Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Early Lexical Characteristics of Toddlers with Cleft Lip and Palate

Objective To examine development of early expressive lexicons in toddlers with cleft palate to determine whether they differ from those of noncleft toddlers in terms of size and lexical selectivity. Design Retrospective. Patients A total of 37 toddlers with cleft palate and 22 noncleft toddlers. Main Outcome Measures The groups were compared for size of expressive lexicon reported on the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventory and the percentage of words beginning with obstruents and sonorants produced in a language sample. Differences between groups in the percentage of word initial consonants correct on the language sample were also examined. Results Although expressive vocabulary was comparable at 13 months of age for both groups, size of the lexicon for the cleft group was significantly smaller than that for the noncleft group at 21 and 27 months of age. Toddlers with cleft palate produced significantly more words beginning with sonorants and fewer words beginning with obstruents in their spontaneous speech samples. They were also less accurate when producing word initial obstruents compared with the noncleft group. Conclusions Toddlers with cleft palate demonstrate a slower rate of lexical development compared with their noncleft peers. The preference that toddlers with cleft palate demonstrate for words beginning with sonorants could suggest they are selecting words that begin with consonants that are easier for them to produce. An alternative explanation might be that because these children are less accurate in the production of obstruent consonants, listeners may not always identify obstruents when they occur.
Exploring attentional disruption in fibromyalgia using the attentional blink

Disrupted attentional function in individuals with fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) has been noted in a number of previous studies. The cognitive mechanisms related to this disruption are not well-understood. This study sought to identify whether differences exist in early attentional processing and attentional capacity in individuals with FMS measuring the attentional blink (AB). Early attentional function was assessed in 16 females with FMS and compared with 16 healthy age-matched females without FMS. Simple early visual stimulus target detection accuracy was not significantly different between groups. However, as target detection difficulty increased, individuals in the FMS group showed significantly poorer performance compared to healthy participants. Our findings suggest that attentional disruption in individuals with FMS is associated with deficits in the early allocation of attentional resources during the completion of tasks with higher attentional demand.
Future Perspectives for the Treatment of Neonatal Hypoxic-Ischemic Encephalopathy

As described by Nelson and Leviton, “neonatal encephalopathy (NE) is a clinical defined syndrome of disturbed neurologic function in the earliest days of life in the term infant, manifested by difficulty with initiating and maintaining respiration, depression of tone and reflexes, subnormal level of consciousness, and often by seizures” (Nelson and Leviton, 1991). Although NE can be caused by several etiologies (including metabolic and genetic disorders, and infections), perinatal asphyxia is the most common cause, occurring in 30 to 60% of the cases (Kurinczuk et al., 2010).
Synergy of Silver Nanoparticles and Aztreonam against Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1 Biofilms

ABSTRACT Pathogenic bacterial biofilms, such as those found in the lungs of patients with cystic fibrosis (CF), exhibit increased antimicrobial resistance, due in part to the inherent architecture of the biofilm community. The protection provided by the biofilm limits antimicrobial dispersion and penetration and reduces the efficacy of antibiotics that normally inhibit planktonic cell growth. Thus, alternative antimicrobial strategies are required to combat persistent infections. The antimicrobial properties of silver have been known for decades, but silver and silver-containing compounds have recently seen renewed interest as antimicrobial agents for treating bacterial infections. The goal of this study was to assess the efficacy of citrate-capped silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) of various sizes, alone and in combination with the monobactam antibiotic aztreonam, to inhibit Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1 biofilms. Among the different sizes of AgNPs examined, 10-nm nanoparticles were most effective in inhibiting the recovery of P. aeruginosa biofilm cultures and showed synergy of inhibition when combined with sub-MIC levels of aztreonam. Visualization of biofilms treated with combinations of 10-nm AgNPs and aztreonam indicated that the synergistic bactericidal effects are likely caused by better penetration of the small AgNPs into the biofilm matrix, which enhances the deleterious effects of aztreonam against the cell envelope of P. aeruginosa within the biofilms. These data suggest that small AgNPs synergistically enhance the antimicrobial effects of aztreonam against P. aeruginosa in vitro, and they reveal a potential role for combinations of small AgNPs and antibiotics in treating patients with chronic infections.
Current diagnosis and management of blunt traumatic rupture of the thoracic aorta

O diagnostico e tratamento das lesoes traumaticas da aorta toracica vem gradualmente melhorando. Historicamente, as lesoes traumaticas da aorta toracica eram causa frequente de exanguinacao, apresentando altas taxas de mortalidade. Por outro lado, apos o desenvolvimento de sistemas modernos de atendimento as vitimas de traumatismos, com protocolos avancados de reanimacao volemica e rapida avaliacao radiologica, o diagnostico de lesoes da aorta toracica tem melhorado significativamente. A enfase atual esta centrada na prevencao da progressao das lesoes intimais menores e pseudo-aneurismas ate a disseccao franca ou ruptura aortica. As modalidades diagnosticas sofreram alteracoes, bem como o paradigma de intervencao cirurgica imediata. A evolucao de proteses endovasculares podera desempenhar um importante papel no tratamento definitivo.
Distribution and temporal prevalence of Theileria orientalis major piroplasm surface protein types in eastern Australian cattle herds.

OBJECTIVE To determine the distribution of theilerial types in eastern Australian cattle herds and their changing prevalence in regions of New South Wales (NSW). DESIGN Survey testing of herds in 2010-11 in Queensland (QLD), NSW and Victoria (VIC) where clinical theileriosis was not evident and ongoing surveillance in NSW through laboratory submissions. METHODS Blood samples were tested by PCR targeting the Theileria orientalis p32 gene and positive tests were examined for the Ikeda, Chitose and Buffeli types. Survey samples from 516 cattle in 50 herds and diagnostic submissions from 434 suspect field cases in 116 herds were analysed. RESULTS In clinically normal survey cattle, T. orientalis prevalence was high (NSW 23.7%, QLD 56.8%, VIC 34.0%), with variability among regions of each state. Chitose was the most common and widespread type (19.1-43.7% per state), with Buffeli present in all states at a lower prevalence (10.8-24.8% per state). Ikeda was detected in three of five regions in QLD (North, South and South East; prevalence 3.4-15.4%), only one of the surveyed regions in NSW (North Coast; prevalence 74.2%) and in only one animal in VIC. Evidence of clinical disease and laboratory confirmation of Ikeda infection in diagnostic submissions were predominant in several NSW regions, with increasing numbers of affected herds particularly in the coastal Mid-Coast and Cumberland areas. CONCLUSIONS In those regions where prior evidence of theileriosis was uncommon, Ikeda infection was evident in a limited number of NSW regions and multiple regions in QLD. However, clinical disease has continued to become widespread in NSW and VIC, involving Ikeda strains in many regions.
Dust and Damn'd Oblivion: A Study of Cremation in Ancient Greece

In this paper – the revised text of a public lecture given in Athens on 23 February 1989 – the author reviews both the historical and anatomical evidence for identifying the occupants of the royal tombs at Vergina as: Tomb I: not known; Tomb II: Philip II and either Cleopatra or Meda; Tomb III: Alexander IV. The case for Philip III Arrhidaios and Eurydice in Tomb II is shown to be anthropologically weak. The paper also includes a catalogue of the human remains from Tomb II antechamber (Cleopatra or Meda) and Tomb III (Alexander IV). The arrival of cremation in Greece, and both Homeric and later Macedonian attitudes to the rite are also discussed. The general conclusion is that cremations are a valuable source of biological and archaeological information.
Effect of Defocus on Visual Acuity As Measured by Source and Observer Methods

The relation between refractive error and visual acuity has been measured by two very different methods. In one called “source methods,” emmetropes or corrected ametropes view defocused stimuli presented on projection screens or photographs. In the type called “observer methods,” focused stimuli are presented to the observers who are either uncorrected ametropes or emmetropes defocused by lenses placed (usually), in the spectacle plane. The study reported in this paper demonstrates for the first time that these two methods of defocusing retinal images and their effects on visual acuity can be correlated. Results show that the source method of producing defocus could be used interchangeably with the observer method in investigating the rates of change of visual acuity with defocus for young normal observers. The angular diameter of the defocused image of a point, the blur disc diameter in object space, allows the two methods to be compared. Although the results show that the two methods are highly correlated, they show that the source method gives a statistically but not clinically significant lower acuity. The results of both methods are used to derive an equation linking refractive error, visual acuity, and pupil diameter.
Guidelines on Hair Restoration for East Asian Patients

BACKGROUND In East Asian countries, hair transplantation is a quite common procedure for treating pattern hair loss, cosmetically correcting the hairline, and correcting eyebrow and pubic hair defects. Although there are general guidelines concerning hair transplantation, certain factors need to be addressed to make the guidelines more specific and suitable to East Asian requirements. OBJECTIVE To provide guidelines for hairline design, donor harvesting, graft preparation and placement, and medical treatment that are appropriate for hair transplantation in East Asian patients. METHODS Recommendations are based on the experience of the authors, surgeons who perform hair transplantation, and a comprehensive review of the available literature on hair transplantation in East Asians. RESULTS Data on hair thickness and graft density, hairline design, and graft creation and placement techniques have been collaboratively evaluated and used to establish overall guidelines. CONCLUSION The use of the proposed guidelines by surgeons will hopefully enhance outcomes and bring greater consistency to hair transplantation procedures for East Asian patients.
Evaluation of safety and the success rate of cryoballoon ablation of the pulmonary vein ostia in patients with atrial fibrillation--a preliminary report.

BACKGROUND Cryoballon isolation of the pulmonary veins has recently emerged as a promissing technique for ablation of atrial fibrillation (AF). AIM To present our initial experience in cryoballon isolatin of the pulmonary veins in patients with AF. METHODS Eight patients (5 males; age 59+/-2 years) with AF: 2 with persistent and 6 with paroxysmal (5 of them after unsuccessful RF ablation) with >or=6 month follow-up after the procedure were included. One patient after myocardial infarction was treated with primary angioplasty with stent implantation. Another one had biatrial pacemaker. The procedure was performed with cryobaloon with 28 mm diameter (Arctic Front--Cryocath). After transseptal puncture mapping of the pulmonary vein ostia was performed with Lasso catheter (Johnson and Johnson). At each pulmonary vein ostium with pulmonary vein potentials 2 cryoapplications of 300 s duration was performed. Correct balloon placement before cryoapplication was checked using contrast injection into the pulmonary veins. During cryoapplication in the right pulmonary vein ostia permanent pacing of the phrenic nerve 30 beats per minute was performed to prevent its paralysis. After cryoapplications in all veins remapping with Lasso catheters was performed. In the absence of pulmonary vein potentials the procedure was finished, otherwise next cryoapplications were performed. During follow-up ECG was performed if any palpitations occurred, and 24-hour Holter monitoring was performed 1, 2 ,4, 6, 8, 10 and 12 months after the procedure. A 2-month blanking period after the procedure was used. The lack of symptomatic AF and the absence of AF>30 s on Holter ECG monitoring were defined as successful procedure. An improvement was defined as reduction of frequency/duration of AF paroxysm and reduction of the EHRA index>or=1. RESULTS During 8 procedures isolation of 31 pulmonary vein was performed. Procedure duration was 3.5+/-0.85 h, fluoroscopy time--33.55+/-15.44 min, and total cryoapplication time--38.33+/-4.1 min. There were no complications. After the follow-up of 8.5+/-0.99 months 6 (75%) patients were free from arrhythmia, including the patient after myocardial infarction and one patient with permanent AF prior ablation. In another patient an improvement was observed (EHRA score II/III to I) whereas in one patient with permanent AF the procedure was unsuccessful. CONCLUSION Cryoballoon ablation of pulmonary vein ostia is effective and safe, and can be an alternative to RF ablation. Easier procedure technique make possible shortening of the learning curve and increase the number of treated patients.
Socio-behavioral predictors of changes in dentition status: a prospective analysis of the 1942 Swedish birth cohort.

OBJECTIVES Using a prospective cohort design, this study assessed loss of natural teeth between ages 50 and 65. Guided by a conceptual framework grouping variables according to the life-course stage at which they would be expected to operate, this study assessed the impacts of socio-behavioral and disease-related factors on tooth loss between ages 50 and 65. METHODS In 1992, all 50-year-olds in two counties of Sweden were invited to participate in a longitudinal questionnaire survey. Of the total population of 8,888 subjects, 6,346 responded (71.4%). Of the 6346 subjects who completed the 1992 questionnaire, 4,143 (65%) completed postal follow-ups at ages 55, 60 and 65. RESULTS For the total sample, the prevalence of having lost at least some teeth increased from 76% at age 50-85.5% at age 65. A total of 14% women and 13% men changed from having all teeth in 1992 to having tooth loss in 2007. Stepwise logistic regression analyses focused on predictors of tooth loss between 1992 and 2007. The following life-stage predictors achieved or approached statistical significance with respect to overall tooth loss; country of birth and education (early life and young adult life stage), marital status, dental care avoidance because of high cost, smoking and reporting consistent pain (middle-age and early-old-age life stage). CONCLUSION Fewer substantial proportions of the 1942 cohort experienced tooth loss between ages 50 and 65. Tooth loss was highly prevalent from age 50 and increased moderately with increasing age. Oral disease-related factors and socio-behavioral characteristics such as refraining from dental care because of financial limitations, acting at earlier and later life-course stages were major risk factors for having tooth loss. Early primary prevention of smoking and increased equitable access to dental care might improve tooth retention throughout the transition from middle age to early-older age.
Therapeutic Communities and Prison Management: An Examination of the Effects of Operating an In-Prison Therapeutic Community on Levels of Institutional Disorder

There is a growing emphasis in corrections on the treatment of inmates with drug problems. The typical method of evaluating drug treatment programs is to examine how the treatment affects the inmate in terms of relapse and recidivism. This study examines the institutional consequences of operating a therapeutic community located in a medium/high-security male institution. The effect on management is examined from a perspective of institutional disorder. Disorders, from less severe inmate rule violations to more serious assaults, and rates of grievance filing are examined within the treatment unit and compared with rates in the general population. The inmate’s perception of the environment, whether in treatment or nontreatment, is also examined. Findings indicate that in-prison therapeutic communities have lower levels of disorder than nontreatment housing units and tend to produce more positive perceptions of the living environment among the inmates living there. The impact of these findings for prison management is discussed.
INCORPORATION OF ANALOG PURINE NUCLEOSIDES INTO THE FORMED ELEMENTS OF HUMAN BLOOD: ERYTHROCYTES, PLATELETS, AND LYMPHOCYTES *

Analogs of purine and pyrimidine nucleosides have received considerable attention in many laboratories concerned with the development of chemotherapeutic agents for malignancies, viruses, and tropical parasites. In addition, a number of these compounds have shown important immunosuppressive activity or have proved of use for the treatment of diseases such as psoriasis. For the past few years, this laboratory has been interested in the interaction of natural or analog purine nucleosides with the formed elements of human blood, i.e., erythrocytes, platelets and lymphocytes. Although these studies were designed originally to analyze the pathways of purine nucleoside metabolism in these cells, a number of unexpected observations have been made that have not only broadened our understanding of normal cellular functions but that also suggest possible useful applications. This report summarizes a number of investigations that have been published earlier or that will be published in greater detail in the future.
Characteristics of period adding bifurcation without chaos in firing pattern transitions in an experimental neural pacemaker

Time variant signals received by a neuron were encoded into and output in the changing firing patterns. Recent investigations revealed that the firing patterns changed according to certain bifurcation principles. Thus, the bifurcation scenarios among various firing patterns were fundamental to the study of neural coding. In this study one of the previous theoretically proposed scenarios, period adding bifurcation without chaos, was experimentally confirmed to exist in real neuronal activities. The realistic bifurcation process possessed integer multiple patterns not found in previous theoretical reports. The observed bifurcation process was simulated in the stochastic neuronal model and the generation of the integer multiple patterns were related to the interplay between the internal noise and the dynamics of the neuron.
Non-invasive measures of pulse wave velocity correlate with coronary arterial plaque load in humans

Objective Arterial stiffness is an emerging major risk factor for cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. The aim of the present study was to assess if coronary artery plaque load correlates with non-invasive measures of arterial stiffness. Design Prospective investigational study. Setting Tertiary university hospital centre. Patients Patients undergoing elective diagnostic coronary angiography. Interventions and main outcome measures Coronary artery plaque burden was assessed using a 30 MHz intravascular ultrasound catheter during an automated pullback. Proximal coronary artery plaque volume was determined using a validated edge-detection algorithm following three-dimensional computerized reconstruction. Central arterial stiffness was assessed in each patient using applanation tonometry to radial, carotid and femoral pulses, with derivation of aortic pressure augmentation and pulse wave velocity using pulse wave analysis. Results In 35 patients (61 ± 2 years), proximal coronary arterial plaque volume was 5.9 ± 0.6 mm3/mm of vessel. Plaque volume correlated positively with carotid-radial pulse wave velocity (r = 0.47, P = 0.008) and appeared to correlate with carotid–femoral pulse wave velocity (r = 0.34, P = 0.07). Aortic augmentation (r = 0.24, P = 0.16), augmentation index (r = 0.3, P = 0.08), and pulse pressure (r = 0.22, P = 0.2) did not correlate significantly with proximal coronary artery plaque volume. Conclusions Non-invasive measures of carotid-radial pulse wave velocity correlate with the extent of coronary artery plaque volume and may be a useful non-invasive surrogate marker for the extent of coronary atherosclerosis. Our findings are consistent with the suggestion that central aortic stiffness may promote the development of coronary atherosclerosis and ischaemic heart disease.
Integrin and basement membrane normalization in mouse grafts of human keratinocytes--implications for epidermal homeostasis.

Integrin patterns and formation of basement membrane (BM) were investigated in correlation to epidermal growth and differentiation during skin regeneration in human keratinocyte transplants on nude mice. Immuno-fluorescence and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) showed that different stages of tissue reconstruction were characterized by a sequence of coordinated events. Features of the initial tissue activation, with rapid keratinocyte proliferation around day 4, including cells in a suprabasal position, were: (1) a marked increase in and extended distribution of the integrin chains alpha 2, alpha 3, beta 1 and alpha 6, while beta 4 already showed a preferential basal location; (2) de novo expression of alpha 5 and alpha v; and (3) marked deposition of laminin-5 and nidogen but low levels of other BM components. Tissue normalization during the 2nd week, initiated by a drastic decrease in the number of proliferating cells after day 4, now strictly in basal position, was signified: by (1) orthotopic staining for basal-type keratins (K5, K14) together with a regular pericellular alpha 2 beta 1 and alpha 3 beta 1 distribution, (2) linear, balanced deposition of BM components (e.g. laminin-1, type IV collagen) and (3) colocalization of integrin alpha 6 beta 4 and bullous pemphigoid antigen. Simultaneously at 7 days hemidesmosomes and a defined BM had developed (TEM), becoming continuous at 14 days. This coincided with the regular distribution of suprabasal keratins (K1, K10) as well as intermediate (involucrin) and late differentiation markers (filaggrin, loricrin). Type-VII collagen deposition, still irregular at 14 days, became continuous at 22 days together with developing BM-anchoring fibrils indicating final tissue consolidation. This model mimics principal stages of epidermal wound healing in human skin and implies a linkage between BM assembly, integrin distribution and the compartment of proliferation competent cells, which in turn determines the onset of differentiation. Thus, apart from the balance of diffusible growth regulators, this positional control of keratinocytes, largely accomplished by integrin-matrix interactions, seems to be prerequisite to establishment and maintenance of tissue homeostasis.