Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Fall Prevention in the Elderly: Analysis and Comprehensive Review of Methods Used in the Hospital and in the Home

Abstract Falls in the elderly are a significant problem both in and out of the hospital. The Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 and the Fiscal Year 2009 Inpatient Prospective Payment System Final Rule, as outlined by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, placed on hospitals the financial burden of fall prevention for falls (ie, hospital‐acquired conditions) that could have been prevented by following evidence‐based guidelines. Multifaceted and individualized programs have been created to prevent falls in the elderly. Many of these interventions are based on expert opinion and statistical trends. Our review of the literature revealed that the risk of fall is only slightly greater in the hospital environment than in the home and that there is no medical evidence that evidence‐based guidelines are effective in fall prevention.
Possible physiological role of H19 RNA

The product of the imprinted oncofetal H19 gene is an untranslated RNA of unknown function. With the human cDNA Atlas microarray, we detected differentially expressed genes modulated by the presence of H19 RNA. Many of the genes that are upregulated by H19 RNA are known to contribute to the invasive, migratory, and angiogenic capacities of cells. Moreover, we provided experimental data indicating that whereas H19 RNA did not have any growth advantage for the cells when cultured in 10% fetal calf serum, it did confer an advantage when cells were cultured in serum‐poor medium. This observation can be explained in part by the inability of the H19‐expressing cells to induce the cyclin‐dependent kinase inhibitor p57kip2 in response to serum stress. Our results favor the possible role of the H19 gene in promoting cancer progression, angiogenesis, and metastasis. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Numerical study of tokamak equilibria with arbitrary flow

The effects of toroidal and poloidal flows on the equilibrium of tokamak plasmas are numerically investigated using the code FLOW. The code is used to determine the changes in the profiles induced by large toroidal flows on NSTX-like equilibria [with NSTX being the National Spherical Torus Experiment, M. Ono, S.M. Kaye, Y. -K.M. Peng et al., Nucl. Fusion 40, 557 (2000)] where flows exceeding the sound speed lead to a considerable outward shift of the plasma. The code is also used to study the effects of poloidal flow when the flow velocity profile varies from subsonic to supersonic with respect to the poloidal sound speed. It is found that pressure and density profiles develop a pedestal structure characterized by radial discontinuities at the transonic surface where the poloidal velocity abruptly jumps from subsonic to supersonic values. These results confirm the conclusions of the analytic theory of R. Betti and J. P. Freidberg [Phys. Plasmas 7, 2439 (2000)], derived for a low-β, large aspect ratio tokam.
Multipactor in Microwave Transmission Systems Using Quadrature Phase-Shift Keying

A numerical simulation analysis is made of the effect of signal transmission using the quadrature phase-shift keying of a constant-amplitude RF carrier wave on the initiation of multipactor breakdown in RF devices operating under close-to-vacuum conditions. It is found that this form of signal modulation has a suppressing effect on the growth of the multipactor electron avalanche that depends on the parameters of the system. However, for technically realistic values of signal and phase-shift frequencies, the effect is found to be small.
Current Immunosuppression in Abdominal Organ Transplantation

Organ transplantation has saved the lives of thousands of patients beginning from the mid 1950s. At the end of 2007 the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) database recorded 183,222 people living with a functioning graft in the United States (Wolfe et al., 2010). Over the last two decades survival rates have continued to improve and currently 81-91% of kidney transplant recipients and 74-79% of liver transplant recipients are alive 5 years post-transplant (Wolfe et al., 2010). This success is a dramatic improvement compared to the early era of transplantation and is the result of advances in organ preservation, surgical technique, intensive care and immunosuppression. Particularly, the development of potent immunosuppressive medications has contributed significantly to the success of organ transplantation by reducing the incidence of rejection and graft loss. In recent large studies the incidence of acute rejection is reported as low as 8-15% 1 year after kidney transplant (Ekberg et al., 2009) and graft loss due to acute rejection has now become very uncommon. Clinical immunosuppression after organ transplantation has come a long way over the last fifty years. It started with total body irradiation, steroids and azathioprine (see Starzl, 2000 for a review on the history of immunosuppression). The rationale behind total body irradiation was to control the immune response to the allograft by ablation of the bone marrow, a similar principle applied today with the use of depleting agents (see below). Other early attempts at controlling the bone marrow and obtain lymphocyte depletion included splenectomy, thymectomy and thoracic duct drainage, but these had limited success. Instead, anti-lymphocyte globulin (ALG), prepared from the serum of horses or rabbits inoculated with human lymphocytes, was introduced in 1966 with the aim of mitigating cellular immunity using heterologous antibodies. (Starzl et al., 1967) From the early 1960s to 1980s post-transplant immunosuppression consisted of azathioprine, high dose corticosteroids and antilymphocyte globulin. Cyclosporine was introduced in the early 1980s, followed by monoclonal antibodies, then by tacrolimus in the 1990s and lately by mycophenolic acid and sirolimus (see list below). Immunosuppression regimens have changed since the early era of transplantation as a result of the development of new drugs. Furthermore, the number of available drugs continues to increase. This article will describe the immunosuppressive drugs currently used in clinical transplantation and will focus on recent developments. We will also review current organ-specific IMS protocols
Open Abdominal Aortic Surgery: Principles and Anesthetic Considerations

Open abdominal aortic procedures are performed for occlusive or aneurysmal aortic disease. Over the last several decades the overall prevalence of ruptured and nonruptured aortic aneurysm surgery has increased. Contributing factors include the aging population, imaging technology allowing for more incidental findings of aortic pathology, and the advent of endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR). Because of the increasing trend toward EVAR interventions, those patients presenting to the operating room (OR) will almost inevitably have complex aortic anatomy and/or comorbidities that preclude them from being candidates for EVAR, suggesting increased complexity of surgery. As a result, both the operating and anesthesia times associated with open aortic surgery are increasing. Outcomes after open aortic repair (OAR) are related to many factors, including patient comorbidities, individual vascular anatomy and morphology of aortic disease, surgeon expertise, overall duration of surgery and aortic cross-clamp time, and hospital-related factors. Analysis of morbidity and mortality rates over the most recent decade reveals that hospitals completing <5 OARs or <8 EVARs per year have a significantly higher mortality than their counterparts that perform these interventions more often. This may create a trend of referring patients for elective abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) surgery to regional or high-volume aortic surgery hospitals. In addition, there is concern over the training and competency of new vascular surgeons to safely and
Partial Characterization of Tick-Borne Encephalitis Virus Isolates from Ticks of Southern Ukraine

Abstract Tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) is the most common tick-borne viral infection in Eurasia; thousands of human cases are annually reported from several European countries. Several tick species are vectors of the tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV), while TBE appears to be spreading from the Eurasian continent westward to Europe. Fifteen study sites were chosen from five territories of southern Ukraine, including Odessa, Mykolaiv, Kherson Oblast, the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, and Sevastopol. Tick collection was performed in spring season of three consecutive years (1988–1990) using either flagging technique or direct collection of specimens feeding on cattle. A total of 15,243 tick imagoes and nymphs were collected from nine species, including Dermacentor marginatus, D. reticulatus, Haemaphysalis parva, H. punctata, Hyalomma marginatum, Ixodes ricinus, Rhipicephalus bursa, R. rossicus, and R. sanguineus, pooled in 282 monospecific samples. Supernatant of grinded pool was used for inoculation to suckling mice for virus isolation. Eight TBEV isolates were identified from ticks among six study sites. Ticks showed a minimum infection rate from 0.11% to 0.81%. Phylogenetic analysis of the envelope (E) protein gene of seven isolates, assigned all to the European subtype (TBEV-Eu) showing a maximum identity of 97.17% to the “Pan” TBEV-Eu reference strain. Compared to 104 TBEV-Eu isolates they clustered within the same clade as the Pan reference strain and distinguished from other TBEV-Eu isolates. Amino acid sequence analysis of the South Ukrainian TBEV-Eu isolates revealed the presence of four amino acid substitutions 67 (N), 266 (R), 306 (V), and 407 (R), in the ectodomains II and III and in the stem-anchor region of the E protein gene. This study confirmed TBEV-Eu subtype distribution in the southern region of Ukraine, which eventually overlaps with TBEV-FE (Far Eastern subtype) and TBEV-Sib (Siberian subtype) domains, showing the heterogeneity of TBEV circulating in Ukraine.
Fine structure of subepithelial "free" and corpuscular trigeminal nerve endings in anterior hard palate of the rat.

Axonally transported protein labeled many trigeminal nerve endings in subepithelial regions of the anterior hard palate of the rat. Sensory endings were most numerous in the lamina propria near the tips of the palatal rugae where large connective tissue and epithelial papillae interdigitated. Two kinds of sensory ending were found there: "free" endings, and a variety of corpuscular endings. The "free" sensory endings consisted of bundles of unmyelinated axons separated from the connective tissue by relatively unspecialized Schwann cells covering part or all of their surface and a completely continuous basal lamina; they were commonly found running parallel to the epithelium or near corpuscular endings. The corpuscular sensory endings all had a specialized nerve form, specialized Schwann cells, and axonal fingers projecting into the corpuscular basal lamina or connective tissue. There were at least four distinct types of corpuscular ending: Ruffini-like endings were found among dense collagen bundles, and they had a flattened nerve ending with a flattened Schwann lamella on either side. Meissner endings had an ordered stack of flattened nerve terminals with flattened Schwann cells and much basal lamina within and around the corpuscle. Simple corpuscles were single nerve endings surrounded by several layers of concentric lamellar Schwann processes. Glomerular endings were found in lamina propria papillae or encircling epithelial papillae; they were a tangle of varied neural forms each of which had apposed flattened Schwann cells, and a layer of basal lamina of varied thickness. Fibroblasts often formed incomplete partitions around Meissner and simple corpuscles. The axoplasm of all kinds of subepithelial sensory endings contained numerous mitochondria and vesicles, as well as occasional multivesicular bodies and lysosomes; the axoplasm of all endings was pale with few microtubules and neurofilaments. The specialized lamellar Schwann cells had much pinocytotic activity. Four kinds of junctions were found between the corpuscular sensory endings and the lamellar Schwann cells: (1) symmetric densities that resemble desmosomes; (2) asymmetric densities with either the neuronal or glial membrane more dense; (3) neural membrane densities adjacent to Schwann parallel inner and outer membrane densities; and (4) sites of apparent Schwann endocytosis associated with neural blebs. The "free" sensory endings only made occasional desmosome-like junctions with their Schwann cells. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
The home management and characteristics of children presenting to hospital with acute gastroenteritis

Abstract Large numbers of Australian children are admitted to hospital with acute gastroenteritis. This study aimed to describe the home management of children with acute gastroenteritis prior to presentation at a paediatric hospital. Parents received inadequate information regarding fluid rehydration, particularly from general practitioners, and there was a lack of parental awareness in relation to ORS usage. Children attending childcare were over represented among the sample. The majority of children were only mildly dehydrated on presentation to hospital. Education programs are needed to increase community awareness of ORS and improve home management of acute gastroenteritis.
Chronic glucocorticosteroid therapy impairs staphylococcal clearance from murine lungs

Since the clearance of Staphylococcus aureus from murine lungs after aerosol exposure depends only on regional defense processes and does not require the recruitment of neutrophils or other systemic factors, we used this model for pulmonary clearance to evaluate the effect of chronic glucocorticosteroid therapy on intrinsic pulmonary defense responses. Mice treated with oral prednisolone for 2 or more weeks had delayed clearance of S. aureus at both 6 and 22 h after aerosol exposure. Mice treated with prednisolone for 1 week had delayed clearance at 22h, and mice treated for 2 days had normal clearance. In mice that had been treated for 2 weeks, clearance returned to normal after 2 weeks off therapy, but not after 1 week. Prednisolone did not appear to alter the number of phagocytes in bronchoalveolar spaces or their ingestion capacity. These results suggest that chronic steroid therapy can alter pulmonary clearance functions independent of any effect on immune or inflammatory responses.
Contextual Factors Influencing the Eating Behaviours of African American Women: A Focus Group Investigation

Objectives: African American women suffer disproportionately from many chronic diseases, and it is well acknowledged that eating patterns and habits are important contributory factors. Our goal was to describe and understand how personal and contextual factors among African American women contribute to food choices that increase the risk for chronic disease. Design: Focus groups were conducted with 40 African American women. Two experimenters abstracted and categorized statements about eating attitudes, beliefs and behaviours from the focus group transcripts. Results: A total of 139 statements were sorted into 10 major categories: (1) specific meals, (2) planning, (3) family/social, (4) snacking, (5) food preferences, (6) health awareness, (7) shopping, (8) food preparation, (9) eating out and (10) emotional. These categories were subdivided into 49 sub-categories to reveal more specific patterns of behaviour. Conclusion: African American women showed considerable variability in how they approached planning, choosing, preparing and eating food. A plethora of habits and food meanings--influenced by the personal, cultural, and environmental context--place these women at high risk for chronic disease. There were attempts to eat 'healthy', but these were overcome by traditions, social influences, habits and price. Individualized assessments to determine how each woman uses contextual information to make her food choices should be conducted in order to facilitate permanent eating behaviour change.
Contrast Agents for Magnetic Resonance Imaging: Safety Update

Magnetic resonance contrast agents, particularly the gadolinium-based agents, are extremely safe and lack the nephrotoxicity associated with iodinated contrast media. Currently, seven gadolinium agents are available in one or more countries of the world, of which only four are available for clinical use in the United States. Minor adverse effects associated with each of these agents occur infrequently and include nausea, headache, and taste perversion. Whereas the gadolinium agents cannot be differentiated on the basis of these mild adverse effects, recent studies have brought to light the issue of chelate stability, and in particular, clinical observations associated with the least stable of these agents. This review briefly discusses the most recent safety issues concerning the gadolinium agents. A brief review of safety issues concerning the non-gadolinium agents is also provided.
Soybean Flour Improves Fatty Acid Profile and Decreases Hepatic Triglyceride Deposition in Rats Fed with Normocaloric and Hypercaloric Diet

This study investigated the effects of replacing casein with soy flour on the fatty acids profile and triglycerides metabolism in the liver of rats that were previously fed with normocaloric and hypercaloric diets based on casein. Wistar male rats were used; one group was fed with control diet (AIN-93) and another with hypercaloric diet (AIN-93 with 34.15% sucrose, 42% fat calories) for 9 weeks. Each group was then divided into two subgroups and casein was replaced with soybean in one of them, obtaining CC (control casein), CS (control soy), HC (hypercaloric casein) and HS (hypercaloric soy), which were fed for 6 weeks. We measured triglycerides in serum, and triglycerides, total lipids, fatty acids profile, the expression of apolipoprotein B (Apo B), acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACC), fatty acid synthase (FAS), sterol-regulatory element-binding protein 1c (SREBP-1c), mitochondrial glycerol-3-phosphate acyltransferase (mGPAT), diacylglycerol acyltransferase 2 (DGAT-2), carnitine palmitoyltransferase 1 (CPT-1) and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors alpha (PPARα) in liver. Histological studies were also performed. When comparing HS vs. HC, a positive effect of soybean flour on hepatic triglycerides deposits was found, possibly through the reduction in DGAT-2 expression (P < 0.01) and the increase in Apo B (P < 0.001) expression. Soybean flour also decreased fat deposits in control diets when compared with casein, decreasing the DGAT-2 (P < 0.001) expression and increasing Apo B (P < 0.001), CPT-1 (P < 0.05) and PPARα (P < 0.01) expressions. Both soy diet subgroups increased unsaturated fatty acids respect to casein diets (P < 0.01). Hepatocytes showed few lipid droplets in HS, whereas a fat deposit in HC was observed. These results suggest that replacing casein with soybean flour in normocaloric and hypercaloric diets reduces triglycerides and improves fatty acids profile in rat liver.
A patient with the syndrome of megalencephaly, mega corpus callosum and complete lack of motor development

The syndrome of megalencephaly, mega corpus callosum and complete lack of motor development (MCC; OMIM 603387) is an apparently rare condition since only three sporadic cases have been reported [Gohlich‐Ratmann et al. (1998); Am J Med Genet 79:161–167]. We describe an additional case that was not diagnosed until age 15 months. The MRI showed generalized, severe enlargement of the corpus callosum and thickening of the cortex. The cause for the MCC syndrome is unknown and both autosomal recessive and spontaneous dominant genetic mechanisms are possibilities. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Expression of Basic Fibroblast Growth Factor, its Receptors and Syndecans in Bladder Cancer

Basic Fibroblast Growth Factor (bFGF) is a heparin-binding cationic protein involved in a variety of pathological conditions including angiogenesis and solid tumour growth. The basic Fibroblast Growth Factor Receptor (FGFR) family comprises at least 4 high affinity tyrosine kinase receptors that require syndecans for their function. Mounting evidence indicates that syndecans, that bind both bFGF and their FGFRs, will act as stimulators, whereas syndecans that only bind bFGF will act as inhibitors of signaling by sequestering the growth factor. Recent findings have highlighted the importance of syndecans in urological cancers. The aim of this study is to investigate the expression of bFGF, its receptors (R1 and R2) and syndecans (1-4) in invasive urothelial carcinoma and normal-looking urothelium by Western blotting, RT-PCR, and immunohistochemistry analyses. Interestingly, bFGF, FGFR1 and FGFR2 protein levels statistically increased in bladder cancer tissues. mRNA of FGFR1 and syndecans (1-4), showed a statistically significant increase while an mRNA increase in the other molecules analysed was not significant. bFGF, its receptors and syndecan immunostaining were mainly present in the urothelium both in normal-looking tissues and urothelial neoplastic cells. In conclusion, our data report that the bFGF, FGFR and syndecan expressions are altered in bladder tumours.
Influence of progressive hemorrhage and subsequent cardiopulmonary resuscitation on the bispectral index during isoflurane anesthesia in a swine model

BACKGROUND The bispectral index for measurement of anesthetic depth may be modified by extreme hypotension during hemorrhagic shock. In this study, the influence of progressive hemorrhage and subsequent cardiopulmonary resuscitation on the bispectral index was investigated under controlled anesthetic depth. METHODS Fifteen swine were anesthetized through inhalation of isoflurane under bispectral index monitoring. Hemorrhagic shock was induced using a stepwise hemorrhage model in which 20%, 10%, and 10% of estimated blood volume were removed over three 30-minute periods and then 5% was removed every 30 minutes until the mean arterial pressure was less than 10 mm Hg. After reaching this criterion, chest compression with 0.2-mg/kg epinephrine and hydroxyethyl starch infusion was performed for 20 minutes or until the mean arterial pressure exceeded 50 mm Hg. The pharmacodynamics of the isoflurane effect was examined before hemorrhage, after 40% bleeding, and after resuscitation. RESULTS A mean (SD) volume of 836 (78) mL of blood was drained before resuscitation. The bispectral index suddenly decreased at a mean (SD) arterial pressure of 22 (3) mm Hg and showed isoelectric activity in most animals before resuscitation. Eight pigs were resuscitated, and the bispectral index recovered during a range of periods after recovery of the mean arterial pressure. The pharmacodynamic effect of isoflurane did not change after 40% bleeding but increased after resuscitation, with the alteration correlated with the time for resuscitation. CONCLUSION In hemorrhagic shock, the bispectral index merely reflects the anesthetic depth until development of lethal hypotension at which brain electrical activity cannot be sustained. After recovery from depression, the potency of isoflurane can increase depending on the cerebral hypoperfusion time. The increased bispectral index for anesthetics after resuscitation might reflect the degree of cerebral damage due to hypoperfusion.