Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Inhaled simvastatin nanoparticles for inflammatory lung disease.

AIM Current inhaled treatments are not adequate to treat all lung diseases. In this study, a promising nanotechnology has been developed to deliver a potential anti-inflammatory and muco-inhibitory compound, simvastatin, for treatment of inflammatory lung diseases via inhalation. MATERIALS & METHODS Simvastatin nanoparticles (SV-NPs) encapsulated with poly(lactic-co-glycolic) acid were fabricated using the solvent and anti-solvent precipitation method. RESULTS SV-NPs were found to be stable up to 9 months at 4°C in a freeze-dried form prior to reconstitution. The amount of mucus produced was significantly reduced after SV-NPs treatment on inflammation epithelial cell models and were effective in suppressing the proinflammatory marker expression. CONCLUSION This study suggests that SV-NPs nebulization could potentially be used for the treatment of chronic pulmonary diseases.
New “Core Quality Measures”: Only a Beginning

A plethora of quality measures are used in health care for quality improvement, accountability (including reimbursement), and research. The Core Quality Measures Collaborative, with input from the American Academy of Family Physicians, recently released several groups of reduced core measure sets, including one for primary care. The proposed measures are less helpful for the increasing proportion patients with multiple morbidities or advancing illness. Going forward, the development of quality measures that assess multidimensional patient experiences and how closely the health care patients receive matches their goals in the face of multiple morbidities and advancing illness should be the focus.
Smoking Cessation Intervention : A Prospective Trial in the Urology Setting

From the Division of Urology, Department of Surgery, Cook County Hospital, Cook County Health and Hospitals System (MAB, MRC, LL, SDH, CMPH), Department of Urology, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University (DYK), Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health and Population Health, Behavior and Outcomes Program, Cancer Center and Institute for Health Research and Policy, University of Illinois at Chicago (VLF) Chicago, Illinois
Critical care of the burn patient: The first 48 hours

Objective: The goal of this concise review is to provide an overview of some of the most important resuscitation and monitoring issues and approaches that are unique to burn patients compared with the general intensive care unit population. Study Selection: Consensus conference findings, clinical trials, and expert medical opinion regarding care of the critically burned patient were gathered and reviewed. Studies focusing on burn shock, resuscitation goals, monitoring tools, and current recommendations for initial burn care were examined. Conclusions: The critically burned patient differs from other critically ill patients in many ways, the most important being the necessity of a team approach to patient care. The burn patient is best cared for in a dedicated burn center where resuscitation and monitoring concentrate on the pathophysiology of burns, inhalation injury, and edema formation. Early operative intervention and wound closure, metabolic interventions, early enteral nutrition, and intensive glucose control have led to continued improvements in outcome. Prevention of complications such as hypothermia and compartment syndromes is part of burn critical care. The myriad areas where standards and guidelines are currently determined only by expert opinion will become driven by level 1 data only by continued research into the critical care of the burn patient.
Molecular dynamics simulations of a highly charged peptide from an SH3 domain: Possible sequence–function relationship

A seven‐residue peptide that is highly conserved in SH3 domains despite being far from the active site has been shown by NMR to be stable in solution. This peptide, biologically important because it is a likely folding nucleus for SH3 domains, provides a challenging subject for molecular dynamics because it is highly charged. We present stable, 10‐ns simulations of both the native‐like diverging turn structure and a helical model. Free energies of these two conformations, estimated through MM‐PBSA analysis using several force fields, suggest a comparable free energy (ΔΔG ≤6 kcal/mol) for native and helix conformations. NOE intensities calculated from the native trajectory reproduce experimental data quite well, suggesting that the conformations sampled by the trajectory reasonably represent those observed in the NMR experiment. The molecular dynamics results, as well as sequence analysis of a diverse 690‐member family of SH3 domain proteins, suggest that the presence of two elements is essential for formation of the diverging turn structure: a pair of residues with low helical propensity in the turn region and, as previously recognized, two hydrophobic residues to close the end of the diverging turn. Thus, these two sequence features may form the structural basis for the function of this peptide as a folding nucleus in this family of proteins. Proteins 2001;45:4–15. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Scavenger receptor cysteine‐rich domains 9 and 11 of WC1 are receptors for the WC1 counter receptor

Workshop cluster 1 (WC1) is a member of the scavenger receptor cysteine‐rich (SRCR) superfamily that includes CD5, CD6, CD163, and M160. Bovine WC1 consists of 11 SRCR domains, a unique domain 1, and two homologous 5 SRCR domain cassettes, WC1 domains 2–6 and 7–11. The porcine orthologue of WC1 contains five SRCR domains with a different domain arrangement. Although the function of WC1 is unknown, WC1 is proposed to be an accessory or homing molecule. Thus, identification of cells that express the counter receptor for WC1 (WC1‐CR) is critical to understanding the function of WC1. For this reason, we constructed WC1‐human immunoglobulin G1 fusion proteins to identify the binding domain of WC1 and cells that express the WC1‐CR. Immunohistochemical analysis revealed WC1 domains 9 and 11 bind cells with macrophage and dendritic cell morphology and cells in ellipsoids in the spleen. These results and the finding of conserved signaling motifs in the cytoplasmic tail suggest WC1 may be an accessory molecule.
The influence of coping response and health-related quality of life on perceived social support during cancer treatment

Abstract Objective: In the biopsychosocial approach, perceived social support has served as a protective factor for psychological adjustment to cancer. This study aimed to determine the influence of different coping responses and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) domains on perceived social support during cancer treatment. Method: A cross-sectional analysis was carried out in a sample of 757 cancer outpatients. The Medical Outcomes Study Social Support Survey (MOS–SSS) was employed to assess perceived social support. The Mental Adjustment to Cancer (MAC) Scale measured coping response, and HRQoL was tested with the Medical Outcomes Study Short Form–36 (SF–36). Multivariate analyses were carried out to examine the extent to which coping and HRQoL were associated with perceived social support. Results: Coping response explained only 2% of the variance in perceived social support, but Hopelessness had a significant influence on perceived social support (p ≤ 0.01). HRQoL, physical, and mental domains made a significant contribution toward perceived social support, accounting for around 10% of total variance. More than coping response, HRQoL's physical and mental domains had an important influence on perceived social support during cancer treatment. Significance of Results: The findings of the current study report the importance of HRQoL domains in predicting perceived social support during cancer treatment, emphasizing the holistic and multidisciplinary approach to facilitate adjustment to cancer.
Characterization of receptors for endothelins in the perfused arterial and venous mesenteric vasculatures of the rat

1 Endothelin−1 and −3 induced marked arterial and venous constrictions in the perfused mesenteric vasculature of the rat with endothelin‐3 being at least 20 times less active than endothelin‐1, on both arterial and venous sides of the vasculature. 2 Two ETB selective agonists, BQ‐3020 and IRL 1620 (500 pmol), induced weak constrictions of the venous mesenteric vasculature and were inactive in the arterial side at doses up to 1000 pmol. 3 In mesenteric vasculatures precontracted with either methoxamine (arterial side) or the thromboxane A2‐mimetic, U46619 (venous side), acetylcholine or bradykinin produced vasodilatations of both arterial and venous vessels, whereas endothelin‐3 induced vasodilatations only on the arterial side. 4 A selective ETA receptor antagonist, BQ‐123, blocked, in a concentration‐dependent and reversible fashion, the vasoconstrictions induced by endothelin‐1 on both sides of the mesenteric circulation (IC50; arterial side: 0.013 μm; venous side: 0.032 μm). 5 In contrast, the vasodilator responses induced by endothelin‐3 on the arterial side of the precontracted mesenteric vasculature were not affected by BQ‐123. 6 The present study illustrates the presence of ETA receptors which are responsible for vasoconstriction by endothelins in the arterial and venous mesenteric vasculatures. Furthermore, we suggest that the vasodilatations induced by endothelin‐3 in the arterial vasculature uniquely, are ETB receptor‐mediated.
Advancement of hybrid vehicle technology

Toyota has introduced the HV (hybrid vehicle) "PRIUS" into the market in 1997, and in March 2005, they launched the "RX400h" hybrid SUV, which is highly compatible new-generation hybrid system with low fuel consumption and impressive power output by developing THS II (Toyota hybrid system II) that improves high voltage electrical system and control system. This paper introduces the new system incorporated in the THS II and the expectation for the future automobile power electronics technologies. The paper also presents the outstanding characteristics of the PCU (power control unit) of THS II
Detecting repackaged android apps using server-side analysis

A repackaged app is an original app that has been modified by an attacker to have some additional purpose. The attackers can get the app’s source code using reverse engineering, and then insert malicious code before repackaging it. In this thesis, we focus on software based server-side verification to detect repackaged Android apps. Based on the background of reverse engineering techniques and current preventing techniques, we propose a two-phase model by improving existing detection schemes and adding an analysis phase. This analysis enable the server-only analysis of an app’s behavior. In the detection phase, we improve an attestation scheme by using hidden channel and dynamic code injection techniques in order to detect known attacks, especially dummy folder attacks. In the analysis phase, we design and implement an experiment to find an feasible method to distinguish repackaged applications and original applications. It is based on calculating distance between HTTP traffics sets.
Increased Low Density Lipoprotein Production Associated with Obesity

Turnover rates of the apolipoprotein of low density lipoproteins (apoLDL) and cholesterol balance were determined in six obese men and six control men. The two groups were of similar age and matched for apoLDL concentrations. Levels of plasma total cholesterol in obese patients (209 ± 14 SEumg/dl) were similar to controls (225 ± 17 mg/dl). LDL-cholesterol was numerically but not statistically lower in obese subjects (111 ± 18 mg/dl) compared to controls (145 ± 13 mg/dl). Synthetic rates of apoLDL in contrast were higher in obese patients (1450 mg/day) than in controls (934 mg/day) (p < 0.002). Three factors could explain the similar concentrations of LDL-cholesterol in obese and control subjects, despite overproduction of apoLDL in the obese. First, LDL was diluted into a larger plasma pool in obese patients; second, fractional catabolic rates of apoLDL were somewhat greater in obese men than in controls; and third, obese patients had higher ratios of protein-to-cholesterol in LDL. The production of apoLDL for all patients was not correlated with total body synthesis of cholesterol. The major finding of this study was that obese patients have increased turnover of apoLDL, not necessarily reflected by high concentrations of LDL-cholesterol. This high turnover rate itself may raise the risk for coronary heart disease in obese patients.
Packed rules for automatic transfer-rule induction

We present a method of encoding transfer rules in a highly efficient packed structure using contextualized constraints (Maxwell and Kaplan, 1991), an existing method of encoding adopted from LFG parsing (Kaplan and Bresnan, 1982; Bresnan, 2001; Dalrymple, 2001). The packed representation allows us to encode O(2 n ) transfer rules in a single packed representation only requiring O(n) storage space. Besides reducing space requirements, the representation also has a high impact on the amount of time taken to load large numbers of transfer rules to memory with very little trade-off in time needed to unpack the rules. We include an experimental evaluation which shows a considerable reduction in space and time requirements for a large set of automatically induced transfer rules by storing the rules in the packed representation.
Who Helps the Helpers? Social Support for Rape Crisis Advocates

Secondary exposure to trauma may have negative effects on rape victim advocates’ well-being. Self-care can help to mitigate these negative effects on advocates’ well-being, and prior research suggests that social support is an especially important aspect of advocates’ self-care. However, there is a lack of research on how rape crisis advocates access and receive social support in relationship to their advocacy work. Therefore, semistructured qualitative interviews were conducted with 15 rape crisis advocates who volunteered for a rape crisis center in Chicago to understand how they accessed social support from informal and formal support providers, and when they did receive support, what was helpful versus unhelpful. Data were analyzed using thematic content analysis. Results revealed that many advocates were able to seek out and receive positive instrumental and emotional social support that nurtured them and their work. However, advocates also experienced a variety of barriers to obtaining positive support from informal support providers, including fear of burdening providers and a reluctance or lack of preparedness of their support providers to speak about the issue. Advocates emphasized the need for rape crisis centers to provide resources for their informal social support systems in order to encourage helpful responses. In addition, advocates praised the rape crisis center for its built-in formal support structures, but also encouraged the organization to seek broader representation of persons from minority backgrounds among their advocates and mentors. Implications and future directions for research and rape crisis centers are also discussed. The present study highlights the importance of social support systems for advocates and potential barriers that may be addressed to reduce service provider burnout and vicarious trauma.
Maternal plasma prolidase, matrix metalloproteinases 1 and 13, and oxidative stress levels in pregnancies complicated by preterm premature rupture of the membranes and chorioamnionitis.

OBJECTIVE This study aimed to investigate the role of various biochemical markers in preterm premature rupture of membranes (PPROM) and in prediction of chorioamnionitis in patients with PPROM. MATERIAL AND METHODS This case-control study included a total of 100 pregnant women at 26-34 gestational weeks. Of these women, 50 were healthy and 50 had PPROM. The biochemical markers in the maternal plasma including prolidase, matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) 1 and 13, total oxidative status (TOS), total antioxidant capacity (TAC), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), catalase (CAT), paraoxonase-1 (PON-1), tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), and high sensitive C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) were assayed. These levels were compared between the PPROM and control groups and between women with or without chorioamnionitis in the PPROM group. RESULTS Compared to the control group, the levels of prolidase, MMP-13, and TOS were significantly higher (p values <0.001, 0.020, and 0.035, respectively) and those of TAC and PON-1 were significantly lower in the maternal plasma of the PPROM group (p values=0.012 and <0.001, respectively). The plasma prolidase and TOS levels were significantly higher (p values=0.033 and 0.005, respectively) and the plasma TAC and PON-1 levels were significantly lower in women with chorioamnionitis as compared with the corresponding values in women without chorioamnionitis in the PPROM group (p values =0.041 and 0.048, respectively). The multivariate logistic regression analysis observed that prolidase, TAC, and PON-1 were important markers for the presence of PPROM and prolidase and TOS were important markers for predicting chorioamnionitis. CONCLUSION This study suggested that maternal plasma prolidase, TAC, and PON-1 may be useful for the diagnosis of PPROM, and prolidase and TOS may be used to predict chorioamnionitis in patients with PPROM.
Forearm plethysmography in the assessment of vascular tone and resistance vasculature design: new methodological insights

Aim: High peripheral resistance and structural alteration in resistance arteries are central phenomena in essential hypertension and have been widely examined by forearm venous occlusion plethysmography; at rest for studying vascular tone, and during reactive hyperaemia for studying vascular structure. This work concerns the influence of venous pressure on hyperaemic vascular resistance (Rmin), the reproducibility of hyperaemic and resting vascular resistances (Rrest) and the relation between forearm and total peripheral vascular resistance (TPR).
3′-Daidzein sulfonate sodium improves mitochondrial functions after cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury

3′-Daidzein sulfonate sodium is a new synthetic water-soluble compound derived from daidzein (an active ingredient of the kudzu vine root). It has been shown to have a protective effect on cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury in rats. We plan to study the mechanism of its protective effect. 3′-Daidzein sulfonate sodium was injected in rats after cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury. Results showed that 3′-daidzein sulfonate sodium significantly reduced mitochondrial swelling, significantly elevated the mitochondrial membrane potential, increased mitochondrial superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxidase activities, and decreased mitochondrial malondialdehyde levels. 3′-Daidzein sulfonate sodium improved the structural integrity of the blood-brain barrier and reduced blood-brain barrier permeability. These findings confirmed that 3′-daidzein sulfonate sodium has a protective effect on mitochondrial functions after cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury, improves brain energy metabolism, and provides protection against blood-brain barrier damage.
The localization of brain tumors by ultrasonic techniques. A clinical review of 111 cases.

T ~E pathology and symptomology of brain tumors are now well understood. Diagnosis is sometimes assisted by air studies, a r te r iographyand electroencephalography. Ultrasonic examinat ion is a simple diagnostic technique, and has part icular value in the advanced stages of brain tumor when ar ter iography or air studies are inadvisable. The application of u l t rasound for the purpose of diagnosis in the neurosurgical field has been repor ted since 1950.1-7,9-a2 Dussik, 6 and Huer t e r and Bol t la have tried to obtain a picture of the ventricles by a transmission method of u l t rasound called hyperphonography. However , the picture of the ventricles was not as clear as a pneumoencephalogram. Recent ly the reflection method of ul trasound (echo) has been chiefly employed. Since 195~, we have been utilizing the reflection method of u l t rasound in the diagnosis of brain tumors . This pape r summarizes our results. the t ransmi t ted pulse can be measured. By analysis of these ultrasonic echoes, correct diagnosis can be made. To establish the accuracy of the refle.ction of the ultrasonic wave and the difference in acoustic impedance between brain t umor tissue and normal brain tissue, we conducted the following experiments with fresh tissue. The appara tus used to measure veloci ty of sound in fresh tissue is shown in Fig. 1. * To make measurements the device was first clamped on the sample, than immersed in degassed water. Using a microscope on the films, the distance of the reflecting surface from the s tar t ing point of the t r ansmi t t ed pulse in each of the mater ia ls was compared. The density of the sample was measured b y a solution of copper sulphate. The results of these experiments are shown in Tab le 1. I t will be seen tha t the acoustic impedance of brain t umor tissue is greater t han t h a t of normal brain tissue. Thus it is theoret ical ly possible tha t the border between brain tissue and tumor tissue will cause a reflection.
Evaluating and optimising accelerometer-based gesture recognition techniques for mobile devices

The objective of this study was to evaluate the various gesture recognition algorithms currently in use, after which the most suitable algorithm was optimized in order to implement it on a mobile device. Gesture recognition techniques studied include hidden Markov models, artificial neural networks and dynamic time warping. A dataset for evaluating the gesture recognition algorithms was gathered using a mobile device's embedded accelerometer. The algorithms were evaluated based on computational efficiency, recognition accuracy and storage efficiency. The optimized algorithm was implemented on the mobile device to test the empirical validity of the study.
What a great idea! Someone should evaluate that...

How often, as clinicians, do we see a really clever idea implemented in the workplace? In rural health in particular, creative work-around solutions are relatively commonplace. However, the evaluation and promotion of these ideas is less so, and this leads to lost opportunities for perpetuating these clever ideas. This paper explores one rural clinician's experience of what can happen if, instead of appreciating and complementing a great idea, that step of evaluating the great idea is taken. A reflective narrative was created, beginning with a corridor conversation ('What a great idea! Someone should evaluate that.'), continuing through a formal research project and ending with the impact of that project and the way its findings were communicated and implemented. The narrative outlines the effect of evaluating one great idea at the individual, workplace, organisational, state and national levels. Clinicians are well placed to identify great ideas in practice. Making the decision to evaluate these ideas can lead to personal growth, professional discovery and organisational benefits. With motivation and organisational support, who knows where evaluation may lead?