Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Chest Wall Lipogranuloma after Hydrogel Implant Rupture: Case Report

Hydrogel implants became alternative fillers for breast implants after silicone implants were restricted in 1992 due to various local complications (1). Hydrogel implants contain hydrogel fillers, which are organic polymers of polysaccharide and water, such as hyaluronic acid fluid, hydroxypropyl cellulose (polysaccharide), and polyacrylamide (2). Initially, this implant was highly favored due to its improved radiolucency and biocompatibility, however, it was also banned in 2000 due to various complications such as ruptures, leakage of the osmotic hydrogel filler from the implant into the surrounding capsule without rupture (3), breast implant swelling or fluid collection due to osmotic instability (4) or fibrotic and inflammatory changes in adjacent tissues due to spilled implant materials (1, 2). A few cases of foreign body reaction due to hydrogel leakage were reported (2-4). To the best of our knowledge, there is no report of chest wall lipogranulomas caused by hydrogel implant rupture. We report the imaging and pathologic findings of chest wall lipogranuloma after hydrogel implant rupture that developed 17 years after This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Received: June 16, 2015 Revised: June 22, 2015 Accepted: June 23, 2015
Nitrogenous chemicals generated from acidification of saliva influence transient lower oesophageal sphincter relaxations

Objective. Saliva contains high concentrations of nitrite derived from the enterosalivary recirculation of dietary nitrate and its reduction by buccal bacteria. Acidic gastric juice converts the swallowed nitrite to varying proportions of nitrous acid and nitric oxide (NO) depending upon ascorbic acid availability. Neuronally generated NO is the key in the pathway of transient lower oesophageal sphincter relaxations in vivo. Furthermore, in vitro NO and nitrous acid relax the smooth muscle of the stomach, lower oesophageal sphincter (LOS) and oesophageal body. The objective of this article was to determine whether luminal administration of NO or nitrous acid affects the generation of transient LOS relaxations following a meal. Material and methods. Fifteen healthy subjects were studied on three separate days. A manometry catheter was used to record oesophageal, LOS and gastric pressures, and two oesophageal pH probes were used to record reflux. One of three solutions was infused each day into the cardia after a standardized meal: 1) control solution of hydrochloric acid pH 1.0, 2) nitrous acid and 3) nitrous acid plus ascorbic acid to generate NO. The solutions were randomized and double-blinded. Results. The frequency of transient LOS relaxations was increased by the NO-generating solution at 5.2/h compared with both the control (3.5, p<0.01) and nitrous acid solution (3.1, p<0.0001). The NO-generating solution also increased oesophageal acid exposure to 62.2%, compared with both the control (37.5%, p<0.03) and nitrous acid solution (36.6%, p<0.002). Conclusions. Luminal NO at the gastro-oesophageal junction increases the generation of transient LOS relaxations following a meal. Chemicals generated by the acidification of salivary nitrite may contribute to gastro-oesophageal motility disorders.
A pilot study of the effects of a behavioural intervention on treatment adherence in HIV-infected patients

A pilot study was carried out in a group of six HIV-infected non-adherent men testing the effects of a behavioural medication management intervention on adherence with antiretroviral drugs. The study was prospective, using a one-group repeated-measures design. Adherence was measured using two self-reports. The intervention was a behaviourally-based programme that lasted for three months and included individualized education about antiretroviral medication and their side effects; positive reinforcement and encouragement; individualized counselling weekly; follow-up calls; and lifestyle assessment and the identification of adherence barriers. Assessments were carried out at recruitment, immediately after the initiation of the intervention, one month, three months and six months later. Results suggested that the intervention enhanced adherence rates from a mean percentage of 80.27 at baseline to a mean of 97.5% at the end of follow-up (six months time point). Similar improvement was observed in the scores of the scale measuring adherence difficulties. Further, CD4+ counts also slightly improved. Interviews with four of the participants at the end of the study highlighted the problems experienced by patients in taking their medication and supported the usefulness of the intervention. Because of the complexity of the factors behind adherence, it is important that patients are supported with individualized medication management programmes.
Induction of endogenous neural precursors in mouse models of spinal cord injury and disease

Adult neural precursor cells (NPCs) in the mammalian central nervous system (CNS) have been demonstrated to be responsive to conditions of injury and disease. Here we investigated the response of NPCs in mouse models of spinal cord disease [motor neuron disease (MND)] with and without sciatic nerve axotomy, and spinal cord injury (SCI). We found that neither axotomy, nor MND alone brought about a response by Nestin‐positive NPCs. However, the combination of the two resulted in mobilization of NPCs in the spinal cord. We also found that there was an increase in the number of NPCs following SCI which was further enhanced by systemic administration of the neuregulatory cytokine, leukaemia inhibitory factor (LIF). NPCs were demonstrated to differentiate into astrocytes in axotomized MND mice. However, significant differentiation into the various neural cell phenotypes was not demonstrated at 1 or 2 weeks following SCI. These data suggest that factors inherent to injury mechanisms are required for induction of an NPC response in the mammalian spinal cord.
Measuring the Costs of Primary Care Education in the Ambulatory Setting

In 1995, the authors obtained cost, operations, and educational activity data from 98 ambulatory care sites across the United States in which primary care teaching was occurring and compared those data with the corresponding data from 84 ambulatory care sites where no teaching was going on. The teaching sites in the sample were found to have 24–36% higher operating costs than the non-teaching sites. This overall difference in costs is approximately the same difference in costs earlier estimated for university teaching hospitals compared with non-teaching hospitals. These costs are shared by all involved in the ambulatory education process: sponsors, sites, and faculty. In a related finding, the authors discovered that 30–50% of all ambulatory care sites thought not to be involved in education are in fact teaching at a high level of involvement. Further research into not only the costs but the value of education in the clinical setting is encouraged. The authors also hope that the publication of this report will encourage accrediting bodies and professional organizations to improve the information available about ambulatory care training in general.
A Nonlocal and Time-Delayed Reaction-Diffusion Model of Dengue Transmission

A nonlocal and time-delayed reaction-diffusion model of dengue fever is first proposed that incorporates the aquatic stage, the winged stage, and the incubation periods of the dengue virus within mosquitos and hosts. Then the basic reproduction number $R_0$ is established for the model system, and an explicit formula of $R_0$ is obtained in the case of spatially homogeneous infections. It is shown that this $R_0$ gives the threshold dynamics in the sense that the disease-free equilibrium is asymptotically stable if $R_0 1$. The influences of diffusion coefficients, time delays, and infection heterogeneity on the spread of the disease are also studied via numerical simulations. It turns out that the infection risk may be underestimated if the spatially averaged parameters are used to compute the basic reproduction number for spatially heterogeneous infections.
Stroke affecting young men after alcoholic binges

Prompt measures by his workmates revived him but he reached the coronary care unit with much gas under his diaphragm, having clearly sustained a large gastric perforation. There was no alternative to surgical closure and happily he made a good recovery from both conditions. Imperfect maintenance ofa clear airway resulted in much air being blown into the stomach by mouth to mouth resuscitation. Heavy men applying closed cardiac massage a little too low on the xiphisternum ruptured the inflated stomach like a balloon. It was thought inappropriate to spoil the triumph of the pit rescue team by criticising their technique and the view was taken that this might equally well have been the perforation of a stress ulcer. Case 3-A baby of 6 months was brought into the accident and emergency department having been found in his cot, warm but apparently dead. Attempts at home had included mouth to mouth breathing. Chest films taken just after arrival in hospital showed bilateral pneumothoraces. After discussion with the procurator fiscal it was decided that, although overenthusiastic application of mouth to mouth breathing might have ruptured both lungs, it was also possible that pneumothorax and death had resulted from rupture by coughing (the baby had a cold that day) of congenital apical bullae. Suitably discreet questioning will probably reveal many more instances of the medical profession turning a blind eye to damage resulting from unskilled attempts at cardiac resuscitation rather than appear to criticise people who were the only help available. In doing so they have done the right thing by their fellow citizens while impeding critical appraisal of the techniques used.
Production Multivariate Outlier Detection Using Principal Components

Various aspects of using principal component and related analyses to detect outliers in multiple analog measurements made on digital CMOS circuits were investigated. The focus was on implementing practical production reliability screens with an extension to analog performance tests. Experimentally examined were outlier criteria, the reproducibility of the principal component signature, and simplifications to the characterization and test flow. It was found that the best of the 5 outlier criteria examined depended on the variability of, and the degree of correlation among, the variables. It is important to perform the analysis on a sample that covers the significant variance components. It was also determined that the principal component decomposition (the signature) of a chip design is repeatable enough to be performed in characterization prior to production for IDDQ but not for a collection of other analog measurements.
A Note on the Mixture Representation of the Conditional Residual Lifetime of a Coherent System

This paper builds a mixture representation of the reliability function of the conditional residual lifetime of a coherent system in terms of the reliability functions of conditional residual lifetimes of order statistics. Some stochastic ordering properties for the conditional residual lifetime of a coherent system with independent and identically distributed components are obtained, based on the stochastically ordered coefficient vectors.
Statins as adjunct therapy in COPD: how do we cope after STATCOPE?

Statins are inhibitors of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase that are widely used to reduce cardiovascular (CVS) disease risk yet have pleiotropic effects in other organs, including the lungs.1 ,2 The results of the Simvastatin for the Prevention of Exacerbations in Moderate-to-Severe COPD (STATCOPE) study, that investigated their potential effects on exacerbations of COPD, have been recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine . 3 In this Hot off the breath editorial, we review the rationale for the study, discuss its design, main results, strengths and limitations, and speculate on the future of statins in COPD. Statins reduce the recruitment of neutrophils and macrophages into the lung, alter bronchial remodelling, prevent emphysema and reduce systemic inflammation.1 ,2 ,4 These biological effects appear to have clinical relevance as observational studies in COPD patients report reduced all-cause mortality,5–8 reduced mortality from acute exacerbations,8–10 reduced frequency of COPD exacerbations,8 ,11–13 and reduced decline of lung function,14 for those taking statins, as compared to not taking them. In one small randomised controlled trial (RCT), statin use in COPD patients was associated with a clinically significant increase in exercise tolerance, although this benefit was limited to those in whom baseline C-reactive protein (CRP) was elevated (ie, those with evidence of systemic inflammation). 15 To date, STATCOPE is the only RCT that has assessed the effect of adjunct statin treatment prospectively on acute exacerbations in COPD in a large cohort of patients.3 STATCOPE was a large, randomised, multicentre, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of simvastatin (40 mg/day) in the prevention of COPD exacerbations in patients with moderate-to-severe COPD (N=885). 3 Importantly, patients with diabetes or CVS disease (figure 1), those already on statins, or those that required statins based on accepted CVS risk criteria, were excluded. The …
Non – Asymptotic Performance Analysis of the Semidefinite Relaxation Detector in Digital Communications

We consider the problem of detecting a vector of symbols that is being transmitted over a fading multiple–input multiple–output (MIMO) channel, where each symbol is an M–th root of unity for some fixed M ≥ 2. Although the symbol vector that minimizes the error probability can be found by the so–calledmaximum–likelihood (ML) detector, its computation is intractable in general. In this paper we analyze a popular polynomial–time heuristic for the problem, called the semidefinite relaxation (SDR) detector, and establish its first non– asymptotic performance guarantee. Specifically, our contribution is twofold. First, in the low signal–to–noise ratio (SNR) region, it can be shown that there exists a universal constant c > 0 such that for any M ≥ 2, every detector will yield a c–approximation to the optimal log–likelihood value with probability increasing exponentially fast to 1 as the channel size increases. We improve upon this result by showing that the SDR detector can achieve a much tighter approximation bound than the universal bound c. Secondly, in the high SNR region, it is known that for M = 2, the SDR detector will yield an exact solution to the ML detection problem with probability converging to 1. We sharpen this result by relaxing its assumptions and establishing the rate of convergence. Our work can be viewed as an average– case analysis of a certain SDP relaxation, and the input distribution we use is motivated by physical considerations. Our results also refine and extend those in previous work, which are all asymptotic in nature and apply only to the problem of detecting binary (i.e., when M = 2) vectors. In particular, our results can give better insight into the performance of the SDR detector in practical settings. ∗Department of Systems Engineering and Engineering Management, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, N. T. , Hong Kong. E–mail: manchoso@se.cuhk. edu.hk
Association of Tooth Loss with Psychosocial Factors in Male Japanese Employees

Association of Tooth Loss with Psychosocial Factors in Male Japanese Employees: Naoji Hayashi, et al. Department of Preventive Dentistry, Graduate School of Dentistry, Osaka University—It would seem that good psychosocial conditions would have a positive effect on oral health, but few data exist regarding the association of psychosocial factors with tooth loss. The association between psychosocial factors and tooth loss was studied in male industrial workers in Japan. In an annual health checkup, tooth loss status was assessed by oral examination in 252 workers (age 2059 yr). Information pertaining to psychosocial factors, lifestyle and oral health behavior was also obtained through a self‐administered questionnaire. The mean tooth loss per worker showed a significant increasing trend with age. Mean tooth loss was 0.32 in the 20‐29‐yr‐old group, 0.82 in the 30‐39‐yr‐old group, 1.28 in the 40‐49‐yr‐old group and 2.91 in the 50‐59‐yr‐old group. Bivariate analyses revealed that age (P<0.01) and alexithymia (P<0.05) were significantly associated with tooth loss. In contrast, work stress, depression, type A behavior, job‐ and life‐satisfaction were not significantly associated with tooth loss. In multivariate analyses, the associations of age (P<0.02) and alexithymia (P<0.05) remained statistically significant after adjustment for oral health behavior and lifestyle variables. We suggest that an alexithymic personality may affect tooth loss status in male employees.
N-like rheograms of concentrated suspensions of magnetic particles

We investigate the rheograms of concentrated suspensions of magnetic particles obtained under imposed shear rate in parallel plate geometry. We show that under magnetic field application the usual trend of the rheogram, i.e., increasing shear stress for the whole range of shear rates, is altered by the appearance of a region in which the shear stress decreases as the shear rate is increased. The existence of this region gives to the rheograms an N-like shape. The two initial regions (preyield regime) of these N-like rheograms present unstable flow, characterized by the oscillation of the shear stress with time for each imposed value of shear rate. We also show that rheograms obtained at different sample thicknesses approximately overlap in the developed flow regime, whereas there is a tendency of the shear stress to increase as the thickness is decreased in the preyield regime. This tendency is likely due to the strengthening of pre-existing particle structures by compression as the gap thickness is decreased. Finally, we analyze the effect of the applied magnetic field strength, H, and demonstrate that the rheograms scale with H1.5 to a single master curve, for the range of applied magnetic fields under study.
Causes of childhood blindness: results from schools for the blind in south eastern Nigeria

Aim: This cross sectional study was undertaken to identify the major causes of childhood severe visual impairment/blindness (SVI/BL) among students in schools for the blind in south eastern Nigeria with a view to offering treatment to those with remediable blindness. Methods: 142 students attending three schools for the blind in the study area were interviewed and examined using the World Health Organization programme for prevention of blindness (WHO/PBL) childhood blindness proforma. Results: By anatomical classification, the major causes of SVI/BL identified in the children (aged 15 years or less) were lesions of the lens (30.4%), corneal lesions (21.7%), whole globe lesions (mainly phthisis bulbi) (17.4%), and glaucoma/buphthalmos (10.9%). For the young adults (more than 15 years) these lesions accounted for 31.9%, 21.3%, 23.4%, and 8.5% of SVI/BL, respectively. For all the students, the commonest single diagnoses were cataract (23.5%) and corneal scarring (21.4%), of which 86.7% were caused by measles. By aetiological classification, childhood factors (38.6%) constituted the major cause of blindness: 37.0% in the children and 39.4% in the young adults. In 74.5% of all the students, blindness was considered avoidable. Conclusions: A high proportion of childhood blindness in schools for the blind in south eastern Nigeria is avoidable. Development of paediatric ophthalmology in Nigeria to manage childhood cataract and glaucoma is advocated.
Laser writing of nanostructures on bulk Al via its ablation in liquids

Experimental results are presented on the formation of self-organized nanostructures (NSs) on a bulk Al target under its ablation in liquids—water and ethanol—with short laser pulses from 180 femtoseconds (fs) through 350 picoseconds (ps). NSs are characterized by atomic force microscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy, optical absorption spectroscopy and x-ray diffraction. The period of NSs does not depend on the laser wavelength used from 248 through 800 nm and is approximately 200 nm. NSs on Al show the characteristic absorption peak in the near UV which has been attributed to plasmon oscillation of electrons. The wings of this peak, extending to the visible, lead to a distinct yellow coloration of the processed Al surface. Ultrafast laser structuring of bulk aluminum in liquids may be potentially a promising technique for efficient production of nanosized aluminum.
Leaf Abscission Induced by the Iodide Ion.

In the course of biological screening for herbicidal activity in synthetic compounds, various organic iodide complexes had marked defoliating properties when applied to leguminous test plants. Simple iodides such as the salts of alkali metals also caused defoliation. Although this effect has been reported in the patent literature (4, 8), our present investigation was undertaken principally to learn more about some of the factors influencing iodide induced abscission as well as the relationship between this effect and the general problem of foliar abscission.
Self-esteem and counterproductive work behaviors: a systematic review

Purpose – Consistency theory and ego-defense theory have been used to examine the relationship between counterproductive work behavior (CWB) and self-esteem; however, these two theoretical approaches pose different directions for the expected relation. In line with this, previous research concerning the relationship between self-esteem and CWB has found inconsistent empirical results. The purpose of this paper is to summarize the relation between self-esteem and counterproductive behavior at work and draw conclusions about the merit of the competing theories. This study also examines the type of self-esteem as a potential moderator to this relationship. Design/methodology/approach – The authors performed a psychometric meta-analysis of the relation between self-esteem and CWB using 21 correlations with a total n of 5,135. Findings – The estimated population correlation was −0.26. The moderator analyses showed that global self-esteem had a stronger relation with CWB than organization-based self-esteem. Pra.
CD3‐induced apoptosis of CD4+CD8+ thymocytes in the absence of clonotypic T cell antigen receptor

Clonal selection of T cells mediated through the T cell antigen receptor (TCR) mostly occurs at the CD4+CD8+ double positive thymocyte stage. Immature CD4+CD8+ thymocytes expressing self‐reactive TCR are induced to die upon clonotypic engagement of TCR by self antigens. CD3 engagement by antibody of the surface TCR‐CD3 complex is known to induce apoptosis of CD4+CD8+ thymocytes, a process that is generally thought to represent antigen‐induced negative selection in the thymus. The present study shows that the CD3‐induced apoptosis of CD4+CD8+ thymocytes can occur even in TCRα− mutant mice which do not express the TCRαβ/CD3 antigen receptor. Anti‐CD3 antibody induces death of CD4+CD8+ thymocytes in TCRα− mice either in cell cultures or upon administration in vivo. Interestingly, most surface CD3 chains expressed on CD4+CD8+ thymocytes from TCRα− mice are not associated with clonotypic TCR chains, including TCRβ. Thus, apoptosis of CD4+CD8+ thymocytes appear to be induced through the CD3 complex even in the absence of clonotypic antigen receptor chains. These results shed light on previously unknown functions of the clonotype‐independent CD3 complex expressed on CD4+CD8+ thymocytes, and suggest its function as an apoptotic receptor inducing elimination of developing thymocytes.