Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Pharmacokinetics of fentanyl after intravenous and transdermal administration in goats.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate disposition of fentanyl in goats after IV and transdermal administration. ANIMALS 8 healthy 2-year-old goats weighing 31.8 to 53.6 kg (mean+/-SD, 40.4+/-7.5 kg). PROCEDURE Each goat was given 2 treatments consisting of fentanyl administered IV (2.5 microg/kg of body weight) and via a transdermal patch (50 microg/h). There was a 2-month interval between treatments. Blood samples were collected at specified times and analyzed in duplicate to determine plasma fentanyl concentrations. Pharmacokinetic values were calculated, using a computerized modeling program. RESULTS Administration of fentanyl was tolerated by all goats. Intravenous administration of fentanyl resulted in a transitory increase in rectal temperature that was not clinically important. Terminal elimination half-life after IV administration was 1.20+/-0.78 h, volume of distribution at steady state was 1.51+/-0.39 L/kg, and systemic clearance was 2.09+/-0.62 L/kg/h. Transdermal administration of fentanyl resulted in variable plasma concentrations, with peak plasma concentrations ranging from 1.12 to 16.69 ng/ml (mean+/-SD, 6.99+/-6.03 ng/ml) and time to peak concentration ranging from 8 to 18 hours (mean+/-SD, 13+/-4.5 hours). After removal of the transdermal patch, mean+/-SD terminal elimination half-life was 5.34+/-5.34 hours. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE Intravenous administration of fentanyl (2.5 microg/kg) in goats results in a relatively short half-life that will limit its use for management of pain. Transdermal administration of fentanyl (50 microg/h) in goats results in variable plasma concentrations that may exceed those anticipated on the basis of a theoretical delivery rate, but stable plasma concentrations of fentanyl may not be achieved.
Recurrent outbreaks of Salmonella Enteritidis infections in a Texas restaurant: phage type 4 arrives in the United States

Summary In recent years infection caused by Salmonella serotype Enteritidis (SE) phage type 4 has spread through Europe but has been uncommon in the USA. The first recognized outbreak of this strain in the USA occurred in a Chinese restaurant in El Paso, Texas, in April 1993; no source was identified. In September 1993, a second outbreak caused by SE phage type 4 was associated with the same restaurant. To determine the cause of the second outbreak, we compared food exposures of the 19 patients with that of two control groups. Egg rolls were the only item significantly associated with illness in both analyses (first control group: oddsratio [OR] 8·2, 95% confidence interval [CI] 2·3–31·6; second control group: OR 13·1, 95% CI 2·1–97·0). Retrospective analysis of the April outbreak also implicated egg rolls (OR 32·4, 95% CI 9·1–126·6). Egg roll batter was made from pooled shell eggs and was left at room temperature throughout the day. These two outbreaks of SE phage type 4 likely could have been prevented by using pasteurized eggs and safe food preparation practices.
Health-Promoting Behaviors Through Pregnancy, Maternity Leave, and Return to Work: Effects of Role Spillover and Other Correlates

ABSTRACT Women's health-promoting behavior changes and their correlates across the transition to motherhood and return to work are insufficiently understood. The purpose of this study was to describe and compare women's health-promoting behaviors, particularly physical activity (PA), across these transitions. A prospective, observational design was employed to assess 243 female healthcare workers from 3 sites with regard to health-promoting behaviors, and their demographic (e.g., age, parity) and psychosocial (i.e., work-family role spillover) correlates. Forty-two participants were recruited while pregnant and re-assessed during maternity leave and upon return to work, and compared to 201 non-pregnant participants. No significant changes in health-promoting behaviors were observed from pregnancy through the postpartum. Pregnant participants reported better nutrition than comparison participants (p = .001), and were more likely to check their pulse when exercising (p = .004). During pregnancy, health-promoting behaviors were related to parental status, with first-time mothers engaging in more positive behaviors. Correlates of PA during maternity leave and return to work included family income and exercise history. Positive family-to-work spillover was significantly greater among pregnant women than among comparison participants (p < .001), and positive work-to-family spillover was related to greater PA upon return to work (p < .01). This study reveals little variability in health-promoting behaviors from the prenatal to the postpartum period. Both demographic and psychosocial factors have effects on health-promoting behaviors, and we must look to these correlates to promote increased PA.
Peer Information in the Cost of Debt∗

This paper studies how peer information impacts bank lending behavior and firms’ cost of debt. Using syndicated loan data, I find that firms obtain lower loan rates when borrowing from banks that lent to their peers in previous years. The benefit in loan rates increases with firm and peer group similarity and with firm opacity. To establish a causal interpretation of peer effects in loan pricing, I use class action litigation records and find the benefit diminishes when peers in bank portfolio committed financial misconduct, conditional on a wide cross-section of firm characteristics. The increased loan rates concentrate on firms that are harder to switch banks, indicating the possibility that banks take the advantage of peer information deterioration to extract rent.
Who Do Batswana Men Prefer: Male or Female Health Providers?

Sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services are rarely designed specifically to meet men’s needs. There is a general consensus among clinicians that males need access to SRH services. Studies have reported that men are often hesitant to go to health facilities because they feel uncomfortable being served by female providers. The study sought to determine whether men who participate in SRH services have specific preference for the gender of health workers for consultation on different types of services. A mixed-method design was employed. A combination of stratified proportional sampling of facilities and criterion purposive sampling of participants were used. Questionnaires were used to collect data from 390 participants, which were complemented with 10 in-depth interviews. Chi-square analysis with post hoc comparisons were used to determine whether there were significant differences in gender preference for specific services. Based on the data, Batswana males did not have any gender preference of the health provider for consultation on SRH services. The gender of the provider is of minor importance compared with other characteristics such as competence and confidentiality. However, the gender of the provider seems to be more important to younger men for delivery, sexually transmitted infections, voluntary counselling, and testing services. Further research is needed because the study was conducted in the city and the participants’ characteristics may be unique to an urban setting. Preferences for providers among demographic groups can be useful in informing resource prioritization and help direct program efforts to reach different subgroups of males.
Use of different Trichoderma species in cherry type tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicun L.) Against Fusarium oxysporum wilt in tropical greenhouses

El uso Trichoderma spp. se ha incrementado en la actualidad para el control de hongos patógenos de plantas. En Venezuela los productos comerciales a base de Trichoderma son formulados casi exclusivamente a partir de esporas de T. Harzianum, pero muchos experimentos han reportado en la literatura un mejor desempeño de otras especies nativas no comerciales en comparación con los productos formulados en el país. En este trabajo, 4 especies nativas de Trichoderma Persoon fueron evaluadas en condiciones de laboratorio y en invernaderos comerciales para el control de la marchitez del Fusarium en una variedad de tomate tipo “cherry” de crecimiento indeterminado. Diferentes experimentos fueron realizados para evaluar el antagonismo, micoparasitismo, endofitismo, efecto de metabolitos secundarios producidos por Trichoderma y el efecto agronómico de esas especies en los invernaderos comerciales. Las especies evaluadas fueron: T. koningiopsis Samuels, Suárez & Evans, T. virens Mill. , Giddens & Foster, T. spirale Bissett y T. harzianum Rifai. De todas estas, T. spirale mostró los mejores resultados en todos los experimentos. Trichoderma spirale fue capaz de inhibir el crecimiento de Fusarium hasta el 79% en placas de PDA; mientras que sus metabolitos secundarios redujeron el crecimiento del patógeno en un 64%. Por otro lado, mostró un efecto protector contra Fusarium en condiciones in planta en pruebas de laboratorio, reduciendo la enfermedad en 70%. También demostró un efecto positivo en el crecimiento de la planta, posiblemente la acción edofitica de T. spirale. En condiciones de invernadero T. spirale produjo los mejores resultados luego de 90 días post-transplante con el aumento del tamaño de las plantas, la producción de tomates por racimo junto con la protección de las plantas contra la marchitez del Fusarium. Los resultados obtenidos con la cepa nativa de T. spirale usada en este trabajo demostraron que este organismo posee un gran potencial como agente de control biológico.
A Comparative Study of Radiomics and Deep-Learning Based Methods for Pulmonary Nodule Malignancy Prediction in Low Dose CT Images

Objectives Both radiomics and deep learning methods have shown great promise in predicting lesion malignancy in various image-based oncology studies. However, it is still unclear which method to choose for a specific clinical problem given the access to the same amount of training data. In this study, we try to compare the performance of a series of carefully selected conventional radiomics methods, end-to-end deep learning models, and deep-feature based radiomics pipelines for pulmonary nodule malignancy prediction on an open database that consists of 1297 manually delineated lung nodules. Methods Conventional radiomics analysis was conducted by extracting standard handcrafted features from target nodule images. Several end-to-end deep classifier networks, including VGG, ResNet, DenseNet, and EfficientNet were employed to identify lung nodule malignancy as well. In addition to the baseline implementations, we also investigated the importance of feature selection and class balancing, as well as separating the features learned in the nodule target region and the background/context region. By pooling the radiomics and deep features together in a hybrid feature set, we investigated the compatibility of these two sets with respect to malignancy prediction. Results The best baseline conventional radiomics model, deep learning model, and deep-feature based radiomics model achieved AUROC values (mean ± standard deviations) of 0.792 ± 0.025, 0.801 ± 0.018, and 0.817 ± 0.032, respectively through 5-fold cross-validation analyses. However, after trying out several optimization techniques, such as feature selection and data balancing, as well as adding context features, the corresponding best radiomics, end-to-end deep learning, and deep-feature based models achieved AUROC values of 0.921 ± 0.010, 0.824 ± 0.021, and 0.936 ± 0.011, respectively. We achieved the best prediction accuracy from the hybrid feature set (AUROC: 0.938 ± 0.010). Conclusion The end-to-end deep-learning model outperforms conventional radiomics out of the box without much fine-tuning. On the other hand, fine-tuning the models lead to significant improvements in the prediction performance where the conventional and deep-feature based radiomics models achieved comparable results. The hybrid radiomics method seems to be the most promising model for lung nodule malignancy prediction in this comparative study.
Clinical experience with the Ahmed glaucoma valve implant in complicated glaucoma.

BACKGROUND To assess clinical outcomes of the Ahmed glaucoma valve implant, an aqueous shunting device with a unidirectional valve mechanism, in eyes with refractory glaucoma. METHODS Consecutive patients with intractable glaucoma who underwent Ahmed glaucoma valve insertion were retrospectively reviewed. Only patients with a minimum of 6 months of follow-up were included. The presence of intraocular pressure (IOP) > or = 22 mmHg in the first 6 postoperative months was defined as a hypertensive phase (HP). This study included 19 eyes in 19 patients. RESULTS The mean preoperative IOP was 32.1 +/- 6.9 mmHg, with medication (mean times medication administered, 3.8 +/- 1.0; range, 0-3). The mean postoperative IOP was 7.8 +/- 2.2 mmHg on day 1, 11.3 +/- 4.4 mmHg at 1 week, 19.1 +/- 7.7 mm Hg at 1 month, 16.5 +/- 6.4 mmHg at 3 months, and 17.5 +/- 0.7 mmHg at 6 months, respectively. Twelve patients (63.2%) exhibited the HP. Nine patients (49.3%) experienced the HP at 1 month and 3 patients at 2 months after the operation. At the end of 6 months of follow-up, 11 patients (57.9%) who had exhibited the HP required additional anti-glaucoma medication to control the IOP (mean times medication was administered, 1.0 +/- 1.1; range, 0-2). Complications associated with the valve included hyphema in 1 case, choroidal effusion in 2 cases, iris plugging of the tube in 1 case, bleb encapsulation in 3 cases, and PK graft failure in 1 case. Postoperative hypotony resolved within 1 week. CONCLUSION The Ahmed glaucoma valve implant was safe and effective in this series. The hypertensive phase peaked in the first to second months after surgery.
CheX Is a Phosphorylated CheY Phosphatase Essential for Borrelia burgdorferi Chemotaxis

ABSTRACT Motility and chemotaxis are believed to be important in the pathogenesis of Lyme disease caused by the spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi. Controlling the phosphorylation state of CheY, a response regulator protein, is essential for regulating bacterial chemotaxis and motility. Rapid dephosphorylation of phosphorylated CheY (CheY-P) is crucial for cells to respond to environmental changes. CheY-P dephosphorylation is accomplished by one or more phosphatases in different species, including CheZ, CheC, CheX, FliY, and/or FliY/N. Only a cheX phosphatase homolog has been identified in the B. burgdorferi genome. However, a role for cheX in chemotaxis has not been established in any bacterial species. Inactivating B. burgdorferi cheX by inserting a flgB-kan cassette resulted in cells (cheX mutant cells) with a distinct motility phenotype. While wild-type cells ran, paused (stopped or flexed), and reversed, the cheX mutant cells continuously flexed and were not able to run or reverse. Furthermore, swarm plate and capillary tube chemotaxis assays demonstrated that cheX mutant cells were deficient in chemotaxis. Wild-type chemotaxis and motility were restored when cheX mutant cells were complemented with a shuttle vector expressing CheX. Furthermore, CheX dephosphorylated CheY3-P in vitro and eluted as a homodimer in gel filtration chromatography. These findings demonstrated that B. burgdorferi CheX is a CheY-P phosphatase that is essential for chemotaxis and motility, which is consistent with CheX being the only CheY-P phosphatase in the B. burgdorferi chemotaxis signal transduction pathway.
Against the New Metaphysics of Race

The aim of this article is to develop an argument against metaphysical debates about the existence of human races. I argue that the ontology of race is underdetermined by both empirical and nonempirical evidence owing to a plurality of equally permissible candidate meanings of “race. ” Furthermore, I argue that this underdetermination leads to a deflationist diagnosis according to which disputes about the existence of human races are nonsubstantive verbal disputes. While this diagnosis resembles general deflationist strategies in contemporary metaphysics, I show that my argument does not presuppose controversial metametaphysical assumptions.
Antioxidant function of fungal melanin

Polyphenols have been implicated in the virulence and oxidant resistance of Cryptococcus neoformans. Although monomeric polyphenols did not protect against the prooxidant, plumbagin, polymeric dopamine-melanin conferred resistance both to hypochlorite and to permanganate. The physiologic antioxidant capacity conferred by melanin was found to be 21.3 x 10(-15) mole-equivalents per cell, a value which approximates oxidant production by stimulated macrophages.
Factors associated with intention to be tested for HIV among men who have sex with men in a country with a very low HIV prevalence

ABSTRACT This study examined factors associated with the intention to take an HIV test among men who have sex with men (MSM) in South Korea. An internet website-based survey was conducted among users of the only and largest online MSM website between 20 July 2016, and 20 August 2016. A total of 2915 participants completed the survey and answered questions related to sociodemographic information, health behaviors, sexual behaviors, and HIV testing history. Of these, 2587 (88.7%) participants responded as having an intention to take an HIV test. A multivariable logistic regression analysis revealed the following as having reduced the intention to undergo HIV testing: very good subjective health status and no sexual interactions during the last 6 months (Adjusted odds ratios [AOR] 0.45 and 0.54, respectively). In contrast, increased intention to take an HIV test was associated with being 20–29 years old, 30–39 years old, not paying or receiving money for sex, having a history of HIV testing, and taking an HIV test once per 12 months (AOR 2.64, 2.13, 1.54, 1.81, and 2.17, respectively). In conclusion, HIV testing among MSM in this study was associated with age, subjective health status, sex(es) of one’s sexual partner(s) during the last 6 months, sexual risk behaviors, HIV testing history, and undergoing regular HIV testing.
An experimental study of airfoil tip vortex formation noise

This paper explores the noise produced by three-dimensional vortex flow at the tip of an airfoil. This noise source is an important component of the noise produced by aircraft high-lift systems. To investigate tip vortex formation noise, aeroacoustic measurements have been taken of a finite airfoil with flat ended tip in an anechoic wind tunnel at a range of flow speeds and angles of attack. Sound maps taken with a beamforming array are presented to show contributions of flow at the airfoil tip to overall airfoil noise production. Tip noise spectral data are also included to provide information about the nature of the noise source and scaling laws are developed of the noise generation process to model the noise data.
b -Herpesvirus (Human Cytomegalovirus and Human Herpesvirus 6) Reactivation in At-Risk Lung Transplant Recipients and in Human Immunodeﬁciency Virus–Infected Patients

Human herpesvirus (HHV)–6 is a b -herpesvirus–like human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) with the potential to reactivate in immunocompromised persons. HHV-6 and HCMV were assessed in the peripheral blood leukocytes of 26 lung transplant recipients and of 37 human immunodeﬁciency virus (HIV)–infected patients receiving highly active antiretroviral therapy, to determine the degree of concordance between HHV-6 and HCMV reactivation in different biologic settings. In the lung transplant recipients (145 samples), HHV-6 was not detected, even though 44 (30%) of 145 samples were from 9 HCMV DNA–positive patients (13 episodes of HCMV pneumonitis). Among the HIV-infected patients (172 samples), HCMV DNA was detected in 29 (17%) of 172 samples from 10 patients (4 episodes of HCMV disease). HHV-6 DNA was detected in 2 HIV-infected patients who did not have HCMV detected at that time. These ﬁndings suggest that the pathobiologic control mechanisms for these 2 b -herpes-viruses may be signiﬁcantly different. speciﬁcity was assessed by competitive PCR by use of HHV-6 variant A GS and B Z29 samples (data not shown), re-sulting in ampliﬁcation of a native HHV-6 DNA band of about the predicted size (278 bp). DNA sequencing conﬁrmed iden-tiﬁcation of both the HHV-6–positive isolate and HHV-6A and -6B variants. We assessed cross-reactivity of HHV-6 primers for HCMV by competitive PCR with known HCMV-positive and -negative samples and failed to amplify native HCMV DNA (data not shown). The HHV-6 primers selected did not cross-react with other herpesviruses. We assessed herpes simplex virus (HSV) types 1 and 2, varicella-zoster virus (VZV), Epstein-Barr virus, HCMV, HHV-7, and HHV-8 by use of Oligo 5.0 primer analysis software (National Biosciences).
Effect of Atorvastatin on in vitro Expression of Resistin in Adipocytes and Monocytes/Macrophages and Effect of Atorvastatin Treatment on Serum Resistin Levels in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes

Resistin is a novel cysteine-rich protein that plays a role in the development of insulin resistance and atherosclerosis. HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors (statins) possess anti-inflammatory properties that are independent of their lipid-lowering action. The aims of this study were to investigate the effect of atorvastatin on expression of resistin in vitro and to determine the effect of 6 months of treatment with atorvastatin on serum levels of resistin in patients with type 2 diabetes. 3T3-L1 adipocytes and human monocytes/macrophages and preadipocytes were incubated with 1 and 10 µmol/l atorvastatin for 24 and 48 h, followed by measurement of resistin mRNA by the quantitative real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). Serum resistin concentration in the patients with type 2 diabetes was measured at baseline and after 6 months of atorvastatin treatment (10 mg/day). qRT-PCR analysis revealed that atorvastatin decreased resistin mRNA expression in a dose- and time-dependent manner. Serum resistin concentration tended to decrease after 6 months of atorvastatin treatment, although this decrease did not reach statistical significance. In conclusion, the findings of our in vitro study contribute to the growing volume of evidence on the anti-inflammatory and anti-atherosclerotic effects of statins, and led us to suggest that statins may control inflammatory responses by inhibiting expression of resistin mRNA. It is necessary to confirm the findings of our in vitro study by an appropriately designed large-scale clinical study.
Research Progress on the Mechanism Between Polycystic Ovary Syndrome and Abnormal Endometrium

As a highly dynamic tissue, the endometrium is periodically shed in response to the secretion of estrogen and progesterone. After menarche, the endometrium of healthy women proliferates and differentiates under the action of steroid hormones (e.g., 17β-estradiol and progesterone) that are secreted by the ovaries to provide appropriate conditions for embryo implantation. Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), a prevalent endocrine and metabolic disorder in reproductive-aged women, is usually associated with multiple cysts within the ovaries and excess levels of androgen and is characterized by hirsutism, acne, menstrual irregularity, infertility, and increased risk of insulin resistance. Multiple factors, such as anovulation, endocrine-metabolic abnormalities, and inflammation, can disrupt the endometrium in PCOS patients and can lead to endometrial hyperplasia, pregnancy complications, or even cancer. Despite many recent studies, the relationship between PCOS and abnormal endometrial function is still not fully understood. In this review, we investigate the correlation of PCOS patient endometrium with anovulation, hyperandrogenemia, insulin resistance, progesterone resistance, and inflammatory cytokines, aiming to provide a theoretical basis for the treatment of disorders caused by endometrial dysfunction in PCOS patients.