Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Validation of a disease-specific health-related quality of life measure in adult Portuguese patients with systemic lupus erythematosus: LupusQoL-PT.

INTRODUCTION LupusQoL is a questionnaire specifically designed to assess health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in SLE patients. We report on the translation and cross-cultural adaptation of LupusQoL into European Portuguese. METHODS Translation and cultural adaptation were performed according to standard protocol described by the original developers. LupusQoL-PT was administered to patients during a routine visit from an outpatient clinic at a university hospital in Portugal. Content structure was validated using factorial analysis. Cronbach's alpha coefficient was computed for internal consistency. Sociodemographic were questioned during the visit and clinical data were collected during the visit and from the clinical files. Pearson's correlation, T-test, Mann-Whitney and one-way ANOVA were applied to test internal and external validation. RESULTS Seventy-nine SLE patients (78 woman: 1 man) were evaluated. Most had Low disease activity (mean SLEDAI-2k = 3.49; standard deviation 4.80), 19% had moderate to severe activity and 38% had damage accrual (mean SDI = 0.75; standard deviation 1.05). Cronbach's alpha coefficient was at least 0.812, confirming good internal consistency. Correlation coefficient and test-retest correlation between the eight domains of LupusQoL-PT were strong in almost every domain (p < 0.01). External convergent analysis showed strong correlation between LupusQoL-PT and Medical Outcome Study Short Form 36-item version 2 and visual analogic scale. Current disease activity was negative correlated with "Body Image" domain. There was no correlation between other LupusQoL-PT domains and SLEDAI-2k on divergent validity. Patients with previous neuropsychiatric and DMARDs treatment had lower HRQoL in emotional domains, while patients with renal damage accrual had HRQoL impact in both physical and emotional domains. Portuguese SLE patients had lower HRQoL than French and Italian validation cohorts' patients, and higher than Spanish cohorts. CONCLUSION LupusQoL-PT has shown adequate metric properties and should be considered an appropriate tool to evaluate HRQoL in Portuguese SLE patients.
Predictors of Septic Shock or Bacteremia in Children Experiencing Febrile Neutropenia Post-Chemotherapy

Abstract Background Febrile neutropenia (FN) is an early indicator of infection in oncology patients post-chemotherapy. We aimed to determine clinical predictors of septic shock and/or bacteremia in pediatric cancer patients experiencing FN and to create a model that classifies patients as low-risk for these outcomes. Methods This is a retrospective analysis with clinical data of a cohort of pediatric oncology patients admitted during July 2015 to September 2017 with FN. One FN episode per patient was randomly selected. Statistical analyses include distribution analysis, hypothesis testing, and multivariate logistic regression to determine clinical feature association with outcomes. Results A total of 865 episodes of FN occurred in 429 subjects. In the 404 sampled episodes that were analyzed, 20.8% experienced outcomes of septic shock and/or bacteremia. Gram-negative bacteria count for 70% of bacteremias. Features with statistically significant influence in predicting these outcomes were hematological malignancy (P < .001), cancer relapse (P = .011), platelet count (P = .004), and age (P = .023). The multivariate logistic regression model achieves AUROC = 0.66 (95% CI 0.56–0.76). The optimal classification threshold achieves sensitivity = 0.96, specificity = 0.33, PPV = 0.40, and NPV = 0.95. Conclusions This model, based on simple clinical variables, can be used to identify patients at low-risk of septic shock and/or bacteremia. The model’s NPV of 95% satisfies the priority to avoid discharging patients at high-risk for adverse infection outcomes. The model will require further validation on a prospective population.
C3aR plays both sides in regulating resistance to bacterial infections

Activation of the complement pathway results in the production of bioactive C3a, a product of C3 cleavage, which interacts with membrane-bound receptor C3aR to regulate innate immune cell function and outcome of bacterial infection. Specifically, previous research has identified mechanistically distinct and cell type–specific roles for C3aR in regulating innate immune cell inflammatory state, antimicrobial killing capacity, and metabolism. Historically, the production of C3a has been relegated to the serum; however, recent studies have provided evidence that various cell types can produce intracellular C3a that stimulates intracellular C3aR. In light of these new results, it is imperative that we revisit previous studies regarding the role of C3aR in controlling bacterial infections and analyze these results in the context of both extracellular and intracellular C3a production and C3aR activation. Thus, this review will cover specific roles of C3aR in driving cell type–specific and tissue specific responses during bacterial infections and emphasize the contribution of the C3a–C3aR axis in regulating host resistance to bacterial infection.
Zinc finger protein 384 (ZNF384) impact on childhood mixed phenotype acute leukemia and B-cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia

Abstract B-cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia (BCP-ALL) is a heterogeneous malignancy and consists of several genetic abnormalities. Some of these abnormalities are used in clinics for risk calculation and treatment decisions. Patients with ZNF384 rearrangements had a distinct expression profile regardless of their diagnosis, BCP-ALL or mixed phenotype acute leukemia (MPAL) and defined as a new subtype of ALL. In this study, we screened 42 MPAL and 91 BCP-ALL patients for the most common ZNF384 fusions; ZNF384::TCF3, ZNF384::EP300 and ZNF384::TAF15 by using PCR. We identified ZNF384 fusions in 9.5% of MPAL and 7.6% of BCP-ALL. A novel breakpoint was identified in ZNF384::TCF3 fusion in one BCP-ALL patient. T-myeloid MPAL patients showed significantly lower ZNF384 expression compared to lymphoid groups. Patients with ZNF384r had intermediate survival rates based on other subtypes. Prognostic and patient-specific treatment evaluation of ZNF384 fusions in both ALL and MPAL might help to improve risk characterization of patients.
Epidemiological and immunological gains from solar water disinfection: Fact or wishful thinking?

There is still no consensus on the impact of using solar disinfection (SODIS) to reduce the prevalence of waterborne gastrointestinal diseases. The reported reduction in diarrhoea prevalence among SODIS users has been attributed to the consumption of water free of viable pathogens. However, it has also been suggested that ingestion of SODIS‐inactivated pathogens may induce protective immunological changes that may also contribute to a reduction in the frequency of diarrhoea. The present study aimed to critically review the epidemiological and immunological gains of using SODIS.
Prevalence, Clinical Characteristics, and Risk Among Patients with Ischemic Heart Disease in the Young Jordanian Population

Purpose: This study aims to evaluate the prevalence of ischemic heart disease (IHD) among the young population in Jordan. We examined the risk factors that might be involved in disease incidence. Clinical characteristics, patients’ living standards, and various other risk factors were considered to conduct the study. Methods: A retrospective study was conducted at King Abdullah University Hospital. Data were collected from patients who visited this hospital between January 2013 and December 2017. Only young Jordanian adults of age <50 years were included in this study. The data of 358 patients were purposively collected and analyzed (as per the determined inclusion criteria), where information related to their baseline characteristics, clinical characteristics, and related biochemical assays was reviewed. Results: This study showed a high prevalence of IHD among young males in Jordan. It also revealed that increased age, smoking, hypertension, unfavorable lipid profile, and obesity were the major possible risk factors for the occurrence of disease. These patients were initially diagnosed with either unstable angina or acute myocardial infarction. Initial WBCs count, particularly monocytes differential, was high in about one-third of patients, besides cardiac biomarkers. Conclusion: The high incidence of IHD was noticed among young individuals. We suggest that more efforts should be instigated for reducing the high prevalence of IHD by adopting a healthy lifestyle, preventive attitude, and nutritious food intake.
Prediction of Daily Stream ow Using Various Kernel Function Based Regression: A Case Study in India

Manish Kumar G B Pant University of Agriculture and Technology: Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture & Technology Ahmed Elbeltagi (  ahmedelbeltagy81@mans.edu.eg ) Mansoura University Faculty of Agriculture Ankur Srivastava Newcastle University Anuradha Kumari G B Pant University of Agriculture and Technology: Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture & Technology Rawshan Ali -Chaitanya Pande AICRP Tarate Suryakant Bajirao ////// Abu Reza Md. Tow qul Islam National Institute of Disaster Management Daniel Prakash Kushwaha G B Pant University of Agriculture and Technology: Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture & Technology
A Study of One Operator

eScholarship provides open access, scholarly publishing services to the University of California and delivers a dynamic research platform to scholars worldwide. Abstract: The use of carsharing vehicles over a period of 16 months in 2006-07 was compared to built environment and demographic factors in this GIS-based multivariate regression study of an urban U.S. carsharing operator. Carsharing is a relatively new transportation industry in which companies provide members with short-term vehicle access from distributed neighborhood locations. The number of registered carsharing members in North America has doubled every year or two to a current level of approximately 320,000. Researchers have long supposed that public transit access is a key factor driving demand for carsharing. The results of this study, however, find an ambiguous relationship between the activity at carsharing locations and public transit access. Light rail availability is found to have a significant and positive relationship to carsharing demand. Regional rai! l availability is found to be weakly and negatively associated with carsharing demand, although limitations in the available data make it impossible to ascribe the observed difference to user demand, random variation, or other factors specific to the industry. ABSTRACT The use of carsharing vehicles over a period of 16 months in 2006-07 was compared to built environment and demographic factors in this GIS-based multivariate regression study of an urban U.S. carsharing operator. Carsharing is a relatively new transportation industry in which companies provide members with short-term vehicle access from distributed neighborhood locations. The number of registered carsharing members in North America has doubled every year or two to a current level of approximately 320,000. Researchers have long supposed that public transit access is a key factor driving demand for carsharing. The results of this study, however, find an ambiguous relationship between the activity at carsharing locations and public transit access. Light rail availability is found to have a significant and positive relationship to carsharing demand. Regional rail availability is found to be weakly and negatively associated with carsharing demand, although limitations in the available data make it impossible to ascribe the observed difference to user demand, random variation, or other factors specific to the industry.
PII: S0197-4580(01)00217-2

Normal volunteers, aged 30 to 99 years, were studied with MRI. Age was related to estimated volumes of: gray matter, white matter, and CSF of the cerebrum and cerebellum; gray matter, white matter, white matter abnormality, and CSF within each cerebral lobe; and gray matter of eight subcortical structures. The results were: 1) Age-related losses in the hippocampus were significantly accelerated relative to gray matter losses elsewhere in the brain. 2) Among the cerebral lobes, the frontal lobes were disproportionately affected by cortical volume loss and increased white matter abnormality. 3) Loss of cerebral and cerebellar white matter occurred later than, but was ultimately greater than, loss of gray matter. It is estimated that between the ages of 30 and 90 volume loss averages 14% in the cerebral cortex, 35% in the hippocampus, and 26% in the cerebral white matter. Separate analyses were conducted in which genetic risk associated with the Apolipoprotein Ee4 allele was either overrepresented or underrepresented among elderly participants. Accelerated loss of hippocampal volume was observed with both analyses and thus does not appear to be due to the presence of at-risk subjects. MR signal alterations in the tissues of older individuals pose challenges to the validity of current methods of tissue segmentation, and should be considered in the interpretation of the results. © 2001 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.
Asymptotics for Risk Measures of Extreme Risks

This thesis focuses on measuring extreme risks in insurance business. We mainly use extreme value theory to develop asymptotics for risk measures. We also study the characterization of upper comonotonicity for multiple extreme risks. Firstly, we conduct asymptotics for the Haezendonck–Goovaerts (HG) risk measure of extreme risks at high confidence levels, which serves as an alternative way to statistical simulations. We split the study of this problem into two steps. In the first step, we concentrate on the HG risk measure with a power Young function, which yields certain explicitness. Then we derive asymptotics for a risk variable with a distribution function that belongs to one of the three max-domains of attraction separately. We extend our asymptotic study to the HG risk measure with a general Young function in the second step. We study this problem using different approaches and overcome a lot of technical difficulties. The risk variable is assumed to follow a distribution function that belongs to the max-domain of attraction of the generalized extreme value distribution and we show a unified proof for all three max-domains of attraction. Secondly, we study the firstand second-order asymptotics for the tail distortion risk measure of extreme risks. Similarly as in the first part, we develop the first-order asymptotics for the tail distortion risk measure of a risk variable that follows a distribution function belonging to the max-domain of attraction of the generalized extreme value distribution. In order to improve the accuracy of the first-order
Evaluation of Efficacy and Safety of Pregabalin as an Add on Therapy to Carbamazepine in Patients of Trigeminal Neuralgia

Introduction: Pain and fear of pain continue to be the commonest and strongest motivation for the people to seek facial pain treatment. Pain is a personal experience of the sufferer that cannot be shared and wholly belongs to the sufferer. Trigeminal neuralgia (TN) is a notable facial pain disorder resulting in periodic severe pain that produces one of the most severe kinds of pain known to mankind. Treatment of this debilitating condition may be varied, ranging from medical to surgical interventions. However antiepileptic drugs are commonly used for its treatment. This study was done with an aim to evaluate the efficacy and safety of pregabalin as an add on therapy to carbamazepine in patients of trigeminal neuralgia. Materials and Methods: This was a prospective, open label, randomized, comparative clinical study conducted on 50 patients. The patients were randomly divided in two groups of 25 patients to receive following two treatments. Group I (n=25) received tablet carbamazepine as a monotherapy initially 200 mg daily per orally in divided doses and gradually built up as per clinical response with maximum titrated dose upto 1000mg/day. Group II (n=25) received capsule pregabalin 75 mg OD and tablet carbamazepine 200 mg daily per orally in divided doses and dose gradually built up as per clinical response with maximum titrated dose upto 300mg/day for pregabalin for a period of 12 weeks. Efficacy assessment was done by Visual analogue scale (VAS), Verbal rating scale (VRS) and safety was assessed by monitoring of adverse drug reactions. The patients were assessed at the end of 4 th , 8 th and 12 th weeks. Results: There was statistically significant reduction in mean pain score at 4 th , 8 th and 12 week, in both the groups when compared to the baseline i.e both carbamazepine and pregabalin as an add on therapy to carbamazepine were effective in reducing the pain. However on intergroup comparison, pregabalin as an add on drug to carbamazepine(Group II) produced better response with earlier onset of pain relief with statistically significant reduction in mean pain score at 8 th and 12 th weeks when compared to carbamazepine alone (Group I). There were no serious adverse effects in either of treatment group. Common adverse effects in group I were drowsiness, nausea and vomiting while in group II, drowsiness and dry mouth were commonly noticed Conclusion: The present study suggested that pregabalin as an add on therapy to carbamazepine was found to cause significant reduction in pain scoring at 8 th & 12 weeks and could be a promising drug in patients of trigeminal neuralgia when therapeutic options are limited.
Selective estrogen receptor- (cid:1) and estrogen receptor- (cid:2) agonists rapidly decrease pulmonary artery vasoconstriction by a nitric oxide-dependent mechanism

Selective estrogen receptor- (cid:1) and estrogen receptor- (cid:2) agonists rapidly decrease pulmonary artery vasoconstriction by a nitric oxide-dependent mechanism. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol 295: R1486–R1493, 2008. published October 1, 2008; doi:10.1152/ajpregu.90667. 2008. —Both endogenous and exogenous estrogen decrease pulmonary artery (PA) vasoconstriction. Whether these effects are mediated via estrogen receptor (ER)- (cid:1) or ER- (cid:2) , and whether the contribution of ERs is stimulus-dependent, remains unknown. We hypothesized that administration of the selective ER- (cid:1) agonist propylpyrazole triol (PPT) and/or the selective ER- (cid:2) agonist diarylpropiolnitrile (DPN) rapidly decreases PA vasoconstriction induced by pharmacologic and hypoxic stimuli via a nitric oxide (NO)-dependent mechanism. PA rings ( n (cid:3) 3–10/group) from adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were suspended in physiologic organ baths. Force displacement was measured. Vasoconstrictor responses to phenylephrine (10 (cid:4) 8 M (cid:4)
Influence of Resonant Absorption on the Generation of the Kelvin-Helmholtz Instability

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THE PHYSIOLOGICAL ROLE OF LEPTIN IN ENERGY HOMEOSTASIS

The discovery of the adipose-derived hormone leptin has generated enormous interest in the interaction between peripheral signals and brain targets involved in the regulation of feeding and energy balance. Plasma leptin levelscorrelate with fat stores and respond to changes in energy balance. It was initially proposed that leptin serves a primary role as an anti-obesity hormone, but this role is commonly thwarted by leptin resistance. Leptin also serves as a mediator of the adaptation to fasting, and this role may be the primary function for which the molecule evolved. There is increasing evidence that leptin has systemic effects apart from those related to energy homeostasis, including regulation of neuroendocrine and immune function and a role in development.
LES of Turbulent Flow for Wall Mounted Cantilever Cylinders of Aspect Ratio 6 and 10

The flow structure around wall mounted circular cylinders of finite heights is numerically investigated via large eddy simulation (LES). The cylinder aspect ratios (AR) are 6 and 10 and the Reynolds number (Re) based on cylinder diameter and free stream velocity is 20,000 for both cases. The cantilever cylinder mounted on a flat plate is chosen since it gives insight into two entirely different flow phenomena; the tip effects of the free end (which show strong three-dimensional wake structures) and the base or junction effects (due to interaction of flow between the cylinder and the flat plate). Regular vortex shedding is found in the wake of the higher aspect ratio case as was anticipated, along with a strong downwash originating from the flow over the free end of the cylinder, whereas irregular and intermittent vortex shedding occurs in the lower aspect ratio case. Pressure distributions are computed along the length of the cylinder and compared to experimental results. Lift and drag values are also computed, along with Strouhal numbers.
Prevalence of Multiple Antimicrobial Resistant in Salmonella Isolated from Retail Pork at Phatthalung Province

Total of 41 retail pork samples from Phatthalung Province were investigated for the prevalence and antimicrobial resistance profile of Salmonella. The results demonstrated Salmonella were isolated from 34 of 41 samples (83%), and a total 117 Salmonella were isolated from 34 contaminated samples. Most of them were identified as group E 46 isolates (39%), followed by group C 32 isolates (28%), group B 17 isolates (14%), group G 17 isolates (14%) and group I 5 isolates (3.5%). Antimicrobial susceptibility testing to 10 antimicrobials of all 117 isolates were carried out according to CLSI recommendations. These results indicated that 99 (85%) isolates were resistant to all 10 antimicrobials. Most of isolates were resistant to streptomycin (61.5%) and tetracycline (61.5%). In addition, sixty-two isolates (53%) were multiple antimicrobial resistant (MDR) strain which resistant to two antimicrobials or more in different combinations.