Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Aquatic physiotherapy for vestibular rehabilitation in patients with unilateral vestibular hypofunction: exploratory prospective study.

PURPOSE To explore the effects of aquatic physiotherapy on individuals with unilateral vestibular hypofunction and examine the association of therapeutic effects with age, time since symptom onset and use of antivertigo medication. STUDY DESIGN Exploratory study. SETTING Tertiary referral center. PATIENTS Twenty-one patients presenting chronic dizziness with uncompensated unilateral vestibular loss. INTERVENTION All patients underwent a regimen of 10 sessions of aquatic physiotherapy for vestibular rehabilitation. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Patient evaluation prior to and following rehabilitation involved the application of the Brazilian version of the Dizziness Handicap Inventory (DHI), dynamic computerized posturography and the self-perception scale of dizziness intensity. Statistical analysis compared average variables prior to and following rehabilitation using the Student t test. RESULTS Brazilian DHI total scores were lower following rehabilitation (p = 0.001). Posturography revealed a reduction in the variation of body displacement following rehabilitation in the average stability and anterior/posterior stability indexes (p = 0.001) and in the average medial/lateral stability index (p = 0.003). Self-perception of dizziness intensity was lower following rehabilitation (p = 0.001). No association between age, time since symptom onset and use of antivertigo medication and rehabilitation therapeutic effects were found. CONCLUSION Unilateral vestibular hypofunction patients undergoing aquatic physiotherapy for vestibular rehabilitation achieved an improvement in quality of life, body balance and self-perception of dizziness intensity, regardless of age, time since symptom onset, and use of antivertigo medication.
Clinical prediction rules for pulmonary embolism: a systematic review and meta‐analysis

Summary. Background: Pretest probability assessment is necessary to identify patients in whom pulmonary embolism (PE) can be safely ruled out by a negative D‐dimer without further investigations. Objective: Review and compare the performance of available clinical prediction rules (CPRs) for PE probability assessment. Patients/methods: We identified studies that evaluated a CPR in patients with suspected PE from Embase, Medline and the Cochrane database. We determined the 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of prevalence of PE in the various clinical probability categories of each CPR. Statistical heterogeneity was tested. Results: We identified 9 CPR and included 29 studies representing 31215 patients. Pooled prevalence of PE for three‐level scores (low, intermediate or high clinical probability) was: low, 6% (95% CI, 4–8), intermediate, 23% (95% CI, 18–28) and high, 49% (95% CI, 43–56) for the Wells score; low, 13% (95% CI, 8–19), intermediate, 35% (95% CI, 31–38) and high, 71% (95% CI, 50–89) for the Geneva score; low, 9% (95% CI, 8–11), intermediate, 26% (95% CI, 24–28) and high, 76% (95% CI, 69–82) for the revised Geneva score. Pooled prevalence for two‐level scores (PE likely or PE unlikely) was 8% (95% CI,6–11) and 34% (95% CI,29–40) for the Wells score, and 6% (95% CI, 3–9) and 23% (95% CI, 11–36) for the Charlotte rule. Conclusion: Available CPR for assessing clinical probability of PE show similar accuracy. Existing scores are, however, not equivalent and the choice among various prediction rules and classification schemes (three‐ versus two‐level) must be guided by local prevalence of PE, type of patients considered (outpatients or inpatients) and type of D‐dimer assay applied.
Messenger RNA and protein expression analysis of voltage‐gated potassium channels in the brain of Aβ25–35‐treated rats

Potassium channel dysfunction has been implicated in Alzheimer's disease. In the present study, the expression of voltage‐gated potassium channel (Kv) subunits in rat brain was measured after a single intracerebroventricular injection of β‐amyloid peptide 25–35 (Aβ25–35). After injection of Aβ, the spatial memory of rats was significantly impaired in the Morris water maze. Expression of five main Kv channel subunits (Kv1.5, Kv2.1, Kv1.4, Kv4.2, and Kv4.3) in mRNA level was assessed by using reverse transcription‐polymerase chain reaction (RT‐PCR). The mRNA levels of Kv2.1 and Kv1.4 were increased by 72% and 67%, respectively, in hippocampus, and Kv4.2 mRNA was increased by 58% in cortex. No other significant mRNA expression changes were found in Aβ‐treated rats. The protein expression of Kv2.1, Kv1.4, and Kv4.2 was detected by using Western blotting. Kv2.1 and Kv1.4 protein levels were increased by 48% and 50%, respectively, in hippocampus of Aβ‐treated rats, and Kv4.2 protein was increased by 42% in cerebral cortex. This study indicates that the expression up‐regulation of Kv1.4, Kv2.1, and Kv4.2 in Aβ‐induced cognitive impairment might play an important role in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Clinical abdominal palpation for predicting oligohydramnios in suspected prolonged pregnancy

Objective. In view of the scarcity of ultrasound in low-resource settings, to evaluate abdominal palpation for prediction of oligohydramnios in suspected prolonged pregnancy, using the ultrasound-obtained amniotic fluid index (AFI) as a gold standard, taking into account maternal and fetal factors that may affect amniotic fluid volume. Methods. A cross-sectional analytical study at Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital, Johannesburg, South Africa, on women referred from midwife-run clinics with suspected gestational age ≥41 weeks. Eligible women had their AFI measured, then had abdominal palpation by the researcher, who was blinded to exact gestational age and AFI findings. Palpation focused on ballottability of fetal parts, ease of feeling fetal parts, and impression of fetal compaction. Gestational age was then recalculated using information from earlier ultrasound scans and menstrual dates. Univariable and multivariable logistic regression was performed with oligohydramnios (AFI <5 cm) as the dependent variable. Results. Of 100 women, 45 had a recalculated gestational age ≥41 weeks. Twenty-three had oligohydramnios. Gestational age was a significant independent predictor for oligohydramnios (odds ratio (OR) 1.78; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.08 - 2.94). The only component of palpation significantly associated with oligohydramnios, after adjustment for gestational age, was non-ballottability of the presenting part (adjusted OR 4.02; 95% CI 1.05 - 15.4). Non-ballottability had a sensitivity and specificity for oligohydramnios of 87% and 40%, respectively, with a negative predictive value of 91%. Conclusion. When ultrasound is not available, ballottability of the presenting part may have value for excluding oligohydramnios and assisting clinical decisions in suspected prolonged pregnancy.
Sterol preservation in hypersaline microbial mats

Abstract. Microbial mats are self-sustaining benthic ecosystems composed of highly diverse microbial communities. It has been proposed that microbial mats were widespread in Proterozoic marine environments, prior to the emergence of bioturbating organisms at the Precambrian–Cambrian transition. One characteristic feature of Precambrian biomarker records is that steranes are typically absent or occur in very low concentrations. This has been explained by low eukaryotic source inputs, or degradation of primary produced sterols in benthic microbial mats (“mat-seal effect”). To better understand the preservational pathways of sterols in microbial mats, we analyzed freely extractable and carbonate-bound lipid fractions as well as decalcified extraction residues in different layers of a recent calcifying mat (∼1500 years) from the hypersaline Lake 2 on the island of Kiritimati, central Pacific. A variety of C27–C29 sterols and distinctive C31 4α-methylsterols (4α-methylgorgosterol and 4α-methylgorgostanol, biomarkers for dinoflagellates) were detected in freely extractable and carbonate-bound lipid pools. These sterols most likely originated from organisms living in the water column and the upper mat layers. This autochthonous biomass experienced progressive microbial transformation and degradation in the microbial mat, as reflected by a significant drop in total sterol concentrations, up to 98 %, in the deeper layers, and a concomitant decrease in total organic carbon. Carbonate-bound sterols were generally low in abundance compared to the freely extractable portion, suggesting that incorporation into the mineral matrix does not play a major role in the preservation of eukaryotic sterols in this mat. Likewise, pyrolysis of extraction residues suggested that sequestration of steroid carbon skeletons into insoluble organic matter was low compared to hopanoids. Taken together, our findings argue for a major mat-seal effect affecting the distribution and preservation of steroids in the mat studied. This result markedly differs from recent findings made for another microbial mat growing in the nearby hypersaline Lake 22 on the same island, where sterols showed no systematic decrease with depth. The observed discrepancies in the taphonomic pathways of sterols in microbial mats from Kiritimati may be linked to multiple biotic and abiotic factors including salinity and periods of subaerial exposure, implying that caution has to be exercised in the interpretation of sterol distributions in modern and ancient microbial mat settings.
Spectral theory of transfer operators

We give a survey on some recent developments in the spectral theory of transfer operators, also called Ruelle-Perron-Frobenius (RPF) operators, associated to expanding and mixing dynamical systems. Different methods for spectral study are presented. Topics include maximal eigenvalue of RPF operators, smooth invariant measures, ergodic theory for chain of markovian projections, equilibrium states, spectral gaps for RPF operators, spectral decomposition and perturbation theory, central limit theorem, Hilbert metric and convergence speeds of RPF operators, and dynamical determinants and zeta functions.
The Resilient Sector: The State of Nonprofit America

The Resilient Sector makes available in an updated form the concise overview of the state of health of America's nonprofit organizations that Johns Hopkins scholar Lester Salamon recently completed as part of the "state of nonprofit America" project he undertook in cooperation with the Aspen Institute. Contrary to popular understanding, Salamon argues, America's nonprofit organizations have shown remarkable resilience in recent years in the face of a variety of difficult challenges, significantly re-engineering themselves in the process. But this very resilience now poses risks for the sector's continued ability to perform the tasks that we have long expected of it. The Resilient Sector offers nonprofit practitioners, policymakers, the press, and the public at large a lively assessment of this set of institutions that we have long taken for granted, but that the Frenchman Alexis de-Toqueville recognized to be "more deserving of our attention" than almost any other part of the American experiment.
Nutrition Counselling Practices among General Practitioners in Croatia

Chronic non-communicable diseases are a significant public health problem and imbalanced nutrition is one of the most significant risk factor for them. The objective of this study was to examine Croatia’s general practitioners’ nutrition counselling practice and determine the factors that influence such practice. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 444 (17.0%) randomly selected general practitioners (GPs) in Croatia from May to July 2013 via a 32-item anonymous questionnaire. Study showed that 77.0% of participants had provided nutrition counselling exclusively to patients with specific health risks; 18.7% participants had provided nutrition counselling for all patients, regardless of their individual risks, while 4.3% had not provide nutrition counselling. As the most significant stimulating factor for implementing nutrition counselling in their daily work with patients, 55.6% of the participants identified personal interest regarding nutrition and the effects it has on health. The latter factor was more frequently emphasized among female general practitioners (p < 0.001) and general practitioners without chronic diseases (p < 0.001). The most significant barrier for nutrition counselling was lack of time (81.6%). It is necessary to make additional efforts to increase the frequency of nutrition counselling provided by general practitioners in Croatia. The majority of Croatian general practitioners could increase their nutrition counselling practice in order to promote balanced nutrition and improve the overall health status of their patients.
Antibody Prevalence to Canine Distemper Virus (CDV) in Stray Dogs in Turkey

SUMMARY In this study, serum samples were collected from 609 clinically healthy stray dogs in the Ankara, Mugla and Istanbul provinces in Turkey between 2000 and 2002. Dog sera were tested for the presence of canine distemper virus (CDV) neutralizing antibodies using Virus Neutralization assay (VNA). The prevalence of antibodies in animals against CDV was found to be 9.03% (n=55) in 1/2 dilution. It was determined that the antibody titers of positive sera were ranged between 1/2 and1/32. This result suggested that the stray dogs are potential source of CDV infections for susceptible animals living in an urban environment in Turkey.
Physical-Properties of Oxygen-Deficient Co-Based Perovskites: Co(Sr1-xYx)O3–δ (0.05 ≤ x ≤ 0.4)

In this work, the syntheses and characterization of oxygen deficient perovskite cobalt oxides prepared under ambient pressure conditions with different “x” in the Co(Sr1-xYx)O3–δ; 0.05 ≤ x ≤ 0.4 series are reported. The system studied in the present investigation undergoes structural phase transition at room temperature from cubic to tetragonal symmetry. The samples with x ≥ 0.2 show a tetragonal structure with I4/mmm space group, while the samples with 0.05 ≤ x ≤ 0.15 reveal cubic with pm3m group symmetry. Quite similar to Ho-substituted system [J. Appl. Phys. 103, 07B903 (2008)], the present Y-doped magnetization data clearly show the appearance of an enhanced ferromagnetic component at ~350 K for 0.15 ≤ x ≤ 0.225. Unlike the Ho-substituted system, the present narrow compositions behave as hard ferromagnet with quite high coercive field, Hc = 11.02, 12.25 and 14.0 kOe for x = 0.15, 0.2 and 0.225 compositions, respectively at T = 10 K. All the compositions show a semiconducting-like behaviour and some interesting features of temperature dependence of magnetoresistance (MR) are observed. The Co(Sr1-xYx)O3–δ samples seemly to obey variable range hopping conduction model showing a linear ln ρ versus T–1/4 dependence at the temperature range 80 K ≤ T ≤ 300 K.
Time course of the antiproteinuric and renal haemodynamic responses to losartan in microalbuminuric IDDM.

BACKGROUND Interference in the renin-angiotensin system with angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors has proven to be effective in lowering albuminuria in patients with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM). We studied whether angiotensin II receptor antagonism reduces urinary albumin excretion (UAE) in IDDM patients, and the relationship between the antiproteinuric effect and changes in systemic and renal haemodynamics. METHODS Nine IDDM patients with microalbuminuria (30-300 mg/24 h) were studied. Patients were studied after a 4 week placebo period, on days 3, 7 and 28 of treatment with losartan 50 mg once daily, and after a 4 week placebo-controlled recovery period. RESULTS Mean arterial pressure (MAP) was only slightly lowered during losartan treatment. Effective renal plasma flow (ERPF) was significantly increased on the third day of treatment and remained stable throughout the treatment period. Glomerular filtration rate (GFR) did not change throughout the study. Filtration fraction (FF) was maximally lowered on the third day of treatment and remained stable during treatment. UAE was already significantly lowered after 2 days of treatment, during both the day and night, and remained stable throughout the treatment period. The time course of the changes in UAE paralleled that of the changes in MAP, ERPF and FF. CONCLUSIONS The angiotensin receptor antagonist losartan effectively lowers UAE in microalbuminuric IDDM patients. The changes observed in renal haemodynamics and UAE are concordant in time and maximal within only a few days of treatment. These results support the importance of the specific effects of interference in the renin angiotensin system (RAS) in microalbuminuric IDDM on blood pressure and renal haemodynamics in reducing urinary protein leakage, rather than non-haemodynamic, structural changes of the glomerular basement membrane.
Photobleaching of Bacteriorhodopsin Solubilized with Triton X-100

Abstract In the current studies, we examined the effects of hexagonal lattice formation with lipid membranes on the structural stability of native bacteriorhodopsin (bR). Denaturation kinetic measurements for bR solubilized with the mild nonionic detergent Triton X-100 (TX100) were performed in the dark and under illumination by visible light. The solubilized bR was stable in the dark over a wide concentration range of TX100 (1 to 200 mM). In purple membranes, a bilobed band was observed in visible circular dichroism spectra due to interactions between neighboring chromophores. At all concentrations of TX100, this was replaced by a single positive band. Upon illumination with visible light, TX100-solubilized bR clearly showed photobleaching to bacterioopsin. These experimental results suggest that photobleaching is due to a lack of intermolecular interactions inside the purple membrane lattice. Extensive kinetic measurements further revealed that the rate constant of photobleaching is strongly dependent on the detergent concentration, although the activation energy for photobleaching does not significantly change with the TX100 concentration. The mechanism of photobleaching for the solubilized bR is discussed with respect to detergent micelle properties.
PESTE DES PETITS RUMINANTS (PPR) VIRUS ANTIBODIES IN AFRICAN GREY DUIKER (SYLVICAPRA GRIMMIA)

The prevalence rate of antibodies to peste des petits ruminants virus (PPRV) and rinderpest Virus (RPV) antigens was studied using 38 sera samples collected from African grey duiker (Sylvicapra grimmia). Of the total, 4 (10.5%) were positive for antibodies to PPRV, while none (0%) was positive for RPV. The role of wildlife in the epizootiology of peste des petits ruminants is discussed. Key words: African grey duiker, Sheep. Goats, PPRV, RPV, Antibodies
On the switching rate of ST-MIMO systems with energy-based antenna selection

The increased hardware complexity required to implement the multiple RF chains associated with the multiple antennas in MIMO systems, has led to various antenna selection methods for utilizing only a subset of the total available antennas. Some of these selection methods require the instantaneous channel state information (CSI) of the communication paths between the antennas, while other require only a sampling of the signal-plus-noise component. At first look, the latter method seems to offer a considerable reduction of the overall system complexity. However, if the switching rates (i.e. the rate at which the antenna subset changes) are taken into account, the decision of which of the two methods is the most appropriate one, becomes difficult. In this paper, we examine the switching rate (SWR) of these two antenna selection approaches, providing insight into the trade-off between the switching rate and the complexity imposed by the CSI requirements.
Exploring the Post-Deployment Reintegration Experiences of Veterans With PTSD and Their Significant Others

Veterans with family support have better functional recovery and reintegration outcomes. However, families’ ability to support the veteran with PTSD’s rehabilitation and reintegration oftentimes is hindered by interpersonal challenges. We report findings of a qualitative study that examined OEF/OIF veterans with PTSD/TBI and their significant others’ (SOs’) perceptions of family functioning. We conducted 24 in-depth interviews with 12 veteran/SO dyads using an adapted version of the Family Assessment Device Structured Interview. Descriptive qualitative analytic methods were used to analyze the data. Data show that the impact of deployment and the resulting changes in the individuals and the family dynamics lingered years after the veterans returned home and had a lasting influence on veterans’ and SOs’ perceptions of family functioning. Most couples acknowledged growth in their relationships several years postdeployment. However, many continued to struggle with disruptions generated by deployment. Four themes emerged from the data: individual changes, coping strategies, relationship changes, and a “new normal. ” Postdeployment family functioning was influenced by a dynamic interplay of individual and relationship factors and the development of coping strategies and a new normal. This study contributes to the understanding of the prolonged postdeployment family reintegration experiences of veterans and their SOs. Findings underscore the importance of continuing to advance the current knowledge base about the long-term impact of deployment on veterans and their families, especially factors that contribute to positive postdeployment family functioning. Additional empirical studies are needed to provide more in-depth understanding of the long-term postdeployment reintegration experiences of veterans and their families.
Spirometric values in Tunisian children: Relationship with pubertal status

Background: Little is known about the effect of pubertal stages on lung function parameters in Tunisian children. Aim: The purpose of this study is to determine the relationship between lung function and pubertal stage in Tunisian children using anthropometric parameters. Subjects and methods: Pulmonary function parameters were measured with a Minato portable spirometer in 684 healthy Tunisian children (351 males and 333 females) aged between 8 and 16. The pubertal status was assessed for males and females according to the Tanner Method. Results: A large variation was observed in the distribution of children's age and height by pubertal stages in both sexes. Height increased with age and pubertal stage in both males and females. The results also showed a significant increase in parameters of lung function (FVC, FEV1, PEF, MEF50 and MMEF25–75) with pubertal stage in Tunisian children. The analysis of covariance adjusting for anthropometric parameters showed that pubertal status had a significant independent effect on some pulmonary function parameters in both sexes. Conclusion: The results indicated that the parameters of pulmonary function for healthy Tunisian school children increased with age, height and pubertal stage. The present study has indicated that the use of only one morphological parameter such as height is not sufficient, but the pubertal status could be taken into account to standardize the lung function.