Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Knowledge of Pediatric Critical Care Nurses Regarding Evidence Based Guidelines for Prevention of Ventilator Associated Pneumonia (VAP)

ventilator associated pneumonia (VAP) is a costly, preventable, and often fatal consequence of medical therapy that increases hospital and intensive care stays in mechanically ventilated patients. The prevention of VAP is primarily the responsibility of the bedside nurse whose knowledge, beliefs, and practices influence the health outcome of ICU patients. Unfortunately little is known about the degree of nursing knowledge on evidence based guidelines for the prevention of VAP. This descriptive study aimed to assess knowledge of pediatric critical care nurses regarding evidence based guidelines for prevention of VAP in both pediatric and neonatal intensive care units. The current study revealed inadequate knowledge of pediatric critical care nurses regarding evidence based guidelines for prevention of ventilator associated. There is strong correlation between years of experiences, previous training on guidelines of prevention of VAP and knowledge of nurses on the evidence based guidelines for prevention of VAP. Moreover, there is no correlation between age and knowledge of nurses on evidence based guidelines for prevention of VAP. The study concluded that written unit protocols should be present and reviewed regularly as updates and new evidence for best practice are constantly emerging and staff should be educated on the updated protocols.
Curcumin counteracts loss of force and atrophy of hindlimb unloaded rat soleus by hampering neuronal nitric oxide synthase untethering from sarcolemma

Attenuation of disuse muscle atrophy by means of a pharmacological approach represents the wanted solution for patients who cannot exercise. Nutraceutics, e.g. the vegetal polyphenol curcumin, are relatively safe substances. By lowering oxidative stress, curcumin counteracted the loss of muscle mass and force of soleus muscles, reproduced in the laboratory rat by hindlimb unloading Curcumin effects are mediated by the chaperone protein Grp94, which maintains active neuronal nitric oxide synthase molecules at their physiological site in the skeletal myofibre. The systemic administration of very low doses of curcumin appears promising for counteracting muscle atrophy in bedridden patients.
Enhanced radiative recombination of free excitons in GaAs quantum wells.

Radiative properties of free excitons in a single GaAs quantum well are studied under resonant excitation. Enhanced radiative recombination of the excitons, caused by the breakdown of the translational symmetry of the system, is evidenced by the very short lifetime as well as by the strong intensity of the signal. Dephasing mechanisms, by transferring the excitons to nonradiative states, increase the observed lifetime. We deduce a radiative lifetime of 10\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}4 ps in the absence of dephasing mechanisms.
D1 Dopamine Receptor Supersensitivity in the Dopamine-Depleted Striatum Animal Model of Parkinson’s Disease

Dopamine acts in the striatum principally through the D1 and D2 dopamine receptor subtypes, which are segregated to the direct and indirect striatal projection neurons, respectively. As a consequence, degeneration of the dopamine input to the striatum results in opposing affects in these pathways. The resulting functional imbalance is thought to be responsible for the bradykinesia of Parkinson’s disease, which may be temporarily normalized by dopamine replacement therapy. However, direct striatal projection neurons become irreversibly supersensitive to D1 dopamine receptor activation, despite the fact that there is an actual decrease in receptor number. Recent studies show that this D1-supersensitive response results from a switch from the normal D1-mediated activation of protein-kinase A to an aberrant activation of ERK1/2/MAPkinase. This switch in D1-receptor-mediated regulation of protein kinase systems responsible for neuronal plasticity is suggested to underlie dyskinesia produced by L-DOPA treatment of Parkinson’s disease.
Cultural and Temporal Variations in Schizophrenia: A Speculation on the Importance of Industrialization

Summary A speculative hypothesis is presented which links the late development of modern concepts of schizophrenia with social and familial effects of industrialization. It is suggested that the social and family structures found historically in pre-industrial societies and currently in developing countries exert a comparatively benign effect upon patients with schizophrenia, and that these effects are lost during and after industrialization. Thus the severe and chronic forms of the illness became prominent and therefore recognized in the segregated institutions of Europe in the latter part of the nineteenth century. Possible mechanisms are examined by which industrialization could influence the structure of communities and families and the development of individuals to produce the postulated changes in the individual's response to the schizophrenic illness. It is suggested that three major areas of interest for the identification of these mechanisms are (i) the rapid increase in size of towns and communities, (ii) changes in perinatal and infant mortality and morbidity, and (iii) changes in family structure. Some ways of testing the hypothesis and its implications are outlined.
Arterial ischemic stroke in children: 22 cases from southern Tunisia

The aim of this study is to review the cases of arterial ischemic stroke (AIS) in children in our department to evaluate the clinical and neuroimaging features, the etiologies and the treatment. This study retrospectively reviewed the records of all children aged between 1 month and 16 years who were admitted from 2000 to 2010 for AIS in the pediatrics department of Hedi Chaker University hospital in Sfax, Tunisia. Twenty-two children were enrolled. The average age at stroke was 3 years and 2 months. Cardiac disease (27%) and moyamoya disease (18%) were the most common etiologies. Adverse outcome after childhood stroke includes death in 9%, recurrence in 18% and neurologic deficits in 45%.
[Response to a comment on].

The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) is serving as Lead Agency for California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) compliance for the above-listed proposed project. An Initial Study/Mitigated Negative Declaration (IS/MND) was prepared, filed at the State Clearinghouse on August 29, 2011, and distributed or made available for a 30-day public and agency review period in conformance with CEQA Guidelines 14 CCR §15101(b) and §15072(b). The 30-day agency and public review period began on August 29, 2011 and ended on October 10, 2011. A total of 210 comment letters containing 170 written comments were submitted to the Department. These included 1 letter containing 3 comments from 1 public agency and 209 letters containing 167 comments from 209 members of the general public. Of the 209 letters received from the general public, 178 of them were identical, sent as notification that an on-line petition had been signed. All 167 comments were given full consideration by the Department. The acronym of the agency (for public agency comments) or the initials of the submitter’s first and last name (for public comments) are used to identify each individual comment on the list of comments, and the Department’s response to them, which follows.
Are Sympathetic Blocks Useful for Diagnostic Purposes?

Background: Sympathetically maintained pain (SMP) can occur in patients with neuropathic pain. Sympathetically maintained pain is frequently diagnosed clinically by assessing the analgesic effect of an appropriate sympathetic block (SB). The diagnostic value of such blocks depends on both the degree of sympathetic activity disruption achieved and its duration without unintentional concomitant sensory block. Methods: This pilot study evaluated the rate of diagnostically valuable SBs performed by experienced anesthesiologists in 19 patients (stellate/thoracic blocks: n = 11, lumbar blocks: n = 12). Monitoring included pain rating before SB; 10 and 30 minutes; and at 1, 3, and 6 hours after SB; bilateral skin temperature 30 minutes before SB through 120 minutes after SB; and detection of bilateral thresholds for cold, warmth, tactile, and vibration stimuli before and after. Results: Ten (43%) of 23 SBs were not eligible for SMP diagnosis (4 had insufficient skin temperature increase; and 6 had cold or tactile detection threshold increases in the painful area). In 11 of the SBs, no significant sensory threshold change was detected; however, 2 individuals demonstrated marked reductions in the cold or tactile sensory thresholds. Sympathetically maintained pain was diagnosed in 3 (25%) of the 12 patients who had at least 1 SB with the required skin temperature increase without concomitant somatosensory block. Conclusions: Sympathetic blocks are useful in the diagnosis of SMP. However, their value is limited by the potential for false positives (unintentional sensory block) or false negatives (insufficient SB). Adequate monitoring of the sympathetic and somatosensory function for a minimum of 90 minutes after the intervention is essential to ensure that a valid diagnosis of SMP is made.
Nested identification of subjective probabilities

The theory of games against nature relies on complete preferences among all conceivable acts (case 1). Aumann and Drèze (Am Econ J Microecon 1(1):1–16, 2009) consider situations where preferences are defined only for a given set of acts (case 2). We extend these results to situations where (i) only the set of optimal elements from a given set of acts is known (case 3); (ii) only a single optimal act is known (case 4). To these four cases correspond four nested sets of admissible subjective probabilities. Cases 3 and 4 define the extent to which probabilities must be specified to solve a decision problem.
Characterization of the Class IV Homeodomain-Leucine Zipper Gene Family in Arabidopsis1[W]

The Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) genome contains 16 genes belonging to the class IV homeodomain-Leucine zipper gene family. These include GLABRA2, ANTHOCYANINLESS2, FWA, ARABIDOPSIS THALIANA MERISTEM LAYER1 (ATML1), and PROTODERMAL FACTOR2 (PDF2). Our previous study revealed that atml1 pdf2 double mutants have severe defects in the shoot epidermal cell differentiation. Here, we have characterized additional members of this gene family, which we designated HOMEODOMAIN GLABROUS1 (HDG1) through HDG12. Analyses of transgenic Arabidopsis plants carrying the gene-specific promoter fused to the bacterial β-glucuronidase reporter gene revealed that some of the promoters have high activities in the epidermal layer of the shoot apical meristem and developing shoot organs, while others are temporarily active during reproductive organ development. Expression profiles of highly conserved paralogous gene pairs within the family were found to be not necessarily overlapping. Analyses of T-DNA insertion mutants of these HDG genes revealed that all mutants except hdg11 alleles exhibit no abnormal phenotypes. hdg11 mutants show excess branching of the trichome. This phenotype is enhanced in hdg11 hdg12 double mutants. Double mutants were constructed for other paralogous gene pairs and genes within the same subfamily. However, novel phenotypes were observed only for hdg3 atml1 and hdg3 pdf2 mutants that both exhibited defects in cotyledon development. These observations suggest that some of the class IV homeodomain-Leucine zipper members act redundantly with other members of the family during various aspects of cell differentiation. DNA-binding sites were determined for two of the family members using polymerase chain reaction-assisted DNA selection from random oligonucleotides with their recombinant proteins. The binding sites were found to be similar to those previously identified for ATML1 and PDF2, which correspond to the pseudopalindromic sequence 5′-GCATTAAATGC-3′ as the preferential binding site.
No evidence for myocardial iron overload and free iron species in multitransfused patients with sickle/β0‐thalassaemia

Iron overload (IO) in the heart is a life‐threatening complication in transfusion‐dependent patients with thalassaemia major (TM) and to a lesser extent in sickle cell disease (SCD), while no data are available in patients with sickle/β0‐thalassaemia. Iron deposition in the heart, liver and pancreas was assessed using T2* MRI sequences, as well as free iron species assays – non‐transferrin bound iron (NTBI) and labile plasma iron (LPI), in addition to serum ferritin, percentage transferrin saturation and serum hepcidin, in 10 multitransfused patients (>30 yr) with sickle/β0‐thalassaemia. None of the patients had iron deposition in the heart. Three patients had mild, one had moderate, and two had severe liver IO. Two patients had mild iron deposition in the pancreas. In all the patients, serum hepcidin levels were normal – NTBI and LPI were not detected. Possible explanations of these findings are discussed.
The Plant Vigor Hypothesis and Herbivore Attack

Four sources of evidence are used to support the Plant Vigor Hypothesis that many herbivore species feed preferentially on vigorous plants or plant modules, as opposed to the Plant Stress Hypothesis arguing that stressed plants ae beneficial to herbivores. Evidence includes patterns of within-plant species utilization by galing insects where females select large plant modules and larvae survive better than on smaller modules. Independent evidence concerns patterns of herbivory between plant species habitually growing in rich resource environments which are heavily utilized, compared with low-resource adapted species. A third source of evidence is the forestry literature in which many cases are known of most attacks by insect herbivores occurring on young and open-grown trees
Immunogenicity of Various Mycobacteria and the Corresponding Levels of Cross-Protection Developed Between Species

Seven mycobacterial species were tested for their ability to immunize mice against subsequent tuberculous challenge. The phylogenetic relationships between the vaccine and challenge strains had little direct influence on the level of resistance; a better correlation was found between the ability of the vaccine to survive or multiply in vivo and the immunogenicity of the organism. Mycobacterium tuberculosis, M. bovis (except for an SMR variant), M. avium, two of three M. kansasii strains, and one strain of M. intracellulare all survived or multiplied in vivo. They induced an effective resistance against a subsequent M. tuberculosis (Erdman) or BCG challenge. The SMR BCG, the Bostrom strain of M. kansasii, M. scrofulaceum, three strains of M. intracellulare, and one of M. terrae and M. fortuitum were unable to survive in vivo and were nonallergenic and nonimmunogenic. No evidence was found for an interference phenomenon between the atypical mycobacteria and the BCG vaccine sufficient to explain the inadequate levels of immunization reported in some field trials.
Stability and Convergence of an Effective Finite Element Method for Multiterm Fractional Partial Differential Equations

A finite element method (FEM) for multiterm fractional partial differential equations (MT-FPDEs) is studied for obtaining a numerical solution effectively. The weak formulation for MT-FPDEs and the existence and uniqueness of the weak solutions are obtained by the well-known Lax-Milgram theorem. The Diethelm fractional backward difference method (DFBDM), based on quadrature for the time discretization, and FEM for the spatial discretization have been applied to MT-FPDEs. The stability and convergence for numerical methods are discussed. The numerical examples are given to match well with the main conclusions.
The Sceptics

The Classical Review vol. 60 no. 2 © The Classical Association 2010; all rights reserved Aristotle’s Politics. Additionally, the notion of nature employed in the argument might not be Aristotle’s (on pp. 6–8 nature is characterised as ‘an unclassifi able plurality’ that is in itself ‘unknowable, incomprehensible’; on pp. 16–17 and 26–7 nature appears to be an external, providential agent with intentions). Chapter 2, ‘Overview of Themes’, begins by defending the traditional, Jaegerian order of the individual books of the Politics. It is argued that the logical sequence of ideas – rather than hypotheses about Aristotle’s supposed intellectual development – supports the placing of Books 7–8 after Book 9 and not between Books 3 and 4. The authors contend, quite plausibly, that the distinction between the best and the second best regimes is a gradual one, and that the best regime can be actualised, if the proper prerequisites are met. The actual discussion of the themes of the Politics limits itself to an outline of two: regimes (past, present and ideal) and the naturalness of the city and its connection to the nature of man. A more comprehensive account, including perhaps a discussion of the interrelation between Aristotle’s Politics and his ethical treatises, would have been helpful. The commentary is followed by a fourth chapter on the reception and infl uence of the Politics. The treatment of the reception of Aristotle’s political views in his own time is rather vague (Aristotle is said to have challenged the common view that cities are god-given and that they exist for promoting freedom and war, but no evidence is provided), but the sections on the later reception are extensive and illuminating. The sources range widely from Cicero to Maimonides and the early American statesmen, and the evaluations are informed and well documented, thus providing a perfect starting point for students who wish to explore these issues further. Both the bibliography and the notes (printed at the end of the book) are relatively sparse. Some notable omissions in the bibliography are D. Keyt and F.D. Miller (edd.), A Companion to Aristotle’s Politics (Oxford, 1991) and the translations in the Clarendon Aristotle Series: T.J. Saunders, Politics 1–2 (1995); R. Robinson with a supplementary essay by D. Keyt, Politics 3–4 (1995); D. Keyt, Politics 5–6 (1999), and R. Kraut, Politics 7–8 (1997). There are no notes for the commentary, even though it frequently refers to scholarly debates (see, e.g., p. 21: realism/idealism about the best regime; p. 24: slavery; p. 59: the value of democracy). This reinforces the impression that this guide will work very well for undergraduates, but less well for more advanced readers.
The Shape of the Fibrinogen Molecule: Sausage or Banana?

Summary The experimental results and the interpretation of small angle X-ray scattering measurements by the author and Hammel (1975) and of small angle neutron scattering measurements by Marguerie and Stuhrmann (1976) on dilute solutions of bovine fibrinogen are compared. The potential of both methods to discern straight and bent cylindrical structures is demonstrated. The study arrives at the conclusion that the question whether the fibrinogen molecule resembles more a banana or a straight sausage cannot be safely decided by the available data. This justifies the previous suggestion of the author to imagine the fibrinogen molecule as a swollen sausage 450 Å long and 90 Å thick with conceivable flexibility, a molecular model of sufficient universality to include the banana-shaped model of Marguerie and Stuhrmann (1976) as a special case.
Ailuropoda melanoleuca Giant Panda Endangered Geographic Range Information

The giant panda is confined to south-central China. Currently, it occurs in portions of six isolated mountain ranges (Minshan, Qinling, Qionglai, Liangshan, Daxiangling, and Xiaoxiangling) in Gansu, Shaanxi and Sichuan Provinces (about 75% of the population inhabits Sichuan Province). The panda's total range encompasses approximately 30,000 sq km between 102–108.3° E longitude and 28.2–34.1° N latitude. This range highly overlaps that of the Asiatic black bear (Ursus thibetanus), although the ecological requirements of these species differ appreciably (Schaller et al. 1989).
Linear ion trap with added octopole field component: the property and method.

It is well known that superimposition of some positive octopole field will benefit the performance of ion trap mass analyzer. In the radial-ejection linear ion trap (LIT), adding some octopole field component to the main quadrupole field is usually accomplished by stretching the ejection rod pair. In this study, the effect of octopole potential and some other higher order potential on the performance of LIT mass analyzer is investigated. A simple and effective method, which is to add some octopole component by building a LIT with a pair of rectangular electrodes and a pair of semi-circular electrodes, is reported. Its properties were studied by numerical simulations and experiments. The results showed that a certain amount of positive octopole component could be produced by simply adjusting the position and width of the rectangular electrodes. A resolution of over 1200 at m/z 609 (~1600 Da/s) was observed in this type of LIT. They also performed tandem mass spectrometry well. The device with optimum geometry for ion ejection from rectangular electrodes provided comparable performance to that for ion ejection from semi-circular electrodes. This type of LIT design is easy for fabrication and assembly.
PHARMACOKINETIC PARAMETERS OF CEFOVECIN SODIUM (CONVENIA) IN CAPTIVE TIGERS (PANTHERA TIGRIS)

Abstract A single 8 mg/kg dose of Cefovecin (Convenia®) was administered intramuscularly in the hindlimb of eight anesthetized captive tigers (Panthera tigris) and serial blood samples were collected over the next 56 days to determine pharmacokinetic characteristics. High-performance liquid chromatography was utilized to determine plasma levels, and demonstrated a mean terminal half-life of 227.8 ± 29.3 hr. Cefovecin, >1 μg/ml, was detected in plasma levels up to 56 days postinjection. Protein binding of tiger plasma for cefovecin was 98%. The long duration of therapeutic plasma concentrations and lack of adverse effects make cefovecin a useful antimicrobial drug for tigers.
Positive nonlinear CVFE scheme for degenerate anisotropic Keller-Segel system

In this paper, a nonlinear control volume finite element (CVFE) scheme for a degenerate Keller--Segel model with anisotropic and heterogeneous diffusion tensors is proposed and analyzed. In this scheme, degrees of freedom are assigned to vertices of a primal triangular mesh, as in finite element methods. The diffusion term which involves an anisotropic and heterogeneous tensor is discretized on a dual mesh (Donald mesh) using the diffusion fluxes provided by the conforming finite element reconstruction on the primal mesh. The other terms are discretized using a nonclassical upwind finite volume scheme on the dual mesh. The scheme ensures the validity of the discrete maximum principle without any restriction on the transmissibility coefficients. The convergence of the scheme is proved under very general assumptions. Finally, some numerical experiments are carried out to prove the ability of the scheme to tackle degenerate anisotropic and heterogeneous diffusion problems over general meshes.