Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Computed tomographic angiography for the diagnosis of blunt cervical vascular injury: is it ready for primetime?

INTRODUCTION Although the reported sensitivity of computed tomographic angiography (CTA) for the diagnosis of blunt cervical vascular injury (BCVI) has been inadequate, we hypothesized that advances in computed tomographic technology have improved the diagnostic sensitivity of CTA at least to that of invasive catheter angiography (CA). METHODS Data from all patients at risk for BCVI presenting to a Level I trauma center were collected prospectively. Each patient was evaluated with CTA and these findings were confirmed with standard catheter arteriograms (CA). RESULTS Over 11 months, 162 patients were at risk for BCVI. In all, 146 patients received both CTA and CA. Forty-six BCVIs were identified among 43 patients. In 45 of 46 cases (98%), the results of CTA and CA were concordant. There was a single false-negative CTA in a patient with a grade I vertebral artery injury (VAI). The remaining 103 patients had normal CTAs confirmed by a normal CA. The overall sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and accuracy of CTA for the diagnosis of BCVI were 97.7%, 100%, 100%, 99.3%, and 99.3%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS CTA, using a 16-channel detector, can be used to accurately screen at-risk patients for BCVI.
Human fear acquisition deficits in relation to genetic variants of the corticotropin‐releasing hormone receptor 1 and the serotonin transporter — revisited

We recently showed that a genetic polymorphism (rs878886) in the human corticotropin‐releasing hormone receptor 1 (CRHR1) is associated with reduced fear‐conditioned responses to a threat cue. This is a potentially important finding considering that the failure to acquire fear contingencies can leave an individual in a maladaptive state of more generalized anxiety. Consistent with that idea, the CRHR1‐dependent fear acquisition deficit translated into heightened contextual anxiety when taking genetic variability within the serotonin transporter long polymorphic region (5‐HTTLPR) into account. To replicate our previous findings, we conducted a replication study in 224 healthy medication‐free human subjects using the exact same cue and context virtual reality fear‐conditioning procedure as in study by Heitland et al. (2013). In the replication study, consistent with the original findings, CRHR1 rs878886 G‐allele carriers showed reduced acquisition of cue‐specific fear‐conditioned responses compared with C/C homozygotes. Also, in this larger sample the cue acquisition deficit of G‐allele carriers translated into heightened contextual anxiety, even independent of 5‐HTT gene variation. In contrast to our earlier findings, there was an additional interaction effect of CRHR1 rs878886 and the triallelic 5‐HTTLPR/rs25531 variant on cued fear acquisition. In summary, this study replicated the initially reported association of the CRHR1 rs878886 G‐allele with cued fear acquisition deficits, albeit with a different pattern of results regarding the interaction with 5‐HTT variation. This further supports the notion that the human corticotropin‐releasing hormone plays a role in the acquisition of fears.
Cognitive behaviour therapy in addition to antispasmodic treatment for irritable bowel syndrome in primary care: randomised controlled trial

Abstract Objective To assess the efficacy of cognitive behaviour therapy delivered in primary care for treating irritable bowel syndrome. Design Randomised controlled trial. Setting 10 general practices in London. Participants 149 patients with moderate or severe irritable bowel syndrome resistant to the antispasmodic mebeverine. Interventions Cognitive behaviour therapy delivered by trained primary care nurses plus 270 mg mebeverine taken thrice daily compared with mebeverine treatment alone. Main outcome measures Primary measures were patients' scores on the irritable bowel syndrome symptom severity scale. Secondary measures were scores on the work and social adjustment scale and the hospital anxiety and depression scale. Results Of 334 referred patients, 72 were randomised to mebeverine plus cognitive behaviour therapy and 77 to mebeverine alone. Cognitive behaviour therapy had considerable initial benefit on symptom severity compared with mebeverine alone, with a mean reduction in score of 68 points (95% confidence interval 103 to 33), with the benefit persisting at three months and six months after therapy (mean reductions 71 points (109 to 32) and 11 points (20 to 3)) but not later. Cognitive behaviour therapy also showed significant benefit on the work and social adjustment scale that was still present 12 months after therapy (mean reduction 2.8 points (5.2 to 0.4)), but had an inconsistent effect on the hospital anxiety and depression scale. Conclusion Cognitive behaviour therapy delivered by primary care nurses offered additional benefit over mebeverine alone up to six months, although the effect had waned by 12 months. Such therapy may be useful for certain patients with irritable bowel syndrome in primary care.
Granulocyte colony stimulating factor does not induce long‐term DNA instability in healthy peripheral blood stem cell donors

To establish the safety of using G‐CSF in healthy PBSC donors, we prospectively determined the degree of DNA destabilization in peripheral blood WBC. Donors were treated with SC G‐CSF for 5 days. A baseline sample of peripheral blood was collected before G‐CSF treatment and consecutive samples were collected on day 5, 1 month, and 2 months after treatment. The extent of double‐stranded DNA relaxation and de novo synthesis of DNA was determined in each sample. We found that both parameters of DNA destabilization were significantly increased after 5 days of G‐CSF and returned to baseline level at 1 and 2 months. We assume that these findings suggest that rhG‐CSF administration to healthy PBSCT donors for 5 days may be a safe procedure. Am. J. Hematol. 73:33–36, 2003. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Air quality monitoring for sustainable systems via drone based technology

We propose a novel system that collects air sampling field data for a given location in 3D space. A drone mounted with relevant components for air quality measuring is deployed. Data collected from the system will be efficiently transmitted to the storing and monitoring devices. Knowledge of existing air pollutants levels and patterns are taken into consideration in order to analyse a given situation. Data will be stored in cloud storage for further analysis and record keeping. Results show the effectiveness of the proposed methodology.
The prognostic value and relationships of patient characteristics, estrogen and progestin receptors, and site of relapse in primary breast cancer

Estrogen and progestin receptor levels (ER and PgR) in tumors from 506 patients with primary breast cancer diagnosed in 1979, 1980, and 1981 were measured by a Scatchard plot analysis. At a median follow‐up time of 3.5 years the prognostic value of the receptor levels was evaluated and compared with other tumor and patient characteristics. No relation was found between receptor levels and tumor, lymph node, metastasis (TNM) classification or location of the primary tumor. A significant positive rank correlation was observed between ER and PgR levels (rs = 0.57) and between ER level and age of the patients (rs = 0.39, P < 0.001). The observed association between ER level and menopause status could not be maintained after correction for age. Independent prognostic factors for overall survival were tumor size (P = 0.002), the number of positive lymph nodes (P < 0.001), age at primary surgery (P < 0.001), the PgR level of the tumor (P < 0.001), but not ER level. Independent prognostic factors for relapse were tumor size (P = 0.003), number of positive lymph nodes (P < 0.001), age (P = 0.006), menopause status (P = 0.02), PgR level (P = 0.007), but not ER level. Finally, for death rate after relapse the following prognosticators were identified: size of the primary tumor (P = 0.03), number of positive lymph nodes (P = 0.03), age (P = 0.003), site of relapse (P < 0.001), ER level (P = 0.02), and PgR level (P = 0.04). Patients with tumors containing low positive PgR levels (10 to 20 fmol/mg protein) had a slightly better prognosis than patients with PgR‐negative tumors. It is concluded that the PgR level of the primary tumor is a better prognosticator than the ER level. The ER offered no additional ability for discriminating between low‐ and high‐risk patients once PgR was included in the model. In contrast, PgR was capable of improving on the discriminating ability of ER. In addition, patients with tumors containing both PgR and ER showed the best prognosis. Therefore, it is recommended that ER and PgR should be assayed in all breast cancer biopsies.
A study of the competitiveness of the most important compact automotive vehicles manufactured in Brazil

This article describes the methodology and the results of a qualitative empirical research carried out to identify the determinants of competitiveness of the most important compact automotive vehicles produced by the four major car manufacturers operating in Brazil: Fiat, Ford, General Motors and Volkswagen. The methodology chosen was the one recommended by the fields and weapons of the competition model, because it is both qualitative and quantitative, and also because it very clearly represents the competitive business and operational strategies of companies. The results confirmed the hypothesis that were validated by Popper’s deductive method: 1) there is no statistically significant differences between the fields of competition chosen for the more competitive automotive vehicles and those chosen for the less competitive ones, once they all compete primarily on design, quality and price of product; 2) the focus (the mathematical variable that measures the alignment of the weapons of the competition with the fields of the competition selected for each vehicle) explains why a certain automotive vehicle is more competitive compared to the other.
Effect of vaccination with recombinant modified vaccinia virus Ankara expressing structural and regulatory genes of SIVmacJ5 on the kinetics of SIV replication in cynomolgus monkeys

The efficacy of a multicomponent vaccination with modified vaccinia Ankara constructs (rMVA) expressing structural and regulatory genes of simian immunodeficiency virus (SIVmac251/32H/J5) was investigated in cynomolgus monkeys, following challenge with a pathogenic SIV. Vaccination with rMVA‐J5 performed at week 0, 12, and 24 induced a moderate proliferative response to whole SIV, a detectable humoral response to all but Nef SIV antigens, and failed to induce neutralizing antibodies. Two months after the last boost, the monkeys were challenged intravenously with 50 MID50 of SIVmac251. All control monkeys, previously inoculated with non‐recombinant MVA, were infected by week two and seroconverted by weeks four to eight. In contrast a sharp increase of both humoral and proliferative responses at two weeks post‐challenge was observed in vaccinated monkeys compared to control monkeys. Although all vaccinated monkeys were infected, vaccination with rMVA‐J5 appeared to partially control viral replication during the acute and late phase of infection as judged by cell‐ and plasma‐associated viral load.
Development and Investigation of Thermal Devices on Fully Porous Silicon Substrates

For thermal sensors and devices, porous silicon is a comparably novel alternative to standard materials such as thin glass substrates or silicon nitride membranes. These materials are primarily characterized by their thermal conductivity and heat capacity, as well as temperature stability and mechanical fragility. In this paper, we present details of the porous silicon technology for full wafer porosification as well as static and dynamic device and material characterization. The reduction of thermal conductivity is estimated with the dynamic 3ω technique and compared with pure silicon and silica glass wafers. Thin film microheaters have been deposited on the samples as proof of concept for the characterization and comparison of thermal insulation, heat capacity, as well as thermal and mechanical stability.
Molecular imprinted polymers as drug delivery vehicles

Abstract This review is aimed to discuss the molecular imprinted polymer (MIP)-based drug delivery systems (DDS). Molecular imprinted polymers have proved to possess the potential and also as a suitable material in several areas over a long period of time. However, only recently it has been employed for pharmaceuticals and biomedical applications, particularly as drug delivery vehicles due to properties including selective recognition generated from imprinting the desired analyte, favorable in harsh experimental conditions, and feedback-controlled recognitive drug release. Hence, this review will discuss their synthesis, the reason they are selected as drug delivery vehicles and for their applications in several drug administration routes (i.e. transdermal, ocular and gastrointestinal or stimuli-reactive routes).
TcRαβ-depleted haploidentical transplantation results in adult acute leukemia patients

ABSTRACT Introduction: The use of αβ+ T-cell-depleted grafts is a novel approach to prevent graft failure, graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), and non-relapse mortality (NRM) in patients undergoing haploidentical hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Patient and method: Thirty-four patients with acute leukemia and lacking a match donor were treated with αβ T-cell-depleted allografts from haploidentical family donors. A total of 24 patients had acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and 10 had acute lymphoblastic leukemia. 84.4% of patients were in the high-risk group, and 55.9% were not in remission. The preparative regimen included thiotepa, melphalan, fludarabine, and anti-thymocyte globulin-Fresenius. Grafts were peripheral blood stem cells engineered by TcR-alpha/beta depletion. Results: Neutrophil and platelet engraftment was achieved on days +12 (range, 10.5–15) and +11 (range, 10–12). All but three patients were engrafted with full donor chimerism. Grade III-IV acute GVHD occurred in two (5.9%) patients and chronic GVHD in two (6.1%). Disease-free survival and overall survival were 42 and 54% at 1 year, respectively. AML as disease type (HR: 4.87, 95% CI: 1.50–15.87) and mother as donor (HR: 1.05, 95% CI: 1.00–1.11) were found to be independent risk factors on patient survival. Mortality and NRM in the first 100 days were 5 of 34 (14.7%) and 4 of 34 (11.7%). Relapse was the main cause of death (56.3%). T-cell reconstitution appears to be faster than that reported in published data with CD3/CD19-depleted grafts. Conclusion: αβ T-cell-depleted haploidentical transplantation may be a good alternative for high-risk patients if there are no human leukocyte antigen matched donors.
Cattle-to-cattle transmission of bovine tuberculosis.

In developed countries, Mycobacterium bovis infection in cattle is now mostly confined to the respiratory system, which reflects transmission and establishment of infection mainly by this route. A single bacillus transported within a droplet nucleus is probably sufficient to establish infection within the bovine lung. Infected cattle should always be considered as potential sources of infection, since studies have demonstrated that a significant proportion of tuberculous cattle excrete M. bovis. In general, the dynamics of M. bovis transmission are poorly understood and the conditions under which a tuberculous animal becomes an effective disseminator of infection are currently not defined although environmental contamination appears to be a less effective method of disease transmission. Field studies indicate a wide spectrum of transmission rates but generally the spread of M. bovis infection is still considered to be a relatively slow process. Slaughter of diseased cattle detected by tuberculin testing and at meat plant inspection has been shown to be an effective policy for tuberculosis eradication, provided there are no other reservoirs of infection and all involved in the cattle industry are committed to a policy of eradication. Epidemiological approaches, particularly case-control studies, seem to provide the best method for quantifying the relative importance of the various sources of M. bovis transmission to cattle and modelling techniques can be used to assist in the design of cost-effective control measures that may lead to tuberculosis eradication.
B‐cell chronic lymphocytic leukaemia cells show specific changes in membrane protein expression during different stages of cell cycle

The proliferating component in chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) is usually small (<1%) and restricted to a specific micro‐environmental niche. To characterize the proliferating component, CLL cells from bone marrow or lymph nodes of 23 patients were assessed for expression of up to 66 surface antigens in combination with nuclear Ki‐67/MCM6. Ki‐67 expression was associated with step‐wise increases in CD23/CD95/CD86/CD39/CD27 and decreases in CD24/CD69/CXCR4/CXCR5. Ki‐67+ cells showed increased CD38 expression, but with considerable inter‐patient variability: in some cases Ki‐67 expression was only detectable in CD38− CLL cells. The results suggest continuous re‐entry into the cell cycle as no distinct stem cell pool was detectable.
Differential Pituitary Gene Expression Profiles Associated- To Aging and Spontaneous Tumors as Revealed by cDNA Expression Array.

Aging of the rat pituitary is often accompanied by the occurrence of adenomas. We asked whether complementary DNA hybridization array was adapted to identify gene expression patterns linked to aging and associated spontaneous adenomas. Thus, [32P]dATP-labeled cDNAs were prepared from pituitaries of three-month-old rats (Y) and tumor-bearing 20-28-month-old rats (OT). The cDNAs were hybridized to identical membrane arrays allowing to study simultaneously 588 known genes (Clontech 7738-1). Among the 79 genes detected, the GH gene was predominantly expressed in both groups. Twenty-eight genes in the OT group and 15 in the Y group were found to be expressed at a higher level. The largest differences were of about 17 fold and were observed for the galanin and glutathione S transferase genes in the Y and OT groups, respectively. Relative RT-PCR was applied to validate the OT versus Y expression pattern obtained via cDNA array hybridization. The results were consistent for 14 out of the 15 genes tested. In the l.
Clinical Research in Obstetrics and Gynecology: More Tips for Busy Clinicians

For many clinicians in obstetrics and gynecology, critically reading the scientific literature is a difficult challenge (1). Many of us had limited exposure to research methods during our clinical training. Being able to read intelligently the medical literature is fundamentally important to keeping one’s practice up to date (2). In an earlier supplement to this journal (3), we summarized a series of articles from The Lancet that provided an overview of clinical research methods. In this article, we distill 5 new Lancet articles (4–8) that expand on the original series. Topics include sample size and power calculations, multiplicity issues in randomized, controlled trials, choice of comparison groups, and use of likelihood ratios to refine clinical judgment.
Large sulfur isotope fractionations associated with Neoarchean microbial sulfate reduction

Dissecting ancient microbial sulfur cycling Before the rise of oxygen, life on Earth depended on the marine sulfur cycle. The fractionation of different sulfur isotopes provides clues to which biogeochemical cycles were active long ago (see the Perspective by Ueno). Zhelezinskaia et al. found negative isotope anomalies in Archean rocks from Brazil and posit that metabolic fluxes from sulfate-reducing microorganisms influenced the global sulfur cycle, including sulfur in the atmosphere. In contrast, Paris et al. found positive isotope anomalies in Archean sediments from South Africa, implying that the marine sulfate pool was more disconnected from atmospheric sulfur. As an analog for the Archean ocean, Crowe et al. measured sulfur isotope signatures in modern Lake Matano, Indonesia, and suggest that low seawater sulfate concentrations restricted early microbial activity. Science, this issue p. 703, p. 742, p. 739; see also p. 735 Sulfate-reducing bacteria in Earth’s earliest oceans likely influenced the global carbon cycle. [Also see Perspective by Ueno] The minor extent of sulfur isotope fractionation preserved in many Neoarchean sedimentary successions suggests that sulfate-reducing microorganisms played an insignificant role in ancient marine environments, despite evidence that these organisms evolved much earlier. We present bulk, microdrilled, and ion probe sulfur isotope data from carbonate-associated pyrite in the ~2.5-billion-year-old Batatal Formation of Brazil, revealing large mass-dependent fractionations (approaching 50 per mil) associated with microbial sulfate reduction, as well as consistently negative Δ33S values (~ –2 per mil) indicative of atmospheric photochemical reactions. Persistent 33S depletion through ~60 meters of shallow marine carbonate implies long-term stability of seawater sulfate abundance and isotope composition. In contrast, a negative Δ33S excursion in lower Batatal strata indicates a response time of ~40,000 to 150,000 years, suggesting Neoarchean sulfate concentrations between ~1 and 10 μM.
Characteristics of Activities for Persons With Dementia at the Mild, Moderate, and Severe Stages

Purpose To understand activity in dementia care, we examine relationships of disease stage with types and characteristics of meaningful activities (cueing needs, help with initiation, and recommended engagement time) provided in a home-based intervention trial designed to reduce behavioral symptoms. Design and Methods Data involved 158 activity prescriptions or written documents detailing prescribed activities, cueing needs, and engagement goals designed by occupational therapists for 56 families. Activities were categorized as arts and crafts, exercise/physical, cognitive, music/entertainment, manipulation/sensory/sorting, family/social/ reminiscence, and domestic/homemaking. Bivariate correlations examined relationships of activity categories and characteristics with disease stage (mild, moderate, or severe). Kruskal-Wallis H tests examined differences among disease stages and frequency of type of activities prescribed, recommended cues, and engagement time. For significant Kruskal-Wallis tests, pairwise comparisons utilized the Mann-Whitney U test. Results Activity categories and instructions for set up were significantly related to cognitive and functional levels. Persons with mild dementia were most often prescribed complex arts and crafts and cognitive activities. Persons with moderate dementia were most often prescribed music/entertainment. Persons with severe dementia were most often prescribed simple physical exercises and manipulation/sensory/sorting activities. Average time prescribed for activities was less for those in severe (15min) versus moderate (24min) and mild (28min) stages. The severe group required more assistance with activity initiation and cueing/redirection. Implications Type of activity, recommended cueing, and engagement time differed by dementia stage. Findings provide guidance as to how to use and set up activities across the dementia trajectory.