Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Nifedipine serum levels in pregnant women undergoing tocolysis with nifedipine

Summary The objective of our cross-sectional, observational study was to investigate nifedipine serum levels in pregnant women undergoing tocolysis. A total of 24 pregnant women, 22 – 34 weeks' gestation, who were administered nifedipine for treatment of pre-term labour, were enrolled in the study. Blood samples were taken 12 h after the oral application of 60 mg nifedipine in ‘continuous release’ form (Adalat CR 60). Nifedipine serum levels were measured with liquid chromatography. Nifedipine serum levels spread between 6 and 101 ng/ml (17 – 292 nmol/l). There was no correlation between nifedipine levels and body mass index (BMI), or between nifedipine levels and gestational age. During nifedipine tocolysis, 11 of 24 patients (45.8%) had mild side-effects, mostly headache. The side-effects were not dose-related. Despite the standardised dosage and standardised blood sampling nifedipine serum levels spread in a wide range. There is no need to adjust the dose of nifedipine to BMI or to gestational age.
Cellular therapies for kidney failure

Dialysis and transplantation of human kidneys represent effective therapies to replace kidney function, but each has limitations. Xenotransplantation of whole kidneys from non-primate donors is complicated by humoral and severe cellular rejection. The use of individual cells or groups of cells to regenerate or repair damaged tissue (cellular therapies) offers an alternative for renal replacement. Cellular strategies include: incorporation of new nephrons into the kidney; growing new kidneys in situ/renal organogenesis; use of embryonic or adult stem cells; and nuclear transplantation/therapeutic cloning. These approaches circumvent humoral rejection of xenogeneic tissue. Cellular rejection is ameliorated if embryonic cells are transplanted. It is likely that replacement of renal function via one or more cellular approach will constitute a part of future mainstream medical practice.
Nutritional Influences on Risk for Cataract

Cataract is one of the major causes of preventable blindness throughout the world. In the United States, the prevalence of visually significant cataract increases from approximately 5% at age 65 to near 50% for persons older than 75. In the United States and much of the developed world, cataract surgery, albeit costly, is readily available and routinely successful in restoring sight. Nevertheless, given negative impact on life quality, productivity, and the Medicare budget, the best approach is to diminish risk for this debility. In less-developed countries, such as India, China, and Kenya, cataracts are more common and develop earlier in life than do populations in more-developed countries. The impact of cataract on impaired vision is much greater in less-developed countries, where more than 90% of the cases of blindness and visual impairment are found and where a dearth of ophthalmologists severely limits the performance of lens extractions. Given both the extent of disability caused by age-related cataract and its costs ($5–6 billion per year* in the United States), it is urgent that we elucidate causes of cataract and identify strategies to slow the development of this disorder. Some estimate that a delay in cataract formation of approximately 10 years would reduce the prevalence of visually disabling
Cerebral amyloid angiopathy: Both viper and maggot in the brain

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Blockade of NMDA receptors and nitric oxide synthesis in the dorsolateral periaqueductal gray attenuates behavioral and cellular responses of rats exposed to a live predator

Innate fear stimulus induces activation of neurons containing the neuronal nitric oxide synthase enzyme (nNOS) in defensive‐related brain regions such as the dorsolateral periaqueductal gray (dlPAG). Intra‐dlPAG administration of nitric oxide synthase (NOS) inhibitors and glutamate antagonists induce anxiolytic‐like responses. We investigated the involvement of nitric oxide (NO) and glutamate neurotransmission in defensive reactions modulated by dlPAG. We tested if intra‐dlPAG injections of the selective nNOS inhibitor, N‐propyl‐L‐arginine (NP), or the glutamate antagonist, AP7 (2‐amino‐7‐phosphonoheptanoic acid), would attenuate behavioral responses and cellular activation induced by predator exposure (cat). Fos‐like immunoreactivity (FLI) was used as a marker of neuronal functional activation, whereas nNOS immunohistochemistry was used to identify NOS neurons. Cat exposure induced fear responses and an increase of FLI in the dlPAG and dorsal premammillary nucleus (PMd). NP and AP7 attenuated the cat‐induced behavioral responses. Whereas NP tended to attenuate FLI in the dlPAG, AP7 induced a significant reduction in cellular activation of this region. The latter drug, however, increased FLI and double‐labeled cells in the PMd. Cellular activation of this region was significantly correlated with time spent near the cat (r = 0.7597 and 0.6057 for FLI and double‐labeled cells). These results suggest that glutamate/NO‐mediated neurotransmission in the dlPAG plays an important role in responses elicit by predator exposure. Blocking these neurotransmitter systems in this brain area impairs defensive responses. The longer time spent near the predator that follows AP7 effect could lead to an increased cellular activation of the PMd, a more rostral brain area that has also been related to defensive responses. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Constructing informative Bayesian map priors: A multi-objective optimisation approach applied to indoor occupancy grid mapping

The problem of simultaneous localisation and mapping (SLAM) has been addressed in numerous ways with different approaches aiming to produce faster, more robust solutions that yield consistent maps. This focus, however, has resulted in a number of solutions that perform poorly in challenging real life scenarios. In order to achieve improved performance and map quality this article proposes a novel method to construct informative Bayesian mapping priors through a multi-objective optimisation of prior map design variables defined using a source of prior information. This concept is explored for 2D occupancy grid SLAM, constructing such priors by extracting structural information from architectural drawings and identifying optimised prior values to assign to detected walls and empty space. Using the proposed method a contextual optimised prior can be constructed. This prior is found to yield better quantitative and qualitative performance than the commonly used non-informative prior, yielding an increase of over 20% in the F 2 metric. This is achieved without adding to the computational complexity of the SLAM algorithm, making it a good fit for time critical real life applications such as search and rescue missions.
Coccolithophores on the north-west European shelf: calcification rates and environmental controls

Coccolithophores are a key functional group in terms of the pelagic production of calcium carbonate (calcite), although their contribution to shelf sea biogeochemistry, and how this relates to environmental conditions, is poorly constrained. Measurements of calcite production (CP) and coccolithophore abundance were made on the north-west European shelf to examine trends in coccolithophore calcification along natural gradients of carbonate chemistry, macronutrient availability and plankton composition. Similar measurements were also made in three bioassay experiments where nutrient (nitrate, phosphate) and pCO2 levels were manipulated. Nanoflagellates (< 10 μm) dominated chlorophyll biomass and primary production (PP) at all but one sampling site, with CP ranging from 0.6 to 9.6 mmol C m−2 d−1. High CP and coccolithophore abundance occurred in a diatom bloom in fully mixed waters off Heligoland, but not in two distinct coccolithophore blooms in the central North Sea and Western English Channel. Coccolithophore abundance and CP showed no correlation with nutrient concentrations or ratios, while significant (p < 0.01) correlations between CP, cell-specific calcification (cell-CF) and irradiance in the water column highlighted how light availability exerts a strong control on pelagic CP. In the experimental bioassays, Emiliania-huxleyi-dominated coccolithophore communities in shelf waters (northern North Sea, Norwegian Trench) showed a strong response in terms of CP to combined nitrate and phosphate addition, mediated by changes in cell-CF and growth rates. In contrast, an offshore diverse coccolithophore community (Bay of Biscay) showed no response to nutrient addition, while light availability or mortality may have been more important in controlling this community. Sharp decreases in pH and a rough halving of calcite saturation states in the bioassay experiments led to decreased CP in the Bay of Biscay and northern North Sea, but not the Norwegian Trench. These decreases in CP were related to slowed growth rates in the bioassays at elevated pCO2 (750 μatm) relative to those in the ambient treatments. The combined results from our study highlight the variable coccolithophore responses to irradiance, nutrients and carbonate chemistry in north-west European shelf waters, which are mediated by changes in growth rates, cell-CF and species composition.
Alcoholic liver disease in the 1980s.

Alcoholic liver disease is now firmly established as one of the main causes of illness and death in many industrial countries. In some cases the problem has become immense; alcoholic liver disease is now the second most common cause of death in men aged 25-44 in New York State. ' Though in a few countries such as France the death rate seems to have reached a plateau, in most (including Britain) the indications are that its incidence will continue to increase as it has done steadily over the past 20 years.2 3 This appalling trend is entirely predictable given the lack of a coherent national strategy on alcoholism. Perhaps the newly formed organisation Action on Alcohol Abuse, which at its launching in September emphasised the need for the development of effective preventive strategies, will be the vanguard of a new attack on the problem. At least the emergence of alcoholic liver disease as a major health problem world wide has focused attention on the need for more effective treatment and for a greater understanding of its clinical course and pathogenesis. Several studies from both specialist and non-specialist units in Britain have given comprehensive accounts of the clinical features and clinical course of alcoholic liver disease.3-7 The most recent and largest of these is a multicentre survey undertaken by the Caledonian Society of Gastroenterology.7 A total of 510 patients with histologically documented alcoholic liver disease were identified from the eight centres in Scotland and Northern England participating in the study. In this series, which is probably representative of clinical practice in Britain, 4000 of patients had cirrhosis at presentation. This proportion is lower than in earlier series-for example, the 5700 in a survey from the Royal Free Hospital in the 1960s,8 600° from the same unit in 1975,4 and 63% from King's College Hospital in 1967-75.5 To some extent this may reflect differences in referral practices, though fewerthan 300/, of patients admitted to the same department in the Royal Free Hospital since 1978 have cirrhosis (M Y Morgan, personal communication). It looks as if greater attempts are being made nowadays to detect alcoholic liver disease at an early stage. Furthermore, more patients with cirrhosis are still in the "compensated" stage in contrast to the experience reported from Birmingham, where throughout a 20 year period over two thirds of patients presented with ascites, liver failure, or variceal bleeding.3 One of the main difficulties in diagnosing alcoholic liver
Titanium Clip Prosthesis

Objective: Prostheses for the reconstruction of a defective ossicular chain should be stable and firmly anchored to the ossicular remnants. This will prevent a defective connection from causing diminished sound transmission efficiency and will keep the prosthesis from tilting or even losing contact, which would result in a sound transmission block. Through temporal bone experimentation, we have consequently developed a very lightweight titanium prosthesis, which is fastened onto the stapes head with a clip mechanism. Methods: When temporal bone experiments using laser Doppler vibrometry confirmed that the prosthesis functioned well acoustically and when luxation experiments proved that it could be safely used without the risk of stapes dislocation, the prosthesis was used in a clinical application within an observational study. The University of Dresden Otorhinolaryngological Hospital as well as seven surgeons from five other hospitals participated in the study. Results: The results of 133 operations showed that, in over 90% of the cases, the prosthesis could be implemented without problems and with good mechanical stability. The first acoustical results obtained during the first year from 49 patients showed a sound transmission improvement range from 12 dB to 14 dB. Conclusion: With the clip prosthesis, it seems possible to further improve defective middle ear function, which would allow the patient to regain social hearing after middle ear reconstruction. The reliability of the fastening is an innovation. Revision operations showed a stable prosthesis-stapes complex in the middle of a recurring cholesteatoma and the prosthesis could always be easily pulled from the stapedial suprastructure.
The Necessity for Effective Interaction between Basic Scientists and Rehabilitation Clinicians

Important basic science research is being conducted that has direct implications for the rehabilitation of patients, but the translation of this research to change clinical practice does not occur automatically. Advisory panels to the National Center for Medical Rehabilitation Research acknowledge a need for basic and applied research related to the factors underlying coordinated movements, such as the interactions of the neuromuscular and musculoskeletal systems. In this paper, we briefly describe recent studies that have examined the preceding interaction and discuss some basic issues related to the translation of these experiments to the clinic. More importantly, the main purpose of this paper is to discuss models/ways to translate basic science to clinical practice in a two-way and informed interaction between basic scientists and clinicians.
Neural correlates of epigenesis

The effect of life stress on depression is moderated by a repeat length variation in the transcriptional control region of the serotonin transporter gene, which renders carriers of the short variant vulnerable for depression. We investigated the underlying neural mechanisms of these epigenetic processes in individuals with no history of psychopathology by using multimodal magnetic resonance-based imaging (functional, perfusion, and structural), genotyping, and self-reported life stress and rumination. Based on functional MRI and perfusion data, we found support for a model by which life stress interacts with the effect of serotonin transporter genotype on amygdala and hippocampal resting activation, two regions involved in depression and stress. Life stress also differentially affected, as a function of serotonin transporter genotype, functional connectivity of the amygdala and hippocampus with a wide network of other regions, as well as gray matter structural features, and affected individuals' level of rumination. These interactions may constitute a neural mechanism for epigenetic vulnerability toward, or protection against, depression.
Evaluation of biological, psychosocial, and interventional predictors for success of a smoking cessation programme in Hong Kong.

INTRODUCTION Predictors for smoking cessation have been identified in different studies but some of the predictors have been variable and inconsistent. In this study, we reviewed all the potential variables including medication, counselling, and others not commonly studied to identify the robust predictors of smoking cessation. METHODS This historical cohort study was conducted in smoking cessation clinics in Hong Kong. Subjects who volunteered to come for free treatment between January 2010 and December 2011 were reviewed. Those under the age of 18 years, or who were mentally unstable or cognitively impaired were excluded. Counselling and quit-smoking medications were provided to the participants. The outcome measure was self-reported 7-day point prevalence abstinence rate at week 26. RESULTS Univariate analysis showed that the following were significant predictors of quitting: (1) psychosocial variables such as feeling stressed, feeling depressed, confidence in quitting, difficulty in quitting, importance of quitting, Smoking Self-Efficacy Questionnaire score; (2) smoking-related variables such as number of cigarettes smoked per day, Fagerström Test for Nicotine Dependence score, number of high-risk situations encountered; (3) health-related variable of having mental illness; (4) basic demographics such as age, marital status, and household income; and (5) interventional variables such as counselling and pharmacotherapy. Multiple logistic regression showed that the independent predictors were age, having mental illness, daily cigarette consumption, Fagerström Test for Nicotine Dependence score, reasons for quitting, confidence in quitting, depressed mood, external self-efficacy, intervention with counselling and medications. CONCLUSIONS This clinic-based local study offers a different perspective on the predictors of quitting. It reminds us to adopt a holistic approach to deal with nicotine withdrawal, to enhance external self-efficacy to resist temptation and social influences, to provide adequate counselling, and to help smokers to cope with mood problems.
Pattern Recognition-A Technique for Induction Machines Rotor Broken Bar Detection

A pattern recognition technique based on the Bayes minimum error classifier is developed to detect broken rotor bar faults in induction motors at the steady state. The proposed algorithm uses only stator currents as input without the need for any other variables. First rotor speed is estimated from the stator currents, then appropriate features are extracted. The produced feature vector is normalized and fed to the trained classifier to see if the motor is healthy or has broken bar faults. Only a number of poles and rotor slots are needed as preknowledge information. Theoretical approach together with experimental results derived from a 3 hp ac induction motor show the strength of the proposed method. In order to cover many different motor load conditions data are obtained from 10% to 130% of the rated load for both a healthy induction motor and an induction motor with a rotor having four broken bars.
Radiofrequency ablation therapy for hepatocellular carcinoma in elderly patients

Background and Aim: With the aging of society, the number of elderly patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has been increasing in Japan. The Government of Japan defines elderly as being over 65 and has divided the elderly into two stages: the first elderly stage (< 75 years old) and the second elderly stage (≥ 75). We investigated the efficacy and safety of radiofrequency ablation therapy (RFA) in patients in the second elderly stage in comparison with other HCC patients, retrospectively.
A finite volume method solution for the bidomain equations and their application to modelling cardiac ischaemia

This paper presents an implementation of the finite volume method with the aim of studying subendocardial ischaemia during the ST segment. In this implementation, based on hexahedral finite volumes, each quadrilateral sub-face is split into two triangles to improve the accuracy of the numerical integration in complex geometries and when fibre rotation is included. The numerical method is validated against previously published solutions obtained from slab and cylindrical models of the left ventricle with subendocardial ischaemia and no fibre rotation. Epicardial potential distributions are then obtained for a half-ellipsoid model of the left ventricle. In this case it is shown that for isotropic cardiac tissue the degree of subendocardial ischaemia does not affect the epicardial potential distribution, which is consistent with previous findings from analytical studies in simpler geometries. The paper also considers the behaviour of various preconditioners for solving numerically the resulting system of algebraic equations resulting from the implementation of the finite volume method. It is observed that each geometry considered has its own optimal preconditioner.
A cross-sectional study on the prevalence of subclinical mastitis and antimicrobial susceptibility patterns of the bacterial isolates in milk samples of smallholder dairy goats in Kenya

Dairy goat production is an emerging enterprise, which has a lot of potential for poverty alleviation, improved nutrition, and increased income for the poor and can play a role in contribution towards Kenya’s development plan. Inadequate information on prevalence of subclinical mastitis and antibiotic sensitivity are some of the challenges facing this industry. This study was carried out in dairy goats under zero grazing system in Mount Kenya region, from January 2012 to December 2012 to determine the prevalence of subclinical mastitis in lactating goats and the antibiotic sensitivity of the isolated bacteria.