Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The increasing impact of cerebral amyloid angiopathy: essential new insights for clinical practice

Cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA) has never been more relevant. The last 5 years have seen a rapid increase in publications and research in the field, with the development of new biomarkers for the disease, thanks to advances in MRI, amyloid positron emission tomography and cerebrospinal fluid biomarker analysis. The inadvertent development of CAA-like pathology in patients treated with amyloid-beta immunotherapy for Alzheimer’s disease has highlighted the importance of establishing how and why CAA develops; without this information, the use of these treatments may be unnecessarily restricted. Our understanding of the clinical and radiological spectrum of CAA has continued to evolve, and there are new insights into the independent impact that CAA has on cognition in the context of ageing and intracerebral haemorrhage, as well as in Alzheimer’s and other dementias. While the association between CAA and lobar intracerebral haemorrhage (with its high recurrence risk) is now well recognised, a number of management dilemmas remain, particularly when considering the use of antithrombotics, anticoagulants and statins. The Boston criteria for CAA, in use in one form or another for the last 20 years, are now being reviewed to reflect these new wide-ranging clinical and radiological findings. This review aims to provide a 5-year update on these recent advances, as well as a look towards future directions for CAA research and clinical practice.
Effectiveness of the Combination of Feedback and Educational Recommendations for Improving Drug Prescription in General Practice

Background:Although there is a great concern regarding rational use of drugs, the available evidence for the most appropriate strategies to improve prescribing is scarce. Goal:The goal of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the combination of feedback of individualized prescribing data and educational recommendations for improving the quality of prescribing in general practice. Method:A quasiexperimental intervention study was conducted in which prescribing rates of 282 family physicians before and after the intervention were compared. Physicians assigned to the individualized feedback group (n = 195) received individual instruction with specific recommendations for improvement according to their baseline prescribing quality levels, whereas physicians in the minimal intervention group (n = 87) only received standard nonindividualized prescribing data for the practice group as a whole. Results:A trend toward increasing high pharmacologic intrinsic value in both groups was observed. Overprescription of antibiotics showed a decrease in the individualized feedback group (P = 0.006) and it did not change in the minimal intervention group. A different trend in the values in each group was observed with nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs, although it was not statistically significant. Overprescription of antiulcerative agents decreased among physicians in the individualized feedback group (P = 0.003); however, there were not statistically significant differences as compared with the minimal intervention group. Changes in indicators of drug selection were more favorable for the group with individualized feedback, although no statistically significant differences were observed. Pharmaceutical expenditure increased significantly in the minimal intervention group as compared with the individualized feedback group, with an approximate difference of $7.87 per inhabitant and trimester (P = 0.003). Conclusion:The intervention showed that improving the quality of prescribing was feasible, particularly in overprescribing, and was associated with considerable savings in pharmaceutical costs.
Coffee and cancer risk: a summary overview

We reviewed available evidence on coffee drinking and the risk of all cancers and selected cancers updated to May 2016. Coffee consumption is not associated with overall cancer risk. A meta-analysis reported a pooled relative risk (RR) for an increment of 1 cup of coffee/day of 1.00 [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.99–1.01] for all cancers. Coffee drinking is associated with a reduced risk of liver cancer. A meta-analysis of cohort studies found an RR for an increment of consumption of 1 cup/day of 0.85 (95% CI: 0.81–0.90) for liver cancer and a favorable effect on liver enzymes and cirrhosis. Another meta-analysis showed an inverse relation for endometrial cancer risk, with an RR of 0.92 (95% CI: 0.88–0.96) for an increment of 1 cup/day. A possible decreased risk was found in some studies for oral/pharyngeal cancer and for advanced prostate cancer. Although data are mixed, overall, there seems to be some favorable effect of coffee drinking on colorectal cancer in case–control studies, in the absence of a consistent relation in cohort studies. For bladder cancer, the results are not consistent; however, any possible direct association is not dose and duration related, and might depend on a residual confounding effect of smoking. A few studies suggest an increased risk of childhood leukemia after maternal coffee drinking during pregnancy, but data are limited and inconsistent. Although the results of studies are mixed, the overall evidence suggests no association of coffee intake with cancers of the stomach, pancreas, lung, breast, ovary, and prostate overall. Data are limited, with RR close to unity for other neoplasms, including those of the esophagus, small intestine, gallbladder and biliary tract, skin, kidney, brain, thyroid, as well as for soft tissue sarcoma and lymphohematopoietic cancer.
Detection of oral bacterial DNA in synovial

Objectives: As periodontal bacteria might be involved in the aetiology of rheumatic diseases, we analysed synovial fluid obtained from patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and controls for the presence of DNA of Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans, Porphyromonas gingivalis, Prevotella intermedia, Tannerella forsythia, and Treponema denticola. Methods: In all, 42 patients suffering from RA (mean age 53.8 16.7 years, 40.4% females) and 114 controls with no rheumatic diseases (mean age 56.1 15.2 years, 52.4% females) were included. DNA from synovial fluid was isolated by QiaAmp kit (Qiagen, Hilden, Germany). Polymerase chain reactions (PCRs) specific for the 16S rRNA genes of the above specified bacteria were developed. Subgingival bacterial colonization was analysed using micro-Ident test (HAIN-Diagnostik, Nehren, Germany). Results: In patients with RA DNA of P. gingivalis was detected in synovial fluid more often than in controls (15.7% versus 3.5%, p = 0.045). More patients than controls harboured DNA from P. gingivalis in both, oral plaque and synovial fluid (11.9% versus. 0.9%, p = 0.030). Among the patients group the number of missing teeth was correlated with the number of joints with movement restrictions caused by RA. Conclusions: DNA of periodontopathogens can be found in synovial fluid and oral bacteria may play a role in the pathogenesis of arthritis. Stefan Reichert 1 , Maximilian Haffner, Gernot Keyßer, Christoph Sch€ afer, Jamal M. Stein, Hans-Guenter Schaller, Andreas Wienke, Heiko Strauss, Steffen Heide and Susanne Schulz University School of Dental Medicine, Department of Operative Dentistry and Periodontology, Martin-Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle (Saale), Germany; Clinic of Internal Medicine II, Martin-Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle, Germany; Department of Operative Dentistry, Periodontology and Preventive Dentistry, RWTH Aachen, Aachen, Germany; Institute for Medical Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Informatics, Martin-Luther University HalleWittenberg, Halle, Germany; Institute for Forensic Medicine, Martin-Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle, Germany
Up-regulation of glial fibrillary acidic protein in the retina of primate eyes with experimental glaucoma.

OBJECTIVE To identify molecular mechanisms of retinal responses to intraocular pressure elevation in primate experimental glaucoma. METHODS An experimental glaucoma model was created by repeated laser trabeculophotocoagulation. After the preparation of complementary DNAs from extracted total RNAs in the retinas, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) experiments were performed for the following screening target genes: beta-tubulin beta 2 and beta 5 and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP). To investigate the amplified sequences derived from the PCR experiments, sequencing, subcloning, and Southern blot analysis of PCR products were performed. In addition, an immunohistochemical analysis was performed in an attempt to show the distribution of the target gene products in the retinas. RESULTS A series of PCR experiments suggested up-regulation of gene expression for GFAP but not for beta-tubulins. Sequencing of the PCR products and results of the Southern blot analysis showed that the amplified sequences were derived mainly from the target gene, GFAP, and that increased expression of GFAP was found despite the severity of glaucoma. Immunohistochemical studies also demonstrated increased expression of GFAP proteins in Müller cells and astrocytes in the retinas of primate eyes with experimental glaucoma. CONCLUSIONS Our study showed up-regulation of GFAP at gene and protein levels, which suggests that glial components in the retina may contribute to the pathologic processes induced by elevated intraocular pressure.
Collecting and processing of barometric data from smartphones for potential use in numerical weather prediction data assimilation

The potential for use of crowd‐sourced data in the atmospheric sciences is vastly expanding, including observations from smartphones with barometric sensors. Smartphone pressure observations can potentially help improve numerical weather prediction and aid forecasters. In this contribution a method of collecting data from smartphones is presented, other methods are discussed and guidelines are derived from the experience. Quality control is vital when using crowd‐sourced data. Screening methods aimed at smartphone pressure observations are presented. Results from previous studies, showing a substantial but long‐term stable bias in combination with high relative accuracy, are confirmed. The collection of Danish smartphone pressure observations has been very successful, with over 6 million observations during a 7 week period. Case studies show that distinct weather patterns can be seen in unprocessed data. The screening method developed reduces the observational noise but filters out the majority of observations. Assimilating smartphone pressure observations in a single case study, using the 3D variational data assimilation system of the HARMONIE numerical weather prediction system, proved to decrease the bias of surface pressure in the model without increasing the root mean square error and the skill of accumulated precipitation increased. It is found that the altitude assignment of smartphones needs improvement.
İmkb’de Spekülati̇f Şi̇şki̇nleri̇n Test Edi̇lmesi̇ (Testing for Speculative Bubbles on Ise)

The main aim of this study is to examine the existence of speculative bubbles in Turkey using the daily data on ISE-100 and different sectors. For this purpose, the approach developed by McQueen and Thorley (1994), which utilizes duration models, is used. The beginning date of the daily indexes are 3/7/1987 for ISE-100 index, 28/12/1990 for financial and industry indexes, and 2/1/1997 for services index and 3/7/2000 for technology index. The end of observation period for all of the indexes is 20/02/2008. Both parametric and nonparametric duration test results do not support the expectations that there are speculative bubbles in all cases, that is, for the full data (ISE-100) and the data by considering sector differences as well.
Platysma Myocutaneous Flap Reconstruction

The platysma muscle receives its main blood supply from the submental branch of the facial artery (1). If the artery is ligated, the axial pattern of vascularization converts to a “random” pattern (2,3). This change can place the flap’s survival in jeopardy (4). the tongue (Fig. 3). The healing period was brief (1 week). There were no complications related to flap survival or acceptance at the donor site.
Diagnostic value of C-reactive protein as a predictor of complicated appendicitis like perforated/gangrenous appendicitis

Background: Appendicitis is inflammation of appendix. Appendicitis remains the most common abdominal surgical emergency. There is no reliable specific marker for acute appendicitis and its complications. C- reactive protein is an acute phase reactant produced by the liver during the acute inflammation, which rises rapidly in presence of inflammation. CRP is a more sensitive and reliable indicator of inflammatory processes than ESR and leucocyte count. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether CRP predict the severity of appendicitis.Methods: This study was hospital based, observational study. After history and clinical examination, patient underwent USG whole abdomen. Diagnosis of appendicitis was established. After that patient underwent routine blood investigations including, CRP. After confirming diagnosis of appendicitis, patients underwent appendectomy and biopsy of appendix was sent for histopathological examination.Results: In our study, CRP value > 6.15mg/L has a sensitivity of 100.0% and a specificity of 54% in predicting complicated perforated or gangrenous appendicitis. The positive predictive value and negative predictive value of CRP were 100% and 61.54% respectively. The cut off level at around 6mg/dL needs to be handled carefully and a person with high CRP should undergo surgery immediately.Conclusions: This study clearly suggested that CRP leads to precise prediction of the severity of acute appendicitis for treatment. A person with high CRP should undergo surgery immediately ures.
Effects of Gestational Hyperglycemia on Glucose Metabolism and Its Hormonal Control in the Fasted, Newborn Rat During the Early Postnatal Period

To evaluate the effects of gestational hyperglycemia on glucose metabolism and its regulation in the fasted rat during the early postnatal period, unrestrained rats were continuously infused with glucose during the last week of pregnancy. Control rats were infused with distilled water. Newborns were studied during the first six postnatal hours. At birth, newborns from glucose-infused rats, compared with controls, showed higher plasma glucose levels, increased plasma insulin, and lower plasma glucagon and catecholamine concentrations. Between birth and 2 h postpartum, newborn rats from both groups exhibited a marked hypoglycemia, which was, however, more severe in newborns from glucose-infused rats (15 mg/dl) than in controls (26 mg/dl). During the first four postnatal hours, plasma insulin concentration remained higher, while plasma glucagon and catecholamine concentrations remained lower in newborns from hyperglycemic rats. At 6 h, the glycemia reached normal values and the concentrations of the different hormones were similar in controls and newborns from glucose-infused mothers. Concurrently, in the newborns from glucose-infused rats, hepatic glucose production was altered, as they were unable to mobilize liver glycogen stores during the six postnatal hours. Despite slightly delayed phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase induction, the rate of gluconeogenesis from 10 mmol/L lactate estimated on isolated hepatocytes was higher in newborns from hyperglycemic mothers than in controls. These results show that gestational hyperglycemia compromises the metabolic and hormonal adaptation of the newborn rat to early extrauterine life; the striking feature of these neonates is the absence of mobilization of liver glycogen stores, which can probably be explained by fetal and neonatal hyperinsulinism associated with the defect of counterregulatory hormones.
Near‐total splenectomy for hereditary spherocytosis: clinical prospects in relation to disease severity

We prospectively studied the efficacy of near total splenectomy (NTS) for managing hereditary spherocytosis (HS) based on haemoglobin (Hb), total bilirubin and splenic remnant regrowth in 30 children receiving NTS for HS between November 1996 and December 2004 (mean followup 3·6 years). Patients were classified into three severity groups. At followup, mean Hb had increased by 2·9–5·0 g/dl (P = 0·110) and bilirubin dropped by 15·4–56·4 μmol/l. Remnant regrowth was moderate, within the weight‐specific norm. Amongst spleen‐preserving techniques, NTS shows markedly lower rates of recurrent haemolysis, remnant regrowth and secondary operations, thus potentially benefiting all clinical forms of HS.
The Effects of Diabetic Retinopathy Stage and Light Flicker on Inner Retinal Oxygen Extraction Fraction

Purpose We determined the effects of light flicker and diabetic retinopathy (DR) stage on retinal vascular diameter (D), oxygen saturation (SO2), and inner retinal oxygen extraction fraction (OEF). Methods Subjects were categorized as nondiabetic control (NC, n = 42), diabetic with no clinical DR (NDR; n = 32), nonproliferative DR (NPDR; n = 42), or proliferative DR (PDR; n = 14). Our customized optical imaging system simultaneously measured arterial and venous D (DA, DV) and SO2 (SO2A, SO2V) before and during light flicker. Inner retinal OEF was derived from SO2 values. Light flicker–induced ratios of metrics (DAR, DVR, SO2AR, SO2VR, OEFR) were calculated. Results Arterial D was larger in NPDR compared to NC (P = 0.01) and PDR (P = 0.002), whereas DV was similar among groups (P ≥ 0.16). Light flicker increased DA and DV (P ≤ 0.004), but DAR and DVR were similar among groups (P ≥ 0.09). Arterial SO2 was higher in all groups compared to NC (P ≤ 0.02) and higher in PDR compared to NDR and NPDR (P<0.001). Arterial SO2 did not change with light flicker (P ≥ 0.1). Venous SO2 was higher in NPDR and PDR compared to NC and NDR (P ≤ 0.02). Light flicker increased SO2V in NC, NDR, and PDR (P ≤ 0.003), and SO2VR was lower in NPDR compared to NC and NDR (P ≤ 0.05). Inner retinal OEF was lower in NPDR compared to NDR and PDR (P ≤ 0.02). Light flicker decreased OEF (P ≤ 0.03), but OEFR was greater in NPDR compared to NC and NDR (P ≤ 0.03). Conclusions The findings of alterations in retinal D, SO2, OEF, and their light flicker–induced responses at stages of DR may be useful to elucidate the pathophysiology of DR.
Cross-linguistic investigations of oral and silent reading

Recent research on speech rate (Pellegrino et al., 2011) has shown that languages differ in terms of syllable rate, and that these differences are compensated by the average amount of information carried by syllables. The more syllables a language needs to express a given amount of information, the higher its syllable rate tends to be. These results were obtained with subjects reading texts on a computer screen. The question arose whether silent reading rates would correlate with oral reading rates across languages. Although silent and oral reading fluency has been studied with respect to reading comprehension and how it develops in children, little literature focuses on comparing them in different languages. We present here data for 8 languages (Cantonese, Finnish, French, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Serbian, and Thai). For each language, silent and oral syllables rates as well as reading durations were measured for several subjects and 15 different texts. Various comparisons were performed, and mixed-effects regression models were used to further evaluate the weight of the different variables (gender, language, speaker and text). Most significantly, oral and silent reading rates appear to be well correlated, suggesting that language-specific syllabic complexity impacts silent reading in a similar way to oral reading.
New Estimates of the Labor Market Effects of Workers' Compensation Insurance

The workers' compensation laws are one of the earliest examples of a government mandated employer provided benefit. Under a combination of federal and state laws, employers have a statutory obligation to provide medical and income benefits to injured workers. In most states, employers are required to purchase insurance to meet their financial responsibility. Recently, there has been growing legislative support for expanding the scope of mandated benefits to include items such as parental leave and health insurance. The political attractiveness of mandated benefits is that they do not require an increase in taxes, and that they represent a political compromise between liberals and conservatives over how best to carry out social policy [22]. The labor market consequences of mandated benefits are potentially large and not well documented in the literature. The fundamental issue is to what extent an increase in benefits, which represents an increase in employer costs, is offset by lower wages. Previous studies that have attempted to measure such compensating differentials have reached dissimilar conclusions over the size and even the direction of the effects. ' The findings from studies examining the effect of workers' compensation insurance on wages tend to be more consistent, often finding a negative effect, but are also characterized by considerable diversity. Thus, past research does not provide enough information to make an informed policy decision and continued research in this area is clearly warranted. The purpose of this paper is to provide new evidence on the effect of workers' compensation benefits on the labor market. In particular, the paper examines the tradeoff between wages and workers' compensation benefits and the relationship between workers' compensation benefits and job safety. The primary contribution of this paper is to identify two previously overlooked
Sphingosine kinase 1 inhibition improves lipopolysaccharide/D-galactosamine-induced acute liver failure by inhibiting mitogen-activated protein kinases pathway

Background Sphingosine kinase 1 (SphK1)/sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P)/sphingosine-1-phosphate receptors (S1PRs) signaling plays a key role in inflammatory responses. Lei et al. showed that SphK1 inhibition presented a hepatoprotective effect on acute liver damage via decreasing hepatic high-mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) cytoplasmic translocation. Objective We aim to determine whether SphK1 or S1PRs inhibition improves lipopolysaccharide (LPS)/D-galactosamine (GalN)-induced acute liver failure by inhibiting the mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) pathway. Methods A mouse model of acute liver failure was induced by LPS/GalN. Male C57BL/6J mice (6–8 weeks) were randomly distributed into five groups: control group, LPS/GalN group, SphK1 inhibition group (LPS/GalN+SKI-5c), S1PR1 inhibition group (LPS/GalN+W146), and S1PR3 inhibition group (LPS/GalN+CAY10444). Results We confirmed the findings of Lei et al. that hepatic SphK1 expression was upregulated; serum transaminase activity (AST, ALT), as well as serum TNF-α and IL-6, were decreased by SphK1 inhibition. We further showed that the expression of S1PR1 and S1PR3 was augmented in response to LPS/GalN. SphK1 inhibition improves hepatic hemorrhage, and the activities of hepatic caspase-3 and myeloperoxidase (MPO). Furthermore, the activation of the MAPKs family (JNK, ERK and p38) was suppressed by SphK1 inhibition. However, S1PR1 or S1PR3 inhibition did not protect the mouse against liver damage, though S1PR1 or S1PR3 inhibition reduced serum TNF-α and IL-6, and partially attenuated the phosphorylation of the MAPKs signaling. Conclusions SphK1 inhibition improves LPS/GalN-induced liver injury by inhibiting activation of MAPKs signaling.