Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Survey of Ectoparasites Infesting Urban and Rural Dogs of Maranhão State, Brazil

ABSTRACT This study evaluated for the first time, ectoparasite infestations on dogs from urban and rural areas of the continental land of the state of Maranhâo, northeastern Brazil. In total, 622 dogs were examined for ectoparasite infestations. Overall, 392 (63.0%) were infested with ectoparasites, 154 (51.3%) of 300 urban dogs and 238 (73.9%) of 322 rural dogs. Five species of ectoparasites were found, three ticks [Rhipicephalus sanguineus (Latreille), Amblyomma ovale Koch, and Amblyommacajennense (F.) ], one flea [Ctenocephalides felis (Bouché) ], and one louse [ (Heterodoxus spininger (Enderlein) ]. The frequency of infestation by R. sanguineus tended to be higher in urban than in rural areas, whereas infestations by Amblyomma ticks and C. felis fleas tended to be higher among rural dogs. Louse (H. spininger) infestations were similarly low among all areas. Mixed infestations by at least two species of ectoparasites on the same dog were significantly more frequent on rural than on urban dogs. The most frequent mixed infestation was by R. sanguineus and C. felis, found on 11.4% of the dogs. Further studies are warranted to evaluate canine vector-borne agents in Maranhão, especially because most of the ectoparasites here reported are vectors of major vector-borne diseases, including zoonoses of continental importance.
Oral treprostinil diethanolamine for pulmonary arterial hypertension

The approval of oral treprostinil is a landmark event in the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension. Nineteen years after epoprostenol was approved we now have an oral prostanoid available in the USA. Although the current data in prostanoid naïve patients are unimpressive, emerging data suggest that in carefully selected patients oral treprostinil may be able to replace continuously infused treprostinil; however, many hurdles exist for this new medication including overcoming a complex side effect profile, astronomical cost and perhaps other entrants into the oral prostanoid space.
Scaling and universality in urban economic diversification

Understanding cities is central to addressing major global challenges from climate change to economic resilience. Although increasingly perceived as fundamental socio-economic units, the detailed fabric of urban economic activities is only recently accessible to comprehensive analyses with the availability of large datasets. Here, we study abundances of business categories across US metropolitan statistical areas, and provide a framework for measuring the intrinsic diversity of economic activities that transcends scales of the classification scheme. A universal structure common to all cities is revealed, manifesting self-similarity in internal economic structure as well as aggregated metrics (GDP, patents, crime). We present a simple mathematical derivation of the universality, and provide a model, together with its economic implications of open-ended diversity created by urbanization, for understanding the observed empirical distribution. Given the universal distribution, scaling analyses for individual business categories enable us to determine their relative abundances as a function of city size. These results shed light on the processes of economic differentiation with scale, suggesting a general structure for the growth of national economies as integrated urban systems.
Dural cell culture. A new approach to study duraplasty.

Fistulas of the cerebrospinal fluid are often repaired by insertion of grafts of various kinds. However, current knowledge of wound healing after graft insertion is limited, and only a few animal studies are available. The objective of this study is to test whether an in vitro model is suited to analyze cellular healing aspects after duraplasty and to assess dura substitutes in such conditions in regard to their surface attractiveness for cellular migration from the dura margins. Harvested dura pieces from minipigs were perforated to mimic central dura lesions, placed on various coated surfaces (collagen, laminin, poly-L-lysine) or grafts, and investigated in a cell culture for cellular closure of the perforation. Cellular migration from the dura into the central perforation was noted on collagen-coated surfaces and when defects were filled with collagen gels, but there was no cell growth on surfaces with poly-L-lysine or laminin coating. Immunocytochemistry identified the migrating cells mainly as fibroblasts with some intermingled epithelial cells. Scanning electron microscopy proved cellular closure of defects after dura placement on allogenic non-crosslinked collagen transplants. Less cellular migration was observed on poly-P-dioxanon sheets, while no cells migrated into the central dura perforation after placement on a cartilage substitute. Cell counting indicated enhanced cellular closure of the dura opening after introduction of insulin or fibroblast growth factor (sign test for both: 0.031). Our study succeeded in establishing a cell culture model for duraplasty and indicated cellular migration from the dura borders at the site of the defect during the wound healing process. The cell culture model presented in this report shows that collagen grafts are best suited for duraplasty. In accordance with the immunocytological finding of fibroblast migration from the dura borders additional application of fibroblast-stimulating growth factors accelerated cellular defect closure.
Immediate countershock versus cardiopulmonary resuscitation before countershock in a 5-minute swine model of ventricular fibrillation arrest.

STUDY OBJECTIVE Prior laboratory and clinical studies demonstrate that cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) preceding countershock of prolonged ventricular fibrillation (VF) increases the likelihood of successful cardiac resuscitation. The lower limit of VF duration at which time preshock CPR provides no benefit has not been specifically studied. The purpose of this study was to compare countershock and cardiac resuscitation outcome between immediate countershock of VF of 5-minute duration and CPR without drug therapy before countershock in a swine model. METHODS VF was induced in anesthetized and instrumented swine. After 5 minutes of VF, animals received 1 of 2 treatments. Animals in group 1, a "historical" control group (n=20), received immediate countershock followed by CPR and repeated shocks if needed. Group 2 animals (n=11) received CPR for 90 seconds preceding countershock, then continued CPR and repeated countershock if necessary. Drugs were not administered to either group, and resuscitation efforts were discontinued if a perfusing rhythm was not restored within 10 minutes of the first countershock. First shock success rate (defined as termination of VF), the number of shocks required to terminate VF, and the cardiac resuscitation rate were compared between groups. RESULTS The first shock terminated VF in 13 of 20 group 1 animals and 2 of 11 group 2 animals (P =.023). All but 1 animal in group 1 developed pulseless electrical activity after countershock. All but 1 animal in group 1 were eventually successfully resuscitated with CPR and repeated shocks if necessary. Four group 2 animals could not be resuscitated (P =.042). CONCLUSION Although effective in improving outcome of prolonged VF, CPR preceding countershock of VF of 5-minute duration does not improve the response to the first shock, decrease the incidence of postshock pulseless electrical activity, or the rate of return of circulation. In this study, CPR preceding countershock resulted in a significantly lower cardiac resuscitation rate.
AMINO ACID AND FATTY ACID COMPOSITION OF AN AQUEOUS EXTRACT OF CHANNA STRIATUS (HARUAN) THAT EXHIBITS ANTINOCICEPTIVE ACTIVITY

1 The present study was performed in order to determine the amino acid and fatty acid composition of an aqueous extract of the freshwater fish Channa striatus, obtained by soaking (1 : 2, w/v) fresh fillets overnight in a chloroform : methanol (2 : 1, v/v) solvent, to elucidate the mechanism responsible for its antinociceptive activity and to clarify the relationship between the presence of the amino and fatty acids and the expected activity. 2 The aqueous extract was found to contain all amino acids with the major amino acids glycine, alanine, lysine, aspartic acid and proline making up 35.77 ± 0.58, 10.19 ± 1.27, 9.44 ± 0.56, 8.53 ± 1.15 and 6.86 ± 0.78% of the total protein, respectively. 3 In addition, the aqueous extract was found to have a high palmitic acid (C16 : 0) content, which contributed approximately 35.93 ± 0.63% to total fatty acids. The other major fatty acids in the aqueous extract were oleic acid (C18 : 1), stearic acid (C18 : 0), linoleic acid (C18 : 2) and arachidonic acid (C20 : 4), contributing 22.96 ± 0.40, 15.31 ± 0.33, 11.45 ± 0.31 and 7.44 ± 0.83% of total fatty acids, respectively. 4 Furthermore, the aqueous extract was demonstrated to possess concentration‐dependent antinociceptive activity, as expected, when assessed using the abdominal constriction test in mice. 5 It is concluded that the aqueous extract of C. striatus contains all the important amino acids, but only some of the important fatty acids, which are suggested to play a key role in the observed antinociceptive activity of the extract, as well as in the traditionally claimed wound healing properties of the extract.
Clinical Characteristics of Human Parechoviruses 4–6 Infections in Young Children

Background: Human parechoviruses (HPeVs) and enteroviruses (EVs) belong to the family Picornaviridae. EVs are known to cause a wide range of disease such as meningitis, encephalitis, and sepsis. HPeV1 and 2 have been associated with mild gastrointestinal or respiratory symptoms in young children. HPeV3 is associated with more severe neonatal infection. Little is known about the epidemiology and pathology of HPeV4–6 in children. Methods: We evaluated the clinical symptoms of the children with an HPeV 4, 5, or 6 infection. The patients with positive HPeV4–6 in stool samples were selected and available plasma or cerebrospinal fluid samples from these patients were tested for HPeV. Data on clinical symptoms, diagnosis, presence and duration of fever, medical history, mean age, use of antibiotics of the children infected with HPeV4–6 were retrospectively documented. Results: HPeV4–6 were found in 31 of the 277 HPeV positive children (11%). Coinfection with EV was seen in 8 patients. Fever was seen in 13 (42%) patients. Of the HPeV4–6 positive patients, 20 of the 31 children (64%) presented with gastrointestinal complaints and 18 of 31 (58%) patients had respiratory symptoms. The mean age was 14 months, 58% of the patients had an underlying disorder such as bronchomalacia or a cardiac disorder. Conclusions: Symptomatic HPeV4–6 infections are seen in relative young children and are associated with respiratory and/or gastrointestinal symptoms. HPeV type 4 was detected more frequently than HPeV types 5 and 6.
NITRIC OXIDE SYNTHASE INHIBITION VERSUS NOREPINEPHRINE IN OVINE SEPSIS: EFFECTS ON REGIONAL BLOOD FLOW

Hypotension is a serious problem in septic patients. We investigated regional perfusion in several organs during treatment of hyperdynamic sepsis in sheep. Sepsis was induced and maintained for the entire experiment with a continuous infusion of live Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Treatment with either norepinephrine or the nitric oxide synthase inhibitor Lω-mono-methyl-arginine (l-NMMA) was begun after 24 h of sepsis and continued for 24 h. The norepinephrine dosage was adjusted to achieve the same increase in mean arterial pressure as that obtained by a fixed dose of l-NMMA (7 mg/kg/h). Blood flows were analyzed by the microsphere technique. Both compounds restored blood pressure effectively, but only L-NMMA caused a significant increase in systemic vascular resistance, concomitant with a significant fall in cardiac output. Sepsis caused an increase in myocardial blood flow and a redistribution of blood flow away from the pancreas and the stomach. Renal blood flow was not significantly elevated. During treatment with either compound, renal blood flow remained unchanged, despite a fall in cardiac output in the l-NMMA group. Unchanged renal blood flow combined with the restoration of arterial blood pressure caused a significant increase in urine output. Both l-NMMA and norepinephrine caused a redistribution of blood flow to the colon. Pancreatic blood flow was further reduced by l-NMMA but the oxygen extraction improved simultaneously, so that oxygen availability in the pancreas might have been unchanged. Because ischemic pancreatitis in sepsis is likely to trigger multiorgan failure, further investigations in that area are desirable.
Mindfulness and Fear Extinction: A Brief Review of Its Current Neuropsychological Literature and Possible Implications for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

Research in the neuroscience of mindfulness has grown rapidly in recent years. This includes empirical investigations into structural and functional changes in several brain regions—particularly, the hippocampus, the prefrontal cortex, and the amygdala—in association with the practice of mindfulness. Of interest to the current paper is that such brain regions are also implicated in empirical research focusing on fear extinction. While fear extinction has, therefore, been suggested as one of the possible mechanisms to underlie the positive effects of mindfulness, the conceptual links and research implications have lacked specific focus and detailed discussion in the literature. The purpose of this paper is, therefore, two-fold. First, this paper briefly reviews the extant literature on the neuropsychological mechanisms underlying mindfulness—particularly that, which has been found to be similarly implied in fear extinction—and hence, suggests future research directions based on its current state in the literature. Second, this paper explores the implications of this for fear-based psychopathologies, specifically for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Discussion from this paper suggests the idea of fear extinction as an underlying mechanism of mindfulness to be one that is still preliminary, yet promising; in turn, elucidating the need for further methodologically rigorous study to specifically determine fear extinction as a result of mindfulness, as well as to incorporate neuroimaging techniques in supporting the existing literature that have found preliminary support of mindfulness for PTSD.
The Level of Inventive Activity

Forty-six years ago when various social theories, pregnant with nineteenth century optimism, postulated a continuous increase in the rate of discovery and invention, a Swedish scholar noted that the annual number of patents issued by the principal industrial countries showed signs of leveling off.3 This retardation contrasted sharply with the rapid increase in patenting characteristic of the nineteenth century. Subsequent investigation disclosed that the number of patents issued per capita tended to level off and perhaps to decline for every nation after it had passed through the rapid industrialization phase.4 Whether the retardation in patenting reflected a genuine stabilization or diminution in the per capita rate of invention or merely in the proportion of invention which is patented is therefore a question which has perplexed social and physical scientists for some time.5 The issues raised by this trend in patenting in the western world are not merely academic, for if the possibilities enumerated by Kuznets many years ago are indeed correct, and patent statistics (for the period under review) reflect either inventive activity, changes in technical knowledge, or technical change,6 then the retardation in statistics of patents issued means that the growth rate of one or another of these fundamental phenomena has been declining. True, no retardation in the rate of technical change has appeared in other, more reliable indexes, such as output per unit of input, but the possibility exists that the data reflect a decline in
Bank reforms and efficiency in Vietnamese banks: evidence based on SFA and DEA

ABSTRACT This study examines the cost efficiency of Vietnamese banks from 2000 to 2014 in the first stage, and the selection and dynamic effects of two governance reforms, foreign partial acquisition and listing on the stock exchange, on the efficiency in the second stage. Empirical results from the two-stage Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA) are highly consistent with those from the two-stage Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) . Specifically, the first-stage efficiency estimation indicates that the cost efficiency shows a slightly upward trend over the period 2000–2014, with the cost efficiency score being 0.93 and state-owned banks outperforming joint-stock banks (JSBs). The mixed process seemingly unrelated regression estimator which controls the potential endogeneity of public listing and foreign acquisition in the second stage shows that selection effects occur in the Vietnamese banking system: banks selected by the strategic foreign investors for partial acquisition and banks selected for public listing are more cost-efficient than those not selected. The short-term and long-term dynamic effects of foreign partial acquisition are documented: the cost efficiency of the Vietnamese banks post-partial acquisition is lower than prior-partial acquisition, and it experiences a decreasing trend since partial acquisition. However, the short-term and long-term dynamic effects of public listing are not evidenced: the cost efficiency of the banks after public listing is not statistically different from that before public listing, and it also reveals an unclear trend since public listing.
The role of age in the relationship between work social characteristics and job attitudes

Abstract Despite the amount of research on the link between work social characteristics and job attitudes, there is a lack of work on moderators of this relationship. In the present study, we examine the role of age as a moderating effect of this relationship using life-span development theory. The aim of this paper is to study the moderator effect of age in the relationship between two work social characteristics (interaction outside the organization and interdependence) and job attitudes (i.e., general job satisfaction and work engagement). Participants were 258 workers from private organizations. Data were collected at two time points (2 to 4 weeks between T1 and T2). Results showed that the relationship between interdependence and work engagement was stronger for older workers than for younger workers. In addition, the relationship between interaction outside the organization and general job satisfaction was stronger for younger than for older workers. Because increased engagement and satisfaction in an age-diverse workforce is important, organizations may benefit by challenging older workers with interdependent tasks, and younger workers with interaction with stakeholders outside the organization.
Working life discrimination among migrant registered nurses in hospitals in Finland : a pilot study

University of Tampere School of Health Sciences CHARLOTTE AMBROSE GREGORY: WORKING LIFE DISCRIMINATION AMONG MIGRANT REGISTERED NURSES IN HOSPITALS IN FINLAND: A PILOT STUDY. Master’s Thesis, 50 pages, 1 appendix Supervisors: Mikko Perkiö, PhD. and Connie Evashwick, PhD Health Sciences (International Health) May 2018 __________________________________________________________________________ Discrimination at the workplace is a major source of dissatisfaction among migrant nurses in other countries such as United Kingdom and Australia. Despite acknowledging the difficulty of retaining internationally educated nurses in Finland, there is a paucity of data concerning workplace discrimination of migrant registered nurses (RNs) in Finland. The aim of this pilot study is to look at whether migrant RNs in hospitals and hospital-like settings in Finland experience workplace discrimination and if so, the nature of this discrimination. The purpose of this study is to inform health centres about issues that need to be addressed to ensure a discrimination-free workplace that is conducive to nurses of all ethnic and racial backgrounds. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and analysed using thematic analysis. The themes that emerged were sorted using Feagin and Eckberg's Typology of Discrimination. Discrimination can exist on the personal level (microlevel discrimination) and on the organizational level (macrolevel discrimination). The major component of microlevel discrimination was microaggression, which can be broken down into microinsults, microinvalidations and microassaults. Barriers to language and communication, limited career opportunities and deskilling emerged under the macrolevel discrimination category. This study shows workplace discrimination of RNs who have migrated to Finland on both the microlevel and macrolevel. It provides valuable insight on how migrant RNs experience discrimination in their working lives and what issues need to be addressed to rectify the problem. Eradicating discrimination at the workplace is a good way to retain nurses and ensure a healthy work environment for all.
The effects of parathyroid hormone, alendronate, or both in men with osteoporosis.

BACKGROUND Because parathyroid hormone increases both bone formation and bone resorption, it is possible that combining parathyroid hormone with an antiresorptive agent will enhance its effect on bone mineral density. METHODS We randomly assigned 83 men who were 46 to 85 years of age and had low bone density to receive alendronate (10 mg daily; 28 men), parathyroid hormone (40 microg subcutaneously daily; 27 men), or both (28 men). Alendronate therapy was given for 30 months; parathyroid hormone therapy was begun at month 6. The bone mineral density of the lumbar spine, proximal femur, radial shaft, and total body was measured every six months with the use of dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry. Trabecular bone mineral density of the lumbar spine was measured at base line and month 30 by means of quantitative computed tomography. Serum alkaline phosphatase levels were measured every six months. The primary end point was the rate of change in the bone mineral density at the posteroanterior spine. RESULTS The bone mineral density at the lumbar spine increased significantly more in men treated with parathyroid hormone alone than in those in the other groups (P<0.001 for both comparisons). The bone mineral density at the femoral neck increased significantly more in the parathyroid hormone group than in the alendronate group (P<0.001) or the combination-therapy group (P=0.01). The bone mineral density of the lumbar spine increased significantly more in the combination-therapy group than in the alendronate group (P<0.001). At 12 months, changes in the serum alkaline phosphatase level were significantly greater in the parathyroid hormone group than in the alendronate group or the combination-therapy group (P<0.001 for both comparisons). CONCLUSIONS Alendronate impairs the ability of parathyroid hormone to increase the bone mineral density at the lumbar spine and the femoral neck in men. This effect may be attributable to an attenuation of parathyroid hormone-induced stimulation of bone formation by alendronate.