Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Possible Role of Statins on the Inflammatory Biomarkers in Patients With Periodontal Disease: A Cross-Sectional Study

Introduction: The aim of the present study was to demonstrate the possible role of statins on the inflammatory biomarkers in patients with periodontal disease (PD). Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study involved 74 patients with PD and/or dyslipidemia divided into Group A: 34 patients with PD (nonstatins users); Group B: 40 patients with PD (statins users); and Group C: 30 healthy controls. Total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG) and high-density lipoprotein, C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), and malondialdehyde (MDA) were measured . Blood pressure prolife and indices of PD were evaluated in each group. Statistical analysis was conducted by using SPSS version 20.0. Results: Inflammatory and lipid peroxidation biomarkers were higher in patients with PD compared with controls; IL-6, CRP, TNF-α, and MDA sera level were high in PD compared with controls (P = 0.001). Statins therapy led to significant reduction of TC, TG, very low and low-density lipoproteins, blood pressure profile, and cardiac risk indices with elevation in high-density lipoprotein compared with nonstatins users (P < 0.01). Statins therapy led to significant reduction in IL-6, CRP, TNF-α, and MDA sera levels compared with nonstatins users (P < 0.05). Conclusions: Statins therapy reduced PD-induced inflammatory changes in patients with chronic PD through reduction of inflammatory cytokines.
Distribution of Molar Incisor Hypomineralization in Ecuadorian Children

Introduction: In Latin America, the molar–incisor hypomineralization (MIH) prevalence is between 7% and 40%, making this pathology an oral health problem in this region. MIH affects the development of tooth enamel exclusively of first molars and permanent incisors. The objective of this investigation was to establish the distribution of MIH in Ecuadorian children between 7 and 12 years of age who attend two schools in the city of Guayaquil, Ecuador. Materials and Methods: Two hundred forty-nine children from 7 to 12 years of age were clinically evaluated and diagnosed using the criteria of the European Academy of Pediatric Dentistry 2003. Data were analyzed statistically by descriptive analysis and Chi-square test. Results: There were 23 children affected with MIH (9.24%), with greater representation in girls (6.8%), statistically significant difference between genders. There is a greater frequency of MIH in permanent first molars (74.4%) than permanent incisors (P = 0.002). In relation to dental arches, small differences were observed between them. In the group of affected molars, atypical restorations were observed only in the lower arch. About the characteristics of the MIH, the demarcated opacities were the most frequent (P = 0.001). The white–yellow color of the demarcated opacities was the most frequent (52.3%). Conclusions: The MIH has a considerable presence in the Ecuadorian children evaluated and, therefore, it could have repercussions on the oral health of this population. The need for further studies in the country is evident.
Origin and kinetics of pulmonary macrophages during an inflammatory reaction induced by intravenous administration of heat-killed bacillus Calmette-Guerin

This report gives a quantitative description of the kinetics of the pulmonary macrophages and their direct precursors during the acute inflammatory reaction in the lungs induced by intravenous injection of heat-killed bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) into specific-pathogen-free mice. After BCG injection, the total number of pulmonary macrophages isolated by lavage and subsequent enzyme digestion of lung tissue increased to 225% of normal within 12 h and, after a minor decrease, rose to a maximum of 250% of normal at 96 h, followed by a decrease to 150% at 144 h, the end of the observation period. The number of circulating monocytes doubled in the first 48 h and stayed close to that level. In vivo and in vitro labeling with [3H]-thymidine showed that an influx of monocytes transforming into pulmonary macrophages was mainly responsible for the population increase. A temporary increase in the number of locally dividing pulmonary macrophages--manifested by an increased in vitro labeling index, reaching a maximum of 9.6% 72 h after BCG injection--made a minor contribution to the population increase. All pulmonary macrophages were classified according to morphological criteria as alveolar-macrophage-like (AML) or non- alveolar-macrophage-like (NAML), and their respective characteristics were established. The in vivo labeling data showed NAML to represent exudate macrophages derived from circulating monocytes entering the interstitial tissue, and these cells changed morphologically into AML upon entering the alveolar hypophase. This mechanism was confirmed by the finding that the interstitially deposited BCG were found first inside NAML and later in AML. The in vivo labeling data showed that local production was mainly a result of division of macrophages that were morphologically identical with normal alveolar macrophages. The former cells, however, derived most probably recently from the circulation, because the turnover of the total population was very high before local macrophage production became maximal. In mice treated with HC before the injection of BCG, this population increase was absent, because of virtual abolition of the initial monocyte influx and absence of the increased local production of macrophages. Calculations showed that the monocyte influx in the first 48 h amounted to approximately 4 x 10(6) cells, i.e., eight times that found in the normal steady state, and that the efflux of pulmonary macrophages in that period amounted to approximately 3.5 x 10(6) cells, i.e., seven times the normal efflux. The local production over the total period of 144 h was only three times that found normally. The results of these quantitative studies show that the increase of the pulmonary macrophage population during an acute inflammation is brought about mainly by monocyte influx and to a minor extent by a temporary increased local production of macrophages. Disposal of interstitially deposited BCG occurred by phagocytosis by local macrophages and the subsequent efflux of the latter.
Nurse-family partnership programme second year pilot sites implementation in England the infancy period

This is the second year report of a four-year evaluation study that is assessing the feasibility of delivering the Family Nurse Partnership (FNP) Programme in England. The report focuses on the infancy phase of the programme addressing how it can be delivered with consistency, fidelity to the US programme model attained, its acceptability to clients, their engagement and retention as well as FNP in the wider children’s service context and its costs. The evaluation involved case studies, structured face-to-face and telephone interviews with a sample of families receiving the programme (and some who had left the programme). Interviews were held with professionals delivering the programme, local commissioners of services for young children, Children’s Centre managers and FNP project leads.
Team Assisted Individualisation (TAI): Impact on Achievement and Retention in Mathematics

Cooperative Learning, as a teaching-learning technique provides opportunities for diverse students to develop skills in group interactions and in working with others that is required in the modern competitive world. The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of the Cooperative Learning Approach-Team Assisted Individualisation (TAI) on the achievement and retention in Mathematics among ninth graders. Cooperative Learning was compared with conventional teaching learning classroom structure using an experimental design. 98 students of ninth class were randomly selected out of which 52 students formed Experimental Group (E) and 46 students formed Control Group (C). Achievement Test in Mathematics and Instructional Material were developed by the investigators themselves. Whole teaching - learning process was carried out for ten weeks only. At the end of the experiment, achievement test in Mathematics was given to the subjects. After a gap of twenty days, achievement test was again administered on the same subjects to assess the retention of learned material. Data were analyzed by using t-test. The findings revealed that the Experimental Group outscored significantly the Control Group on post-test showing the obvious supremacy of Co-operative Learning Technique (TAI) over Conventional Method of teaching. On retention test, significant difference was found between mean retention scores of the two groups (E and C).
The impact of five lifestyle factors on nurses' and midwives' health: the Australian and New Zealand nurses' and midwives' e-cohort study

The aim of this paper is to report nurses' and midwives' health, vitality and well-being in relation to adherence to current health behaviour recommendations. Healthy lifestyle factors constitute a core set of parameters required if an individual wants to live a healthy life, age successfully and avoid morbidity and a premature mortality. The investigation is an observation study of Australian and New Zealand nurses and midwives. Data were generated from the e-Cohort survey and the healthy lifestyle (HL; N = 338) group categorised as those adhering to physical activity and dietary guidelines, not smoking, consuming moderate alcohol and getting between 7 and 9 hours of sleep in a 24-hour period. All others were categorised as non-healthy lifestyle (NHL; N = 338) irrelevant of the number of factors present. It was found that HL group reported less work place activity but more leisure-time activity and had a lower BMI than NHL. In addition, the HL group was most likely to report improved sleep quality and least likely to report workplace and emotional barriers in day-to-day life. In contrast, those in the NHL group were less likely to report their health as excellent and were more likely to report a history of anxiety, depression and limitations in daily activities. It was concluded that collectively, the professions need to take action and members need to change lifestyle choices around physical activity, diet, smoking, alcohol and sleep. This study has important implications for workforce planners and administrators concerned about the well-being of individual members of the professions and the nursing and midwifery workforce.
Parochialism or Pragmatic Resistance? The Role of Community-engaged Leadership, Activist Scholarship, and Vulnerable Rural Ecologies within School Reform

This study examines how rural school and community leaders in one of the most rural areas of the United States are able to collaboratively design a grassroots school reform initiative to address inequity issues related to childhood poverty and trauma. Through interviews conducted with advisory board members implementing the reform effort, as well as our own reflections as activist scholars, our work suggests a) the value of rural leaders protecting their vulnerable ecologies against reform initiatives 'from away' b) difficulty creating spaces to support the protection of vulnerable ecologies and address rural inequities; and c) the need for activist scholars to partner with communities for transformation. As such, we challenge the notion of rural resistance to reform efforts being parochial and reposition this work as pragmatic in response to decades of economic and spatial marginalization. Additionally, we highlight the importance of activist scholarship in rural school-community leadership to ensure development of resilient ecologies that do not perpetuate patterns of repeated exclusion.
Metabolism of phospholipids in the yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe

The fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe is an important model organism for the study of fundamental questions in eukaryotic cell and molecular biology. A plethora of cellular processes are membrane associated and/or dependent on the proper functioning of cellular membranes. Phospholipids are not only the basic building blocks of cellular membranes; they also serve as precursors to numerous signaling molecules. In this review, we describe the biosynthetic pathways leading to major S. pombe phospholipids, how these pathways are regulated, and what is known about degradation and turnover of fission yeast phospholipids. This review also addresses the synthesis, regulation and the role of water‐soluble phospholipid precursors. The last chapter of the review is devoted to the use of S. pombe for the biotechnological production of value‐added lipid molecules.
Thromboxane A2 Synthase and Thromboxane Receptor Deletion Reduces Ischaemia/Reperfusion-Evoked Inflammation, Apoptosis, Autophagy and Pyroptosis

Abstract Aim Enhancement of thromboxane A2 (TXA2) synthase (TXAS) activity, TXA2 release, and thromboxane prostanoid (TP) receptor activation leads to vasoconstriction and oxidative injury. We explored whether genetic deletion of TXAS/TXA2/TP signalling may reduce renal ischaemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury in mice. Materials and Methods Renal haemodynamics and function were evaluated in TXAS+/+TP+/+ (wild-type, WT), TXAS−/− (TXS−/−), TP−/− and TXAS−/−TP−/− (double knockout, dKO) mice in response to intravenous TXA2 mimetic-U46619 and 45-minute renal ischaemia and 4-hour reperfusion injury. We examined renal TXAS and TP expression, blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and creatinine, reactive oxygen species (ROS) amount, pro-inflammatory cytokines and pathophysiologic mechanisms, including apoptosis, autophagy and pyroptosis under I/R injury. Results Renal I/R enhanced the levels of TXAS, TP, nuclear factor-κB, nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate oxidase gp91, Bax/Bcl-2/caspase-3/apoptosis, Beclin-1/LC3-II/autophagy, caspase-1/gasdermin D/interleukin-1β/pyroptosis, renal thromboxane B2 (TXB2) concentration, ROS amount, plasma BUN, creatinine and TXB2 and decreased renal endothelial nitric oxide synthase expression in WT mice. All these enhanced parameters were significantly decreased in three KO mice. Intravenous U46619 significantly decreased renal microcirculation and enhanced gp91 and Bax/Bcl-2 in WT and TXS−/− but not TP−/− in dKO mice. I/R significantly decreased renal microcirculation in all mice; however, the time for recovery to baseline renal blood flow level was significantly shortened in TXS−/−, TP−/−and dKO mice versus WT mice. Blockade of TXAS/TP signalling attenuated I/R-enhanced pro-inflammatory cytokine profile. Conclusion Blockade of TXAS/TXA2/TP signalling confers renal protection against I/R injury through the actions of anti-oxidation, anti-inflammation, anti-apoptosis, anti-autophagy and anti-pyroptosis.
Psychological distress due to academic stress among clinical students in a Nigerian tertiary institution: Comparison between medical and physiotherapy students

Introduction: Studies of psychological distress among university students identified academic stress as highest in medical students followed by allied-health students and least in those not in any of these two disciplines. The immediate antecedents include poor academic performance, substance abuse, and subsequent drop out. Future impacts as burnouts and poor services delivery can be exorbitant. This study therefore aimed to document the prevalence of psychological distress among two groups of clinical students of College of Medicine, Bayero University Kano. And also report influence of demographics, resilience and social support on the observed prevalence. Methodology: The participants were 122 clinical students from two departments of clinical sciences that is, medicine and physiotherapy. All gave consent before administration of the study instruments consisting of sociodemograhic questionnaire, Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale (HADS), Resilience Scale (RS) and Oslo Social Support Scale (OSS-3). Results: Overall, 63.1% of participants were males while 57.4% were females. The mean age of medical versus physiotherapy students are respectively 22.47 years and 22.17 years. Psychological distress as measured by HADS is higher in medical students (depression [57.4%] and anxiety [61.6%]) compared to physiotherapy students (depression [42.6%] and anxiety [38.4%]). Physiotherapy students had higher resilience and lower social support compared to medical students. The participants' mean scores on HADS, RS, and OSS-3 is only statistically significant for the RS. Conclusion: It was noted that psychological distress due to academic stress is more among Medical students compared to physiotherapy students. Interventions strengthening social support and improving resilience should be included as part of students' training.
Mass balance models

Mass balance models are deterministic models, derived from understanding of the underlying physical processes that govern transfers and transformations of pollutants in the environment. They are the main method used in indoor air modelling to provide a relatively simple means of predicting indoor pollutant concentrations both spatially (e.g. in different buildings or rooms) and over time. Often they are applied on the assumption that the rooms or buildings under study represent well-mixed air volumes, in which steady state conditions prevail. As such, they are especially useful tools for estimating changes in average pollution levels as a result of variations in indoor emission sources or ambient concentrations.
A review of Information Science literature: meta-data analysis JASIST, 1988 – 2007

ASTRACT The study of metadata in Journal of American Society for Information Science and Technology (JASIST 1 ), one of top Library & Information Science journal, could be useful to reflect the research development in IS-field by extracting trends of collaboration and understanding of IS-related disciplines’ role. With that purpose in mind, this article studies metadata of articles published in JASIST: we evaluate the trends of authorship, and identified the most prolific authors and keywords. Based on more detailed analysis, we classified, and subsequently compared the top authors’ and top keywords’ disciplines between 1988 – 1997 and 1998 – 2007. Our results indicate that there is increasing trend of collaboration among researchers, both within organizations and with other organizations, and the corollary of such trend is IS-field has become more multi-disciplinary. Two major ramifications can be drawn from our findings. One, the research community can apprehend the value of collaboration, and improve the quantity and quality of IS literature. Two, the community can identify, and consequently be inspired by the most productive authors. This should have impact on universities, research institutions, researchers, and students.
Stethoscopes: A Possible Mode for Transmission of Nosocomial Pathogens

Background: The stethoscope, which is universally used as a medical device by health care workers, is likely to be con­ taminated by microorganisms, if it is not cleaned/disinfected and may transmit pathogens from one patient to another. Objectives: This study was conducted to check the level of stethoscope contamination, to survey the practices of cleaning and disinfecting the stethoscope and to suggest remedial measures for it. Material and Methods: A total of 58 stethoscopes were sampled and questionnaires were distributed among the participants. Bacteriological cultures of the samples were done on blood and MacConkey agar plates. Results: Out of a total of 58 diaphragms, 52 (89.65%) were colonized by bacteria. Only 38 (65.51%) bells were found to be contaminated. Out of a total of 116 earpieces (58 left and 58 right), 84 (72.41%) were contaminated. Conclusion: Our study confirmed that, majority of the stetho­ scopes used by health care workers are contaminated with pathogenic as well as non­pathogenic bacterial agents and they may transmit nosocomial pathogens.
Use of Occupational Health Services in a Cyprus Oncology Center

Use of occupational health services in the hospital environment is an important parameter for annual health care planning. The objective of this study was to evaluate the clinic utilization at a Cyprus oncology center. All visits to the occupational health clinic during an 18-month period were reviewed and analyzed. During the study period, the center had, on average, 161 employees and offered 67 occupational health clinic sessions. Employees had 338 clinic visits, of which 294 were primary and 44 were follow-up visits, with 5 employees, on average, visiting the clinic at each session. Nurses most frequently visited the center (33.4%), followed by the administrative staff (28.6%) and the employees of the Medical Physics and Radiology Department (22.4%), corresponding to the largest groups of employees. The most frequently cited reason for the visits was administrative purposes (23.6%), including updating health records, followed by pre-placement examinations (14.7%) and vaccinations (10.3%). Administrative and clinical reasons were given for occupational health clinic use at the oncology center across all categories of employees.
Study effect of relaxation technique on anxiety and stress in elders with hypertension

چکیده: زمینه و هدف: استرس و اضطراب در زندگی پیچیده امروزی، به خصوص در سالمندان که قدرت تطابق و سازگاری آنان کاهش می یابد می‌تواند باعث عوارض وخیم و جبران ناپذیری در ابعاد سلامت آنان شود. این مطالعه با هدف کاهش میزان اضطراب و استرس افراد به منظور کاهش و یا جلوگیری از عوارض و اثرات منفی ناشی از این عوامل با بکار گیری تکنیک آرامسازی پیشرونده عضلانی در سالمندان مبتلا به هیپرتانسیون انجام شد. روش بررسی: در این مطالعه نیمه تجربی که در مرکز سالمندان کهریزک تهران در سال 1383 انجام گرفت 55 نفر سالمند مبتلا به فشارخون بالا به روش در دسترس انتخاب و به طور تصادفی به دو گروه آزمون و شاهد تقسیم شدند. در گروه آزمون تکنیک آرامسازی پیشرونده عضلانی به مدت 6 هفته و هفته ای سه بار به مدت 20 دقیقه اجرا گردید. میزان اضطراب و استرس هر دو گروه قبل از مداخله، هفته سوم و در پایان مداخله با استفاده از پرسشنامه DAS (Depression Anexiety Stress) ارزیابی گردید. از آزمون های من ویتنی، ویلکاکسون و آنالیز واریانس تکرار شونده جهت تجزیه و تحلیل اطلاعات استفاده شد. یافته ها: با بکارگیری آرامسازی پیشرونده عضلانی، میانگین نمره اضطراب و استرس در گروه آزمون از 02/4±8/38 قبل از مداخله به 7/3±3/34، در هفته سوم به 17/5±33 در پایان مداخله رسید (01/0p