Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effects of ultrasound delivered through a mist of saline to wounds in mice with diabetes mellitus.

Objective: To examine the effects of ultrasound administered through a fine mist of saline on surgically placed full-thickness excisional wounds in mice with experimental diabetes mellitus. Method: Fifty male CD-1 mice received alloxan monohydrate (100mg/kg), a drug known to induce diabetes mellitus. The animals received five ultrasound (n=27) or sham (n=23) treatments for 1.5 minutes, on alternate days, for 10 days, and were then sacrificed. Following sacrifice, each animal’s wound was excised and the tissues prepared for qualitative and quantitative histological analysis. Results: No difference in wound-surface area was found between the groups after the treatment period. However, blinded assessment of tissue sections revealed significantly increased deposition of collagen and blood vessels in the granulation tissue of animals treated with ultrasound compared with those that received sham therapy. Conclusion: Ultrasound delivered through a fine mist of saline significantly altered the composition of new.
Examining variation in treatment costs: a cost function for outpatient methadone treatment programs.

OBJECTIVES To estimate a hybrid cost function of the relationship between total annual cost for outpatient methadone treatment and output (annual patient days and selected services), input prices (wages and building space costs), and selected program and patient case-mix characteristics. DATA SOURCES Data are from a multistate study of 159 methadone treatment programs that participated in the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment's Evaluation of the Methadone/LAAM Treatment Program Accreditation Project between 1998 and 2000. STUDY DESIGN Using least squares regression for weighted data, we estimate the relationship between total annual costs and selected output measures, wages, building space costs, and selected program and patient case-mix characteristics. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS Findings indicate that total annual cost is positively associated with program's annual patient days, with a 10 percent increase in patient days associated with an 8.2 percent increase in total cost. Total annual cost also increases with counselor wages (p<.01), but no significant association is found for nurse wages or monthly building costs. Surprisingly, program characteristics and patient case mix variables do not appear to explain variations in methadone treatment costs. Similar results are found for a model with services as outputs. CONCLUSIONS This study provides important new insights into the determinants of methadone treatment costs. Our findings concur with economic theory in that total annual cost is positively related to counselor wages. However, among our factor inputs, counselor wages are the only significant driver of these costs. Furthermore, our findings suggest that methadone programs may realize economies of scale; however, other important factors, such as patient access, should be considered.
Environmental Sound Perception of Cochlear Implant Users

Abstract The purposes of this study were (1) to develop a new test of environmental sound perception, the Environmental Sounds Perception Test (EST), (2) to compare the performance of experienced cochlear implant (CI) recipients with that of age-equivalent normally hearing (NH) listeners using this new test, and (3) to pilot test its clinical use as a pre-to-post assessment tool. The closed-set EST consisted of 45 different sounds classified into 9 categories, with each sound being represented by 2 different tokens. The results showed that the NH participants scored significantly higher than the experienced CI users (p < 0.001). For the pre-to-post CI group, higher scores were obtained post-surgery with the CI; this difference was approaching significance (p = 0.068). Overall these results suggest that CI recipients perform poorer than NH participants on the EST but better than hearing-aid users with a similar level of hearing loss.
Complex regional pain syndromeF2: physical therapy management

Part I of this article reviewed the history, etiology and underlying mechanisms of CRPS I and II. The current article reviews the available research of physical therapy treatment interventions for patients with CRPS. As outlined in Part 1 of this article, there continues to be much uncertainty about the underlying mechanisms of CRPS. It remains challenging to develop evidence-based guidelines for physical therapy or for any other discipline. There is a paucity of prospective randomized clinical trials. The majority of published reports are case reports or consensus-based. Although the article is written primarily from a physical therapy perspective, the clinical guidelines are also of interest to other health care providers. Given the complexity and scope of CRPS, an interdisciplinary management approach is recommended. & 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
The effects of quality improvement for depression in primary care at nine years: results from a randomized, controlled group-level trial.

OBJECTIVE To examine 9-year outcomes of implementation of short-term quality improvement (QI) programs for depression in primary care. DATA SOURCES Depressed primary care patients from six U.S. health care organizations. STUDY DESIGN Group-level, randomized controlled trial. DATA COLLECTION Patients were randomly assigned to short-term QI programs supporting education and resources for medication management (QI-Meds) or access to evidence-based psychotherapy (QI-Therapy); and usual care (UC). Of 1,088 eligible patients, 805 (74 percent) completed 9-year follow-up; results were extrapolated to 1,269 initially enrolled and living. Outcomes were psychological well-being (Mental Health Inventory, five-item version [MHI5]), unmet need, services use, and intermediate outcomes. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS At 9 years, there were no overall intervention status effects on MHI5 or unmet need (largest F (2,41)=2.34, p=. 11), but relative to UC, QI-Meds worsened MHI5, reduced effectiveness of coping and among whites lowered tangible social support (smallest t(42)=2.02, p=. 05). The interventions reduced outpatient visits and increased perceived barriers to care among whites, but reduced attitudinal barriers due to racial discrimination and other factors among minorities (smallest F (2,41)=3.89, p=. 03). CONCLUSIONS Main intervention effects were over but the results suggest some unintended negative consequences at 9 years particularly for the medication-resource intervention and shifts to greater perceived barriers among whites yet reduced attitudinal barriers among minorities.
University student’s dental and maxillofacial fractures characteristics and epidemiology in sports

Current study analyzes the characteristics and epidemiology of oral and nasal fractures and knowledge degree regarding the use of a mouthguard by an amateur university handball team inBrazil. A cross-sectional study comprised 138 students who practiced the sport. They were interviewed on dental and nasal fractures and on the need of mouthguards in games such as amateur handball. Data were processed by descriptive analysis. Results showed that 19.6% had suffered some type of dental injury during the practice of sports, namely 40 fractured teeth; 12% had fractured nasal bones; 57% underwent head and neck injuries; 32% were unaware of the need to use a mouthguard during sports; 68% had heard of mouthguards, but only 4.5% of the interviewees made use of this protection device. There was a high prevalence of nasal and dental fractures in the group under analysis. The upper central incisors were most susceptible to fracture. Even though most athletes knew a mouthguard was needed during sports activities, only 4.5% actually used one.
Strontium-90 Biokinetics from Simulated Wound Intakes in Non-human Primates Compared with Combined Model Predictions from National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements Report 156 and International Commission on Radiological Protection Publication 67

AbstractThis study had a goal to evaluate the predictive capabilities of the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements (NCRP) wound model coupled to the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) systemic model for 90Sr-contaminated wounds using non-human primate data. Studies were conducted on 13 macaque (Macaca mulatta) monkeys, each receiving one-time intramuscular injections of 90Sr solution. Urine and feces samples were collected up to 28 d post-injection and analyzed for 90Sr activity. Integrated Modules for Bioassay Analysis (IMBA) software was configured with default NCRP and ICRP model transfer coefficients to calculate predicted 90Sr intake via the wound based on the radioactivity measured in bioassay samples. The default parameters of the combined models produced adequate fits of the bioassay data, but maximum likelihood predictions of intake were overestimated by a factor of 1.0 to 2.9 when bioassay data were used as predictors. Skeletal retention was also over-predicted, suggesting an underestimation of the excretion fraction. Bayesian statistics and Monte Carlo sampling were applied using IMBA to vary the default parameters, producing updated transfer coefficients for individual monkeys that improved model fit and predicted intake and skeletal retention. The geometric means of the optimized transfer rates for the 11 cases were computed, and these optimized sample population parameters were tested on two independent monkey cases and on the 11 monkeys from which the optimized parameters were derived. The optimized model parameters did not improve the model fit in most cases, and the predicted skeletal activity produced improvements in three of the 11 cases. The optimized parameters improved the predicted intake in all cases but still over-predicted the intake by an average of 50%. The results suggest that the modified transfer rates were not always an improvement over the default NCRP and ICRP model values.
Is the leadership style important in R&D departments in Spanish industrial companies? An empirical analysis

ABSTRACT This paper aims to thoroughly look into the effects of the differences between the diverse leadership styles on innovative outputs (intensive, efficient and eco-efficient) in Spanish industrial companies. A questionnaire for the factories was sent and was received between the months of September 2013 and June 2014. A total of 142 valid questionnaires were received. Several regression models were used in the empirical analysis. The results show that charismatic leadership positively induces an intensive innovative output, at the same time as it improves firms’ eco-efficient innovative output. Likewise, the individualised consideration that characterises transformational leadership makes this leadership style produce positive results on the whole group of innovative outputs considered. At the other end of the leadership spectrum, the transactional style causes negative effects on the relationship between innovative activity and innovative outputs, and more specifically, on the efficient innovative output.
Geographic variation in public health spending: correlates and consequences.

OBJECTIVES To examine the extent of variation in public health agency spending levels across communities and over time, and to identify institutional and community correlates of this variation. DATA SOURCES AND SETTING Three cross-sectional surveys of the nation's 2,900 local public health agencies conducted by the National Association of County and City Health Officials in 1993, 1997, and 2005, linked with contemporaneous information on population demographics, socioeconomic characteristics, and health resources. STUDY DESIGN A longitudinal cohort design was used to analyze community-level variation and change in per-capita public health agency spending between 1993 and 2005. Multivariate regression models for panel data were used to estimate associations between spending, institutional characteristics, health resources, and population characteristics. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS The top 20 percent of communities had public health agency spending levels >13 times higher than communities in the lowest quintile, and most of this variation persisted after adjusting for differences in demographics and service mix. Local boards of health and decentralized state-local administrative structures were associated with higher spending levels and lower risks of spending reductions. Local public health agency spending was inversely associated with local-area medical spending. CONCLUSIONS The mechanisms that determine funding flows to local agencies may place some communities at a disadvantage in securing resources for public health activities.
Binding and multiple instantiation in a distributed network of spiking nodes

An implementation of a distributed connectionist network of spiking neuron-like elements is presented. Spiking nodes fire at a precise moment and transmit their activation, with particular strengths and delays, to nodes connected to them. When the potential of the node reaches a particular threshold, it emits a spike. Thereafter, the potential is reset to a resting value. The receiving nodes accumulate potential, but also slowly lose their potential through decay. As with real neurons, after firing there is a short refractory period during which the node will be completely insensitive to incoming signals, after which its sensitivity will slowly increase. Precise timing properties are used to represent symbols in a distributed manner and to solve the problems of variable binding and multiple instantiation. Several predictions about human short-term memory, predicate processing, complex reasoning and multiple instantiation arise from this model. This network shows how symbolic processing can be achieved using neurobiologically and psychologically plausible mechanisms that also have the advantages of generalization and noise tolerance found in connectionist networks.
Kevlar® as a Potential Accident Radiation Dosimeter for First Responders, Law Enforcement and Military Personnel

Abstract Today the armed forces and law enforcement personnel wear body armor, helmets, and flak jackets composed substantially of Kevlar® fiber to prevent bodily injury or death resulting from physical, ballistic, stab, and slash attacks. Therefore, there is a high probability that during a radiation accident or its aftermath, the Kevlar®-composed body armor will be irradiated. Preliminary study with samples of Kevlar® foundation fabric obtained from body armor used by the U.S. Marine Corps has shown that all samples evaluated demonstrated an EPR signal, and this signal increased with radiation dose. Based on these results, the authors predict that, with individual calibration, exposure at dose above 1 Gy can be reliably detected in Kevlar® samples obtained from body armor. As a result of these measurements, a post-event reconstruction of exposure dose can be obtained by taking various samples throughout the armor body and helmet worn by the same irradiated individual. The doses can be used to create a whole-body dose map that would be of vital importance in a case of a partial body or heterogeneous exposure.
Aerial Mobile Radiation Survey Following Detonation of a Radiological Dispersal Device

AbstractA series of experiments was conducted in 2012 at the Defence Research and Development Canada’s Suffield Research Centre in Alberta, Canada, during which three radiological dispersal devices were detonated. The detonations released radioactive 140La into the air, which was then carried by winds and detectable over distances of up to 2 km. The Nuclear Emergency Response group of Natural Resources Canada conducted airborne radiometric surveys shortly following the explosions to map the pattern of radioactivity deposited on the ground. The survey instrument suite was based on large volume NaI(Tl) scintillation gamma radiation detectors, which were situated in a basket mounted exterior to the helicopter and oriented end-to-end to maximize the sensitivity. A standard geophysical data treatment was used to subtract backgrounds and to correct the data to produce counts due to 140La at the nominal altitude. Sensitivity conversion factors obtained from Monte Carlo simulations were then applied to express the measurements in terms of surface activity concentration in kBq m−2. Integrated over the survey area, the results indicate that only 20 to 25% of the bomb’s original inventory of radioactive material is deposited within a 1.5‐km radius of ground zero. These results can be accommodated with a simple model for the RDD behavior and atmospheric dispersion.
The Effect of Pharmacologic Agents on the Nervous System

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The role of perceived interactivity in virtual communities: building trust and increasing stickiness

Although previous research has explored factors affecting trust building in websites, little research has been analysed from the perceived interactivity perspective in virtual communities (VCs). A research model for verifying interactivity antecedents to trust and its impact on member stickiness behaviour is presented. Two social interactivity components and two system interactivity components are, respectively, theorised as process-based antecedents and institution-based antecedents to trust in the model. Data were collected from 310 members of VCs to test the model. The results show that connectedness and reciprocity are important antecedents to trust in members, while responsiveness and active control are important antecedents to trust in systems. The results also indicate that trust has significant influence on the members’ duration and retention, which are two dimensions of member stickiness measured in this research. These findings have theoretical implications for online interaction-related literature and critical business implications for practitioners of VCs.
How have state policies to expand dependent coverage affected the health insurance status of young adults?

RESEARCH OBJECTIVE Nearly one in three adults of ages 19-29 lack health insurance, representing the highest uninsured rate of any age group. To help address this gap, 38 states have enacted laws requiring insurers to permit young adults to enroll as dependents on their parents' plans. This paper evaluates their impact on coverage for young adults. STUDY DESIGN/METHODS/DATA This study uses data for individuals ages 19-29 from the Current Population Survey's Annual Demographic Supplement for calendar years 2000-2008. Linear probability models are used to obtain difference-in-differences estimates of the impact of dependent coverage expansions in 19 early-adopting states on young adults' insurance status. The models also address possible policy endogeneity due to the nonrandom enactment of expansion policies across states. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS State young adult dependent coverage policies yielded small increases in dependent coverage ranging from 1.52 percentage points for all young adults to 3.84 percentage points for those ages 19-25 residing with parents. These increases were largely offset by declines in employer-sponsored insurance (ESI) in the young adults' own name. No significant impact on young adult uninsured rates was observed. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS Adult dependent coverage expansions have had a relatively small impact on enrollment as an ESI dependent and appear to have the unintended consequence of reducing ESI policyholder coverage. This policy did not achieve a reduction in uninsured rates as policy makers had intended. Federal reform efforts to expand dependent coverage are likely to be more successful because reform will be accompanied by subsidies and enrollment mandates.
Epidemiology of eating disorders part II: an update with a special reference to the DSM-5

The present article is the second one of three about the epidemiology of eating disorders. The first introductory article outlined basic epidemiological issues, approaches and concepts and provided a historical panorama of the epidemiology of eating disorders. The present paper presents an updated review about the incidence and prevalence of eating disorders and eating problems. A particular concern is to discuss the impact of using the DSM-5 for case definitions. Moreover, the current paper will discuss recent findings with respect to outcome distributions. Finally, advances within analytic epidemiology are discussed in terms of risk for onset and predictors of outcome and how recent evidence may increase the potentials for prevention or other social epidemiology strategies.
Upstream High‐Dose Tirofiban Does Not Reduce Myocardial Infarct Size in Patients Undergoing Primary Percutaneous Coronary Intervention: A Magnetic Resonance Imaging Pilot Study

Primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is more effective than fibrinolytic therapy for ST‐segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), but initial treatment delay to intervention is the main limitation of this strategy. Hypothesis: Upstream use of high‐dose tirofiban could reduce myocardial infarct size, using analysis of contrast‐enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (CE‐MRI).
Headache and Other Head Pain.

The first edition of Harold Wolff's book on headache, now a medical classic, heralded a new era in the study and treatment of the symptom. Basic facts furnished by the author and his co-workers allowed a rational explanation for what was transpiring in the patient. With Wolff's work we were assisted to an understanding of what the headache sufferer was trying to describe. The patient benefitted directly since it became possible to pass on to him a reasonable explanation of the phenomena underlying his symptom, undoubtedly a useful therapeutic maneuver with an understanding patient. As Wolff noted in the preface to the second edition, both professional and lay attitudes about headache gradually but radically altered since the appearance of his volume in 1948. The general arrangement of the second edition remains the same as the first. The volume begins with a consideration of pain, and there follows a chapter on