Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Role of Thoracoscopic Spinal Surgery in the Management of Pyogenic Vertebral Osteomyelitis

Study Design. Case report, operative technique. Objectives. Vertebral osteomyelitis is frequently associated with elderly and debilitated patients who have significant medical comorbidities. If surgical debridement is contemplated, an open anterior approach like a thoracotomy can be associated with significant complications in this patient population. Thus, patients with vertebral osteomyelitis who need surgery may benefit from minimal invasive techniques that avoid the complications of more extensive open approaches. We performed thoracoscopic spinal surgery in patients with pyogenic vertebral osteomyelitis, attempting to reduce the morbidity attributable to standard open thoracotomy surgery. Methods. The technique and results of minimally invasive thoracoscopic spinal surgery for pyogenic vertebral osteomyelitis in three patients, including radical debridement and anterior spinal reconstruction, are presented. Results. Radical debridement and anterior spinal reconstruction are feasible via endoscopic approach. Standard thoracotomy or thoracoabdominal approaches associated with high morbidity can be avoided, even for fusion across multiple levels. Conversion to open technique was not necessary in this study. There was no recurrence of infection or loss of reduction during the follow-up period. Operative time and blood loss of endoscopic technique were comparable to open technique. Conclusions. The cases clearly demonstrate the feasibility and efficacy of thoracoscopic spinal surgery in the management of pyogenic vertebral osteomyelitis. Debridement, decompression of the spinal canal, interbody fusion, and anterior spinal fixation can be performed via endoscopic approach.
Xanthosine Utilization in Salmonella enterica Serovar Typhimurium Is Recovered by a Single Aspartate-to-Glycine Substitution in Xanthosine Phosphorylase

ABSTRACT xapABR from Salmonella enterica was analyzed and compared with the corresponding Escherichia coli genes. xapB and xapR, but not xapA, encode functional proteins. An S. enterica XapA(Asp72Gly) mutant that restores the phosphorolytic activity was selected. The purified mutant enzyme has different kinetic constants than the E. coli enzyme but similar substrate specificity.
Tumour necrosis factor‐α and leukotriene E4 production in wheezy infants

It is not clear why certain infants wheeze during viral upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs) but it is possible that they have a tendency to mount an exaggerated inflammatory response leading to production of mediators that induce airway narrowing. We studied nasal tumour necrosis factor‐α (TNFα) and urinary leukotriene E4 (LTE4) production during infection and after recovery in 31 wheezy infants (median age 6.2 months). Urinary LTE4 production was not altered during wheezy episodes or URTIs. However, the concentration of TNFα in nasal lining fluid (NLF) was significantly increased during acute episodes of wheeze compared to recovery (median [interquartile range] of 293 [42‐1753] vs 0 [0‐203] pg/ml NLF). TNFα was detectable more often and in higher concentration when wheezing was due to respiratory syncylitil virus. TNFα was also present in 7/30 asymptomatic wheezy infants who had recovered from infection (> 100 pg/ml NLF) and in 4/7 non‐wheezy siblings during URTIs (> 200 pg/ml NLF). This suggests that upregulation of TNFα production is not the only factor that makes some infants wheeze.
Five years’ experience with thymoglobulin induction in a pediatric renal transplant population

Abstract: Antibody induction therapy is used in the majority of pediatric patients undergoing renal transplantation. Our center has previously reported short‐term outcomes with TMG as induction therapy. We now present our experience over the last five yr. Patients received TMG intra‐ and post‐operatively at a dose of 1.5 mg/kg/day. The dose was decreased to 0.75 mg/kg/day or held dependent on the patient's WBC and platelet counts. Post‐transplant immunosuppression also included corticosteroids, MMF, and either TAC or CSA. Patient and graft survival, number of acute rejection episodes, creatinine clearance, incidence and type of infections, and trough levels of calcineurin inhibitor drugs were monitored during the follow‐up period. Thirty‐four renal transplants were performed in 33 pediatric patients ranging in age from 1.7 to 17.8 yr. Seventeen rejection episodes occurred during the time of follow‐up with three patients having more than one episode, but only three episodes occurred within the first year after transplantation. Three patients had graft loss in the first week after transplantation from primary non‐function (1) or technical failure/thrombosis (2). Graft losses occurred in seven additional patients during the time of follow‐up with the first loss occurring at 17.7 months. Among patients with functional grafts at one wk after transplant, graft survival at one and three yr was 100% and 73% respectively. There were no patient deaths. There were no cases of post‐transplant lymphoproliferative disease or other malignancy. One patient had symptomatic CMV disease. TMG is safe and effective as induction therapy in pediatric renal transplant patients. Late graft loss remains a challenge in the pediatric patient population, particularly in adolescents.
Early Career Agriculture Teachers’ Efficacy Toward Teaching Students with Special Needs

This study sought to assess the perceptions of early career agriculture teachers’ ability to teach students with special needs. Agriculture teachers in the first five years of their careers indicated that administrative support contributed the most to their success in working with students with special needs, while in–service activities that focused on students with special needs contributed little. Self–efficacy was the strongest predictor of self–perceived success of teaching students with special needs. Self–efficacy, combined with administrator support, in–service and teacher preparation, accounted for 27% of the variance in early career agriculture teachers’ self–perceived success of teaching students with special needs.
Heterogeneity of deoxyribonucleic acid molecules isolated from Mycobacterium smegmatis

Bulk chromosomal deoxyribonucleic acids (DNAs) of Mycobacterium smegmatis strains 607+ (wild type) and 607-1 (Strr) and orange-red pigmented variants (OR) were separated into two distinct bands (types 1 and 2) by cesium chloride density gradient centrifugation. Thermal denaturation analyses showed that type 1 and 2 DNA fragments of these strains possessed guanine plus cytosine contents averaging 69.2% and 60.8%, respectively. Type 1 and 2 DNAs from all strains tested were recovered in relatively equal quantities upon isolation and were found to have similar molecular weights (3.0 x 10(7)). Spectrophotometric assay of DNA reassociation showed that homology between any type 1 and 2 DNA fragments was always very low (29 to 33%), even within the same strain. Homologies among type 1 DNAs isolated from any strain were always high (92 to 98%), whereas homologies between type 2 DNA isolated from OR strains and that from their parental strain 607-1 were lower (51 to 55%). Transformation experiments revealed that methionine, leucine, folic acid, and streptomycin markers were found exclusively in type 1 DNA fragments. In addition to the two types of chromosomal DNA, plasmid DNA possessing a molecular weight of about 4 x 10(6) was found in strain 607-1.
The Association Between Empirical Antibiotic Treatment and Mortality in Severe Infections Caused by Carbapenem-resistant Gram-negative Bacteria: A Prospective Study

Background Empirical colistin should be avoided. We aimed to evaluate the association between covering empirical antibiotics (EAT) and mortality for infections caused by carbapenem-resistant gram-negative bacteria (CRGNB). Methods This was a secondary analysis of a randomized controlled trial, including adults with bloodstream infections, pneumonia, or urosepsis caused by CRGNB. All patients received EAT followed by covering targeted therapy. The exposure variable was covering EAT in the first 48 hours. The outcome was 28-day mortality. We adjusted the analyses by multivariable regression analysis and propensity score matching. Results The study included 406 inpatients with severe CRGNB infections, mostly Acinetobacter baumannii (312/406 [77%]). Covering EAT was given to 209 (51.5%) patients, mostly colistin (n = 200). Patients receiving noncovering EAT were older, more frequently unconscious and dependent, carrying catheters, and mechanically ventilated with pneumonia. Mortality was 84 of 197 (42.6%) with noncovering vs 96 of 209 (45.9%) with covering EAT (P = .504). Covering EAT was not associated with survival in the adjusted analysis; rather, there was a weak association with mortality (odds ratio [OR], 1.37; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.02-1.84). Results were similar for colistin monotherapy and colistin-carbapenem combination EAT. In the propensity score-matched cohort (n = 338) covering antibiotics were not significantly associated with mortality (OR, 1.42; 95% CI, .91-2.22). Similar results were obtained in an analysis of 14-day mortality. Conclusions Empirical use of colistin before pathogen identification, with or without a carbapenem, was not associated with survival following severe infections caused by CRGNBs, mainly A. baumannii.
Shareholder Votes on Auditor Ratification and Subsequent Auditor Dismissals

SYNPOSIS: The Advisory Committee on the Auditing Profession (ACAP [DoT 2008]), appointed by the U.S. Department of Treasury, recommended that regulators require public companies to have shareholder voting on auditor ratification. However, the SEC has sided with companies that sought to exclude proposals from shareholders seeking greater say in the auditor selection process. We use data from 12,664 shareholder votes on auditor ratification during 2011–2014 and find that subsequent auditor dismissals become more likely with increases in the proportion of shareholders not ratifying the auditor. The findings should be of interest to corporate governance activists and regulators, and reinforce suggestions that even small changes in shareholder votes can be associated with significant corporate changes.
Categorizing asthma severity and monitoring control of chronic asthma

Asthma is a distressing disease, affecting up to 8% of the US population and causing considerable morbidity. Effective management of asthma requires accurate categorization of asthma severity and effective methods for monitoring the activity of the disease with treatment. Currently, symptoms, lung function, and requirements for corticosteroid treatment are the most accepted factors used for asthma severity categorization. Measures of airway hyperresponsiveness, particularly the use of methacholine, may provide additional information regarding the duration of asthma. Assessing airway inflammation using either sputum eosinophilia or exhaled nitric oxide levels has added little to clinical methods for determining asthma severity, but may be useful in monitoring the activity of the disease.
Inhibition of RhoA translocation and calcium sensitization by in vivo ADP-ribosylation with the chimeric toxin DC3B.

Pretreatment of intact rabbit portal vein smooth muscle with the chimeric toxin DC3B (10(-6) M, 48 h; ; ) ADP-ribosylated endogenous RhoA, including cytosolic RhoA complexed with rhoGDI, and inhibited the tonic phase of phenylephrine-induced contraction and the Ca2+-sensitization of force by phenylephrine, endothelin and guanosine triphosphate (GTP)gammaS, but did not inhibit Ca2+-sensitization by phorbol dibutyrate. DC3B also inhibited GTPgammaS-induced translocation of cytosolic RhoA () to the membrane fraction. In DC3B-treated muscles the small fraction of membrane-associated RhoA could be immunoprecipitated, even after exposure to GTPgammaS, which prevents immunoprecipitation of non-ADP-ribosylated RhoA. Dissociation of cytosolic RhoA-rhoGDI complexes with SDS restored the immunoprecipitability and ADP ribosylatability of RhoA, indicating that both the ADP-ribosylation site (Asn 41) and RhoA insert loop (Wei et al., 1997) are masked by rhoGDI and that the long axes of the two proteins are in parallel in the heterodimer. We conclude that RhoA plays a significant role in G-protein-, but not protein kinase C-mediated, Ca2+ sensitization and that ADP ribosylation inhibits in vivo the Ca2+-sensitizing effect of RhoA by interfering with its binding to a membrane-associated effector.
The enthalpy change in protein folding and binding: Refinement of parameters for structure‐based calculations

Two effects are mainly responsible for the observed enthalpy change in protein unfolding: the disruption of internal interactions within the protein molecule (van der Waals, hydrogen bonds, etc.) and the hydration of the groups that are buried in the native state and become exposed to the solvent on unfolding. In the traditional thermodynamic analysis, the effects of hydration have usually been evaluated using the thermodynamic data for the transfer of small model compounds from the gas phase to water. The contribution of internal interactions, on the other hand, are usually estimated by subtracting the hydration effects from the experimental enthalpy of unfolding. The main drawback of this approach is that the enthalpic contributions of hydration, and those due to the disruption of internal interactions, are more than one order of magnitude larger than the experimental enthalpy value. The enthalpy contributions of hydration and disruption of internal interactions have opposite signs and cancel each other almost completely resulting in a final value that is over 10 times smaller than the individual terms. For this reason, the classical approach cannot be used to accurately predict unfolding enthalpies from structure: any error in the estimation of the hydration enthalpy will be amplified by a factor of 10 or more in the estimation of the unfolding enthalpy. Recently, it has been shown that simple parametric equations that relate the enthalpy change with certain structural parameters, especially changes in solvent accessible surface areas have considerable predictive power. In this paper, we provide a physical foundation to that parametrization and in the process we present a system of equations that explicitly includes the enthalpic effects of the packing density between the different atoms within the protein molecule. Using this approach, the error in the prediction of folding/unfolding enthalpies at 60°C, the median temperature for thermal unfolding, is better than ±3% (standard deviation = 4 kcal/mol). © 1996 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Positive and Negative Religious Beliefs Explaining the Religion–Health Connection Among African Americans

Theory and literature suggests that the reason religiously involved people tend to have good health outcomes is because they have healthy lifestyles and behaviors in accord with religious beliefs. Other literature suggests that religious involvement may play a negative role in health outcomes due to beliefs about illness originating as punishment for sins. These ideas were tested as part of a theoretical model of the religion–health connection in a national sample of African Americans. Outcomes included a variety of health-related behaviors. Study participants (N = 2,370) randomly selected from a U.S. national call list completed a telephone survey assessing religious involvement, health behaviors, and demographic characteristics. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze study data. Findings indicate that perceived religious influence on health behavior mediated the relationship between religious beliefs and behaviors and higher fruit consumption and lower alcohol use and smoking. Belief that illness is the result of punishment for sin mediated the relationship between (a) religious beliefs and higher vegetable consumption and lower binge drinking and (b) religious behaviors and lower vegetable consumption and higher binge drinking. These findings could be applied to health education activities conducted in African American faith-based organizations, such as health ministries, in the effort to eliminate health disparities.
HIV and HCV health beliefs in an inner‐city community

Summary. Chronic infection with the hepatitis C virus (HCV) is more prevalent than human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, but more public health resources are allocated to HIV than to HCV. Given shared risk factors and epidemiology, we compared accuracy of health beliefs about HIV and HCV in an at‐risk community. Between 2002 and 2003, we surveyed a random patient sample at a primary care clinic in New York. The survey was organized as domains of Common Sense Model of Self‐Regulation: causes (‘sharing needles’), timeline/consequences (‘remains in body for life’, ‘causes cancer’) and controllability (‘I can avoid this illness’, ‘medications may cure this illness’). We compared differences in accuracy of beliefs about HIV and HCV and used multivariable linear regression to identify factors associated with relative accuracy of beliefs. One hundred and twenty‐two subjects completed the survey (response rate 42%). Mean overall health belief accuracy was 12/15 questions (80%) for HIV vs 9/15 (60%) for HCV (P < 0.001). Belief accuracy was significantly different across all domains. Within the causes domain, 60% accurately believed sharing needles a risk factor for HCV compared to 92% for HIV (P < 0.001). Within the timeline/consequences domain, 42% accurately believed HCV results in lifelong infection compared to 89% for HIV (P < 0.001). Within the controllability domain, 25% accurately believed that there is a potential cure for HCV. Multivariable linear regression revealed female gender as significantly associated with greater health belief accuracy for HIV. Thus, study participants had significantly less accurate health beliefs about HCV than about HIV. Targeting inaccuracies might improve public health interventions to foster healthier behaviours and better hepatitis C outcomes.
Circular-dichroism studies on two murine serum amyloid A proteins.

C.d. studies have shown that mouse SAA2 (serum amyloid A2) protein has about one-half of the alpha-helix content of the SAA1 (serum amyloid A1) analogue (15 as against 32%), although secondary-structure prediction analyses based on sequence data do not suggest such a large difference between the forms. The decreased helical content may be a reflection or indication of a stronger propensity to aggregation of the SAA2 form compared with SAA1. The main elements of secondary structure in both proteins are beta-sheets/turns. Interactions with Ca2+ are accompanied by small losses in alpha-helix content, whereas binding to chondroitin-6-sulphate in the presence of millimolar Ca2+ also decreases the amount of secondary structure. However, SAA2 binding to heparan sulphate increases its beta-sheet structure, whereas with SAA1 secondary structure is not apparently altered by its interaction with heparan sulphate. Computer-generated surface profiles show slight differences in accessibility, hydrophilicity and flexibility between the proteins. Understanding these differences may help to explain why SAA2 is found in amyloid fibrils whereas SAA1 is not. In particular, a stronger tendency to aggregation might be the reason why SAA2 is deposited exclusively in these fibrils.
Game-Theoretic Control of Active Loads in DC Microgrids

Low-inertia dc microgrids often rely on storage devices to buffer energy and handle abrupt load changes. An alternative approach involves the concept of power buffers, power electronics converters with bulky storage components that precede the final point-of-load converters, and decouple the grid and load dynamics. Proper adjustment of the input impedances of power buffers helps to shape the trajectory of the transient imposed on a dc microgrid. A communication network facilitates information exchange among active loads (loads augmented with power buffers). Such group information helps to collectively respond to any load change; an optimal response with the least energy extract from individual buffers. A game-theoretic performance function is defined for active loads. Then, a distributed control policy simultaneously minimizes all performance functions. A low-voltage dc microgrid, simulated in MATLAB/Simulink environment, is used to study the effectiveness of the proposed methodology.
Ethnicity and alcohol-related fatalities : 1990 to 1994

This paper contains a preliminary analysis of just under 200,000 records of fatally injured road users drawn from the 1990 to 1994 Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS). The analysis of ethnic factors in fatal crashes was made possible by the recent matching of death certificate data provided by the National Center for Health Statistics with the FARS cases. The total amount of driving and, therefore, the total exposure to crash risk varies significantly between ethnic groups because of socioeconomic differences. Therefore, it is difficult to compare the relative involvement of ethnic groups in all fatal crashes without adequate data on the vehicle miles of travel (VMT), which are generally not available. However, it is possible to compare the percentage of each ethnic group's fatal crashes that are alcohol-related because this minimizes the significance of driving exposure. This comparison clearly shows that Caucasian Americans, African Americans, and Hispanic Americans have approximately the same proportion of alcohol-related fatalities. In contrast, Native Americans have a substantially higher percentage of alcohol-related fatalities, and Asian-Pacific Islander Americans have a substantially lower percentage of such fatalities. Data are corrected for differences between ethnic groups in age distribution and gender. These data, as well as the distribution of drivers, passengers, and pedestrians-cyclists among ethnic groups are provided in tables. Also shown in tables are the relationship of the driver drinking at the time of the crash relative to safety belt usage, license status, prior DUIs (Driving Under the Influence), number of passengers, and age of vehicle.
Non-invasive detection of somatic mutations using next-generation sequencing in primary central nervous system lymphoma

Purpose Primary central nervous system lymphomas (PCNSL) have recurrent genomic alterations. The main objective of our study was to demonstrate that targeted sequencing of circulating cell-free DNA (cfDNA) released by PCNSL at the time of diagnosis could identify somatic mutations by next-generation sequencing (NGS). Patients and Methods PlasmacfDNA and matched tumor DNA (tDNA) from 25 PCNSL patients were sequenced using an Ion Torrent Personal Genome Machine (Life Technologies®). First, patient-specific targeted sequencing of identified somatic mutations in tDNA was performed. Then, a second sequencing targeting MYD88 c.T778C was performed and compared to plasma samples from 25 age-matched control patients suffering from other types of cancer. Results According to the patient-specific targeted sequencing, eight patients (32% [95% CI 15-54%]) had detectable somatic mutations in cfDNA. Considering MYD88 sequencing, six patients had the specific c.T778C alteration detected in plasma. Using a control group, the sensitivity was 24% [9-45%] and the specificity was 100%. Tumor volume or deep brain structure involvement did not influence the detection of somatic mutations in plasma. Conclusion This pilot study provided evidence that somatic mutations can be detected by NGS in the cfDNA of a subset of patients suffering from PCNSL.