Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Monitoring of early response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy in stage II and III breast cancer by [18F]fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography.

PURPOSE This study aimed to assess prospectively the efficacy of sequential [18F]fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG PET) to evaluate early response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy in stage II and III breast cancer patients. PATIENTS AND METHODS Images were acquired with a PET/computed tomography scanner in 64 patients after administration of FDG (5 MBq/kg) at baseline and after the first, second, third, and sixth course of chemotherapy. Ultrasound and mammography were used to assess tumor size. Decrease in the standardized uptake value (SUV) with PET was compared with the pathologic response. RESULTS Surgery was performed after six courses of chemotherapy and pathologic analysis revealed gross residual disease in 28 patients and minimal residual disease in 36 patients. Although SUV data did not vary much in nonresponders (based on pathology findings), they decreased markedly to background levels in 94% (34 of 36) of responders. When using 60% of SUV at baseline as the cutoff value, the sensitivity, specificity, and negative predictive value of FDG PET were 61%, 96%, and 68% after one course of chemotherapy, 89%, 95%, and 85% after two courses, and 88%, 73%, and 83% after three courses, respectively. The same parameters with ultrasound (US) and mammography were 64%, 43%, and 55%, and 31%, 56%, and 45%, respectively. Assessment of tumor response with US or mammography was never significant whatever the cutoff. CONCLUSION Pathologic response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy in stage II and III breast cancer can be predicted accurately by FDG PET after two courses of chemotherapy.
Full Band Monte-Carlo Device Simulation of an 0.1 um N-Channel MOSFET in Strained Silicon Material

Full band Monte Carlo device simulation is applied in this paper for a projection of the performance advantages of NMOS transistors with surface channels in strained Si in comparison to conventional Si NMOSTs. For strained Si grown on a Si0 7Ge0 3 buffer an advantage of 30 % in terms of maximum Ion is found.
Perspectives from physiotherapy supervisors on student-patient communication

Objectives: To explore what Australian physiotherapy educators value in student-patient clinical communication by investigating their feedback on physiotherapy students' communication with patients in practice settings. These findings were compared to the national standard descriptors. Methods: A qualitative study design incorporated delayed time feedback elicited in two workshops from 12 partici-pants who viewed video recorded interactions as triggers for discussion, and real time feedback observed in a hospital setting of 14 clinical supervisors and their students. Both sets of feedback were audio-recorded, transcribed and analysed thematically. Results: The findings identified five major themes in the clinical supervisor and educators' feedback: non-verbal communication, manner, language, content and organisa-tion, and interactional tools. In the findings, several of the themes resonate with those espoused in available communication frameworks. The findings provide examples of the framework descriptors. Conclusions: The findings provide important information about the communication skills, attitudes and behaviours that are valued by clinical supervisors and educators. The findings can be used to inform standard setting and curriculum development. Knowledge gained about students' communication skills in practice settings can assist in enhancing communication between physiotherapy students and patients, and it can ultimately contribute to improving patient safety and treatment outcomes.
Diminished Pupillary Light Reflex at High Irradiances in Melanopsin-Knockout Mice

In the mammalian retina, a small subset of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) are intrinsically photosensitive, express the opsin-like protein melanopsin, and project to brain nuclei involved in non–image-forming visual functions such as pupillary light reflex and circadian photoentrainment. We report that in mice with the melanopsin gene ablated, RGCs retrograde-labeled from the suprachiasmatic nuclei were no longer intrinsically photosensitive, although their number, morphology, and projections were unchanged. These animals showed a pupillary light reflex indistinguishable from that of the wild type at low irradiances, but at high irradiances the reflex was incomplete, a pattern that suggests that the melanopsin-associated system and the classical rod/cone system are complementary in function.
Inhibition of fatty acid amide hydrolase activates Nrf2 signalling and induces heme oxygenase 1 transcription in breast cancer cells

Endocannabinoids such as anandamide (AEA) are important lipid ligands regulating cell proliferation, differentiation and apoptosis. Their levels are regulated by hydrolase enzymes, the fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH) and monoacylglycerol lipase (MGL). Here, we investigated whether FAAH or AEA are involved in NF (erythroid‐derived 2)‐like 2 (Nrf2)/antioxidant responsive element (ARE) pathway.
Effect of Work Environment on Level of Work Stress and Burnout among Nurses in a Teaching Hospital in Nigeria

Nurses’ roles expose them to a lot of stress based upon the physical labour, exposure to human suffering, lengthy work hours, poor staffing, and interpersonal relationships that are central to the work they do. Nurses are expected to deliver humane, empathetic, culturally-sensitive and proficient care in working environments with limited resources and increasing responsibilities. Such imbalance between providing high quality care with limited resources leads to physical and mental stress. This stressful nature of nursing can ultimately lead to job dissatisfaction and burnout which among health care providers are important issues since they affect turnover rates, staff retention and ultimately the quality of patient care. A thoroughly validated self developed questionnaire with a reliability coefficient of 0.78 was used to explore the effect of work environment on the level of work stress and burnout among nurses. A purposive sampling technique was utilized to select 100 participants from the medical unit of the hospital. Three hypotheses were tested at a significant level of 0.05. Data were analyzed using ANOVA and Pearson’s Correlation. The study revealed that level of stress was higher among the staff nurses who had worked for only between 0 and 3 years, with mean stress score 46.0000. Findings further revealed that as the cadre rose, the nurses assumed that managerial roles were accountable for increased subordinates and oversee health related and administrative responsibilities and they experienced more stress. Also there is a significant relationship among work environment, stress and burnout among the nurses in the selected unit. In conclusion, though work conditions and environment are not favourable, there are job security and good interpersonal relationship among the nurses which cushion the stressful situations. It is therefore recommended that the management of the hospitals should provide a conducive work environment, providing necessary resources and adequate break periods to ensure staff welfare.
DIST ANCE DETERRENCE EFFECTS IN CONSTRAINED SPATIAL INTERACTION MODELS OF INTERPROVINCIAL MIGRATION *

Distance has long been viewed as a barrier to population migration, and there are numerous studies that identify the existence of a "dis­ tance decay effect" in migration and in other types of spatial interac­ tion [5;8]. Traditionally the relationship between distance and migra­ tion has been examined with the use of the well-known gravity mode! , which is based on an analogy with Newtonian mechanics. Wilson, however, [32;33] was among the first to show that gravity-type inter­ action models can be derived, alternatively, from either statistical mechanics or information theoretic methods, utilizing the concept of entropy maximization. In general, the method of entropy maximiza­ tion allows unbiased estimates to be made of the form of probability distributions, given limited prior information [18;21;30]. These esti ­ mates can then be employed in mathematical models of the system of interest that are to be tested against the observed data. In addition, the introduction of information in the form of constraints allows greater model flexibility and also overcomes the internaI consistency problem inherent in the classical gravity model [13;20]. As is the case with classical gravity models, information theoretic entropy maximizing models emphasize the role of the distance variable
P 2 Y 2 receptor-stimulated phosphoinositide hydrolysis and Ca 2 1 mobilization in tracheal epithelial cells

Yang, Chuen-Mao, Wen-Bin Wu, Shiow-Lin Pan, YihJeng Tsai, Chi-Tso Chiu, and Chuan-Chwan Wang. P2Y2 receptor-stimulated phosphoinositide hydrolysis and Ca mobilization in tracheal epithelial cells. Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol 279: L235–L241, 2000. —Extracellular nucleotides have been implicated in the regulation of secretory function through the activation of P2 receptors in the epithelial tissues, including tracheal epithelial cells (TECs). In this study, experiments were conducted to characterize the P2 receptor subtype on canine TECs responsible for stimulating inositol phosphate (InsPx) accumulation and Ca 21
Knowledge and Compliance towards Lithium Therapy among Chinese Psychiatric Patients in Hong Kong

Although patient education is believed to promote medication compliance, the exact relationship between the acquisition of drug knowledge and compliance during lithium treatment is unclear. A survey of 50 Chinese patients on maintenance lithium therapy revealed that their medical knowledge about lithium treatment, as measured by a “Lithium Questionnaire,” was very limited. Nonetheless, 70% of these patients were found, by multiple criteria, to be good compliers, and lithium compliance was apparently not affected by the amount of drug knowledge that patients possessed. It is argued that in the process of conducting patient education to enhance lithium compliance, a sound therapeutic alliance is more important than sheer knowledge acquisition.
Racial Differences in Fibrosis Progression After HCV-Related Liver Transplantation

Background Black recipients undergoing liver transplantation (LT) for hepatitis C virus (HCV) have decreased patient and graft survival compared with white recipients, a finding that is primarily limited to black recipients of livers from white donors. The cause(s) for these discrepant outcomes are unclear but may be related to HCV disease recurrence. The rates of HCV-related disease recurrence and liver fibrosis progression among black and white liver transplant recipients have not been investigated. Methods In this study, we compared liver fibrosis progression between 105 black and 364 white recipients after HCV-related LT in a multisite cohort study and assessed the impact of donor race. Results At 6, 12, and 24 months after LT, there was a significantly higher percentage in the black recipient/white donor (B/W) group with severe fibrosis, defined as stage 3 or 4 (F3/F4), compared with all other recipient/donor race combinations. The adjusted odds ratio of developing F3/F4 for the B/W group was 2.54 (1.49–4.69; reference group, white recipient/white donor). Black recipients with black donors demonstrated a similar rate of progression to F3/F4 as white recipients. Patient survival was also decreased in the B/W group compared with other recipient/donor race combinations. Conclusion African American recipients with white donors have more severe fibrosis progression after HCV-related LT. The mechanisms responsible for accelerating fibrosis progression in this high-risk race-mismatched group need to be investigated.
Effects of Applaud on the Growth of Silkworm (Lepidoptera: Bombycidae)

Abstract An experiment was carried out to evaluate the effect of the insecticide Applaud (buprofezin 25% WP) on the silkworm Bombyx mori (L.). This insecticide belongs to the class of insect growth regulators (IGR). The larvae were fed on leaves treated with 3 different concentrations (0.5, 1, 2 g/liter) of Applaud on the 1st d of each instar. Analysis of data with the Tukey–Kramer test at 1% significant level revealed that mortality and larval duration did not differ among the treatments. On the contrary, the larval weight, which was estimated just before mounting (procedure during which the mature larva climbing on a branch or other material to spin the cocoon), differed among the treatments. Also, cocoon weight, shell weight, and cocoon sericin and fibroin content were different among the treatments, except the shell cocoon ratio. Maximum weight was observed in the controls and minimum in the last instar treatments. Our data suggest that supplementation of Applaud through food to larvae does not affect their mortality rate. On the contrary, it affects larval growth and cocoon parameters.
Reliable Data Delivery for Publish / Subscribe Networks

Network architectures built completely on publish and subscribe primitives instead of send and receive, have recently attracted many researchers. Pub/sub paradigm changes the networking completely: end-to-end principle breaks, communication channels become unidirectional, and multicast becomes a norm. Although pub/sub has attracted many, the research has been focusing on the network layer – functionalities that lie on the higher layers have not been studied so thoroughly. This paper focuses on how reliability, which is normally addressed above networking layer, can be achieved in pub/sub networks. Reliability and guaranteed message delivery have traditionally been solved at the endpoints of the communication but the approach does not work anymore in pub/sub paradigm. The focus of this paper is on understanding the concept of reliability in publish/subscribe networks, how reliability has been solved in other (e.g. overlay) pub/sub architectures, and what are the fundamental requirements for reliable data transfer. In addition, recently proposed Cache-and-Forward architecture is used as an example when considering ways to achieve reliability in pub/sub networks.
Leukotriene B4 Receptor 1 Expression on Dendritic Cells Is Required for the Development of Th2 Responses and Allergen-Induced Airway Hyperresponsiveness12

Dendritic cells (DC) are important APCs that control allergen-induced airway responses by interacting directly with T cells. Leukotriene B4 (LTB4), interacting with its high-affinity receptor, LTB4 receptor 1 (BLT1), is known to attract and activate leukocytes during inflammation. We have previously shown that BLT1 expression on Ag-primed T cells is required for the development of airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR; Miyahara et al. 2005. Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med. 172: 161–167). However, the role for the LTB4-BLT1 pathway in DC function in allergen-induced airway responses has not been defined. Bone marrow-derived DCs (BMDC) were generated. Naive BALB/c mice received OVA-pulsed BLT1-deficient (BLT1−/−) BMDCs or wild-type BMDCs intratracheally and were then challenged with OVA for 3 days. Airway responses were monitored 48 h after the last allergen challenge. BLT1−/− BMDCs showed normal maturation judged from surface expression of CD markers. Compared with recipients of wild-type BMDCs, mice that received BLT1−/− BMDCs developed significantly lower AHR to inhaled methacholine, lower goblet cell metaplasia, and eosinophilic infiltration in the airways and decreased levels of Th2 type cytokines in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid. Migration of BLT1−/− BMDCs into peribronchial lymph nodes was significantly impaired compared with BLT1+/+ BMDCs after intratracheal instillation. These data suggest that BLT1 expression on DCs is required for migration of DCs to regional lymph nodes as well as in the development of AHR and airway inflammation.
Nutritional privation in utero and adult cardiovascular disease risk: famine studies as natural experiments

The hypothesis that early life (pre-adult) factors may have a role in the aetiology of future illness, specifically cardiovascular disease, has attracted substantial research interest, particularly in the last two decades.1 The ecological (group-level) studies of Forsdahl2 were among the first empirical examinations of this association. His analyses of Norwegian counties revealed a positive association between higher infant death rates in 1896–1925 (regarded as a proxy of adverse environmental conditions) and increased rates of death from adult coronary arterial disease in 1964–1967 (ie, when the infants would have been nearing the age of disease onset for that period) (figure 1). Figure 1 Correlation between mortality from arteriosclerotic heart disease (1964–1967) in men aged 40–69 years (standardised rates/100 000 population) and infant mortality (1896–1925). 2 Reprinted with permission. Replicating these findings in England and Wales,3 Barker and his team then extended this area of enquiry to individual-level indicators.4 To do so, they sourced unusually well-kept maternity hospital archives detailing the physical characteristics of mothers and their newborns, including birth weight. Via linkage with national mortality records, and subsequently clinical examination of surviving study members, birth weight was shown to be related to a range of adult cardiovascular outcomes: coronary heart disease, stroke and their risk factors, such as hypertension and type 2 diabetes.5 While this body of work was intriguing, there was doubt, some of which remains, as to the nature of these relationships. Critics noted that the findings were based on non-randomised (observational) data and were therefore subject to the perennial problem of confounding. Thus it was highly plausible that early life factors—maternal cigarette smoking or childhood social disadvantage were once strong candidates—could have led to both low birth weight and subsequent increased adulthood morbidity, so generating a spurious association. However, the findings of most studies suggest that …
[Minimally invasive robotic coronary bypass on the beating heart using da Vinci S system].

OBJECTIVE To summarize the experience of minimally invasive robotic coronary bypass on beating heart using da Vinci S in China. METHODS Fifty-six patients underwent selected robotic coronary bypass on beating heart from April 2007 to December 2008. All the patients had history of angina and the coronary arteriography showed severe stenosis in the left anterior descending artery (LAD), of which 10 cases had right coronary artery or left circumflex coronary (LCX) stenosis. The age was 33 to 74 years old, with a mean of (55.8 +/- 9.4) years old. The weight was (71.4 +/- 13.2) kg. All the patients had good lung function and had no medical history of pleurisy and thoracic surgery. CT scan of double internal thoracic artery (ITA) was routinely checked preoperatively. The procedures included: (1) The robotically assisted endoscopic atraumatic coronary artery bypass surgery. The approach was via a small left anterior thoracotomy (6 to 8 cm) after robotic ITA was taken down. The ITA was manually anastomosed to the LAD or LCX on beating heart. (2) Totally endoscopic coronary bypass graft on beating heart. After ITA harvesting, the endo stabilizer was inserted via the fourth port in the xiphoid area under endoscopic vision. The left ITA to the LAD grafting was done using U-clips on beating heart in a totally endoscopic manner using da Vinci S system through 4 ports. For all patients the ITA flow was checked by the Doppler flowmeter after anastomosis was completed. After the surgery was completed, the thoracic port was checked carefully to avoid bleeding. The operating procedures and a variety of clinical parameters were recorded and analyzed. (3) Stent placement after robotic surgery in a hybrid manner. The graft patency rate was evaluated by CT or arteriography. RESULTS All patients successfully accepted robotic minimally invasive coronary bypass on the beating heart using da Vinci S surgical system without complications. The mean graft flow was (23.2 +/- 16.7) ml/min. And there was no surgical conversion and surgical death. Fifty-three patients received ITA to LAD grafts and 3 patients received double coronary artery bypass grafts as well. Ten cases received stent placement in separate session. The CT scan and angiography revealed patent grafts in all patients. There were no post-operative complications. All patients were discharged from hospital. CONCLUSIONS As a new advanced approach of revascularization, robotic ITA harvesting and coronary anastomoses can be safely performed with the da Vinci S system. The procedure is minimally invasive and can offer enhanced ability to control precise and stable operative manipulations.
Targeting of proteins to the thylakoids by bipartite presequences: CFoII is imported by a novel, third pathway.

The CFoII subunit of the ATP synthase is an integral component of the thylakoid membrane which is synthesized in the cytosol with a bipartite, lumen‐targeting presequence similar in structural terms to those of imported lumenal proteins such as plastocyanin. This presequence is shown to possess a terminal cleavage site for the thylakoidal processing peptidase, but no intermediate site for the stromal processing peptidase. The integration of CFoII into the thylakoid membrane of Pisum sativum has been analysed using in vitro assays for the import of proteins into intact chloroplasts or isolated thylakoids. Efficient integration into thylakoids is observed in the light and dark, and the integration process does not require the presence of either stromal extracts or nucleoside triphosphates. The uncoupler nigericin inhibits integration only very slightly, indicating that the thylakoidal delta pH does not play a significant role in the integration mechanism. In each of these respects, the requirements for CFoII integration differ notably from those determined for integration of the light‐harvesting chlorophyll‐binding protein of photosystem II. The integration mechanism also differs significantly from the two mechanisms involved in the translocation of lumenal proteins across the thylakoid membrane, since one of these processes requires the presence of stromal protein factors and ATP, and the other mechanism is dependent on the thylakoidal delta pH. This conclusion is reinforced by the finding that saturation of the translocation system for the precursor to the lumenal 23 kDa oxygen‐evolving complex protein does not affect integration of CFoII into thylakoids. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)