Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Fusiform aneurysms (dolichoectasia) of the internal carotid artery as cause of optic nerve damage

Dolichoectasia of cerebral vessels most often occurs in middle-aged or elderly patients, also occasionally in children and in subjects with neurofibromatosis type NF-i. It seems that less atherosclerosis but severe deficiency of reticular fibers in the media associated with extensive defects in the elastic lamina represents the main factor in the pathogenesis of these ectasias. In contrast to saccular aneurysms, the fusiform aneurysms never cause subarachnoid hemorrhage. Those originating from the internal carotid artery produce damage to the optic nerve by direct pressure or by impairment of the circulation of nutrient vessels. Visual loss may be slowly progressive or acute, affecting one eye weeks or years before the other. Visual field defects are not specific: altitudinal, temporal, constriction, central or cecocentral scotomas. Progressive optic atrophy on the affected side is the rule; sometimes papilledema on the other side can mimick a Foster-Kennedy syndrome. The treatment possibilities are discu.
Anti-arthritic effect of radix Paeoniae rubra herb-acupuncture: a behavioral evaluation on adjuvant-induced arthritis rats

Radix Paeoniae rubra (PR) has been widely used for recovering acute inflammation with swelling and pain in Far East Asian countries. In order to investigate the anti-arthritic effect of PR herbacupuncture, several behavioral parameters such as body weight, knee circumference, squeaking threshold, and weight distribution ratio were investigated in an adjuvant-induced mono-arthritis rat model. We performed PR herb-acupuncture on Zusanli (ST36) of the right hind-leg once every second day for a total of 6 times from the second day of initiating arthritis with adjuvant injection, while the control group was treated with saline in the same way. In the experimental group, body weight significantly increased, knee circumference and squeaking threshold significantly decreased indicating the reduction of edema, and both the pain and inflammatory swelling of the hind paws measured by incapacitance meter decreased. Conclusively, PR herb-acupuncture has more promising effect in alleviating arthritic pain and inflammation than saline-acupuncture in rat model, hence further clinical study is required.
Developing the social work researcher through a practitioner research training programme

As part of its core programme, the Centre for Child Care Research at Queen's University, Belfast, Department of Social Work is developing a Practitioner Research Training Programme for social workers interested in undertaking applied research. A survey was undertaken to assess the research literacy and competency of the social work profession as well as interest and desire to learn by undertaking research training. The findings produced useful insights into the value of such a programme and offered a contribution to the more global debate on the development of practitioner-researcher partnerships for creating a research base within the profession.
ANGINA PECTORIS IN HEREDITARY XANTHOMATOSIS

It has long been agreed that the various forms of xanthomatosis are of general medical interest and not simply the expression of a local change in the skin. In many cases deposits of the same structure as that of the cutaneous deposits occur in internal organs. In 1878 Quinquaud advanced the idea that xanthoma is due to changes in the blood, hypercholesteremia, and more recent investigations have established the fact that it does concern a disturbance of lipoid metabolism. Other forms of lipoidosis, such as Gaucher's disease and Niemann-Pick disease, will not be considered at this time; neither will the xanthomatous manifestations in diabetes, myxedema, pregnancy and disease of the liver with icterus be discussed. The constitutional nature of "essential" xanthomatosis is shown clearly by its hereditary occurrence. Torok 1 observed xanthomatosis as a hereditary manifestation in several families, and this has since been confirmed by others. The localization of
Th9 cytokines response and its possible implications in the immunopathogenesis of leprosy

Aims Leprosy is an infectious-contagious disease whose clinical evolution depends on the interaction of the infectious agent with the immune response of the host, leading to a clinical spectrum that ranges from lepromatous leprosy (susceptibility, LL) to tuberculoid leprosy (resistance, TT). The immune response profile will depend on the pattern of cytokine production and on the activity of macrophages during infection. Classically, the clinical evolution of leprosy has been associated with Th1/Th2 cytokine profiles, but the role of new cytokine profiles such as T helper 9 (Th9) remains to be elucidated. Methods To evaluate the tissue expression profile of these cytokines, a cross-sectional study was conducted using a sample of 30 leprosy skin lesion biopsies obtained from patients with leprosy, 16 TT and 14 lepromatous LL. Results Immunohistochemical analysis revealed a significant difference in interleukin (IL)-9, IL-4 transforming growth factor (TGF)-β and IL-10 levels between the two groups. IL-9 was more expressed in TT lesions compared with LL lesions. Higher expression of IL-4, IL-10 and TGF-β was observed in LL compared with TT. IL-4, IL-10 and TGF-β tended to be negatively correlated with the expression of IL-9, indicating a possible antagonistic activity in tissue. Conclusions The results suggest that Th9 lymphocytes may be involved in the response to Mycobacterium leprae, positively or negatively regulating microbicidal activity of the local immune system in the disease.
The association between Asian ethnicity and prescribing rates in east London general practices: a database study

There is currently a paucity of information on the relationship between patient ethnicity and prescribing and its implications for future resource allocation. The proportions of Asian patients on practice lists in east London were estimated by proportional allocation of census data and by assigning ethnicity to names; the latter method was deemed to be more appropriate. Using linear multiple regression modelling, a higher rate of prescribing was demonstrated in general practices with higher proportions of Asian patients. Practices with higher proportions of Asian patients also had higher list sizes per general practitioner (GP). Our findings confirmed that the overall drug prescribing rate was most strongly associated with the age-sex structure of the practice population. Lower prescribing rates were found in training practices and practices with fewer patients per principal. Half the variability in the overall drug prescribing rate was related to the factors included in our analysis. Higher rates of prescribing for patients of Asian origin could reflect higher morbidity, doctor behaviour or patient expectation. To date, ethnicity has not been included in the calculations for general practice Indicative Prescribing Amounts (IPAs). It is suggested that IPAs should be weighted for patient ethnicity. A higher prescribing rate could reflect a greater workload which is consistent with higher consultation rates among Asian patients. These need to be taken into account in General Medical Services (GMS) negotiations.
Occlusion shadows: using projected light to generate realistic occlusion effects for view-dependent optical see-through displays

This paper presents projector-based illumination techniques for creating correct occlusion effects for optical see-through setups. We project view-dependent occlusion shadows onto the real surfaces that are located behind virtual objects. This results in a perfect occlusion of real objects by virtual ones. We have implemented and tested our approach in the context of the Virtual Showcase display. We describe a hardware extension for projecting light into the showcase and present our rendering techniques for displaying occlusion shadows for single and multi-user environments as well as for single and multi-light-projector configurations. We also report on the limitations of our system for multi-user situations and describe our experiences with a first experimental prototype.
Contribution of Molecular Biology and Markers to the Prognosis and Management of Patients With Soft Tissue Sarcoma

During the last 10 years, molecular testing of soft tissue tumors has become increasingly important, not only in the diagnostic approach to these lesions, but also regarding their prognosis and pathogenesis. A subset of soft tissue sarcomas bear chromosomal abnormalities including reciprocal translocations, deletions, mutations, and amplifications, which turned out to be histotype specific. Beside their diagnostic value in sarcoma typing and subtyping (always in an appropriate clinical and histologic context), some of these abnormalities (eg, KIT and platelet derived growth factor, alpha chain mutations in gastrointestinal stromal tumors) may also impact on treatment response and prognosis. This review will focus on the potential impact of molecular biology and markers on the prognosis and management of patients with Ewing sarcoma, alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma, synovial sarcoma, myxoid, and well-differentiated or dedifferentiated liposarcoma, sarcoma with myogenic differentiation, and gastrointestinal stromal tumor.
Child and Adolescent Mental Health Policies, Programmes and Infrastructures across Europe

To support development of effective policy and action for child and adolescent mental health (CAMH), key national and/or regional information on monitoring, evaluation, obstacles and opportunities in CAMH from 15 European countries was collected. National expert groups in each country were created to collect the data and complete a specially designed questionnaire. The data highlight that 1) the implementation and outcomes of CAMH policies and action plans are not assessed systematically in Europe, 2) prevalence data on positive mental health, mental disorders and risk, and vulnerable populations is heterogeneous and patchy across Europe, 3) children and adolescents are rarely involved in decision-making processes affecting CAMH practices, 4) CAMH issues are not included in all relevant higher education qualifications, 5) budgets dedicated to CAMH issues are not identifiable, specific or sufficient in the long term, and 6) stakeholders and the general public are not considered to be widely aware of the determinants of CAMH.
IL‐1 Receptor Blockade Prevents Fetal Cortical Brain Injury but Not Preterm Birth in a Mouse Model of Inflammation‐Induced Preterm Birth and Perinatal Brain Injury

Exposure to intrauterine inflammation, associated with preterm birth, has been linked to a devastating spectrum of neurobehavioral disorders. Mechanisms of this injury are unknown. Using a mouse model of intrauterine inflammation, we have observed a disruption of fetal neuronal morphology along with a marked elevation of interleukin (IL)‐1β in the fetal brain and placenta. In this study, we hypothesized that IL‐1 plays a key role in perinatal brain injury.
Comparative analysis of six different antibodies against Her2 including the novel rabbit monoclonal antibody (SP3) and chromogenic in situ hybridisation in breast carcinomas

Aims: To compare the sensitivity and specificity of new rabbit monoclonal antibody SP3 with those of mouse monoclonal and rabbit polyclonal antibodies using HER2 amplification defined by chromogenic in situ hybridisation (CISH) as the gold standard. Methods: Serial sections from tissue microarrays (TMAs) containing 84 breast carcinomas were submitted to CISH (Zymed HER2 Spot-Light kit) and immunohistochemistry, using NeoMarkers SP3 (rabbit monoclonal), DAKO A0485 and DAKO HercepTest (polyclonal), Novocastra NCL-CB11, Cell Marque CM-CB11, and Genentech 4D5 (mouse monoclonal). Results: The best antibody concordance was between SP3 and HercepTest (κ = 0.74). SP3, A0485 and HercepTest detected all HER2 amplified tumours, but were less specific than mouse monoclonal antibodies. 3/38 (7.9%) and 8/38 (21.0%) non-amplified tumours were scored as 3+ using SP3 and A0485, respectively. 3/46 (6.5%) amplified tumours were negative for NCL-CB11. SP3, HercepTest and A0485 showed no gene amplification on 55%, 62.5% and 92.3% of the 2+ scored tumours, but most of the 2+ scored tumours using monoclonal antibodies were amplified by CISH (80–92.3%). Conclusions: SP3 is more sensitive than mouse monoclonal antibodies for Her2 assessment. However, HercepTest, CB11 and 4D5 show higher specificity than SP3 for the identification of HER2 gene amplification. Mouse monoclonal antibodies show less Her2 2+ tumours; most are amplified by CISH.
Estudo transversal sobre saúde mental de agricultores da Serra Gaúcha (Brasil)

OBJETIVO: Considerando a escassez de estudos rurais de base populacional, buscou-se avaliar as associacoes entre caracteristicas do trabalho rural e a ocorrencia de morbidade psiquiatrica menor- MPM. METODOS: Utilizando delineamento transversal, estudaram-se 1.282 agricultores de 446 estabelecimentos. As informacoes foram coletadas por entrevista direta, a partir da percepcao do trabalhador. O indice de Kappa foi adotado para controle de qualidade. Caracterizaram-se as condicoes produtivas, dados sociodemograficos e indicadores de saude mental. RESULTADOS: A prevalencia de MPM afetou 37,5% dos agricultores. As prevalencias foram maiores entre produtores de feijao e menores entre os de maca. Encontrou-se risco aumentado nos estabelecimentos de 26 a 50 ha, e risco reduzido associado a maior mecanizacao e aumento de escolaridade. A ocorrencia de intoxicacao por agrotoxicos mostrou forte associacao com MPM, embora nao se possa definir a direcao dessa associacao. CONCLUSOES: Os resultados alertam para a dimensao dos problemas e para a urgencia de medidas que visem a proteger a saude dos agricultores.
Measurement of Transit Time of a Gammamed-Plus Remote Afterloading High Dose Rate Brachytherapy Source

Measurement of Transit Time of a Gammamed-Plus Remote Afterloading High Dose Rate Brachytherapy Source Accurate measurement of transit time of the HDR brachytherapy source of a remote after-loading unit is necessary to calculate the total radiation dose given to the treatment volume. Presently, most of the HDR brachytherapy treatment planning systems neglect the transit time in the computation of dose. The aim of this investigation is to use a well type ionization chamber to measure the transit time during the source movement between two dwell positions. As well type ionization chamber and a precision electrometer (manufacturer CD instruments, Bangalore) were used to measure the charge generated during the movement of the Ir-192 source of a Gammamed HDR brachytherapy unit with an interstitial needle. Effective transit time and effective speed were determined on the basis of methodology described by Sahoo [2]. Corrections were done on the basis of relative sensitivity values for varaious dwell position in the ionization chamber. In the present study the variation of effective speed with interdwell distance was minimal as compared with that of Sahoo [2]. The effective transit times were 0.129, 0.182, 0.301, 0.402, 0.701, and 0.993 seconds for 1, 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 cm interdwell separations respectively. The effective transit times in the present study were higher than those of Sahoo [2]. Software modification accounting for the dynamic dose should be incorporated into all HDR planning systems. Such an improvement would enhance the safety and accuracy of HDR brachytherapy.
Learning 6DoF Object Poses from Synthetic Single Channel Images

Estimation of 6DoF object poses from single images is a problem of great interest in augmented reality and robotics research since it enables interaction with the object or initialization of pose tracking. Approaches utilizing deep neural networks have shown good performance, however the majority of them rely on training on real images of the objects which can be challenging in terms of ground truth pose acquisition, scalability and full coverage of possible poses. In this paper, we disregard all depth and color information and train a CNN to directly regress 6DoF object poses using only synthetic single channel edge enhanced images. We evaluate our approach against the state-of-the-art using synthetic training images and show a significant improvement on the commonly used LINEMOD benchmark dataset.
Clinical Blood Transfusion

This is an excellent book written by an author who not only has a clear understanding of the subject but also an ability to condense this knowledge in a clear and concise way. Although the influence of Jurger and Berlin and the American school is very evident, this is not just another 'American textbook' and I found it immensely readable. Despite this bias, which you either like or dislike, the book also reflects the immense personal clinical experience of the author; it is essentially a practical book written by someone with handson experience in audiology and designed to improve and enlighten anyone working in this field. There are hundreds of books on audiology, and I do not think that this one is for the beginner. The title 'Basic Principles' belies the depth to which the subject is taken. It is always difficult to know what to put in and what to leave out, but perhaps the length to which the scientific principles of impedance audiometry, and the neurological significance of different combinations of ipsi and contralateral stapedius reflexes (problems rarely encountered in everyday audiological practice) could have been shortened to allow more space to the excellent chapter on interpretation and discussion of case presentations. The author states in the Preface that the book is about principles and philosophies underlying the clinical assessment of auditory function. So often the philosophies underlying good health care practice have to bend and bow to the gods of technology and measurement. How refreshing it is to see the human approach in a subject which inevitably involves much numerical measurement. This book extols the virtues of the use of audiology as a tool to help in the diagnosis and rehabilitation of the patient, and emphasizes the importance of the audiologist as a clinician and counsellor, and not simply a super-technician. Having said that this is not a basic textbook to be read by those without knowledge of the subject, it is strongly recommended to all students and graduates working in the fields of audiology and otolaryngology.
Progesterone‐Regulated Endometrial Factors Controlling Implantation

The steroid hormone progesterone (P), acting via the progesterone receptor (PR) isoforms, PR‐A and PR‐B, exerts a profound influence on uterine functions during early gestation. In recent years, chromatin immunoprecipitation‐sequencing in combination with microarray‐based gene expression profiling analyses have revealed that the PR isoforms control a substantially large cistrome and transcriptome during endometrial differentiation in the human and the mouse. Genetically engineered mouse models have established that several PR‐regulated genes, such as Ihh, Bmp2, Hoxa10, and Hand2, are essential for implantation and decidualization. PR‐A and PR‐B also collaborate with other transcription factors, such as FOS, JUN, C/EBPβ and STAT3, to regulate the expression of many target genes that functions in concert to properly control uterine epithelial proliferation, stromal differentiation, angiogenesis, and local immune response to render the uterus ‘receptive’ and allow embryo implantation. This review article highlights recent work describing the key PR‐regulated pathways that govern critical uterine functions during establishment of pregnancy.
Failure of first-line eradication treatment significantly increases prevalence of antimicrobial-resistant Helicobacter pylori clinical isolates

Objectives: Helicobacter pylori infection is a major health problem worldwide, and effective eradication of the infection is mandatory. The efficacy of recommended eradication regimens is approximately 70%. To avoid treatment failure and the consequent development of secondary resistance(s), it is important to choose the most appropriate first-line treatment regimen. This choice should also be made based on the knowledge of the antimicrobial resistance peculiar to a given geographical area. We evaluated the prevalence of antimicrobial-resistant H pylori strains isolated from naive patients and from patients with previous unsuccessful treatments. Methods: This study examined 109 H pylori-infected subjects (Group 1) who had never received an eradication treatment and 104 H pylori-infected subjects (Group 2) who had failed one or more eradication treatments. Resistance to amoxicillin (AMO), tetracycline (TET), clarithromycin (CLA), metronidazole (MET) and levofloxacin (LEV) was determined using the epsilometer test. The significance of differences was evaluated by the χ2 test. Results: The prevalence of antimicrobial resistance was 0% versus 3.1% to AMO, 0% versus 2% to TET, 27% versus 41.3% to MET (p<0.05), 18% versus 45.8% to CLA (p<0.05) and 3% versus 14.6% to LEV (p<0.05) in Group 1 vs Group 2, respectively. In Group 2, there was an increased prevalence of H pylori strains resistant to multiple antimicrobials. Conclusions: This study confirms the high prevalence of H pylori strains resistant to CLA and MET, and indicates that unsuccessful treatments significantly increase resistance. Choosing eradication regimens other than standard triple therapy as a first-line therapy should be advisable in areas with high primary antimicrobial resistance prevalence.
Blutegeltherapie bei chronischen Rückenschmerzen

Chronische Rückenschmerzen sind neben der Arthrose eine bewährte Indikation für die Blutegeltherapie. Ein Behandlungsversuch ist gerechtfertigt, wenn sich die Beschwerden unter geeigneter Bewegungs-, physikalischer und Ordnungstherapie nicht hinreichend bessern. Anwender aus der Praxis berichten über deutliche Beschwerdebesserungen bei chronisch unspezifischen Rückenschmerzen, pseudoradikulären SyndromenundSIG-Syndromen. In diesemBeitrag lesen Sie,welche Wirkungenbelegt sind,welche Erfolgsaussichten bestehenundwas in der Praxis beachtetwerden sollte.
Assessing the contribution of dietary factors in breast cancer

The worldwide estimates suggest that in the year 2012 almost 14.1 million new cases and 8.2 million cancers associated mortality has been reported. Incidence-wise, breast cancer (11.7 million) is the leading malignancy reported in women in the same year. The present systematic review is carried out to explore the magnitude and contribution of dietary constituents in the development of breast cancer, and to recommend community-based strategies to counter the menace of breast cancer on a global scale. A thorough search for all published matter pertaining to the topic was made in multiple search engines, including PubMed, World Health Organization website and Google scholar for almost 35 days. Keywords used in the search include breast cancer and dietary constituents. Owing to the multi-factorial etiology and lack of clarity regarding share of each potential risk factor, early detection of the disease and implementation of a multi-pronged strategy remains crucial in ensuring adequate control. To conclude, the review clearly establishes the role of dietary constituents in the onset/prevention of breast cancer. However, most of the available evidence cannot be generalized in multiple settings and requires further research to eventually formulate a cost-effective approach for the early detection and treatment of breast cancer.