Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Thalamic glutamate/glutamine in restless legs syndrome

Objective: To evaluate possible abnormal increase in thalamic glutamate/glutamine levels for restless legs syndrome (RLS) indicating increased glutamatergic activity producing arousal that at night disrupts and shortens sleep. Methods: 1H MRS of the right thalamus was performed using a 1.5 T GE MRI scanner and the PROBE-P (PRESS) on 28 patients with RLS and 20 matched controls. The Glx signal (combination of mostly glutamate [Glu] and glutamine [Gln]) was assessed as a ratio to the total creatine (Cr). This study tested 2 primary hypotheses: 1) higher thalamic Glx/Cr for patients with RLS than controls; 2) thalamic Glx/Cr correlates with increased wake during the sleep period. Results: The Glx/Cr was higher for patients with RLS than controls (mean ± SD 1.20 ± 0.73 vs 0.80 ± 0.39, t = 2.2, p = 0.016) and correlated significantly with the wake time during the sleep period (r = 0.61, p = 0.007) and all other RLS-related polysomnographic sleep variables (p < 0.05) except for periodic leg movements during sleep (PLMS)/hour. Conclusions: The primary findings introduce 2 new related dimensions to RLS: abnormalities in a major nondopaminergic neurologic system and the arousal disturbance of sleep. The strong relation of the arousal sleep disturbance to glutamate and the lack of relation to the PLMS motor features of RLS contrasts with the reverse for dopamine of a limited relation to arousal sleep disturbance but strong relation to PLMS. Understanding this dichotomy and the interaction of these 2 differing systems may be important for understanding RLS neurobiology and developing better treatments for RLS.
Reliability of fine‐needle aspiration and ultrasound‐based characteristics of thyroid nodules for diagnosing malignancy in Iranian patients

Sonography and fine‐needle aspiration biopsy (FNA‐B) have been approved as method of choice in diagnosis of malignant thyroid nodules. Unnecessary FNA‐B not only is invasive and costly but also results in second biopsy or unnecessary surgery. So we aimed to determine the specificity and sensitivity of sonography and FNA‐B, without sonography guidance, in diagnosis of malignant and benign thyroid nodules.
[Viral etiology of 1165 hospitalized children with acute lower respiratory tract infection].

OBJECTIVE To explore the viral etiology of acute low respiratory tract infection (ALRTI) among hospitalized children in Changsha of Hunan Province of China. METHODS Nasopharyngeal aspirates were collected from 1165 hospitalized children with ALRTI in Changsha from September 2007 to August 2008. Respiratory syncytin virus (RSV), human rhinovirus (HRV), influenza virus A (IFVA), influenza virus B (IFVB), parainfluenza 1-3 (PIV 1-3), human metapneumovirus (hMPV), human coronaviruses NL63 (HCoV-NL63), and human coronaviruses HKU1 (HCoV-HKU1) were detected by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Adenovirus (ADV) and human bocavirus (HBoV) were detected by standard polymerase chain reaction (PCR). WU polyomaviruses (WUPyV) and KI polyomaviruses(KIPyV) were detected by nested PCR. The positive samples further underwent genetic sequencing. RESULTS Among the 1165 nasopharyngeal aspirates, viruses were detected in 871 samples (74.76%), among which RSV (27.03%) was the most common virus, followed by HRV (17.33%), PIV3 (13.73%), HBoV (8.67%) and hMPV (6.52%). The overall positive rate of viral detection showed no significant differences between males and females (X2=2.241, P=0.134), whereas the positive rates of PIV3, hMPV, and HBoV in males were higher than in females. The positive rate of viral detection showed significant differences among different age groups (X2=10.934, P=0.027), and the highest positive rate was noted in the age group of 6 months to 1 year. Furthermore, the overall positive rate of viral detection showed a significant difference in term of seasonal distribution, with a peak prevalence in winter. CONCLUSIONS Virues predominate in the etiology of pediatric ALRTI in Changsha, and RSV, HRV and PIV3 are the main viruses for ALRTI. HBoV and hMPV have become increasingly important. Viral infection-associated ALRTI shows a prevail in the age group of 6 months to 1 year as well as in winter.
Resonant Light-Matter Interaction for Enhanced Control of Exotic Propagation of Light

We investigate the propagation of light in different conditions that lead to exotic propagation of photons and use near-resonant light-matter interactions to enhance these effects. First, we study the propagation of light in a moving highly dispersive medium, namely rubidium atoms. Based on the special relativity the speed of light changes with the speed of the medium. However, this drag effect in a non-dispersive medium is very small and thus difficult to measure. We show that the drag effect is enhanced significantly when the moving medium is highly dispersive. Thus, with this enhancement even a slow motion can be detected. Next, we employ the large nonlinear response of rubidium atoms to accentuate the formation of optical caustics. Caustics are important as nature uses caustics to concentrate the energy of waves. Moreover, caustics can be formed in many physical systems such as water waves in oceans to amplify tsunamis or generate rogue waves. The connection of our study to these giant water waves is discussed. Finally, we explore light-matter interactions in plasmonic systems. We show that photons experience a significant phase jump as they couple into and out of a plasmonic structure. This coupling phase, also known as the scattering phase shift, is generic to all scattering events. We measure this coupling phase with a triple-slit plasmonic structure. Moreover, we use the near-field enhancement of the plasmonic structure to enhance the coupling between the slits. Consequently, the photons can take non-trivial trajectories that pass through all three slits. We measure such exotic trajectories for the first time that are seemingly in violation of the superposition principle. The application of the superposition principle and the validity of Born’s rule is discussed.
UTILITY OF THE DIMENSIONS OF ANGER REACTIONS–5 (DAR‐5) SCALE AS A BRIEF ANGER MEASURE

Anger is a common emotional sequel in the aftermath of traumatic experience. As it is associated with significant distress and influences recovery, anger requires routine screening and assessment. Most validated measures of anger are too lengthy for inclusion in self‐report batteries or as screening tools. This study examines the psychometric properties of a shortened 5‐item version of the Dimensions of Anger Reactions (DAR), an existing screening tool.
Loss of sensory neurons after sciatic nerve section in the rat

In this study, the loss of sensory neurons in the rat was assessed after sciatic nerve section hat birth and at 4 weeks of age. The neuronal defict in ganglia L4–L6, 39–89 weeks after neonatal denervation, was 10,000–17,000. The nerve contains about 19,000 afferent axons, so some axotomized neurons survived. Degenerating perikarya were absent, probably because all surviving neurons had reestablished target contacts. Sectioning the nerve at age 4 weeks, in five rats, after 19–92 weeks had caused the death of 7,000–11,500 neurons. Whether the nerve regenerated or not in these rats apparently did not influence the extent of neuron death. Nevertheless, no deficit was observed in a sixth rat in which muscle reinnervation was very good. Therefore, the results are inconclusive with respect to the effect of axonal regeneration. Ganglia of rats operated at age 4 weeks regularly contained perikarya with axonal reaction; this supports the notion that some mature neurons are able to permanently survive without target contact. There was no evidence for selective loss of large or small neurons after nerve section at birth or at age 4 weeks.
Comparison of the [2H5]Phenylalanine Model with the [1-13C]Leucine Method to Determine Whole Body Protein Synthesis and Degradation in Sheep Fed at Two Levels

The [ 2 H 5 ]phenylalanine model was compared with the [1- 13 C]leucine method to determine whole body protein synthesis (WBPS) and degradation (WBPD) in sheep fed at two levels. The animals were fed either 103 (M-diet) or 151 (H-diet) kcal ME/kg 0.75 /day once daily in a crossover design for 21 days each. The isotope dilutions were simultaneously conducted as a primed-continuous infusion of [ 2 H 5 ]phenylalanine, [ 2 H 2 ]tyrosine and [1- 13 C]leucine on each dietary treatment. The WBPS and WBPD calculated from the [ 2 H 5 ]phenylalanine model were lower (p = 0.009 and p = 0.003, respectively) than those calculated from the [1- 13 C]leucine method. The WBPS tended to be higher (p = 0.08) and WBPD was numerically higher (p = 0.33) for H-diet than M-diet in the [ 2 H 5 ]phenylalanine model, whereas the WBPS was numerically higher (p = 0.37) for H-diet and WBPS remained similar (p = 0.79) between diets in the [1- 13 C]leucine method. However, the absolute values and the directions of WBPS as well as WBPD from M-diet to H-diet were comparable between the [ 2 H 5 ]phenylalanine model and [1- 13 C]leucine method. Moreover, the values vary depending on the use of the respective amino acid contents in the carcass protein when calculating WBPS and WBPD. Therefore, it is concluded that the [ 2 H 5 ]phenylalanine model could be used as an alternative to the [1- 13 C]leucine method for the determination of WBPS and WBPD in sheep.
Phase retrieval from noisy data based on sparse approximation of object phase and amplitude

A variational approach to reconstruction of phase and amplitude of a complex-valued object from Poissonian intensity observations is developed. The observation model corresponds to the typical optical setups with a phase modulation of wavefronts. The transform domain sparsity is applied for the amplitude and phase modeling. It is demonstrated that this modeling results in the essential advantage of the developed algorithm for heavily noisy observations corresponding to a short exposure time in optical experiments. We consider also two simplified versions of this algorithm where the sparsity modeling of phase and amplitude is omitted. In the simulation study we compare the developed algorithms versus the Gerchberg-Saxton and truncation Wirtinger flow algorithms. The latter algorithm being the maximum likelihood based is the state-of-the-art for the phase retrieval from Poissonian observations. For noisy and very noisy observations the proposed algorithm demonstrates a valuable advantage.
How effective are copayments in reducing expenditures for low-income adult Medicaid beneficiaries? Experience from the Oregon health plan.

OBJECTIVES To determine the impact of introducing copayments on medical care use and expenditures for low-income, adult Medicaid beneficiaries. DATA SOURCES/STUDY SETTING The Oregon Health Plan (OHP) implemented copayments and other benefit changes for some adult beneficiaries in February 2003. STUDY DESIGN Copayment effects were measured as the "difference-in-difference" in average monthly service use and expenditures among cohorts of OHP Standard (intervention) and Plus (comparison) beneficiaries. DATA COLLECTION/EXTRACTION METHODS There were 10,176 OHP Standard and 10,319 Plus propensity score-matched subjects enrolled during November 2001-October 2002 and May 2003-April 2004 that were selected and assigned to 59 primary care-based service areas with aggregate outcomes calculated in six month intervals yielding 472 observations. RESULTS Total expenditures per person remained unchanged (+2.2 percent, p=.47) despite reductions in use (-2.7 percent, p<.001). Use and expenditures per person decreased for pharmacy (-2.2 percent, p<.001; -10.5 percent, p<.001) but increased for inpatient (+27.3 percent, p<.001; +20.1 percent, p=.03) and hospital outpatient services (+13.5 percent, p<.001; +19.7 percent, p<.001). Ambulatory professional (-7.7 percent, p<.001) and emergency department (-7.9 percent, p=.03) use decreased, yet expenditures remained unchanged (-1.5 percent, p=.75; -2.0 percent, p=.68, respectively) as expenditures per service user rose (+6.6 percent, p=.13; +7.9 percent, p=.03, respectively). CONCLUSIONS In the Oregon Medicaid program applying copayments shifted treatment patterns but did not provide expected savings. Policy makers should use caution in applying copayments to low-income Medicaid beneficiaries.
Alternative feed ingredients for pigs.

Largely due to the demand for grains for the bio-fuel industry, the cost of feed energy will increase worldwide. Therefore, alternative energy supplying pig feed ingredients should be explored, including distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS), field peas, wheat shorts and liquid co-products from the bio-fuel and food industry. The inclusion of DDGS in diets is limited by the fiber concentration in DDGS and for finishing pigs, also by the concentration of unsaturated fatty acids. However, most groups of swine can be fed at least 20% DDGS and sometimes, greater concentrations can be used. The concentration of available energy in DDGS is similar to corn, but some sources of DDGS have low concentrations of digestible lysine. To avoid feeding these sources, it is recommended that only DDGS that has a lysine to crude protein ratio that is greater than 2.80% is used in diets fed to swine. Field peas also contain available energy in amounts that are similar to corn and the pea protein has a high concentration of lysine, but a low concentration of methionine, cysteine, threonine, and tryptophan. Crystalline sources of these amino acids are, therefore, often required, if field peas are included in the diets. Diets fed to weanling pigs and sows may contain at least 20% field peas without changing pig performance. If the peas are extruded or micronised prior to feeding, greater concentrations may be used. Diets fed to growing-finishing pigs, may contain up to 70% field peas and no soybean meal is needed in these diets. Wheat shorts have been available for use in swine diets for many years. The available energy content of wheat shorts is lower than that of corn, but it contains more digestible amino acids and phosphorus than corn. If diets are formulated carefully, growing-finishing pig diets may contain 40% wheat shorts without compromising pig performance. Liquid feeding allows the use of liquid coproducts such as whey, whey permeate, corn distillers solubles, brewers yeast, sugar syrup, and corn steep water. The nutritional value of these co-products has been characterized and recommendations for their use in pig diets are made. These co-products are generally more variable in nutritional value, which should be considered carefully when formulating and costing swine diets.
FE200041 (d-Phe-d-Phe-d-Nle-d-Arg-NH2): A Peripheral Efficacious κ Opioid Agonist with Unprecedented Selectivity

The side effects typically associated with the clinical profiles of opioid μ-receptor agonists have driven continuing efforts to identify novel efficacious analgesics, including agonists acting at opioid κ receptors. Unfortunately, the therapeutic potential of κ agonists seems limited by significant central nervous system side effects. κ Opioid agonists, however, exhibit potent peripherally mediated antihyperalgesic and antinociceptive effects, suggesting that a peripherally acting κ agonist may be efficacious in pain control with a more desirable safety profile than that associated with currently available opioids. Here, we report an all d-amino acid tetrapeptide characterized as a novel, highly selective κ opioid receptor agonist. FE200041 (d-Phe-d-Phe-d-Nle-d-Arg-NH2) showed selectivity for the human κ opioid receptor of greater than 30,000- and 68,000-fold versus human μ opioid receptor and human δ-opioid receptor receptors, respectively, and efficacious agonist activity using in vitro tissue assays. FE200041 produced local, peripheral antinociception in the hindpaw ipsilateral, but not contralateral, to injection. Antinociceptive effects of FE200041 in the mouse acetic acid writhing assay lasted over 60 min and were antagonized by naloxone and by selective κ, but not μ, opioid receptor antagonists. FE200041 significantly inhibited acetic acid writhing and inhibited formalin-induced flinching in rats. FE200041 did not elicit sedation or motor impairment after systemic administration at a dose 10-fold higher than that needed to achieve antinociception. FE200041 is thus a potent peripherally restricted opioid κ agonist with no demonstrable side effects typical of κ agonists with central nervous system activity and with unprecedented selectivity for the opioid κ receptor. The pharmacology of this compound suggests the possibility of therapeutic application.
Cytological aspects of antimicrobial antibiosis. I. Cytological changes associated with the exposure of Escherichia coli to colistin sulfate.

Chapman, George B. (Cornell University Medical College, New York, N.Y.). Cytological aspects of antimicrobial antibiosis. I. Cytological changes associated with the exposure of Escherichia coli to colistin sulfate. J. Bacteriol. 84:169-179. 1962-Broth cultures of Escherichia coli were exposed to different concentrations of the antibiotic colistin sulfate for various lengths of time. Control (untreated) and treated cells were fixed, dehydrated, and embedded in methacrylate or Epon. Ultrathin sections were examined in an RCA EMU2-D electron microscope. Two conspicuous cytological changes were noted. First, the nuclear material disappeared from its normal sites and was no longer demonstrable. Second, the cytoplasm lost its granularity and became homogeneous. Cells which showed these changes were nonviable.
The efficacy of lumbosacral transforaminal epidural steroid injections: a comprehensive literature review.

BACKGROUND There have been a number of recent studies showing the effectiveness of lumbosacral transforaminal steroid epidural injections used in the treatment of radicular pain. The studies include retrospective, prospective and randomized controlled studies. Thus, the data is valuable with regard to identifying evidence based recommendations that can be used for clinical practitioners. PURPOSE To review and critically evaluate literature focusing on the efficacy of lumbosacral transforaminal steroid injections. The goal of this review is to identify pertinent journal information that aids in the improvement of clinical care and guides future research by increasing the awareness of the efficacy of this procedure. STUDY DESIGN A comprehensive literature review of the efficacy of lumbar sacral transforaminal epidural steroid injections. METHODS Medical databases were searched for key words of transforaminal lumbar sacral, anatomy, and efficacy of steroid injection using Pub Med, Medline, Cochrane databases and U.S. National Library of Medicine. Works cited lists were then searched and cross-referenced as well. Articles focusing solely on interlaminar and caudal steroid injections were excluded as were transforaminal studies focusing on the cervical spine. Also, articles were excluded that did not differentiate the type of technique with type of relief it produced. Papers focusing on the efficacy of lumbosacral transforaminal steroid injections were included in the data that followed the patient for three months or greater. RESULTS In all there were 10 randomized trials, 4 retrospective studies and 8 prospective studies found. Among the 10 randomized control studies only 8 met inclusion criteria. All 8 of the randomized control studies included show a positive outcome in both the short term and long term results. There were a total of 9 prospective trials showing a positive short term and long term outcome and that used both CT guided injections as well as fluoroscopic injections. CONCLUSION This systemic review included prospective, retrospective and randomized clinical trials showing that there was strong evidence for transforaminal injections in the treatment of lumbosacral radicular pain for both short term and long term relief.
A single-switch high voltage quasi-resonant DC-DC converter for a pulsed plasma thruster

In nano-satellites, the pulsed plasma thruster (PPT) is a suitable electronic propulsion system for drag compensation or attitude control. In this paper, a new quasi-resonant converter topology is proposed for the PPT igniter. It consists of a resonant tank, a step-up transformer and a Cockcroft-Walton voltage multiplier circuit. As compared to other resonant converters, the proposed topology uses a single switch. This improves the reliability and eases switching control. The resonant tank is driven to work at quasi-resonant state to obtain zero-current-switching (ZCS). This reduces switching noise and voltage spike. A prototype circuit has been developed to validate the concept. The output voltage is set to 4kV from a 5V power supply, and the preliminary experimental results show that the circuit works as analyzed.
Accumulation of heavy metals by freshwater zooplankton - a toxicological study

So far many toxicologic studies are made earlier; we studied the acute toxicity estimation related to some specific identified freshwater zooplanktons of Paradip (Harbour City) area of Jagatsingpur District, Orissa, India which is situated on the bank of Mahanadi River. The study area is prone to heavy metal pollution because mineral based industries in relation to zinc, lead and cadmium are common in and around. Heavy metal pollutants are affecting aquatic life in their surrounding waters. Water quality analysis of sampling location has shown concentration of lead as 0.06–0.55 ppm, zinc 0.04–0.35 ppm and cadmium 0.00–0.01 ppm which are beyond the BIS permissible limit for drinking water. As many people depend upon the fisheries from this area and public health is concerned, acute toxicity to zooplankton was estimated as it is in the middle of food chain. So, after conducting static bioassay, acute toxicity of zinc, lead and cadmium to fresh water zooplanktons was estimated. Whole zooplankton communities were exposed to different heavy metal stresses. Zooplankton community included nine planktonic forms i.e. Heliodiaptomus viduus, Mesocyclops hyalinus, Cyclocypris globosa, Diaphanosoma sarsi, Moina brachiata, Stenocypris malcolmsoni, Alona quadrangularis, Asplanchna brightwelli, Ceriodaphnia were exposed to different heavy metal stresses. Cadmium was found to be most toxic and lead was least toxic to zooplankton. Ostracods and Cyclops were in resistant forms and Rotifers were in sensitive forms in relation to metallic exposure. Sensitivity pattern observed during laboratory experiments was found to be in accordance with biodiversity variation of zooplankton in different sampling locations of Mahanadi River System in Paradip (Harbour City) area of Jagatsingpur District, Orissa.