Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Intracranial Cysts Containing Cerebrospinal Fluid-Like Fluid: Results of Endoscopic Neurosurgery in a Series of 64 Consecutive Cases

BACKGROUND:Intracranial cysts containing cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) may be developmental or acquired. OBJECTIVE:To analyze the results of endoscopic neurosurgery in the management of intracranial CSF cysts. METHODS:In a 7-year period, 64 consecutive patients underwent endoscopic neurosurgery for CSF cysts. Group 1 consisted of 13 patients with acquired cysts; group 2 included 51 patients with developmental cysts. In all cases, the cyst walls were fenestrated through small burr holes with frameless guided operative endoscopes. Follow-up ranged from 1 to 6 years (mean, 3.4 years). RESULTS:There were no mortality and no permanent morbidity, apart from a patient (1.6%) who remained neurologically intact but required ventriculoperitoneal shunting because of intraoperative hemorrhage. The planned fenestrations could be performed in all patients except 2, owing to thick, opaque cyst walls. In group 1, 6 patients fully recovered and remained intact throughout the follow-up, whereas 7 improved but had various degrees of neurological disabilities that were related to their initial diseases. Radiological results were excellent in all cases. In group 2, there were 7 asymptomatic patients who remained unchanged and 44 “symptomatic” patients: 40 (91%) clinically improved, 4 (9%) remained unchanged, and none worsened. Cyst size decreased in 37 patients (74%) and remained unchanged in 13 (26%). CONCLUSION:In this series, patients of different ages, harboring cysts of various sizes and locations, could be satisfactorily treated with endoscopic neurosurgery.
UV‐B doses received during different outdoor activities and UV‐B treatment of psoriasis

Measurements have been made of the biologically‐effective environmental UV‐B radiation received by people pursuing a variety of outdoor leisure activities. These UV‐B doses have been compared with those received from artificial UV‐B radiation by patients undergoing treatment for psoriasis. The results indicate that the therapeutic doses are not dissimilar to those received by active sunbathing for the same period during the summer months.
Teaching and Learning within and across Cultures: Educator Requirements across the United States.

Michael J. Morrier is a doctoral student and Miles A. Irving is an assistant professor, both with the Department of Eductional Psychology and Special Education at Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia; Evelyn Dandy is a professor in the Department of Early Childhood Education at Armstrong Atlantic State University, Savannah, Georgia; Grigory Dmitriyev is a professor in the Department of Curriculum, Foundations, and Reading at Georgia Southern University, Statesboro, Georgia; and Ikechukwu C. Ukeje is a professor in the Department of Elementary and Early Childhood Education at Kennesaw State University, Kennesaw, Georgia. Teaching and Learning within and across Cultures: Educator Requirements across the United States
Mean platelet volume as a novel predictor of systemic inflammatory response in cirrhotic patients with culture-negative neutrocytic ascites.

AIM To identify a mean platelet volume (MPV) cutoff value which should be able to predict the presence of bacterial infection. METHODS An observational, analytic, retrospective study. We evaluated medical records of cirrhotic patients who were hospitalized from January 2012 to January 2014 at the Gastroenterology Department of "Hospital General de México Dr. Eduardo Liceaga", we included 51 cirrhotic patients with ascites fluid infection (AFI), and 50 non-infected cirrhotic patients as control group. Receiver operator characteristic curves were used to identify the best cutoff value of several parameters from hematic cytometry, including MPV, to predict the presence of ascites fluid infection. RESULTS Of the 51 cases with AFI, 48 patients (94.1%) had culture-negative neutrocytic ascites (CNNA), 2 (3.9%) had bacterial ascites, and one (2%) had spontaneous bacterial peritonitis. Infected patients had greater count of leucocytes and polymorphonuclear cells, greater levels of MPV and cardiac frequency (P < 0.0001), and lower mean arterial pressure compared with non-infected patients (P = 0.009). Leucocytes, polymorphonuclear count, MPV and cardiac frequency resulted to be good or very good predictive variables of presence of AFI in cirrhotic patients (area under the receiving operating characteristic > 0.80). A cutoff MPV value of 8.3 fl was the best to discriminate between cirrhotic patients with AFI and those without infection. CONCLUSION Our results support that MPV can be an useful predictor of systemic inflammatory response syndrome in cirrhotic patients with AFI, particularly CNNA.
Vitamin-D nutrition and bone mass in adolescent black girls.

OBJECTIVE To examine the relationship between bone mass and serum levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D and parathyroid hormone in African-American adolescent girls. STUDY DESIGN A cross-sectional sample at a suburban research center. METHODS Twenty-one adolescent black girls 12-14 years of age, were studied during winter with biochemical measurements of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25-OHD) and parathyroid hormone (PTH). Bone mass assessment was done with dual energy x-ray absorbsiometry (DXA) and peripheral quantitative computed tomography of the radius (p-QCT). Anthropometric, physical activity and nutritional data were collected. RESULTS All participants were vitamin-D deficient (serum 25-OHD level <50 nmol/L), of whom nine (43%) were severely vitamin-D deficient (serum 25-OHD level <20 nmol/L). Mean daily intake of dietary calcium was 540 mg/d and vitamin D was 195 IU/d. There was a positive correlation, although statistically not significant, between serum 25-OHD and various bone mass measurements. Serum PTH was inversely correlated to total body BMD (r = -0.51, p = 0.02) and other bone mineral density at the lumbar spine, total femur and mid-radius. CONCLUSION Vitamin-D insufficiency is a widely prevalent problem among adolescent African-American girls. Our data implies that enhancing vitamin-D nutrition resulting in lower serum PTH levels could potentially influence their peak bone mass.
Modelling of a dynamic cooperation between a PV array and DC boost converter

Photovoltaic (PV) arrays are used in many applications such as water heating, battery charging, hybrid vehicles and grid connected photovoltaic power plants. Their main disadvantage is that their output strongly depends on weather conditions, mainly on a solar irradiance and temperature, thus influencing the operation of each system they feed. Since the changes of PV production could be very fast, it is necessary to use dynamic modelling to evaluate PV system's behavior during these changes. This could be quite challenging, especially if the application is modelled and analyzed from longer-term point of view. This paper describes partial results achieved during the process of building such a model. Simulation models of PV array and DC boost converter with MPPT controller created in software Ptolemy II by using synchronous data flow and finite state machine domain will be presented and evaluated.
The spectrum of inherited bleeding disorders in pediatrics

Inherited bleeding disorders (IBDs) are caused by quantitative and qualitative alterations of either platelets or plasma proteins involved in coagulation and fibrinolysis. Hemophilias are the most frequent IBDs; however, accumulated data from various studies reported that von Willebrand disease (VWD) is the most common cause of IBD, with an increased incidence of platelet function defects, mostly due to the increased rate of consanguinity in some communities. VWD is an inherited disorder of homeostasis due to quantitative or qualitative defect of von Willebrand factor. Data on its epidemiology and impact in developing countries are limited. The objective of this study was to assess the local prevalence of some IBD and establish the clinical and historical variables that are predictive for those bleeding disorders in pediatrics. The study involved 43 children with various bleeding manifestations and 15 age- and sex-matched controls, recruited from the Pediatrics Hematology Clinic at the National Research Centre, Sausan Mubarek children's hospital in Cairo, Egypt and the King Abdulaziz University Hospital, Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Hematological profile included platelet counts and function, prothrombin time, partial thromboplastin time, factor VIII antigen and its activity, factor IX antigen and its activity, von Willebrand factor and its activity assayed with multimeric analysis. A total of 12 (27.9%) children had VWD, 11 (25.5%) had hemophilia A, three (7%) had hemophilia B, seven (16.3%) had platelet dysfunction and 10 (23.3%) had bleeding with undiagnosed cause. Two of the VWD cases had type I, three had type II, four had type III and one case appeared to have type IIM and another to have IIB VWD. Bruising and epistaxis were the main symptoms in all children with VWD The majority of platelet dysfunction disorders were diagnosed as Glanzmann's thrombasthenia. VWD and Glanzmann's thrombasthenia should be considered not uncommon causes of IBDs in children in Egypt and Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Routine hematological screening should be mandatory in children with positive family history of bruising and bleeding as a predictor for IBD.
An SIS epidemic model with distributed infection rate in complex network

We propose a modified Susceptible-Infected-Susceptible (SIS) model to analyze the influence of the distributed infection rate on the epidemic spreading behavior in complex networks. Unlike the traditional SIS model, the spreading rate is assumed to take several typical distributions, such as two-point, uniform and exponential distributions. This kind of distributed spreading rate can characterize the individual's difference of infectivity which is often observed in many real epidemics. Largescale numerical simulations show that the distributed infection rate can significantly reduce the density of the infected nodes, and slow down the dynamical propagation process. Thus, current results are of high importance for us to further understand the disease propagation properties of epidemics in real complex systems.
Small UAV radiocommunication channel characterization

Small Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) are finding different applications as platforms to carry observation payloads. The need to establish reliable high data rate channels requires to characterize the radiocommunication channel between the UAV and the ground station. In this communication an experimental set-up and some results for the characterization of a radio channel at 5.8 GHz are presented.
Estimating the concentration of indoor particles of outdoor origin: A review

Recent toxicological results highlight the importance of separating exposure to indoor- and outdoor-generated particles, due to their different physicochemical and toxicological properties. In this framework, a number of studies have attempted to estimate the relative contribution of particles of indoor and outdoor origins to indoor concentrations, using either statistical analysis of indoor and outdoor concentration time-series or mass balance equations. The aim of this work is to review and compare the methodologies developed in order to determine the ambient particle infiltration factor (F INF) (i.e., the fraction of ambient particles that enter indoors and remains suspended). The different approaches are grouped into four categories according to their methodological principles: (1) steady-state assumption using the steady-state form of the mass balance equation; (2) dynamic solution of the mass balance equation using complex statistical techniques; (3) experimental studies using conditions that simplify model calculations (e.g., decreasing the number of unknowns); and (4) infiltration surrogates using a particulate matter (PM) constituent with no indoor sources to act as surrogate of indoor PM of outdoor origin. Examination of the various methodologies and results reveals that estimating infiltration parameters is still challenging. The main difficulty lies in the separate calculation of penetration efficiency (P) and deposition rate (k). The values for these two parameters that are reported in the literature vary significantly. Deposition rate presents the widest range of values, both between studies and size fractions. Penetration efficiency seems to be more accurately calculated through the application of dynamic models. Overall, estimates of the infiltration factor generated using dynamic models and infiltration surrogates show good agreement. This is a strong argument in favor of the latter methodology, which is simple and easy to apply when chemical speciation data are available. Implications: Taking into account that increased health risks may be related with ambient particles, a reliable estimation of the main parameters governing ambient particle infiltration indoors may assist towards the development of appropriate regulation and control measures, targeted to specific sources/factors contributing to increased exposures. The overall study of the methodological approaches estimating particle infiltration indoors suggests that dynamic models provide a more complete and realistic picture of ambient particle infiltration indoors, whereas the use of specific PM constituents to act as surrogates of indoor particles of outdoor origin seems also a promising new methodology.
OCCURRENCE OF NEOSPORA CANINUM ANTIBODIES IN WATER BUFFALOES (BUBALUS BUBALIS) FROM THE SOUTH-WESTERN REGION OF IRAN

To investigate the prevalence of Neospora caninum antibodies in water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) in the northwestern region of Iran, blood samples were taken from 181 (141 females and 40 males) buffaloes slaughtered in an abattoir in Ahvaz. Sera were tested for the presence of antibodies to N. caninum by an ELISA kit. The overall prevalence of Neospora caninum infection in the buffaloes tested was 37% (43.36% in females and 15% in males). Statistical analysis showed significant differences between male and female buffaloes. In female buffaloes, 7.7% of heifers and 56.8% of cows were seropositive. Statistical analysis showed the differences among female buffaloes were highly significant when their age is considered, and buffalo cows showed higher N. caninum prevalence when compared with heifers. With regard to the results of this study, high exposure of water buffaloes to N. caninum, and economical importance of buffalo industry to some regions of Iran, the role of N. caninum as a causal agent of abortions in this species should be investigated.
Arrangement of the Multicopy H+-translocating Subunit c in the Membrane Sector of the Escherichia coliF1F0 ATP Synthase*

The multicopy subunit c of the H+-transporting F1F0 ATP synthase of Escherichia coli is thought to fold across the membrane as a hairpin of two hydrophobic α-helices. The conserved Asp61, centered in the second transmembrane helix, is essential for H+ transport. In this study, we have made sequential Cys substitutions across both transmembrane helices and used disulfide cross-link formation to determine the oligomeric arrangement of the c subunits. Cross-link formation between single Cys substitutions in helix 1 provided initial limitations on how the subunits could be arranged. Double Cys substitutions at positions 14/16, 16/18, and 21/23 in helix 1 and 70/72 in helix 2 led to the formation of cross-linked multimers upon oxidation. Double Cys substitutions in helix 1 and helix 2, at residues 14/72, 21/65, and 20/66, respectively, also formed cross-linked multimers. These results indicate that at least 10 and probably 12 subunits c interact in a front-to-back fashion to form a ring-like arrangement in F0. Helix 1 packs at the interior and helix 2 at the periphery of the ring. The model indicates that the Asp61carboxylate is centered between the helical faces of adjacent subunit c at the center of a four-helix bundle.
Adverse events occurring during interhospital transfer of the critically ill.

OBJECTIVE--To determine what complications children have during interhospital transfer for intensive care, and how often these complications occur. DESIGN--Observational study of all children transferred over a six month period, including interviews with patient escort, patient review, and severity of illness scoring. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES--Timing and method of transport; complications occurring during transport; the equipment and experience of the escort; patient vital signs and paediatric risk of mortality score on admission; outcome and duration of intensive care. RESULTS--Forty two (75%) of 56 children had adverse clinical events during transport. In 13 the event was life threatening. Inadequate circulatory and ventilatory support, inadequate monitoring, equipment failures, and drug errors were common. Children who subsequently died were more likely to have had complicated transfers than those who survived. CONCLUSIONS--Most children had adverse clinical events during transfer for intensive care. A number are transported by inexperienced staff with inadequate or malfunctioning equipment. Standards for patient management and monitoring during transfer need to be established. To reduce unsatisfactory care during transfer, it is necessary to establish dedicated and specifically trained paediatric transport teams.
Posterior vitreous detachment induced by injection of plasmin and sulfur hexafluoride in the rabbit vitreous.

PURPOSE To investigate whether an injection of plasmin and sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) can induce posterior vitreous detachment (PVD) without vitrectomy. METHODS One eye each of 15 New Zealand white rabbits was assigned to one of three groups. Eyes in group 1 received a vitreous injection of 1 unit of human plasmin (0.1 mL reconstituted in balanced salt solution) and 0.5 mL of SF6; eyes in group 2 received a vitreous injection of plasmin alone; eyes in group 3 received a vitreous injection of SF6 alone. Seven days after injection, all animals were monitored electroretinographically and killed, and the eyes were enucleated. After fixation, scanning electron microscopy was performed. RESULTS In group 1 eyes, the retinal surface was smooth except for the vitreous base, which showed complete separation of the vitreous cortex from the retina, indicating PVD. In group 2 and 3 eyes, sparse collagen fibers remained on the retinal surface. CONCLUSION Vitreous injection of plasmin combined with SF6 can induce PVD without vitrectomy.
Limbic connections of the orbital and medial prefrontal cortex in macaque monkeys

Previous studies have shown that the orbital and medial prefrontal cortex (OMPFC) is extensively connected with medial temporal and cingulate limbic structures. In this study, the organization of these projections was defined in relation to architectonic areas within the OMPFC. All of the limbic structures were substantially connected with the following posterior and medial orbital areas: the posteromedial, medial, intermediate, and lateral agranular insular areas (Iapm, Iam, Iai, and Ial, respectively) and areas 11m, 13a, 13b, 14c, and 14r. In contrast, lateral orbital areas 12o, 12m, and [12] and medial wall areas 24a, b and 32 were primarily connected with the amygdala, the temporal pole, and the cingulate cortex. Data were not obtained on the poateroventral medial wall.
Biodegradation of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons by Aerobic Mixed Bacterial Culture Isolated from Hydrocarbon Polluted Soils

In this study, the degradation potential of five polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) by aerobic mixed bacterial cultures was investigated. Microorganisms were isolated from hydrocarbon contaminated soils of Shadegan wetland located in southwest of Iran. The degradation experiments were conducted in liquid cultures. PAH or PAHs concentration was 100 mg/L at the beginning of degradation experiments. After ten days incubation, the mixed culture was capable of degrading phenanthrene completely and anthracene 80%, pyrene 60%, fluorene 30%, and fluoranthene 20%, individually. Optimal temperature and pH were as 30 °C and 7.0 respectively. Results showed that in samples containing a mixture of the five PAHs, fluoranthene could degrade cometabolically and the rate of degradation increased from 20 to 44%. It was observed also that PAHs degradation could be enhanced by the individual addition of yeast extract or glucose. The isolated mixed culture is valuable in bioremediation of PAH-contaminated environments.
The prevalence, predictors and associated health outcomes of high nicotine dependence using three measures among US smokers.

AIMS Using the Fagerström Test of Nicotine Dependence (FTND), the Heaviness of Smoking Index (HSI) and the time-to-first-cigarette (TTFC), this study estimated prevalence, evaluated optimal scale cut-offs, identified predictors and assessed potential impact on health, productivity and health-care use of high nicotine dependence among US smokers. DESIGN, SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS This cross-sectional study used 2011 National Health and Wellness Survey data (n = 50 000). MEASUREMENTS Nicotine dependence, demographic data, measures of health, productivity and health-care use and health attitudes were assessed. FINDINGS The prevalence of high nicotine dependence ranged from 23% (TTFC < 5 minutes) to 63.6% (TTFC < 30 minutes). Based on diagnostic accuracy, the cut-offs for high nicotine dependence using HSI and TTFC varied according to FTND cut-off: if FTND > 4, then HSI > 3 and TTFC < 30 minutes represented optimal cut-offs; if FTND > 5, HSI > 4 and TTFC < 5 minutes represented optimal cut-offs. Across all measures, high nicotine dependence was related significantly to being male, single, age 45-64 years and Caucasian; lower education; lack of health insurance; under/unemployment; comorbid respiratory or cardiovascular disease, diabetes or psychiatric illness; and lower rates of exercise and concern for weight control. Controlling for demographic variables and comorbid physical and psychiatric illness, high nicotine dependence, measured by FTND, HSI or TTFC, was associated significantly with reduced mental and physical quality of life, reduced work-place productivity and more health-care use. CONCLUSIONS High nicotine dependence is associated with lower quality of life, lower work productivity and higher health-care use. The Heaviness of Smoking Index and the time-to-first-cigarette can provide useful screening measures of nicotine dependence in clinical and research settings.