Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Variable bleeding manifestations characterize different types of surgery in patients with severe factor XI deficiency enabling parsimonious use of replacement therapy

Summary. Surgery performed without blood component therapy in patients with severe factor XI deficiency can be accompanied by excessive bleeding in some but not all patients. In an attempt to minimize the use of blood derivatives, we carried out a retrospective analysis of bleeding complications in 120 patients with severe FXI deficiency (level of <1–15 U dL−1) who had undergone different types of surgical procedures without replacement therapy. Procedures at tissues exhibiting fibrinolytic activity were associated with bleeding in 49–67% of the patients, while procedures involving sites with no local fibrinolytic activity were associated with bleeding in 1.5–40%. The increased bleeding tendency at fibrinolytic site was significant (P = 0.0015), but was unrelated to the genotype of the patients. Thus, parsimonious use of replacement therapy is possible in patients with severe FXI deficiency undergoing surgery predicting a decrease in the risks of volume overload, transfusion related acute lung injury, transmission of infectious diseases, thrombosis, allergic reactions and development of inhibitors to FXI.
Histological Evaluation of a Topically Applied Retinol-Vitamin C Combination

Two double-blind studies versus vehicle were carried out to investigate the effects of a topically applied retinol plus vitamin C combination on epidermal and dermal compartments of aged or photoaged human skin. The two studies were performed on postmenopausal women who were selected for treatment based on the mild level of elastosis of their facial skin. At completion of treatment, skin biopsies were collected and processed for classical histology and immunohistochemistry. In the first study (aged skin), 8 volunteers applied the retinol- and vitamin C-containing preparation on the ventral side of one elbow and the vehicle on the other elbow twice daily for 3 months. After the 3-month treatment we observed histological changes mainly within the epidermis. The stratum corneum was thinner with a compact pattern, whereas the epidermal proliferation increased, resulting in a thickening of the viable epidermis. Moreover, the interdigitation index was increased. In the second study (photoaged skin), 11 volunteers were divided in two groups; one applied the retinol- and vitamin C-containing preparation and the other one the vehicle on their face twice daily for 6 months. Facial skin samples presented histologic hallmarks of photoaging, i.e. accumulation of elastotic material in the papillary dermis. After the 6-month topical treatment, the observed histological changes were mainly concentrated at the dermal level. Both treated and control groups showed the same distribution pattern of type I procollagen, however, the high level of type III procollagen originally observed in photoaged skin was reduced in the retinol- and vitamin C-treated group, resulting in a lower type III-to-type I procollagen ratio. Furthermore, a wide band of eosinophilic material just beneath the epidermis, devoid of oxytalan fibers and forming the ‘grenz zone’, appeared more frequently and was larger in the retinol- and vitamin C-treated group. In conclusion, our results show that repeated topical application of a preparation containing both retinol and vitamin C is able to reverse, at least in part, skin changes induced by both chronologic aging and photoaging.
An investigation of the level of compliance with international accounting standards (IAS 1) by listed firms in Bahrain Bourse

Purpose - This study investigates the association between seven firm-specific characteristics and the level of mandatory compliance with IAS 1 by firms listed on Bahrain Bourse. Design/methodology/approach - A disclosure index is used to measure the extent of compliance with IAS 1. Each of the 36 sampled firms' annual reports was examined against the index for the financial year ending 31 of December 2013. Findings - The results reveal an overall compliance of 83 %. Regression results report that only audit firm size, profitability and industry type have a positive and significant association with IAS 1 disclosure requirements. Practical implications - Practical implications: This study should be particularly relevant to regulatory bodies in Bahrain in order to strategize and encourage compliance with IAS 1 by listed firms. Originality/value - Additionally, the study contributes to financial reporting literature relating to the GCC countries, mainly Bahrain. Bahrain is a financial hub and it is interesting to examine how it presents its financial statements to investors and the degree of its compliance with IFRSs since its adoption in 2007.
The Development of Cultural Competence in Social Work Practice and Education

This research set out to examine the development of cultural competence as a concept, education tool, and practice model in social work. A narrative review was utilized to analyze data collected from articles and primary documents retrieved from scholarly and archival databases. Cultural competence (formerly known as diversity education or practice) was analyzed through a historical and theoretical lens to provide context for its current functioning in social work practice and education today. This research examined social, political, and academic influences on the development and conceptualization of cultural competence as it appears in the National Association of Social Workers and Council on Social Work Education Education policy statements and standards. The findings indicated that social work has been largely reactionary to external social and political influences in its development of policy and curriculum when it comes to cultural competence. Future research on cultural competence development in social work should focus on social worker’s perspectives in engaging with the cultural competence model and a critical examination of its implementation and outcomes. DEVELOPMENT OF CULTURAL COMPETENCE IN SOCIAL WORK 2
The Role of the Therapeutic Relationship in Psychopharmacological Treatment Outcomes: A Meta-analytic Review.

OBJECTIVE Patient nonadherence to psychopharmacological treatment is a significant barrier to effective treatment. The therapeutic relationship is known to be a critical component of effective psychological treatment, but it has received limited study. A meta-analysis was conducted to examine the role of the therapeutic relationship in the delivery of effective psychopharmacological treatment. METHODS PubMed, PsycINFO, CINAHL, Google Scholar, Ingenta, and the Web of Science-Science Citation Index were searched, including reference lists of found articles. Meta-analytic methods were used to examine the association between the physician-patient therapeutic relationship and outcomes in psychopharmacological treatment. RESULTS Eight independent studies of psychopharmacological treatment reported in nine articles met the inclusion criterion (1,065 participants) of being an empirically based study in which measures of the therapeutic relationship were administered and psychiatric treatment outcomes were assessed. The overall average weighted effect size for the association between the therapeutic relationship and treatment outcomes was z=. 30 (95% confidence interval=.20-.39), demonstrating a statistically significant, moderate effect. CONCLUSIONS Findings indicate that a positive therapeutic relationship or alliance between the physician and the psychiatric patient is associated with patient improvement over the course of psychopharmacological treatment. Results suggest that more attention should be paid to psychiatrist communication skills that may enhance the therapeutic alliance in psychopharmacological treatment.
Flap endonuclease 1 is overexpressed in prostate cancer and is associated with a high Gleason score

To investigate the expression and potential clinical usefulness of structure‐specific flap endonuclease 1 (FEN‐1) in human primary prostate cancer using tissue microarray technology, as FEN‐1 was recently identified to be overexpressed in CL1.1, the most aggressive clone generated from the hormone‐refractory prostate cancer cell line CL1.
Pathological diagnosis of variant Creutzfeldt‐Jakob disease

The neuropathological and biochemical features of the 89 histologically confirmed cases of variant Creutzfeldt‐Jakob disease (vCJD) diagnosed up to the end of October 2001 in the UK are reviewed. Histology of the central nervous system, lymphoid tissues and other organs was accompanied by immunocytochemistry and Western blot analysis of the disease‐associated form of the prion protein (PrPRES). All patients with vCJD were methionine homozygotes at codon 129 of the PrP gene. The pathology of vCJD showed relatively uniform morphological and immunocytochemical characteristics, which were distinct from other forms of CJD. PrPRES accumulation was widespread in lymphoid tissues in vCJD, but was not identified in other non‐neural tissues. PrPRES in vCJD brain tissue showed a uniform glycotype pattern distinct from sporadic CJD. Given the increasingly widespread occurrence of bovine spongiform encephalopathy in Europe and Asia, there is a major need for widespread CJD surveillance. This should be accompanied by a multidisciplinary laboratory approach to the investigation and diagnosis of all forms of CJD, with the need to investigate autopsy tissues from suspected cases by the histological and biochemical techniques described herein.
Phylogeny and Ultrastructure of Miliammina fusca: Evidence for Secondary Loss of Calcification in a Miliolid Foraminifer

ABSTRACT. The classification of the Foraminifera, a widely distributed group of largely marine protists, has traditionally been based on morphological characters. The most important of these are the composition and structure of the shell or “test. ” Here, we use both phylogenetic analysis of the genes for small subunit rRNA and β‐tubulin and ultrastructural analysis to document a reversion in wall type from more derived calcareous tests to an agglutinated test. These data indicate that the genus Miliammina, and possibly other members of the Rzehakinidae, should be placed in the Order Miliolida as opposed to their current assignment in Order Textulariida. We also address the effects this reversion may have had on the ability of rzehakinacids to effectively colonize marginal marine environments. Finally, the hypothesis that some multilocular agglutinated foraminiferans descended from calcareous lineages has implications for interpretation of the foraminiferal fossil record.
Reactive species in ischemic rat lung injury: contribution of peroxynitrite.

Lung ischemia-reperfusion represents a potentially important mechanism for diverse forms of tissue injury associated with decreased pulmonary flow. Previous studies demonstrated oxidative injury in ischemic-reperfused lungs. The present study was designed to evaluate the contribution of nitric oxide and peroxynitrite in tissue injury. The levels of the stable decomposition products of nitric oxide and peroxynitrite, nitrite plus nitrate, were twofold greater than control during reperfusion after 60 min of ischemia. Inhibition of nitric oxide synthesis by endotracheal insufflation of 5 mM NG-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester, 30 min before the induction of ischemia, decreased the production of lung thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) by 67% (P < 0.05, n = 5), TBARS released into the lung perfusate by 55% (P < 0.05, n = 5), lung-conjugated dienes by 61% (P < 0.05, n = 5), and dinitrophenylhydrazine-reactive protein carbonyl levels by 86% (P < 0.05, n = 5). Amino acid analysis of tissue homogenates from lungs exposed to 60 min of ischemia and 60 min of reperfusion revealed a 1.8-fold (P < 0.05, n = 5) increase in nitrotyrosine concentration compared with 2 h continuously perfused lungs. Inhibition of nitric oxide synthesis abolished the increase in nitrotyrosine levels. Furthermore, lungs exposed to 60 min of reperfusion after 60 min of ischemia showed specific binding of an anti-nitrotyrosine antibody. In reperfused tissues, antibody binding was observed throughout the lung. The binding was blocked with excess of nitrotyrosine, and minimal binding was observed in nonperfused blood-free control lungs. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Identifying and Characterizing Trajectories of Cognitive Change in Older Persons with Mild Cognitive Impairment

Background: Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) represents a state of high risk for dementia but is heterogeneous in its course. To date, the trajectories reflecting distinct developmental courses of cognition among patients with MCI have not been well defined. Aim: To identify the developmental trajectory of groups with distinct cognitive change patterns among a cohort of MCI patients. Methods: 187 MCI patients from 2 geriatric outpatient clinics were evaluated serially with the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) for up to 3.5 years. Group-based trajectory analysis was applied to identify distinct trajectories. Estimates of decline for each group were compared with the mean rate of decline obtained from mixed modeling of the entire sample. Results: 5 trajectories were identified and labeled based on their baseline MMSE score and course: (1) 29/stable (6.5%); (2) 27/stable (53.9%); (3) 25/slow decline (23.8%); (4) 24/slow decline (11.6%); (5) 25/rapid decline (4.2%). Annual rate of change in the MMSE score for these 5 groups was 0.09, –0.43, –1.23, –1.84, and –4.6 points, respectively. None corresponded to the mean rate of –0.82 points estimated for the group as a whole. A majority of MCI patients (60.4%) follow stable cognitive trajectories over time. Within the 3 groups with declining trajectories, cognitive decline occurs slowly in a vast majority of MCI patients (98.5%). Conclusions: Results provide direct evidence for the heterogeneous course of cognitive decline that has been suggested by the variable prognosis for patients with MCI.
The Vacuole Import and Degradation Pathway Utilizes Early Steps of Endocytosis and Actin Polymerization to Deliver Cargo Proteins to the Vacuole for Degradation*

When glucose is added to yeast cells that are starved for 3 days, fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase (FBPase) and malate dehydrogenase 2 are degraded in the vacuole via the vacuole import and degradation (Vid) pathway. In this study, we examined the distribution of FBPase at the ultrastructural level. FBPase was observed in areas close to the plasma membrane and in cytoplasmic structures that are heterogeneous in size and density. We have isolated these intracellular structures that contain FBPase, the Vid vesicle marker Vid24p, and the endosomal marker Pep12p. They appeared irregular in size and shape. In yeast, actin polymerization plays an important role in early steps of endocytosis. Mutants that affect actin polymerization inhibited FBPase degradation, suggesting that actin polymerization is important for FBPase degradation. Both FBPase and malate dehydrogenase 2 were associated with actin patches. Vid vesicle proteins such as Vid24p or Sec28p were also at actin patches, although they dissociated from these structures at later time points. We propose that Vid24p and Sec28p are present at actin patches during glucose starvation. Cargo proteins arrive at these sites following the addition of glucose, and the endocytic vesicles then pinch off from the plasma membrane. Following the fusion of endosomes with the vacuole, cargo proteins are then degraded in the vacuole.
Lidar-Based Gait Analysis and Activity Recognition in a 4D Surveillance System

This paper presents new approaches for gait and activity analysis based on data streams of a rotating multibeam (RMB) Lidar sensor. The proposed algorithms are embedded into an integrated 4D vision and visualization system, which is able to analyze and interactively display real scenarios in natural outdoor environments with walking pedestrians. The main focus of the investigations is gait-based person reidentification during tracking and recognition of specific activity patterns, such as bending, waving, making phone calls, and checking the time looking at wristwatches. The descriptors for training and recognition are observed and extracted from realistic outdoor surveillance scenarios, where multiple pedestrians are walking in the field of interest following possibly intersecting trajectories; thus, the observations might often be affected by occlusions or background noise. Since there is no public database available for such scenarios, we created and published a new Lidar-based outdoor gait and activity data set on our website that contains point cloud sequences of 28 different persons extracted and aggregated from 35-min-long measurements. The presented results confirm that both efficient gait-based identification and activity recognition are achievable in the sparse point clouds of a single RMB Lidar sensor. After extracting the people trajectories, we synthesized a free-viewpoint video, in which moving avatar models follow the trajectories of the observed pedestrians in real time, ensuring that the leg movements of the animated avatars are synchronized with the real gait cycles observed in the Lidar stream.
The prevalence of unwanted and unlawful sexual experiences reported by Danish adolescents: Results from a national youth survey in 2002

Aim: To obtain current data about child sexual abuse in Denmark and to assess abused children's own perception of early sexual experiences, which are unlawful according to the Danish Penal Code. Methods: Multimedia computer‐based self‐administered questionnaires (CASI) were completed by a national representative sample of 15–16‐y‐olds. Child sexual abuse was defined according to the penal code and measured by questions defining specific sexual activities, the relationship between the older person and the child, and the youth's own perception of the incident. Results: Among 5829 respondents, 11% reported unlawful sexual experiences, 7% of boys and 16% of girls. Only 1% of boys and 4% of girls felt that they “definitely” or “maybe” had been sexually abused.
Claudin‐7 Expressed on Lateral Membrane of Rat Epididymal Epithelium does not Form Aberrant Tight Junction Strands

Claudins are integral membrane proteins at tight junctions (TJs) and form TJ strands. In the present study, we found that claudin‐7 was localized along the entire lateral membranes of epididymal epithelium, including the apical junctional region throughout the epididymis, but claudin‐8 was restricted to the apical junctional region. This finding raises the possibility that aberrant TJ strands may be formed on lateral membranes. Thus, we focused on examining whether TJ strands exist on lateral membranes of epididymal epithelium. Freeze‐fracture electron microscopy showed that aberrant TJ strands were observed in only a few principal cells in all segments of the epididymis except for the initial segment, indicating that the occurrence of aberrant strands is very rare. Aberrant TJ strands were smooth and not subdivided into individual particles in the protoplasmic face, and complementary grooves in the extracellular face were almost free of particles. Aberrant TJ strands in the distal caput and corpus epididymis were accompanied by many vesicle‐like structures but those in the proximal caput and cauda epididymis were not. These results suggest that most of claudin‐7 in lateral membranes may exist in a nonpolymerized form and may play some different roles other than the formation of TJ strands, for example, in the formation of a pool of claudin proteins or in the reinforcement of cell adhesion. Anat Rec, 1431‐1438, 2007. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
The Path to Sustainability-Driven Innovation

OVERVIEW: Many companies see environmental sustainability as a cost—a legal and social obligation requiring investments that may never be recovered—rather than as an opportunity. However, environmental sustainability can be the foundation for increasing competitive advantage and creating business value, and it can be the basis for effective innovation. This is sustainability-driven innovation, an innovation approach that leverages environmental sustainability to drive superior business results. A study of leaders in sustainability-driven innovation suggests some best practices: inculcate a sustainability mindset, set high standards for sustainability performance, deliberately search for sustainability-based opportunities.
Immunosuppressive Effect of Isopropanol: Down-Regulation of Cytokine Production Results from the Alteration of Discrete Transcriptional Pathways in Activated Lymphocytes1

Isopropanol (IPA) is widely used in household applications and constitutes a leading cause of acute alcohol intoxication second only to ethanol. Although the effects of ethanol on the immune system have been extensively studied, far fewer data are available on IPA. Given the structural similarity between the two molecules, we hypothesized that IPA could as well have immunomodulatory properties. We report here that acute IPA exposure is detrimental to human T lymphocyte and NK cell activity in vitro in concentrations as low as 0.08–0.16% (13–26 mM). IPA treatment did not affect receptor-mediated early signaling but had a reproducible and dose-dependent effect on the nuclear translocation of NFAT and AP-1. Furthermore, we show in a model of acute IPA intoxication that animals became immunosuppressed as judged by their reduced ability to release IL-2 and IFN-γ in the serum in response to staphylococcal enterotoxin B. This effect was also associated to the down-regulation of TNF-α production and was sufficiently strong to rescue susceptible animals from enterotoxin-induced toxic shock. Our results suggest that IPA is potentially immunosuppressive to the adaptive and innate immune system and have broad significance given the exposure of the general population to this ubiquitous chemical.
Design of a low-cost, portable, and automated cardiopulmonary resuscitation device for emergency scenarios in Ecuador

Approximately 90% of patients who suffer out-ofhospital cardiac arrest die [1]. Thus, when a cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) maneuver is needed, rescuer fatigue is a problem because more than 2 minutes of continuous CPR translates in defective delivery of the resuscitation technique [2]. This problem has two main components: first, lack of access to trained professionals with adequate emergency medical equipment, and second, the long delay to receive immediate medical care [3]. After the 7.8-magnitude earthquake in Ecuador on April 2016, first responders were unable to deliver CPR to hundreds of victims, resulting in preventable deaths [3]. Though commercially available CPR devices exist, the prohibitive cost of such devices makes them inaccessible for hospitals in Ecuador. Therefore, there is a need for a low-cost, portable, automated CPR device to combat lack of access to emergency medical equipment and rescuer fatigue, while keeping patients alive long enough to endure transportation to a medical facility. To address this need, this team has manufactured a portable automated CPR device that costs $540 and weights 4.5 kg. The device can be powered by any car or boat battery, and is equipped with a backup battery. Effective CPR can be administered following the American Heart Association guidelines, to provide 6 cm of chest displacement at 120 compressions per minute [4]. The device is easy to use, and can be operable on-site with minimal training to emergency personnel.