Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Pharmacokinetics of Anidulafungin in Critically Ill Intensive Care Unit Patients with Suspected or Proven Invasive Fungal Infections

ABSTRACT Echinocandins, such as anidulafungin, are the first-line treatment for candidemia or invasive candidiasis in critically ill patients. There are conflicting data on the pharmacokinetic properties of anidulafungin in intensive care unit (ICU) patients. Adult ICU patients (from 3 hospitals) receiving anidulafungin for suspected or proven fungal infections were included in the present study. Patients were considered evaluable if a pharmacokinetic curve for day 3 could be completed. Twenty-three of 36 patients (7 female and 16 male) were evaluable. The median (range) age and body weight were 66 (28 to 88) years and 76 (50 to 115) kg, respectively. Pharmacokinetic sampling on day 3 (n = 23) resulted in a median anidulafungin area under the concentration-time curve from 0 to 24 h (AUC0–24) of 72.1 (interquartile range [IQR], 61.3 to 94.0) mg · h · liter−1, a median daily trough concentration (C24) of 2.2 (IQR, 1.9 to 2.9) mg/liter, a median maximum concentration of drug in serum (Cmax) of 5.3 (IQR, 4.1 to 6.0) mg/liter, a median volume of distribution (V) of 46.0 (IQR, 32.2 to 60.2) liters, and a median clearance (CL) of 1.4 (IQR, 1.1 to 1.6) liters · h−1. Pharmacokinetic sampling on day 7 (n = 13) resulted in a median AUC0–24 of 82.7 (IQR, 73.0 to 129.5) mg · h · liter−1, a median minimum concentration of drug in serum (Cmin) of 2.8 (IQR, 2.2 to 4.2) mg/liter, a median Cmax of 5.9 (IQR, 4.6 to 8.0) mg/liter, a median V of 39.7 (IQR, 32.2 to 54.4) liters, and a median CL of 1.2 (IQR, 0.8 to 1.4) liters · h−1. The geometric mean ratio for the AUCday7/AUCday3 term was 1.13 (90% confidence interval [CI], 1.03 to 1.25). The exposure in the ICU patient population was in accordance with previous reports on anidulafungin pharmacokinetics in ICU patients but was lower than that for healthy volunteers or other patient populations. Larger cohorts of patients or pooled data analyses are necessary to retrieve relevant covariates. (This study has been registered at ClinicalTrials.gov under identifier NCT01438216.)
Motives and Sun-related Behaviour

The aim was to clarify how motives influence sun-related behaviour. Participants were 239 adults, mean age 22 years. They completed questionnaire measures of life goals (representing dispositional motives), participatory motives for exposure and for protection, and exposure and protection behaviours. Analysis was by partial least squares modelling. Participatory motives influenced behaviour. Exposure was positively influenced by appearance enhancement and well-being motives, and negatively by social conformity motive. Protection was positively influenced by health preservation motive. Participatory motives mediated the effects of life goals on behaviour. It is suggested that motives provide the basis upon which health promotion programmes can build.
Oh Stuff It! The Experience and Explanation of Diet Failure

Successful long-term weight-loss is exceptional, even with the best dietary and psychological interventions. Nomothetic accounts of diet failure focus on cognitive processes and emotional regulation. However, qualitative research suggests that successful dieters draw on wider understandings in explaining their success; this study extends this literature to address diet failure. Individual interviews with 10 self-selected UK dieters are analysed using IPA. Understandings of diet failure are explored and situated within wider cultural discourses. Five themes are identified: ‘Dieting mode’; ‘Multime’; ‘Not me’; ‘Modern life’; and ‘Challenges of emotional and social eating’. Implications for weight-loss interventions are explored.
Illness Cognitions as a Pathway Between Religiousness and Subjective Health in Chronic Cardiac Patients

The aim of this study was to examine the role of illness cognitions as a possible pathway between religiousness and subjective health in chronic illness. A sample of 135 chronic cardiac patients completed questionnaires about intrinsic religiousness, frequency of church service attendance, basic illness cognitions (i.e., helplessness, illness acceptance, perceived benefits), and physical and emotional well-being. According to the results, religiousness was significantly associated with subjective health. However, this relationship was indirect, with helplessness and illness acceptance serving as mediators between intrinsic religiousness and health. This finding is significant for understanding the complex relation of religiousness to chronic patients’ well-being.
Exposure Makes the Heart Grow Less Fond!

Prior research has provided conflicting evidence on the question of whether exposure to food temptations directs attention towards or away from food cues. In this study, the effects of exposure to food temptations on attention processing were investigated using an exogenous cueing paradigm. The results show that exposure to food temptations led participants to direct their attention away from food cues. This effect was found after exposure to pictures of food as well as real food temptations. These findings suggest that food temptations activate a tendency to avoid food stimuli, regardless of the restraint and disinhibition levels of the participants.
Kidney Patients’ Intention to Receive a Deceased Donor Transplant

In order to sustain life, patients whose kidneys fail must receive dialysis or obtain a transplant. This study reports on the development and validation of measures of Stage of Change, Decisional Balance and Self-efficacy based on the Transtheoretical Model (TTM) to assess patients’ readiness to receive a deceased donor transplant. We surveyed 293 transplant-eligible kidney patients about their deceased donation readiness. Exploratory and confirmatory analyses for all measures demonstrated factor structures similar to previous application of the TTM to other health behaviors, excellent model fit and good internal and external validity. These brief, reliable instruments with good psychometric properties can guide the development of improved, individually-tailored transplant education for patients.
Constructions of Pregnant and Postnatal Embodiment across Three Generations

The academic study of the ‘body’ has come to occupy the foreground over the past two decades and the differential influences of physical and social worlds particularly upon body management practices have become fundamental to the 21st-century ‘project’ of the body. In this article we explore three generations of women’s accounts of living in/with a pregnant and postnatal body which is now both visible and ‘public’ as women ‘leave’ the home for work. However this now takes place in the context of public surveillance (and self-surveillance) particularly about food/eating, ‘health’ and ‘beauty’.
Social Comparison within Self-help Groups

This study used a qualitative approach to examine the experiences of parents participating as members of the Duchenne Family Support Group (DFSG), with a focus on whether social comparison occurred within this group. Eight parents were interviewed about their experiences of being a member. Thematic analysis was used to identify themes inductively. The study uncovered a wide range of social comparisons, including upward and downward comparisons on illness and coping dimensions, with both positive and negative affects. The results highlighted the complexity of socially comparing within the context of chronic illness, particularly in an illness in which deterioration is inevitable.
Efficacy of a Communication and Stress Management Training on Medical Residents’ Self-efficacy, Stress to Communicate and Burnout

This is a longitudinal randomized controlled study investigating the efficacy of a communication and stress management skills training programme on medical residents’ self-efficacy to communicate and to manage stress in interviews, stress to communicate in interviews, and burnout. Ninety-six medical residents participated. Results showed a statistically significant increase in self-efficacy and decrease in stress to communicate. No changes were noted in burnout. Results of this training may encourage its compulsory organization in the medical curriculum. Further research is required to examine whether a programme associating person-directed and organization-directed interventions could have an impact on residents’ burnout.
Physiological Reactivity to Functional Tests in Patients with Chronic Low Back Pain

Objectives: The aim of the present study was to investigate autonomic regulation at rest and in response to functional laboratory tests in patients with chronic low back pain [CLBP], as well as its possible relations to different characteristics of the clinical picture. Methods: Ninety-three CLBP patients [47 females, 45 males; age 38 ± 7 years] and 32 healthy normal control subjects [15 females, 16 males; 36 ± 9 years] participated. Subjects were examined according to the McKenzie procedure, and filled in Short Form 36 and Oswestry Disability Questionnaires in addition to self-reports of pain. An electrocardiogram, finger plethysmogram, respiration, and skin conductance were recorded. Functional tests included the Stroop Color-Word test, orthostatic test, paced breathing, and handgrip. A five-minute baseline recording was followed by four counterbalanced functional tests, separated by two- to three-minute long pauses. Results: An analysis of variance revealed higher baseline heart rate [P = 0.011 in females only], low frequency spectral power [P = 0.001] and electrodermal activity [P = 0.048], and lower high frequency spectral power [P = 0.001]. Each functional test evoked a response, without any group differences in physiological reactivity. There were no significant differences with respect to physiological reactivity between subgroups formed on the basis of prior diagnoses, McKenzie evaluation, VAS pain estimates, Short Form 36, and Oswestry Disability Questionnaire data. The patients did not show high levels of individual response specificity. Conclusions: Presented data show that patients with CLBP exhibit increased sympathetic tonus in comparison with the control group, regardless of CLBP patients' level of pain, functional disability, or clinical status indices.
Ankle Motility is a Risk Factor for Healing of Chronic Venous Leg Ulcers

Objective: To investigate the effect of ankle motility on chronic venous leg ulcer healing, and to relate this to calf pump function and muscle bulk. Methods: This was a prospective cohort study undertaken in a leg ulcer clinic. Ankle motility, calf-ankle circumference ratio and calf pump power (derived from digital photoplethysmography) were assessed as to their effect on ulcer healing rate. Thirty consecutive patients undergoing multi-layer compression bandaging for open chronic venous ulcers were included. Results: Ankle motility was an independent risk factor for ulcer healing (p = 0.001, hazard ratio 1.08, 95% CI 1.03–1.13). Ankle motility correlated with calf-ankle circumference ratio (r = 0.48, p<0.01). No relationship was found between photoplethysmography-derived calf pump power, ankle motility or ulcer healing rate. Conclusions Ulcers in legs with poor ankle motility are slower to heal and this may be related to reduced calf muscle bulk. Ankle exercises or physiotherapy could be considered in such patients.
Terbinafine in Combination with Other Antifungal Agents for Treatment of Resistant or Refractory Mycoses: Investigating Optimal Dosing Regimens Using a Physiologically Based Pharmacokinetic Model

ABSTRACT Terbinafine is increasingly used in combination with other antifungal agents to treat resistant or refractory mycoses due to synergistic in vitro antifungal activity; high doses are commonly used, but limited data are available on systemic exposure, and no assessment of pharmacodynamic target attainment has been made. Using a physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) model for terbinafine, this study aimed to predict total and unbound terbinafine concentrations in plasma with a range of high-dose regimens and also calculate predicted pharmacodynamic parameters for terbinafine. Predicted terbinafine concentrations accumulated significantly during the first 28 days of treatment; the area under the concentration-time curve (AUC)/MIC ratios and AUC for the free, unbound fraction (fAUC)/MIC ratios increased by 54 to 62% on day 7 of treatment and by 80 to 92% on day 28 compared to day 1, depending on the dose regimen. Of the high-dose regimens investigated, 500 mg of terbinafine taken every 12 h provided the highest systemic exposure; on day 7 of treatment, the predicted AUC, maximum concentration (Cmax), and minimum concentration (Cmin) were approximately 4-fold, 1.9-fold, and 4.4-fold higher than with a standard-dose regimen of 250 mg once daily. Close agreement was seen between the concentrations predicted by the PBPK model and the observed concentrations, indicating good predictive performance. This study provides the first report of predicted terbinafine exposure in plasma with a range of high-dose regimens.
Nurses' perceived training needs in child protection issues

Purpose – The purpose of this research is to explore nurses' perceptions of their current skills and knowledge and training needs to identify cases of child abuse and their understanding of their roles and responsibilities in relation to child abuse. Nurses, including health visitors and midwives, have been recognised as having a key role in the protection and care of children, especially in identifying and referring possible cases of child abuse and neglect.Design/methodology/approach – A structured questionnaire concerning knowledge and training needs in child protection was sent to all nurses employed in a Scottish NHS Primary Care Trust (approximately 1,900), of whom one‐third (667) responded. These survey results were complemented by semi‐structured interviews with 99 members of the nursing workforce.Findings – Almost all training in child protection had been confined to health visitors, resulting in the Trust giving an implicit message that child protection is not a role in which other nurses need h.
Health compromising behaviors among Chinese adolescents: Role of physical abuse, school experience, and social support

This study examined the influence of immediate social environment on health compromising behaviors (HCB) among 6564 high school students in China. Results showed that physical abuse by parents was a major risk factor that accounted for high rates of HCB. Perceived positive school experience and social support were protective factors associated with low rates of HCB. These two protective factors also buffered the adverse influence of abuse on the practice of individual HCB. In particular, parental abuse was associated with sexual experimentation, non-fatal self-harm, and suicide behaviors only at low levels of protective factors.
Mothers’ perceptions of introducing solids to their infant at six months of age: Identifying critical belief-based targets to promote adherence to current infant feeding guidelines

We investigated critical belief-based targets for promoting the introduction of solid foods to infants at six months. First-time mothers (N = 375) completed a Theory of Planned Behaviour belief-based questionnaire and follow-up questionnaire assessing the age the infant was first introduced to solids. Normative beliefs about partner/spouse (β = 0.16) and doctor (β = 0.22), and control beliefs about commercial baby foods available for infants before six months (β = −0.20), predicted introduction of solids at six months. Intervention programs should target these critical beliefs to promote mothers’ adherence to current infant feeding guidelines to introduce solids at around six months.
OUTCOME OF IVF PREGNANCIES

Twenty-five years have passed since the first “test tube baby” was born in 1978. Since then, more than 1 million children have been born world-wide. Today, they represent 2% of all new-borns in some countries, such as Sweden. After conventional in vitro fertilisation (IVF) was established, the cryopreservation technique developed and the first baby produced implementing this technique was born in 1984. The cryopreservation technique is firmly established in most IVF programmes at present. The introduction of intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) in 1992 has given many men the opportunity to father children, hitherto an impossibility.
A Risk Score for Fluconazole Failure among Patients with Candidemia

ABSTRACT This study aimed to develop a prediction model to identify patients with candidemia who were at high risk of failing fluconazole treatment. Adult patients in the United States with candidemia who received fluconazole during hospitalization were selected from the Cerner Health Facts Hospital Database (04/2004 to 03/2013). Fluconazole failure was defined as switching/adding another antifungal, positive Candida culture ≥10 days after fluconazole initiation, or death during hospitalization. Patients were randomized into modeling and validation samples. Using the modeling sample, a regression analysis of least absolute shrinkage and selection operator was used to select risk predictors of fluconazole failure (demographics, Candida species, initiation of fluconazole before positive culture and after admission, and comorbidities, procedures, and treatments during the 6 months before admission and fluconazole initiation). The prediction model was evaluated using the validation sample. We found that of 987 identified patients (average age of 61 years, 51% male, 72% Caucasian), 49% failed and 51% did not fail fluconazole treatment. Of those who failed, 70% switched or added another antifungal, 21% had a second positive Candida test, and 42% died during hospitalization. Nine risk factors were included in the prediction model: days to start fluconazole after admission, Candida glabrata or Candida krusei infection, hematological malignancy, venous thromboembolism (VTE), enteral nutrition, use of nonoperative intubation/irrigation, and other antifungal use. All but VTE were associated with a higher risk of failure. The model's c-statistic was 0.65, with a Hosmer-Lemeshow test P value of 0.23. In summary, this prediction model identified patients with a high risk of fluconazole failure, illustrating the potential value and feasibility of personalizing candidemia treatment.
Detection of Abnormal Visual Events via Global Optical Flow Orientation Histogram

The aim of this paper is to detect abnormal events in video streams, a challenging but important subject in video surveillance. We propose a novel algorithm to address this problem. The algorithm is based on an image descriptor and a nonlinear classification method. We introduce a histogram of optical flow orientation as a descriptor encoding the moving information of each video frame. The nonlinear one-class support vector machine classification algorithm, following a learning period characterizing the normal behavior of training frames, detects abnormal events in the current frame. Further, a fast version of the detection algorithm is designed by fusing the optical flow computation with a background subtraction step. We finally apply the method to detect abnormal events on several benchmark data sets, and show promising results.
The Steganographer is the Outlier: Realistic Large-Scale Steganalysis

We present a method for a completely new kind of steganalysis to determine who, out of a large number of actors each transmitting a large number of objects, is hiding payload inside some of them. It has significant challenges, including unknown embedding parameters and natural deviation between innocent cover sources, which are usually avoided in steganalysis tested under laboratory conditions. Our method uses standard steganalysis features, the maximum mean discrepancy measure of distance, and ranks the actors by their degree of deviation from the rest: we show that it works reliably, completely unsupervised, when tested against some of the standard steganography methods available to nonexperts. We also determine good parameters for the detector and show that it creates a two-player game between the guilty actor and the steganalyst.
Parenting styles and alcohol consumption among Brazilian adolescents

Aim: This study evaluates the correlation between alcohol consumption in adolescence and parenting styles of socialization among Brazilian adolescents. The sample was composed of 273 adolescents, 58% whom were males. Instruments were: 1) Sociodemographic Questionnaire; 2) Demand and Responsiveness Scales; 3) Drug Use Screening Inventory (DUSI). Study analyses employed multiple correspondence analysis and logistic regression. Results: Maternal, but not paternal, authoritative and authoritarian parenting styles were directly related to adolescent alcohol intake. Conclusions: The style that mothers use to interact with their children may influence uptake of high-risk behaviors.
Urinary Concentrations and Antibacterial Activities of Nitroxoline at 250 Milligrams versus Trimethoprim at 200 Milligrams against Uropathogens in Healthy Volunteers

ABSTRACT Because of the increasing bacterial resistance of uropathogens against standard antibiotics, such as trimethoprim (TMP), older antimicrobial drugs, such as nitroxoline (NTX), should be reevaluated. This randomized crossover study investigated the urinary concentrations of parent drugs and their metabolites and their antibacterial activities (urinary inhibitory titers [UITs] and urinary bactericidal titers [UBTs]) against uropathogens at three different urinary pH values within 24 h in six healthy volunteers after a single oral dose of NTX at 250 mg versus TMP at 200 mg. In three additional volunteers, urinary bactericidal kinetics (UBK) were studied after oral administration of NTX at 250 mg three times a day. The mean urinary concentrations of NTX and NTX sulfate in 24 h were 0.012 to 0.507 mg/liter and 0.28 to 27.83 mg/liter, respectively. The mean urinary concentrations of TMP were 18.79 to 41.59 mg/liter. The antibacterial activity of NTX was higher in acidic urine than in alkaline urine, and that of TMP was higher in alkaline urine than in acidic urine. The UITs and UBTs of NTX were generally lower than those of TMP except for a TMP-resistant Escherichia coli strain, for which NTX showed higher UITs/UBTs than did TMP. UBK showed mainly bacteriostatic activity of NTX in urine. NTX exhibits mainly bacteriostatic activity and TMP also shows bactericidal activity in urine against susceptible strains. NTX is a more active antibacterial in acidic urine, and TMP is more active in alkaline urine. The cumulative effects of multiple doses or inhibition of bacterial adherence could not be evaluated. (This study has been registered at EudraCT under registration no. 2009-015631-32.)