Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Predictors of cardiac self-efficacy among patients diagnosed with coronary artery disease in tertiary hospitals in Nepal

Background: Cardiac self-efficacy determines how people feel, think, motivate themselves and behave with regards to improving their cardiac health subsequently preventing complications of coronary artery disease (CAD). Given almost one-third of global death is contributed by CAD with 10% of disability adjusted life years lost in low- and middle-income countries (including Nepal), it is important to identify factors that can promote cardiac self-efficacy. There are no studies in Nepal focusing on predictors of self-efficacy. Therefore, we aim to determine the predictors of cardiac self-efficacy of CAD patients in Nepal. Design and Methods: This is a cross-sectional study where we recruited 170 patients (≥30 years) diagnosed with CAD from two tertiary level hospitals. Multiple linear regression model was used to identify the predictors of cardiac self-efficacy. Results: The mean age of the participants was 60.45±10.39 years (range, 31-83). Most of the participants were diagnosed as myocardial infarction (91.2%), rest with unstable angina (6.5%) and stable angina (2.4%). The multivariate analysis shows age (p<0.001), health behaviors (p<0.001) and knowledge of the disease (p<0.001) were statistically significant predictors to cardiac self-efficacy. Every 1-year increase in age was associated with 0.23 units increase in cardiac self-efficacy score. Similarly, every unit increase in health behavior score and knowledge of disease score was associated with 0.432 units and 0.475 units increase in cardiac self-efficacy score respectively. Conclusion: Age and health behaviors were the strongest predictors of cardiac self-efficacy followed by knowledge of the disease. We conclude that those with poor health behavior are at a greater risk of poorer cardiac self-efficacy compared to those with relatively good level of self-efficacy. Public health interventions such as awareness raising about cardiac disease and health behavior modification along with early screening, diagnosis and appropriate care are essential to improving self-efficacy and cardiac care outcomes. Significance for public health The global number of deaths from cardiovascular disease (CVD) has increased during the past decade by 12.5%. Since the CVD rates are increasing in developing countries including Nepal, a multifaceted approach to prevention and control of CVD is needed. Studies have demonstrated the importance of including selfefficacy as a key component in CVD self-management programs. These programs should be multidisciplinary in approach, should be tailored to the needs of the patients, and should have a theoretical foundation of behavior change. The findings of the study suggest the need for developing public health interventions focused on improving knowledge and behavior for increasing cardiac self-efficacy in patients with coronary artery disease in Nepal.
Transient Radiation-Induced Conductivity in Polymers

The radiation-induced conductivity of some polymers is investigated under pulse irradiation conditions in vacuum at room temperature. Two mechanisms of radiation-induced conductivity are shown to be operative in polymers. One due mainly to free charge carriers escaping geminate recombination and partly to electrons generated in short tracks and the other associated with geminate electrons localized at deep traps. It is noted that non-Gaussian dispersive transport of charge carriers accounts well for the major features of radiation-induced current transients in polymers. Strahlungsinduzierte Leitfahigkeit einiger Polymere wird unter Impulsbestrahlungsbedingungen im Vakuum bei Zimmertemperatur untersucht. Es wird gezeigt, das zwei Mechanismen der strahlungsinduzierten Leitfahigkeit in Polymeren ablaufen. Der erste wird hauptsachlich durch freie Trager verursacht, die einer Paar-Rekombination entkommen, und partiell durch Elektronen, die in kurzen Spuren erzeugt werden, und der andere ist mit Paar-Elektronen verknupft, die an tiefen Traps lokalisiert sind. Es wird darauf hingewiesen, das ein nicht-gausdispersiver Transport von Ladungstragern die wesentlichen Zuge der strahlungsinduzierten nichtstationaren Strome in Polymeren erklart.
Anterior cruciate ligament injury patterns and their relationship to fatigue and physical fitness levels – a cross-sectional study

Abstract Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury is one of the most common knee injuries that leads to many consequences such as early osteoarthritis and knee joint instability. To explore the association of the types of ACL tear (complete and partial) and side of injury (dominant vs nondominate) with types of playing surfaces, sports, shoes, and mechanism of injuries as well as to determine whether higher levels of fatigue and physical fitness are risk factors for complete ACL tear. This cross-sectional study used a questionnaire to collect information from young male adults with a confirmed ACL injury who were attending rehabilitation programs. The outcomes of interest were patterns of ACL injury, levels of fatigue before the injury on a 0 to 10 scale, and levels of physical fitness (hours per week). Mann–Whitney U and Kruskal Wallis tests were used to assess the differences between groups, while the odds ratios were calculated to evaluate risk factors for complete ACL tear. One hundred thirteen young male adults with a confirmed ACL injury were enrolled. Most of the reported ACL injuries in this study were complete tear (80.5%) and occurred more frequently in the dominant leg (74.6%) due to noncontact mechanism (63.6%). More ACL injuries happened while playing soccer (97.2%) on artificial turf (53.3%). The level of fatigue before ACL injury was significantly higher in partial ACL tear injuries compared to complete ACL tear injuries (P = .014). For every 1-point increase in the level of fatigue on a 0–10 scale, there was a 25% reduction in complete ACL injury risk (P = .023). The pattern of ACL types of tear and side of injury varies in different playing surfaces and mechanisms of injuries. Higher levels of fatigue seem to be associated with a partial tear of the ACL and reduction of a complete ACL tear risk factor.
Immediate post-operative complications (I): Post-operative bleeding; vascular origin: Thrombosis pancreatitis

Simultaneous pancreas-kidney transplantation is the treatment of choice for insulin-dependent diabetes that associates end-stage diabetic nephropathy, since it achieves not only a clear improvement in the quality of life, but also provides a long-term survival advantage over isolated kidney transplant. However, pancreas transplantation still has the highest rate of surgical complications among organ transplants. More than 70% of early graft losses are attributed to technical failures, that is, to a non-immunological cause. The so-called technical failures include graft thrombosis, bleeding, infection, pancreatitis, anastomotic leak and pancreatic fistula. Pancreatic graft thrombosis leads these technical complications as the most frequent cause of early graft loss. Currently most recipients receive postoperative anticoagulation with the aim of reducing the rate of thrombosis. Hemoperitoneum in the early postoperative period is a frequent cause of relaparotomy, but it is not usually associated with graft loss. The incidence of hemoperitoneum is clearly related to the use of anticoagulation in the postoperative period. Post-transplant pancreatitis is another cause of early postoperative complications, less frequent than the previous. In this review, we analyze the most common surgical complications that determine pancreatic graft losses.
Effectiveness of Alcohol-free Mouth Rinse Containing Essential Oils and Fluoride as an Oral Hygiene Adjunct among Pregnant Thai Women: A Randomized Clinical Trial

ABSTRACT Aim: This 3-month, double-blind, two-center, parallel, randomized controlled clinical trial compared the improvement of oral hygiene status from alcohol-free essential oils (EO) with 0.05% fluoride mouthwash to the control (0.05% fluoride mouthwash). Materials and Methods: One hundred and fifty-four pregnant women were clinically examined to determine Modified Gingival Index (MGI), Plaque Index (PI), and Winkel Tongue Coating Index (WTCI) at baseline, 2 weeks, and 3 months by calibrated examiners. After supragingival scaling and provision of a tooth brushing method, participants were randomly assigned to daily use of alcohol-free EO or the control rinse for 30s at bedtime. Repeated measures of analysis of variance (ANOVA) were performed to assess the effectiveness of alcohol-free EO with 0.05% fluoride mouthwash on MGI, PI, and WTCI scores. Results: One hundred and forty subjects completed the study. The dropout rate of 9.1% (n = 14) was mainly due to loss of follow-up. At baseline, no significant differences were observed between the intervention and the control groups for MGI (1.19±0.57 vs. 1.11±0.48, P = 0.371), PI (1.53±0.56 vs. 1.47±0.48, P = 0.439), and WTCI (0.88±0.48 vs. 0.88±0.50, P = 0.990). There was a statistically significant reduction of MGI, PI, and WTCI scores over time (P < 0.001). However, no significant differences were observed for between-group comparisons for all measured indices at any time point. No adverse effect was reported in either group. Conclusion: At the end of 3-month period, improvement of oral hygiene of pregnancy women in this study was evidence. However, the use of alcohol-free EO mouthwash as supplements to the daily oral hygiene did not provide a significant improvement in terms of plaque, gingival, and tongue coating indices.
Temperature dependence of the derived properties of mixtures containing chlorobenzene and aliphatic linear alkanes (C6–C12)

This article reports experimental densities, refractive indices and speeds of sound of the binary mixtures chlorobenzene + (n-hexane, n-heptane, n-octane, n-nonane, n-decane, n-undecane or n-dodecane) and speeds of sound of the ternary mixtures chlorobenzene + n-hexane + (n-undecane or n-dodecane) at 298.15 K and atmospheric pressure, over the whole concentration range. The corresponding derived properties were computed from the experimental data. The results were fitted by means of the Redlich–Kister equation for binary mixtures and the Nagata equation for ternary mixtures. A set of estimation methods were applied, and an interpretation in terms of structure and length of molecular chain of the n-alkane molecules was made.
The clinical significance of HERV-H LTR –associating 2 expression in cervical adenocarcinoma

Abstract HERV-H LTR –associating 2 (HHLA2) is a recently discovered member of the B7-family of immune checkpoint molecules that is overexpressed in several types of cancer. The aim of the present study was to investigate the expression of HHLA2 in cervical adenocarcinoma (AC) and the relationship between its expression and clinicopathological factors to assess its use as a potential marker for AC prognosis. This study included 76 patients diagnosed with cervical AC. Their resected specimens were obtained and a tissue microarray was constructed. Expression of HHLA2 was detected by the immunohistochemistry. Based on the follow-up data, correlation of HHLA2 expression and clinicopathological features, including overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival, was evaluated. Furthermore, we investigated the correlation between the expression of HHLA2 and programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1). A total of 76 cases of invasive cervical AC were evaluated. High HHLA2 expression was detected in 62 cases (81.6%) and low HHLA2 expression was presented in 14 cases (18.4%). HHLA2 expression showed a significant negative correlation with lymph node metastasis (P = .011). Disease free survival was 75.0% and 49.0% in high-expression and the low expression group, respectively (P = .057). Although there was no statistical significance, an improved OS was observed in the high expression group (83.1% vs 64.9%, P = .479). Further, the expression of HHLA2 and PD-L1 correlated positively (P = .005). Thus, an improved OS was observed in the PD-L1 expression group (90.7% vs 66.2%, P = .037). High expression of HHLA2 is related to tumor progression and prognosis in patients with cervical AC. Therefore, HHLA2 may be a potential biomarker for predicting prognosis of cervical AC.
Investigating the Local Structure of Lanthanoid Hafnates Ln2Hf2O7 via Diffraction and Spectroscopy

The lanthanoid hafnates Ln2Hf2O7 (Ln = La, Pr, Nd, Sm–Tm) were studied using a combination of synchrotron X-ray and neutron powder diffraction together with X-ray absorption and Raman spectroscopy. Spectroscopic methods revealed a gradual increase in disorder from the ideal pyrochlore structure to the defect fluorite structure as the size of the Ln cation increases. The line shape of the Hf L3-edge X-ray absorption near edge spectra which is sensitive to the local coordination environment changed with increasing disorder. The general line shape of the O K-edge XANES and Raman spectra also indicated an increase in disorder across the Ln2Hf2O7 series. Differences in the diffraction and spectroscopy analysis reflect the greater sensitivity of the spectroscopy techniques to local ordering.
Single nucleotide polymorphism of transforming growth factor-β1 and interleukin-6 as risk factors for ovarian cancer

Introduction We investigated the association between common variants in TGF-β1, IL-6 and the risk of ovarian cancer (OC) in Tunisian patients and control women. Material, methods and results Study subjects comprised 71 OC cases and 74 control women. Genotyping of TGF-β1 and IL-6 SNPs was done by real-time PCR. No differences were noted in the minor allele frequencies of the three TGF-β1 SNPs between OC patients and controls. However, marked differences in the distribution of TGF-β1 rs1800469 genotypes were seen between OC cases and controls (p < 0.001), with TGF-β1 rs1800469 heterozygous (C/T) genotype being negatively associated with OC (OR [95% CI] = 0.24 [0.15-0.58]). The allelic and genotypic distributions at IL-6 polymorphisms showed a positive association between minor allele (G) at IL-6 rs1880242 variant (p = 0.0275; R [95% CI] = 1.88 [1.03-3.46]) and the occurrence of OC. In fact, the presence of T allele [G/T + T/T] decrease the risk of OC (p = 0.021; OR [95% CI] = 0.38 [0.17-0.88]). In addition, the Haploview analysis demonstrated high linkage disequilibrium (LD) between IL-6 SNPs and eight-locus haplotype analysis identified that GGAGGGGA and GGAGGGTA haplotypes are positively associated with OC risk. A negative association was shown between IL-6 haplotype (TGGGCCTA) and OC occurrence. Conclusions Our results suggest that TGF-β1 rs1800469, IL-6 rs1880242 variants and IL-6 haplotype (TGGGCCTA) have protective roles of OC risk. IL-6 haplotypes (GGAGGGGA and GGAGGGTA) increase OC susceptibility among Tunisian women.
Patterns of richness across forest beetle communities—A methodological comparison of observed and estimated species numbers

Abstract Species richness is a frequently used measure of biodiversity. The compilation of a complete species list is an often unattainable goal. Estimators of species richness have been developed to overcome this problem. While the use of these estimators is becoming increasingly popular, working with the observed number of species is still common practice. To assess whether patterns of beetle communities based on observed numbers may be compared among each other, we compared patterns from observed and estimated numbers of species for beetle communities in the canopy of the Leipzig floodplain forest. These patterns were species richness and the number of shared species among three tree species and two canopy strata. We tested the applicability of the asymptotic Chao1 estimator and the estimate provided by the nonasymptotic rarefaction–extrapolation method for all tree species and both upper canopy and lower canopy. In the majority of cases, the ranking patterns of species richness for host tree species and strata were the same for the observed and estimated number of species. The ranking patterns of the number of species shared among host tree species and strata, however, were significantly different between observed and estimated values. Our results indicate that the observed number of species under‐represents species richness and the number of shared species. However, ranking comparisons of published patterns based on the number of observed species may be acceptable for species richness but likely not reliable for the number of shared species. Further studies are needed to corroborate this conclusion. We encourage to use estimators and to provide open access to data to allow comparative assessments.
Hospital performance and payment: impact of integrating pay-for-performance on healthcare effectiveness in Lebanon

Background: In 2014 the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health integrated pay-for-performance into setting hospital reimbursement tiers, to provide hospitalization service coverage for the majority of the Lebanese population. This policy was intended to improve effectiveness by decreasing unnecessary hospitalizations, and improve fairness by including risk-adjustment in setting hospital performance scores. Methods: We applied a systematic approach to assess the impact of the new policy on hospital performance. The main impact measure was a national casemix index, calculated across 2011-2016 using medical discharge and surgical procedure codes. A single-group interrupted time series analysis model with Newey ordinary least squares regression was estimated, including adjustment for seasonality, and stratified by case type. Code-level analysis was used to attribute and explain changes in casemix index due to specific diagnoses and procedures. Results: Our final model included 1,353,025 cases across 146 hospitals with a post-intervention lag-time of two months and seasonality adjustment. Among medical cases the intervention resulted in a positive casemix index trend of 0.11% per month (coefficient 0.002, CI 0.001-0.003), and a level increase of 2.25% (coefficient 0.022, CI 0.005-0.039). Trend changes were attributed to decreased cases of diarrhea and gastroenteritis, abdominal and pelvic pain, essential hypertension and fever of unknown origin. A shift from medium to short-stay cases for specific diagnoses was also detected. Level changes were attributed to improved coding practices, particularly for breast cancer, leukemia and chemotherapy. No impact on surgical casemix index was found. Conclusions: The 2014 policy resulted in increased healthcare effectiveness, by increasing the casemix index of hospitals contracted by the Ministry. This increase was mainly attributed to decreased unnecessary hospitalizations and was accompanied by improved medical discharge coding practices. Integration of pay-for-performance within a healthcare system may contribute to improving effectiveness. Effective hospital regulation can be achieved through systematic collection and analysis of routine data.
Evaluating the predictive power of circulating tumor cells for the prognosis of transarterial chemoembolization treatment on patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma

Abstract Explore the predictive power of Circulating Tumor Cells (CTCs) for evaluating the prognosis of transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) treatment on advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients, and use it to construct a prediction model. We retrospectively analyzed 43 patients with Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer stage C HCC who underwent TACE treatment. The survival time of 43 advanced HCC patients were 2 to 60 months, with the median survival time of 12 months, 1-, 3-, and 5-year survival rates were 42.9%, 9.0%, and 3.6%, respectively. The OS of patients with high level of CTCs before TACE (CTC1 > 2) was significantly lower than that of patients with low level of CTCs (8 vs 12 months, P = .040), but there was no significant difference in PFS between the 2 groups (P = .926). Meanwhile, there was no significant difference in OS and PFS between patients with high level CTCs and those with low level CTCs at 1 week and 4 weeks after TACE (P all > .05). In univariate and multivariate Cox regression analysis, the number of lesions and CTC before TACE were the independent influencing factors for prognosis in these patients, and the HR was 3.01 and 1.20, respectively (all P < .05). The area under curve of COX regression model to predict OS increased with the increase of follow-up time, ranging from 0.56 to 0.85. The CTCs number before TACE is an effective biomarker for predicting the OS of advanced HCC patients. The joint prediction model based on CTCs and tumor number can effectively predict the prognosis of patients with advanced HCC.
Ocoxin as a complement to first line treatments in cancer

Chemotherapy and radiotherapy are the most frequent treatment for patients suffering from malignant progression of cancer. Even though new treatments are now being implemented, administration of these chemotherapeutic agents remains as the first line option in many tumor types. However, the secondary effects of these compounds represent one of the main reasons cancer patients lose life quality during disease progression. Recent data suggests that Ocoxin, a plant extract and natural compound based nutritional complement rich in antioxidants and anti-inflammatory mediators exerts a positive effect in patients receiving chemotherapy and radiotherapy. This mixture attenuates the chemotherapy and radiotherapy-related side effects such as radiation-induced skin burns and mucositis, chemotherapy-related diarrhea, hepatic toxicity and blood-infection. Moreover, it has been proven to be effective as anticancer agent in different tumor models both in vitro and in vivo, potentiating the cytotoxic effect of several chemotherapy compounds such as Lapatinib, Gemcitabine, Paclitaxel, Sorafenib and Irinotecan. The aim of this review is to put some light on the potential of this nutritional mixture as an anticancer agent and complement for the standard chemotherapy routine.
The effect of the human cumulus cells-conditioned medium on in vitro maturation of mouse oocyte: An experimental study

Abstract Background To increase the results of infertility treatment, many efforts have been made to improve the treatment methods. As assisted reproductive technology is mainly using cell culture methods, one of the approaches to improve this technology is conditioned medium from different sources. It is desirable to apply in vitro maturation (IVM) and use oocytes from normal cycles instead of stimulating ovulation. Objective To investigate the effect of human cumulus cell condition medium (hCCCM) on the IVM of immature mouse oocytes and morphology. Materials and Methods In this experimental study, 240 germinal vesile oocytes were collected from four-six wk-old mice after 48 hr of 5IU pregnant mare serum gonadotropin (PMSG) injection and cultured in hCCCM (test group, n = 120) and DMEM + 20% FBS (control group, n = 120). The IVM rates and changes in perivitelline space (PVS) and shape were investigated at 8, 16, and 24 hr following the culture. The mature (MII) oocytes were subjected to in vitro fertilization (IVF) and the fertilization rate was assessed in three days. Results A significant difference was observed between the maturation rates in the hCCCM and control groups (24.16% vs 0%; p = 0.001), as well as morphologic changes between the two groups (p = 0.04, p = 0.05). The development rate for MII oocytes attained from IVM in the hCCCM group was 27.58% (2-cell) and 6.89% (4-cell). Data displayed that hCCCM is an effective medium for oocytes maturation compared to the control medium. Conclusion hCCCM supports oocyte in vitro growth and maturation. Moreover, hCCCM changes the oocyte shape and size of perivitelline space.