Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Occupational Exposure to Benzene at the ExxonMobil Refinery at Baton Rouge, Louisiana (1977–2005)

Because crude oil contains up to 3% benzene and there is an association between high chronic exposure to appreciable concentrations of benzene and acute myelogenous leukemia, exposure of refinery workers has been studied for many years. To date, no extensive industrial hygiene exposure analyses for historical benzene exposure have been performed, and none have focused on the airborne concentrations in the workplace at specific refineries or for specific tasks. In this study, the authors evaluated the airborne concentrations of benzene and their variability over time at the ExxonMobil refinery in Baton Rouge between 1977 and 2005. Refinery workers were categorized into 117 worker groups using company job descriptions. These 117 groups were further collapsed into 25 job categories based on similarity of measured exposure results. Results of 5289 personal air samples are included in this analysis; 3403 were considered nontask (≥ 180 min) personal samples, and 830 were considered task-related (< 180 min) personal samples; the remainder did not fit in either category. In general, nontask personal air samples indicated that exposures of the past 30 years were generally below the occupational exposure limit of 1 ppm, but there was only a small, decreasing temporal trend in the concentrations. The job sampled most frequently during routine operations was process technician and, as broken down by area, resulted in the following mean benzene concentrations: analyzers (mean = 0.12 ppm), coker (mean = 0.013 ppm), hydrofiner (mean = 0.0054 ppm), lube blending and storage (mean = 0.010 ppm), waste treatment (mean = 0.092 ppm), and all other areas (mean = 0.055 ppm). Task-based samples indicated that the highest exposures resulted from the sampling tasks, specifically from those performed on process materials; in general, though, even these tasks had concentrations well below the STEL of 5 ppm. The most frequently sampled task was gauging (mean = 0.12 ppm). Task-related exposures were also similar across job categories for a given task, with a few exceptions. This study thus provides a task-focused analysis for occupational exposure to benzene during refinery operations, which can be insightful for understanding exposures at this refinery and perhaps others operated since about 1975.
HMPAO SPECT imaging of Alzheimer's disease patients with similar content-specific autobiographic delusion: comparison using statistical parametric mapping.

UNLABELLED Delusional behavior and thinking are common symptoms in Alzheimer's disease (AD). In the past, these delusions have been considered to be psychotic complications of global neurologic dysfunction. Recently, authors have suggested that content-specific delusions in AD are associated with discrete regional abnormalities of the right hemisphere. METHOD This study compared 99mTc-hexamethyl propyleneamine oxime (HMPAO) SPECT images of a group of AD patients with a similar autobiographic delusion with a group of AD patients without delusions and a group of AD patients with a range of delusions but without autobiographic content. The reconstructed SPECT data were compared using a statistical parametric mapping technique. RESULTS The autobiographic AD group had a significant area of hypoperfusion in the right frontal lobe when compared with the 2 other groups. The area of hypoperfusion included parts of Brodmann's areas 9 and 10. Region 9 has been identified previously as having a role in episodic memory retrieval. CONCLUSION This result suggests that autobiographic delusions in AD may have an identifiable neuropsychologic mechanism and that it may be possible to identify an organic cause in some patients using 99mTc-HMPAO SPECT.
Surgical treatment of colon and rectum adenocarcinoma in elderly patients

The results are presented of disease‐free interval and overall survival in 53 elderly patients with colon or rectum adenocarcinoma treated with curative surgery. The average age was 75.3 years (median = 75.0); 21 patients were male and 32 were female. Tumor location was as follows: rectum 18 (34%), sigmoid 17 (32.1%), right colon 14 (26.4%), and transverse colon 4 (7.5%) All patients were surgically treated following the classical patterns for tumor resection. After pathological examination, which included the histological grade differentiation, the disease stage was reevaluated following the pTNM system. Overall and disease‐free survival at 5 years, for all patients, independent of histological grade differentiation and disease stage, were 75.3% and 55.5%, respectively. Overall survival at 5 years for patients with grades I and II histological differentiation was 74.1% and 85.0%, respectively. None of the grade III patients (2 cases) survived more than I year. The 5 years disease‐free survival for patients with histological grade differentiation I and II was 56.8% and 60%, respectively. There was no statistically significant difference in overall survival for patients with stages SI, SII, and SIII, but the disease‐free survival at 5 years by stages was found to be significant with rates of 100%, 67.6%, and 22.6%. Postoperative mortality was 4 (7.5%). The postoperative mortality and survival rates obtained in this group of patients encourage us not to consider age as a limiting factor for curative surgical treatment. © 1992 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
The effect of acute traumatic brain injury on the performance of shock index.

BACKGROUND Shock index (SI) is recognized to be a more reliable early indicator of hemorrhage than traditional vital signs. Acute traumatic brain injury (TBI) can be associated with autonomic uncoupling and may therefore alter the reliability of SI in patients with combined TBI and peripheral hemorrhage. The aim of this study was to evaluate the performance of SI when acute TBI of mild and moderate severity were associated with progressive simple hemorrhage. METHODS This study was undertaken in a laboratory setting. Brian injury was induced using the lateral fluid percussion model in anesthetized rats. The fluid percussion device delivered an applied cortical pressure of 1.2 atm and 1.8 atm, producing mild and moderate TBI, respectively. Control animals underwent identical procedures but with no applied cortical pressure. Hemorrhage was induced 10 minutes after brain injury, at a rate of 2% of blood volume per minute until 40% blood volume was withdrawn. RESULTS The SI response to increasing volume of hemorrhage was unaltered when control and mild TBI groups were compared (test of interaction p = 0.39). There was a 50% mortality rate observed 20 to 60 minutes after hemorrhage in the moderate TBI group. The SI response to hemorrhage in the moderate TBI group compared with the control group became significantly different at 40% blood volume loss (test of interaction p = 0.048). Comparison of the SI response with hemorrhage between survivors and nonsurvivors of moderate TBI revealed a significant difference (p = 0.007). SI was markedly attenuated in the presence of increasing hemorrhage in the nonsurvivor subgroup of moderate TBI. CONCLUSIONS SI significantly underestimated underlying hemorrhage in the presence of acute TBI of moderate severity where attenuation of the biphasic heart rate and blood pressure response was also most pronounced.
Cysteinyl leukotriene receptor 1 is also a pyrimidinergic receptor and is expressed by human mast cells

The cysteinyl leukotrienes (cys-LTs) LTC4, LTD4, and LTE4 are a class of peptide-conjugated lipids formed from arachidonic acid and released during activation of mast cells (MCs). We now report that human cord-blood-derived MCs (hMCs) express the CysLT1 receptor, which responds not only to inflammation-derived cys-LTs, but also to a pyrimidinergic ligand, UDP. hMCs express both CysLT1 protein and transcript, and respond to LTC4, LTD4, and UDP with concentration-dependent calcium fluxes, each of which is blocked by a competitive CysLT1 receptor antagonist, MK571. Stably transfected Chinese hamster ovary cells expressing the CysLT1 receptor also exhibit MK571-sensitive calcium flux to all three agonists. Both hMCs and CysLT1 transfectants stimulated with UDP are desensitized to LTC4, but only partially to LTD4. Priming of hMCs with IL-4 for 5 days enhances their sensitivity to each agonist, but preferentially lowers their threshold for activation by LTC4 and UDP (≈3 log10-fold shifts in dose-response for each agonist) over LTD4 (1.3 log10-fold shift), without altering CysLT1 receptor mRNA or surface protein expression, implying the likely induction of a second receptor with CysLT1-like dual ligand specificity. hMCs thus express the CysLT1 receptor, and possibly a closely related IL-4-inducible receptor, which mediate dual activation responses to cys-LTs and UDP, providing an apparent intersection linking the inflammatory and neurogenic elements of bronchial asthma.
Spontaneous weight loss during 11 weeks' ad libitum intake of a low fat/high fiber diet in young, normal weight subjects.

OBJECTIVE During the first 11 weeks of 8 months' ad libitum intake of a low fat/high fiber diet (25.5 energy-% fat, 58.5 energy-% carbohydrate, 3.9 g dietary fiber/MJ) primarily aimed at investigating the effect on blood lipids, spontaneous, unintended body weight changes occurred. The objective of the present paper was to elaborate the analyses on changes in body weight and composition during the 11 weeks' intervention period. MEASUREMENTS Dietary intake, body weight and composition. SUBJECTS Subjects in the intervention (I) (n = 24) and control group (C) (n = 24) were normal weight, young, healthy students. RESULTS In the intervention group an overall decrease in body weight (-1.3 +/- 0.4 kg) (mean +/- s.e.m.) (P < 0.01) and fat mass (-1.6 +/- 0.2 kg, P < 0.001) occurred. Fat free mass remained unchanged (0.1 +/- 0.3 kg, n.s.). Subjects with the initially lowest level of body fat (n = 10) gained fat-free mass (0.6 +/- 0.2 kg) (n.s.) and lost fat mass (-0.9 +/- 0.2) (P < 0.01). In the intervention group initial body weight and fat mass correlated significantly to change in body weight (r = -0.59, P = 0.003 and r = -0.53, P = 0.008) and fat mass (r = -0.52, P = 0.01, and r = -0.50, P = 0.01). No changes were observed in the control group. CONCLUSION The ad libitum intake of a low fat/high fiber diet lead to a spontaneous loss of body weight and fat mass in young, normal weight subjects.
Peripheral Ulcerative Keratitis Associated with HCV-Related Cryoglobulinemia

Purpose To describe a case of peripheral ulcerative keratitis associated with type II cryoglobulinemia in the context of Hepatitis C infection. Methods Case report and literature review. Results A 36-year-old male patient presented to our emergency department with unilateral moderate pain in his right eye, associated with redness and photophobia. Medical background elicited a history of Hepatitis C and IV illicit drug abuse. Ocular examination revealed a BCVA of 20/30 of the affected eye and slight discomfort with eye movement. Biomicroscopy revealed a ring shaped peripheral corneal ulcer, with a dense white stromal infiltrate sparing the limbus, plus an adjacent area of mild anterior diffuse nonnecrotizing scleritis. No intraocular inflammation was present. Posterior segment was normal. The patient was placed under oral prednisolone (1 mg/Kg/day) with gradual tapering. A dramatic clinical response occurred, with complete resolution of the clinical condition. Systemic analytic workup aiming at autoimmune and infectious diseases was negative, except for high HCV-viral load and the presence of type 2 cryoglobulins. Conclusion Albeit rare, cryoglobulinemia, even in the absence of systemic vasculitis, should be considered in the differential diagnosis of PUK, when systemic workout for autoimmune diseases is negative.
Corporate governance structure and efficiencies of cooperative banks

How to discipline managers of cooperative structured financial institutions (coâ€ ops) is considered a critical issue by the Japanese financial regulatory authorities because coâ€ ops play a significant role in the domestic banking market, especially for small and mediumâ€ sized enterprises. This paper seeks to clarify whether the effect of the governanceâ€ related variables on firm performance varies across stock and cooperative banks in Japan. We consider regional banks as a proxy of stock banks and Shinkin banks, one of the representative coâ€ ops, as a proxy of cooperative banks. We use cost and profit efficiency scores obtained from stochastic frontier analysis as performance measures. The results in this paper confirmed that having a large number of board members has negative effects on efficiency measures for both stock and cooperative banks. On the other hand, the presence of outside directors has a significant effect on efficiency measures for cooperative banks, whereas such variables have no significant effect for stock banks. These results suggest that outside directors' discipline is more necessary for cooperative banks than for stock banks, which are under strong pressure from shareholders. For cooperative banks, a high ratio of representative council members, which is the most important decisionâ€ making body for Shinkin banks, has negative effects on efficiency measures. Our findings support the current proposals of the financial regulatory authorities' council to appoint outside directors to the board as a means for strengthening governance of the coâ€ ops.
Critical Discourse Analysis of Discursive Reproduction of Identities in the Thai Undergraduates' Home for Children with Disabilities Website Project: Critical Analysis of Lexical Selection.

Analyzing discourses can shed light on language as a social semiotic system, the construction of identity and the operations of ideology and power. The purpose of this study is twofold. Firstly, it aims to unveil Thai fourth-year English-major students‘ utilization of lexical choices with connotations that enact the identities of the Baan Nontapum Foundation (BNF) or Home for Children with Disabilities, in their website project. Secondly, the study was conducted to further explore how and why those discursive strategies were utilized to construe the BNF and disability identities through the participants‘ lexical selection. In this study, the social model of disability, which views disability as a form of social oppression, in combination with Fairclough‘s Critical Discourse Analysis was used as the theoretical framework for analyzing the participants‘ language use on their self-designed websites. The analysis revealed 2 | PASAA Vol. 54 July December 2017 the participants‘ utilization of different lexical choices with connotations to presuppose the BNF‘s identity as a ̳warm‘, ̳effective‘, and ̳altruistic‘ organization that provides various forms of special care to their children and children with disabilities‘ identities as ̳socially independent‘ and ̳capable of becoming self-supporting‘. However, the notions of ̳social exclusion‘ and ̳lack of social collaboration‘ were found to be embedded in the discursive reproduction of the discourse.
Kinetics of Uptake and Washout of Lidocaine in Rat Sciatic Nerve In Vitro

BACKGROUND:The potency and efficacy of local anesthetics injected clinically for peripheral nerve block depends strongly on the rate of neural drug uptake. However, because diffusion into surrounding tissues and removal by the vascular system are major factors in the overall distribution of lidocaine in vivo, true kinetics of drug/neural tissue interactions must be studied in the absence of those confounding factors. METHODS:Uptake: Ensheathed or desheathed isolated rat sciatic nerves were exposed to [14C]-lidocaine for 0 to 180 minutes and then removed and the lidocaine content of nerve and sheath analyzed. Washout: Isolated nerves were soaked in [14C]-lidocaine for 60 minutes and then placed in lidocaine-free solution for 0 to 30 minutes, with samples removed at different times to assess the drug content. Experimental variables included the effects of the ensheathing epineurium, lidocaine concentration, pH, presence of CO2-bicarbonate, and incubation duration. RESULTS:The equilibrium uptake of lidocaine increased with incubation time, concentration, and the fraction of molecules in the nonionized form. The uptake rate was unaffected by drug concentration, but was about halved by the presence of the epineurial sheath, with the washout rate slowed less. Slight alkalinization, from pH 6.8 to pH 7.4, by bicarbonate-CO2 buffer or a nonbicarbonate buffer, enhanced the neural uptake, and to the same degree. The washout of lidocaine was faster after shorter incubations at high concentrations than when equal amounts of lidocaine were taken up after long incubations at low lidocaine concentrations. CONCLUSION:Lidocaine enters a nerve by a process other than free diffusion, through an epineurial sheath that is a slight obstacle. Given the rapid entry in vitro compared with the much smaller and transient content measured in vivo, it seems highly unlikely that lidocaine equilibrates with the nerve during a peripheral blockade.
Political Activity of Women and Men – the Psychosocial Determinants of Conventional Political Activity

Political activity is a type of social activity displayed by citizens. Observations and research indicate that gender can be a factor which conditions its degree and forms. Apart from biological gender, which shapes the societal roles of women and men, additional factors that are supposedly responsible for their activities include elements of the system of beliefs (i.e. acknowledged political values, conviction that political activity has an importance, level of satisfaction with democracy as well as individualism and collectivism understood as an element of individual’s mentality). The impact of those factors on degree of conventional political activities among women and men is the subject of surveys which were conducted in 2004, 2010, and 2014 on a group of 1048 students from Polish universities. The received results show that differences in political activity between surveyed men and women as well as varying determinants in both groups are slowly fading away. The most important predictors of women’s political activity include: conviction of its significance in democracy and (dis)satisfaction with the way it functions.
Increased Endothelial Vesicular Transport Correlates with Increased Blood‐Tumor Barrier Permeability Induced by Bradykinin and Leukotriene C4

Bradykinin and leukotriene C4 (LTC4) have been shown to increase molecular transport across the blood-tumor barrier (BTB). The aim of this study was to quantitatively assess whether an increase in vesicular transport or opening of tight junctions was responsible for this increase in permeability. Wistar rats bearing RG2 or C6 gliomas were infused with bradykinin or LTC4 through the right carotid artery for 15 min and then perfused to achieve fixation. Prepared specimens were observed using transmission electron microscopy. Infusion of either bradykinin or LTC4 resulted in significantly increased vesicular density in capillary endothelial cells of the BTB but not in normal brain capillaries. The opening of tight junctions, assessed by determining a cleft index, was found to be greater in tumor capillaries compared to normal controls. However, neither bradykinin nor LTC4 produce variations in the cleft index. A significant accumulation of horseradish peroxidase was seen in the intercellular peri-capillary spaces and in endothelial transport vesicles after infusion of bradykinin, demonstrating that the formation of vesicles was associated with macromolecular transcytosis. These findings suggest that pinocytotic vesicular transport is the primary means by which luminal to abluminal transport occurs in response to vasomodulation with bradykinin or LTC4.
COLLABORATIVELY - LED LIVING LEARNING PROGRAMS: AN EXPLORATION FOR HOW COLLABORATION IS FACILITATED BETWEEN STUDENT AFFAIRS UNITS AND ACADEMIC AFFAIRS IN LLPS

OF DISSERTATION COLLABORATIVELYLED LIVING LEARNING PROGRAMS: AN EXPLORATION FOR HOW COLLABORATION IS FACILITATED BETWEEN STUDENT AFFAIRS UNITS AND ACADEMIC AFFAIRS IN LLPS According to Inkelas et al. (2008), Living Learning Programs (LLPs) that are collaboratively led by academic affairs and student affairs units tend to have a significant impact on student learning, when compared to students who participate in LLPs that are operated by one unit (Inkelas et al., 2008). Despite evidence that co-authored LLPs are beneficial to enhancing the LLP student experience, there is little to no research that explores how administrators facilitate collaboration between the units used to co-author the LLP student experience. For this reason, the focus of this study was to explore how administrators facilitate collaboration between academic affairs and students affairs units in the context of LLPs. A sequential explanatory mixed methods approach revealed that collaboration between both units is facilitated through a series of four factors; (a) Mutually supportive relationships, (b) LLP coordinators, (c) collaborative networks and (d) mechanisms for collaboration. In addition, LLP administrators throughout the study demonstrated a high effort of collaboration on co-curricular programming and slightly less of an effort to collaborate on items related to curricular or judicial engagement of LLP students.
Incidence and Remission of Specific IgE Aeroallergen Sensitization from Age of 40 to 60 Years, and Association with Alcohol Consumption

Background: Data on incidence and long-term persistence of IgE aeroallergen sensitization in older adults are limited. Alcohol consumption is a strong immune-modulator with a significant impact on the IgE response. Objectives: We aimed to assess the incidence and remission of aeroallergen sensitization from the age of 40 to 60 years. Furthermore, we examined the relationship of alcohol consumption to the prevalence and incidence of aeroallergen sensitization. Methods: In 1976–1977, a total of 1,200 people born in 1936 and randomly selected from the general population were invited for a health examination (1,052 were examined). At 60 years, they were invited for a re-examination (695 were examined). Stored serum samples from both examinations were analyzed consecutively for serum-specific IgE to aeroallergens by using a qualitative multi-allergen immunoassay. Results: We observed a total of 32 (7.1% of those not sensitized at 40 years) incident cases and 35 (41.1% of those sensitized at 40 years) remittent cases of aeroallergen sensitization over this 20 year period. Persistent as well as incident sensitization was significantly associated with self-reported atopic disease at 60 years. Alcohol consumption (>14 drinks per week) at 40 years was significantly associated with a higher prevalence of sensitization at 40 years, but not with the incidence of sensitization. Conclusions: In older adults, aeroallergen sensitization as reflected by serum-specific IgE positivity to aeroallergens is a dynamic process. Both persistent and incident sensitization was associated with atopic disease. Further studies are needed to clarify the influence of alcohol on the allergen-specific IgE response.