Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Prevalence and socio-demographic correlates of dental anxiety among a group of adult patients attending a dental institution in Vadodara city, Gujarat, India.

CONTEXT Anxiety is a subjective state of feelings. Dental anxiety is often reported as a cause of irregular dental attendance, delay in seeking dental care or even avoidance of dental care, resulting in poor oral health related quality of life. AIM To assess the prevalence and socio-demographic correlates of dental anxiety among a group of adult patients attending a dental institution in Vadodara, Gujarat. PATIENTS AND METHODS A total of 150 adult patients waiting in the out-patient Department of Oral Diagnosis of K.M. Shah Dental College and Hospital were included in the study. Subjects were selected by convenience sampling. Dental anxiety was assessed by using Modified Dental Anxiety Scale (MDAS) and self-designed, semi-structured questionnaire incorporating various demographic variables, type and nature of dental treatment. Statistical analysis was done using SPSS version 16. Descriptive analysis, unpaired t-test, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) test and multiple logistic regression were applied for statistical analysis. RESULTS 46% of the participants were dentally anxious. Females were found to be significantly more anxious than males. Subjects residing in villages had significantly more score than those residing in city. Relative influence of age, education, type of dental treatment, and previous dental visit were not significantly associated with dental anxiety. However, those subjects who had past negative dental experience were found to be significantly more anxious. CONCLUSIONS The study shows that dental anxiety was high among study subjects. It is recommended that this issue should be given due importance and addressed in a practical and meaningful manner.
Safety and immunogenicity of influenza vaccine among HIV-infected adults: Conventional vaccine vs. intradermal vaccine

Several studies have reported poor immune responses to conventional influenza vaccines in HIV-infected individuals. This study sought to elicit more potent immunogenicity in HIV-infected adults using an intradermal vaccine compared with a conventional intramuscular vaccine. This multicenter, randomized, controlled, open-label study was conducted at 3 university hospitals during the 2011/2012 pre-influenza season. Three vaccines were used in HIV-infected adults aged 18 – 60 years: an inactivated intramuscular vaccine (Agrippal), a reduced-content intradermal vaccine (IDflu9μg) and a standard-content intradermal vaccine (IDflu15μg). Serum hemagglutination-inhibiting (HI) antibodies and INF-γ ELISpot assay were measured at the time of vaccination and 1 month after vaccination. Adverse events were recorded for 7 d. A total of 28 Agrippal, 30 IDflu9μg, and 28 IDflu15μg volunteers were included in this analysis. One month after vaccination, the GMTs and differences in INF-γ ELISpot assay results were similar among the 3 groups. Seroprotection rates, seroconversion rates and mean fold increases (MFI) among the 3 groups were also similar, at approximately 80%, 50–60% and 2.5 – 10.0, respectively. All three vaccines satisfied the CHMP criteria for the A/H1N1 and A/H3N2 strains, but not those for the B strain. In univariate analysis, no demographic or clinical factors, including age, CD4+ T-cell counts, HIV viral load, ART status and vaccine type, were related to failure to achieve seroprotection. The three vaccines were all well-tolerated and all reported reactions were mild to moderate. However, there was a tendency toward a higher incidence of local and systemic reactions in the intradermal vaccine groups. The intradermal vaccine did not result in higher immunogenicity compared to the conventional intramuscular vaccine, even with increased antigen dose.
CD163 as a marker of M2 macrophage, contribute to predict aggressiveness and prognosis of Kazakh esophageal squamous cell carcinoma

M2 macrophages was domesticated by tumor microenvironment to produce some angiogenic molecules and protease, facilitating angiogenesis and matrix breakdown, promoting tumor invasive and metastasis. However, The function of M2 macrophages to progression of esophageal carcinoma, especially Kazakh esophageal carcinoma is still dimness. This study aims to investigate M2 macrophages correlated with matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP9) and microvessel density, and the role in the progression of Kazakh esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. CD163 and CD34 as the marker of M2 macrophages and endothelial cells, were used to identify the M2 macrophages density and microvessel density, respectively. Immunohistochemistry staining was evaluated the expression of MMP9. The number of infiltrated CD163-positive M2 macrophages in tumor islets and stroma was significantly higher than in cancer adjacent normal tissues. The increased of M2 macrophages and microvessel density were significantly correlated with more malignant phenotypes including lymph node metastasis and clinical stage progression. Meanwhile, the expression of MMP9 showed much higher level in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma than that in cancer adjacent normal tissues, and high expression of MMP9 in Kazakh esophageal squamous cell carcinoma was significantly associated with age, depth of tumor invasion, lymph node metastasis, and tumor clinical stage. The quantity of M2 macrophages in tumor stroma was positively associated with microvessel density and the expression of MMP9, and as an independent poorly prognostic factor for overall survival time of Kazakh esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. These findings suggest the increased number of M2 macrophages correlated with high expression of MMP9 and high microvessel density may contribute to the tumor aggressiveness and angiogenesis, promoting the progression of Kazakh esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.
Pulse wave velocity in the carotid artery

The pulse wave velocity (PWV) in the carotid artery (CA) has been estimated based on ultrasound data collected by the experimental scanner RASMUS at DTU. Data is collected from one test subject using a frame rate (FR) of 4000 Hz. The influence of FRs is also investigated. The PWV is calculated from distension wave forms (DWF) estimated using cross-correlation. The obtained velocities give results in the area between 3-4 m/s, and the deviations between estimated PWV from two beats of a pulse are around 10%. The results indicate that the method presented is applicable for detecting the local PWV. Additional studies with data collections from several test subjects are required to determine the accuracy of the approach. Based on a spectrum analysis it appears that there is no gain from using FRs above 1000 Hz, but it is shown that FRs below 1000 Hz do not give accurate PWVs.
"Your ears become your eyes": managing the absence of visibility in NHS Direct.

AIMS To identify and describe nurses' perceptions of interactional practices they use to manage the absence of visual cues in telephone consultations with callers at an NHS Direct site. BACKGROUND A routine activity in telephone consultations is visualizing the patient and the situation from which the call is made, that is, "building a picture of the patient". Little is known about interactional practices between nurse and caller that contribute to shaping a conception of the caller, or other activities that nurses do to manage the absence of visibility in the consultation. METHODS Qualitative analysis of semi-structured interviews conducted with nurses new to NHS Direct telephone consultations, the first immediately prior to the NHS Direct site's opening, and the second 6 months later. FINDINGS The activity of visualizing patients and their environment is closely linked to interactional practices carried out between nurse and caller. Nurses described a range of interactional activities that they perceive help callers to describe with more precision what the nurse cannot see. Nurses also tailor interaction to a nonvisual environment in order to manage the more emotional aspects of telephone consultations, such as delivering information, advice, reassurance, and building trust and rapport. CONCLUSION Nurses developed skills to manage interaction with callers in order to compensate for the absence of visibility. Skills were based on their professional backgrounds and experience and developed in an ad hoc way. Further research could examine the efficacy of these strategies, and be a prerequisite to adding them to training programmes.
Priming induces functional coupling of N‐formyl‐methionyl‐leucyl‐phenylalanine receptors in equine neutrophils

The synthetic formylpeptide fMLP is widely used as a model chemoattractant and secretagogue for mammalian neutrophils. Despite possessing fMLP receptors, equine neutrophils do not produce superoxide anions in response to fMLP and there is no inflammatory reaction in the horse when fMLP is injected intradermally. The functional capability of these receptors was investigated after pretreatment with recognized priming agents. Purified neutrophils were pretreated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS), platelet‐activating factor (PAF), or tumor necrosis factor α (TNF‐α) and superoxide anion generation and shape change quantified by lucigenin‐dependent chemiluminescence (LDCL) and flow cytometry, respectively. LPS, TNF‐α, and PAF pretreatment induced significant LDCL in response to fMLP; similarly LPS pretreatment was a prerequisite for fMLP‐stimulated neutrophil polarization in response to fMLP. However, LPS failed to induce fMLP‐mediated chemotaxis of equine neutrophils. These data indicate that equine neutrophil fMLP receptors are not vestigial as previously thought but can trigger both respiratory burst activity and cell polarization responses after priming. J. Leukoc. Biol. 63: 380–388; 1998.
Continuous Glucose Monitoring Versus Capillary Point-of-Care Testing for Inpatient Glycemic Control in Type 2 Diabetes Patients Hospitalized in the General Ward and Treated With a Basal Bolus Insulin Regimen

Background: Continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) may improve the management of patients with type 2 diabetes hospitalized in the general ward by facilitating the detection of hyper- and hypoglycemic episodes. However, the lack of data on the accuracy and safety of CGM have limited its application. Methods: A prospective pilot study was conducted including 38 patients hospitalized in the general ward with a known diagnosis of type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) and hyperglycemic individuals without a history of DM with a blood sugar of 140-400 mg on admission treated with a basal bolus insulin regimen. Inpatient glycemic control and the incidence of hypoglycemic episodes were compared between detection by CGM of interstitial fluid for up to 6 days and point-of-care (POC) capillary blood glucose monitoring performed pre- and postprandially, before bedtime and at 3 am. Results: No differences in average daily glucose levels were observed between CGM and POC (176.2 ± 33.9 vs 176.6 ± 33.7 mg/dl, P = .828). However, CGM detected a higher number of hypoglycemic episodes than POC (55 vs 12, P < .01). Glucose measurements were clinically valid, with 91.9% of patients falling within the Clarke error grid A and B zones. Conclusions: Our preliminary results indicate that the use of CGM in type 2 patients hospitalized in the general ward provides accurate estimation of blood sugar levels and is more effective than POC for the detection of hypoglycemic episodes and asymptomatic hypoglycemia.
Electrical mallet provides essential advantages in maxillary bone condensing. A prospective clinical study.

PURPOSE The aim of this study was to compare the use of hand mallet versus electrical mallet (magnetic mallet, Meta-Ergonomica, Turbigo, Milan, Italy) in osteotome-assisted surgery for condensing bone procedure in edentulous molar and premolar maxillary regions. MATERIALS AND METHODS Patients edentulous in maxillary premolar and molar regions with type 3 or 4 bone were enrolled in this prospective clinical study. The patients were randomly divided in two groups: in the test group, the implant site was prepared with osteotomes pushed by magnetic mallet, while in the control group, the implant site was performed with osteotomes pressed by hand mallet. Intraoral digital radiographic measurements were reported at 6, 12, and 24 months. RESULTS Thirty-six patients were enrolled in the study. Eighteen patients (21 women and 15 men) were included in the test group and 18 patients in the control group. The mean patient age was 56.1 years (range 41-71 years). Fifty dental implants were placed. In 10 cases, five in control and five in test group, sinus elevation was performed. After 24 months follow-up, a survival rate of 96.0% was reported. In the control group, two patients claimed benign paroxysmal positional vertigo following the use of osteotomes with hand hammer. Marginal bone levels remained stable over time for both groups, and not statistically significant differences were found. After 12 months, the bone height incremented in both groups and, at 24 months, was stable. Statistical analysis reported not statistically significant differences between test and control group. CONCLUSIONS These results demonstrated a stable marginal bone levels over time and a significant increase in bone height between 6 and 12 months in osteotome technique (not sinus elevation). The use of magnetic mallet provided some essential clinical advantages during surgical procedure in comparison with hand mallet.
Prevalence of Asthma and Its Association With Glycemic Control Among Youth With Diabetes

OBJECTIVE: To estimate the prevalence of asthma among youth with types 1 and 2 diabetes and examine associations between asthma and glycemic control. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional analysis of data from the SEARCH for Diabetes in Youth study, which included youth diagnosed with type 1 (n = 1683) and type 2 (n = 311) diabetes from 2002 through 2005. Asthma status and medications were ascertained from medical records and self-administered questionnaires, and glycemic control was assessed from hemoglobin A1c measured at the study visit. RESULTS: Prevalence of asthma among all youth with diabetes was 10.9% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 9.6%–12.3%). The prevalence was 10.0% (95% CI: 8.6%–11.4%) among youth with type 1 and 16.1% (95% CI: 12.0%–20.2%) among youth with type 2 diabetes and differed according to race/ethnicity. Among youth with type 1 diabetes, those with asthma had higher mean A1c levels than those without asthma, after adjustment for age, gender, race/ethnicity, and BMI (7.77% vs 7.49%; P = .034). Youth with asthma were more likely to have poor glycemic control, particularly those with type 1 diabetes whose asthma was not treated with pharmacotherapy, although this association was attenuated by adjustment for race/ethnicity. CONCLUSIONS: Prevalence of asthma may be elevated among youth with diabetes relative to the general US population. Among youth with type 1 diabetes, asthma is associated with poor glycemic control, especially if asthma is untreated. Specific asthma medications may decrease systemic inflammation, which underlies the complex relationship between pulmonary function, BMI, and glycemic control among youth with diabetes.
Independent and A ¢ liated Analysts : Disciplining and Herding

The paper investigates strategic interactions between an independent analyst and an a¢ liated analyst when the analystsinformation acquisition and the timing of their recommendations are endogenous. Compared to the independent analyst, the a¢ liated analyst has superior information but faces a conict of interest. I show that the independent analysts recommendation, albeit endogenously less informative than the a¢ liated analysts, disciplines the a¢ liated analysts biased forecasting behavior. Meanwhile, the independent analyst sometimes herds with the a¢ liated analyst in order to improve forecast accuracy. Contrary to conventional wisdom, I show that herding with the a¢ liated analyst may actually motivate the independent analyst to acquire more information upfront, reinforce his ability to discipline the a¢ liated analyst, and bene t investors. I am greatly indebted to Jonathan Glover for his guidance and encouragement. I am also grateful to Carlos Corona, Zhaoyang Gu, and Pierre Liang for their help. I thank Anil Arya, Anne Beyer, Pingyang Gao, Isa Hafalir, Jack Hughes, Chandra Kanodia, Haresh Sapra, Jack Stecher, Brett Trueman, and workshop participants at Carnegie Mellon University, University of Chicago, University of Minnesota, and UCLA. The paper is also bene ted from discussions with my fellow Ph.D. students Qihang Lin and Ronghuo Zheng. All errors are my own.
Fostering large display engagement through playful interactions

Challenges confronting designers of public displays include display blindness, i.e. the propensity of people to ignore these displays as they become ever-more ubiquitous, and the "first click" problem, i.e. users not interacting with these displays due to being unaware of interactive content. To address the challenge of display blindness, explicit and tacit mechanisms for interacting with displays have been explored. Unfortunately, because of the short-term nature of many installations, it has been difficult both to assess the relative effects of different interventions because of limited statistical power and to assess the relative effects of different interventions due to display blindness because the short-term nature of deployment limits the onset of display blindness. We explore two simple whole body (non-touch) interactions with a public display, one a user skeleton and the second a simple game, to explore their relative efficacy at capturing passers-by attention and at keeping passers-by engaged. We demonstrate the complimentary benefits of user-shadowing and playful tasks as a mechanism to both capture and keep in the context of public deployments.
Effect of the 7-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine on nasopharyngeal colonization by Streptococcus pneumoniae in the first 2 years of life.

BACKGROUND Studies suggest that the 7-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV7) reduces carriage of vaccine-type (VT) Streptococcus pneumoniae (SP). We studied the effect of PCV7 on carriage of VT- and non-VT (NVT) SP, by studying the effect of PCV7 on nasopharyngeal (NP) colonization by VT and NVT SP during early childhood. METHODS At 2 months of age, 278 infants were enrolled in this study. To determine carriage of SP, NP samples were obtained before each PCV7 dose, at 9 months of age, and 2-3 months after the booster dose of vaccine. RESULTS The carriage of SP increased slightly, from 12% (95% confidence interval [CI], 8%-16%) of subjects at 2 months of age to 18% (95% CI, 13%-23%) at 4 months of age (P<.05). Carriage of SP remained in 24%-30% of subjects during subsequent months. Between the 12- and 18-month visits, the carriage rate of VT SP decreased significantly, from 18% (95% CI, 13%-23%) to 9% (95% CI, 5%-13%) of subjects (P=.001). The trend of a decrease in carriage of penicillin-nonsusceptible SP, from 16% of subjects (95% CI, 11%-21%) at the 12-15-month visit to 9% (95% CI, 5%-13%) at the 15-18-month visit, was found after the booster dose of vaccine. CONCLUSION The reduction of VT-SP colonization and replacement by NVT SP after the booster dose of vaccine suggests the possibility that widespread vaccination will result in replacement of pneumococci mainly by antibiotic-susceptible NVT SP.
Field Dependence and Psychological Differentiation: Reexamination

The concepts of field dependence and psychological differentiation have provided an extremely valuable link between theories of personality and psychopathology and laboratory research on perception and cognition. However, confusion between test and construct and failure to control adequately for intelligence have made it difficult to assess the limits of the concept of differentiation. Further, basic understanding of the nature of the individual differences observed has been hampered by insufficient efforts to distinguish between personality differences stemming from differences in ability and those stemming from differences in adaptive choices and strategies. The present paper examines these issues as they are reflected in the current literature and attempts to point toward a more comprehensive approach to research in this area.
Bioavailability of (-)-epicatechin upon intake of chocolate and cocoa in human volunteers

We evaluated the levels of (-)-epicatechin (EC) and its metabolites in plasma and urine after intake of chocolate or cocoa by male volunteers. EC metabolites were analyzed by HPLC and LC/MS after glucuronidase and/or sulfatase treatment. The maximum levels of total EC metabolites in plasma were reached 2 hours after either chocolate or cocoa intake. Sulfate, glucuronide, and sulfoglucuronide (mixture of sulfate and glucuronide) conjugates of nonmethylated EC were the main metabolites present in plasma rather than methylated forms. Urinary excretion of total EC metabolites within 24 hours after chocolate or cocoa intake was 29.8 ± 5.3% and 25.3 ± 8.1% of total EC intake. EC in chocolate and cocoa was partly absorbed and was found to be present as a component of various conjugates in plasma, and these were rapidly excreted in urine.
Context discovery in ad-hoc networks

Mobile ad-hoc networks (MANETs) are more and more present in our daily life. Such networks are often composed of mobile and battery-supplied devices, like laptops and PDAs. With no requirement for infrastructure support, MANETs can be used as temporary networks, such as for conference and office environments, and for disaster areas. Limited bandwidth and battery-supplied devices in such networks require simple and efficient underlying communication protocols. One of the most fundamental actions that such devices in networks need to do is to find information about the environment they are operating in, so called context discovery. Therefore, in this thesis, we design and develop a new context discovery protocol for MANETs, which is called Ahoy. By using attenuated Bloom filters, Ahoy reduces traffic load to discover available context information and provides directional probabilistic querying. We build an analytical model to evaluate the performance of Ahoy compared with two conventional approaches: pro-active and reactive discovery protocols, and to allow for optimization of Ahoy's parameters. The results of the analytical model are validated by simulations. We estimate the network traffic generated by Ahoy in both static and dynamic environments. We find that Ahoy requires significantly less network traffic than the other two protocols in static networks, and that it is stable in a dynamic environment in which the network topology may change. We also study the vulnerability of Ahoy when it encounters different malicious attacks. Our analyses shows that compared with pro-active and reactive protocols, Ahoy is not more vulnerable than the other two protocols. In some cases, the use of attenuated Bloom filters can even help to protect the contents of packets up to a certain level. In case of serious risks, we propose specialized security countermeasures to enhance the network security of Ahoy. Finally, we build a prototype of Ahoy and test it on UNIX-like platforms. Through these analysis and studies, we conclude that the novel discovery protocol Ahoy proposed in this thesis can discover information efficiently, while generating only little network traffic, in both static and dynamic fully-distributed MANETs.