Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Adherence to medication in bipolar disorder: a qualitative study exploring the role of patients' beliefs about the condition and its treatment.

OBJECTIVES Patients' perceptions of illness and treatment have been found to predict adherence to medication in many chronic conditions. This has not yet been fully explored in bipolar disorder (BD). The aim was to use a qualitative methodology to explore in depth the beliefs about BD and its treatment that are associated with adherence to medication prescribed for BD. METHODS Sixteen adults prescribed prophylactic treatment for BD completed semi-structured interviews about their perceptions of BD and its treatment and their adherence to medication. Interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim. Two researchers identified perceptions associated with non-adherence in the transcripts. RESULTS Thirteen participants (81%) reported some degree of intentional or unintentional medication non-adherence. Intentional non-adherence was associated with patients' concerns about the prescribed medication, arising from the experience of side effects, but also from beliefs that regular use could lead to adverse effects in the future. Intentional non-adherence was also associated with doubts about the personal need for medication, which were related to perceptions of BD (e.g., not accepting diagnosis, believing the condition is not controllable, believing it is not a chronic condition). CONCLUSIONS This study has identified some of the salient beliefs about BD and its treatment that should be elicited and addressed in interventions to facilitate adherence to medication. Further quantitative work is justified to explore the utility of this approach in the development of interventions.
Relative risk of home hemodialysis attrition in patients using a telehealth platform

Introduction: Home hemodialysis (HHD) facilitates increased treatment frequency, which may improve patient outcomes. However, attrition due to technique failure limits the clinical effectiveness of the modality. Nx2me Connected Health is a telehealth platform that enables ongoing assessment of HHD patients using NxStage equipment, and that may reduce patient burden. We aimed to assess whether use of Nx2me was associated with risk of HHD attrition.
Poisoning severity score, Glasgow coma scale, corrected QT interval in acute organophosphate poisoning

The aim of this study was to investigate effectiveness of the poisoning severity score (PSS), Glasgow coma scale (GCS), and corrected QT (QTc) interval in predicting outcomes in acute organophosphates (OP) poisoning. Over a period of 2 years, 62 patients with OP poisoning were admitted to emergency department (ED) of Erciyes University Medical School Hospital. The age, sex, cause of contact, compound involved, time elapsed between exposure and admission to the ED, duration of hospital stay, and cardiac manifestations at the time of presentation were recorded. GCS and poisoning severity score (PSS) was calculated for each patient. Electrocardiogram (ECG) analysis included the rate, rhythm, ST-T abnormalities, conduction defects, and measurement of PR and QT intervals. Sixty-two patients with OP poisoning presented to our ED from January 2007 to December 2008 from which 54 patients were included in the study. The mean age was 34.1 ± 14.8 years. Of the cases, 53.7% were female. Twenty-six patients had a prolonged QTc interval. Mean PSS of men and women was 1.8 ± 1.0. No statistically significant correlation was found between the PSS and QTc intervals of the cases. A significant correlation was determined between the GCS and PSS of grade 3 and grade 4 cases. GCS is a parameter that helps clinician to identify advanced grade OP poisoning patients in the initial assessment in the ED. However, ECG findings, such as prolonged QTc interval, are not effective in determination of short-term prognosis and show no relationship with PSS.
Isolation of feline calicivirus and feline herpesvirus from domestic cats 1980 to 1989

Isolation rates of feline herpesvirus (FHV) and feline calicivirus (FCV) from oropharyngeal swabs, taken from 6866 cats in 1980 to 1989 were studied retrospectively. FCV was isolated from 1364 (19.9 per cent) and FHV from 285 (4.2 per cent). The ratio of FCV:FHV isolations varied from 1.3:1 to 15:1 in individual years with an overall ratio of 4.8:1. Isolation of both viruses was fairly uniform for each year and there was no breed or sex disposition to either virus. Of 872 cats shedding FCV and 213 cats shedding FHV, of known age, 447 (51.3 per cent) with FCV and 140 (65.7 per cent) with FHV were under one year old, compared to only 35.3 per cent of the whole population sampled. For the years 1985 to 1989, more information was obtained about the cases. Of 4626 cats tested, 1180 (25.5 per cent) had acute upper respiratory tract disease (URTD) of which 348 (29.5 per cent) were shedding FCV and 162 (13.7 per cent) FHV. A further 597 had chronic URTD and of these, 102 (17.1 per cent) were shedding FCV and 18 (3 per cent) FHV. In 120 cases of suspected vaccine reaction/breakdown, FCV was isolated from 34 (28.3 per cent) and FHV from only two (1.7 per cent). FHV was not isolated from any of 412 cases presenting with chronic gingivitis/stomatitis alone; 181 (43.9 per cent) were shedding FCV and when cats with other signs in addition to chronic gingivitis were included, this proportion increased to 70.4 per cent. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
The endodermal origin of the endocrine cells of an adenocarcinoma of the colon of the rat

A transplantable adenocarcinoma of the colon of the rat, which contained mucous, columnar, endocrine, and undifferentiated carcinoma cells, were cloned to see if each of the differentiated cell lineages had a common cell or origin. Four clonal lines were produced by the transplantation of single cells using micropipettes. Each tumor contained all four cell lineages but in markedly differing proportions. A confirmatory experiment was performed using a lung colony cloning assay. Seven tumors were obtained; each had mucous, columnar, endocrine, and undifferentiated cells. It is concluded that the endocrine cells of the colon are derived by differentiation from endoderm. They are not of neural crest origin.
Drug Sensitivity of Different Tumor Lesions from the Same Patient Evaluated by a Short-Term Assay

A short-term antimetabolic assay, which considers the interference with [3H]thymidine incorporation as an indicator of drug effect, has been used to comparatively assess the chemosensitivity of different tumor lesions from the same patient. The analysis was performed on primary tumors and their synchronous metastases from 67 patients with breast, ovarian, gastrointestinal and germ cell testicular tumors. A remarkable difference in sensitivity to cytostatic drugs was observed between the two lesions. In contrast, a strong association in chemosensitivity (81.7% agreement rate; p < 0.01) was observed between two synchronous metastases from 17 patients with breast, ovarian, germ cell testicular tumors or malignant melanoma. In addition, the predictive relevance of the antimetabolic assay on clinical response to chemotherapy was analyzed in relation to the type of tumor lesion tested in vitro in a retrospective correlative study on 57 patients with advanced ovarian and germ cell testicular tumors. The objective clinical response was significantly correlated to the in vitro sensitivity of metastases (83.7% agreement rate; p < 0.01), but not to that of the primary tumor.
Brightness preserving histogram equalization with maximum entropy: a variational perspective

Histogram equalization (HE) is a simple and effective image enhancing technique, however, it tends to change the mean brightness of the image to the middle level of the permitted range, and hence is not very suitable for consumer electronic products, where preserving the original brightness is essential to avoid annoying artifacts. This paper proposes a novel extension of histogram equalization, actually histogram specification, to overcome such drawback as HE. To maximize the entropy is the essential idea of HE to make the histogram as flat as possible. Following that, the essence of the proposed algorithm, named brightness preserving histogram equalization with maximum entropy (BPHEME), tries to find, by the variational approach, the target histogram that maximizes the entropy, under the constraints that the mean brightness is fixed, then transforms the original histogram to that target one using histogram specification. Comparing to the existing methods including HE, brightness preserving bi-histogram equalization (BBHE), equal area dualistic sub-image histogram equalization (DSIHE), and minimum mean brightness error bi-histogram equalization (MMBEBHE), experimental results show that BPHEME can not only enhance the image effectively, but also preserve the original brightness quite well, so that it is possible to be utilized in consumer electronic products.
Thymoquinone and proanthocyanidin attenuation of diabetic nephropathy in rats.

BACKGROUND Diabetic nephro-pathy (DN) is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in diabetic patients. To prevent the development of this disease and to improve advanced kidney injury, effective therapies directed toward the key molecular target are required. Proanthocyanidin (PA) and thymoquinone (TQ) have been reported to be effective in treating DN, while little is known about their mechanism of action and their combination. AIM This study was designed to investigate the possible beneficial effects of (TQ), (PA) and their combination to attenuate DN in rats. MATERIALS AND METHODS Rats were divided into five groups: group 1 (control), group 2 (diabetic untreated), group 3 (diabetic treated with PA), group 4 (diabetic treated with TQ) and group 5 (diabetic treated with PA+TQ). Diabetes was induced in groups 2-5 by a single dose of 65 mg/kg streptozotocin (STZ) in citrate buffer pH 4.5. Two days after STZ treatment, development of diabetes in the experimental groups was confirmed by measuring blood glucose. Rats in group 3 were given PA (250 mg/kg), rats in group 4 were given TQ (50 mg/kg) and rats in group 5 were given PA+TQ (250+50 mg/kg respectively) once a day orally for 12 weeks starting 2 days after STZ injection. RESULTS In this work, novel data correlate the relation between reactive oxygen species; advanced glycation end products; IL-6 and DN were obtained. Treatment of rats in groups 3-5 with PA, TQ and PA+TQ was significantly increased- the reduced body weight, the reduced glutathione concentration and activity of superoxide dismutase. The elevated levels of urea, creatinine, nitric oxide, malondialdehyde and IL-6 in group 2 were significantly reduced as a result of the treatment. CONCLUSION These findings suggest that PA and TQ treatment exerts a therapeutic protective effect in diabetes by decreasing oxidative stress and attenuating DN. Consequently, TQ and PA may be clinically useful for protecting diabetic kidney against oxidative stress.
Vasopressin Response and Terbutaline Inhibition of the Uterus

A study of the effects of 8-lysine vasopressin (LVP) and its long acting analogue N-a-triglycyl-8-lysine vasopressin (TGVP) on the myometrium and vasculature of the normal human nonpregnant uterus was undertaken. The results suggest that the vasopressins decrease local endometrial blood flow both directly by effects on the uterine vascular bed, and indirectly by increasing myometrial activity. The effects in vivo can be effectively counteracted by ß2 receptor stimulation.
Novel FGF receptor (Z‐FGFR4) is dynamically expressed in mesoderm and neurectoderm during early zebrafish embryogenesis

We have identified a novel FGF receptor, Z‐FGFR4, in zebrafish embryos. Z‐FGFR4 is closely related to both chicken FREK (Marcelle et al. [1994] Development 120:683–694) and the Pleurodeles cDNA clone Pw‐FGFR4 (also named PFR4). The Z‐FGFR4 cDNA clones contain consensus sequences for two groups of two Ig‐like domains, separated by eight acidic residues referred to as the “acid box”. Z‐FGFR4, therefore, is the first FGFR molecule yet described in vertebrates that contains four Ig domains in its aminoterminal region.
A model for phase noise generation in amplifiers

In this paper, a model is presented for predicting the phase modulation (PM) and amplitude modulation (AM) noise in bipolar junction transistor (BJT) amplifiers. The model correctly predicts the dependence of phase noise on the signal frequency (at a particular carrier offset frequency), explains the noise shaping of the phase noise about the signal frequency, and shows the functional dependence on the transistor parameters and the circuit parameters. Experimental studies on common emitter (CE) amplifiers have been used to validate the PM noise model at carrier frequencies between 10 and 100 MHz.
Magnetic resonance imaging findings of isolated abducent nerve palsy induced by vascular compression of vertebrobasilar dolichoectasia

ABSTRACT If the origin of isolated abducent nerve palsy cannot be found on neuroradiological examinations, diabetes mellitus is known as a probable cause; however, some cases show no potential causes of isolated abducent nerve palsy. Here, we report a 74-year-old male who suffered from diplopia due to isolated left abducent nerve palsy. Magnetic resonance angiography and fast imaging employing steady-state acquisition imaging clearly showed a dolichoectasic vertebrobasilar artery compressing the left abducent nerve upward and outward. There were no abnormal lesions in the brain stem, cavernous sinus, or orbital cavity. Laboratory data showed no abnormal findings. We concluded that neurovascular compression of the left abducent nerve might cause isolated left abducent nerve palsy. We observed him without surgical treatment considering his general condition with angina pectoris and old age. His symptom due to the left abducent nerve palsy persisted. From previous reports, conservative treatment could not improve abducent nerve palsy. Microvascular decompression should be considered for abducent nerve palsy due to vascular compression if patients are young, and their general condition is good. We also discuss interesting characteristics with a review of the literature.
Statins inhibit the growth of variant human embryonic stem cells and cancer cells in vitro but not normal human embryonic stem cells

Background and purpose: Statins inhibit proliferation of various human cancer cell lines in vitro. As human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) possess neoplastic‐like properties we have evaluated the role of various statins on karyotypically normal hESCs (HES3 and BG01), abnormal hESCs (BG01V) and breast adenocarcinoma cells (MCF‐7) to evaluate whether the mode of action of the statins was via a stemness pathway.
Modified immunohistological staining allows detection of Ziehl–Neelsen‐negative Mycobacterium tuberculosis organisms and their precise localization in human tissue

The diagnosis of mycobacterial infection depends on the Ziehl–Neelsen (ZN) stain, which detects mycobacteria because of their characteristic acid‐fast cell wall composition and structure. The histological diagnosis of tuberculosis (TB) comprises various aspects: (1) sensitive detection of mycobacteria; (2) precise localization of mycobacteria in the context of granulomatous lesions; (3) ‘staging’ of disease according to mycobacterial spread and granulomatous tissue integrity. Thus, detection of minute numbers of acid‐fast bacteria in tissue specimens is critical. The conventional ZN stain fails to identify mycobacteria in numbers less than 104 per ml. Hence many infections evade diagnosis. PCR is highly sensitive, but allows neither localization within tissues nor staging of mycobacterial disease, and positive findings frequently do not correlate with disease. In this study, an anti‐Mycobacterium bovis bacille Calmette–Guérin polyclonal antiserum (pAbBCG) was used to improve immunostaining, which was compared to the ZN stain in histological samples. Screening of tissue samples including lungs, pleural lesions, lymph nodes, bone marrow, and skin for mycobacterial infection revealed that pAbBCG staining detects infected macrophages harbouring intracellular mycobacteria or mycobacterial material as well as free mycobacteria that are present at low abundance and not detected by the ZN stain. The positive pAbBCG staining results were confirmed either by PCR analysis of microdissected stained tissue or by culture from tissue. This immunostaining approach allows precise localization of the pathogen in infected tissue. Copyright © 2005 Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Effects of a community-based early intervention program on the subjective well-being, institutionalization, and mortality of low-income elders.

PURPOSE This study examined the effects of an early interventive social service program on the subjective well-being, permanent institutionalization, and mortality risk of low-income community-dwelling elders. DESIGN AND METHODS From a waiting list for community-based services, 105 "moderately at-risk" community-dwelling elders were recruited. Forty of these persons were randomly assigned to receive the intervention, and the remainder did not receive the intervention. Participants were interviewed every 3 months for 18 months. Primary outcome measures were depression, satisfaction with social relationships, environmental mastery, life satisfaction, permanent institutionalization, and mortality. RESULTS No significant differences in sociodemographic or health characteristics were found between the intervention and control groups at baseline. Those elders who received the intervention had significantly higher subjective well-being and were less likely to be institutionalized or die than those in the comparison group across the 18-month period. IMPLICATIONS The results make a strong case for the importance of community-based programs to the well-being of elders. Practitioners and policy makers should continue the search for community-based programs that are cost-effective and improve the quality of life for elders.
Coenzyme Q Cytoprotective Mechanisms for Mitochondrial Complex I Cytopathies Involves NAD(P)H: Quinone Oxidoreductase 1(NQO1)

The commonest mitochondrial diseases are probably those impairing the function of complex I of the respiratory electron transport chain. Such complex I impairment may contribute to various neurodegenerative disorders e.g. Parkinson's disease. In the following, using hepatocytes as a model cell, we have shown for the first time that the cytotoxicity caused by complex I inhibition by rotenone but not that caused by complex III inhibition by antimycin can be prevented by coenzyme Q (CoQ 1 ) or menadione. Furthermore, complex I inhibitor cytotoxicity was associated with the collapse of the mitochondrial membrane potential and reactive oxygen species (ROS) formation. ROS scavengers or inhibitors of the mitochondrial permeability transition prevented cytotoxicity. The CoQ 1 cytoprotective mechanism required CoQ 1 reduction by DT-diaphorase (NQO 1 ). Furthermore, the mitochondrial membrane potential and ATP levels were restored at low CoQ 1 concentrations (5 w M). This suggests that the CoQ 1 H 2 formed by NQO 1 reduced complex III and acted as an electron bypass of the rotenone block. However cytoprotection still occurred at higher CoQ 1 concentrations (>10 w M), which were less effective at restoring ATP levels but readily restored the cellular cytosolic redox potential (i.e. lactate: pyruvate ratio) and prevented ROS formation. This suggests that CoQ 1 or menadione cytoprotection also involves the NQO 1 catalysed reoxidation of NADH that accumulates as a result of complex I inhibition. The CoQ 1 H 2 formed would then also act as a ROS scavenger.
Frontal and facial flatness of major human populations.

In the present study, the frontal and facial features of 112 populations from around the world are compared in terms of frontal and facial flatness measurements. Univariate analyses and canonical correlation analysis were applied to six indices representing flatness of frontal and facial bones. The deep infraglabellar notch, marked prognathism, and flat frontal bone show distinctive Australian/Melanesian characters among recent populations. Very flat faces in the transverse plane are the most common condition in eastern Asians. Some subSaharan Africans share similar characteristics with Australians in terms of marked prognathism and flat frontal bones in the sagittal plane on the one hand, and with eastern Asians on the other hand, for flat nasal and zygomaxillary regions. These results are not necessarily inconsistent with the evidence for regional continuity. The examination of relationships between frontal and facial flatness through canonical correlation analysis reveals a significant association between morphological features such as a deep infraglabellar notch, prognathism, flat frontal bone, and flat faces in the transverse plane. In this context, together with the generalized features of the late Pleistocene fossil record, the features of Australians having transversely projecting faces and of eastern Asians showing weak infraglabellar notches, ortho-/mosognathism, and rounded frontal bones can be interpreted as a differential retention of ancestral traits of anatomically modern humans. This may allow us to suppose that the frontal and facial flatness features treated herein can be explained by the hypothesis of a single origin of anatomically modern humans.
Discovery of multivariate phenotypes using association rule mining and their application to genome-wide association studies

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have served crucial roles in investigating disease susceptible loci for single traits. On the other hand, the GWAS have been limited in measuring genetic risk factors for multivariate phenotypes from pleiotropic genetic effects of genetic loci. This work reports a data mining approach to discover patterns of multivariate phenotypes expressed as association rules, and present an analytical scheme for GWAS of those multivariate phenotypes as defining new phenotypes. We identified 13 SNPs for four genes (CSMD1, NFE2L1, CBX1, and SKAP1) associated with low levels of low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C ≤ 100 mg/dl) and high levels of triglycerides (TG ≥ 180 mg/dl) as a multivariate phenotype. Compared with a traditional approach to GWAS, the use of discovered multivariate phenotypes can be advantageous in identifying genetic risk factors, accounting for pleiotropic genetic effects when the multivariate phenotypes have a common etiologic pathway.