Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Improving Patient Care in Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension: Addressing Psychosocial Issues

PAH is a rare, incurable, and progressive disease caused by an increase in pulmonary vascular resistance at the precapillary level. In a survey of national registries and expert centers in France and Scotland, the prevalence of all types of PAH was reported as being approximately 15 to 50 cases per million, with an incidence of idiopathic PAH of 6.5 to 25 cases per million. There is a strong female preponderance and a higher rate of prevalence observed in high-risk groups, such as patients with systemic sclerosis. The estimated 1-year mortality rate ranges from 8% to 10% in patients with idiopathic, familial/heritable, or anorexigen-associated PAH. An increase in mean pulmonary arterial pressure to at least 25 mm Hg at rest, together with a mean pulmonary capillary wedge pressure of <15 mm Hg, are the defining features of PAH. As PAH progresses, symptoms become exacerbated owing to restricted cardiac output through the pulmonary arteries and concomitant right heart failure, which induces common symptoms of PAH including breathlessness, fatigue, weakness, and angina. Prompt and accurate diagnosis of PAH is central to effective management, with the 2009 European Society of Cardiology/European Respiratory Society (ESC/ERS) guidelines recommending therapeutic intervention even for patients who have mildly symptomatic PAH, the aim of which is to improve symptoms, exercise tolerance, prognosis, and quality of life. As a lifealtering disease, the impact of PAH is not restricted to the effects of the symptoms on the patient. PAH has significant effects on aspects of life and daily living for both the patient and their family. The aim of this commentary is to show that the psychological burden of PAH is often overlooked and that consideration should be given to providing both patients and caregivers with adequate psychosocial support.
Protective effects of acerola juice on genotoxicity induced by iron in vivo

Abstract Metal ions such as iron can induce DNA damage by inducing reactive oxygen species (ROS) and oxidative stress. Vitamin C is one of the most widely consumed antioxidants worldwide, present in many fruits and vegetables, especially inMalpighia glabra L. , popularly known as acerola, native to Brazil. Acerola is considered a functional fruit due to its high antioxidant properties and phenolic contents, and therefore is consumed to prevent diseases or as adjuvant in treatment strategies. Here, the influence of ripe and unripe acerola juices on iron genotoxicity was analyzed in vivo using the comet assay and micronucleus test. The comet assay results showed that acerola juice exerted no genotoxic or antigenotoxic activity. Neither ripe nor unripe acerola juices were mutagenic to animals treated with juices, in micronucleus test. However, when compared to iron group, the pre-treatment with acerola juices exerted antimutagenic activity, decreasing significantly micronucleus mean values in bone marrow. Stage of ripeness did not influence the interaction of acerola compounds with DNA, and both ripe and unripe acerola juices exerted protective effect over DNA damage generated by iron.
Reciprocal effects of combined administration of serotonin, noradrenaline and dopamine reuptake inhibitors on serotonin and dopamine levels in the rat prefrontal cortex: the role of 5-HT1A receptors

The purpose of the present study was to examine, by in vivo microdialysis technique, the effects of triple acting monoamine reuptake inhibitors, constructed by combinations of a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor citalopram with a noradrenaline/dopamine reuptake inhibitor methylphenidate and a serotonin/noradrenaline reuptake inhibitor venlafaxine with a dopamine reuptake inhibitor GBR12909, on extracellular levels of serotonin (5-HT), noradrenaline (NA) and dopamine (DA) in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) of anaesthetized rats. At the highest dose tested, adjunctive methylphenidate (10 mg/kg s.c.) to citalopram markedly attenuated by 63% the extracellular levels of 5-HT as compared to the levels induced by citalopram (5 mg/kg i.p.) alone, whereas the overall DA concentrations significantly increased to about 149% of those induced by methylphenidate alone. Similarly, the combination of venlafaxine with GBR12909 (10 mg/kg s.c.) caused a reduction of 5-HT levels to 66% of the levels induced by venlafaxine (10 mg/kg i.p.) alone, whereas the overall DA levels increased to 151% of the venlafaxine-treated group. The extracellular levels of NA were only marginally affected by the treatments with combined reuptake inhibitors compared to the effects induced by methylphenidate or venlafaxine alone. The modulatory effects of combined administration of the DA/NA reuptake inhibitors with the 5-HT reuptake inhibitors (citalopram and venlafaxine) on potentiation of DA and attenuation of 5-HT efflux were completely reversed by a pre-treatment with the 5-HT1A receptor antagonist WAY-100635. These findings suggest a crucial role played by the 5-HT1A receptors in balancing the reuptake inhibitory efficacy for the enhancement of 5-HT and DA transmission in the PFC by the drugs combining the reuptake inhibition of all three monoamines.
Microbiological quality of meat preparations and meat products.

The aim of the research was to perform trend analysis to reveal probable gaps and shortcomings in monitoring of microbiological contamination of meat preparations and meat products produced in Latvia to highlight proposals for further improvements. The results on microbiological contamination of foodstuffs obtained in the frame of producers’ self -control within HACCP procedures were used in the research. In total, 13 food types, including minced meat, breaded pork chop, different types of sausages, smoked meat products, aspic and liver pate were investigated. Using single factor analysis of variance (ANOVA) significant differences were revealed between food types, as well as large fluctuations in aerobic plate counts (APC) were demonstrated. According to the findings of the research, APC was significantly different (p=0.001) for sausages. The maximum mean APC (6.16±6.36 lg CFU g -1 ), as well as maximum APC (6.68±6.36 lg CFU g -1 ) was found for liver sausage. APC was largely variable for smoked meat products. Significant difference (p=0.01) was revealed with regard to APC for aspics tested one and six days after production. Hygiene indicatororganisms (Escherichia coli) and pathogens (e.g. Salmonella spp.) most often were detected in meat preparations. Presence of coliforms was detected in aspics and liver pate. The results of the research suggest that development and usage of guidelines of good manufacturing practice for purposeful monitoring of microbiological contamination risk of meat preparations and meat products is relevant to ensure high level of protection of consumers’ health.
Background-free 3D nanometric localization and sub-nm asymmetry detection of single plasmonic nanoparticles by four-wave mixing interferometry with optical vortices

Single nanoparticle tracking using optical microscopy is a powerful technique with many applications in biology, chemistry, and material sciences. Despite significant advances, localizing objects with nanometric position precision in a scattering environment remains challenging. Applied methods to achieve contrast are dominantly fluorescence based, with fundamental limits in the emitted photon fluxes arising from the excited-state lifetime as well as photobleaching. Here, we show a new four-wave-mixing interferometry technique, whereby the position of a single nonfluorescing gold nanoparticle of 25-nm radius is determined with 16 nm precision in plane and 3 nm axially from rapid single-point measurements at 1-ms acquisition time by exploiting optical vortices. The precision in plane is consistent with the photon shot-noise, while axially it is limited by the nano-positioning sample stage, with an estimated photon shot-noise limit of 0.5 nm. The detection is background-free even inside biological cells. The technique is also uniquely sensitive to particle asymmetries of only 0.5% ellipticity, corresponding to a single atomic layer of gold, as well as particle orientation. This method opens new ways of unraveling single-particle trafficking within complex 3D architectures.
Hyperglycemic memory in metabolism and cancer

Abstract Hyperglycemia is a hallmark of both type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Recent evidence strongly suggests that prolonged exposure to hyperglycemia can epigenetically modify gene expression profiles in human cells and that this effect is sustained even after hyperglycemic control is therapeutically achieved; this phenomenon is called hyperglycemic memory. This metabolic memory effect contributes substantially to the pathology of various diabetic complications, such as diabetic retinopathy, hypertension, and diabetic nephropathy. Due to the metabolic memory in cells, diabetic patients suffer from various complications, even after hyperglycemia is controlled. With regard to this strong association between diabetes and cancer risk, cancer cells have emerged as key target cells of hyperglycemic memory in diabetic cancer patients. In this review, we will discuss the recent understandings of the molecular mechanisms underlying hyperglycemic memory in metabolism and cancer.
Distributed constrained consensus in the presence of unbalanced switching graphs and communication delays

In this paper, a constrained consensus problem is studied in unbalanced networks in the presence of communication delays. Here each agent needs to lie in a closed convex set while reaching a consensus. The communication graphs considered are directed, dynamically changing, and not necessarily balanced and only the union of the graphs is assumed to be strongly connected among each time interval of a certain bounded length. The analysis is performed based on an undelayed equivalent system that is composed of a linear main body and an error auxiliary. It is showed that the error auxiliary vanishes as time evolves and the linear main body converges to a vector with an exponential rate as a separate system. It is also showed that the communication delays do not affect the consensus stability and consensus is achieved even though the communication delays are arbitrary bounded.
Marks of Distinction: Rock Art and Ethnic Identification in the Great Basin

Great Basin ethnography contains little information concerning rock art, suggesting that much of it is pre-Numic. The presence of historic rock art, however, should permit differences between pre-Numic and Numic populations to be identified. Anthropological theory suggests pioneer groups use ritual to socialize the landscape. Rock art may also be associated with colonizing groups to secure access to new resources. Numic populations seem to have responded to pre-Numic rock art through modification of the art. Once the landscape had been re-socialized rock art was generally avoided. This explains why rock art production became sporadic, and memory of it lost.
Effect of previous irradiation on the transformation of blood lymphocytes

The transformation of blood lymphocytes in cultures with phytohaemagglutinin was studied in five patients before and at intervals up to 18 to 19 months after therapeutic irradiation of the abdomen and pelvis (dose of x rays 3,200r to 4,475r). In one patient, all cultures showed satisfactory lymphocyte transformation. In four patients transformation was depressed following irradiation. In three of these patients the duration of the depression was short; in one patient it was prolonged for over a year. The poor response of the lymphocytes to phytohaemagglutinin was not associated either with leucopenia or with a high incidence of cells with chromosome abnormalities in the cultures.
Relationships between oral mucositis and treatment variables in bone marrow transplant patients

The pattern of oral mucositis and related treatment variables was studied in 20 bone marrow transplant patients. Patients received either total body irradiation (TB1) or busulfan in combination with cyclophosphamide and etoposide as pretransplant conditioning. Daily oral assessment scores were analyzed. Mucosl changes began 2 days before transplant and peaked 8 days after transplant. There was a trend far patients receiving TB1 to have slightly higher oral scores during the first week posttransplant than patients receiving busulfan. The TB1 patients averaged almost twice the number of days of continuous intravenous morphine infusion for oral pain and 6 additional days of total parenteral nutrition when compared with patients receiving busulfan. Subjects who died during aplasia manifested mucositis that gradually worsened and did not return to baseline. Differences in oral status based on type of transplant, either autologous or allogeneic, were not shown in this study.
Regulation of Muscle Genes by Moderate Exercise

Moderate-intensity exercise at the lactate threshold (LT) is considered to be a safe and effective training regimen for improving metabolic syndrome. The aim of the current study was to investigate the effects of moderate exercise performed at the LT on skeletal muscle gene expression. 6 healthy men participated in cycle ergometer training at LT, 60 min/d, 5 d/wk for 12 wks. Muscle samples were collected after 5 d of training, and then 2 d after training at wks 6 and 12. Quantitative real-time PCR analysis revealed that the expression of peroxisome proliferator activated receptor co-activated 1alpha was significantly increased at 1 h after the training session on day 5. Moreover, using serial analysis gene expression, we found that moderate training for 6 and 12 wks simultaneously induced the expression of a number of metabolic genes involved in the TCA cycle, beta-oxidation, and electron transport. Furthermore, several genes encoding antioxidant enzymes and contractile apparatus were induced. The expression levels of 233 novel transcripts were also altered in response to moderate exercise. Thus, moderate training at the LT is a sufficient stimulus to induce the expression of numerous genes implicated in the development of metabolic syndrome, transcripts involved in the contractile apparatus, and novel transcripts.
Geoepidemiology of systemic vasculitis: comparison of the incidence in two regions of Europe

OBJECTIVE The aetiopathogenesis of the primary systemic vasculitides (PSV) is unknown but includes both environmental and genetic factors. The development of classification criteria/definitions for PSV allows comparison of the epidemiology between different regions. METHODS The same methods and the American College of Rheumatology (1990) criteria or Chapel Hill definitions were used to compare the epidemiology of Wegener's granulomatosis, Churg-Strauss syndrome, microscopic polyangiitis, and polyarteritis nodosa in Norwich (east England population 413 500) and Lugo (northwest Spain population 204 100). Patients with PSV were identified between 1 January 1988 and 31 December 1998. RESULTS Overall, the incidence of PSV in adults was almost equal in Norwich (18.9/million) and Spain (18.3/million). The incidence of Wegener's granulomatosis in Norwich (10.6/million) was greater than in Spain (4.9/million). There was a marked age-specific increase in incidence in Norwich with a peak age 65–74 years (52.9/million), but a virtually equal age distribution between ages 45 and 74 in Lugo (34.1/million). There was no significant increase with time in either population, or evidence of cyclical changes in incidence. CONCLUSION These data support the suggestion that environmental factors may be important in the pathogenesis of PSV.
Why do we blog? From the perspectives of technology acceptance and media choice factors

Blogs, or weblogs, have rapidly grown in recent years. Blogs are easy to use, possess interactive features and attract widespread use, leading them to be recognised as a communication medium in web-based information technology. However, why do so many people use blogs? The purpose of this study is to incorporate the technology acceptance model (TAM) with media choice factors to explain and predict blog acceptance behaviours. The media choice factors include media richness, critical mass, social influence (SI) and media experience (ME). This study conducted an online field survey and applied the structure equation modelling method to investigate the empirical strength of the relationships in the proposed model. In this study, 521 experienced blog users were surveyed to examine this model. The results strongly support the proposed hypotheses, indicating that technology acceptance and media choice factors influence blog acceptance behaviours. This article provides implications and recommendations resulting from the study.
Dietary pattern and hypertension in Korean adults

Abstract Objective To assess the dietary pattern associated with hypertension and pre-hypertension among Korean male and female adults. Design Cross-sectional study from a representative sample of the Korean population. Setting The Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey IV, which was conducted in 2007 and 2008. Subjects Males and females (n 5308) over the age of 20 years. Results Scores for three major dietary patterns (‘whole food’, ‘Western’ and ‘drinking’) were generated using a factor analysis of thirty predefined food groups based on the food items consumed. We used polytomous logistic regression analyses to obtain odds ratios and 95 % confidence intervals for pre-hypertension and hypertension. Participants with a high drinking pattern score (moderate to high alcohol intake, salted fermented seafood intake) had a significantly higher prevalence of pre-hypertension or hypertension than those with a lower drinking pattern score; odds for the top quintile v. the bottom quintile were OR = 1·56 (95 % CI 1·23, 1·99; P trend = 0·001) for pre-hypertension and OR = 3·05 (95 % CI 2·12, 4·40; P trend < 0·001) for hypertension. The whole food pattern was not associated with either pre-hypertension or hypertension, while the Western pattern was associated with the prevalence of hypertension only among men. Conclusions Our finding warrants further prospective studies to examine whether alcohol drinking and salty food consumption increase the risk of developing hypertension in Koreans.
Estimating Water Quality with Airborne and Ground-Based Hyperspectral Sensing

Remotely sensed estimates of water quality parameters would facilitate efforts in spatial and temporal monitoring. In this study we collected hyperspectral water reflectance data with airborne and ground-based sensing systems for multiple arms of Mark Twain Lake, a large manmade reservoir in northeast Missouri. Water samples were also collected and analyzed in the laboratory for chlorophyll, nutrients, and turbidity. Wavelength-selection (i.e., stepwise multiple regression) methods and previously reported indices were used to develop relationships between spectral and water quality data. Within the single measurement date of this study, all measured water quality parameters were strongly related (R2 > 0.6) to reflectance data from the ground system. Relationships between water quality parameters and airborne reflectance data were generally somewhat lower, but still with R2 > 0.6. Previously developed narrow-band reflectance indices also worked well to estimate chlorophyll concentration. Wide-band, multispectral reflectance, simulating Landsat data, was strongly related only to turbidity and those other parameters (e.g., phosphorus) highly correlated to turbidity in this dataset. Thus, hyperspectral sensing, coupled with calibration sampling, can be used to estimate lake water quality differences, and appears to have advantages over multispectral sensing in this application.
Number of solutions effects in stem decision: Support for the distinction between identification and production processes in priming

Three experiments explored the distinction between identification and production processes (e.g., Gabrieli et al., 1999). A stem decision test was introduced, in which participants were asked to state whether there were any English words that began with the presented three-letter stems. In Experiment 1, stem decision priming was robust for single-solution stems, but much reduced for many-solution stems. In Experiment 2, the solutions effect in stem decision was replicated in a within-subjects design, as was the contrast between the presence of priming in a many-solution stem completion test and the absence of priming in a many-solution stem decision test. In Experiment 3, for each critical many-solution stem in the stem decision test, participants studied three words that began with those three letters. Again, priming was not observed. These results were consistent with the notions that (a) many-solution stem completion relies on production processes, (b) the stem decision test eliminates production processes, and (c) single-solution priming relies on identification processes, regardless of whether the test is stem completion or stem decision.
Is the American Society of Shoulder and Elbow Therapists’ rehabilitation guideline better than standard care when applied to Bankart-operated patients? A controlled study

Objective: To determine whether there is a difference in shoulder-related physical function and quality of life between postoperative rehabilitation patients receiving standard care and those receiving care according to the American Society of Shoulder and Elbow Therapists’ rehabilitation guideline for arthroscopic anterior capsulolabral repair of the shoulder. Design: Descriptive studies with comparison between a retrospective and a prospective cohort. Setting: Municipal outpatient rehabilitation centre. Patients: A total of 96 arthroscopic Bankart-operated patients. Interventions: A total of 52 patients received standard care; 44 patients underwent rehabilitation according to the American Society of Shoulder and Elbow Therapists’ rehabilitation guideline. Main measurements: Primary outcome variable was Western Ontario Shoulder Instability Index. Secondary outcome measures were Patient-Specific Functional Scale, shoulder range of motion, return to work, return to sports, and costs. Results: There was no significant difference in adjusted mean change scores between the standard care group and the guideline group in the primary outcome variable (Western Ontario Shoulder Instability Index total = 574.85 vs. 644.48) or the secondary outcomes (Patient-Specific Functional Scale = 4.6 vs. 5.0; range of motion in forward flexion = 46.49° vs. 49.58°; external rotation in adduction = 28.58° vs. 34.18°; external rotation in abduction = 51.29° vs. 47.55°; weeks until return to work = 5.2 vs. 6.9; weeks until return to sports =13.9 vs. 13.1; costs = number of visits; 18.5 vs. 15.9). Conclusions: There were no significant between-group differences in shoulder-related physical function and quality of life between the standard care group and the guideline group, following Bankart operations.