Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Health-related quality of life in total hip and total knee arthroplasty. A qualitative and systematic review of the literature.

BACKGROUND Total hip and total knee arthroplasties are well accepted as reliable and suitable surgical procedures to return patients to function. Health-related quality-of-life instruments have been used to document outcomes in order to optimize the allocation of resources. The objective of this study was to review the literature regarding the outcomes of total hip and knee arthroplasties as evaluated by health-related quality-of-life instruments. METHODS The Medline and EMBASE medical literature databases were searched, from January 1980 to June 2003, to identify relevant studies. Studies were eligible for review if they met the following criteria: (1). the language was English or French, (2). at least one well-validated and self-reported health-related quality of life instrument was used, and (3). a prospective cohort study design was used. RESULTS Of the seventy-four studies selected for the review, thirty-two investigated both total hip and total knee arthroplasties, twenty-six focused on total hip arthroplasty, and sixteen focused on total knee arthroplasty exclusively. The most common diagnosis was osteoarthritis. The duration of follow-up ranged from seven days to seven years, with the majority of studies describing results at six to twelve months. The Short Form-36 and the Western Ontario and McMaster University Osteoarthritis Index, the most frequently used instruments, were employed in forty and twenty-eight studies, respectively. Seventeen studies used a utility index. Overall, total hip and total knee arthroplasties were found to be quite effective in terms of improvement in health-related quality-of-life dimensions, with the occasional exception of the social dimension. Age was not found to be an obstacle to effective surgery, and men seemed to benefit more from the intervention than did women. When improvement was found to be modest, the role of comorbidities was highlighted. Total hip arthroplasty appears to return patients to function to a greater extent than do knee procedures, and primary surgery offers greater improvement than does revision. Patients who had poorer preoperative health-related quality of life were more likely to experience greater improvement. CONCLUSIONS Health-related quality-of-life data are valuable, can provide relevant health-status information to health professionals, and should be used as a rationale for the implementation of the most adequate standard of care. Additional knowledge and scientific dissemination of surgery outcomes should help to ensure better management of patients undergoing total hip or total knee arthroplasty and to optimize the use of these procedures.
To aid or not to aid: Foreign aid and productivity in cross-country regressions

The paper reexamines empirically the robustness of competing theories of foreign aid effectiveness. By shifting the focus from the effects of aid on income to effects of aid on productivity, it is possible to put to test 3 existing theories of foreign aid effectiveness. The results provide support for the hypotheses that (i) aid has a positive effect in fostering growth of average productivity, (ii) aid doesn't operate with diminishing returns, and (iii) the magnitude of the total effect depends on climate-related circumstances. The results support the policy recommendation previously made in the literature to seriously reconsider the conditionality rule for foreign aid disbursements.
Analysis of Field Errors for LARP Nb$_3$ Sn HQ03 Quadrupole Magnet

The U.S. large hadron collider (LHC) Accelerator Research Program, in close collaboration with The European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), has developed three generations of high-gradient quadrupole (HQ) Nb3Sn model magnets, to support the development of the 150 mm aperture Nb3Sn quadrupole magnets for the high-luminosity LHC. The latest generation, HQ03, featured coils with better uniformity of coil dimensions and properties than the earlier generations. The HQ03 magnet was tested at fermi national accelerator laboratory (FNAL), including the field quality study. The profiles of low-order harmonics along the magnet aperture observed at 15 kA, 1.9 K can be traced back to the assembled coil pack before the magnet assembly. Based on the measured harmonics in the magnet center region, the coil block positioning tolerance was analyzed and compared with earlier HQ01 and HQ02 magnets to correlate with coil and magnet fabrication. To study the capability of correcting the low-order nonallowed field errors, magnetic shims were installed in HQ03. The expected shim contribution agreed well with the calculation. For the persistent-current effect, the measured a4 can be related to 4% higher in the strand magnetization of one coil with respect to the other three coils. Finally, we compare the field errors due to the interstrand coupling currents between HQ03 and HQ02.
Improving Academic Performance and Working Memory in Health Science Graduate Students Using Progressive Muscle Relaxation Training.

Research involving working memory has indicated that stress and anxiety compete for attentional resources when a person engages in attention-dependent cognitive processing. The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of perceived stress and state anxiety on working memory and academic performance among health science students and to explore whether the reduction of stress and anxiety was achieved through progressive muscle relaxation (PMR) training. A convenience sample of 128 graduate students participated in this study. Using an experimental pretest-posttest design, we randomly assigned participants to a PMR group or a control group. Results indicated that PMR reduced state anxiety, F(1, 126) = 15.58, p < . 001, thereby freeing up working memory and leading to improved academic performance in the treatment group. The results of this study contribute to the literature on Attentional Control Theory by clarifying the process through which working memory and anxiety affect cognitive performance.
News Shocks and Optimal Simple Rules

Summary This paper evaluates the performance of optimal simple policy rules in the presence of news shocks. It is shown that the inclusion of forward-looking elements enhances the performance of simple optimized interest rate rules when agents learn about future disturbances in advance. We provide a rationale for this result by demonstrating that, if shocks are news shocks, the optimal unrestricted control rule under commitment contains as a basic principle a forward-looking element.
Aurora B kinases restrict chromosome decondensation to telophase of mitosis

The Aurora kinases comprise a family of evolutionary conserved serine/threonine kinases that have important functions in centrosome duplication, mitotic spindle assembly, chromosome condensation, chromosome biorientation on the spindle and chromosome segregation. Vertebrates have three Aurora kinases, Aurora-A, -B and -C, while invertebrates have only Aurora-A and -B and yeasts have a single Aurora kinase, Ipl1 in S. cerevisiae and Ark1 in S. pombe. Recently, the role of Aurora kinases in chromosome condensation has been defined; Aurora B plays a crucial role in the axial shortening of chromosomes during anaphase, presumably in order to prevent chromosome arms from becoming trapped within the cytokinetic plate.
Effects of entorhinal lesions on trophic activities present in rat entorhinal cortex and hippocampus as studied using primary cultures of entorhinal and septal tissues

The present study examined trophic activities in normal and injured brain which affect the survival and growth of central neurons in culture. Adult rats received bilateral lesions through the angular bundle, severing projections between the entorhinal cortex and the hippocampus. Ten days later, extracts were prepared from the entorhinal or hippocampal regions of the injured brains and compared with extract prepared from analogous regions of normal brains for trophic activities in cultures of either entorhinal or septal tissues.
Seasonal Distribution and Abundance of Ticks (Acari: Ixodidae) in Northwestern Florida

Abstract A 2-yr study was conducted in a northwestern Florida state park and recreation area to determine tick species composition, seasonal abundance, and spatial distribution. Risk of tick attachment to park visitors was also assessed relative to tick abundance from several habitats. Tick collections consisted of weekly cloth drag samples obtained from ground and emergent vegetation along a deer trail, a walking trail located in a 3-mo-old control burned area of forest, a nonburned walking trail, picnic area, and campsites. Sampling was conducted from February 1994 through February 1996. Ticks collected during the study were as follows in descending order of abundance: Ixodes scapularis Say, Amblyomma americanum (L.), A. maculatum Koch, and Dermacentor variabilis (Say). Significantly more (<0.05) adult ticks were recovered from vegetation compared with ground samples only for I. scapularis. Adult questing I. scapularis were collected from October through May (peak December). A. americanum adults were collected from March through August (peak May). Adult A. maculatum were collected during August and September and adult D. variabilis were collected July and August. Larval and nymphal stages of questing A. americanum were collected from June through November (peak July) and February through October (peak September), respectively. A. maculatum nymphs were collected from February through April, June, and September (peak March). No nymphs of I. scapularis were collected. Only four larvae of D. variabilis were collected during the study, all during February 1995. No I. scapularis or A. maculatum larvae were collected from vegetation or ground drags. The greatest risk for tick attachment was in campsites where ≈60% of all adult and nymphal host-seeking ticks were collected. The next greatest risk area was the walking trail located in the control burned area where an additional 28% of ticks were obtained.
Mild and severe Hunter syndrome (MPS II) within the same sibships

X‐linked Hunter syndrome (MPS II) is presently thought to exist in two clinically and genetically distinct forms, mild and severe, which are biochemically indistinguishable. However, two sibships have been studied in which both mildly and severely affected children are present. Therefore, genetic counseling for families with MPS II should be reconsidered to take into account the possibility of heterogeneity within a family in terms of the degree of psychornotor retardation and potential longevity.
Adopting an ICT code of conduct: An empirical study of organizational factors

Purpose – Following the example of Anglo‐Saxon companies, French companies are increasingly establishing codes of conduct specific to the use of information and communication technologies (ICT). A review of literature reveals that such codes have multiple goals, such as improving efficiency of use, IS security awareness, and ethics. This paper aims to identify organizational factors influencing the adoption and diffusion of a formal code of conduct.Design/methodology/approach – A survey was administered to 505 companies. In order to highlight the emerging nature of this practice, the study was conducted in similar conditions for two consecutive years (2002 and 2003). Findings – Results indicate that though still marginal, the adoption of ICT codes of conduct concerns an increasing number of companies. This practice is related to the degree of standardization, technological context (the degree of virtualization and the strategic importance placed on ICT by the management) and size of the organization. Howev.
Ternatin, a flavonoid, prevents cyclophosphamide and ifosfamide‐induced hemorrhagic cystitis in rats

To compare the classical uroprotective efﬁcacy of mesna (2‐mercaptoethanesulfonic acid) with ternatin (ﬂavonoid isolated from Egletes viscosa Less.) in cyclophosphamide (CYP) and ifosfamide (IFS) induced hemorrhagic cystitis (HC). Male Wistar rats received an intraperitoneal injection of saline, CYP or IFS and were treated with saline or mesna, 5 min before, 4 and 8 h after CYP or IFS administration. In other animals, 1, 2 or 3 doses of mesna were replaced with ternatin or 3 doses of mesna were replaced with dimethylsulphoxide (DMSO), ternatin diluent. In an additional group, the last 2 doses of mesna were replaced with saline. HC was evaluated 24 h after CYP or IFS administration. CYP or IFS treatment induced marked changes in macroscopic and microscopic evaluation and in bladder wet weight (BWW), and these alterations were signiﬁcantly inhibited by treatment with 3 doses of mesna, as well as by the replacement of 1 or 2 doses of mesna with ternatin. The replacement of 2 doses of mesna with saline or all doses of mesna with ternatin or DMSO did not prevent HC. In conclusion, the replacement of 1 or 2 doses of mesna with ternatin efﬁciently blocked CYP‐ or IFS‐induced HC, however mesna is necessary for initial uroprotection. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Postoperative pain control in cats: clinical trials with pre-emptive lidocaine epidural co-administered with morphine or methadone

Objectives The aim of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness of epidural lidocaine in combination with either methadone or morphine for postoperative analgesia in cats undergoing ovariohysterectomy. Methods Under general anesthesia, 24 cats that underwent ovariohysterectomy were randomly allocated into three treatment groups of eight each. Treatment 1 included 2% lidocaine (4.0 mg/kg); treatment 2 included lidocaine and methadone (4.0 mg/kg and 0.3 mg/kg, respectively); and treatment 3 included lidocaine and morphine (4.0 mg/kg and 0.1 mg/kg, respectively). All drugs were injected in a total volume of 0.25 ml/kg via the lumbosacral route in all cats. During the anesthetic and surgical periods, the physiologic variables (respiratory and heart rate, arterial blood pressure and rectal temperature) were measured at intervals of time zero, 10 mins, 20 mins, 30 mins, 60 mins and 120 mins. After cats had recovered from anesthesia, a multidimensional composite pain scale was used to assess postoperative analgesia 2, 4, 8, 12, 18 and 24 h after epidural. Results The time to first rescue analgesic was significantly (P <0.05) prolonged in cats that received both lidocaine and methadone or lidocaine and morphine treatments compared with those that received lidocaine treatment alone. All cats that received lidocaine treatment alone required rescue analgesic within 2 h of epidural injections. All treatments produced significant cardiovascular and respiratory changes but they were within an acceptable range for healthy animals during the surgical period. Conclusions and relevance The two combinations administered via epidural allowed ovariohysterectomy with sufficient analgesia in cats, and both induced prolonged postoperative analgesia.
Social Networking in Online Support Groups for Health: How Online Social Networking Benefits Patients

An increasing number of online support groups (OSGs) have embraced the features of social networking. So far, little is known about how patients use and benefit from these features. By implementing the uses-and-gratifications framework, the author conducted an online survey with current users of OSGs to examine associations among motivation, use of specific features of OSG, and support outcomes. Findings suggest that OSG users make selective use of varied features depending on their needs, and that perceptions of receiving emotional and informational support are associated more with the use of some features than others. For example, those with strong motivation for social interaction use diverse features of OSG and make one-to-one connections with other users by friending. In contrast, those with strong motivation for information seeking limit their use primarily to discussion boards. Results also show that online social networking features, such as friending and sharing of personal stories on blogs, are helpful in satisfying the need for emotional support. The present study sheds light on online social networking features in the context of health-related OSGs and provides practical lessons on how to improve the capacity of OSGs to serve the needs of their users.
Contact voltage measured in residences: Implications to the association between magnetic fields and childhood leukemia

We measured magnetic fields and two sources of contact current in 36 homes in Pittsfield, MA. The first source, VP–W, is the voltage due to current in the grounding wire, which extends from the service panel neutral to the water service line. This voltage can cause contact current to flow upon simultaneous contact with a metallic part of the water system, such as the faucet, and the frame of an appliance, which is connected to the panel neutral through the equipment‐grounding conductor. The second is VW–E, the voltage between the water pipe and earth, attributable to ground currents in the water system and magnetic induction from nearby power lines. In homes with conductive water systems and drains, VW–E can produce a voltage between the faucet and drain, which may produce contact current into an individual contacting the faucet while immersed in a bathtub. VP–W was not strongly correlated to the magnetic field (both log transformed) (r = 0.28; P < 0.1). On the other hand, VW–E was correlated to the residential magnetic field (both log transformed) (r = 0.54; P < 0.001), with the highest voltages occurring in homes near high voltage transmission lines, most likely due to magnetic induction on the grounding system. This correlation, combined with both frequent exposure opportunity for bathing children and substantial dose to bone marrow resulting from contact, lead us to suggest that contact current due to VW–E could explain the association between high residential magnetic fields and childhood leukemia. Bioelectromagnetics 23:464–474, 2002. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Image Matting via LLE/iLLE Manifold Learning

Accurately extracting foreground objects is the problem of isolating the foreground in images and video, called image matting which has wide applications in digital photography. This problem is severely ill-posed in the sense that, at each pixel, one must estimate the foreground and background pixels and the so-called alpha value from only pixel information. The most recent work in natural image matting rely on local smoothness assumptions about foreground and background colours on which a cost function has been established. In this paper, we propose an extension to the class of affinity based matting techniques by incorporating local manifold structural information to produce both a smoother matte based on the socalled improved Locally Linear Embedding. We illustrate our new algorithm using the standard benchmark images and very comparable results have been obtained.
Unions of rectifiable curves in Euclidean space and the covering number of the meagre ideal

Abstract To any metric space it is possible to associate the cardinal invariant corresponding to the least number of rectifiable curves in the space whose union is not meagre. It is shown that this invariant can vary with the metric space considered, even when restricted to the class of convex subspaces of separable Banach spaces. As a corollary it is obtained that it is consistent with set theory that any set of reals of size ℵ1 is meagre yet there are ℵ1 rectifiable curves in ℝ3 whose union is not meagre. The consistency of this statement when the phrase “rectifiable curves” is replaced by “straight lines” remains open.
Potential methods to prevent interstitial fibrosis in renal disease

Almost all forms of end stage renal disease (ESRD) are characterised by progressive interstitital fibrosis and tubular atrophy. Since most forms of chronic renal failure are initiated by inflammatory processes, anti-inflammatory strategies can be successful, if initiated early, in preventing progression of the disease process. Unfortunately, in most cases the disease is only detected clinically following robust progression of interstitial fibrosis. In these patients, control of secondary risk factors, such as hypertension and hyperglycaemia, can slow the progression rate but cannot stop the process completely. Certainly, ACE inhibitors remain the mainstay of preserving renal function. However, additional therapies are needed for the effective treatment of progressive renal fibrosis. A number of compounds have shown some very potent antifibrotic properties in vitro and in vivo, and are currently undergoing further evaluation. This review discusses the most promising among them. However, few of the therapeutic agents discussed here have been tested clinically. Studies evaluating the potential of a number of these have just commenced whereas for many others clinical use is still many years away. However, some very promising reagents may enhance our clinical arsenal within a relatively short period of time.
STUDY hat to wear today ? Effect of doctor ’ s attire n the trust and confidence of patients

PURPOSE: There are very few studies about the impact of physicians’ attire on patients’ confidence and trust. The objective of this study was to determine whether the way a doctor dresses is an important factor in the degree of trust and confidence among respondents. METHODS: A cross-sectional descriptive study using survey methodology was conducted of patients and visitors in the waiting room of an internal medicine outpatient clinic. Respondents completed a written survey after reviewing pictures of physicians in four different dress styles. Respondents were asked questions related to their preference for physician dress as well as their trust and willingness to discuss sensitive issues. RESULTS: Four hundred respondents with a mean age of 52.4 years were enrolled; 54% were men, 58% were white, 38% were African-American, and 43% had greater than a high school diploma. On all questions regarding physician dress style preferences, respondents significantly favored the professional attire with white coat (76.3%, P .0001), followed by surgical scrubs (10.2%), business dress (8.8%), and casual dress (4.7%). Their trust and confidence was significantly associated with their preference for professional dress (P .0001). Respondents also reported that they were significantly more willing to share their social, sexual, and psychological problems with the physician who is professionally dressed (P .0001). The importance of physician’s appearance was ranked similarly between male and female respondents (P .54); however, female physicians’ dress appeared to be significantly more important to respondents than male physicians’ dress (P .001). CONCLUSION: Respondents overwhelmingly favor physicians in professional attire with a white coat. Wearing professional dress (ie, a white coat with more formal attire) while providing patient care by physicians may favorably influence trust and confidence-building in the medical encounter. © 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.