Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Vegetable Output, Cost Savings, and Nutritional Value of Low-Income Families’ Home Gardens in San Jose, CA

ABSTRACT Participation in home food gardening in the United States has been growing. From 2008 to 2013, the number of home gardens increased by 4 million, and the number of households with annual incomes of less than $35 000 that are food gardening rose by 38%. The purpose of this study was to measure crop output, cost savings, and nutritional value of low-income home gardeners in San Jose, California. This pilot study included administering a background survey to a convenience sample of low-income home gardeners with a subset of gardeners weighing vegetable output of plots during the 2104 spring–summer growing season. Participants included an ethnically diverse group of 50 low-income families who completed the survey and 8 gardeners who weighed vegetable output of their garden. The gardeners produced an average of 1.23 lb vegetables/ft2 and saved an average of $339 by growing their own vegetables. Cost savings were greatest when vertical high-value crops such as tomatoes and cucumbers were grown. All weighers but one produced 60% or more of the total cups of vegetables recommended by the U.S. Dietary Guidelines. This small pilot study demonstrates that home gardens can produce substantial cost savings and improve nutrition in diets of low-income families.
The pharmacological role of P-glycoprotein in the intestinal epithelium.

P-glycoprotein, a membrane-associated transport protein, has recently been recognised as an important element of the intestinal epithelium. This paper summarises the in vivo data on the pharmacological role of intestinal P-glycoprotein. These data show that P-glycoprotein contributes to the elimination of many drugs by mediating their direct secretion from the blood into the intestinal lumen. In addition, there is also evidence that this protein can limit oral drug absorption. Hence, inhibition of intestinal P-glycoprotein, e.g. by a reversal agent like cyclosporin A, may be a promising strategy for improving the oral bioavailability of P-glycoprotein substrate drugs. Indeed, several preclinical and clinical studies have shown that coadministration of drugs with a reversal agent can substantially increase oral drug absorption.
High performance poly-Si TFTs on a glass by a stable scanning CW laser lateral crystallization

We have developed high performance poly-Si TFTs, which have comparable performance to that of [100] Si-MOSFETs, by using a stable scanning DPSS CW laser lateral crystallization without introduction of thermal damage to 300/spl times/300 mm/sup 2/ glass substrates with process temperature below 450/spl deg/C.
Applying Metric and Nonmetric Multidimensional Scaling to Ecological Studies: Some New Results

Metric (eigenanalysis) and nonmetric multidimensional scaling strategies for ecological ordination were compared. The results, based on simulated coenoplane data showing varying degrees of species turnover on two independent environmental axes, suggested some strong differences between metric and nonmetric scaling methods in their ability to recover underlying nonlinear data structures. Prior data standardization had important effects on the results of both metric and nonmetric scaling, though the effect varied with the ordination method used. Nonmetric multidimensional scaling based on Euclidean distance following stand norm standardization proved to be the best strategy for re- covering simulated coenoplane data. Of the metric strategies compared, correspondence analysis and the detrended form were the most successful. While detrending improved ordination configurations in some cases, in others it led to a distortion of results. It is suggested that none of the currently available ordination strategies is appropriate under all circumstances, and that future research in ordination methodology should emphasize a statistical rather than empirical approach.
Prevalence and prognosis of traumatic intraventricular hemorrhage in patients with blunt head trauma.

BACKGROUND Most studies of traumatic intraventricular hemorrhage (tIVH) contain fewer than 25 subjects and are retrospective in design, providing minimal information about the entity and its clinical significance. METHODS We prospectively enrolled trauma patients from 18 centers in North America in the National Emergency X-Radiography Utilization Study (NEXUS) II if they received an emergent head computed tomography (CT) scan, as determined by the managing physician. Clinical data were collected at the time of enrollment and CT reports were compiled at least 1 month later. We calculated prevalence and demographics of tIVH from the 18 sites, while outcome data were gathered from medical records of patients with tIVH who were seen at any of six sites that participated in the follow-up portion of the study. We considered patients who underwent a neurosurgical intervention or who had a "poor outcome" (Glasgow Outcome Scale score of 1 to 3, death, persistent vegetative state, or severe disability) to have suffered a "combined outcome. " RESULTS Prevalence of tIVH among all trauma patients who received a head CT was 118 in 8,374, or 1.41%. Among tIVH patients, 70% had a "poor outcome" and 76% had a "combined outcome. " A poor outcome appeared to be associated with an abnormal presenting Glasgow Coma Scale score and involvement of the third or fourth ventricle, whereas age appeared to be unrelated. Patients with tIVH and no major associated injury on CT tended to do well; only one patient with isolated tIVH had a poor outcome. CONCLUSIONS Traumatic IVH is rare and is associated with poor outcomes that seem to be the consequence of associated injuries. Isolated tIVH patients who are clinically well appear to have a functional outcome; we were unable to identify a case of isolated tIVH, combined with a normal neurologic examination, resulting in a poor or combined outcome.
The new regulation of health and safety.

Regulation has been used to serve numerous ends: health and safety, consumer information, fair prices and wages, product quality, economic stability, and environmental protection. The construction of any empirically based general theory of regulation depends upon the creation of more knowledge about the regulatory process and its results for each of these ends. Health and safety regulation, for example, may be an area in which governmental controls are both more politically possible and more effective. Although the federal government has long sought to protect the health and safety of consumers and workers in certain sectors of the economy, such as the food and drug industries, the airlines, and the mining industry, a new wave of legislation was passed in the 1960s and 1970s to protect the public from injury and disease. In this article, evidence concerning the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), and the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is used to elucidate how policy has been formulated and implemented in the regulation of health and safety. This analysis focuses on those factors that either promote or impede regulatory activism; little is said about the outcomes of regulation.
Multifocality in Retroperitoneal Sarcoma: A Prognostic Factor Critical to Surgical Decision-Making

Objective:To evaluate the significance of multifocality on overall survival (OS) in patients with retroperitoneal sarcoma (RPS) and establish a data-derived, prognostically and therapeutically useful definition of sarcomatosis. Summary Background Data:The incidence, clinical features, and prognostic significance of multifocality in RPS is unknown. No current standardized definition for sarcomatosis is available. Methods:We conducted a retrospective analysis of 393 patients with primary or recurrent nonmetastatic RPS treated at a comprehensive cancer center between 1996 and 2006. Baseline and treatment variables were compared in patients with unifocal and multifocal disease. A multivariate model was used to evaluate the association of multifocality and OS and identify additional prognostic factors in patients with multifocal disease. Results:The median follow-up time for all patients was 69 months; 79 patients (20%) presented with multifocal disease. The 5-year OS rate was less in the multifocal group compared with the unifocal group (31% vs. 60%, respectively; P < 0.0001). After multivariate analysis, multifocality remained an independent predictor of worse OS {hazard ratio (HR) 1.7 (95% confidence interval (CI), 1.2–2.5); P = 0.004}. Additionally, patients with more tumors had significantly worse prognosis (>7 tumors, HR 2.1 (95% CI, 1.1–3.9); P = 0.03), with a 5-year OS rate of 7%. Conclusions:Multifocal RPS is associated with worse OS in patients with either primary or recurrent RPS; Patients with >7 tumors had the worst prognosis. This criterion can be used to define sarcomatosis, thereby identifying patients whose survival will ultimately depend on effective systemic therapy.
Persistent pain after cardiac surgery: an audit of high thoracic epidural and primary opioid analgesia therapies.

UNLABELLED Persistent pain is an underreported morbidity after cardiac surgery. We sent pain surveys to all patients who underwent coronary artery bypass graft surgery from 1997 to 1999 from a single surgeon's experience. Two analgesia strategies were used: high thoracic epidural (HTEA) or IV and oral opiates (OPIOID) for 48-72 h after surgery. Persistent pain was defined as pain still present two or more months after surgery, and all questions referred to the time of survey only. From 356 questionnaires, 305 patients responded, and 61 of them refused consent, leaving 244 patients with complete surveys (HTEA, 150 patients [69%]; OPIOID, 94 patients [68%]). The incidence of persistent pain at any site was 29% and for sternotomy was 25%. The intensity of pain reported was mild, with only 7% reporting interference with daily living. Other common locations of persistent pain were the shoulders (17.4%), back (15.9%), and neck (5.8%). Twenty patients (8%) described symptoms suggestive of the internal mammary artery syndrome. A comparative audit of the HTEA and OPIOID groups showed no significant differences in the frequency or intensity of pain, although the time of survey from operation was longer in the OPIOID group. Mild persistent chest pain after sternotomy is common but infrequently interferes with daily life. IMPLICATIONS Persistent wound pain after coronary artery bypass surgery is common, but it is usually is mild and infrequently interferes with daily living. An audit of two pain relief strategies (epidural analgesia or opiate analgesia) did not show any difference in the incidence of persistent pain.
The role of ‘hidden’ community volunteers in community-based health service delivery platforms: examples from sub-Saharan Africa

Community-based research on child survival in sub-Saharan Africa has focussed on the increased provision of curative health services by a formalised cadre of lay community health workers (CHWs), but we have identified a particular configuration, that deserves closer scrutiny. We identified a two-tiered CHW system, with the first tier being the lessor known or ‘hidden’ community/village level volunteers and the second tier being formal, paid CHWs, in Ethiopia, Mali, and Niger. Whilst the disease-focussed tasks of the formal CHW tier may be more amenable to classic epidemiological surveillance, we postulate that understanding the relationship between formalised CHWs and volunteer cadres, in terms of scope, location of practice and ratio to population, would be important for a comprehensive evaluation of child survival in these countries. We report on the findings from our joint qualitative and quantitative investigations, highlighting the need to recognise the ‘hidden’ contribution of volunteers. We need to better characterize the volunteers’ interaction with community-based and primary care services and to better understand ways to improve the volunteer systems with the right type of investments. This is particularly important for considering the models for scale-up of CHWs in sub-Saharan Africa.
POCS-based blocking artifacts suppression using a smoothness constraint set with explicit region modeling

It is well known that low bit rate block-based discrete cosine transform coded image exhibits visually annoying coding artifacts. In this paper, we proposed a projection onto convex sets (PCOS)-based deblocking algorithm using a novel region smoothness constraint set for graphic images containing objects with smooth regions. The smoothness constraint set is obtained by an explicit modeling of smooth regions in the image using a spatially adaptive thin-plate spline. In contrast to most deblocking algorithms which enforce smoothness just around the 8/spl times/8 block boundaries, our algorithm enforces smoothness in regions which could possibly span several blocks. We showed that convergence of our algorithm could be reached within one iteration. The performance of the proposed algorithm is evaluated visually and quantitatively in term of peak signal-to-noise ratios and the mean squared difference of slope metric, which measures the impact of the blocking effects, for several graphic images. The results show that our algorithm can effectively suppress blockiness in smooth regions while still preserving the sharpness of object edges.
Language Does Something: Body Action and Language in Maternal Input to Three-Month-Olds

We conducted a naturalistic study in which German mothers interacted with their three-month-old infants during diaper changing as an everyday activity. Following the idea that “acoustic packaging” educates infants' attention, we explored whether the verbal input to the infants in natural interactions simultaneously contains action information. Applying a microanalysis method, we first analyzed the data qualitatively by identifying classes of body movement and vocal activities (that we called vocal types). We used these categories to observe the multimodal interaction practices of mothers and to describe the interaction ecology of everyday activity. Second, we analyzed the co-occurrence of language (in the form of different vocal activities) and action (in the form of body movements) quantitatively. We found that during early interaction with infants, German mothers vocalize in a tight temporal relationship with action over a considerable part of the overall interaction time, thereby making the vocal signal both perceivable and tangible to the infants.
Ruminal metabolism of flaxseed (Linum usitatissimum) lignans to the mammalian lignan enterolactone and its concentration in ruminal fluid, plasma, urine and milk of dairy cows

Secoisolariciresinol diglucoside is the main flax (Linum usitatissimum) lignan that is converted to the mammalian lignans enterodiol (ED) and enterolactone (EL) by gastrointestinal microbiota. The objectives of the present study were to investigate the role of ruminal microbiota and the effects of flax oil on in vivo metabolism of flax lignans and concentration of EL in biological fluids. Four rumen-cannulated dairy cows were used in a 4 × 4 Latin square design. There were four periods of 21 d each and four treatments utilising flax hulls (1800 g/d) and oil (400 g/d) supplements. The treatments were: (1) oil and hulls administered in the rumen and abomasal infusion of water; (2) oil and hulls administered in the abomasum; (3) oil infused in the abomasum and hulls placed in the rumen; (4) oil placed in the rumen and hulls administered in the abomasum. Samples were collected during the last week of each period and subjected to chemical analysis. The site of supplementation of oil and hulls had no effect on ruminal EL concentration. Supplementing flax oil in the rumen and the abomasum led to similar EL concentrations in urine, plasma and milk. Concentrations of EL were higher in the urine, plasma and milk of cows supplemented with hulls in the rumen than in those placed with hulls in the abomasum. The present study demonstrated that ruminal microbiota play an important role in the metabolism of flax lignans.
Does the addition of ketorolac and dexamethasone to lidocaine intravenous regional anesthesia improve postoperative analgesia and tourniquet tolerance for ambulatory hand surgery?

BACKGROUND The inability to provide effective postoperative analgesia is one of the major disadvantages of intravenous regional anesthesia (IVRA). We designed a prospective, randomized, double blind study to evaluate the analgesic effectiveness of adding both ketorolac and dexamethasone to lidocaine for IVRA. METHODS The study involved 45 patients undergoing ambulatory hand surgery. They were randomly allocated into three groups: Group L, Group LK and Group LDK. Group L received 3 mg x kg-1 lidocaine; Group LK received 3 mg x kg-1 lidocaine + 30 mg ketorolac; and Group LDK received 3 mg x kg-1 lidocaine for IVRA + 8 mg dexamethasone + 30 mg ketorolac for IVRA using a 40 mL solution. Sensory and motor block onset and recovery times were recorded. Tourniquet pain and pain at the operative site were assessed by a visual analog scale. In the first 24 h after surgery, opioid requirements and total analgesic consumption, including side effects, were noted. RESULTS Sensory and motor block onset and recovery times were similar in all groups. Patients in Groups LK and LDK required less alfentanyl for control of intraoperative and early postoperative pain. Further, patients in Groups LK and LDK reported significantly lower pain scores compared to those in Group L (P<0.001). Patients in Groups LK and LDK required fewer postoperative ketorolac tablets (2.2+/-1.6 and 1.3+/-0.6 tablets, respectively) in the first 24 h after surgery and had significantly longer periods during which they required no analgesics (524 min and 566 min, respectively) compared to those in Group L (3.8+/-1.3 tablets; 122 min, P<0.001). CONCLUSION IVRA with lidocaine and with the inclusion of ketorolac and dexamethasone provides effective perioperative analgesia for patients undergoing ambulatory hand surgery, when compared to the use of lidocaine alone or lidocaine with ketorolac IVRA.
Total hip replacement for the treatment of acute femoral neck fractures: results from the National Joint Registry of England and Wales at 3-5 years after surgery.

INTRODUCTION This paper describes, for the first time, the outcomes of patients undergoing total hip replacement for acute fractured neck of femur (#NOF) as recorded by the National Joint Registry of England and Wales (NJR). METHODS In the NJR we identified 1,302 of 157,232 Hospital Episode Statistics linked patients who had been recorded as having a total hip replacement for acute #NOF between April 2003 and November 2008. RESULTS The revision rate at five years for fully uncemented components was 4.1% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 2.2-7.3%), for hybrid it was 2.2% (95% CI: 0.9%-5.3%) and for fully cemented components 0.9% (95% CI: 0.4-2.0%). Five-year revision rates were increased for those whose operations were performed via a posterior versus a lateral approach. The Kaplan-Meier estimate of 30-day mortality was 1.4% (95% CI: 1.0-2.4%), which is over double the 30-day mortality rate for total hip replacement identified by the Office for National Statistics. The mean length of stay was also increased for those undergoing total hip replacements for #NOF compared with non-emergency indications. CONCLUSIONS Our data suggest that total hip replacements for acute #NOF give comparable results with total hip replacements for other indications.
Gender Differences in the Renin-Angiotensin and Nitric Oxide Systems: Relevance in the Normal and Diseased Kidney

Female gender is associated with better renal function and resistance to renal injury, suggesting that an oestrogen-based effect or increased androgenic effects are responsible. Studies in rodents have confirmed a biological basis for this, based on the differential effects of androgens and oestrogens on the normal and diseased kidney. Many researchers in the field believe that the pre-menopausal levels of oestrogen are key to the protection observed in females. The key pressor effects of the renin-angiotensin (RA) system are due to both direct vasoconstrictory properties and alterations in renal control of extracellular fluid volume. Additionally, the RA has been shown to promote diverse aspects of renal injury. RA activity is positively modulated by androgens and antagonized by oestrogens. Nitric oxide (NO) is a potent vasorelaxant with a key role in renal control of extracellular fluid homeostasis. NO can variously have both protective and deleterious effects on renal injury. Endogenous oestrogen has an anti-hypertensive effect as well as protective effects against cell and organ damage, many of which are mediated via increases in NO generation. We examine how the RA- and NO-generating systems may underpin key aspects of gender differences in normal renal function and renal disease.
Monitoring calcium‐induced conformational changes in recoverin by electrospray mass spectrometry

Recoverin is a calcium‐binding protein that regulates the vertebrate photoresponse by inhibiting rhodopsin kinase in response to high calcium concentrations. It is heterogeneously N‐acylated by myristoyl and related fatty acyl residues that are thought to act as “calcium‐myristoyl switches,” whereby, in the presence of Ca2+, the N‐terminal acyl group is extended away from recoverin and, in the absence of calcium, it is more closely associated with the protein. Here we use electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI/MS) to examine hydrogen isotopic exchange rates for specific regions of both acylated and nonacylated recoverin in the presence and absence of calcium. The deuterium exchange rates of three regions in the hydrophobic myristoyl binding pocket of acylated recoverin decreased in the absence of calcium. This effect is most likely due to the closer association of the acyl group with the protein under these conditions. In contrast, rates of deuterium incorporation increased in the absence of calcium for other regions, including the two functional calcium‐binding sites. In addition to supporting the calcium‐myristoyl switch hypothesis, a comparison of the behavior of acylated and unacylated recoverin revealed that the N‐acyl group (N‐lauroyl or N‐myristoyl) exerts a significant stabilizing influence on the dynamics of recoverin. We demonstrate that the new technique of monitoring hydrogen isotopic exchange by ESI/MS can be used to obtain useful information concerning protein structures in solution using smaller amounts of protein and under more physiologically relevant conditions than is typically possible with NMR or X‐ray crystallography.
CLOSTRIDIUM DIFFICILE ASSOCIATED DIARRHOEA AND THE RELATIONSHIP TO ANTIBIOTIC PRESCRIPTION PRACTICES AND PROTON PUMP INHIBITOR USE IN ELDERLY WARDS

Background: Clostridium difficile-associated diarrhoea (CDAD) is associated with an increased morbidity and mortality rate in elderly population. As in one of the north London hospitals, an increase in the cases of CDAD was observed in the Elderly Ward during a three-month period, the use of antibiotics and proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) was investigated for any relationship aiming to educate population and improve clinical practice during outbreaks. Methods: In the first step (Group A) undertaken from July 2005 to September 2005, administration of antibiotics was checked in patients that developed CDAD in the Geriatric Ward. In the second evaluation (Group B) after years from January 2007 to October 2007, antibiotic prescription was rechecked identically. Similarly, the assessment was conducted when PPIs were used in patients that developed CDAD. All patients were positive for C. difficile toxin in their stools.