Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Femoral-Sciatic Nerve Blocks for Complex Outpatient Knee Surgery Are Associated with Less Postoperative Pain Before Same-day Discharge: A Review of 1,200 Consecutive Cases from the Period 1996–1999

Background Outpatient knee surgery has come to involve increasingly complex procedures. The authors present observational data from a nerve block algorithm designed for the care of outpatients undergoing knee surgery. The aim of this report is to demonstrate differences in pain and unplanned hospital admission associated with surgical complexity and nerve blocks used. Methods Day-of-surgery outcomes were studied for 1,200 consecutive outpatients undergoing routine arthroscopy or one of six complex outpatient knee procedures. Nerve blocks were administered on the basis of anticipated pain from open incisions in the femoral and sciatic nerve distributions. Regression analysis was used to determine factors associated with postoperative pain and unplanned hospital admissions, and patients were categorized as having received femoral and sciatic nerve blocks (FSB), femoral nerve block only (FNB), or no nerve blocks. Results Patients undergoing more complex (vs. less invasive) knee surgery were at greater risk for pain (P ≤ 0.004), whereas the use of FSB (vs. FNB or no block) was associated with less pain (P < 0.01). When no nerve blocks were used, more complex (vs. less invasive) knee surgery was associated with a 10-fold greater risk of hospital admission (P = 0.001). In the regression analyses, more complex surgery (P < 0.001) was associated with increased risk of admission, and the use of FNB or FSB (vs. no block) was associated with a 2.5-fold reduction in unplanned admissions (P = 0.009). Conclusions For complex knee surgery, the use of FSB was associated with less pain; the use of FNB or FSB (vs. no block) was associated with fewer hospital admissions.
Gonadal differentiation in frogs exposed to estrogenic and antiestrogenic compounds

Exposure of amphibians to endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs) may alter differentiationof gonads, especially when exposures begin during early life stages. Gonadal differentiation was observed in leopard frogs (Rana pipiens) and wood frogs (Rana sylvatica) exposed as tadpoles to estrogenic (estradiol, ethinylestradiol, nonylphenol) and antiestrogenic compounds (an aromatase inhibitor, flavone, and an antiestrogen, ICI 182780). Exposure to all compounds at μg/L concentrations altered gonadal differentiation in some animals by inducing either complete feminization or an intersex condition, and altered testicular tubule morphology, increased germ cell maturation (vitellogenesis), and oocyte atresia. Comparisons between the two species indicate that R. pipiens are more susceptible to sex reversal and development of intersex gonads. However, R. sylvatica also showed alterations to testicular morphology, germ cell maturation, and ooctye atresia. These laboratory results indicate that amphibians could be susceptible to altered gonadal differentiation and development when exposed to estrogenic and antiestrogenic compounds in aquatic environments, such as those impacted by agricultural, industrial, and municipal runoff.
Knowledge management behavior among practitioners in Malaysia

The main aim of this study is to examine the role of specific organizational climate and individual acceptance factors on knowledge management behavior within an organizational context. A hypothetical conceptual research framework was developed based on knowledge creation theory and previous studies. Data were collected from 74 corporate practitioners in Malaysia using a self-administered online questionnaire. Though the linear regression analysis supports all proposed hypotheses, according to stepwise multiple regressions analysis decentralized decision making structure and Information Technology support emerged as the significant predictors of KM behavior.
E3 Ubiquitin Ligase Tripartite Motif 38 Negatively Regulates TLR-Mediated Immune Responses by Proteasomal Degradation of TNF Receptor-Associated Factor 6 in Macrophages

Activation of TLR signaling in the innate immune cells is critical for the elimination of invading microorganisms. However, uncontrolled activation may lead to autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. In this article, we report the identification of tripartite motif (TRIM) 38 as a negative feedback regulator in TLR signaling by targeting TNFR-associated factor 6 (TRAF6). TRIM38 was induced by TLR stimulation in an NF-κB–dependent manner in macrophages. Knockdown of TRIM38 expression by small interfering RNA resulted in augmented activation of NF-κB and MAPKs, and enhanced expression of proinflammatory cytokines, whereas overexpression of TRIM38 has an opposite effect. As an E3 ligase, TRIM38 bound to TRAF6 and promoted K48-linked polyubiquitination, which led to the proteasomal degradation of TRAF6. Consistently, knockdown of TRIM38 expression resulted in higher protein level of TRAF6 in primary macrophages. Our findings defined a novel function for TRIM38 to prevent excessive TLR-induced inflammatory responses through proteasomal degradation of TRAF6.
Dystonia in parkinson's disease: Clinical and pharmacological features

We studied the features of dystonia in 9 patients with untreated idiopathic Parkinson's disease and in 56 patients on sustained treatment with L‐dopa. Dystonia was seen as an initial symptom in patients with both early‐ and late‐onset Parkinson's disease and included action dystonia of the limbs and cranial dystonia. Although the coexistence of parkinsonism and dystonia suggests a common pathophysiology, antiparkinsonian drugs did not consistently influence dystonic spasms. L‐dopa‐induced dystonia was seen as an off‐period, biphasic, or peak‐dose phenomenon. Each type showed a distinctive pattern of localization of dystonic spasms, possibly reflecting neurochemical aspects of basal ganglia somatotopy. Neuropharmacological studies performed in 12 patients suggest that off‐period dystonia is genuinely induced by L‐dopa and best relieved by antiparkinsonian agents.
Evolutionary approach to combined multiple models tuning

This paper presents a combination of Combined Multiple Models (CMM) technique and evolutionary approach that is used for tuning of multiple parameters. Proposed hybrid classifier was tested in microarray gene expression analysis domain. This domain was chosen intentionally, because of the nature of Combined Multiple Models classifiers that are specialized in solving problems with high dimensionality and contain low number of samples. Evolutionary tuning of parameters in combination with validation dataset enables fine tuning of parameters that are usually set to pre-defined values. Using this technique another step in leveling the accuracy of comprehensible classifiers to those represented by ensembles of classifiers was made.
Neutropenia augments experimentally induced Schistosoma japonicum egg granuloma formation in CBA mice, but not in C57BL/6 mice

The present study was designed to investigate the role of neutrophils during the development of Schistosoma japonicum egg granulomas, in C57BL/6 and CBA mice. Laid eggs were implanted into the liver and monoclonal antibody, RB6‐8C5, was used to eliminate neutrophils. After daily antibody treatment between days 9 and 13 of egg implantation, both strains of mice showed a marked decrease in neutrophil infiltration and coagulative hepatocyte necrosis at 2 weeks. At 4 weeks, after antibody administration every other day between days 16 and 26, granuloma formation in C57BL/6 mice was not affected by the treatment, whereas CBA mice exhibited a significant increase of reactions. Neutropenia augmented the Th2 cytokine response (IL‐4, IL‐13 and IL‐5), but not for IFN‐γ at any time point examined and in either strain of mice. Higher levels of IL‐4 and IL‐13 were noted in CBA mice at early and late stages of granuloma formation, compared to C57BL/6 mice. There was also a striking difference in IL‐13 production between the two strains. Our results indicate that neutropenia is associated with a significant augmentation of S. japonicum egg‐induced granuloma formation in CBA mice, probably through increase in Th2 cytokines, however, the effects differ between early and late stages and between high and low responders.
Associations between neurocognitive functioning and social and occupational resilience among South African women exposed to childhood trauma

ABSTRACT Background: Prior research on adaptation after early trauma among black South African women typically assessed resilience in ways that lacked contextual specificity. In addition, the neurocognitive correlates of social and occupational resilience have not been investigated. Objective: The primary aim of this exploratory study was to identify domains of neurocognitive functioning associated with social and occupational resilience, defined as functioning at a level beyond what would be expected given exposure to childhood trauma. Methods: A sample of black South African women, N = 314, completed a neuropsychological battery, a questionnaire assessing exposure to childhood trauma, and self-report measures of functional status. We generated indices of social and occupational resilience by regressing childhood trauma exposure on social and occupational functioning, saving the residuals as indices of social and occupational functioning beyond what would be expected given exposure to childhood trauma. Results: Women with lower non-verbal memory evidenced greater social and occupational resilience above and beyond the effects attributable to age, education, HIV status, and depressive and posttraumatic stress symptoms. In addition, women with greater occupational resilience exhibited lower semantic language fluency and processing speed. Conclusion: Results are somewhat consistent with prior studies implicating memory effects in impairment following trauma, though our findings suggest that reduced abilities in these domains may be associated with greater resilience. Studies that use prospective designs and objective assessment of functional status are needed to determine whether non-verbal memory, semantic fluency, and processing speed are implicated in the neural circuitry of post-traumatic exposure resilience.
A direct comparison of effect sizes from the clinical global impression‐improvement scale to effect sizes from other rating scales in controlled trials of adult social anxiety disorder

The clinical global impression‐improvement scale (CGI‐I) is used to monitor treatment outcome in mental disorders. To better understand the properties of the CGI‐I scale in social anxiety disorder, effects sizes from the CGI‐I scale were compared to comparably calculated effect sizes from other rating scales obtained from double‐blind, placebo‐controlled trials of selective‐serotonin reuptake inhibitors in social anxiety disorder. From peer‐reviewed, double‐blind, placebo‐controlled studies evaluating selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors in social anxiety disorder, we extracted CGI‐I data and scores from other assessment scales of severity and function. Using calculations that enabled direct comparisons, effect sizes for the binarily reported CGI‐I scores were compared to effect sizes from the quantitative scales.
Effects of Formic Acid Administration in the Drinking Water on Performance, Intestinal Microflora and Carcass Contamination in Male Broilers under High Ambient Temperature

In this study, we examined the effects of formic acid administration to the drinking water on performance, intestinal microflora and carcass contamination in male broilers. A total of 312 day-old male broiler chicks were allocated to two groups with three replicates. The first group (control) received normal drinking water (pH 7.4) during the experiment. The second group consumed acidified drinking water (pH 4.5) after 5 d of age. At 43 d of age, twelve birds were randomly selected from the control group to determine the effect of acidified drinking water on carcass contamination. These birds were only given normal or acidified (pH 3) drinking water for 8 h prior to slaughter. The reduction of water pH from 7.4 to 4.5 significantly decreased body weights of male broilers at 21 and 42 d of age. However, no differences were observed between male broilers given normal and acidified drinking water in terms of feed intake, feed conversion ratio and mortality. The pH value of the gizzard contents was not significantly affected by acid water treatment. There were no significant differences in the intestinal population of E. coli, total organism and Salmonella between the groups. The total organism and E. coli counts of the carcass slightly decreased in the acidified group. No Salmonella was identified in carcass samples of any of the treatment groups. The results showed that drinking water acidification did not provide beneficial effects on performance, intestinal microflora and carcass contamination in male broilers.
An Empirical Application of Interprofessional Consensus

Determining the veracity of increasing incidents of child abuse presents a problem to clinical sociologists as well as other agency professionals, and subsequently to studies which rely on these determinations for sample selection. This paper tests the theory of interprofessional consensus underlying child abuse reports in records from a hospital population. The average agreement (interpersonal consensus) of ten different professional reports is high, estimated by correlation analysis. Factor analysis reveals two separate dimensions underlying professional reports; one factor separates the social agency determinations from the legal agencies. Despite the clustering of agencies into separate dimensions, determinants of substantiation do not differ between the agencies. Criteria of determination common to both include mother and father's characteristics such as mental illness and drug use. Thus, utilization of the theory of interprofessional consensus provides an index which can be used by researchers and clinical sociologists to improve the accurate identification of cases or of a sample for study. The Problem of Substantiation Determining decisions in the increasing (Gelles & Straus, 1987) prevalence of intentional parental violence are a major problem for clinical sociologists and other agency professionals (Giovannoni & Becerra, 1979; Lamphear, 1986; Snyder &
Mapping disease and mortality rates using empirical Bayes estimators.

"Methods for estimating regional mortality and disease rates, with a view to mapping disease, are discussed. A new empirical Bayes estimator, with parameters simply estimated by moments, is proposed and compared with iterative alternatives suggested by Clayton and Kaldor. " The author develops a local shrinkage estimator in which a crude disease rate is shrunk toward a local, neighborhood rate. The estimators are compared using simulations and an empirical example based on infant mortality data for Auckland, New Zealand.
Field Evaluation of Resistance of Transgenic Rice Containing a Synthetic cry1Ab Gene from Bacillus thuringiensis Berliner to Two Stem Borers

Abstract Two transgenic rice (Oryza sativa L.) lines, KMD1 and KMD2 at the R4 generation, transformed with a synthetic cry1Ab gene from Bacillus thuringiensis Berliner, were first evaluated for stem borer resistance in the field during the rice growing season of 1998 in two areas of Zhejiang Province, China. Both KMD1 and KMD2 were highly resistant to the stem borers Chilo suppressalis (Walker) and Scirpophaga incertulas (Walker), and were completely undamaged during the whole rice growing season. In contrast, damage to the plants of the untransformed parental control (Xiushui 11) was in the form of deadhearts or whiteheads. Under natural infestation by the C. suppressalis, the damage to control plants reached a peak of 88.7% of plants and 20.1% of tillers encountered with deadhearts. Under artificial and natural infestation of neonate striped stem borers at the vegetative stage and booting stage, 100% of plants and 25.6% of tillers, 78.9% of plants and 15.6% of productive tillers among artificially infested control plants were observed with the symptom of deadhearts and whiteheads, respectively. Damage to the control plants from artificial infestation by the S. incertulas reached a peak of 97.0% of plants and 22.9% of tillers damaged. The field research indicated that both KMD1 and KMD2 show great potential for protecting rice from attack by these two stem borers.
Arabic Loanwords in Argobba (South Ethiopic)

almost certaillly to be dated before the historical fact discussed here. Thus the solution of the problem must involve ordinary people as well as the dynasty and aristocracy. A. F. L. Beeston's suggestion is intended to confirm N. Rhodokanakis's opinion. However, this suggestiorl, which alludes to a " fashion or ' smart ' afectation among other sections o£ the populace " does not ft the te:xts. It is, indeed, in the nature of a " fashion or ' smart ' affectation " to be rare and at the same time be recognizable by its strange character. Such is not the case at all. Besides, A. F. L. Beeston himself admits that " the practice of using proper names with h-forms was not confined to the ruling caste but fairly widely spread. " 27 But when peculiar phenomena are so widely spread, it is really possible to speak of a "fashion or 'smart' affectation"? There is no evidence for such an assertion. 'rhe above-mentioned phenomena are so conspicuous and their number is increasing so steadily that neither N. Rhodokanakis' nor A. F. L. Beeston's interpretation seems to be relevant. Study of the texts written in both Qatabanian and Sabaean leads to the conclusion that there must have been a situation more important and involving more persons than
Le déclin cognitif dans la maladie d'Alzheimer

Les travaux sur l'histoire naturelle de la maladie d'Alzheimer (MA) ont souligne que le mode et la vitesse du declin cognitif au cours de la maladie etaient tres variables selon les patients. L'etude des patients ayant un declin cognitif rapide (DCR) merite une attention particuliere en raison de leur prevalence non negligeable et de leur pronostic plus pejoratif. En pratique clinique, c'est important de reperer les patients a risque de DCR le plus precocement possible afin d'anticiper une prise en charge plus adaptee pour ce groupe des patients. En l'absence de traitements curatifs, les enjeux de la recherche epidemiologique dans la MA sont essentiellement bases sur la prevention et le ralentissement de son evolution. Objectifs : Ce travail de these comporte deux objectifs generaux : 1) etudier le declin cognitif rapide dans la MA: pronostic, definition, trajectoire et facteurs de risque ; 2) etudier des facteurs modifiables du declin cognitif faciles a implementer dans la pratique clinique: la perte de poids et le traitement par les inhibiteurs de l'enzyme de conversion de l'Angiotensine (IECs). Methodes : Afin de repondre a ces objectifs, deux populations des patients atteints d'une MA a un stade leger a modere ont ete etudiees a l'issue de la cohorte Francaise REAL.FR et de la cohorte europeenne ICTUS. Resultats : Les resultats majeurs de ce travail de these sont que les patients ayant un DCR, definit par une perte de = 4 points au MMSE durant 6 mois, presentent une augmentation significative du risque de mortalite (HR = 5,6, 95% CI 2,0-15,9), d'institutionnalisation (HR = 3,8, 95% CI 1,8-8,1) et de perte d'autonomie fonctionnelle (HR = 1,6, 95% CI 1,2-2,3) a 18 mois de suivi. Deux types de profils parmi les patients ayant un DCR ont ete identifies : 1) ceux avec un DCR " persistant " dans le temps (12%) et 2) ceux avec un declin cognitif " reversibles " (21%). Le cluster " declineurs rapides persistants " presente une perte annuelle de 5,5 points au MMSE. Les variables associees a un risque accru de DCR sont liees au mode de vie (seul a domicile), a un statut cognitif et fonctionnel plus alteres a l'inclusion et a l'absence d'hypertension. Des le stade leger du deficit, tous les items de l'ADAS-cog explorant le langage (HR =2,8, 95%IC =1,7-4,5) sont des facteurs predictifs independants d'un DCR de meme que les items " Execution d'ordres" (HR=1,9, 95%IC =1,9-4,3) et " Praxies constructives " (HR=2,8, 95%IC =1,9-4,3) a 2 ans de suivi. Ces resultats ont permis de distinguer un profil d'atteinte cognitive particuliere predictif d'un DCR. Ces resultats suggerent que les patients atteints d'une MA avec DCR pourraient presenter une forme particuliere et distincte de MA. Les resultats repondant au deuxieme objectif general de ce travail de these demontrent que la perte de poids est un facteur predictif de DCR (HR= 1,58, 95%IC = 1,14-2,21) et que la consommation des IECs est associee, independamment de la hypertension, a un moindre declin cognitif a 4 ans de suivi par rapport aux ceux qui n'en ont jamais consommes (-7,5 points au MMSE ± 0,9 vs. -9,7 ± 0,4; p = 0,03).
Awareness and prevalence of risk factors of coronary heart disease among teachers and bankers in Sokoto, Nigeria

Coronary heart disease (CHD) was previously conside red to be rare in sub-Saharan Africa, but its prevalence is on the increase mainly because of the increasing prevalence of its risk factors, linked to trends in urbanization and changes in lifestyle. Thi s study sought to assess the awareness and prevalence of risk factors of coronary heart diseas e in Sokoto, Nigeria. A comparative cross sectional study was conducted among 110 bankers and 110 secondary school teachers selected by multistage sampling technique in August 2011. Anthropometric m easurements, blood pressure measurement, and estimation of fasting blood sugar and cholester ol were done for the participants, together with questionnaire administration. Up to 50% awareness w as reported in only 4 of 7 and 1 of 7 CHD risk factors among bankers and teachers respectively. Pr evalence of CHD risk factors was high in both groups as follows; hypertension (teachers 33.3%, ba nkers 22.9%), diabetes mellitus (teachers 9.5%, bankers 8.5%), obesity (teachers 30.5%, bankers 20% ), hypercholesterolemia (teachers 37.1%, bankers 41.9%), sedentary lifestyle (teachers 5.7%, bankers 33.3%) and smoking (teachers 4.8%, bankers 7.6%). This study demonstrated poor awareness and high pre valence of CHD risk factors among bankers and teachers in Sokoto. Public health education and pro motion of healthy lifestyles are suggested to reduce this burden.
Nanostructured plasmonic sensors.

Surface plasmons (SPs) are coherent oscillations of conduction electrons on a metal surface excited by electromagnetic radiation at a metal -dielectric interface. The growing field of research on such light -metal interactions is known as ‘plasmonics’. 1-3 This branch of research has attracted much attention due to its potential applications in miniaturized optical devices, sensors, and photonic circuits as well as in medical diagnostics and therapeutics. 4-8
Emerging Perspectives on Judgment and Decision Research: Generalization Across People, Procedures, and Predictions: Violations of Stochastic Dominance and Coalescing

Stochastic dominance is implied by certain normative and descriptive theories of decision making. However, significantly more than half of participants in laboratory studies chose dominated gambles over dominant gambles, despite knowing that some participants would play their chosen gambles for real money. Systematic event-splitting effects were also observed, as significantly more than half of the participants reversed preferences when choosing between the split versions of the same choices. Similar violations were found with five different ways of displaying the choices. Studies conducted via the Web show that the effects generalize beyond the laboratory, even to highly educated people who have studied decision making. Results are consistent with configural weight models, which predict violations of stochastic dominance and coalescing, but not with rankand sign-dependent utility theories, including cumulative prospect theory, which must satisfy these properties. This research program illustrates three directions for testing the generality of theories – generality across people, procedures, and new predictions.