Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
TC‐325 versus the conventional combined technique for endoscopic treatment of peptic ulcers with high‐risk bleeding stigmata: A randomized pilot study

Preliminary studies on a new topical hemostatic agent, TC‐325, have shown its safety and effectiveness in treating active upper gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding. However, to date there have been no randomized trials comparing TC‐325 with the conventional combined technique (CCT). Our pilot study aimed to compare the efficacy and safety of TC‐325 with those of CCT in treating peptic ulcers with active bleeding or high‐risk stigmata.
Frequency and Spatial Distribution of Environmental Campylobacter spp

ABSTRACT Humans are exposed to Campylobacter spp. in a range of sources via both food and environmental pathways. For this study, we explored the frequency and distribution of thermophilic Campylobacter spp. in a 10- by 10-km square rural area of Cheshire, United Kingdom. The area contains approximately 70, mainly dairy, farms and is used extensively for outdoor recreational activities. Campylobacter spp. were isolated from a range of environmental samples by use of a systematic sampling grid. Livestock (mainly cattle) and wildlife feces and environmental water and soil samples were cultured, and isolates were presumptively identified by standard techniques. These isolates were further characterized by PCR. Campylobacter jejuni was the most prevalent species in all animal samples, ranging from 11% in samples from nonavian wildlife to 36% in cattle feces, and was isolated from 15% of water samples. Campylobacter coli was commonly found in water (17%) and sheep (21%) samples, but rarely in other samples. Campylobacter lari was recovered from all sample types, with the exception of sheep feces, and was found in moderate numbers in birds (7%) and water (5%). Campylobacter hyointestinalis was only recovered from cattle (7%) and birds (1%). The spatial distribution and determinants of C. jejuni in cattle feces were examined by the use of model-based spatial statistics. The distribution was consistent with very localized within-farm or within-field transmission and showed little evidence of any larger-scale spatial dependence. We concluded that there is a potentially high risk of human exposure to Campylobacter spp. , particularly C. jejuni, in the environment of our study area. The prevalence and likely risk posed by C. jejuni-positive cattle feces in the environment diminished as the fecal material aged. After we took into account the age of the fecal material, the absence or presence of rain, and the presence of bird feces, there was evidence of significant variation in the prevalence of C. jejuni-positive cattle feces between grazing fields but no evidence of spatial clustering beyond this resolution. The spatial pattern of C. jejuni is therefore consistent with that for an organism that is ubiquitous in areas contaminated with cattle feces, with a short-scale variation in infection intensity that cannot be explained solely by variations in the age of the fecal material. The observed pattern is not consistent with large-scale transmission attributable to watercourses, wildlife territories, or other geographical features that transcend field and farm boundaries.
Patients with moderate chemotherapy-induced mucositis: pain therapy using low intensity lasers.

BACKGROUND Intensive cancer therapy normally affects malignant and normal cells with high replication rates. Cells in the gastrointestinal tract are therefore commonly affected by cytotoxins. This often results in the development of chemotherapy-induced oral mucositis (COM). COM is the inflammatory response of the oral mucous membrane to the chemotherapy drugs. Low level laser therapy (LLLT) has proved to be effective in treating and repairing biologically damaged tissue and to reduce pain. LLLT has also proven to be an efficient method for the prevention of oral mucositis. OBJECTIVE To investigate the effect of LLLT on pain relief among patients who have developed COM. METHOD The study was performed as a clinical test with a sample consisting of 13 adult patients receiving oncology treatment. The patients were treated during a 5-day period, and the pain was measured before and after each laser application. The laser used was an AsGaAl, with a wavelength of 830 nm and a potency of 250 mW. The energy given was 35 J cm(-2). ANALYSIS The results were analysed using the Wilcoxon test. RESULTS There was a significant (P = 0.007) 67% decrease in the daily average experience of pain felt before and after each treatment, confirming that LLLT can relieve pain among patients who have developed COM. STUDY LIMITATIONS The low number of COM patients at the hospital did not allow a control group to be included in the study, and therefore the results contain a potential placebo effect. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING CARE: The most important benefit the authors consider to be the value for the patients of better and quicker treatment with a drastic reduction in painful mucositis.
Treatment of periodontal disease results in improvements in endothelial dysfunction and reduction of the carotid intima‐media thickness

Several cohort studies reported a relation of cardiovascular events and periodontal disease. In particular, Porphyromonas gingivalis is associated with the development of atherosclerotic plaques. We verified in a longitudinal study whether inflammation biomarkers, endothelial adhesion molecules, leukocyte activation markers, and intima‐media thickness could be beneficially modified by periodontal treatment alone. Thirty‐five otherwise healthy individuals affected by mild to moderate parodontopathy were enrolled in the study. Echo‐Doppler cardiography of the carotid artery, fluorescence‐activated cell sorting analyses on lymphocytes and monocytes, and plasma inflammatory indices were evaluated at baseline and at multiple time points after the periodontal treatment. Results showed that inflammation biomarkers were abnormally increased at baseline. Periodontal treatment resulted in a significant reduction of the total oral bacterial load that was associated with a significant amelioration of inflammation biomarkers and of adhesion and activation proteins. Notably, intima‐media thickness was significantly diminished after treatment. Inflammatory alterations associated with the genesis of atherosclerotic plaques are detected in otherwise healthy individuals affected by parodontopathy and are positively influenced by periodontal treatment. Reduction of oral bacterial load results in a modification of an anatomical parameter directly responsible for atherosclerosis. These results shed light on the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis and could have practical implications for public health. —Piconi, S. , Trabattoni, D. , Luraghi, C. , Perilli, E. , Borelli, M. , Pacei, M. , Rizzardini, G. , Lattuada, A. , Bray, D. H. , Catalano, M. , Sparaco, A. , Clerici, M. Treatment of periodontal disease results in improvements in endothelial dysfunction and reduction of the carotid intima‐media thickness. FASEB J. 23, 1196–1204 (2009)
Continuous tissue microarray based identification of cancers with homogeneous target expression for successful targeted therapy in clinical routine practice

In cancer therapy, the number of drugs targeting cells with characteristic molecular aberrations is continuously rising. However, application of these new drugs still is limited to a few tumor entities. The aim of this study was to test the concept of routinely identifying all possible cancer patients who might eventually benefit from targeted therapy. Therefore, all malignant tumors routinely submitted to our Institute of Pathology over a period of 4 months were brought into a tissue microarray format. Using “in situ” methods, tumors were analyzed for HER2, EGFR, and KIT status as examples for potential therapeutic target genes. In positive cases, target heterogeneity was excluded by analyzing all available large sections. Outside of tumor entities for which targeted drugs are already approved, the study revealed six tumors with homogeneously distributed HER2 overexpression/amplification (bladder, esophageal and colorectal) and seven tumors with homogeneous EGFR amplification (vulvar, ovarian, breast, esophageal and laryngeal, and adenocarcinoma of unknown primary). A total of 151 tumors showed KIT overexpression but none of seven sequenced cases showed KIT mutations. We furthermore report on a 69‐year‐old patient with homogeneously HER2‐amplified metastatic colorectal cancer who is successfully treated by trastuzumab monotherapy. This study demonstrates that tissue microarray based screening for therapeutic target genes in tumors outside established indications represents a feasible approach suitable for routine application. The successful treatment of one patient with homogeneously HER2 positive metastatic colorectal cancer argues for the clinical utility of this approach at least in carefully selected, homogeneous cancers. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Validation of an Internet-Based Cohort of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (CCFA Partners)

Background:As traditional methods have become increasingly difficult, the Internet offers a mechanism for conducting survey research quickly and efficiently. However, the validity of this research depends on the ability of respondents to accurately report health status. We used a large Internet-based inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) cohort to validate self-reported IBD against physician reports. Methods:Between June 22, 2012, and April 01, 2013, all participants of CCFA Partners (n = 6681) were invited to participate, and 450 were selected by random stratified sampling. We sent physicians a survey to confirm IBD diagnosis and characteristics. We used descriptive statistics to compare data. Results:A total of 4423 participants (66%) indicated interest. Of 450 selected, 261 (58%) consented, and physician reports were obtained for 184 (71%). Physicians confirmed IBD status in 178 (97%) and type in 171 (97% of confirmed). The matching between patient and physician reports for Crohn's disease (CD) was 82% for disease location, 89% for the presence of perianal disease, and 46% for disease behavior. For ulcerative colitis (UC), disease location matched 54% of the time. Physician reports confirmed the status of ever having bowel surgery for 97% of CD and 94% for UC and confirmed current pouch or ostomy in 84% of CD and 81% of UC. Conclusions:Self-reported IBD in CCFA Partners is highly accurate, and participants are willing to release medical records for research. Self-reported phenotypic characteristics were less valid. The validity of IBD diagnoses among the participants of CCFA Partners supports the use of this cohort for patient-centered outcome research.
A method to extract essential keywords from a tweet using NLP tools

A tweet is an authentic use of Natural Language where the user has to deliver the message in 140 characters or less. According to previous researchers, this restriction increases the possible ambiguity of a tweet making it difficult for traditional Natural Language Processing (NLP) tools to analyze it. This research enhances the machine learning based Stanford CoreNLP Part-of-Speech (POS) tagger with the Twitter model to extract essential keywords from a tweet. The system was enhanced using two rule-based parsers and a corpus. The research was conducted using tweets of customer service requests sent to a telecommunication company. A domain specific corpus was compiled after analyzing the tweets. The POS tagger extracted the keywords while the parsers removed any possible noise and extracted any other keywords missed by the POS tagger. The evaluation of the system was done using the Turing Test. The proposed system was tested and compared against the Stanford CoreNLP. The testing was conducted using 6 test cases, each consisting of a human keyword generator and a supervisor. In order to ensure the impartiality and intellectual diversity, the response generators and supervisors were representatives of 6 different fields. As a result of the enhancements, the Turing Test score of the system increased from 50.00% to 83.33%. The accuracy of the system could be further improved by using a complete domain specific corpus. Since the approach used theoretical linguistic features of a sentence, the same method could be employed for other NLP tools.
Guidelines for the initial biopsy diagnosis of suspected chronic idiopathic inflammatory bowel disease. The British Society of Gastroenterology Initiative.

Accepted for publication 12 August 1996 Introduction Unambiguous interpretation of colorectal biopsy specimens is important for clinical decisions in the investigation of suspected chronic idiopathic inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Variability of reporting style and terms such as mild inflammatory change and nonspecific proctitis/colitis may hide pathologists' difficulties with diagnostic uncertainty and confuse clinical management. Four main problems underlie these difficulties: (1) lack of awareness of the range of normal colorectal histology and the minimal features which indicate clinically important inflammation; (2) wide overlap in the pathological changes of most large bowel inflammatory diseases; (3) lack of awareness of the accuracy and reproducibility of many changes used in diagnosis; and (4) absence of standard terminology for pathological description and diagnosis. On behalf ofthe British Society of Gastroenterology, we have used an evidence-based approach to compile guidelines for the biopsy diagnosis of suspected chronic idiopathic IBDt. The guidelines are aimed primarily at improved accuracy of diagnosis when colorectal biopsy is used in the initial investigation of patients with diarrhoea. The objectives are to assist: the recognition of normal colorectal mucosa; the detection of important minor inflammatory change needing further investigation; the early diagnosis of chronic idiopathic IBD; the distinction between ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease; the recognition of infective type colitis; and the diagnosis of less frequent forms of colitis. The guidelines include recommendations for minimum clinical information, useful morphological features, standardised terminology, and a clinically relevant reporting format. The evidence is from Europe and North America, and the conclusions should not be applied uncritically where the prevalence and the nature of the diseases are very different.
Storage and release of mechanical energy by contracting frog muscle fibres.

1. Stretching a contracting muscle leads to greater mechanical work being done during subsequent shortening by its contractile component; the mechanism of this enhancement is not known. 2. This mechanism has been investigated here by subjecting tetanized frog muscle fibres to ramp stretches followed by an isotonic release against a load equal to the maximum isometric tension, T(o). Shortening against T(o) was taken as direct evidence of an absolute increase in the ability to do work as a consequence of the previous stretch. 3. Ramp stretches (0.5‐8.6% sarcomere strain, confined to the plateau of the isometric tension‐length relationship) were given at different velocities of lengthening (0.03‐1.8 sarcomere lengths s‐1). Isotonic release to T(o) took place immediately after the end of the ramp, or 5‐800 ms after the end of the largest ramp stretches. The length changes taking place after release were measured both at the fibre end and on a tendon‐free segment of the fibre. The experiments were carried out at 4 and 14 degrees C. 4. After the elastic recoil of the undamped elastic elements, taking place during the fall in tension at the instant of the isotonic release, a well‐defined shortening took place against T(o) (transient shortening against T(o)). 5. The amplitude and time course of transient shortening against T(o) were similar at the fibre end and in the segment, indicating that it is due to a properly of the sarcomeres and not due to stress relaxation of the tendons. 6. Transient shortening against T(o) increased with sarcomere stretch amplitude up to about 8 nm per half‐sarcomere independent of stretch velocity. 7. When a short delay (5‐20 ms) was introduced between the end of the stretch and the isotonic release, the transient shortening against T(o) did not change; after longer time delays, the transient shortening against T(o) decreased in amplitude. 8. The velocity of transient shortening against T(o) increased with temperature with a temperature coefficient, Q10, of approximately 2.5. 9. It is suggested that transient shortening against T(o) results from the release of mechanical energy stored within the damped element of the cross‐bridges. The cross‐bridges are brought into a state of greater potential energy not only during the ramp stretch, but also immediately afterwards, during the first phase of stress relaxation.
MDR1 and MRP expression in chronic B‐cell lymphoproliferative disorders

The role of the MDR1 and MRP genes in drug resistance in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL)/non‐Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) is unclear. We hypothesized that any relationship between levels of expression and exposure to P‐glycoprotein (P‐gp) transportable drugs may become evident by using a measure of gene expression that combined the number of positive cells and the degree of positivity. 68 CLL/NHL patients were analysed using flow cytometry with MDR1 and MRP specific antibodies and were divided into subgroups, untreated (n = 31), treated with non P‐gp transportable drugs (n = 26), those treated with low total doses of P‐gp transportable drugs (n = 6) and patients treated with high total doses of P‐gp transportable drugs (n = 5). The group exposed to high doses of P‐gp transportable drugs had higher levels of MDR1 expression when compared to all other groups (P < 0.05, ANOVA). A positive correlation between the level of MDR1 expression and the cumulative dose of P‐gp transportable drugs was demonstrated (P = 0.02). MRP expression was higher in those patients exposed to high doses of P‐gp transportable drugs when compared to all other groups (P < 0.05, ANOVA), although only a trend towards a linear dose correlation effect could be established (P = 0.08). We concluded that MDR1 and MRP are involved in drug resistance but only in patients treated with P‐gp transportable drugs.
Studies on dental erosion: An in vivo-in vitro model of endogenous dental erosion--its application to testing protection by fluoride gel application.

BACKGROUND The objective in this study was to develop an in vivo-in vitro model of endogenous erosion, with a view to exploring the potential for some degree of its control by the use of topical fluoride gel application to teeth. METHODS Six volunteers each wore a small clasp retained palatal acrylic appliance to which six sterilized enamel tiles were bonded. Three tiles on each appliance were coated extra-orally with either 1.23 per cent acidulated phosphate fluoride (APF) or 2.2 per cent sodium fluoride (NaF) neutral gel for four minutes prior to multiple periods of exposure to the simulated gastric acid, cumulating in 16, 36, 80 and 150 minutes of exposure. Impressions of the enamel tiles prior to and following acid exposure permitted dies to be prepared. These were sectioned through the exposed areas and examined under a stereomicroscope to assess maximum depths of erosion. RESULTS The depth of erosive demineralization of enamel was found to be greatly reduced with increased frequency of APF gel application. The reduction in enamel loss was less following topical application of NaF gel. CONCLUSIONS It was concluded that fluoride gels significantly reduced enamel erosion using this in vivo-in vitro model and therefore, if prescribed appropriately, should help reduce tooth tissue loss from endogenous erosion.
Epidurography contrast patterns with fluoroscopic guided lumbar transforaminal epidural injections:a prospective evaluation.

BACKGROUND Lumbar transforaminal epidural injections have been utilized in the treatment of radicular pain with proven success. It was postulated that interlaminar epidural injections result in a dorsal flow of contrast while transforaminal epidural steroid injections showed good ventral flow limited to one single spinal motion segment. There have been no published studies evaluating epidurography/contrast patterns utilizing fluoroscopy. OBJECTIVE To evaluate the pattern and spread of epidural contrast during fluoroscopically guided lumbar transforaminal epidural steroid injections. DESIGN A prospective study of case series of 20 consecutive patients receiving lumbar transforaminal epidural injections. METHODS Patients had either herniated nucleus pulposus or lumbar spinal stenosis. All patients received their injection by one of five physicians trained in this technique. Once the needle tip was felt to be in the anterior epidural space anteroposterior and a lateral radiographs were obtained after a total of 2 mL of iopamidol (Isovue) contrast was injected. Epidurograms were reviewed by a physician trained in fluoroscopic injections. Patterns were recorded as unilateral, bilateral, dorsal or ventral. Ventral flow, both cephalad and caudal, and number of lumbar intervertebral levels of flow were recorded as well. RESULTS Ventral contrast flow occurred in all 20 injections. Unilateral contrast flow was noted in all injections. The mean number of levels of flow of contrast cephalad and caudad from the injection site were 1.13 and 0.6 levels, respectively, but these differences were not statistically significant. There were no significant differences in contrast flow noted between patients with herniated nucleus pulposus or lumbar spinal stenosis. Vascular injection patterns were noted with 2 injections, which required repositioning of the needles. CONCLUSION Contrast appeared ventrally and unilaterally in all injections. Dorsal flow occurred in 20% of these injections. No contrast flow crossed the midline. The observed contrast flow patterns should be studied clinically to determine whether they have any effect on clinical outcome. Intravascular injections were noted in 10% of cases.
Occupational dermatitis and allergic respiratory diseases in Finnish metalworking machinists.

AIM To investigate the incidences and trends of occupational skin diseases (OSDs) and allergic respiratory diseases (ARDs) in machinists working in the fabrication of metal products. METHODS Data from the Finnish Register of Occupational Diseases during 1992-2001 were analysed. Incidence rates for skin and respiratory diseases of machinists were calculated and compared to the total working population. The patients investigated at the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health in the same period were described in detail. RESULTS A total of 279 dermatoses and 34 ARDs were reported. Skin diseases accounted for 27% of all occupational diseases. The incidences of the skin and respiratory diseases were 1.6 and 0.2 cases per 1000 person-years, respectively. This represents a 3-fold risk for getting an OSD compared to the total working population. The number of allergic contact dermatitis (ACD) increased 3-fold during the study period. The most common causes of ACD were metalworking fluids (MWFs) and their ingredients such as formaldehyde, ethanolamines and colophony. Eighty-five per cent of ARDs were asthmas. The commonest causes of asthma were metal dusts and fumes, epoxy resins and hardeners and MWFs and their components. CONCLUSIONS Contact dermatitis is a common occupational health problem in metalworking machinists, whereas occupational respiratory disease is rare. Only a few specific chemicals in the metalworking have thus far been identified as respiratory allergens. Specific skin tests and inhalation challenge tests with MWFs and their ingredients are recommended if an OSD or a respiratory disease is suspected.