Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Low adherence to guidelines for preventing TB among persons with newly diagnosed HIV infection, United States.

SETTING Persons infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) are at risk for developing tuberculosis (TB) if latent TB infection remains untreated. OBJECTIVE To assess missed opportunities for preventing TB by selecting a population-based sample of 1093 persons diagnosed with HIV from June 1995 to June 1997 in Seattle, WA, New Orleans, LA, and Jersey City, NJ. DESIGN To determine the proportion of persons receiving a tuberculin skin test (TST) following HIV diagnosis, we conducted record reviews at providers and local TB control. RESULTS An estimated 53.7% (95% CI 49.9-57.4) had a TST following HIV diagnosis; 6.6% (95% CI 4.3-8.9%) of TST-tested patients were reactive. Median time between HIV diagnosis and TST was 1 month (mean 5.7 months, 95% CI 4.8-6.5). Factors associated with TST included additional risk factors for TB (OR 1.76, 95% CI 1.17-2.63), history of HIV-related preventive treatment (OR 5.84, 95% CI 3.74-8.75), higher number of clinic visits (OR 4.16, 95% CI 2.01-8.02), and attendance at facilities with a written policy to provide TST for all persons with HIV (OR 2.54, 95% CI 1.28-4.88). CONCLUSION About half of persons newly diagnosed with HIV infection had a TST following HIV diagnosis, with little variation by demographics, signaling a general need to improve interventions to prevent TB.
Parental Compliance with After Hours Telephone Triage Advice: Nurse Advice Service versus On-Call Pediatricians

To compare parental compliance with after-hours triage advice provided by telephone advice nurses and on-call pediatricians, a randomized controlled trial was undertaken at a university general pediatrics practice that enrolled parents or guardians calling for after-hours advice. Advice calls were randomized to a call center advice nurse or the on-call pediatrician. Parental compliance with the triage advice and agreement of the parental report of advice with the pediatrician/nurse report of advice given was evaluated. There were 566 participants in the pediatrician and 616 in the nurse group. Compliance with advice (pediatrician v. nurse) was not significantly different for emergent/urgent care (75.8% v. 72.6%) and self care (74.3% v. 77.2%) but was significantly higher in the pediatrician group for office care (51.5% v. 29.6%; 95% CI of difference, 8.9%-34.2%). Overall agreement between the caller reported and physician or nurse advice was 84.5% for emergent/ urgent, 42.7% for office care, and 93.7% for self-care. Clin Pediatr. 2003;42:613-619
Effect of Antiresorptive Therapy on Osteoblastic and Osteoclastic Activity in Postmenopausal Osteoporosis Women

The awareness of osteoporosis has grown worldwide in recent years. This silently progressing metabolic bone disease is widely prevalent in India, and osteoporotic fractures are a common cause of morbidity and mortality in Indian women. Rapid bone loss occurs in postmenopausal women due to hormonal factors which lead to increased risk of fractures. Biochemical markers of bone metabolism are used to assess skeletal turnover and will be clinically useful in the management of post-menopausal osteoporosis women (PMO) as well as for assessing the effect of antiresorptive therapy. Aim: 1) To measure bone formation and resorption markers such as serum alkaline phosphatase and tartrate resistant acid phosphatase at the base line level in postmenopausal osteoporosis women & control. 2) These biochemical parameters were determined 3 months post antiresorptive therapy (alendronate + calcium + calcitriol) in postmenopausal osteoporosis patients. Study Design: Prospective Setting: Postmenopausal osteoporosis patients from civil hospital Sangli and Miraj. Participants: 60 clinically diagnosed postmenopausal osteoporosis patients and 60 normal subjects (postmenopausal nonosteoporosis women) were recruited as control. Results: Serum alkaline phosphatase and tartrate resistant acid phosphatase was significantly increased (P<0.001) in PMO as compared to controls and post therapy these levels were decreased significantly (P<0.001) in PMO. Conclusion: Biochemical markers of bone turnover provide information that can aid in predicting risk of future 208 Dr. Mrs. Jagtap Vanita Ramesh bone loss and osteoporotic fracture. These markers can also be used to monitor antiresorptive therapy in the PMO patients.
Electrical Stimulation Modulates High γ Activity and Human Memory Performance

Visual Abstract Direct electrical stimulation of the brain has emerged as a powerful treatment for multiple neurological diseases, and as a potential technique to enhance human cognition. Despite its application in a range of brain disorders, it remains unclear how stimulation of discrete brain areas affects memory performance and the underlying electrophysiological activities. Here, we investigated the effect of direct electrical stimulation in four brain regions known to support declarative memory: hippocampus (HP), parahippocampal region (PH) neocortex, prefrontal cortex (PF), and lateral temporal cortex (TC). Intracranial EEG recordings with stimulation were collected from 22 patients during performance of verbal memory tasks. We found that high γ (62–118 Hz) activity induced by word presentation was modulated by electrical stimulation. This modulatory effect was greatest for trials with “poor” memory encoding. The high γ modulation correlated with the behavioral effect of stimulation in a given brain region: it was negative, i.e., the induced high γ activity was decreased, in the regions where stimulation decreased memory performance, and positive in the lateral TC where memory enhancement was observed. Our results suggest that the effect of electrical stimulation on high γ activity induced by word presentation may be a useful biomarker for mapping memory networks and guiding therapeutic brain stimulation.
A new preconditioning regimen with melphalan, busulphan and total body irradiation followed by low‐dose immunosuppressant in allogeneic haemopoietic stem cell transplantation

Twenty adult patients with high‐risk leukaemia underwent allogeneic haemopoietic stem cell transplantation after melphalan, busulphan and total body irradiation followed by short‐term methotrexate and low‐dose cyclosporine or tacrolimus. Three patients developed veno‐occlusive disease and no patient developed renal dysfunction. Seven patients experienced grade II–IV acute graft‐versus‐host disease (aGVHD) and five patients experienced grade III–IV. The 3‐year probabilities of relapse and leukaemia‐free survival were 22 ± 11% (95% confidence interval) and 50 ± 11%, respectively. These data suggest that this preconditioning regimen followed by a low‐dose immunosuppressant provided a more anti‐leukaemic effect without increased regimen‐related toxicity and aGVHD.
The apoptotic effect of oral administration of microcystin‐RR on mice liver

Microcystin produced by cyanobacteria in diverse water systems is a potent hepatotoxin that has been documented to induce hepatocyte apoptosis and liver injury. There are more than eighty reported microcystins. The present work aimed at investigating the apoptotic effect of MC‐RR (a common member of microcystin family), and its related mechanism. MC‐RR was administered orally to ICR mice for 7 days with different dosages. Apoptotic cell death in liver was detected by TUNEL assay, and the expression levels of Bcl‐2, Bax and p53, GRP 78 and CHOP which have been reported to be related to apoptosis and ER stress were determined via western‐blot. The activity of PP2A was measured using the serine‐threonine phosphatase assay system and PP2A A subunit expression at both transcription and protein levels was measured by RT‐PCR and western blot, respectively. A significant difference was observed on the number of TUNEL positive liver cells between the control and MC‐RR‐treated groups. The expression levels of Bcl‐2, Bax, p53, and GRP 78 in MC‐RR‐treated groups were altered significantly compared to the control, but no obvious alteration was found in CHOP expression. The PP2A activity and A subunit expression did not manifest any obvious change at both transcription and protein levels. The results indicated that oral exposure to MC‐RR can cause apoptosis as well as moderate ER stress in mice liver. The mitochondrial pathway via Bcl‐2 family members may contribute to the apoptosis. However, PP2A may not be involved in the regulation of apoptotic process under the current conditions. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Environ Toxicol, 2010.
IRRADIATION PRODUCTS ON DWARF PLANET MAKEMAKE

The dark, reddish tinged surfaces of icy bodies in the outer solar system are usually attributed to the long term irradiation of simple hydrocarbons leading to the breaking of C–H bonds, loss of hydrogen, and the production of long carbon chains. While the simple hydrocarbon methane is stable and detected on the most massive bodies in the Kuiper Belt, evidence of active irradiation chemistry is scant except for the presence of ethane on methane-rich Makemake and the possible detections of ethane on more methane-poor Pluto and Quaoar. We have obtained deep high signal-to-noise spectra of Makemake from 1.4 to 2.5 μm in an attempt to trace the radiation chemistry in the outer solar system beyond the initial ethane formation. We present the first astrophysical detection of solid ethylene and evidence for acetylene and high-mass alkanes—all expected products of the continued irradiation of methane, and use these species to map the chemical pathway from methane to long-chain hydrocarbons.
Novel neuritogenic activities of pseurotin A and penicillic acid.

Neurotrophic factors (NTF) are knownto be essential for the survival and functional maintenance of nerve cells in the central and the peripheral nervous system1 ~ 3). The decrease in availability of NTFis considered to cause dysfunction of the nervous system, resulting in various neural diseases including senile dementia such as Alzheimer's disease. Compounds which regulate the synthesis and secretion of neurotrophic factors might be useful as pharmaceutical agents for treatment of various neurodegenerative diseases involving dementia. In the
Cognitive impairment and employment status in systemic lupus erythematosus: a prospective longitudinal study.

OBJECTIVE To determine the relationship between cognitive impairment and employment in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). METHODS A total of 167 consecutive patients with SLE were prospectively evaluated, and underwent standardized neuropsychological tests. Multivariate logistic regression was used to determine the likelihood of being unemployed, adjusting for sociodemographic characteristics, employment status at study entry, disease activity, disease duration, damage scores, and depression. RESULTS At study entry, 118 (70.7%) of 167 patients were employed. In the multivariate analysis, after adjusting for confounders, unemployment was predicted by the number of cognitive domains impaired (odds ratio [OR] 1.76, 95% confidence interval [95% CI] 1.58-6.72), depression (OR 1.3, 95% CI 1.1-3.1), fewer years of education (OR 0.12, 95% CI 0.02-0.34), and the presence of anticardiolipin antibodies (OR 1.43, 95% CI 1.2-6.1). Complex attention (OR 1.7, 95% CI 1.2-3.6), memory (OR 3.1, 95% CI 1.5-6.2), and executive functions (OR 2.4, 95% CI 1.9-6.1) were predictors of unemployment at study entry. After 3 years, 61 (51.7%) of 118 patients were employed (OR 2.25, 95% CI 1.38-3.68; P = 0.001). The likelihood of being unemployed after 3 years was predicted by the number of cognitive domains impaired (OR 3.8, 95% CI 2.5-7.71), depression (OR 2.31, 95% CI 1.01-5.21), fewer years of education (OR 0.09, 95% CI 0.01-0.42), and the presence of anticardiolipin antibodies (OR 2.1, 95% CI 1.2-4.9). Complex attention (OR 2.2, 95% CI 1.1-3.8), memory (OR 3.6, 95% CI 2.1-6.4), executive functions (OR 1.8, 95% CI 1.2-7.3), and reasoning/problem solving (OR 1.9, 95% CI 1.4-7.2) were associated with unemployment after 3 years. CONCLUSION The number of cognitive spheres, and especially attention, memory, and executive functions, are important factors associated with unemployment in patients with SLE.
Evaluation of immunoassays for cannabinoids in urine.

A comparison was made of several cannabinoid urine assays. Two hundred randomly selected urine specimens were initially screened by two enzyme immunoassays (EMIT-st and EMIT-d.a.u.) and a radioimmunoassay (Abuscreen RIA). Selected specimens found positive by any of these methods were further analyzed by gas-liquid chromatography with flame ionization detection (GLC/FID), gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS), and an experimental RIA from Research Triangle Institute (RTI RIA). The GLC/FID method gave confirmations in 69 to 92% of the samples, depending on the method used and the cut-off employed. GC/MS confirmed 98% of the EMIT and RIA positives using a low cut-off (20 ng/mL). All RIA positives at 100 ng/mL were confirmed by GC/MS. There was complete agreement between the RTI RIA and the EMIT assays, but not with the Abuscreen RIA at the 100 ng/mL cut-off. The study illustrates that care must be exercised in establishing assay cut-offs and the designation of false positive results.
Fear of cancer recurrence in oral and oropharyngeal cancer patients: An investigation of the clinical encounter

Fear of cancer recurrence (FCR) is common among individuals treated for cancer. Explorations of how this fear is expressed within an oncology setting and responded to are currently lacking. The aim was to investigate how head and neck cancer survivors in follow-up consultations express FCR, investigate how a healthcare professional addresses recurrence fears, and examine how survivors experience this interaction. We recorded the follow-up consultations of those participants who have reported FCR as a concern on the Patient Concerns Inventory. We also conducted a follow-up phone interview with the participants. We analysed the transcripts using thematic analysis. Five men and six women were recruited, aged 55-87 (mean age = 64). Follow-up consultation analyses revealed that the consultant used "normalising FCR," "reassurance," and "offer of referral to a counsellor. " Interviews revealed themes around how they coped with FCR, relevance of personal history on FCR, and the impact of feeling gratitude towards the consultant on expression of FCR. Analyses indicate that patients may feel reluctant to raise their FCR with their clinician for fear of appearing "ungrateful" or of damaging a relationship that is held in high esteem. Findings indicate the initiation of FCR with patients can be beneficial for patient support.
Prevalence of Influenza A Virus in Exhibition Swine during Arrival at Agricultural Fairs

The exhibition swine at agricultural fairs provides a critical human–swine interface that allows for the bidirectional transmission of influenza A virus (IAV). Previous IAV surveillance at the end of fairs has resulted in frequent detection of IAV‐infected swine; little is known, however, about the frequency with which swine arrive at fairs already infected with IAV. We investigated the IAV prevalence among exhibition swine entering fairs to better understand the epidemiology of IAV in this unique human–swine interface. In 2014, snout wipes were collected from 3547 swine during the first day of nine agricultural exhibitions in Indiana and Ohio. Samples were screened for IAV using rRT‐PCR and positive samples were inoculated into cultured cells for virus isolation. The overall IAV prevalence detected among swine arriving at exhibitions was 5.3% (188/3547) via rRT‐PCR and 1.5% (53/3547) via virus isolation, with IAV being detected and recovered from swine at 5 of the 9 exhibitions. Within the fairs with IAV‐positive swine, the individual exhibition IAV prevalence ranged from 0.2% (1/523) to 34.4% (144/419) using rRT‐PCR and 0.2% (1/523) to 10.3% (43/419) with virus isolation. Single IAV subtypes were detected at three of the fairs but subtype diversity was detected among the pigs at two fairs as both H1N1 and H3N2 were recovered from incoming swine. At two of the exhibitions, a temporal relationship was observed between the order of the individual swine in sampling and the associated IAV rRT‐PCR results, indicating the fomite transmission of IAV through common contact surfaces may occur. With the knowledge that a small proportion of swine arrive at fairs shedding IAV, resources should be directed towards preventive strategies focused on limiting transmission during fairs to protect swine and humans during exhibitions.
Hybrid Clustering using Elitist Teaching Learning-Based Optimization: An Improved Hybrid Approach of TLBO

Data clustering is a key field of research in the pattern recognition arena. Although clustering is an unsupervised learning technique, numerous efforts have been made in both hard and soft clustering. In hard clustering, K-means is the most popular method and is being used in diversified application areas. In this paper, an effort has been made with a recently developed population based metaheuristic called Elitist based teaching learning based optimization ETLBO for data clustering. The ETLBO has been hybridized with K-means algorithm ETLBO-K-means to get the optimal cluster centers and effective fitness values. The performance of the proposed method has been compared with other techniques by considering standard benchmark real life datasets as well as some synthetic datasets. Simulation and comparison results demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed method.
Connecting the Dots: Case Studies and EU Implementation Research

This paper is an accompanying text to the Compliance Database – the database of case studies of transposition, implementation, and compliance with EU law. (stract http://www.eif.oeaw.ac.at/compliance/). The database contains the results from the literature survey in a form that enables detailed overviews of individual studies as well as easy comparisons across studies. The database has been developed with the support of the Institute for European Integration Research at the Austrian Academy of Sciences and it is a free and regularly updated resource. The conclusions of this paper are based as much on the inferences that the database offers, as on the original articles and books that have been reviewed.
Looking for Audience Costs in all the Wrong Places: Electoral Institutions, Media Access, and Democratic Constraint

For leaders to generate credibility through audience costs, there must be mechanisms in place that enable citizens to learn about foreign policy failures. However, scholars have paid relatively little attention to variations among democracies in the extent to which the public is able to obtain this sort of information. We argue here that electoral institutions play this role by influencing the number of major political parties in a country and, with it, the extent and depth of opposition to the executive. Opposition leads to whistle-blowing, which makes it more likely that that the public will actually hear about a leader’s foreign policy blunders. The effectiveness of this whistle-blowing, however, is conditional on the public’s access to the primary conduit for communication between leaders and citizens: the mass media. We test these expectations statistically, demonstrating that leaders in systems with these attributes fare better with respect to their threats and the reciprocation of conflicts that they initiate. These findings suggest that democracies are not automatically able to generate credibility through audience costs and that the domestic institutions and political processes that link the public and leaders must be taken seriously.
Noninvasive assessment of renal fractional flow reserve: are we there yet?

DOI: 10.3760/cma.j.issn.0366-6999.20131746 Institute of Digestive Disease, Tongji Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200065, China (Qi XL, Ma WR and Yang CQ) Division of Cardiology, Shanghai Tenth People’s Hospital, Shanghai 200072, China (Fan GX) Division of Hepatobiliary Surgery, 302 Hospital of Chinese People’s Liberation Army, Beijing 100039, China (Li ZW) Correspondence to: Dr. Yang Changqing, Institute of Digestive Disease, Tongji Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200065, China (Tel: 86-21-66111076. Fax: 86-2166111604. Email: cqyang@tongji.edu.cn) Qi Xiaolong, Fan Guoxin and Li Zhiwei contributed equally to this article. This study was supported by the grants from National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 81070343); Shanghai Science and Technology Innovation Action Plan (No. 12431901002). Conflicts of interests: none. Viewpoint
Urinary screening for benzodiazepines with radioreceptor assay: comparison with EMIT d.a.u. benzodiazepine assay and high-performance liquid chromatography.

The radioreceptor assay (RRA) provides a total estimate of all pharmacologically active forms of benzodiazepines and their metabolites. We evaluated the method for urine drug screening. Detection limits of the most commonly used benzodiazepines and their major metabolites were determined. In all cases, the detection limits were lower than the cutoff values specified for the Syva EMIT d.a. u. benzodiazepine assay. Thirty-three urine samples for routine drug screening were tested for benzodiazepines by RRA and EMIT. Results were compared with those obtained by a highly specific high-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) method. Five commonly used benzodiazepines and their major metabolites were identified by use of a computerized multichannel photodetector. We obtained two false-negative results by RRA when compared with HPLC. These may be caused by conjugate formation. The inclusion of a simple enzymatic hydrolysis improves the detection of compounds excreted in the urine as glucuronide conjugates (e.g., oxazepam). We conclude that the combination of enzymatic hydrolysis and direct RRA provides a rapid and acceptable method for detection of the presence of benzodiazepines in urine samples.
Factors affecting outcome of extensor tendon lacerations in the distal limb of horses

Summary Distal limb lacerations are common injuries in horses, with a better prognosis reported for extensor tendons lacerations compared to flexor tendons lacerations. The objective of the present study was to determine the influence of type and location of injury, modalities of treatment and post surgical complications on the outcome of extensor tendon lacerations. The medical records of 156 horses surgically treated for extensor tendon lacerations over a 10-year period were analysed retrospectively. Information was obtained for 124 horses with a minimum of 18 months follow-up. Statistical analysis was performed on 129 horses (five horses were euthanatized during hospitalization) in order to determine factors affecting outcome. Seventy-four percent of the horses returned to soundness, 17% had moderate gait impairment and 9% remained lame. Approximately 60% of the sports horses returned to an equal or higher level of performance, and 17.5% returned to a lower level. In the multivariate statistical analysis, the only significant factor that favourably influenced outcome was complete suture of the wound. A significant association could not be detected between outcome and absence of a functional extensor tendon, The most important post-surgical complication was extensive scarring of the wound. The present results report outcome of extensor tendon lacerations in a large number of horses and outline the importance of primary wound healing in order to avoid major scarring with potential functional consequences.