Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Five years of clinical experience with intermittent cyclical etidronate for postmenopausal osteoporosis.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the effects of 120 weeks of intermittent cyclical etidronate on the progression of bone loss and fracture incidence and rate in postmenopausal osteoporotic women after 150 weeks of either etidronate or placebo treatment. METHODS This was an open label followup study of 37 postmenopausal osteoporotic women enrolled from the earlier 150 week study, 17 from the etidronate group and 20 from the placebo group. Treatment cycles were of oral doses of etidronate 400 mg/day for 2 weeks, followed by a 13 week drug-free period for a total of 120 weeks. All patients received a daily supplement of 0.5 g calcium and 400 U vitamin D. RESULTS During the earlier 150 week study, mean vertebral bone mineral content increased significantly in the etidronate group by 5.5% (p = 0.013) and decreased by 2.7% (not significant) in the placebo group. After 120 weeks of etidronate treatment in this followup study, patients who had formerly received etidronate experienced an additional 1.4% increase; after 5 years, bone mineral content was 6.9% above the original baseline (p = 0.037). Bone mineral content also increased in the former placebo group during the latter study, up to 5.3% above the original study baseline (not significant). The vertebral fracture rate in the former placebo group decreased significantly, from 103 to 27 per 100 patient-years (p < 0.01), while the fracture rate in the former etidronate group was unchanged (38 and 33 per 100 patient-years). CONCLUSION Five years of etidronate therapy for postmenopausal osteoporosis results in significant increases in vertebral bone mineral content, and the previously observed reduction in vertebral fracture rate in the etidronate group is maintained during at least 5 years of therapy.
The synergistic effects of concurrent administration to rats of EDTA and sodium salicylate on the rectal absorption of sodium cefoxitin and the effects of inhibitors

Plasma levels of cefoxitin, as enhanced by rectal coadministration of sodium salicylate, were reduced by concurrent administration of <0.5 mg mL−1 N‐ethylmaleimide (NEM) or p‐chloromercuriphenylsulphonic acid, sodium salt (p‐CMP). Concentrations of these inhibitors above 1 mg mL−1 resulted in enhanced peak plasma values of cefoxitin. This did not occur after coadministration with either ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) or polyoxyethylene‐23 lauryl ether (POE). Ouabain and 2,4‐dinitrophenol (DNP) suppressed plasma cefoxitin levels in the presence of salicylate and the enhancing effects of EDTA and POE when EDTA and POE were administered at low doses. At higher concentrations of EDTA and POE, DNP had little effect, while ouabain had little effect on POE and only partially suppressed the effects of EDTA. Plasma concentrations of cefoxitin after coadministration with salicylate and POE together, or with EDTA and POE together, were about the same as expected from summing the plasma levels resulting from coadministration of each adjuvant individually at the same concentrations. However, combined administration of salicylate and EDTA with cefoxitin yielded plasma cefoxitin concentrations which were much higher than expected from the sum of their individual actions.
Comparison of goniometric measurements of the stifle joint in seven breeds of normal dogs

Summary Objective: To compare the goniometric measurements of the stifle joint in seven dog breeds, and to determine the relationship among goniometric measurements, age, body weight, tibial plateau angle, crus and thigh circumferences, and widths of quadriceps, hamstring, and gastrocnemius muscles in healthy dogs. Methods: We used a total of 126 dogs from seven different breeds, and recorded the angle of the stifle joint at standing, extension, and flexion together with the range of motion (ROM). The circumferences of the thigh and crus were also measured. Medio -lateral radiographic projections of the tibia and the femur were obtained from the dogs, and the tibial plateau angles, as well as the widths of quadriceps, hamstring, and gas -trocnemius muscles, were measured from these images. Results: Neither the sex of the dog nor the differences in the side measured affected the goniometric measurements of the stifle joint. The standing, extension, flexion, and ROM angles were different among the breeds. The standard deviations of the standing and extension angles were small relative to their means, but the standard deviations of the flexion angle were large relative to their means in all breeds. Body weight and muscular measurements were the most influential factors on the stifle flexion angle and ROM. Clinical significance: Breed differences, body weights, and muscle mass should be taken into consideration during assessment of the stifle function using goniometric measurements.
Long‐term graft function with tacrolimus and cyclosporine in renal transplantation: Paired kidney analysis

Aim: The first prospective, randomized trial with paired kidney analysis was conducted to compare the efficacy and safety of tacrolimus with cyclosporine‐based immunosuppressive therapy in renal transplant recipients. This paper reports the long‐term follow‐up results of the authors' previously published study, with the main focus on graft survival and renal function.
Differential expression of N‐ and R‐cadherin in functional neuronal systems and other structures of the developing chicken brain

Cadherins are a family of cell surface molecules mediating calcium‐dependent cell–cell adhesion in a variety of tissues. More than a dozen cadherins are expressed in the vertebrate brain. To obtain insight into the biological significance of this diversity in cadherin expression, we mapped the expression of N‐and R‐cadherin in the brain of the developing chicken embryo (days 2–19 of incubation) by immunohistochemical and in situ hybridizaiton techniques.
Evaluation of Electronic Business Model Success: Survey among Leading Finnish Companies

In this paper, we aim at identifying the most essential critical success factors that affect success of EC business models. Based on an extensive literature review and a panel of experts, we composed a list of success factors that were divided into prerequisites and measures of success. The list was then operationalized into a survey questionnaire that was tested with 111 representatives of leading Finnish companies involved in e-business. Most factors were confirmed to be important, while we also found some differences for respondents either valuing stability or growth in efficiency and market share. We believe that understanding business models and issues related to successfulness of different components of these models is needed before economically viable e-commerce systems can be developed.
Mental health nurse prescribing: A qualitative, systematic review

The aim of the present qualitative, systematic review was to identify and summarize qualitative research that focussed on mental health nurse prescribing, synthesize findings, and outline key themes discerned. In November 2016, a systematic search was conducted for primary studies of the electronic databases PubMed, Excerpta Medica, (Embase), Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, Scopus, and PsycINFO. Of the 101 papers identified through the search strategy, 12 qualitative studies met the review inclusion criteria. These studies included perspectives from nurses, doctors, and patients/clients regarding their attitudes about, and experiences of, nurse prescribing. Three themes emerged from the review: (i) patient-centred care; (ii) professional role; and (iii) professional support. Nurse prescribers embrace a patient-centred approach, providing timely and effective medication management. Adequate education and continuing professional development inclusive of clinical supervision enable competency development in nurse prescribing, supportive professional relationships, and patient safety. Further research is necessary to establish safety and demonstrate enhanced clinical outcomes from mental health nurse prescribing.
Plantar lentiginous melanoma. A clinicopathologic study

Twenty cases of plantar melanoma treated at Ellis Fischel State Cancer Center (EFSCC) since 1940 are analyzed to determine the clinical and histologic features of prognostic significance. The EFSCC experience confirms and extends the observations made in other recent studies of plantar melanoma. This clinical pathologic study suggests that one of the histologic patterns, the lentiginous growth pattern, shares some biologic features with lentigo maligna, namely the relatively indolent growth phase. Plantar melanomas may remain latent for a number of years making these patients good candidates for therapeutic cures if detected early.
Programmed Cell Death Deregulation in BCR-ABL1-Negative Myeloproliferative Neoplasms

BCR-ABL1-negative myeloproliferative neoplasms are classically represented by primary myelofibrosis, polycythemia vera, and essential thrombocythemia. These entities are stem cell-derived clonal disorders characterized by hematopoietic progenitor autonomy or hypersensitivity to cytokines, most of them presenting mutations in Janus kinase 2 ( JAK2 ), calreticulin ( CALR ), or myeloproliferative leukemia virus oncogene ( MPL ). Deregulation of pro- and antiapoptotic genes is also claimed as an important mechanism involved in cell resistance to cell death and accumulation of myeloid cells in myeloproliferative neoplasms. Apoptosis, as one of the best-characterized types of programmed cell death, has a clear role in hematopoiesis control. However, the exact pathways affected in BCR-ABL1-negative myeloproliferative neoplasms have not yet been fully clarified. This chapter will explore the modifications affecting programmed cell death pathways involved in myeloid proliferation and how these alterations might be exploited in single or combined targeted therapeutic strategies.
Graph-Laplacian Features for Neural Waveform Classification

Analysis of extracellular recordings of neural action potentials (known as spikes) is highly dependent upon the accuracy of neural waveform classification, commonly referred to as spike sorting. Feature extraction is an important stage of this process because it can limit the quality of clustering that is performed in the feature space. Principal components analysis (PCA) is the most commonly used feature extraction method employed for neural spike recordings. To improve upon PCA's feature extraction performance for neural spike sorting, we revisit the PCA procedure to analyze its weaknesses and describe an improved feature extraction method. This paper proposes a linear feature extraction technique that we call graph-Laplacian features, which simultaneously minimizes the graph Laplacian and maximizes variance. The algorithm's performance is compared with PCA and a wavelet-coefficient-based feature extraction algorithm on simulated single-electrode neural data. A cluster-quality metric is proposed to quantitatively measure the algorithm performance. The results show that the proposed algorithm produces more compact and well-separated clusters compared to the other approaches.
Macroeconomic factors influencing interest rates of microfinance institutions in the Latin America and the Caribbean

Agricultural output in developing countries still represents a substantial part of the GDP. Th is ratio has actually increased in some areas such as the Latin America. As such, there is an increasing importance of microfi nance institutions (MFIs) focusing on the activities associated with agriculture and encouraging entrepreneurship in agriculture and in the rural communities in general. Th e contribution of microfi nance institutions consists mainly in providing special-purpose loans, usually without collateral. However, questions exist as to the magnitude and the adequate level of risk of providing micro-credit loans in relation to the interest rates being charged. We review two main approaches to setting interest rates in the MFIs. One approach takes the view that interest rates should be set at a high level due to the excessive risk that these institutions undertake. Th e second approach is to convince the public of the possibility of reducing these rates through cost savings, increased effi ciency, and sharing best practice, etc. Subsequently we econometrically analyse the impact of macroeconomic factors on the microfi nance interest rates in Latin America and the Caribbean. We show that these results depend on the chosen indicator of interest rate.
Women's Lived Experience of Their Unexpected Birthing Process

PurposeTo describe the essence of women's unexpected birthing experiences. MethodsDescriptive phenomenology using interviews with 10 women who had birthing experiences that were not what they had expected, including (1) an instrumentally assisted vaginal delivery either by forceps and/or by a vacuum extractor, (2) a third- or fourth-degree tear, (3) birth by an emergency cesarean birth, or (4) women who perceived that their delivery was incongruent with their expectations. Interviews of each woman's birth experience were transcribed using Colaizzi's method of analysis. ResultsThe findings reflected the absence of three critical elements—caring, connection, and control—that the women believed were missing from their birthing experiences. The lack of caring was demonstrated by the statement: “They were there to take care of your baby and not you and that's the end of it. ” The lack of connection was demonstrated by the statement “I just didn't have a nurse who was really there. ” The lack of control was demonstrated by this statement: “You're not in control of the experience. ” Clinical ImplicationsPerinatal nurses have an opportunity to influence a caring environment in which women feel connected to their nurse and in control of their labor and birth. Tailoring nursing care to meet the needs of each mother, especially women who are experiencing things they had not expected in labor or during birth, may be the key ingredient to ensure optimal birthing experiences.
Chemonucleolysis (Discolysis) with Collagenase

Fifty-four patients with proven lumbar disc displacement were treated by intradiscal injection of collagenase (Nucleolysin) between April 1981 and January 1984. Follow-up by history and physical examination, phone survey, and/or mail survey shows 72% success rate (excellent, good, and fair) and 28% poor or unsuccessful results. No patient was made worse by the treatment. Success rate was greater in patients older than the age of 50 years, male patients, and patients with pain complaints of longer than 4 months' duration. The presence of a list and/or crossed straight leg raising and/or straight leg raising positive less than 30° was associated with a poor prognosis. Discography prior to collagenase injection did not compromise the outcome of treatment. Postinjection changes in the CT scan correlated with a satisfactory outcome of treatment. Findings at surgery in patients who failed to obtain relief following collagenase injection did not show a specific deleterious effect of the enzyme, nor were the expected results from surgery compromised by a previous unsuccessful intradiscal collagenase injection.
Etiology, complications, key systemic and environmental risk factors in dental implant failure

The chance of implant failure is the matter of great concern to implantologists. Hence, the extending knowledge on this inevitable phenomenon is clinically essential. Peri-implantitis is one of the implant failure factors. The lesion is an inflammatory reaction recognized by the loss of implant-supporting bone and diagnosed based on clinical inflammatory symptoms (such as hyperplastic soft tissue, pus discharge, color change of peri-implant marginal tissues, and gradual bone loss). Adult chronic periodontitis is a type of differential diagnosis in that it has considerable commonalities. Implant failure may also be due to surgical trauma, micro motion, and overloading. Implant failure is due to the lack of osteointegration, which is generally identified by implant loose and radiologic radiolucency. The other phenomenon is “fracturing implant” identified by a progressive loss of marginal bone but with no remarkable looseness. In this paper, we will shortly investigate causes, and effects of implant failure, and applicable parameters of the process. The aim of this review is to summarize the etiology, and complications of the dental implant failure, and its related risk factors including systemic disease, periodontal disease, and environmental factors.
Role of infection control measures in limiting morbidity associated with multi-resistant organisms in critically ill patients.

A retrospective comparative study was performed to determine the impact of infection control measures (ICMs) on colonization and infections due to methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), Klebsiella pneumoniae (producing transferable extended-spectrum beta-lactamase, KPESBL), and multi-resistant Enterobacter aerogenes (MREA) in intensive care unit patients. Infection Control Measures included surveillance cultures, isolation procedures and mupirocin for MRSA nasal carriage. The numbers of patients infected and/or colonized by MRSA, KPESBL or MREA were compared during two consecutive one-year periods (Period 1 before ICMs, and Period 2 after ICMs). The antibiotic consumption during the two periods was analysed. In Period 1 and Period 2, respectively, the rate of patients infected or colonized by at least one of the three organisms was 15% and 6.8% (P=0.001); by MRSA 7.7% and 2.6% (P=0. 004); by KPESBL 1.7% and 0% (P=0.25); and by MREA 5.6% and 4.3% (P=0. 47). During Period 2, there was a clear-cut decrease in the percentage of patients infected by MRSA (P=0.018), a non-significant decrease in those infected by KPESBL (P=0.06), and no decrease in patients infected by MREA (P=0.22). When calculated per 1000 patient-days, for Period 1 and Period 2, respectively, the rate of patients infected or colonized by at least one of the three organisms was 11.9 and 8.8; for MRSA it was 4 and 2.2; for KPESBL it was 1 and 0; and for MREA it was 4 and 4. Antibiotic cost was pound98.7 in Period 1 and pound62.7 in Period 2. ICMs contributed to the control of infections and colonizations due to MRSA and KPESBL but not those due to MREA.
α‐Helix formation: Discontinuous molecular dynamics on an intermediate‐resolution protein model

An intermediate‐resolution model of small, homogeneous peptides is introduced, and discontinuous molecular dynamics simulation is applied to study secondary structure formation. Physically, each model residue consists of a detailed three‐bead backbone and a simplified single‐bead side‐chain. Excluded volume and hydrogen bond interactions are constructed with discontinuous (i.e., hard‐sphere and square‐well) potentials. Simulation results show that the backbone motion of the model is limited to realistic regions of Φ–Ψ conformational space. Model polyalanine chains undergo a locally cooperative transition to form α‐helices that are stabilized by backbone hydrogen bonding, while model polyglycine chains tend to adopt nonhelical structures. When side‐chain size is increased beyond a critical diameter, steric interactions prevent formation of long α‐helices. These trends in helicity as a function of residue type have been well documented by experimental, theoretical, and simulation studies and demonstrate the ability of the intermediate‐resolution model developed in this work to accurately mimic realistic peptide behavior. The efficient algorithm used permits observation of the complete helix–coil transition within 15 min on a single‐processor workstation, suggesting that simulations of very long times are possible with this model. Proteins 2001;44:344–360. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
A 5.5mW IEEE-802.15.6 wireless body-area-network standard transceiver for multichannel electro-acupuncture application

In this paper, we present a state-of-the-art WBAN transceiver satisfying all of the specifications for the IEEE 802.15. 6 standard. Especially, the driver active-digital-bandpass filter (ADF) is proposed to fulfill the tight spectral mask requirement without using external components. Moreover, the WBAN transceiver SoC is applied to multichannel electro-acupuncture, which is one of the most prominent emerging medical applications and is useful to verify the successful operation of the transceiver [6].
Text2Scene: Generating Abstract Scenes from Textual Descriptions

In this paper, we propose an end-to-end model that learns to interpret natural language describing a scene to generate an abstract pictorial representation. The pictorial representations generated by our model comprise the spatial distribution and attributes of the objects in the described scene. Our model uses a sequence-to-sequence network with a double attentive mechanism and introduces a regularization strategy. These scene representations can be sampled from our model similarly as in language-generation models. We show that the proposed model, initially designed to handle the generation of cartoon-like pictorial representations in the Abstract Scenes Dataset, can also handle, under minimal modifications, the generation of semantic layouts corresponding to real images in the COCO dataset. Human evaluations using a visual entailment task show that pictorial representations generated with our full model can entail at least one out of three input visual descriptions 94% of the times, and at least two out of three 62% of the times for each image.
Perceived Helpfulness, Perceived Trustworthiness, and Their Impact upon Social Commerce Users’ Intention to Seek Shopping Recommendations

Understanding why people seek shopping recommendations from others on social commerce sites can help practitioners design effective strategies to encourage users’ engagement of social commerce. The purpose of this study is to examine the determinants of users’ intention to seek shopping recommendations on social commerce sites. A research model is developed which incorporates the perceived helpfulness of others’ shopping recommendations, the perceived trustworthiness of the social commerce site, and the perceived trustworthiness of other users on a social commerce site. The model is empirically validated via SEM analysis using survey data collected from over 200 subjects. The results reveal that perceived trustworthiness of other users can positively and significantly influence the perceived helpfulness of others’ shopping recommendations, perceived helpfulness, and perceived trustworthiness of a social commerce site can positively and significantly influence users’ intention to seek shopping recommendations. The implications of this study on theory and practice are discussed.