Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Efficacy of quick-release lornoxicam versus placebo for acute pain management after dental implant surgery: a randomised placebo-controlled triple-blind trial.

AIM To assess the efficacy of quick-release lornoxicam (LNX) on patient-reported acute pain after dental implant surgery. MATERIALS AND METHODS The study included subjects in good general health, aged 18 to 65 and scheduled to receive a maximum of three implants in the same quadrant. Participants received either 8 mg LNX or placebo and were asked to use the medications in case of pain in the first 120 min after implant surgery. Assessment of efficacy was performed using self-assessment questionnaires for the evaluation of pain intensity and pain relief for 12 h post dosing. Patients were also asked to record the rescue analgesic number. Evaluation of patient satisfaction was assessed using a 7-point scale. Safety was evaluated by the incidence of adverse events. RESULTS A total of 83 (LNX/placebo, 42/41) patients who met the inclusion criteria and finished the evaluation period were included in the study. The proportion of patients experiencing postoperative pain was significantly lower in the LNX-treated group compared to the placebo group. Patients in the LNX group reported significantly higher pain relief scores than the placebo group. Twenty-nine patients in the placebo group and 6 patients in the LNX group used rescue analgesics. The number of used rescue analgesics was 1.024 ± 0.79 and 0.167 ± 0.43 in the placebo and LNX groups, respectively. The level of patient satisfaction was significantly higher in the LNX-treated patients (P = 0.007). No adverse events were reported during the study period. CONCLUSIONS Quick-release LNX is effective in postoperative acute pain control and has a high safety profile following dental implant surgery.
Municipal Officials' Participation in Built Environment Policy Development in the United States

Purpose. This study examined municipal officials' participation in built environment policy initiatives focused on land use design, transportation, and parks and recreation. Design. Web-based cross-sectional survey. Setting. Eighty-three municipalities with 50,000 or more residents in eight states. Subjects. Four hundred fifty-three elected and appointed municipal officials. Measures. Outcomes included self-reported participation in land use design, transportation, and parks and recreation policy to increase physical activity. Independent variables included respondent position; perceptions of importance, barriers, and beliefs regarding physical activity and community design and layout; and physical activity partnership participation. Analysis. Multivariable logistic regression models. Results. Compared to other positions, public health officials had lower participation in land use design (78.3% vs. 29.0%), transportation (78.1% vs. 42.1%), and parks and recreation (67.1% vs. 26.3%) policy. Perceived limited staff was negatively associated with participation in each policy initiative. Perceptions of the extent to which physical activity was considered in community design and physical activity partnership participation were positively associated with participation in each. Perceived lack of collaboration was associated with less land use design and transportation policy participation, and awareness that community design affects physical activity was associated with more participation. Perceived lack of political will was associated with less parks and recreation policy participation. Conclusion. Public health officials are underrepresented in built environment policy initiatives. Improving collaborations may improve municipal officials' policy participation.
Early eradication of pathogens from middle ear fluid during antibiotic treatment of acute otitis media is associated with improved clinical outcome.

OBJECTIVE To determine the relation between early bacteriologic eradication and clinical outcome of acute otitis media (AOM) in infants and young children treated with various antibiotics. STUDY DESIGN The study group consisted of patients ages 3 to 24 months seen at the Pediatric Emergency Room with: (1) symptoms and physical findings consistent with AOM of < or = 7 days duration; (2) no spontaneous perforation or tympanostomy tubes; (3) positive initial middle ear fluid culture; and (4) a follow-up to at least Day 10+/-2 of the study with a second culture performed 72 to 96 h after initiation of antibiotic treatment. Any patient with a positive middle ear fluid culture 72 to 96 h after initiation of antibiotic treatment was considered to have bacteriologic failure. Otologic evaluation was done by an otolaryngologist unaware of the culture results and of the study drug allocation. A clinical score based on body temperature, report of irritability and ear tugging observed by the parents and the appearance and redness of the ear drum as observed by the otolaryngologist was also used for clinical evaluation. RESULTS The study group consisted of 123 patients, of whom 57 (46%) had positive middle ear fluid 72 to 96 h after initiation of antibiotic treatment. Clinical failure was observed in 21 of 57 (37%) patients in whom bacteriologic eradication did not occur vs. only 2 of 66 (3%) patients with bacteriologic eradication after 3 to 4 days of treatment (P < 0.001). Clinical score for both moderate and severe disease decreased significantly faster in those with bacteriologic eradication than in those in whom middle ear fluid was still culture-positive 72 to 96 h after initiation of treatment. CONCLUSION Clinical failures in our population were associated with inability to eradicate the causative organisms of AOM from the middle ear fluid within 3 to 4 days after initiation of antibiotic therapy. Most patients (including those without bacteriologic eradication) improved after 3 to 4 days of treatment, but patients with sterile middle ear fluid felt better after 3 to 4 days of treatment than patients in whom middle ear fluid was still culture-positive.
Clinical phase I study of the hypoxic cell radiosensitizer RO-07-0582, a 2-nitroimidazole derivative.

RO-07-0582 toxicity studies were performed in 12 patients for a total of 16 assays. Single and multifraction dose schedules were used, and drug concentrations in solid tumor tissue, cerebrospinal fluid, and blood (at 14 to 24 hr.) were established. A severe peripheral neuropathy occurred in 1 patient on the multifraction regimen when the total dosage reached 24 g. Drug absorption and concentration in the blood do not significantly differ from that of metronidazole. Maximum blood levels were reached at from 2 to 4 hr. , and several days subsequent to administration had stabilized to levels only slightly above control levels.
Sensing the Past

Do we rely on different senses now than the ones we relied on in the past? How have our senses affected history? How have the senses themselves changed? What role have the senses played in the ways we discriminate? Exploring illuminating examples from antiquity to the twenty-first century, this lively, concise introduction to the essential, emerging field of sensory history presents a new way of looking at the past that takes the everyday, the average, and the banal as seriously as it takes the history of elites, the intellect, and the exceptional. Considering each of the five senses, Mark M. Smith explores diverse subjects: visual culture in Victorian Britain and South America; sound in nineteenth-century Australia and France; gender politics and touch in early modern Europe and in native America; 'race' and olfaction in the United States and scent in ancient Christianity; and, the role of taste in shaping national identity in modern China and early America.
Subcellular mechanism for Ca(2+)-dependent enhancement of delayed rectifier K+ current in isolated membrane patches of guinea pig ventricular myocytes.

Intracellular Ca2+ augments delayed rectifier K+ current (IK) in cardiac myocytes, which may play a major modulatory role in repolarization of action potentials. We investigated subcellular mechanisms for Ca(2+)-induced enhancement of IK in large-pipette inside-out membrane patches excised from isolated guinea pig ventricular myocytes. When [Ca2+]i was raised from 10(-8) to 10(-6) mol/L, the amplitude of IK measured at +80 mV was increased from 12.0 +/- 2.2 to 19.5 +/- 3.3 pA (P < .01). The enhancement of IK by Ca2+ was dose dependent, with an EC50 of 3.8 x 10(-8) mol/L. A calmodulin antagonist, W7 (50 mumol/L), calmidazolium (100 mumol/L), or HT-74 (20 mumol/L), added to the intracellular solution abolished enhancement of IK by Ca2+, whereas the inactive form of the W7 analogue, W5, had no effect on IK. In the presence of a protein kinase inhibitor with a relatively high specificity for protein kinase C (H7), for protein kinase A (H8 or peptide-type inhibitor PKI), or for calmodulin kinase II (KN-62) or a nonspecific inhibitor of serine/threonine protein kinases (staurosporine), increases in [Ca2+]i still enhanced IK. Ca(2+)-induced enhancement of IK was also observed when Mg2+ and ATP were omitted from the intracellular solution to delete exogenous phosphate donors and when adenylylimidodiphosphate was added to preclude trapped cytoplasmic substrates. Thus, cardiac IK was enhanced by increases in [Ca2+]i at a physiological range via a calmodulin-dependent pathway, which did not involve a phosphorylation process.
Melatonin significantly improves the developmental competence of bovine somatic cell nuclear transfer embryos

Somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) is a promising technology, but its application is hampered by its low efficiency. Hence, the majority of SCNT embryos fail to develop to term. In this study, the antioxidant melatonin reduced apoptosis and reactive oxygen species (ROS) in bovine SCNT embryos. It also increased cell number, inner cell mass (ICM) cell numbers, and the ratio of ICM to total cells while improving the development of bovine SCNT embryos in vitro and in vivo. Gene expression analysis showed that melatonin suppressed the expression of the pro‐apoptotic genes p53 and Bax and stimulated the expression of the antioxidant genes SOD1 and Gpx4, the anti‐apoptotic gene BCL2L1, and the pluripotency‐related gene SOX2 in SCNT blastocysts. We also analyzed the epigenetic modifications in bovine in vitro fertilization, melatonin‐treated, and untreated SCNT embryos. The global H3K9ac levels of melatonin‐treated SCNT embryos at the four‐cell stage were higher than those of the untreated SCNT embryos. We conclude that exogenous melatonin affects the expression of genes related to apoptosis, antioxidant function, and development. Moreover, melatonin reduced apoptosis and ROS in bovine SCNT embryos and enhanced blastocyst quality, thereby ultimately improving bovine cloning efficiency.
Effect of Diltiazem and Low-Dose Aspirin on Platelet Aggregation and ATP Release Induced by Paired Agonists

Summary The authors studied the effects of diltiazem, administered alone and together with low-dose aspirin, on the platelet response to paired agonists. After a baseline period, 25 healthy volunteers were given oral diltiazem for 1 week (120, 240, or 360 mg/day), and then crossed over randomly between 1 week on diltiazem plus aspirin (81 mg/day), and 1 week on aspirin (81 mg/day) alone. Platelet function was tested on 2 consecutive days in each period. Synergistic platelet aggregation and ATP release were obtained at baseline using a subthreshold concentration of arachidonic acid combined with platelet activating factor, ADP, or epinephrine. Diltiazem resulted in a significant decrease from baseline in platelet aggregation and ATP release using the arachidonic acid-epinephrine combination (35% and 40% decrease, respectively, p <0.01) and a significant decrease in aggregation using the arachidonic acid-ADP combination (22% decrease, p <0.01). The effects were neither dose-related, nor accompanied by any significant change in serum thromboxane B2 levels or bleeding times. There was no significant difference between the effects of aspirin alone and aspirin plus diltiazem on the synergistic platelet aggregation and ATP release induced by the paired agonists, or on thromboxane B2 levels or bleeding times. Diltiazem administered in vivo partially inhibits the synergistic platelet aggregation and ATP release induced by paired agonists; however, in contrast to a previous in vitro study it does not potentiate the platelet-inhibitory effect of aspirin.
The current role of the reference procedures by CLSI and EUCAST in the detection of resistance to antifungal agents in vitro

The role of antifungal susceptibility testing (AFST) reference procedures seems to be restricted to a number of uses and to being performed in reference laboratories, since several automated or semi-automated commercial systems and methods based on the disk diffusion technique were developed. These methods have been shown to have a high correlation with reference procedures and provide simple, flexible and affordable alternative susceptibility testing procedures for use in the clinical laboratory. One of the most important current tasks of the reference procedures is establishing antifungal breakpoints to interpret the AFST results. The procedure by the Clinical Laboratory Standards Institute to develop MIC interpretative breakpoints is based on the analysis of the MIC distribution and the clinical relationship between MIC values and efficacy. The emergence of resistance to licensed antifungal agents and the description of therapeutic failures related to high MIC values underscore the need for continued surveillance. The surveillance should be carried out using the reference procedures and taking into account the breakpoints established by the expert committees of the Clinical Laboratory Standards Institute and European Committee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing. In addition, reference procedures of AFST provide a standard basis from which new AFST methods and techniques can be developed and compared. The evaluation of new antifungal agents and the susceptibility profile of rare and emerging species should also be performed by the reference techniques. Modifications of the reference procedures can even be used to test fastidious microorganisms for which routine techniques are not useful.
Factors Leading to Older Drivers' Intersection Crashes

Objectives. Older drivers are overinvolved in intersection crashes compared with younger drivers, but the reasons are not clearly understood. The purpose of the present study was to identify the factors that lead to older drivers' intersection crashes. Method. Study participants were composed of two groups of older drivers—ages 70–79 (n = 78) and 80 and older (n = 76)—and a comparison group of drivers ages 35–54 (n = 73); all were at fault in intersection crashes involving nonfatal injuries. Police crash reports, telephone interviews with at-fault drivers, and photographs of intersections were used to determine the kinds of driver actions and errors that led to the intersection crashes. Results. Drivers 80 and older had fewer rear-end crashes than drivers ages 35–54 and 70–79, and both groups of older drivers had fewer ran-off-road crashes than drivers ages 35–54. Crashes where drivers failed to yield the right-of-way increased with age and occurred mostly at stop sign–controlled intersections, generally when drivers were turning left. The reasons for failure-to-yield crashes tended to vary by age. Compared with drivers ages 35–54 and 80 and older, drivers ages 70–79 made more evaluation errors—seeing another vehicle but misjudging whether there was adequate time to proceed. In contrast, drivers 80 and older predominantly failed to see or detect the other vehicle. Drivers ages 35–54 also tended to make search errors, but theirs were due more often to distraction. Conclusions. Factors leading to intersection crashes vary with age, even between two age groups of older drivers. Because the number of older drivers is projected to increase, it is important to identify ways to reduce the frequency and severity of their intersection crashes. Roundabouts and protected left turn lanes at signalized intersections may help to reduce failure-to-yield crashes at intersections, especially among older drivers. Crash avoidance systems may help to reduce crashes for drivers of all ages, but most systems have not been thoroughly investigated using real-world crash data.
Data Routing Networks for Systolic/Pipeline Realization of Prime Factor Mapping

It is pointed out that transformed data computed by systolic/pipeline processors using the data shuffling network recently proposed by T.K. Troung et al. (ibid., vol.37, p.266-73, Mar. 1988) cannot be unscrambled by simply reversing the cyclic row and cyclic column shufflings. This can be amended by the proposed restoration scheme. In addition, efficient architectures for the data routing networks with low circuit complexities are proposed. These form useful building blocks for very-high-throughput hardware realizations. >
Modelling circulation dynamics in the northern Baltic Sea

Circulation and surface layer dynamics are of significant importance, for example, when considering how hazardous substances or nutrients are transported in the sea. The earliest studies mapping circulation patterns in the northern Baltic Sea were done before the Second World War and were based on lightship observations. Although the number of available observation points was low, these studies showed that there is a cyclonic long-term surface circulation pattern in the northern sub-
Reliable tempo detection for structural segmentation in sarod concerts

Tempo, or perceived speed, is an important characteristic of any music piece. In Hindustani instrumental music, different sections of a concert are characterised by the absence or presence of a regular rhythm and the speed of the music. In this paper, we analyse the tempo of concerts of a particular plucked-string instrument, the sarod. We first describe and evaluate different methods to detect plucks of sarod strings, as the timing pattern of the plucks, or note onsets, decides the tempo. We then use one such accurate method to track the tempo of a concert by analyzing the short-term periodicity of the onsets. Simultaneously, we also generate a measure of the salience of the periodicity to distinguish between rhythmic and non-rhythmic sections. We show that the tempo and salience vary significantly across sections in a concert, and thus, are valuable discriminative features in the task of automatic segmentation of sarod concerts.
Public perceptions of biotechnology

The very term ‘Biotechnology’ elicits a range of emotions, from wonder and awe to downright fear and hostility. This is especially true among non‐scientists, particularly in respect of agricultural and food biotechnology. These emotions indicate just how poorly understood agricultural biotechnology is and the need for accurate, dispassionate information in the public sphere to allow a rational public debate on the actual, as opposed to the perceived, risks and benefits of agricultural biotechnology. This review considers first the current state of public knowledge on agricultural biotechnology, and then explores some of the popular misperceptions and logical inconsistencies in both Europe and North America. I then consider the problem of widespread scientific illiteracy, and the role of the popular media in instilling and perpetuating misperceptions. The impact of inappropriate efforts to provide ‘balance’ in a news story, and of belief systems and faith also impinges on public scientific illiteracy. Getting away from the abstract, we explore a more concrete example of the contrasting approach to agricultural biotechnology adoption between Europe and North America, in considering divergent approaches to enabling coexistence in farming practices. I then question who benefits from agricultural biotechnology. Is it only the big companies, or is it society at large – and the environment‐also deriving some benefit? Finally, a crucial aspect in such a technologically complex issue, ordinary and intelligent non‐scientifically trained consumers cannot be expected to learn the intricacies of the technology to enable a personal choice to support or reject biotechnology products. The only reasonable and pragmatic alternative is to place trust in someone to provide honest advice. But who, working in the public interest, is best suited to provide informed and accessible, but objective, advice to wary consumers?
NA1/NA2 heterozygote of Fcgr3b is a risk factor for progression of IgA nephropathy in Chinese

Several studies have identified FcgRIIIb (Fcgr3b) polymorphisms that determine susceptibility to autoimmune diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus and rheumatoid arthritis. The objective of the study was to clarify whether Fcgr3b allele polymorphism influence susceptibility to immunoglobulin A nephropathy (IgAN), clinical features or severity in patients with IgAN. Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) fragments were amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using genomic DNA from 172 unrelated, healthy blood donors and 128 IgAN patients in our Kidney Disease Centre. The present findings showed that Fcgr3b genotype influenced the disease susceptibility and severity of IgAN, although Fcgr3b polymorphism did not affect the age of the disease onset. We found that the genotype frequency of Fcgr3b heterozygote NA1/NA2 in IgAN patients in Chinese significantly higher than that of healthy donors. Furthermore, higher genotype frequency of NA1/NA2 was found also in IgAN patients with glomerulosclerosis or crescent formation than those without it. NA1/NA2 heterozygote of Fcgr3b is a risk factor for progression of IgA nephropathy in Chinese. J. Clin. Lab. Anal. 21:298–302, 2007. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Diagnosis and Distress in Navajo Healing

In contemporary Navajo society, traditional Navajo ceremonies, Native American Church prayer meetings, and Navajo Christian faith healing are all highly sought-after resources in the everyday pursuit of health and well-being. What is the nature of affliction among patients who turn to such forms of religious healing? Are these patients typically afflicted with psychiatric disorder? In this article we discuss 84 Navajo patients who participated in the Navajo Healing Project during a period in which they consulted one of these forms of healing. We present diagnostic results obtained from the Structured Clinical Interview for DSMIV (SCID) administered to these patients. We then present an ethnographically augmented analysis comparing the research diagnosis obtained via the SCID with a clinical diagnosis, with the diagnosis given by religious healers, and with the understanding of their own distress on the part of patients. These analyses demonstrate how a cultural approach contributes to the basic science and clinical understandings of affliction as well as to discussion of the advantages and limitations of DSM categories as descriptors of distress and disorder.