Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Treatment of Residual Vestibular Schwannoma

Objective To evaluate the results of the surgical removal of residual vestibular schwannomas and compare them with results obtained from the first operation. Study Design Retrospective case review. Setting Tertiary otologic and skull base referral center. Patients Twenty-three patients with residual vestibular schwannoma from a total of 637 patients who underwent surgery during the same time (April 1987 to April 2001). Only 1 patient had previously been treated in the same center. All but 1 patient had previously undergone at least 1 retrosigmoid approach. The majority of patients experienced an extensive list of complications and additional treatments after the first operation. Only 2 patients experienced some measurable hearing preoperatively. Previous hospitalization averaged 34.9 days, with a minimum of 5 and a maximum of 150 days. Interventions 16 patients were treated through an enlarged translabyrinthine approach and 7 through a modified transcochlear approach. Main Outcome Measures Total tumor removal, postoperative complications, hospital stay. Results All but 2 patients underwent a total removal. Complications recorded were 1 temporary hemiparesis and aphasia, 1 subcutaneous abdominal hematoma, and 2 transitory VIth cranial nerve palsies. No additional treatment was required. The postoperative hospital stays ranged from 3 to 22 days, with a mean of 6.9. Conclusions Patients with vestibular schwannoma should be treated by an experienced team in a referral center to reduce postoperative morbidity and decrease the need to resort to only partial removal. Planned subtotal removal should be reserved for a few selected cases. The retrosigmoid approach is considered to have the highest risk that tumor remnants will unintentionally be left. In surgery of a residual vestibular schwannoma that has previously been treated through the retrosigmoid approach, the translabyrinthine approach offers some advantages with respect to performing another retrosigmoid procedure. In the presence of long-lasting facial palsy, the modified transcochlear approach represents the safest and most viable option available.
MRI-based magnetic navigation of nanomedical devices for drug delivery and hyperthermia in deep tissues

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanners can be used with minimum upgrades as integrated platforms for targeted delivery of micro/nanoparticles in the human body. In addition to being widespread in hospitals, they provide real-time tracking, control and means of propulsion for magnetic devices without penetration depth limitations. From these positive features, MRI appears as the perfect central element of a nanomedical navigation platform. Nevertheless, these assets are also coupled with constraints arising from the use of an already existing interventional platform. Potential magnetic nanoparticles-based carriers with the navigation platform are described. A simple magnetic suspension model taking magnetic dipole-dipole interactions into account is also proposed.
Adaptive back stepping observer design for direct current link capacitor voltages of multi port high power converter

This paper presents an adaptive nonlinear observer design to investigate and fix precise estimation issues of dc link capacitor voltages in a powerful three-phase multi-level two ports converter. An Adaptive Back Stepping approach using the phase currents as observer inputs was applied to estimate the capacitor voltages in two ports multilevel cascaded H-Bridge converter. Capacitance of dc link capacitor was used as uncertain parameters to prove the robustness and sustainability of the proposed estimator against uncertainty. Evaluating the results represented possibility of reducing the number of sensors for fault detection purposes, precise tracking and exact estimation of unmeasurable variables. Nonlinear proposed control design based on the Lyapunov theory guarantees the stability and convergence of variables. Evaluation of the proposed solution results have been done in Matlab / Simulink.
An Age-Structured Epidemic Model in a Patchy Environment

A time-delayed epidemic model is proposed to describe the dynamics of disease spread among patches. An age structure is incorporated in order to simulate the phenomenon that some diseases only occur in the adult population. Sufficient conditions are established for global extinction and uniform persistence of the disease. One example shows that the disease could undergo persistence-extinction-persistence switches as the migration rate of juveniles increases, although juveniles are immune and cannot transmit the disease. The second example indicates that this switching phenomenon also happens when juveniles migrate with susceptible adults.
Incidence of Dental Caries in Children 1 to 6 Years of Age

E PIDEMIOLOGICAL surveys on dental caries conducted in the last two decades have resulted in increased attention to prevention and control. However, prevention has been mostly for the permanent dentition, while preschool and kindergarten children (during the primary or mixed dentition) have received little attention for either prevention, control, or treatment (Pediatric Survey'). One reason for this apparent neglect is that, whereas a large number of studies on the prevalence of dental caries has been conducted in school children and adults (Klein, Palmer, and Knutson,2 Klein and Palmer,3 Day and Sedwick, Sloman and Sharp,5 Brekhus,6 and others), little is known for children under 6 years of age. In 1943, the American Association of Public Health Dentists,7 while indicating that the measurement of caries in primary teeth is difficult because of the variations in the exfoliation time, adopted a dental examination form for recording dental caries of primary teeth in children. The system was symbolized with the lower-case letters, "def," in which "d" indicates decayed primary teeth indicated for filling, "e " indicates decayed primary teeth indicated for extraction, and "f " denotes filled primary teeth. The relative absence of information on the incidence of caries in children under 6 years of age and the availability of a standardized epidemiological method7 for the evaluation of dental caries prompted this investigation. A review of the literature on prevalence of dental caries in children up to 6 years of age is summarized in Table 1.8-2 The collection of data and determination of the prevalence of any disease require certain criteria. The requirements essentially are, first, that the personnel used should be competent and well trained for determining the presence and the extent of the disease. Second, the method used for the assessment of the disease should be simple to permit examination of large samples, standardized so as to be reproducible by other investigators, and quantitative to permit easy statistical evaluation. All this should not be attained by losing accuracy in diagnosis. Third, the size as well as the selection of the sample should be determined carefully so as not to bias the findings. Fourth, the method of analyzing the data should be standardized so that comparison with other investigations in other parts of the country can be carried out easily and effectively, thereby aiding in the determination of any variable factors influencing the course of the disease.
Trends in out-of-pocket healthcare costs among older community-dwelling Medicare beneficiaries.

OBJECTIVE To describe trends in out-of-pocket healthcare costs, including insurance premiums, for older Medicare beneficiaries living in the community. STUDY DESIGN Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey data were analyzed for community-dwelling beneficiaries 65 years or older between 1992 and 2004. METHODS The primary focus of the analysis was out-of-pocket healthcare costs and out-of-pocket costs as a percentage of income. Descriptive statistics are presented for 1992, 1996, 2000, and 2004. RESULTS Inflation-adjusted median out-of-pocket costs were stable between 1992 and 2000 and then rose by 21.7% between 2000 and 2004. Median costs as a percentage of income declined between 1992 and 1996 but increased from 12.6% in 2000 to 15.5% in 2004. Between 1992 and 2004, out-of-pocket costs increased fastest at the upper percentiles of the distribution. High out-of-pocket costs tended to persist from year to year, exacerbating the financial burden for some beneficiaries. CONCLUSIONS Following a period of declining burden between 1992 and 1996, out-of-pocket healthcare costs rose significantly between 2000 and 2004, increasing the financial burden for many older Medicare beneficiaries. These data provide a baseline for evaluating Medicare reform proposals that affect beneficiary spending.
Long-Term Dynamics and Hotspots of Change in a Desert Grassland Plant Community

Natural and anthropogenic disturbances are key drivers of vegetation dynamics. The hierarchical-response framework proposes that directional change in communities is driven by chronic resource alterations resulting from global environmental change in the absence of disturbance. Because vegetation is spatially heterogeneous, some local areas within a larger community may be more dynamic than others. Thus, the average rate of change may mask dynamic hotspots and local areas where vegetation remains stable. We used long-term data from two line-intercept transects in undisturbed desert grassland to quantify large-scale community dynamics, small-scale local dynamics, and boundary dynamics of grass patches in the absence of disturbance. We found that directional change in species composition was evident but that the overall rate of change varied spatially. Cover of both dominant grasses, Bouteloua eriopoda and Bouteloua gracilis, increased over the full transects, but most change occurred in localized hotspots. Patch boundaries of the dominant grasses exhibited both stability and local dynamics. Overall, the increasing abundance of B. eriopoda may predispose this grassland to shrub encroachment, whereas locally stable areas may prove resistant to state transition. More generally, global environmental change may be a pervasive driver of vegetation dynamics through localized hotspots of temporal change and spatially varying changes in patch boundaries in the absence of disturbance.
Cocaine‐like discriminative stimulus effects and [ 3 H]dopamine uptake inhibition produced by selected partial opioid agonists

Partial opioid agonists can produce their actions at opioid as well as some non‐opioid sites. Although the receptor systems underlying these non‐opioid effects are not completely clear, recent studies indicate the possible involvement of activity at the dopamine uptake site. One purpose of the present investigation was to examine the ability of selected partial opioid agonists (dezocine, meperidine and [+]‐propoxyphene) with non‐opioid actions to produce cocaine‐like stimulus effects. Because non‐opioid effects can be apparent under conditions in which opioid‐mediated effects are blocked or at doses that markedly decrease responding, these opioids were also examined in combination with the opioid antagonist naltrexone. A second purpose was to determine the ability of these opioids to inhibit [ 3 H]dopamine uptake in rat caudate putamen. Cocaine and the direct‐acting dopamine agonist (−)‐quinpirole, but not (+)‐propoxyphene, butorphanol, morphine, U50,488 and pentobarbital, substituted completely for the cocaine stimulus. Dezocine substituted for the cocaine stimulus in the majority of the rats tested only when administered in combination with naltrexone. Meperidine also substituted for the cocaine stimulus in the majority of the rats tested, although this pattern of substitution was not consistently altered by naltrexone. Dezocine and meperidine inhibited [ 3 H]dopamine uptake in a manner consistent with that produced by cocaine. The results suggest that dezocine and meperidine can produce cocaine‐like stimulus effects and that these effects are likely mediated by activity at the dopamine uptake site.
Isolated elevated sweat chloride concentrations in the presence of the rare mutation S1455X: An extremely mild form of CFTR dysfunction

Mutations in the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) have been shown to cause typical cystic fibrosis (CF) and several milder phenotypes. We report on two asymptomatic sisters who had isolated increased sweat chloride concentrations, and in whom systematic scanning of the whole coding region of the CFTR gene revealed the F508del/S1455X genotype. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
In Vitro Antibacterial Activity and Phytochemical Analysis of Leaves of Gymnema sylvestre Retz. R. Br

To investigate the antibacterial activity and phytochemical screening of the hexane, chloroform and methanol extracts of leaves of Gymnema sylvestre. The antibacterial activity was evaluated by agar well diffusion method against four Gram-negative (Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Proteus vulgaris) and five Gram-positive bacteria (Bacillus subtilis, Enterococcus faecalis, Micrococcus luteus, Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus pneumoniae). Phytochemical screening was performed according to the Harborne method. Methanol extract showed good antibacterial activity with the high inhibition zones, while chloroform extract exhibited mild to moderate activity and hexane extract was found to be less active. Phytochemical screening revealed the presence of various secondary metabolites like steroids, alkaloids, phenols, flavonoids, coumarins, saponins, tannins and triterpenoids. The results of the present study suggest that leaves of Gymnema sylvestre can be used to treating infectious diseases caused by Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus.
Study of Trehalose Addition on Aroma Retention in Dehydrated Strawberry Puree

Summary In order to improve the quality of dehydrated fruit products, the influence of the addition of two sugars (sucrose and trehalose) on the retention of aroma components during dehydration of strawberry puree was investigated. Manual headspace solid-phase microextraction (SPME), containing polydimethylsiloxane coated fibre (100 m) coupled with gas chromatography (GC-FID and GC-MS) was used for the analysis of the aroma of strawberry puree dehydrated by using freeze drying and foam-mat drying. The analytes identified included esters, carbonyl compounds, terpenoids, several alcohols and acids. The results obtained in this study give further insight into the mechanisms concerning the application of trehalose as flavouring additive, due to its ability to retain and preserve the fruit volatiles responsible for the characteristic flavour of fresh fruits during dehydration processes. The best retention of aroma components in dehydrated strawberry puree was obtained by trehalose addition when combined with freeze drying.
Source of toxicity in storm water: Zinc from commonly used paint

A Department of Energy site in Paducah, Kentucky (USA), stores thousands of cylinders of depleted uranium hexa‐fluoride. Breaches of the cylinders could result in the release of uranium and hydrogen fluoride. Beginning in 1996, a program was begun to paint the cylinders in order to prevent corrosion of the cylinders and the surfaces of the storage yards were converted to concrete. In 1998, storm water from the cylinder storage yards was found to be toxic to Ceriodaphnia, at concentrations exceeding limits in the site's discharge permit. A six‐month study was conducted to identify the source of the toxicity in the storm water. Ceriodaphnia toxicity tests with the storm water resulted in 48‐h median lethal concentrations (LC50) ranging from 12 to 94%; zinc concentrations in the storm water ranged from 0.08 to 0.54 mg/L. Acute toxicity tests with zinc and linear regression identified that zinc concentrations in the storm water were sufficient to account for the toxicity observed. By tracking the sources to the discharge point, newly painted cylinders were identified as the source of the zinc in the storm water. Rainwater collected directly from the painted cylinders contained up to 13 mg Zn/L. Laboratory and field tests showed that topcoating the cylinders would reduce the amount of zinc in the runoff from the cylinders.
Atomic layer deposition of NiO hole-transporting layers for polymer solar cells

NiO is an attractive hole-transporting material for polymer solar cells (PSCs) owing to its excellent stability and electrical/optical properties. This study demonstrates, for the first time, fabrication of uniform, defect-free, and conformal NiO ultra-thin films for use as hole-transporting layers (HTLs) in PSCs by atomic layer deposition (ALD) through optimization of the ALD processing parameters. The morphological, optical, and electrical properties of ALD NiO films were determined to be favorable for their HTL application. As a result, PSCs containing an ALD NiO HTL with an optimized thickness of 4 nm achieved a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 3.4%, which was comparable to that of a control device with a poly(3,4-ethylenedioxy-thiophene):poly(styrene-sulfonate) HTL. The high quality and manufacturing scalability of ALD NiO films demonstrated here will facilitate the adoption of NiO HTLs in PSCs.
Intravenous chelation therapy during transplantation for thalassemia.

BACKGROUND Thalassemia patients with heavy iron overload risk further increase of body iron stores after bone marrow transplantation (BMT) due to intensive red-cell transfusions in the post BMT course and to massive mobilization of iron deposits from marrow cells following the conditioning regimen. Nevertheless, iron chelation has not yet been used during the transplant period, mainly for concerns related to the toxicity and antiproliferative properties of the drug. METHODS Fifteen thalassemic patients received desferrioxamine (DFO) before and during BMT according to two different schedules (first: from day -9 to day +60, and second: from day -9 to day -2, then from day +28 to day +60) at a dose of 40 mg/kg/day as a 24-hour intravenous infusion. RESULTS The median time to neutrophil, platelet and erythrocyte recovery showed no difference between DFO-treated patients and the control group (18 days vs. 15, 16 vs. 18 and 22 vs. 23, respectively; p: N.S.). The incidence of acute GVHD was 23% in the DFO group and 13% in controls (p: N.S.). The median serum ferritin (SF) at 6 months after BMT was significantly lower in the DFO-treated patients (2081 versus 4187; p: 0.007) than in the control group. This difference continued to be evident, though not statistically significant, during longer follow-up. CONCLUSIONS Intravenous DFO therapy during BMT does not seem to have affected the engraftment parameters or the incidence of infections or GVHD. No adverse effects were observed during the therapy. Therefore thalassemic patients with heavy iron overload can be candidates for a course of i.v. chelation during the transplant period. This therapy could also be followed by post-BMT iron removal (i.e. phlebotomies or desferrioxamine) to accelerate the clearance of body iron deposits.
Large and small-scale structures of the local Galactic disc A maximum entropy approach to the stellar velocity distribution

An analytical model based on the maximum entropy approach is proposed to describe the eventual asymmetries of the velocity distribution, which are collected through its sample moments. If an extended set of moments is available, the current method provides a linear algorithm, associated with a Gramian system of equations, that leads to a fast and suitable estimation of the velocity distribution. In particular, it could be used to model multimodal distributions that cannot be described through Gaussian mixtures. The method is used with several samples from the HIPPARCOS and Geneva-Copenhagen survey catalogues. For the large-scale distribution, the phase density function may be obtained by fitting moments up to sixth order as a product of two exponential functions, one giving a background ellipsoidal shape of the distribution and the other accounting for the skewness and for the slight shift in the ellipsoidal isocontours in terms of the rotation velocity. The small-scale distribution can be deduced from truncated distributions, such as velocity-bounded samples with |V |≤ 51 km s −1 , which contain a complex mixture of early-type and young disc stars. By fitting up to ten-order moments, the maximum entropy approach gives a realistic portrait of actual asymmetries, showing a clear bimodal pattern: (i) around the Hyades-Pleiades stream, with negative radial mean velocity and (ii) around the Sirius-UMa stream, with slightly positive radial mean velocity. Among metallicity, colour, and other star properties, the eccentricity of the star’s orbit behaves as a very good sampling parameter to find a more detailed structure for the disc velocity distribution, allowing distinctions between different eccentricity layers. For subsamples with eccentricities e < 0.15, star velocities are approximately symmetrically distributed around the LSR in the radial direction, with a dearth of stars at the LSR. For e = 0.15, the core distribution of the thin disc is supported by two major stellar groups with opposite radial velocities. Several simulations confirm that such a double-peaked distribution comes from the lognormal distribution of the velocity amplitudes. For maximum eccentricity 0.3 and maximum distance to the Galactic plane 0.5 kpc a representative thin disc sample is obtained. The “U-anomaly” along the radial direction is estimated straightforwardly 30−35 km s −1 from the contour plots. An explanation of the apparent vertex deviation of the disc from the swinging of those major kinematic groups around the LSR is then possible, which predicts a continuously changing orientation of the disc’s pseudo ellipsoid.
Authentication of Herbal Supplements Using Next-Generation Sequencing

Background DNA-based testing has been gaining acceptance as a tool for authentication of a wide range of food products; however, its applicability for testing of herbal supplements remains contentious. Methods We utilized Sanger and Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) for taxonomic authentication of fifteen herbal supplements representing three different producers from five medicinal plants: Echinacea purpurea, Valeriana officinalis, Ginkgo biloba, Hypericum perforatum and Trigonella foenum-graecum. Experimental design included three modifications of DNA extraction, two lysate dilutions, Internal Amplification Control, and multiple negative controls to exclude background contamination. Ginkgo supplements were also analyzed using HPLC-MS for the presence of active medicinal components. Results All supplements yielded DNA from multiple species, rendering Sanger sequencing results for rbcL and ITS2 regions either uninterpretable or non-reproducible between the experimental replicates. Overall, DNA from the manufacturer-listed medicinal plants was successfully detected in seven out of eight dry herb form supplements; however, low or poor DNA recovery due to degradation was observed in most plant extracts (none detected by Sanger; three out of seven–by NGS). NGS also revealed a diverse community of fungi, known to be associated with live plant material and/or the fermentation process used in the production of plant extracts. HPLC-MS testing demonstrated that Ginkgo supplements with degraded DNA contained ten key medicinal components. Conclusion Quality control of herbal supplements should utilize a synergetic approach targeting both DNA and bioactive components, especially for standardized extracts with degraded DNA. The NGS workflow developed in this study enables reliable detection of plant and fungal DNA and can be utilized by manufacturers for quality assurance of raw plant materials, contamination control during the production process, and the final product. Interpretation of results should involve an interdisciplinary approach taking into account the processes involved in production of herbal supplements, as well as biocomplexity of plant-plant and plant-fungal biological interactions.