Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Association between Leukoaraiosis and Symptomatic Intracranial Large Artery Stenoses and Occlusions: the Chinese Intracranial Atherosclerosis (CICAS) Study

Leukoaraiosis (LA) is frequently found in ischemic stroke patients, especially when those patients have intracranial atherosclerosis (ICAS). However, previous studies regarding an association of LA with cerebral large artery atherosclerosis showed conflicting results, and the relationship of LA with ICAS is uncertain. This study aimed to explore the association between LA and cerebral large artery atherosclerosis in Chinese patients with cerebral ischemia. Data were derived from the Chinese Intracranial Atherosclerosis (CICAS) study. Patients diagnosed with an ischemic stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA) within 7 days of symptom onset were included. The analysis of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) focused on severity of LA in periventricular and deep white matter; type of cerebral large artery stenosis; and the number, severity, and distribution of ICAS lesions. ICAS was defined as an occlusion or more than 50% stenosis of intracranial vessels on magnetic resonance angiography. Among 2420 patients included, distinct LA was observed in 898 (37.11%) patients, and the rate of LA increased significantly with an increased number of risk factors. Multivariate analysis revealed that LA was independently associated with ICAS (odds ratio [OR], 1.388; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.132-1.702; P=0.0016). In the subgroup analysis of ICAS, LA was more frequently observed in multiple lesions (OR, 1.342; 95% CI, 1.060-1.699; P=0.0146), occlusive lesions (OR, 1.554; 95% CI, 1.214-1.998; P=0.0005), and lesions in the posterior circulation (OR, 1.360; 95% CI, 1.003-1.846; P=0.0481). In this nationwide prospective study, LA was associated with symptomatic ICAS, patients with multiple ICAS lesions, occlusive lesions, and atherosclerotic lesions in the posterior circulation were more likely to coexist with LA.
Spinal Infections: From Prevention to Cure Risk Factors and Prevention of Surgical Site Infections Following Spinal Procedures

Study Design: Focused literature review. Objective: The objective of this article was to help identify potential risk factors as well as strategies to help prevent surgical site infections (SSIs) in spine surgery. Methods: An article search was performed using PubMed, EMBASE, and the Cochrane database of systematic reviews using the terms “surgery” OR “surgical” AND “spine” OR “spinal” AND “infection”. Systematic review articles, meta-analyses, and clinical trials with more than 100 patients were reviewed. Results: Both patient and perioperative factors contribute to the development of SSIs. Patient factors such as smoking, obesity, diabetes, Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) colonization, and malnutrition are all modifiable risk factors that can lead to SSIs. Procedural steps, including preoperative MRSA screening and treatment for colonization, preoperative antibiotics, skin preparation, minimizing operative time, antibiotic or betadine irrigation, avoiding personnel turnover, and postoperative wound care have also been shown to decrease infection rates. Conclusion: There are several measures a spine practitioner may be able to take in the preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative settings. Protocols to counsel patients regarding modification of preexisting risk factors and ensure adequate antimicrobial therapy in the perioperative period may be developed to reduce SSIs in spine surgery.
Why are there ethnic differences in cardio-metabolic risk factors and cardiovascular diseases?

Europe’s population is becoming increasingly ethnically diverse, and epidemiological studies indicate that there are remarkable differences in cardio-metabolic risk factors between ethnic groups living in the same area. Variations observed in the distribution of cardiovascular risk factors in these communities may therefore help explain—at least in part—the different burdens on cardiovascular diseases. So far, the underlying pathophysiology leading to ethnic variations in the prevalence of cardio-metabolic risk factors is still poorly understood but it is likely to represent the complex interactions from several innate and environmental factors. Tailored prevention and treatment strategies should therefore be implemented in those “high-risk populations,” but data derived from randomized clinical trials are still limited. This article will provide an overview on the role of ethnicity on cardio-metabolic risk factors and cardiovascular diseases, focusing on type 2 diabetes and dyslipidemia based mainly on Dutch and British data.
Evaluating preschoolers’ social skills: The impact of a physical education program from the parents’ perspectives

The purpose of this study was to investigate the parents’ perceptions concerning the impact of a physical education program named ESPEC (‘Early Steps’ Physical Education Curriculum) on their children’s social skills. This study’s research design followed the ‘concurrent triangulation strategy’ of mixed method research. Based on this research design, parents participated in ESPEC evaluation providing both quantitative and qualitative data. The “Social Behavior Instrument” (SBI) was administered and 181 parents (87 from the control group and 94 from the experimental group) completed the SBI before and after the implementation of the ESPEC. For the qualitative data 16 randomly selected parents with children in the experimental group were interviewed. Results showed that no statistical differences were found between the control and experimental measures for all 18 items of SBI. The qualitative data provided a more insight view of the improvement of children’s social skills. The overall picture, deriving from the results, showed that the implementation of a physical education program (ESPEC) had positive impact and improved various social behaviors and skills of preschoolers. This shows that physical education programs with their informal atmosphere and content constitute an ideal setting in which social skills can be developed. Also the participation of parents as valid and reliable external evaluators in intervention programs is further supported from the results of this study.
Medical Imaging Outpatients' Experiences With Receiving Information Required for Informed Consent and Preparation: A Cross-Sectional Study

Background: Medical imaging outpatients often experience inadequate information provision and report high levels of anxiety. However, no studies have assessed patients’ receipt of preparatory information in this setting. Objective: To examine medical imaging outpatients’ perceived receipt or non-receipt of preparatory information from health professionals and imaging department staff prior to their procedure. Method: Computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging outpatients at one Australian hospital self-completed a touchscreen computer survey assessing their perceived receipt of 33 guideline-recommended preparatory information items. Results: Of 317 eligible patients, 280 (88%) consented to participate. Eight percent (95% confidence interval: 5%-12%) of participants reported receiving all information items. The median number of information items not received was 18 (interquartile range: 8-25). Items most frequently endorsed as “not received” were: how to manage anxiety after (74%) and during the scan (69%). Items most commonly endorsed as “received” were: reason for referral (85%) and how to find the imaging department (74%). Conclusion: Few medical imaging outpatients recalled receiving recommended preparatory information. Preparatory communication needs to be improved to better meet patient-centered service imperatives.
Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) in Brain Tumour Patients

(fMRI) is increasingly used in the work-up of brain tumour patients preoperatively to assess the relationship between the functionally elo-quent cortex and brain pathology. In cases of presumed tumour localisation in or near eloquent brain areas, such as the motor cortex or language areas, fMRI may be advantageous to guide the neurosurgical approach, shorten surgery duration, and obtain prognostic information prior to surgery. For the assessment of the primary motor cortex a good correlation between fMRI and intraoperative electrocortical mapping (ECM) has been reported, with sensitivities and specificities ranging from 88–100 %. For the localisation of language representation areas validation results are controversial with sensitivities from 22–100 % and specificities from 0–100 %, rendering fMRI less suitable as the sole technique for language cortex localisation. For the assessment of hemispheric language laterali-sation, however, > 90 % agreement between fMRI and the invasive Wada test has led to fMRI now mostly having replaced the Wada test for this indication. There are several limitations of fMRI including issues that are inherent to the technique such as spatial and geometric uncertainty, tumour effects on the fMRI signal, inter-and intra-individual variability, lack of discrimination between essential and modulating brain regions, and lack of information on the underlying white matter. Such shortcomings need to explicitly be taken into account in every patient. The careful use of fMRI is justified to aid neuro-surgical planning but intraoperative ECM remains the gold standard for localising the elo-quent brain cortex. Eur Assoc NeuroOncol Mag 2012; 2 (3): 123–8.
Fine Structure of Synovial Joints

For a reviewer to procrastinate over an opinion on any book referred to him is inexcusable, above all in the eyes of the editor. Critics of readable novels should seldom be daunted. By contrast when it comes to forming an opinion about a toxicological monograph like this one on Arsenic it is well-nigh impossible to sit back and read from page I to page 174 and still retain one's alertness and sense of judgement. Instead, appraisal on behalf of others is possible only by keeping the book beside one as a constant source of reference and seeing how it fares in this capacity. On this count the present volume, issued as one among a series of Environmental Health Criteria by the World Health Organisation, is to be strongly recommended. It serves as an invaluable collection of relevant facts within a conveniently small compass. Indeed, if there is any quibble at all, it is to question whether there is any reason for adopting in it the prose style at all. A series of Tables and diagrams might have served the purpose equally well. At all events, for anyone faced with a problem of poisoning from arsenic, this is the text to which he can always profitably turn in the first instance-as indeed are others in this series for their respective topics. ROY GOULDING
Designing a General Framework for Text Alignment: Case Studies with Two South Asian Languages

Building machine translation systems for many South Asian languages (such as Hindi, Gujarati, etc.) using statistical methods is problematic. The primary reason is insufficient parallel data to learn accurate word alignment. Additionally, these languages are morphologically rich and have free word order. When it is difficult to rely purely on statistical methods due to insufficient data, research shows that better performance can be obtained by building hybrid systems that rely on language specific resources, such as morphological analysers or dictionaries, as well as statistical methods. However, it is difficult to find such language specific resources for many South Asian languages. Since languages such as Hindi, Gujarati, Urdu, Bengali, Punjabi and Marathi are all very similar in structure and the main differences lie in the script and vocabulary used for these languages, we hypothesise that it is possible to develop resources for one of these languages and generalize the approach to allow rapid bootstrapping of similar resources for the other closely related languages -- with minimal effort and similar accuracies. To verify this, we develop a few resources for the Hindi language, including a sentence alignment algorithm, a morphological analyser and a transliteration similarity component and generalize the approach to allow rapid bootstrapping of similar resources for the Gujarati language. We show that the approach works on both the Hindi and Gujarati languages and achieves results that are comparable to similar state-of-the-art (SOA) resources available for these languages. We also hypothesise that it is possible to develop a high performance hybrid word alignment algorithm that relies on such language specific resources. To verify this, we design, implement and evaluate a novel English-Hindi hybrid word alignment system that uses the Hindi specific resources developed by us. Not only do we show our word alignment system outperforms other SOA English-Hindi word alignment systems, but also how simple it is to adapt it to the English-Gujarati language pair.
The Relationship of adiponectin level and ADIPOQ gene variants with BMI among young adult women

ABSTRACT The current study examined the effect of single nucleotide (SNPs) polymorphisms in the ADIPOQ gene (I146T and G276T) on body mass index (BMI) of young adult women. The women were divided into underweight, normal, overweight and obese according to BMI. The circulating levels of adiponectin were measured using commercially available ELISA kits. Genetic polymorphisms were genotyped using the PCR-RFLP method. G276T and I164T SNPs are common in the examined population as the frequency of G allele of 276 SNP was 54.8% and for the T allele of 164 SNP it was 41.7%. Circulating adiponectin levels were related to BMI and were lowest in the obese versus overweight, normal weight and underweight groups (p<0.01). However, ADIPOQ gene SNPs (I146T and G276T) showed no association with BMI groups. In conclusion, the results may suggest that adiponectin level, but not ADIPOQ gene SNPs, is a good indicator to BMI in young adult women.
Pattern and outcomes of paediatric medical admissions at the Living Word Mission Hospital, Aba, South East Nigeria

Introduction There is a decline in child mortality rate globally, courtesy of the erstwhile Millennium Development Goals. However, under-five mortality is still high in the African sub-regions. The need to review the morbidity and mortality pattern among children admitted into private health settings, where 60% of the medical conditions of the masses are being attended to in the sub-regions, cannot be overemphasized. This study aimed at documenting the morbidity pattern and outcomes of admissions among children admitted into the Living Word Mission Hospital (LWMH), Aba, Nigeria. Methods This was a retrospective descriptive study over a 3 year period. The study population comprised of all children aged 1 month to 15 years that were admitted into the pediatric wards of the Living Word Mission Hospital, Aba, Nigeria. The age, gender, diagnoses and disease outcome of these patients, were all retrieved from the pediatric ward registers and hospital medical records. The data were analyzed using SPSS, version 20.0. Results There were 2278 pediatric medical cases admitted over the study period. Males were 1364 and females were 914, giving a male: female ratio of 1.5:1. More than 90% of these patients were aged < less than 5 years. Severe malaria (31.1%), septicaemia (16.6%), bronchopneumonia (15.4%), uncomplicated malaria (11.9%), acute watery diarrhea (10.5%) and meningitis (3.7%) were the leading causes of admission. Mortality rate was 5.7%, with 87.5% of these deaths occurring in under-fives. Septicaemia (34.6%) and Severe malaria (23.2%) were the leading causes of death. Conclusion There is a high rate of paediatric admissions at Living Word Hospital, Aba. The under-five population remains a vulnerable group to both childhood morbidity and mortality. Septicaemia, malaria, bronchopnuemonia and acute watery diarrhoea were the leading causes of morbidity and mortality. Childhood mortality at LWMH is lower than observed in most government hospitals in Nigeria.
Osteoporosis and Osteoporotic Fractures in Gastrointestinal Disease

Patients with gastrointestinal disease (GI) are at risk for osteopenia or osteoporosis, which can lead to fractures. Although these patients may be at risk from a young age, gastroenterologists often overlook this fact in practice. There are well-known GI diseases associated with osteopenia and osteoporosis, such as the post-gastrectomy state, inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), and celiac disease. As there is an increase in the prevalence of IBD patients, newly diagnosed celiac disease in adulthood, and gastric cancer survivors following gastrectomy, bone disease in these patients becomes an important issue. Here, we have discussed osteoporosis and fractures in GI disease, especially in the post-gastrectomy state, IBD, and celiac disease. Although the pathogenesis of bone loss in each disease has not been fully identified, we have confirmed that the prevalence of osteoporosis and fractures in each of these diseases is high. There are scarce studies comparing the prevalence of osteoporosis or osteoporotic fractures in GI disease patients with studies in postmenopausal women, and specific guidelines for their management in each disease have not been established. Intensive surveillance and management are needed to ensure that these patients attain peak bone mass for age and sex to prevent fractures.
Utility Functions That Depend on Health Status: Estimates and Economic Implications

Taylor's series and logarithmic estimates of health state-dependent utility functions both imply that job injuries reduce one's utility and marginal utility of income, thus rejecting the monetary loss equivalent formulation. Injury valuations have unitary income elasticity, and the valuation of nonincremental risk changes and effects of base risks follow economic predictions. Copyright 1990 by American Economic Association.
Pretreatment with Lactobacillus reuteri F-9-35 attenuates ethanol-induced gastric injury in rats

Background Previous studies suggested that probiotics intervention may be one of the methods for preventing and/or treating gastric ulcer. Objective The aim of the study was to compare the preventive effects of a spaceflight mutant Lactobacillus reuteri F-9-35 and its wild type on ethanol-induced gastric injury in rats. Design Forty rats were randomly allocated into five groups: a normal group (NOR), ethanol group (EtOH), skim milk group (MILK), L. reuteri F-9-35 group (F935) and wild-type group (WT). The NOR and EtOH groups received 1 ml of distilled water by daily gavage for 14 days. The MILK group received 1 ml of skim milk alone, while the F935 and WT groups were administered 1 ml of skim milk containing the mutant and wild type (1 × 1010 colony-forming unit/ml) by daily gavage for 14 days, respectively. Acute gastric injury was induced by absolute alcohol 1 h after the final administration of different treatments, except for the NOR group. Results Pretreatment with L. reuteri F-9-35, but not milk alone or milk with the L. reuteri wild type, showed significant reduction of ethanol-induced gastric injury, as evidenced by lowering of ulcer index, ulcer area (%), and histological lesion. F-9-35 decreased the levels of lipid peroxidation and myeloperoxidase and increased mucus, glutathione, and nitric oxide levels in gastric tissue. Moreover, F-9-35 inhibited the expression of proinflammatory genes including gastric tumor necrosis factor-α, interleukin-1β, and cyclooxygenase-2 and decreased the activity of nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB). Conclusion These findings indicated that L. reuteri F-9-35 pretreatment can attenuate ethanol-induced gastric injury in rats by inhibiting oxidative stress and inflammatory response. Together, L. reuteri F-9-35 has potential preventive efficacy on gastric ulcer.
“We Tie Up the Loose Ends”: Homecare Nursing in a Changing Health Care Landscape

During the last decades, the work of homecare nurses has been affected by several changes, including an aging population, the decentralization of health care, nursing recruitment crises and the scarcity of public resources. Few scholars have analyzed how these changes have impacted homecare nursing. In this article, we describe and discuss aspects of homecare nurses’ work, with specific focus on nurses “organising work. ” We outline three phenomena that are increasingly occurring: (a) homecare nurses are frequently involved in negotiating care level and, consequently, what kind of care the patient will receive; (b) homecare nurses’ clinical practice has become increasingly advanced; and (c) and homecare nurses play an important role in coordinating care among interdependent actors. The article draws on material from participant observation and interviews with homecare nurses in two Norwegian studies. Changes in work practice increase the demand for nurses to be competent and have excellent organizational and collaborative skills.
Measuring the association between marginalization and multimorbidity in Ontario, Canada: A cross-sectional study

There is growing evidence to suggest that multimorbidity is not only a consequence of aging but also other environmental risk factors such as socio-economic status and social marginalization. In this study, the prevalence of multimorbidity was examined (defined as the simultaneous occurrence of two or more chronic morbidities) by age, gender and the Ontario Marginalization index (material deprivation, residential instability, dependency and ethnic concentration). With a cross-sectional design, 2015 data on 18 morbidities from 12,516,587 residents of the province of Ontario, Canada, were analysed. About 82.1% of the population had one or no chronic conditions, 10.3% were multimorbid with two chronic conditions and 7.6% had three or more chronic conditions. The results showed that the prevalence of multimorbidity is noticeably higher in the most deprived areas compared to least deprived for all age groups. Our findings challenge the notion that multimorbidity is primarily driven by aging. Of the 18% of the total population which were multimorbid, 43% of them were under the age of 65. We noted a substantial excess of multimorbidity in younger and middle-aged adults who were most deprived. In some cases, those in the most deprived areas were showing increased cases of multimorbidity nearly 10 years sooner than those who were least deprived. This study shows that environmental factors such as material deprivation and residential instability are correlated with higher prevalence of multimorbidity.
Sports de nature, développement durable et controverse environnementale

Mots-cles : sociologie ; ecologie ; developpement durable ; sports de nature Resume – L’article analyse une recherche-action, dont l’objectif etait d’aider les acteurs departementaux a realiser un Plan departemental des espaces, sites et itineraires relatifs aux sports de nature, en tenant compte de l’environnement dans le cadre d’un developpement durable. Apres avoir rapidement presente ce que sont les sports de nature, il s’appuie sur un examen critique bibliographique pour identifier l’impact environnemental de ces activites. Puis il expose les conditions de la construction d’un instrument d’evaluation environnementale et les jeux d’acteurs qu’il a suscites. La conclusion souligne la difficulte a etablir un processus de democratie participative.