reallocating home production, drawing down home equity, holding formal health insurance, collecting social security, and receiving transfers from noncoresident relatives. We illustrate that the costs of health shocks are transmitted throughout family networks, and that noncoresident children draw down their assets and consumption when responding to a parent’s health decline. © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Risperidone long-acting therapy in stable patients with recently diagnosed schizophrenia

Early and maintained treatment is important for better long-term outcomes in schizophrenia. We hypothesized that treatment with injectable risperidone long-acting therapy (RLAT) would be associated with improved outcomes in recently diagnosed patients compared with those having longer illness duration. Post-hoc analyses were conducted from a 1-year study of stable patients receiving RLAT (25 or 50 mg every 2 weeks) to compare patients diagnosed with schizophrenia in ≤3 years (recently diagnosed; n=57) with those diagnosed more than 3 years (n=266). Relapse rates were 10.5 and 21.8%, respectively [P=0.053, χ2; hazard ratio 2.2 (95% confidence interval=0.95, 5.13)]. Both groups improved significantly in mean total Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale and Clinical Global Impressions-Severity (CGI-S) scores (P<0.01). Recently diagnosed patients showed greater improvement versus patients diagnosed for more than 3 years in adjusted mean Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale total (−10.2±2.0 vs. −3.8±0.9; P=0.004) and Clinical Global Impressions-Severity (−0.5±0.1 vs. −0.2±0.1; P=0.002) scores. The most common adverse events were insomnia (31.6 vs. 26.7%), psychiatric disorders (19.3 vs. 20.7%), headache (15.8 vs. 19.2%), anxiety (12.3 vs. 17.3%), and influenza (10.5 vs. 5.3%). These findings confirm the benefit of RLAT in patients with schizophrenia and suggest that earlier treatment with long-acting preparations is associated with better outcomes.
Melatonin, serotonin, and tryptamine in some egyptian food and medicinal plants.

The mammalian pineal hormone melatonin (N-acetyl-5-methoxytryptamine), an aminoindole produced by the metabolism of serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine), has been shown to be a potent scavenger for the highly toxic hydroxyl radical. Three substances that are very important in animal physiology (e.g., in brain metabolism) are noradrenaline, histamine, and serotonin; all three occur in plants. Here we report that serotonin, tryptamine, and melatonin were found in some edible and medicinal plants in Egypt. The results of this screening showed that the pulp of underripe and ripe yellow banana contains 5-hydroxytryptamine at concentrations of 31.4 and 18.5 ng/g, respectively. Corn, rice, barley grains, and ginger showed the highest concentrations of melatonin, at 187.8, 149.8, 87.3, 142.3 ng/100 g, respectively. On the other hand, potato samples were free from all indolamines. Pomegranate and strawberry showed a low level of indolamines (8-12 microg/g serotonin, 4-9 microg/g tryptamine, and 13-29 ng/100 g melatonin).
The safety and efficacy of ablative techniques adjacent to the hepatic vasculature and biliary system

Ablative techniques may provide an alternative to resection in treating awkwardly placed hepatic malignancy adjacent to major vascular and biliary structures. The heat‐sink effect may reduce efficacy adjacent to major vascular structures. Vascular occlusion improves efficacy but is associated with increased vascular and biliary complications. The safety and efficacy of ablation in these situations remain to be defined. Further studies comparing both safety and efficacy are needed.
Dopamine and the Cognitive Downside of a Promised Bonus

It is often assumed that the promise of a monetary bonus improves cognitive control. We show that in fact appetitive motivation can also impair cognitive control, depending on baseline levels of dopamine-synthesis capacity in the striatum. These data not only demonstrate that appetitive motivation can have paradoxical detrimental effects for cognitive control but also provide a mechanistic account of these effects.
The relationship between vulnerability factors and breastfeeding outcome.

OBJECTIVE To determine whether vulnerability factors (confidence with breastfeeding, postpartum depression, supplementation, and perceived adequacy of support) are associated with breastfeeding outcome at 6 weeks postpartum after controlling for age and education. DESIGN Secondary analysis of a cross-sectional telephone survey at 6 weeks postpartum. SETTING Ottawa-Carleton, Ontario, Canada. PARTICIPANTS A proportionate, consecutive sample of breastfeeding women from each of four hospitals in the region (526/554, 95% response rate). METHODS Stratified bivariate analyses were used to examine the relationship between each factor and breastfeeding outcome. Multivariate logistic regression analyses examined relationships between all factors and breastfeeding outcome. RESULTS In the logistic regression analyses, confidence with breastfeeding (odds ratio: 1.85, 95% confidence interval: 1.50-2.27, p < .001) and postpartum depression (odds ratio: 0.28, 95% confidence interval: 0.11-0.71, p= .007) were related to breastfeeding after controlling for age and education. CONCLUSIONS Support for breastfeeding should include assessment of maternal confidence with breastfeeding and postpartum depression. Evaluation of intervention strategies to address these vulnerability factors is a priority.
Households' Coping Strategies in Drought- and Flood-Prone Communities in Northern Ghana

This study seeks to explore stakeholders’ perceptions, causes, and effects of extreme climatic events, such as droughts and floods, in the Wa West District of Ghana’s Upper West Region. A multi-stage sampling procedure is used to select 184 respondents. Data collection methods include individual questionnaire administration, focus group discussions, and a stakeholders’ forum in the Wa West District Assembly. While frequencies are used to show respondents’ perceptions of the severity of climate change effects, a treatmenteffect model is used to determine the factors influencing farmers’ choices of on-farm coping strategies over off-farm activities in both periods of drought and flood. Findings are the following: farmers perceive that climate change is real and has severe consequences. Consequently, they resort to both on-farm and off-farm strategies to cope with the effects of climate change. While men mostly adopt the former, women adopt the latter. Both strategies are, however, not viable for taking them out of poverty, though offfarm activities are more effective. Education and extension services are other important factors influencing the choice of coping strategies as well as farmers’ welfare. Farmers must be supported with more viable income-earning activities, ones that can take them out of poverty. Women should be given priority. Access to education and extension services must also be stepped up to facilitate the adoption of the coping strategies and to increase welfare.
Discontinued psychiatric drugs in 2008

During the past several decades, neuropsychiatric agents have been one of the fastest growing classes of medicinal agents. This expansion is in part due to the increased recognition of the prevalence and burden of illness associated with disparate neuropsychiatric disorders, increased public awareness and possibly reduced stigma associated with mental illness, as well as extensive marketing of neuropsychiatric agents to healthcare providers. Most of the agents reviewed herein represent modifications and/or refinements of pre-existing agents and/or theoretical approaches (e.g., monoamine hypothesis). There remains a relative paucity of agents with genuinely novel mechanisms targeting effector systems implicated in contemporary models of disease pathophysiology in mood and psychotic disorders (e.g., glutamate, insulin, brain derived neurotrophic factor and other growth factors, immunoinflammatory systems and oxidative stress).
Categorizing and prioritizing lifetime impacts for Asset Lifecycle Plans

Lifetime impacts are generated using the TECKO method. Using this method the asset is analysed from five different perspectives: Technical, Economical, Compliance, Commercial, and Organizational. Having used the method for an Asset Lifecycle Plan, Liander discovered that a large number of impacts were defined. And that they do not have the resources to mitigate them al. Therefore the assignment aims to develop a method that can select the most important lifetime impacts. So Liander knows where to focus on, and so Liander has an unambiguous view of the remaining useful lifetime of the asset.
Export propensity and intensity of Nigerian SMEs

The objective is to identify the determinants of export propensity and intensity of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Nigeria. It estimated an export model for SMEs, comprising a system of two equations, one export propensity and the other for intensity. The analysis revealed that firm age, labor productivity, access to loan and infrastructure are robust determinants of export propensity. In addition, the results confirmed that firm age, labor productivity, capital intensity, skill intensity, access to loan, managerial experience, and infrastructure increase the export intensity. Estimating such determinants of SME export intensity and propensity provides the direction for policy discussions.
Governance of risks in South Africa’s public higher education institutions (HEIs)

The author examines the manner in which risk is governed within higher education institutions (HEIs) in South Africa by formulating risk governance statements based on the requirements of the King III Report on Corporate Governance and other relevant literature. The formulated risk governance statements are used to develop the risk disclosure measurement index. Disclosure measurement method is accepted as a flexible method to use when extracting the pre-determined information in the annual reports. The developed risk disclosure index is used to extract the information from South Africa’s higher education institutions’ annual reports. The information disclosed in these annual reports is deemed a proxy of risk management practices within the higher education institution concerned. The results obtained indicate that South Africa’s higher education institutions have not embraced risk management as a key process in their activities. This is apparent in the assessed annual reports as compliance with the pre-determined set of statements was around 50%. For those that have not demonstrated these practices, it is stated that the concern is around the manner in which their highest decision makers make decisions, as it appears that risks may not necessarily be taken into account. As higher education institutions in South Africa continues to face challenges and they would possible be revising their strategies to take into account the recent events, every strategic decision being undertaken should be accompanied by a proper risk assessment to identify potential pitfalls (threats) and/or take advantage to achieve results promptly (opportunities).
Transcriptional response to the neuroleptic‐like compound Ampullosporin A in the rat ketamine model

Psychotic disorders affecting up to 1% of the human population represent pathological changes to the metabolic homeostasis of the brain. Increasing evidence in the literature suggests complex biochemical and/or transcriptional alterations accompanying schizophrenia‐like phenomena. Sub‐chronic treatment with sub‐anaesthetic doses of ketamine induces schizophrenia‐related psychotic alterations that can be used as an animal model in the study of this disorder. Ampullosporin A belongs to a specific group of pore‐forming fungal peptides, peptaibols. We focused on the analysis of molecular events occurring in the brain of ketamine‐pre‐treated rats after administration of Ampullosporin A with neuroleptic‐like activity. The complex experimental approach allowed us to correlate the use of low molecular weight substances with a transcriptome fingerprint in the prefrontal cortex. We found 63 genes to be up‐regulated and 22 genes suppressed, with transthyretin, syndecan‐1 and NeuroD1 showing the highest degree of up‐regulation. Our results suggest the possibility that Ampullosporin A belongs to the group of neuroleptic‐like compounds, inducing massive changes in neurotransmitter receptor composition, calcium signalling cascades and second messenger systems, and leading to the plastic reorganization of brain tissue, metabolic pathways and synapses.
Self‐Efficacy Determinants and Consequences of Physical Activity

&NA; This review examines self‐efficacy as a determinant of exercise adherence and as an outcome of physical activity. Additionally, studies that have either manipulated self‐efficacy or employed efficacy‐based interventions to enhance exercise participation are discussed. Finally, recommendations for future applications of social cognitive theory to the physical activity domain are made.