Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Nicotine and caffeine intake in complex regional pain syndrome.

UNLABELLED {\it OBJECTIVE } Nicotine and caffeine are vasoconstrictors. Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) is defined to involve disproportionate pain and autonomic dysfunction [1]. The objectives of this study were to identify the prevalence of smoking and caffeine intake in CRPS, to explore the relationship of pain intensity with smoking and caffeine consumption, and to explore the relationship of pain intensity, anxiety and disability among CRPS patients who smoke, use caffeine, or both. {\it DESIGN } One hundred eleven patients, with CRPS type I or II, from two academic rehabilitation pain clinics were reviewed. Data were collected retrospectively by reviewing CRPS patients' self-reported pain level using visual analogue scales (VAS), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Pain Disability Index (PDI), and Pain Anxiety Symptoms Scale (PASS). Status of daily smoking and caffeine consumption were also recorded. {\it RESULTS } Smoking prevalence among CRPS was significant higher than the national average (p < 0.001). There were no significant relationships between the perceived pain level and either daily smoking, daily caffeine intake, or both (p > 0.430). In patients with CRPS I higher PASS scores were positively associated with dichotomous use of smoking and caffeine (p < 0.05). The PASS scores among patients with CRPS~II were not available for analysis. {\it CONCLUSIONS } The smoking prevalence was higher than the national average among patients with CRPS I and II. Among patients with CRPS~I smoking and caffeine consumption were greater in those who reported more pain-related anxiety, but did not influence pain intensity. The clinical implications of these findings will be discussed.
Stem cells in three-dimensional bioprinting: Future perspectives

Three-dimensional (3D) bioprinting is a new technology used to create biological constructs, widening the scope of regenerative and therapeutic medicine. Stem cells are self-renewing, remain undifferentiated unless stimulated and have the capability to differentiate into all specialized cell types. These characteristics make stem cells ideal for use in the production of 3D printed constructs. A biological construct is composed of cells in a scaffold that is compatible, biomimics and can integrate in vivo. Biological structures generated using 3D bioprinting have the potential to alleviate the need for donor tissue and organs for transplantation. Additionally, these constructs also provide a better way to model disease and test pharmaceuticals.
Molecular Epidemiological Study of NosocomialEnterobacter aerogenes Isolates in a Belgian Hospital

ABSTRACT In 1995, the rate of isolation of Enterobacter aerogenes in the Saint-Pierre University Hospital in Brussels, Belgium, was higher than that in the preceding years. A total of 45 nosocomial E. aerogenes strains were collected from 33 patients of different units during that year, and they were isolated from 19 respiratory specimens, 13 pus specimens, 7 blood specimens, 4 urinary specimens, 1 catheter specimen, and 1 heparin vial. The strains were analyzed to determine their epidemiological relatedness and were characterized by their antibiotic resistance pattern determination, plasmid profiling, and genomic fingerprinting by macrorestriction analysis with pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE). The majority of the strains (82%) were multiply resistant to different commonly used antibiotics. Two major plasmid profiles were found: most strains (64%) harbored two plasmids of different sizes, whereas the others (20%) contained a single plasmid. PFGE with SpeI and/orXbaI restriction enzymes revealed that a single clone (80%) was responsible for causing infections or colonizations throughout the year, and this result was concordant with those obtained by plasmid profiling, with slight variations. By comparing the results of these three methods, PFGE and plasmid profiling were found to be the techniques best suited for investigating the epidemiological relatedness of E. aerogenes strains, and they are therefore proposed as useful tools for the investigation of nosocomial outbreaks caused by this organism.
Community Health Workers-Promotores de Salud in Mexico: History and Potential for Building Effective Community Actions

This article takes a historical perspective combining 3 illustrative examples of the origins of the community health worker (CHW) model in Mexico, as a community-based participatory strategy. Three examples were identified from the sparse literature about CHWs in Mexico emphasizing their key roles and functions in various community settings. The CHW models illustrate what is known of training-development and planning, implementation, and evaluation of the CHWs model in different settings addressing cardiovascular disease and risk factors. The potential exists for integrating CHW projects to expand the health promotion model with new emphasis on municipality and regional participation.
Human atrial natriuretic peptide receptor defines a new paradigm for second messenger signal transduction.

We isolated cDNAs encoding a 115 kd human atrial natriuretic peptide (alpha ANP) receptor (ANP‐A receptor) that possesses guanylate cyclase activity, by low‐stringency hybridization with sea urchin Arbacia punctulata membrane guanylate cyclase probes. The human ANP‐A receptor has a 32 residue signal sequence followed by a 441 residue extracellular domain homologous to the 60 kd ANP‐C receptor. A 21 residue transmembrane domain precedes a 568 residue cytoplasmic domain with homology to the protein kinase family and to a subunit of the soluble guanylate cyclase. COS‐7 cells transfected with an ANP‐A receptor expression vector displayed specific [125I]alpha ANP binding, and exhibited alpha ANP stimulated cGMP production. These data demonstrate a new paradigm of cellular signal transduction where extracellular ligand binding allosterically regulates cyclic nucleotide second‐messenger production by a receptor cytoplasmic catalytic domain.
Genetic and Environmental Effects on Sexual Excitation and Sexual Inhibition in Men

The Sexual Inhibition and Sexual Excitation Scales (SIS/SES) measure the propensity for sexual inhibition and excitation in men. According to the theoretical model underlying the SIS/SES, sexual response and associated behavior depend on dual control mechanisms in the brain involving the balance of excitatory and inhibitory systems which impinge on sexual response. Previous research with the SIS/SES has indicated one higher-order excitatory factor and two higher-order inhibitory factors affecting sexual response. The present study analyzed the item structure and the psychometric properties of the instrument in a population based sample of Finnish male twins (N = 1,289), and, including 37 out of 45 items of the original scales, estimated the heritability of and the environmental influences on the excitatory and inhibitory mechanisms. The twin correlations and the structural equation modeling suggested modest heritability for both inhibitory mechanisms. Sexual excitation, in contrast, was not influenced by genetic effects and similarities between twins for this mechanism seemed to be caused by the common environment of the twins.
Predicting climate compatibility of biological control agents in their region of introduction.

Despite the presence of their host plants, many biological control agents of weeds fail to establish, apparently because of climatic incompatibility in the country of introduction. We examined the thermal physiology, in particular the lower development threshold ( t), rate of development K, and CTMin and lower LT50, of four biological control agents. These parameters were used in degree–day, CLIMEX TM, and minimum temperature models to compare the predicted distribution of the insects with their actual establishment. None of the models precisely accounted for all establishments or failures. However, incorporation of CTMin and LT50 thermal limits, in conjunction with the “Match Climates” module in CLIMEX may improve pre-release selection of agents or populations of agents, and thereby improve the probability of successful establishment.
Quality of care in rheumatic diseases: performance measures and improvement

Purpose of reviewTo acquaint rheumatologists with pay-for-performance and the American College of Rheumatology quality initiative, and to suggest how practice process redesigns and effective measurement of performance and disease outcomes will help rheumatologists document and improve the quality of rheumatic disease care. Recent findingsThe options for treating rheumatic diseases have improved, but many patients are not achieving optimal outcomes. Pay for performance programs being introduced by Medicare and other insurers will link provider revenues to quality indicators, requiring rheumatologists to measure, document, and improve their patients' outcomes. Expected rheumatology manpower losses will also require greater practice efficiency and increased reliance on inter-disciplinary care teams. Some publications advocate improving healthcare by expanding research to improve knowledge transfer from clinical studies to clinical practice; others suggest continuous process improvement methods to improve delivery of care processes. Practical disease activity measurements and rheumatology practice improvements are being reported that suggest a positive future. SummaryRheumatologists need to recognize the need to improve delivery of care and patient outcomes, measure and document clinical performance, and learn the methods for managing clinical process improvement.
Four-Sequence Maximum Entropy Discrimination Algorithm for Glioma Grading

Grading of glioma is crucial for treatment decision making as well as prognostic assessments. In clinical routines, radiologists grade gliomas with multiple complementary magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) sequences, which is yet challenging for glioma prediction models. In this paper, we take full advantages of four commonly used MRI sequences to propose non-invasive grading of glioma based on a variant of maximum entropy discrimination (MED) and decision tree. First, radiomics features calculation is, respectively, performed on T1-weighted imaging, T2-weighted imaging, fluid attenuation inversion recovery imaging, and contrast-enhanced T1-weighted imaging. Then, radiomics features are integrated to build a glioma prediction model named four-sequence MED (FSMED) according to the assumption that the classification margin of different sequences is consistent. Finally, we propose a multi-MED decision tree (MMEDT) model to obtain the grading of gliomas based on the output of FSMED and the results of MED on each sequence. Validation experiments are conducted on a data set collected from Henan Provincial People’s Hospital (GliomaHPPH2018) and Multimodal Brain Tumor Image Segmentation Benchmark 2017 (BraTS2017). The results of these two data sets demonstrate the high-prediction performance of our method. The average areas under the curve (AUC) of MMEDT are 0.9119, 0.8184, and 0.9084 for GliomaHPPH2018, BraTS2017, and their merged set, respectively, with the corresponding average sensitivities of 92.55%, 87.85%, and 87.91%, and average specificities of 92.57%, 81.36%, and 87.39%.
Both T and B cells shed infectious mouse mammary tumor virus

Mouse mammary tumor virus (MMTV) infected both B and T tissue culture cells and primary B and T cells in vivo after milk-borne transmission of the virus. The infected tissue culture cells processed viral proteins, and both these and primary B and T cells shed virus when cultured in vitro. Moreover, the infected B and T tissue culture cells transmitted virus to uninfected mammary gland cells in vitro. The level of infection of these different cell types in vivo was dependent on the strain of mouse, with C3H/HeN mice showing greater B-cell infection and BALB/c mice greater T-cell infection after nursing on MMTV-infected C3H/HeN mothers. Although their B cells were less infected, BALB/c mice developed tumors more rapidly than C3H/HeN mice. These results indicate that both infected T and B cells are potential carriers of MMTV in vivo.
Factor Analysis of the Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression Scale

The Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression Scale is one of the most popular instruments for survey work with the general population. A 1993 study by Thorson and Powell reported a 5-factor solution. The present study was undertaken to replicate these findings; however, factor analysis with varimax rotation based on the responses of 187 students yielded 4 factors of depressed affect, somatic disturbance, positive affect, and interpersonal difficulties. Although these data do not replicate the 5-factor work of Thorson and Powell, they do largely confirm the previous research.
Down‐regulation of amygdala preprotachykinin A mRNA but not 3H‐SP receptor binding sites in subjects affected by mood disorders and schizophrenia

Increasing evidence suggests that substance P (SP) neurokinin‐1 (NK1) receptors are involved in stress and emotional responses, representing a potential target for the treatment of anxiety and depression in humans. Given the important role of the amygdaloid complex in the regulation of emotional behavior, we examined the mRNA levels of preprotachykinin A [PPT‐A, a precursor of both SP and neurokinin A (NKA)] and 3H‐SP binding sites in the amygdala of patients affected by bipolar disorder, major depression or schizophrenia as compared with matched control individuals. By means of in situ hybridization, a significant reduction of PPT‐A mRNA expression levels was detected in the three diagnostic groups, mainly in the basal, lateral and accessory basal amygdaloid nuclei, but not in the temporal cortical area proximal to the amygdala. Receptor autoradiography performed on adjacent sections showed no change in 3H‐SP binding sites as compared with controls. No significant correlation was found between levels of PPT‐A mRNA expression or binding sites and subject age, gender, hemisphere side, cause of death or history of substance misuse (marijuana, alcohol, cocaine/amphetamine). An inverse relationship between PPT‐A mRNA expression levels and lifetime antipsychotic treatment (Fluphenazine) in the schizophrenic and bipolar disorder groups was found. Post‐mortem delay was also negatively correlated with NK1 binding sites. The results confirm an involvement of the tachykinins in psychiatric disorders, suggesting there is a generalized impairment of the SP system in the amygdala in mood disorders and schizophrenia rather than this being a disease‐related phenomenon.
Modeling Bias Stress Effect on Threshold Voltage for Amorphous Silicon Thin-Film Transistors

In this paper, we study amorphous silicon thin-lmtransistor (TFT) degradation under bias stress effect. To model threshold voltage shift with bias stress effect, fabricated samples are measured for I-V data with bias stress in variations of temperature. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) model is thus adopted to extract model parameters, such as the flat band voltage (VFB), the characteristic voltage for deep states (VO), the conduction band mobility (MUBAND), the channel length modulation parameter (LAMBDA), the power law mobility parameter (GAMMA) and the saturation modulation parameter (ALPHASAT) from the measurement. The model card with those extracted parameters is validated via a TFT circuit simulation. The results of the circuit simulation indicate the relationship of effects depending on the stress and operational temperature.
DNA-dependent protein kinase: a potent inhibitor of transcription by RNA polymerase I.

DNA-dependent protein kinase (DNA-PK) comprises a catalytic subunit of approximately 350 kD (p350) and a DNA-binding component termed Ku. Although DNA-PK can phosphorylate many transcription factors, no function for this enzyme in transcription has been reported thus far. Here, we show that DNA-PK strongly represses transcription by RNA polymerase I (Pol I). Transcriptional repression by DNA-PK requires ATP hydrolysis, and DNA-PK must be colocalized on the same DNA molecule as the Pol I transcription machinery. Consistent with DNA-PK requiring DNA ends for activity, transcriptional inhibition only occurs effectively on linearized templates. Mechanistic studies including single-round transcriptions, abortive initiation assays, and factor-independent transcription on a tailed template demonstrate that DNA-PK inhibits initiation (i.e., the formation of the first phosphodiester bonds) but does not affect transcription elongation. Repression of transcription involves phosphorylation of the transcription initiation complex, and rescue experiments reveal that the inactivated factor remains bound to the promoter and thus prevents initiation complex formation. We discuss the possible relevance of these findings in regard to the control of rRNA synthesis in vivo.
Computing All Approximate Enhanced Covers with the Hamming Distance

A border p of a string x is an enhanced cover of x if the number of positions of x that lie within some occurrence of p is the maximum among all borders of x . In this paper, more general notion based on the enhanced cover is introduced: a k -approximate enhanced cover, where ﬁxed maximum number of errors k in the Hamming distance is considered. The k -approximate enhanced cover of x is its border and its k -approximate occurrences are also considered in the covered number of positions of x . An O ( n 2 )- time and a O ( n )-space algorithm that computes all k -approximate enhanced covers of a string of length n is presented.
Protocol design for ultra-low power wake-up systems for tracking bats in the wild

We present a novel concept for a wake-up system based ultra-low power communication protocol for sensor networks. The main application field is monitoring contacts and even tracks of bats in the wild. Our sensor nodes can weigh at most 2 g out of which 1 g remains for the battery. We investigate a novel communication protocol design applicable to these systems and also showing great potentials for other ultra-low power sensor networks. In particular, we investigate the bat to ground communication by combining duty cycling with a multi-stage wake-up receiver. We employ Binary Offset Carrier (BOC) modulated signals that allow to accurately localize and track the bats while transmitting data in parallel. In a first step, we evaluated the conceptual design using a software-defined radio system to demonstrate the feasibility of the protocol design.
Development of the brief inventory of perceived stress.

OBJECTIVES To provide a measure of perceived stress that is psychometrically superior to existing instruments and novel in dimensionality. DESIGN At 4-week intervals over 48 weeks, patients with multiple sclerosis (N = 138) completed 26 items from the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) and the Perceived Stress Questionnaire (PSQ). RESULTS Extant factor analytic models of the PSS fit poorly. A new measure using nine PSS and PSQ items, the Brief Inventory of Perceived Stress (BIPS), demonstrated good fit, construct validity, and stability with 3 factors: Lack of Control, Pushed, and Conflict and Imposition. CONCLUSIONS Items commonly used to measure perceived stress may have a more sophisticated underlying structure than previously thought. The BIPS's multidimensionality and longitudinal stability offer potential benefits in conceptualization and outcome prediction.
Preparation and characterization of PLGA-β-CD polymeric nanoparticles containing methotrexate and evaluation of their effects on T47D cell line

Abstract Among all cancers that affect women, breast cancer has most mortality rate. It is essential to attain more safe and efficient anticancer drugs. Recent advances in medical nanotechnology and biotechnology have caused in novel improvements in breast and other cancer drug delivery. Methotrexate is an anticancer drug that prevents the dihydrofolate reductase enzyme, which inhibits in the formation of DNA, RNA and proteins which have poor water-solubility. For enhancing the solubility and stability of drugs in delivery systems, we used methotrexate-loaded PLGA- beta-cyclodextrin nanoparticles. The PLGA- beta-cyclodextrin nanoparticles were synthesized by a double emulsion method and characterized with FT-IR and SEM. T47D breast cancer cell lines were treated with equal concentrations of methotrexate-loaded PLGA- beta-cyclodextrin nanoparticles and free methotrexate. MTT assay confirmed that methotrexate-loaded PLGA- beta-cyclodextrin nanoparticles enhanced cytotoxicity and drug delivery in T47D breast cancer cells. These results indicate that encapsulated drugs could be effective in controlled drug release for a sustained period would serve the purpose for long-term treatment of many diseases such as breast cancer.
A new image segmentation method based on HSI color space for biped soccer robot

Many researchers now are engaging themselves in the research on vision system for humanoid soccer robot. By making a deep analysis on the HSI color space, a better algorithm is presented which is judging the main feature of current pixel dynamically according to an intensity (I value) related formula in this paper. Fuzzy K-means clustering method is adopted in the image segmentation after all the similar pixels are found. This research is a good foundation for the future work of more complex vision based motion planning of humanoid soccer robot.
Cyclopexy versus vitrectomy combined with intraocular tamponade for treatment of cyclodialysis.

AIM To compare the effects and complications of direct cyclopexy (DC) versus vitrectomy, endophotocoagulation, and gas/silicone oil endotamponade (VEE) treatment in patients with cyclodialysis and persistent hypotony. METHODS This is a prospective, comparative, nonrandomized clinical trial which includes 52 patients with cyclodialysis and persisting hypotony. Fifty-two patients suffering from cyclodialysis and persistent hypotony in one eye were divided into 2 groups (groups DC and VEE) and treated, respectively, with direct cyclopexy or vitrectomy, endophotocoagulation, and gas/silicone oil endotamponade. The patients were followed up for 12 months. Assessments included best corrected visual acuity (BCVA), intraocular pressure (IOP), anterior chamber depth (ACD), anterior chamber volume (ACV) and subjective rating of the pain caused by the treatments. RESULTS After a follow-up of 12 months, significant improvement was seen in postoperative mean BCVA, IOP, ACD and ACV in both treatment groups (which were not significantly different from each other). The success rates for the treatments were not significantly different (DC: 50.0% vs VEE: 62.5%, P=0.383). Postoperative morbidity of cataract and subjective pain rating were significantly higher in the VEE group vs the DC group (P= 0.003 and P<0.001 respectively). CONCLUSION DC and VEE were effective surgical procedures in treating patients with cyclodialysis and persistent hypotony. Patients had better tolerance to DC treatment and VEE was more likely lead to cataract complications. Taking into consideration the ease of the operation, success rate, and patient comfort, DC treatment seems preferable to VEE treatment in patients with simple cyclodialysis. While VEE has the advantage of treating patients with cyclodialysis combined with vitreous hemorrhage.