Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Referral of intravenous drug users for antiviral treatment: effectiveness of hepatitis C case-finding programmes.

BACKGROUND Hepatitis C infection (HCI) case-finding programmes aim to identify infected persons in a well-defined population. This study assessed the effectiveness of three HCI case-finding programmes for intravenous drug users by examining the rate of their referral to antiviral treatment. METHODS The Hepatology Outpatient Clinic of Szent László Hospital examines and treats all intravenous drug users who are found positive in HCI case-finding programmes in Budapest. The medical records of patients who visited the Hepatology Outpatient Clinic of Szent László Hospital between 1 January 2006 and 31 December 2008 were screened and records indicating a history of drug abuse were selected. These records were matched against the databases of the hepatitis case-finding programmes and the records that appeared in both datasets were analyzed. RESULTS Of the 234 intravenous drug users identified as hepatitis C virus positive in the Budapest case-finding programmes, only 21 attended the Hepatology Outpatient Clinic of Szent László Hospital and only two started antiviral treatment, but their hepatitis C virus positive status had already been known at the time of screening. CONCLUSION In this study, not a single patient with drug abuse whose hepatitis C virus positive status was identified in one of the HCI case-finding programmes was referred for antiviral treatment.
Ultrasound-guided femoro-sciatic nerve block for post-operative analgesia after below knee orthopaedic surgeries under subarachnoid block: Comparison between clonidine and dexmedetomidine as adjuvants to levobupivacaine

Background and Aims: The advent of ultrasonographic-guided techniques has led to increased interest in femoro-sciatic nerve block (FSNB) for lower limb surgeries. α2-agonists have been used recently as adjuvants to local anaesthetics in nerve blocks. We aimed to compare equal doses of clonidine or dexmedetomidine as an adjuvant to levobupivacaine in FSNB for post-operative analgesia. Methods: Ninety patients scheduled to undergo below knee orthopaedic surgeries under subarachnoid block were divided into three groups: Group LL (n = 30) patients received 38 mL of 0.125% levobupivacaine with 2 mL normal saline, Group LD (n = 30) patients received 38 mL of 0.125% levobupivacaine with 0.5 μg/kg dexmedetomidine and Group LC (n = 30) received 38 mL of 0.125% levobupivacaine with 0.5 μg/kg clonidine in saline to make total drug volume of 40 mL. The primary and secondary outcome variables were duration of analgesia and rescue analgesic requirement, verbal rating score respectively. Continuous variables were analysed with analysis of variance or the Kruskal–Wallis test on the basis of data distribution. Categorical variables were analysed with the contingency table analysis and the Fisher's exact test. Results: Duration of analgesia was prolonged with dexmedetomidine (10.17 ± 2.40 h) and clonidine (7.31 ± 1.76 h) as compared to control (4.16 ± 1.04 h, P= 0.00). Significantly lower pain scores were observed in dexmedetomidine group as compared to clonidine up to 8 h post-operatively. Conclusion: Equal doses of clonidine or dexmedetomidine added to levobupivacaine prolonged the duration of analgesia, decreased requirement of rescue analgesia. Dexmedetomidine delays the requirement of rescue analgesics with better pain scores as compared to clonidine.
The Tigray Identity and The Paradox in the Securitization of the Oromo and Amhara Identities in Ethiopia

Tigray’s ethnic nationality is the minority identity in the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), a coalition of four political parties under the leadership of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF). For decades, the ruling party has governed by pitting the Oromo and Amhara against one another. Accordingly, the Oromo-Amhara solidarity is the greatest threat to the Ethiopian government. Within the framework of the Copenhagen school, we analyzed the securitization of the two majority identities. This essay is split into two sections. The first examines why and how the Oromo and Amhara identities have been securitized by the dominant force of TPLF within the governing EPRDF coalition. The second section examines the implications and consequences of this securitization. I argue that the securitization, while a natural choice in many respects, has perhaps been detrimental to the overall security of the Ethiopia's Tigray-dominated government that perceives the Oromo and Amhara as a serious threat to Ethiopia's leadership. The TPLF Political Party as the Securitizing Actor As an authoritarian government and noncompetitively elected party state, the TPLF led government is deeply concerned with issues of legitimacy, and assert that it has the right to rule all those within its borders. Although the TPLF established the EPRDF in order to gain a national base and legitimacy in Ethiopia, it never lost its minority identification, and this has always been a source of insecurity (Tadesse, & Young, 2003). The EPRDF is therefore left with a dilemma – being an umbrella of ethno-national fronts of which the TPLF forms 6% of the ethnic portion, but it is the dominant political force of the country. On such a dubious platform of legitimacy and as the leaders of a ‘minority,’ the TPLF “either does not have, or has failed to create, a domestic political and social consensus of sufficient strength to eliminate the large-scale use of force” (Buzan, 1983, p. 94). If they are to remain in power, the TPLF clearly needs to build on this position because of the importance of “national identity and social cohesion in terms of the degree to which the population identifies with the nation-state and to accept its legitimate role in their lives” (Jackson, 2007, p. 203) The EPRDF therefore has to both appear inclusive while simultaneously promoting “the ANDM [Amhara National Democratic Movement], OPDO [Oromo People Democratic Organization] and the SEPDM [Southern Ethiopian People's Democratic Movement] to the vanguard of the people of the People’s Republic” (Ashine, 2012) as this is where its main volume of support comes from. However, the EPRDF’s ethnic policy has empowered some groups but has not been accompanied by dialogue and reconciliation. Real power in Ethiopia is in the hands of the TPLF. The other parties in the governing collisions are puppets,
The Postoperative Interview: Assessing Risk Factors for Nausea and Vomiting

Most studies of postoperative nausea and vomiting have concentrated on single etiologic factors and have not detailed the method of assessing these symptoms. This study used postoperative interview data from patients at four teaching hospitals during 1988–89, to determine 1) risk factors for nausea/vomiting, 2) whether the type of surgery affected the rate of nausea/vomiting among female patients, 3) whether differences in rates across hospitals were due to differences in patient case-mix, and 4) whether there were differences in the rate of nausea/vomiting among the patients of individual anesthesiologists. Research nurses performed 16,000 interviews (59% of all inpatients) from a closed-question standardized format. With a multiple logistic regression that controlled simultaneously for all risk factors, factors associated with increased risk for nausea/vomiting for all patients included younger age, female, lower physical status score, no preoperative medical conditions, nonsmokers, elective procedures, longer duration of anesthesia, inhaled anesthetics, use of intraoperative opioids, and gynecologic or ophthalmologic operations. Among women, risk factors were similar, with minor gynecologic surgery associated with increased risk (relative odds = 2.30). We found marked variations in the rate of nausea/vomiting across hospitals (range, 39% to 73%), and these variations were not explained by the case-mix of patients. The rate of nausea/vomiting varied substantially across anesthesiologists in each hospital and the differences were not explained by differences in the patients they managed. Thus in the time period immediately preceding the introduction of newer antiemetic drugs, we found that the rates of this common problem were persistently high as perceived from the patients' point of view.
Estimating the Heterogeneous Welfare Effects of Choice Architecture

We develop a method that embeds signals about consumers&#8217; knowledge to evaluate prospective choice architecture policies. We analyze three proposals for U.S. Medicare prescription drug insurance markets: (i) menu restrictions, (ii) personalized information, and (iii) defaulting consumers to cheap plans. We link administrative and survey data to identify informed enrollment decisions that proxy for preferences of observationally similar misinformed consumers. Results suggest that each policy yields winners and losers, with the menu restrictions harmful to most but personalized information beneficial to most. These results are robust across signals of consumers&#8217; knowledge but differ from the benchmark that excludes such signals.
Overview of Mechanisms of Action of Lycopene

Dietary intakes of tomatoes and tomato products containing lycopene have been shown to be associated with decreased risk of chronic diseases such as cancer and cardiovascular diseases in numerous studies. Serum and tissue lycopene levels have also been inversely related to the risk of lung and prostate cancers. Lycopene functions as a very potent antioxidant, and this is clearly a major important mechanism of lycopene action. In this regard, lycopene can trap singlet oxygen and reduce mutagenesis in the Ames test. However, evidence is accumulating for other mechanisms as well. Lycopene at physiological concentrations can inhibit human cancer cell growth by interfering with growth factor receptor signaling and cell cycle progression specifically in prostate cancer cells without evidence of toxic effects or apoptosis of cells. Studies using human and animal cells have identified a gene, connexin 43, whose expression is upregulated by lycopene and which allows direct intercellular gap junctional communication (GJC). GJC is deficient in many human tumors and its restoration or upregulation is associated with decreased proliferation. The combination of low concentrations of lycopene with 1, 25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 exhibits a synergistic effect on cell proliferation and differentiation and an additive effect on cell cycle progression in the HL-60 promyelocyte leukemia cell line, suggesting some interaction at a nuclear or subcellular level. The combination of lycopene and lutein synergistically interact as antioxidants, and this may relate to specific positioning of different carotenoids in membranes. This review will focus on the growing body of evidence that carotenoids have unexpected biologic effects in experimental systems, some of which may contribute to their cancer preventive properties in models of carcinogenesis. Consideration of solubility In vitro, comparison with doses achieved in humans by dietary means, interactions with other phytochemicals, and other potential mechanisms such as stimulation of xenoblotic metabolism, inhibition of cholesterogenesis, modulation of cyclooxygenase pathways, and inhibition of inflammation will be considered. This review will point out areas for future research where more evidence is needed on the effects of lycopene on the etiology of chronic disease.
Frigen II improves the reliability of measurement of interleukin‐1 related substances in amniotic fluid

BACKGROUND To investigate the role of interleukin-1 related substances in amniotic fluid in normal term labor without intrauterine infection. METHODS Amniotic fluid samples were collected from forty-one patients with various backgrounds. A novel pre-assay treatment using Frigen II was introduced to improve the recovery rates of cytokines, i.e., interleukin-1alpha, interleukin-1beta and interleukin-1 receptor antagonist, prior to ELISA assay. Urine samples from newborn infants were also tested. RESULTS The concentrations of interleukin-1alpha, interleukin-1beta and interleukin-1ra were significantly higher in samples from normal vaginal delivery. The higher levels of interleukin-1alpha were also observed in samples from preterm labor without infection. Preterm infants produced more of interleukin-1 receptor antagonist in urine compared with term infants. CONCLUSIONS This study provides evidence of the possible involvement of interleukin-1 related substances in labor without signs of infection. The data from newborn urine suggests that amniotic interleukin-1ra originates from the fetus. However, amniotic fluid interleukin-1alpha and interleukin-1beta may be derived from maternal tissue, such as decidua.
Are there future psychiatrists among medical students in Croatia? The role of premedical and medical factors on career choice in psychiatry

Abstract Despite the high prevalence of mental disorders, a worldwide shortage of psychiatrists exists. Moreover, the number of students interested in choosing psychiatry as their future profession is low and psychiatry is frequently regarded as one of the least wanted medical specializations. We report the findings of a cross-sectional quantitative survey of final year Croatian medical students as part of the International Survey of Student Career Choice in Psychiatry (ISoSCCiP). The questionnaire consisted of three sections: socio-demographic factors, psychiatric education during medical school, and attitudes and personality characteristics. Out of 200 students, 122 completed the questionnaire (response rate 61%). The overall student evaluation of the compulsory psychiatry curriculum was ‘average’. Significantly higher ratings were reported by students who attended special psychiatry teaching modules, or felt more involved in the teaching of the subject. Poor evaluation of medical school psychiatric education significantly increased the likelihood of not choosing psychiatry as a future career. The choice of psychiatry was also predicted by attitudes towards psychiatry and by personal characteristics. In conclusion, student ratings of medical school psychiatric education and involvement in teaching appear to influence choice towards psychiatry. Addressing these issues may increase the number of students motivated to pursue psychiatry as their future career choice.
Frequency and risk factors of asymptomatic bacteriuria during pregnancy.

OBJECTIVE To determine the frequency and risk factors of asymptomatic bacteriuria during pregnancy. DESIGN Cross-sectional study. PLACE AND DURATION OF STUDY Satellite Town and Behari Colony, Bahawalpur from October 2001 to March 2002. PATIENTS AND METHODS There were 3000 houses in Satellite Town and Behari Colony, Bahawalpur. Taking 40% of total, 1200 houses were selected by systemic random sampling. Pregnant residents of these houses were included in the study. Data collected was coded, computed and analyzed on SPSS version 10. Frequencies were runned and chi-square test was used as test of significance. RESULTS Five hundred and eighty women, fulfilling the inclusion criteria, were interviewed and tested for bacteriuria. Out of them, 4% were below 20 years, 4.6% were between 20-30 years and 5.4% women aged above 30 years (p=0.103). Regarding parity 3.18 % of primigravidae and 6.04 % multigravida had bacteriuria (p=0.0039). Regarding socioeconomic status, 6.45% from lower class and 2.5% from middle and upper middle class were the sufferer (p=0.0039). Prevalence was 6.64% among uneducated and 3.06% among educated women (p=0.0039). As for past history, 35.7% of women had an episode previously (p=0.001). No association was found with anaemia. CONCLUSION Asymptomatic bacteriuria is a common infection during pregnancy, having strong association with multiparity, lower socioeconomic status and illiteracy.
Hybrid Neoliberalism: Implications for Sustainable Development

Abstract Neoliberalism is frequently blamed for challenges in achieving sustainable development; consequently some also question if sustainability is still a useful concept. Neoliberal influence on natural resource management has evolved over the last 30 years to a hybrid form that seeks to compensate for its negative social and environmental externalities. Through review of literature and critical analysis of three case studies of resource development in Australia and New Zealand, we argue that, in spite of modifications under hybrid approaches, neoliberalism still tests achievement of sustainability goals, due to privileging industry and shifting risk and costs to future generations, through inadequate regulation, neglect of public consultation, lack of transparency, and weak impact assessment. We suggest that while neoliberal approaches bring both benefits and disadvantages, sustainability principles must continue to be kept at the forefront of legislation, regulation and management.
Going Green For Friends, Family Or Community?: How Different Levels of Subject Norms and Identity Influence Green Behavior

Going green for friends, family or community? This paper explores the interacting effect of evoked identity and subjective norms on green behavior. The present research demonstrates that when personal identity is evoked, subjective norms will not have an influential role on green behavior. In contrast, when the social identity is evoked, norms will present a great importance on behavior. However, we demonstrate that this influence depends on the subjective norms level. In contrast with previous research, we found that collective (vs. relational) social norms were more influential on the green behavior, increasing the use of recycled paper.
Panax notoginseng saponin attenuates hypoxia/reoxygenation-induced oxidative stress in cortical neurons

The present study monitored the effect of 2, 10, and 50 mg/L of Panax notoginseng saponin exposure following hypoxia-reoxygenation injury in fetal rat cortical neurons. Results showed that varying doses of Panax notoginseng saponin significantly enhanced the cell viability of neurons, reduced malondialdehyde content, increased superoxide dismutase activity, inhibited mRNA and protein expression of inducible and neuronal nitric oxide synthase, and decreased the release of nitric oxide in hypoxia/reoxygenation injured cells. In particular, 50 mg/L of Panax notoginseng saponin was the most effective dose. These findings suggest that Panax notoginseng saponin can attenuate neuronal oxidative stress injury caused by hypoxia/reoxygenation in a dose-dependent manner.
Management of primary sclerosing cholangitis

PREAMBLE Guidelines for clinical practice are intended to indicate preferred approaches to medical problems as established by scientifically valid research. Double blind, placebo-controlled studies are preferable, but reports and expert review articles are also utilized in a thorough review of the literature conducted through the National Library of Medicine's MEDLINE. When only data that will not withstand objective scrutiny are available, a recommendation is identified as a consensus of experts. Guidelines are applicable to all physicians who address the subject, without regard to specialty training or interests, and are intended to indicate the preferable but not necessarily the only acceptable approach to a specific problem. Guidelines are intended to be flexible and must be distinguished from standards of care that are inflexible and rarely violated. Given the wide range of specifics in any health care problem, the physician must always choose the course best suited to the individual patient and the variables in existence at the moment of decision. Guidelines are developed under the auspices of the American College of Gastroenterology and its Practice Parameters Committee and approved by the Board of Trustees. Each has been intensely reviewed and revised by the Committee, other experts in the field, physicians who will use them, and specialists in the science of decision of analysis. The recommendations of each guideline are therefore considered valid at the time of their production based on the data available. New developments in medical research and practice pertinent to each guideline will be reviewed at an established time and indicated at publication to assure continued validity.
Caries-risk factors for Hispanic children affected by early childhood caries.

PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to examine factors associated with early childhood caries (ECC) and to develop a profile of risk factors for Hispanic families affected by this condition. METHODS Sixty Hispanic families with at least 1 child affected by ECC and 60 Hispanic families without any affected children were included in the study. Data was collected using a parent-completed questionnaire which gathered information about family demographics, dental care and hygiene practices, and feeding practices of the children. RESULTS Parents in families without ECC were significantly more likely to have visited the dentist recently and the children were less likely to sleep while feeding compared to families with an ECC-affected child. Within families affected by ECC, siblings with ECC were significantly more likely to use the bottle and to sleep while feeding compared with their siblings without ECC. Fifty-five percent of the subject families had more than 1 child affected by ECC. However, odds ratios did not indicate an increased risk of ECC among younger siblings in the presence of affected older siblings. CONCLUSIONS The current study, while supporting the long-held belief that feeding practices influence the susceptibility and course of ECC, demonstrates the role of other nonfeeding practices.
&Dgr;9-Tetrahydrocannabinol-like discriminative stimulus effects of compounds commonly found in K2/Spice

A number of cannabinoid compounds are being sold in the form of incense as ‘legal’ alternatives to marijuana. The purpose of these experiments was to determine whether the most common of these compounds have discriminative stimulus effects similar to &Dgr;9-tetrahydrocannabinol (&Dgr;9-THC), the main active component in marijuana. Locomotor depressant effects of JWH-018, JWH-073, JWH-200, JWH-203, JWH-250, AM-2201, and CP 47,497-C8-homolog were tested in mice. The compounds were then tested for substitution in rats trained to discriminate &Dgr;9-THC (3 mg/kg, intraperitoneally). The time course of the peak dose of each compound was also tested. Each of the synthetic cannabinoids dose-dependently decreased locomotor activity for 1–2 h. Each of the compounds fully substituted for the discriminative stimulus effects of &Dgr;9-THC, mostly at doses that produced only marginal amounts of rate suppression. JWH-250 and CP 47,497-C8-homolog suppressed response rates at doses that fully substituted for &Dgr;9-THC. The time courses varied markedly between compounds. Most of the compounds had a shorter onset than &Dgr;9-THC, and the effects of three of the compounds lasted substantially longer (JWH-073, JWH-250, and CP 47,497-C8-homolog). Several of the most commonly used synthetic cannabinoids produce behavioral effects comparable with those of &Dgr;9-THC, which suggests that these compounds may share the psychoactive effects of marijuana responsible for abuse liability. The extremely long time course of the discriminative stimulus effects and adverse effects of CP 47,497-C8-homolog suggest that CP 47,497-C8-homolog may be associated with increased hazards among humans.