Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Treatment of intracranial gliomas with bone marrow-derived dendritic cells pulsed with tumor antigens.

OBJECT An approach toward the treatment of intracranial gliomas was developed in a rat experimental model. The authors investigated the ability of "professional" antigen-presenting cells (dendritic cells) to enhance host antitumor immune responses when injected as a vaccine into tumor-bearing animals. METHODS Dendritic cells, the most potent antigen-presenting cells in the body, were isolated from rat bone marrow precursors stimulated in vitro with granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) and interleukin-4. Cultured cell populations were confirmed to be functional antigen-presenting cells on the basis of expressed major histocompatibility molecules, as analyzed by fluorescence-activated cell sorter cytofluorography. These dendritic cells were then pulsed (cocultured) ex vivo with acid-eluted tumor antigens from 9L glioma cells. Thirty-eight adult female Fischer 344 rats harboring 7-day-old intracranial 9L tumors were treated with three weekly subcutaneous injections of either control media (10 animals), unpulsed dendritic cells (six animals), dendritic cells pulsed with peptides extracted from normal rat astrocytes (10 animals), or 9L tumor antigen-pulsed dendritic cells (12 animals). The animals were followed for survival. At necropsy, the rat brains were removed and examined histologically, and spleens were harvested for cell-mediated cytotoxicity assays. The results indicate that tumor peptide-pulsed dendritic cell therapy led to prolonged survival in rats with established intracranial 9L tumors implanted 7 days prior to the initiation of vaccine therapy in vivo. Immunohistochemical analyses were used to document a significantly increased perilesional and intratumoral infiltration of CD8+ and CD4+ T cells in the groups treated with tumor antigen-pulsed dendritic cells compared with the control groups. In addition, the results of in vitro cytotoxicity assays suggest that vaccination with these peptide-pulsed dendritic cells can induce specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes against 9L tumor cells. CONCLUSIONS Based on these results, dendritic antigen-presenting cells pulsed with acid-eluted peptides derived from autologous tumors represent a promising approach to the immunotherapy of established intracranial gliomas. which may serve as a basis for designing clinical trials in patients with brain tumors.
Lemierre's Syndrome – A rare cause of disseminated sepsis requiring multi-organ support

Lemierre's syndrome is a rare complication of acute pharyngitis characterised by septicaemia with infective thrombophlebitis of the internal jugular vein, most commonly due to Fusobacterium necrophorum. It characteristically affects healthy young adults causing persistent pyrexia and systemic sepsis presenting several days after an initial pharyngitis. Septic emboli seed via the bloodstream to distant sites including the lung, joints, skin, liver, spleen and brain. Prolonged antimicrobial therapy is required and admission to intensive care common. This once rare condition is increasing in incidence but awareness amongst clinicians is low. We present a classic case in a young man who developed multi-organ failure requiring intensive care support and describe the epidemiology, pathophysiology, microbiology, clinical features and management of the disease.
Prevalence of rheumatic heart disease in Senegalese school children: a clinical and echocardiographic screening

Objective To study the prevalence of rheumatic heart disease (RHD) in schools (locally referred to as ‘daaras’) located in the city of Dakar and its suburbs using both clinical examination and echocardiography. Methods This is a cross-sectional study conducted from 9 August to 24 December 2011 involving 2019 pupils, aged between 5 and 18 years selected from the 16 ‘daaras’ of the Academic Inspectorate (Inspection d'Académie) of the city of Dakar and its suburbs. Anamnestic, clinical and echocardiographic data were collected and entered into a questionnaire designed for the study. The World Heart Federation criteria for echocardiographic diagnosis were used to diagnose RHD. p<0.05 was considered statistically significant in bivariate analysis. Results About 60.1% of the pupils were men and the mean age was 9.7±3.3 years. 10 cases of definite RHD were detected, prevalence being 4.96 per 1000 (95% CI 2.4 to 9.1). This prevalence was five times higher with echocardiographic screening compared with clinical screening. 23 cases (11.4 per 1000) of borderline forms were detected. The populations at risk of definite RHD identified in our study were children over 14 years (p<0.001), those with recurrent sore throat (p=0.003) and those residing in the suburbs of the city of Dakar (p<0.001). Conclusion Our study shows a relatively high prevalence of RHD. Reducing its prevalence should focus on the implementation of appropriate policies, targeting at-risk populations and focusing on raising awareness and early detection.
Managing for Safer Food: The Economics of Sanitation and Process Controls in Meat and Poultry Plants

Sanitation and process control costs increased the costs of producing meat and poultry by about 0.5 percent in the period preceding the promulgation of the Pathogen Reduction/Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (PR/HACCP) rule of 1996. However, there was no benefit in trying to avoid these costs. Large slaughter plants and all further-processing plants with poor performance of sanitation and food safety process controls were more likely to exit their industries than other plants. Moreover, the fraction of costs required for sanitation and process control was about the same for large plants as for small plants, suggesting that larger plants were no better able than small plants to absorb sanitation and process control costs. Results also suggest that PR/HACCP raised wholesale meat and poultry prices by about 1 percent.
Corifollitropin alfa followed by hpHMG in GnRH agonist protocols. Two prospective feasibility studies in poor ovarian responders

Abstract In two prospective uncontrolled feasibility trials, we examined the effect of corifollitropin alfa (CFA) followed by highly purified human menopausal gonadotrophin (hpHMG) in a short flare-up gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonist and a long GnRH agonist protocol for women with poor ovarian response. Overall, 45 patients were treated with short flare-up and 47 patients with the long agonist protocol. All patients received a single dose of 150 μg CFA, followed by 300 IU hpHMG 7 days later, triggering with 10 000 IU hCG, CSI and day 3 embryo transfer. Ongoing pregnancy rates (OPRs) did not differ between the short 15.6% and the long 17% agonist protocol (p = 0.85). Among patients treated with the short flare-up protocol, OPRs were 20% for younger patients (<40 years old) and 12% in older women (≥40 years old), p = 0.68. Similarly, in patients treated with the long agonist protocol younger women had an OPR of 26.7% versus 12.5% in older women, p = 0.23. Among patients treated with the short flare-up, live births rate were 15% and 4.3% for younger (<40 years old) and older patients (≥40 years old), respectively, p = 0.32. Similarly, in patients treated with the long agonist protocol, live births rate were 25% and 12.9% for younger (<40 years old) and older patients (≥40 years old), respectively, p = 0.41. None of the patients reported any serious adverse event related to treatment. According to our results, CFA followed by hpHMG in a short flare-up or long GnRH agonist protocol appears to be a feasible option for poor ovarian responders. Large phase III trials are mandatory prior to introduction in clinical practice. Chinese abstract 在两个前瞻性非控制的可行性试验中，检测对卵巢低反应妇女应用绒促卵泡素a (CFA)后应用高纯人绝经期促性腺激素（hpHMG），比较短期flare- up促性腺激素释放激素(GnRH)激动剂方案和GnRHa长方案的效果。 总体，45名患者应用短期flare- up方案，47名患者应用GnRHa长方案。 所有患者应用单剂量150 μg CFA，7天后应用300IU hpHMG，10000 IUhCG触发排卵，CSI和3天胚胎移植。 持续妊娠率（OPRs），GnRHa短期方案的15.6%和长方案的17%间没有差异(p=0.85)。 在应用短期flare-up方案的患者中，OPRs在年轻患者(<40岁)为20%，高龄患者(≥40岁)为12%，p=0.68。 同样的在应用GnRHa长方案的患者中，年轻妇女OPR为26.7%，高龄妇女为12.5%, p= 0.23。 在应用短期flare-up方案的患者中，年轻患者(<40岁)活产率为15%，高龄患者(≥40岁)活产率为4.3%，p=0.32。 同样的，在GnRHa长方案的患者中，年轻患者(<40岁)活产率为25%，高龄患者(≥40岁)活产率为12.9%，p=0.41。 没有患者报告有与治疗相关的不良事件。 根据结果，在的短期flare- up方案或者GnRHa长方案中应用CFA后序贯hpHMG对卵巢低反应患者是可行性的选择。 在引入临床实践前还必须有大型III期试验。
Strategic Behavior and Price Discovery

The paper analyzes the effects of strategic behavior by an insider in a price discovery process, akin to an information tatonnement, in the presence of a competitive informed sector. Such processes are used in the preopening period of continuous trading systems in several exchanges. It is found that the insider manipulates the market using a contrarian strategy in order to neutralize the effect of the trades of competitive informed agents. Furthermore, consistently with the empirical evidence available, we find that information revelation accelerates close to the opening, that the market price does not converge to the fundamental value no matter how many rounds the tatonnement has, and that the expected trading volume displays a U-shaped pattern. We also find that a market with a larger competitive sector (smaller insider) has an improved informational efficiency and an increased trading volume. The insider provides a public good (a lower informativeness of the price) for the competitive informed sector.
Experiences of Oregon nurses and social workers with hospice patients who requested assistance with suicide.

BACKGROUND Oregon's 1997 Death with Dignity Act legalizes physician-assisted suicide. To date, information about patients who have requested this option has come from surveys of physicians. Although 78 percent of the 91 Oregonians who have died by assisted suicide were enrolled in hospice programs, there is little information about the experiences of hospice practitioners with these patients. METHODS In 2001, we mailed a questionnaire to all hospice nurses and social workers in Oregon. RESULTS Of 545 eligible hospice nurses and social workers, 397 (73 percent) returned the survey, including 71 percent of nurses and 78 percent of social workers. Since November 1997, 179 of the respondents (45 percent) had cared for a patient who requested assistance with suicide. Hospice nurses reported on 82 patients who had received prescriptions for lethal medication. Ninety-eight percent of the nurses had discussed the request with a coworker, and 77 percent of the requests had been presented at a hospice interdisciplinary conference on patient care. A very important reason for the request was to control the circumstances of death. The least important reasons included depression, lack of social support, and fear of being a financial drain on family members. Although the patients were concerned about burdening others, only 11 percent of hospice nurses rated their family caregivers as more burdened than family caregivers for other hospice patients. CONCLUSIONS Since assisted suicide was legalized in Oregon, many hospice nurses and social workers have provided care for a patient who requested assistance with suicide. They rated desire for control as a very important reason for these requests.
Chronic thresholds for evoking perceptual responses in the rat sensory cortex

Stimulation of neural tissue for the remediation of brain and sensory deficits requires that stimulation paradigms are selected carefully to deliver the most stable, efficient and safest stimulation to evoke the desired therapeutic response. Here we asked two questions of a penetrating cortical prosthesis use to evoke sensory-guided behavior: 1) does the threshold charge required to evoke a behavioral response change over time? 2) what effect does changing the frequency of stimulation have on stimulus threshold? To answer these questions we implanted a 4-electrode array into the somatosensory (tactile) cortex of a Sprague Dawley rat. The threshold charge to evoke a behavioral response was measured weekly over a 9-week period. Stimulation frequencies of 50 or 200 Hz were used, while all other stimulus parameters were kept constant. Within a maximum current limit of 100 μA and with a pulse width of 200 μs, we reliably elicited a behavioral response on 2 electrodes. Over the 9 week implantation period there was an initial increase in threshold current at 4 weeks, followed by a decrease at week 5 post-implantation; by week 8 post-implantation, thresholds appeared to have stabilized. Although we could reliably evoke a response at both 50 and 200 Hz, the stimulus frequency of 50 Hz required on average a lower threshold charge to evoke a response.
Right-hemisphere language processing in normal right-handers.

Three experiments were conducted to investigate the verbal performance of the right cerebral hemisphere in right-handed individuals with normal intact brains. A manual reaction time (RT) measure was used to assess the relative efficiency of lateral stimulus-response pathways (e.g., left visual field-right hemisphere-left hand) in processing linguistic information. Experiment 1 showed that the right and left hemispheres were equally efficient at recognizing concrete object nouns in a lexical decision task. The RT data also suggested that abstract nouns may be recognized only by the left hemisphere. Experiments 2 and 3 demonstrated the right hemisphere's ability to detect semantic relationships between concrete nouns and their superordinate categories. The findings were discussed in terms of their consistency with data from split-brain research and their implications for models of the functional organization of language skills in the normal brain. It was proposed that the right hemisphere in the intact brain can play a functional role in processing language.
Treatment of gingival recession with coronally advanced flap procedures: a systematic review.

BACKGROUND The treatment of buccal gingival recessions is a common requirement due to aesthetic concern or root sensitivity. The aim of this manuscript was to systematically review the literature on coronally advanced flap (CAF) alone or in combination with tissue grafts, barrier membranes (BM), enamel matrix derivative (EMD) or other material for treating gingival recession. MATERIAL AND METHODS Randomized clinical trials on treatment of Miller Class I and II gingival recessions with at least 6 months of follow-up were identified. Data sources included electronic databases and hand-searched journals. The primary outcome variable was complete root coverage (CRC). The secondary outcome variables were recession reduction, clinical attachment gain, keratinized tissue gain, aesthetic satisfaction, root sensitivity, post-operative patient pain and complications. RESULTS A total of 794 Miller Class I and II gingival recessions in 530 patients from 25 RCTs were evaluated in this systematic review. CAF was associated with mean recession reduction and CRC. The addition of connective tissue graft (CTG) or EMD enhanced the clinical outcomes of CAF in terms of CRC, while BM did not. The results with respect to the adjunctive use of acellular dermal matrix were controversial. CONCLUSIONS CTG or EMD in conjunction with CAF enhances the probability of obtaining CRC in Miller Class I and II single gingival recessions.
The global burden of hip and knee osteoarthritis: estimates from the Global Burden of Disease 2010 study

Objective To estimate the global burden of hip and knee osteoarthritis (OA) as part of the Global Burden of Disease 2010 study and to explore how the burden of hip and knee OA compares with other conditions. Methods Systematic reviews were conducted to source age-specific and sex-specific epidemiological data for hip and knee OA prevalence, incidence and mortality risk. The prevalence and incidence of symptomatic, radiographic and self-reported hip or knee OA were included. Three levels of severity were defined to derive disability weights (DWs) and severity distribution (proportion with mild, moderate and severe OA). The prevalence by country and region was multiplied by the severity distribution and the appropriate disability weight to calculate years of life lived with disability (YLDs). As there are no deaths directly attributed to OA, YLDs equate disability-adjusted life years (DALYs). Results Globally, of the 291 conditions, hip and knee OA was ranked as the 11th highest contributor to global disability and 38th highest in DALYs. The global age-standardised prevalence of knee OA was 3.8% (95% uncertainty interval (UI) 3.6% to 4.1%) and hip OA was 0.85% (95% UI 0.74% to 1.02%), with no discernible change from 1990 to 2010. Prevalence was higher in females than males. YLDs for hip and knee OA increased from 10.5 million in 1990 (0.42% of total DALYs) to 17.1 million in 2010 (0.69% of total DALYs). Conclusions Hip and knee OA is one of the leading causes of global disability. Methodological issues within this study make it highly likely that the real burden of OA has been underestimated. With the aging and increasing obesity of the world's population, health professions need to prepare for a large increase in the demand for health services to treat hip and knee OA.
Pulmonary embolism: prospective comparison of spiral CT with ventilation-perfusion scintigraphy.

PURPOSE To compare prospectively the accuracy of spiral computed tomography (CT) with that of ventilation-perfusion scintigraphy for diagnosing pulmonary embolism. MATERIALS AND METHODS Within 48 hours of presentation, 142 patients suspected of having pulmonary embolism underwent spiral CT, scintigraphy, and (when indicated) pulmonary angiography. Pulmonary angiography was attempted if interpretations of spiral CT scans and of scintigrams were discordant or indeterminate and intermediate-probability, respectively. RESULTS In the 139 patients who completed the study, interpretations of spiral CT scans and of scintigrams were concordant in 103 patients (29 with embolism, 74 without). In 20 patients, intermediate-probability scintigrams were interpreted (six with embolism at angiography, 14 without); diagnosis with spiral CT was correct in 16. Interpretations of spiral CT scans and those of scintigrams were discordant in 12 cases; diagnosis with spiral CT was correct in 11 cases and that with scintigraphy was correct in one. Spiral CT and scintigraphic scans of four patients with embolism did not show embolism. Sensitivities, specificities, and kappa values with spiral CT and scintigraphy were 87%, 95%, and 0.85 and 65%, 94%, and 0.61, respectively. CONCLUSION In cases of pulmonary embolism, sensitivity of spiral CT is greater than that of scintigraphy. Interobserver agreement is better with spiral CT.
Skyline query processing for incomplete data in cloud environment

Many research works have been conducted focusing on pro-cessing skyline queries on databases. Recently, some approaches have been proposed to address the issue of skyline queries for a partially complete da-tabase in which data item values might not be presented (missing). Howev-er, these approaches are tailored for centralized database and accessed only one table to identify the skylines. Nevertheless, in many contemporary data-base applications, this is might not be the case, particularly for a database with incomplete data and many tables spread over various remote locations such as cloud environment. Applying skyline approaches designed for cen-tralized database directly on cloud databases is undesirable due to the pro-hibitive cost of transferring the amount of data from one datacenter to an-other during skyline process. An approach is needed taking into considera-tion the unique features of cloud environment when processing skyline que-ries on a database with incomplete data. This paper proposes an approach that evaluates skyline queries in a database with partially incomplete data over the cloud. The approach aims at reducing the number of pairwise com-parisons that needs to be conducted between data items and the amount of data transferred in identifying skylines. Several experiments over synthetic and real datasets have been conducted to evaluate the performance of our approach. The result shows that our approach outperforms the previous ap-proach in terms of a number of pairwise comparisons and amount of data transferred.
Calbindin‐D28K is increased in the ventral horn of spinal cord by neuroprotective factors for motor neurons

Slow glutamate‐mediated neuronal degeneration is implicated in the pathophysiology of motor neuron diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The calcium‐binding proteins calbindin‐D28K and parvalbumin have been reported to protect neurons against excitotoxic insults. Expression of calbindin‐D28K is low in adult human motor neurons, and vulnerable motor neurons additionally may lack parvalbumin. Thus, it has been speculated that the lack of calcium‐binding proteins may, in part, be responsible for early degeneration of the population of motor neurons most vulnerable in ALS. Using a rat organotypic spinal cord slice system, we examined whether the most potent neuroprotective factors for motor neurons can increase the expression of calbindin‐D28K or parvalbumin proteins in the postnatal spinal cord. After 4 weeks of incubation of spinal cord slices with 1) glial cell line‐derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF), 2) neurturin, 3) insulin‐like growth factor I (IGF‐I), or 4) pigment epithelium‐derived factor (PEDF), the number of calbindin‐D28K‐immunopositive large neurons (>20 μm) in the ventral horn was higher under the first three conditions, but not after PEDF, compared with untreated controls. Under the same conditions, parvalbumin was not upregulated by any neuroprotective factor. The same calbindin increase was true of IGF‐I and GDNF in a parallel glutamate toxicity model of motor neuron degeneration. Taken together with our previous reports from the same model, which showed that all these neurotrophic factors can potently protect motor neurons from slow glutamate injury, the data here suggest that upregulation of calbindin‐D28K by some of these factors may be one mechanism by which motor neurons can be protected from glutamate‐induced, calcium‐mediated excitotoxicity. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
The Effect of the Sitting Upright or ‘Beachchair’ Position on Cerebral Blood Flow during Anaesthesia for Shoulder Surgery

The sitting upright or ‘beachchair’ position is commonly used for shoulder arthroscopic surgery. There is a theoretical concern that anaesthetised patients placed in this posture are at risk of reduced cerebral blood flow (CBF), especially if there is associated hypotension. This study investigated the effect of anaesthetic-induced hypotension on estimated cerebral blood flow in patients placed in the beachchair position for shoulder surgery. Forty patients were randomised to either sedation (propofol infusion 10 to 20 mg.hour-1, n=20) or general anaesthesia using sub minimum alveolar concentration of sevoflurane (n=20). All patients received an interscalene brachial plexus regional block. Internal carotid artery blood flow was measured using the time averaged velocity of the spectral Doppler waveform, and was then used as an estimate of global CBF. Following a pre-anaesthesia study, measurement of internal carotid artery blood flow was made before and after beachchair positioning, and at five-minute intervals during surgery. Beachchair positioning during general anaesthesia significantly decreased the mean arterial pressure (34±10 mmHg) compared to sedation (4±2 mmHg, P <0.01), and vasopressor therapy was required more often. However, CBF remained constant in both anaesthetised (P=0.83) and sedated patients (P=0.68) despite beachchair positioning, and the fall in mean arterial pressure in the anaesthetised patients. There was no significant difference in CBF between groups (P=0.91). These findings indicate that in patients in the beachchair position receiving sevoflurane anaesthesia, CBF is maintained when mean arterial pressure is above 70 mmHg, consistent with intact autoregulation.