Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Fewer Intraperitoneal Adhesions With Use of Hyaluronic Acid–Carboxymethylcellulose Membrane: A Randomized Clinical Trial

ObjectiveTo assess the effectiveness of bioresorbable Seprafilm membrane in preventing abdominal adhesions in a prospective clinical randomized multicenter trial. Summary Background DataAdhesions occur frequently after abdominal operations and are a common cause of bowel obstruction, chronic abdominal pain, and infertility. To reduce the formation of adhesions, a mechanical barrier composed of hyaluronic acid and carboxymethylcellulose was developed, preventing adherence of tissues after abdominal surgery. MethodsBetween April 1996 and September 1998, all patients requiring a Hartmann procedure for sigmoid diverticulitis or obstructed rectosigmoid were randomized to either intraperitoneal placement of the antiadhesions membrane under the midline during laparotomy and in the pelvis, or as a control. Direct visual evaluation of the incidence and severity of adhesions was performed laparoscopically at second-stage surgery for restoration of the continuity of the colon. ResultsA total of 71 patients were randomized; of these, 42 could be evaluated. The incidence of adhesions did not differ significantly between the two groups, but the severity of adhesions was significantly reduced in the Seprafilm group both for the midline incision and for the pelvic area. Complications occurred in similar numbers in both groups. ConclusionsSeprafilm antiadhesions membrane appears effective in reducing the severity of postoperative adhesions after major abdominal surgery, although the incidence of adhesions was not diminished. The authors recommend using Seprafilm when relaparotomy or second-look intervention is planned. Long-term studies are needed to assess the cost-effectiveness and value of Seprafilm in preventing bowel obstruction, chronic abdominal pain, and infertility.
Lethal Effect of Electric Fields on Isolated Ventricular Myocytes

Defibrillator-type shocks may cause electric and contractile dysfunction. In this study, we determined the relationship between probability of lethal injury and electric field intensity (E) in isolated rat ventricular myocytes, with emphasis on field orientation and stimulus waveform. This relationship was sigmoidal with irreversible injury for E > 50 V/cm. During both threshold and lethal stimulation, cells were twofold more sensitive to the field when it was applied longitudinally (versus transversally) to the cell major axis. For a given E, the estimated maximum variation of transmembrane potential ( DeltaV max) was greater for longitudinal stimuli, which might account for the greater sensitivity to the field. Cell death, however, occurred at lower maximum DeltaV max values for transversal shocks. This might be explained by a less steep spatial decay of transmembrane potential predicted for transversal stimulation, which would possibly result in occurrence of electroporation in a larger membrane area. For the same stimulus duration, cells were less sensitive to field-induced injury when shocks were biphasic (versus monophasic). Ours results indicate that, although significant myocyte death may occur in the E range expected during clinical defibrillation, biphasic shocks are less likely to produce irreversible cell injury.
SAME THREAT, DIFFERENT RESPONSES: EXPERTS STEERING POLITICIANS AND STAKEHOLDERS IN 2009 H1N1 VACCINATION POLICY‐MAKING

Why do similar countries facing the same threat respond differently? To throw light on this question, this article analyses Dutch and Danish vaccinations against the 2009 H1N1 ‘swine’ influenza pandemic (most-similar cases with different outcomes). Policy-making in the cases intersected the politics of crisis management (including risk management and disaster management), pharmaceuticals and epidemic response. Uncertainty and urgency were basic conditions and reduced the potential for evidence-based policy. Public health specialists, elected leaders, and organizations in the economy and society contributed to each national response. Related literatures show that such decision-making can turn on politicians' blame avoidance (A1) or demonstrations of value to swing voters (A2), stakeholders seeking gains (B), or experts following national standards (i.e. norms) for appropriate response (C). While each of these four logics is in evidence to some degree, differences in norms used by national experts advising their governments on pandemic responses best answer the question in the extant cases.
Plasma Serotonin Increase During Episodes of Tension-Type Headache

The mechanisms of tension-type headache remain to be determined. Biochemical abnormalities have been rarely demonstrated. We performed a controlled study of 5-hydroxytryptamine (SHT) in platelet poor plasma obtained from 13 female patients during and between episodes of tension-type headache. The 5HT concentration in patients free of headache was not different from controls, whereas a significant increase in 5HT concentration was seen during headache (p < 0.02.). This finding is attributed to release of 5HT from platelets or disordered 5HT metabolism during headache attacks, possibly related to pain in the latter case. We conclude that 5HT may be involved in the pathogenesis of tension-type headache but by different mechanisms than migraine.
The Rowing Cycle: Sources of Variance and Invariance in Ergometer and On-the-Water Performance.

In a recent study of the kinematics of the drive phase of the rowing stroke, Lamb (1989) provided detailed evidence that ergometer performance simulates on-the-water performance closely. In the present experiment, Lamb's analysis was extended in an investigation of the timing of the complete cycle of the rowing action of 5 rowers under each of those performance conditions. The authors followed Beek's (1992) suggestion that the first task in the analysis of timing in skilled movement is to specify the sources of variance and invariance in each particular task by identifying the major temporal constraints and the key relative timing variables. In addition, the possibility that some simple mathematical relationship (e.g., Schmidt, 1985) might describe the relative timing between the stroke and recovery phases of the rowing action when performed at different speeds was investigated. Both an absolute and a relative variability criterion were used in assessing and comparing timing variability over 4 speeds of rowing and between on-water and ergometer rowing in 5 elite male subjects. Criteria outlined by Gentner (1987) were used in assessing relative timing between stroke and recovery. The results indicated that variability decreases dramatically as a function of increased rowing rate; however, when variability is expressed as a function of movement duration, those decreases appear much less dramatic. Overall variability of the rowing cycle was caused principally by variability in the recovery phase, whereas the stroke phase was relatively invariant under both rowing conditions. The changes in the relative timing of the rowing stroke across the 4 speeds studied followed a simple mathematical rule, best described as linear increments in the stroke proportion of the total rowing cycle with increases in rowing rate. Moreover, those changes were similar across the 2 rowing conditions. The present results are discussed in light of findings from other forms of propulsion, such as walking, running, and stair climbing, in which the movement constraints are quite different.
Are Neurodynamic Organizations A Fundamental Property of Teamwork?

When performing a task it is important for teams to optimize their strategies and actions to maximize value and avoid the cost of surprise. The decisions teams make sometimes have unintended consequences and they must then reorganize their thinking, roles and/or configuration into corrective structures more appropriate for the situation. In this study we ask: What are the neurodynamic properties of these reorganizations and how do they relate to the moment-by-moment, and longer, performance-outcomes of teams? We describe an information-organization approach for detecting and quantitating the fluctuating neurodynamic organizations in teams. Neurodynamic organization is the propensity of team members to enter into prolonged (minutes) metastable neurodynamic relationships as they encounter and resolve disturbances to their normal rhythms. Team neurodynamic organizations were detected and modeled by transforming the physical units of each team member's EEG power levels into Shannon entropy-derived information units about the team's organization and synchronization. Entropy is a measure of the variability or uncertainty of information in a data stream. This physical unit to information unit transformation bridges micro level social coordination events with macro level expert observations of team behavior allowing multimodal comparisons across the neural, cognitive and behavioral time scales of teamwork. The measures included the entropy of each team member's data stream, the overall team entropy and the mutual information between dyad pairs of the team. Mutual information can be thought of as periods related to team member synchrony. Comparisons between individual entropy and mutual information levels for the dyad combinations of three-person teams provided quantitative estimates of the proportion of a person's neurodynamic organizations that represented periods of synchrony with other team members, which in aggregate provided measures of the overall degree of neurodynamic interactions of the team. We propose that increased neurodynamic organization occurs when a team's operating rhythm can no longer support the complexity of the task and the team needs to expend energy to re-organize into structures that better minimize the “surprise” in the environment. Consistent with this hypothesis, the frequency and magnitude of neurodynamic organizations were less in experienced military and healthcare teams than they were in more junior teams. Similar dynamical properties of neurodynamic organization were observed in models of the EEG data streams of military, healthcare and high school science teams suggesting that neurodynamic organization may be a common property of teamwork. The innovation of this study is the potential it raises for developing globally applicable quantitative models of team dynamics that will allow comparisons to be made across teams, tasks and training protocols.
Longer episodes of community residential care reduce substance abuse patients' readmission rates.

OBJECTIVE The study focuses on whether substance abuse patients who enter a community residential facility (CRF) after discharge from inpatient care obtain more outpatient mental health care and have lower readmission rates than comparable patients discharged directly to the community. METHOD A national sample of substance abuse patients (N = 5,176; 99% men) referred to CRFs after inpatient substance abuse care is compared to a matched sample of patients (N = 5,176; 99% men) discharged to the community. RESULTS Compared with controls, CRF patients were more likely to obtain outpatient mental health aftercare and obtained more intensive care. Patients with longer episodes of CRF care had lower 6-month and 1-year readmission rates than patients who dropped out of CRFs and than matched controls. These findings held for patients who had only alcohol diagnoses, patients who had drug diagnoses and patients who had psychiatric diagnoses in addition to their substance abuse disorders. Longer length of CRF care and more outpatient mental health care were significant predictors of lower readmission rates after other risk factors for readmission were controlled. CONCLUSIONS Longer episodes of community residential care can contribute to better outcomes for substance abuse patients, in part by maintaining patients' involvement in outpatient mental health care. CRFs may play an important role in the continuum of substance abuse patients' care.
Intense endurance training on heart rate and blood pressure variability in runners.

UNLABELLED Physical training with incomplete recovery times can produce significant fatigue. A study of cardiovascular responses showed that there is a sympathetic and a parasympathetic form of fatigue. PURPOSE The purpose of this experimentation was to measure the effects of intense endurance training on autonomic balance through a spectral analysis study of the heart rate (HR) and systolic blood pressure (SBP). METHODS Eight elite runners were tested twice: after a relative rest period (RRP) of 3 wk and after an 12-wk intense training period (ITP) for endurance. At the end of each phase, the subjects were tested by means of a VO2max test and a tilt-table test. RESULTS The resting heart rate (HR) variability was lower (P < 0.001) in the intensive training phase. Likewise, there were differences in the low-frequency (0.04-0.150 Hz; LF) and high-frequency (0.150-0.500 Hz; HF) components and the LF/HF ratio of the HR spectral analysis. The LF spectral power was significantly lower in the supine position (P < 0.05) during ITP. Upright tilting was accompanied by a 22.6% reduction in HF values during the rest period, whereas in ITP the HF spectral power rose by 31.2% (P < 0.01) during tilt, characterizing a greater parasympathetic system control. Sympathetic control represented by the LF/HF ratio regressed markedly (P < 0.01) in response to the tilt test in ITP. CONCLUSIONS The spectral analysis of SBP in the high frequencies shows that the changes in cardiac parameters are coupled with a decrease in sympathetic vasomotor control (-18%) and a reduction in diastolic pressure (-3.2%) in the response to the tilt test at the end of ITP. Spectral analysis could be a means of demonstrating impairment of autonomic balance for the purpose of detecting a state of fatigue that could result in overtraining.
Nasal Airway Dimensions of Adults with Cleft Lip and Palate: Differences among Cleft Types

Objective To determine the nasal airway dimensions in adults with repaired cleft lip and palate by rhinomanometry and to analyze the reduction associated with different types of clefts. Model A prospective analysis comparing three types of previously repaired clefts: bilateral cleft lip and palate (BCLP), unilateral cleft lip and palate (UCLP), and isolated cleft palate (CP) at the 5% level of significance. Setting Laboratory of Physiology, Hospital for Rehabilitation of Craniofacial Anomalies, University of São Paulo, Bauru, Brazil. Participants Fifty-three subjects aged 18 to 35 years (17 BCLP, 16 UCLP, 20 CP) and a group of 20 individuals without cleft (N). Variables Minimum cross-sectional nasal area assessed by posterior (PR) and anterior (AR) rhinomanometry and nasopharyngeal area assessed by modified AR. Results Mean (± 1 SD) nasal areas obtained by PR were: 0.47 ± 0.16 cm2 (BCLP), 0.57 ± 0.19 cm2 (UCLP), 0.61 ± 0.13 cm2 (CP), and 0.60 ± 0.10 cm2 (N). The mean value for the BCLP group was significantly smaller than that for the N and CP groups. The remaining values did not differ from one another. The proportion of subjects with subnormal areas obtained by PR was 41%, 19%, and 0% for groups BCLP, UCLP, and CP, respectively. Similar results were obtained by AR. All subjects presented a nasopharyngeal area larger than 0.80 cm2, denoting absence of obstruction in the nasopharynx. Conclusions In adulthood BCLP is the type of cleft associated with a greater reduction of nasal airway, compared with UCLP and CP, suggesting that adults with BCLP are at a greater risk for nasal obstruction.
Efficient Splitting Simulation for Blackout Analysis

The analysis of severe blackouts has become an essential part of transmission grid planning and operation. This may include evaluation of rare-event probabilities, which can be difficult to estimate. While simulation offers flexibility to model large complex systems, efficiency remains a big concern when estimating very small probabilities. This paper presents an effective simulation technique to evaluate rare-event probabilities associated with cascading blackouts in an electric grid. We test our technique on an IEEE 118-bus electric network and show that it can dramatically improve simulation efficiency. We also demonstrate that the proposed technique can effectively locate vulnerable links. These are links whose failures lead to the highest probabilities of a blackout event.
Autobiographical Memory and Depression in the Later Age: The Bump is a Turning Point

This preliminary study integrated previous findings of the distribution of autobiographical memories in the later age according to their age of occurrence, with the overgeneral memory bias predictive of depression. Twenty-five non-demented, Israeli participants between 65–89 years of age provided autobiographical memories to 4 groups of word cues reflecting events from childhood, adolescence, adulthood and late age. Their autobiographical responses were coded for degree of specificity of mentioning people, place and time. They additionally completed the Geriatric Depression Scale (Sheikh & Yesavage, 1986). We found that specificity of memories for adolescence cue-words (“the reminiscence bump”) was significantly and inversely correlated with depression (r = −0.61), and this remained significant after controlling for gender and education. The study's limitations and the possibility that puberty hormones may be involved in memory and later age depression are discussed.
Adenovirus Vectors with the 100K Gene Deleted and Their Potential for Multiple Gene Therapy Applications

ABSTRACT The 100K protein has a number of critical roles vital for successful completion of the late phases of the adenovirus (Ad) life cycle. We hypothesized that the introduction of deletions within the 100K gene would allow for the production of a series of new classes of Ad vector, including one that is replication competent but blocked in the ability to carry out many late-phase Ad functions. Such a vector would have potential for several gene therapy applications, based upon its ability to increase the copy number of the transgene encoded by the vector (via genome replication) while decreasing the side effects associated with Ad late gene expression. To efficiently produce 100K-deleted Ad ([100K−]Ad) vectors, an E1- and 100K-complementing cell line (K-16) was successfully isolated. Transfection of an [E1−,100K−]Ad vector genome into the K-16 cells readily yielded high titers of the vector. After infection of noncomplementing cells, we demonstrated that [100K−]Ad vectors have a significantly decreased ability to express several Ad late genes. Additionally, if the E1 gene was present in the infected noncomplementing cells, [100K−]Ad vectors were capable of replicating their genomes to high copy number, but were significantly blocked in their ability to efficiently encapsidate the replicated genomes. Injection of an [E1−,100K−]Ad vector in vivo also correlated with significantly decreased hepatotoxicity, as well as prolonged vector persistence. In summary, the unique properties of [100K−]Ad vectors suggest that they may have utility in a variety of gene therapy applications.
Real-Time PCR Diagnostics Failure Caused by Nucleotide Variability within Exon 4 of the Human Cytomegalovirus Major Immediate-Early Gene

ABSTRACT Here we report how variability in the human cytomegalovirus genome sequence may seriously affect the outcome of its molecular diagnosis. A real-time quantitative PCR assay targeting the major immediate-early gene failed to detect the viral load in some, but not all, clinical samples from hematooncological patients. By amplification and sequencing the DNA across the regions targeted by this assay we found a number of nucleotide substitutions which accounted for decreased primer/probe binding. This decreased the sensitivity of the assay up to 1,000-fold.
BAMBOO WINE BUSINESS AND RURAL LIVELIHOOD OF SONGEA DISTRICT, TANZANIA

This paper presents the impact of bamboo wine business on improvement of rural household income and livelihoods in Songea district, Tanzania. The area is largely rural, with 91 percent dominated by subsistence farming. It is the only area of Tanzania growing Oxytenathera Braunii bamboo species which produces bamboo wine. Â The study adopted both quantitative and qualitative methods. A survey was conducted in 50 households using semi-structured questionnaires. Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) involving 10 participants was conducted for detailed information. Â An appreciable contribution of bamboo wine to household income, and which is inversely proportional to variations in production levels was observed. Bamboo wine prices conceded with the law of â€œdemand and supplyâ€. Bamboo wine business was noted to improve livelihoods through utilization of the income generated in the acquisition of basic items and services such as shelter, school fees, food stuffs, bicycles and motor cycles. Despite the noted contribution, the crop was not a focus of the Agricultural Extension Service (AES), hence undermining its role. We recommend that bamboo wine business be improved through AES, which is critical for improved bamboo wine productivity; storage and processing for expanded market and higher profitability.
International market selection and export performance: a transaction cost analysis

Purpose This paper aims to provide a transaction cost analysis (TCA) perspective to exporting firms' selection of foreign markets and the performance consequences of this international market selection (IMS) decision. This paper proposes a conceptual framework that hypothesizes the relationship between transaction cost factors, IMS and export performance. Design/methodology/approach This paper tests the proposed framework with a database of Chinese manufacturing firms using regression models and controlling for possible endogeneity. The endogeneity issue may arise due to IMS being influenced by unobserved industrial/firm attributes. Findings The results show that transaction cost factors are able to explain IMS. Furthermore, firms whose decisions have incorporated transaction cost factors perform significantly better than their rivals. Research limitations/implications Understanding transaction costs helps decision-makers formulate more efficient IMS strategy to achieve superior export performance. Future research on IMS may examine “passive exporting”, i.e. exporting initiated by overseas buyers, consider the role of institutional distance and use other approaches toward cultural distance-based IMS. Originality/value This study adds a new theoretical underpinning for IMS by developing a framework based on TCA, and thus broadens the applications of TCA into IMS. Our empirical results support this extension.
Tracing functionally identified neurones in a multisynaptic pathway in the hamster and rat using herpes simplex virus expressing green fluorescent protein

Using a genetically modified herpes simplex virus encoding green fluorescent protein we sought to establish if this viral modification could be used in transneuronal tracing studies of the sympathetic nervous system. The herpes simplex virus encoding green fluorescent protein was injected into the adrenal medulla of three hamsters and six rats. After a suitable survival period, neurones in the sympathetic intermediolateral cell column of the thoracolumbar spinal cord, rostral ventral medulla and paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus were clearly identified by the presence of a green fluorescence in the cytoplasm of the neurones of both species. Thus, herpes simplex virus encoding green fluorescent protein labelled chains of sympathetic neurones in the hamster and rat and therefore has the potential to be used in transneuronal tracing studies of autonomic pathways in these species.