Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Efficacy of Single-Port Video-Assisted Thoracoscopic Surgery Lobectomy Compared with Triple-Port VATS by Propensity Score Matching

Background In recent years, single-port video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) for lobectomy in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients has become increasingly common. The objective of this study was to compare the feasibility and safety of single-port and triple-port VATS lobectomy. Methods A total of 73 patients with NSCLC who underwent VATS lobectomy from December 2011 to August 2016 were retrospectively reviewed, including 47 in the triple-port group and 26 in the single-port group. Statistical analysis was performed after propensity score matching. Patients were matched on a 1-to-1 basis. Results Operative time and intraoperative blood loss in the triple-port group and the single-port group were similar (189.4±50.8 minutes vs. 205.4±50.6 minutes, p=0.259; 286.5±531.0 mL vs. 314.6±513.1 mL, p=0.813). There were no cases of morbidity or mortality. No significant differences in complications or the total number of dissected lymph nodes were found between the 2 groups. In the single-port group, more mediastinal lymph nodes were dissected than in the triple-port group (1.7±0.6 vs. 1.2±0.5, p=0.011). Both groups had 1 patient with bronchopleural fistula. Chest tube duration and postoperative hospital stay were shorter in the single-port group than in the triple-port group (8.7±5.1 days vs. 6.2±6.6 days, p=0.130; 11.7±6.1 days vs. 9.5±6.4 days, p=0.226). However, the differences were not statistically significant. In the single-port group, the rate of conversion to multi-port VATS lobectomy was 11.5% (3 of 26). The rates of conversion to open thoracotomy in the triple-port and single-port groups were 7.7% and 3.8%, respectively (p=1.000). Conclusion In comparison with the triple-port group, single-port VATS lobectomy showed similar results in safety and efficacy, indicating that single-port VATS lobectomy is a feasible and safe option for lung cancer patients.
Microtubule‐associated proteins in developing oligodendrocytes: Transient expression of a MAP2c isoform in oligodendrocyte precursors

The morphological differentiation of oligodendrocytes is characterized by the formation of multiple, microtubule‐rich processes which endow these cells with the ability to myelinate many axons simultaneously. Since microtubule‐associated proteins (MAPs) strongly influence the structure and function of microtubules, we have investigated their expression in cultured differentiating oligodendrocytes in order to gain insights into MAP function during process formation and stabilization. MAPIB has been compared with two other structural MAPs: MAP4, which is an ubiquitously expressed protein, and MAP2, which hitherto was thought to be confined to neurons and reactive astrocytes. Immunof uorescence microscopy showed that the colocalization of MAP4 with microtubules in oligodendrocyte processes is not as extensive as found previously for MAP1B (Vouyiouklis and Brophy: J Neurosci Res 35:257–267, 1993). Nevertheless, like MAP1B, the expression of MAP4 increases during oligodendrocyte differentiation. In contrast, the expression of MAP2 is transiently elevated in preoligodendrocytes but declines precipitously at the onset of terminal differentiation. Cells of the oligodendrocyte lineage exclusively express a novel isoform of MAP2c which is primarily localized in the cell bodies of preoligodendrocytes. This suggests that MAP2c assists in the initiation of process extension rather than in the stabilization of microtubules in the cytoplasm‐filled membranous extensions of mature cells. MAP‐tau was not expressed at any developmental stage by oligodendrocytes. The distinct subcellular localizations and patterns of developmental expression of MAP1B, MAP4, and MAP2c suggest that these MAPs have different roles in the regulation of the microtubule network during the differentiation of myelin‐forming oligodendrocytes. ©1995 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Fibronectin Domains of Extracellular Matrix Molecule Tenascin-C Modulate Hippocampal Learning and Synaptic Plasticity

The extracellular matrix molecule tenascin-C (TN-C) has been shown to be involved in hippocampal synaptic plasticity in vitro. Here, we describe a deficit in hippocampus-dependent contextual memory in TN-C-deficient mice using the step-down avoidance paradigm. We further show that a fragment of TN-C containing the fibronectin type-III repeats 6-8 (FN6-8), but not a fragment containing repeats 3-5, bound to pyramidal and granule cell somata in the hippocampal formation of C57BL/6J mice and repelled axons of pyramidal neurons when presented as a border in vitro. Injection of the FN6-8 fragment into the hippocampus inhibited retention of memory in the step-down paradigm and reduced levels of long-term potentiation in the CA1 region of the hippocampus. In summary, our data show that TN-C is involved in hippocampus-dependent contextual memory and synaptic plasticity and identify the FN6-8 domain as one of molecular determinants mediating these functions.
Narratives by Japanese Mothers With Chronic Mental Illness in the Tokyo Metropolitan Area: Their Feelings Toward Their Children and Perceptions of Their Children's Feelings

Women with mental illness generally have normal fertility rates. Mothers with mental illness think that their children are important for their lives but also experience difficulties in relating to their children. Therefore, it is important to understand the mothers’ perception of what experiences influence them or their parenting practices in relationships with their children. We conducted narrative interviews with 20 Japanese mothers who were being treated for either schizophrenia or mood disorders. The data were analyzed using the Modified Grounded Theory Approach. For the mothers, their feelings toward their children and their perception of their children's feelings toward them or their illness influenced the mothers and their parenting practices. Implications for support are discussed and directions for future research are presented.
The content and effectiveness of home-based nursing interventions to promote health and well-being in families with small children: a systematic review.

BACKGROUND Although the use of preventive family nursing interventions in the home is increased, the literature on the content and effectiveness of these interventions remains fragmented. AIM The aim of this review was to identify and describe the content of preventive family nursing interventions in families' homes and the effectiveness they had on the families' health and well-being. METHODS A systematic review was conducted using searches on the databases CINAHL, PubMed, Scopus and Web of Science (2003-2014). RESULTS Altogether, 2077 articles were identified, and 11 were selected based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The main types of interventions were discussions and practical exercises to help parents cope with parenthood and relationships and interactions in the family, together with health, well-being, social relations and socio-economic situations. The effectiveness of family interventions was reported in all the selected studies. CONCLUSIONS Greater knowledge of interventions is needed in the future, to develop program content and to explore the validity and reliability of used measurements. In addition, more effort is needed to develop quality appraisal tools for preventive interventions in families' homes.
Modeling G protein‐coupled receptors for structure‐based drug discovery using low‐frequency normal modes for refinement of homology models: Application to H3 antagonists

G Protein‐Coupled Receptors (GPCRs) are integral membrane proteins that play important role in regulating key physiological functions, and are targets of about 50% of all recently launched drugs. High‐resolution experimental structures are available only for very few GPCRs. As a result, structure‐based drug design efforts for GPCRs continue to rely on in silico modeling, which is considered to be an extremely difficult task especially for these receptors. Here, we describe Gmodel, a novel approach for building 3D atomic models of GPCRs using a normal mode‐based refinement of homology models. Gmodel uses a small set of relevant low‐frequency vibrational modes derived from Random Elastic Network model to efficiently sample the large‐scale receptor conformation changes and generate an ensemble of alternative models. These are used to assemble receptor–ligand complexes by docking a known active into each of the alternative models. Each of these is next filtered using restraints derived from known mutation and binding affinity data and is refined in the presence of the active ligand. In this study, Gmodel was applied to generate models of the antagonist form of histamine 3 (H3) receptor. The validity of this novel modeling approach is demonstrated by performing virtual screening (using the refined models) that consistently produces highly enriched hit lists. The models are further validated by analyzing the available SAR related to classical H3 antagonists, and are found to be in good agreement with the available experimental data, thus providing novel insights into the receptor–ligand interactions. Proteins 2010. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
A new cervical spine clearance protocol using computed tomography.

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to assess a cervical spine clearance protocol for blunt trauma patients using helical computed tomographic (CT) scan of the cervical spine (C-spine). METHODS A protocol using CT scan of the C-spine was implemented and the first 6 months of use reviewed. Patients requiring a CT scan of the head had the C-spine evaluated by lateral C-spine radiography and a helical CT scan. Patients without indication for CT scan of the head had the C-spine evaluated by three-view radiography (anteroposterior, lateral, and odontoid) with selective CT scan of the C-spine for imaging areas not well visualized or those with abnormalities identified by radiography or by clinical examination alone. RESULTS Three hundred twenty-four patients were admitted to the trauma center after blunt trauma during the first 6 months of protocol implementation. Head CT scans were obtained in 158 patients and lateral cervical spine radiography in conjunction with helical CT scanning evaluated the C-spine. The other 166 patients had the cervical spine cleared by three-view radiography series or by clinical examination alone. For patients in whom a head CT scan was not indicated, CT scanning was used only when plain radiographs failed to adequately visualize the entire C-spine. A total of 15 injuries (4.6% of the group) were detected. Seven injuries were suspected or detected by lateral plain radiographs and confirmed by CT scan. Six patients had an injury not detected by radiography but diagnosed by CT scan, and one patient had a false-positive radiograph. Of the remaining two injuries, one was diagnosed by magnetic resonance imaging and the other by CT scan outside of the protocol. Lateral plain radiographs alone failed to detect 46% (n = 6) of all injuries. CONCLUSION In our series, the selective use of helical CT scanning with plain radiography increased the accuracy with which cervical spine injury was detected from 54% to 100%. The protocol allowed for more rapid evaluation in many patients as well. We recommend that practice guidelines include the use of helical CT scan of the entire C-spine as the diagnostic procedure for those blunt trauma patients undergoing CT scanning of the head.
Polyphasic evaluation of Xanthidium antilopaeum and Xanthidium cristatum (Zygnematophyceae, Streptophyta) species complex

We investigated twenty‐six strains of Xanthidium antilopaeum Kütz. and seven strains of X. cristatum Ralfs isolated from various European localities or obtained from public culture collections. A combination of molecular, geometric morphometric, and morphological data were used to reveal the patterns of the phylogenetic and morphological differentiation of these taxonomically very compli‐cated desmid taxa. The molecular data based on trnGucc and ITS rDNA sequences illustrated the monophyly of both the complexes, which indicated that their traditional morphology‐based discriminative criteria, such as the different number of spines, may generally continue to be considered relevant. The single exception was X. antilopaeum var. basiornatum B. Eichler et Raciborski, which was positioned outside the X. antilopaeum/cristatum clade. The independent status of this taxon was also confirmed on the basis of the geometric morphometric data, so that we concluded that it probably represents a separate species. Within X. cristatum complex, the traditional varieties X. cristatum var. cristatum Ralfs, X. cristatum var. uncinatum Ralfs, and X. cristatum var. scrobiculatum Scott et Grönblad turned out to be separate taxa. Conversely, X. cristatum var. bituberculatum Lowe lacked any taxonomical value. Our data on X. antilopaeum illustrated extensive phylogenetic as well as phenotypic variability within this species complex. However, our data did not result in any unambiguous pattern that would allow sound taxonomic classification. Finally, we also found out that the morphologically peculiar Staurastrum tumidum Ralfs belongs to the genus Xanthidium based on the combined rbcL + cox III data set. Consequently, this species was formally transferred to this genus.
Which kinds of lymph node metastases can FDG PET detect? A clinical study in melanoma.

UNLABELLED The purposes of this study were to establish the diagnostic accuracy of FDG PET for lymph node metastases and to determine the smallest detectable volume of disease. METHODS Using FDG PET, we preoperatively studied 56 lymph node basins in 38 patients with a clinical or instrumental diagnosis of lymph node metastases from melanoma. All lymph node basins underwent node dissection. The FDG PET results were compared with the postoperative histopathology results. PET images were obtained using a GE 4096 WB scanner, after injection of a mean activity of 496 MBq (range, 366-699 MBq) of FDG. RESULTS The efficacy of FDG PET in the diagnosis of involved lymph node basins was good. Sensitivity was 95% (35/37); specificity, 84% (16/19); accuracy, 91% (51/56); positive predictive value, 92% (35/38); and negative predicative value, 89% (16/18). Metastases were shown histologically in 114 of 647 surgically removed lymph nodes. FDG PET detected 100% of metastases > or = 10 mm, 83% of metastases 6-10 mm, and 23% of metastases < or = 5 mm. Moreover, FDG PET had high sensitivity (> or = 93%) only for metastases with more than 50% lymph node involvement or with capsular infiltration. CONCLUSION Our study shows that FDG PET has a reasonable sensitivity and specificity for detecting the presence or absence of lymph node metastases in patients with melanoma. However, even if able to detect small volumes of subclinical macroscopic disease, FDG PET cannot detect subclinical microscopic disease with acceptable sensitivity. The specificity of FDG PET is good, but some false-positive results may occur.
The use of traits‐based approaches and eco(toxico)logical models to advance the ecological risk assessment framework for chemicals

This article presents a framework to diagnose and predict the effects of chemicals, integrating 2 promising tools to incorporate more ecology into ecological risk assessment, namely traits‐based approaches and ecological modeling. Traits‐based approaches are used increasingly to derive correlations between the occurrence of species traits and chemical exposure from biological and chemical monitoring data. This assessment can also be used in a diagnostic way, i.e., to identify the chemicals probably posing the highest risks to the aquatic ecosystems. The article also describes how ecological models can be used to explore how traits govern the species‐substance interactions and to predict effects at the individual, population, and community and ecosystem level, i.e., from the receptor to the landscape level. This can be done by developing models describing the toxicokinetics and toxicodynamics of the chemical in the individual, the life‐history of species and the connectivity of populations, determining their recovery, and the food web relations at the community and ecosystem level that determine the indirect effects. Special attention is given on how spatial aspects can be included in the ecological risk assessments using ecological models. The components of the framework are introduced and critically discussed. We describe how the different tools and data generated through experimentation (laboratory and semifield) and biomonitoring can be integrated. The article uses examples from the aquatic compartment, but the concepts that are used, and their integration within the framework, can be generalized to other environmental compartments. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2013;9:e47–e57. © 2013 SETAC
Genetic Structure Among 38 Populations from the United States Based on 11 U.S. Core Y Chromosome STRs *

ABSTRACT: A DNA database consisting of the 11 Y chromosome short‐tandem‐repeat (Y‐STR) recommended by the Scientific Working Group on DNA Analysis Methods is constructed for 2517 individuals from 38 populations in the United States. The population samples derive from five ethnic groups currently living in 10 states. A multidimensional scaling (MDS) plot places the populations into four discrete clusters (African Americans (AA), European Americans (EA), Hispanic Americans (HA), and Asian Americans (SA)) and one dispersed cluster of Native Americans. An analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) indicates that a large proportion of the total genetic variance is partitioned among ethnic groups (24.8%), whereas only a small amount (1.5%) is found among‐populations within ethnic groups. Separate AMOVA analyses within each ethnic group show that only the NA sample contains statistically significant among‐population variation. Pair wise population differentiation tests do uncover heterogeneity among EA and among HA populations; however, this is due to only a single sample within each group. The analyses support the creation of AA, EA, HA, and Asian American databases in which samples from different geographic regions within the United States are pooled. We recommend that separate databases be constructed for different NA groups.
Barriers to Formal Drug Abuse Treatment in the Rural South: A Preliminary Ethnographic Assessment

Abstract This article describes barriers to obtaining drug abuse treatment in the rural South using qualitative interviews conducted with 86 illicit stimulant users recruited in rural Arkansas and Kentucky between 2003 and 2005. Fifty-nine (69.0%) of the interviewees had never entered drug abuse treatment. Sixteen (19.0%) participants reported current perceived need for treatment, while seven (8%) were ambivalent about seeking it. Interview data suggest five interrelated categories of barriers to accessing drug abuse treatment: (1) geographical, (2) organizational, (3) economic, (4) social, and (5) psychological. The study findings can inform further examination of rural treatment barriers and have important implications for developing strategies to overcome these obstacles.
Sofosbuvir (GS-7977), a pan-genotype, direct-acting antiviral for hepatitis C virus infection

Given the global importance of chronic hepatitis C virus infection as a major health burden, there is still a need for treatment options that are more efficient, safer, simpler, more convenient and preferably interferon-free. Sofosbuvir (GS-7977; formerly PSI-7977) is a direct-acting antiviral agent that has met many of these attributes. This novel nucleotide analogue has demonstrated a consistently potent antiviral activity across several hepatitis C virus genotypes, and has been found to be safe and well tolerated when administered alone or with ribavarin +/− pegylated interferon. The clinical data evaluating the safety, tolerability and antiviral activity of sofosbuvir in various treatment regimens are presented in this article. Sofosbuvir is a major breakthrough in the care of HCV infection, making it possible that thousands of HCV infected patients around the world achieve cures, and preventing HCV associated morbidity and mortality.
Interpreting Registrational Clinical Trials of Biological Therapies in Adults with Inflammatory Bowel Diseases

Background:The use of biologics to treat inflammatory bowel disease is supported by robust randomized controlled trials in both ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease. Nonetheless, an understanding of the principles of clinical trial design is necessary to extrapolate study findings to clinical practice. Methods:We conducted a review of inflammatory bowel disease registrational clinical trials of biologics to determine how differences in trial design potentially influence results and interpretation. Results:Registrational trials of biological agents have used diverse patient populations, outcome measures, and designs, which makes comparisons of results among studies difficult. Key differences among trials include patient populations, choice of symptom-based measures or objective outcomes as endpoints, and overall trial design. Additional factors, including analytical methods, can also influence the interpretation of outcomes. Conclusions:The most robust evidence is derived from comparative effectiveness trials. In the absence of these, clinicians should be aware of the various methodological issues which could impact interpretation of efficacy and safety outcomes, including differences in patient population, study design, and analytic methodology.
An Indicator of Inflation Expectations Anchoring

We compare the degree of anchoring of inflation expectations in the euro area, the United States and the United Kingdom, focusing on the post-crisis period. First of all, we estimate a set of measures of average and tail correlation using inflation swaps and options, as proposed by Natoli and Sigalotti (2016). To quantify the degree of anchoring, we also propose a new indicator based on the results of a logistic regression, obtained by measuring the odds that strong negative shocks to short-term expectations are connected to large declines in long-term expectations. The results reveal an increase in the risk of de-anchoring during the last quarter of 2014 for the euro area. While showing a significant reduction after the peak, our de-anchoring indicator remains high and volatile for 2015 and 2016. Inflation expectations in the US and the UK are instead found to be firmly anchored.