Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Pharmacologic and Nonpharmacologic Strategies for Weight Gain and Metabolic Disturbance in Patients Treated with Antipsychotic Medications

Objectives: To provide an overview of pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic strategies for antipsychotic-associated weight gain and metabolic disturbance, to identify important areas for future research, and to make practice recommendations based on current knowledge. Methods: We undertook a selective review of interventions for weight gain and metabolic disturbance in the general population and in individuals treated with antipsychotic medications, focusing on randomized controlled trials in schizophrenia. Results: Pharmacologic strategies include medication choice, medication dosage and formulation, choice of concomitant psychotropic medications, medication switching, medication addition to effect weight loss or prevent weight gain, and medications to increase insulin sensitivity. Medication choice and medication switching may have the most potent influence on weight and metabolic parameters. Modest short-term weight loss can occur with the addition of selective medications and (or) lifestyle interventions. However, more rigorous and longer-term studies are needed. Conclusions: Although difficult, the prevention of weight gain and the promotion of weight loss are possible for individuals treated with antipsychotic medications. Further research, including diabetes prevention studies, is required. We suggest a pathway for the management of weight gain and emerging metabolic disturbance.
Intervention Provided to Linguistically Diverse Middle School Students with Severe Reading Difficulties

This study investigated the effectiveness of a multicomponent reading intervention implemented with middle school students with severe reading difficulties, all of whom had received remedial and/or special education for several years with minimal response to intervention. Participants were 38 students in grades 6–8 who had severe deficits in word reading, reading fluency, and reading comprehension. Most were Spanish–speaking English language learners (ELLs) with identified disabilities. Nearly all demonstrated severely limited oral vocabularies in English and, for ELLs, in both English and Spanish. Students were randomly assigned to receive the research intervention (n= 20) or typical instruction provided in their school's remedial reading or special education classes (n= 18). Students in the treatment group received daily explicit and systematic small–group intervention for 40 minutes over 13 weeks, consisting of a modified version of a phonics–based remedial program augmented with English as a Second Language practices and instruction in vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension strategies. Results indicated that treatment students did not demonstrate significantly higher outcomes in word recognition, comprehension, or fluency than students who received the school's typical instruction and that neither group demonstrated significant growth over the course of the study. Significant correlations were found between scores on teachers’ ratings of students’ social skills and problem behaviors and posttest decoding and spelling scores, and between English oral vocabulary scores and scores in word identification and comprehension. The researchers hypothesize that middle school students with the most severe reading difficulties, particularly those who are ELLs and those with limited oral vocabularies, may require intervention of considerably greater intensity than that provided in this study. Further research directly addressing features of effective remediation for these students is needed.
Bank Performance, Financial Stability and Market Concentration: Evidence from Cooperative and Non‐Cooperative Banks

Relying upon highly territorially disaggregated data taken at labour market areas, the paper explores the relationship between bank performances and financial stability of the banking system taking into account the role of market concentration. The z‐score is used as financial stability indicator, while the performance of financial intermediaries is measured using a parametric method recently developed (Kumbhakar et al. 2014). The empirical evidence shows a positive relationship between bank performance and financial stability and supports the ‘concentration–stability’ view for non‐cooperative banks only when concentration is measured on the whole sample of banks. Differences in the performance–stability nexus seem to depend more on the type of banks rather than different levels of market concentration. Higher market concentration of cooperative banks affects systemic stability by reducing the z‐scores of non‐cooperative banks, supporting the hypothesis that the presence of non‐profit‐maximizing entities can pull down stability of other financial institutions.
Modeling of Current-Limiting Circuit Breakers for the Calculation of Short-Circuit Current

A current-limiting circuit breaker (CLCB) can quickly interrupt circuit faults and limit the short-circuit current. Modeling of a CLCB is important for the calculation of short-circuit current and arc flash energy. Based on the analysis of the arc voltage waveforms of CLCBs, a new arc model is derived. The Schwarz arc model and arc length are used to represent the complicated voltages of CLCBs, and arc length is determined from a differential equation. The test results of a commercial CLCB sequentially deployed in a couple of three-phase power systems are studied, and the parameters of the model are obtained. The three-phase faults in the power systems are simulated. The short-circuit currents and voltages of the CLCB are calculated and compared to the test results. The simulation results are in good agreement with the test data, and the proposed model can predict the high-current arcs in CLCBs. These techniques facilitate the calculation of short-circuit currents.
Sublethal effects of subzero temperatures on the light brown apple moth, Epiphyas postvittana: fitness costs in response to partial freezing

Population responses to environmental extremes often dictate the bounds to species’ distributions. However, population dynamics at, or near, those range limits may also be affected by sublethal effects. We exposed late instars and pupae of an invasive leafroller, Epiphyas postvittana (Walker) (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae), to cold temperatures and measured the effects of exposure on subsequent survivorship, development, and reproduction. Cold temperature was applied as acute exposure to –10 °C (a low, but not immediately lethal temperature for this species) or the onset of freezing (the peak of the supercooling point exotherm). Survival was defined as the ability to successfully eclose as an adult. We measured immature development times, pupal mass, and adult longevity as proxies of fitness in survivors. Additionally, surviving insects were mated with individuals that had not been exposed to cold to measure fertility. There was no difference between the proportion of larvae or pupae that survived acute exposure to –10 °C and those exposed to the control temperature. Approximately 17% of larvae and 8% of pupae survived brief periods with internal ice formation and continued development to become reproductively viable adults. Importantly, surviving the onset of freezing came with significant fitness costs but not to exposure to –10 °C; most insects that survived partial freezing had lower fertility and shorter adult lifespans than either the –10 °C or control group. These results are discussed within the context of forecasting invasive insect distributions.
Assessment of the Education for Physicians on End-of-Life Care (EPEC) Project.

PURPOSE Palliative medicine is assuming an increasingly important role in patient care. Yet, most physicians did not learn this during their formal training. The Education for Physicians in End-of-life Care (EPEC) Project aims to increase physician knowledge in palliative care by disseminating the EPEC Curriculum through a train-the-trainer approach. An assessment of its use to help the project reach its targets was performed. METHOD An independent evaluation pursued a two-step qualitative and quantitative approach to assess the ways that the curriculum is used by EPEC Trainers. RESULTS The main findings are: (1) The EPEC Curriculum is well regarded by a quota sample of 200 physicians who were trained to use the curriculum between January 1999 and March 2000. When asked, "How would you rate the effect of EPEC training on your knowledge of end-of-life care? ," 62% (123/200) selected 'greatly improved it. ' When asked, "What was the effect of the EPEC conference on your ability to teach end-of-life care? ," 72% (144/200) selected 'greatly improved it. ' (2) Dissemination has been effective. Ninety-two percent (184/200) use the curriculum for teaching. Of these, 83% (153/184) presented the material in 30-60 minute sessions as part of regularly scheduled conferences. We estimate that these 184 EPEC Trainers have presented 1 or more of the 16 EPEC Curriculum modules to approximately 120,000 professionals. DISCUSSION There is evidence that physicians selected to be EPEC Trainers judge the EPEC Curriculum to be high in quality, respected, and most importantly, usable. They use the EPEC Curriculum as part of a train-the-trainer dissemination strategy. The interpretation of this enthusiastic assessment is tempered by the study's limitations including respondent bias and possible acquiescence. Nevertheless, it appears that the EPEC Curriculum has set a standard of knowledge in the field and is an example of disseminating new information to physicians in practice. We conclude that the EPEC Curriculum is an effective vehicle to transmit palliative care information to physicians in practice.
Detecting Myocardial Infraction Using VCG Leads

Standard electrocardiogram (ECG) lead system and Frank vectorcardiogram (VCG) lead system are two most popular and basic lead systems. Most of the existing analyses on ECG signals are based on the standard ECG leads. In practice, Frank VCG leads that are orthogonal between them are more correlated with anatomy than standard ECG leads. The VCG feature extraction from Frank leads has been studied in this research. Myocardial infraction (MI) VCG signals including health control (HC), acute MI (AMI), sub-acute MI (SAMI) that were taken from PTB diagnostic ECG database were employed for the analysis in this study. The multivariate autoregressive (AR) coefficients were utilized as VCG features for the classification. The results show that Frank VCG leads can classify better compared to standard ECG leads.
Adverse and beneficial effects in Chinese hamster lung fibroblast cells following radiofrequency exposure

In this study, the effect of radiofrequency (RF) exposure to 1950 MHz, Universal Mobile Telecommunication System signal, was investigated in Chinese hamster lung fibroblast cell line (V79). Genotoxic and cytotoxic effects of 20‐h exposure at specific absorption rate (SAR) values from 0.15 W/kg to 1.25 W/kg were measured by means of cytokinesis‐block micronucleus (MN) assay. Exposure was carried out blinded under strictly controlled conditions of dosimetry and temperature. The effect of RF exposure alone at four SAR values was tested, that is, 0.15, 0.3, 0.6, and 1.25 W/kg. A statistically significant increase in MN frequency was found in cultures exposed to 0.15 and 0.3 W/kg (P < 0.05) compared to sham‐exposed ones, in the absence of cytotoxicity. SAR values of 0.6 and 1.25 W/kg did not exert any effect. Moreover, to evaluate the ability of RF to exert protective effects with respect to a chemical mutagen, cell cultures were also pre‐exposed for 20 h at 0.3 or 1.25 W/kg, and then treated with 500 ng/ml of mitomycin‐C (MMC). A significant reduction in the frequency of MN was detected in cultures pre‐exposed to 1.25 W/kg compared to cultures treated with MMC alone (P < 0.05), indicating induction of adaptive response. Such a decrease was not induced by pre‐exposure at 0.3 W/kg SAR. Taken together, our results indicated that V79 is a sensitive cell model to evidence either adverse or beneficial effects of RF exposure, depending on experimental conditions applied. Bioelectromagnetics. 38:245–254, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Emotion Awareness and Identification Skills in Adolescent Girls With Bulimia Nervosa

This study examined emotion-identification skills in 19 adolescent girls (M age = 16 years, 8 months) diagnosed with a Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed. [DSM–IV], American Psychiatric Association, 1994) diagnosis of bulimia nervosa or eating disorder not otherwise specified in the bulimic spectrum, 19 age-matched girls with a DSM–IV diagnosis of unipolar depression, and 19 age-matched girls without a mental health history. Findings revealed that girls with bulimia nervosa compared to girls in the depressed and community control groups endorsed significantly greater reluctance to express emotions and inferior interoceptive awareness. Moreover, they exhibited significantly longer latencies to retrieve information regarding their emotional state in self-generated situations. When provided with a list of emotion labels, girls with bulimia endorsed significantly more labels to describe their responses to typical adolescent situations than girls in the control groups.
A review on bovine besnoitiosis: a disease with economic impact in herd health management, caused by Besnoitia besnoiti (Franco and Borges, 1916)

SUMMARY Bovine besnoitiosis is caused by the largely unexplored apicomplexan parasite Besnoitia besnoiti. In cows, infection during pregnancy often results in abortion, and chronically infected bulls become infertile. Similar to other apicomplexans B. besnoiti has acquired a largely intracellular lifestyle, but its complete life cycle is still unknown, modes of transmission have not been entirely resolved and the definitive host has not been identified. Outbreaks of bovine besnoitiosis in cattle were described in the 1990s in Portugal and Spain, and later several cases were also detected in France. More cases have been reported recently in hitherto unaffected countries, including Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Hungary and Croatia. To date, there is still no effective pharmaceutical compound available for the treatment of besnoitiosis in cattle, and progress in the identification of novel targets for intervention through pharmacological or immunological means is hampered by the lack of molecular data on the genomic and transcriptomic level. In addition, the lack of an appropriate small animal laboratory model, and wide gaps in our knowledge on the host-parasite interplay during the life cycle of this parasite, renders vaccine and drug development a cost- and labour-intensive undertaking.
Impact of a two‐arm educational program for improving diabetes care in primary care centres

Improvement of the quality of diabetes care is essential for reducing diabetes complications. Nevertheless, compliance with diabetes clinical practice recommendations is inadequate in primary care. The aim of this study was to assess the impact of diabetes education, when directed simultaneously to both diabetes care providers and patients, on the frequency of performance of relevant laboratory tests and improvement of metabolic control. A three‐step educational program was applied at 45 community clinics of a health‐managed organisation comprising 175 health care providers and 16,275 diabetic patients. At the end of a 2‐year period, the proportion of diabetic patients with HbA1c tested at least once a year rose from 60 to 85%. The percentage of patients with HbA1c <7% rose from 38 to 50%, whereas the percentage with HbA1c >8.5% decreased from 27 to 19%. The number of patients visiting an eye clinic at least once yearly rose from 55 to 65% and of those undergoing microalbumin testing from 27 to 37%. There was a 20% increase in the number of patients with low‐density lipoprotein cholesterol measurements. Our study demonstrates the efficacy of diabetes education when directed simultaneously to health care providers and diabetic patients. The improvement in quality of care induced by such intervention can translate into better metabolic control and, ultimately, the prevention of diabetes complications.
Intracranial meningioma causing partial amaurosis in a cat.

OBJECTIVE To describe a case of intracranial meningioma causing visual impairment in a cat, successfully treated by surgery. PROCEDURES An adult neutered male domestic cat was referred with a 10-month history of progressive visual impairment and altered behavior. Investigations included physical, ophthalmologic and neurological examinations as well as hematology, serum biochemistry and CT scan of the head. RESULTS The menace response was absent in the left eye and decreased in the right eye. Electroretinograms were normal on both eyes, as was ophthalmic examination, ruling out an ocular cause and allowing a presumptive diagnosis of partial amaurosis due to a post-retinal lesion. CT scan demonstrated a large sessile extra axial mass along the right parietal bone and thickening of the adjacent bone. Cerebrospinal fluid was not collected because high intracranial pressure represented a risk for brain herniation. A right rostrotentorial craniectomy was performed to remove the tumor. Ten days after surgery, vision was improved, neurological examination was normal and normal behavior was restored. Ten months after surgery, ophthalmological examination showed no visual deficit and CT scan did not reveal any sign of recurrence. CONCLUSION Advanced imaging techniques allow veterinarians to detect early cerebral diseases and to provide specific treatment when it is possible. In cases of feline amaurosis due to intracranial meningioma, the vital prognosis is good while the visual prognosis is more uncertain, but recovery of normal vision and normal behavior is possible as demonstrated in the present case.
Revision surgery in dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans of the trunk and extremities.

AIMS Dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans is a rare condition which is frequently misdiagnosed at presentation, resulting in a high incidence of local recurrence due to inadequate resection. The archives of the Department of Orthopaedics at the University of Florida were analysed to investigate the natural history and results of treatment for this tumour. METHODS Between 1975 and 1996, 35 cases of DFSP were treated at the University of Florida. Of these, one was treated primarily, five were treated for local recurrence, 17 had tumour bed excisions following inadequate primary excisions elsewhere and 12 had tumour bed excisions following inadequate resection of local recurrences elsewhere. The data were analysed to assess the impact of age, gender, duration of symptoms, tumour site and size, surgical margin, number of operations and adjuvant treatments on survival and local recurrence outcomes. RESULTS Complete follow-up was available for 34 patients. Mean follow-up was 58 months (range 12-144 months). Thirty-three patients remain alive and disease-free. One patient died of unrelated causes. The margins obtained were wide in 28 patients, marginal in six and intralesional in one. Of the seven patients with inadequate surgical margins, four received adjuvant radiation therapy and remain disease-free. No patient with an adequate margin developed a local recurrence, but there were three local recurrences in the patients with an inadequate margin who did not receive adjuvant radiation therapy (local recurrence rate: 8%). No patient developed lymphatic or distant metastasis. Local recurrences were more likely to be classified Stage IB (17/17) than primary tumours (1/18) (P<0.001). Local recurrence was more likely where the surgical margin was less than 2.5 cm from the lesion. CONCLUSIONS Dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans is a low-grade tumour that has a high potential for local recurrence unless it can be completely excised. The overall rate of local recurrence in referred patients in this series was 20/35 cases (57%). All occurred after inadequate margins at previous surgery in other institutions. Revision surgery in these patients showed a local recurrence rate of 8%. To avoid extensive surgery for recurrences, initial treatment should be by wide excision incorporating the underlying deep fascia and a cuff of 2.5-3 cm of normal skin tissue. Radiation therapy provides a useful adjunct where adequate margins cannot be obtained.
Long-term dietary patterns and carotid artery intima media thickness: The Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study

A whole-diet approach has proven useful for characterising dietary exposure in cardiovascular epidemiology research. In our previous analyses, we found dietary patterns to be significant determinants of CVD risk factor levels among the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns cohort. We investigated the associations of major dietary patterns with carotid intima media thickness (IMT), a subclinical predictor of CVD, in healthy adults. The Young Finns Study is an ongoing, prospective cohort study with a 21-year follow-up to date. The subjects were children and adolescents at baseline in 1980 (aged 3–18 years), and all had reached adulthood by the latest follow-up in 2001 (aged 24–39 years). Complete dietary data from the years 1980, 1986 and 2001 and outcome data from the year 2001 were obtained from 785 subjects. The long-term average pattern score for a traditional dietary pattern (characterised by high consumption of rye, potatoes, butter, sausages, milk and coffee) was associated with IMT especially among subjects with a low score for the health-conscious dietary pattern (characterised by high consumption of vegetables, legumes and nuts, rye, tea, cheese and other dairy products). In multivariable regression analyses using long-term pattern scores as predictors, the traditional dietary pattern was independently associated with IMT in men (P < 0·01), but not in women (P = 0·66). Long-term adherence to traditional food choices seems to increase the risk of developing subclinical atherosclerosis among Finnish men.
Fall risk and incidence reduction in high risk individuals with multiple sclerosis: a pilot randomized control trial

Objective: To determine the feasibility of three fall prevention programs delivered over 12 weeks among individuals with multiple sclerosis: (A) a home-based exercise program targeting physiological risk factors; (B) an educational program targeting behavioral risk factors; and (C) a combined exercise-and-education program targeting both factors. Design: Randomized controlled trial. Setting: Home-based training with assessments at research laboratory. Participants: A total of 103 individuals inquired about the investigation. After screening, 37 individuals with multiple sclerosis who had fallen in the last year and ranged in age from 45–75 years volunteered for the investigation. A total of 34 participants completed postassessment following the 12-week intervention. Intervention: Participants were randomly assigned into one of four conditions: (1) wait-list control (n = 9); (2) home-based exercise (n = 11); (3) education (n = 9); or (4) a combined exercise and education (n = 8) group. Measures: Before and after the 12-week interventions, participants underwent a fall risk assessment as determined by the physiological profile assessment and provided information on their fall prevention behaviors as indexed by the Falls Prevention Strategy Survey. Participants completed falls diaries during the three-months postintervention. Results: A total of 34 participants completed postintervention testing. Procedures and processes were found to be feasible. Overall, fall risk scores were lower in the exercise groups (1.15 SD 1.31) compared with the non-exercise groups (2.04 SD 1.04) following the intervention (p < 0.01). There was no group difference in fall prevention behaviors (p > 0.05). Conclusions: Further examination of home-based exercise/education programs for reducing falls in individuals with multiple sclerosis is warranted. A total of 108 participants would be needed in a larger randomized controlled trial. ClinicalTrials.org #NCT01956227