Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Proof for piroximone's inotropic influence: Can it safely be used in coronary artery disease? analysis of end-systolic pressure-volume relations (conductance technique)

Improved contractility after applying piroximone (PIR), the new phosphodiesterase-III inhibitor drug, is difficult to prove clinically. However, augmented contractility could increase the risk of myocardial ischemia when used in coronary artery disease (CAD). The analysis of the end systolic pressure-volume relationship (ESPVR) as a load-independent parameter of the contractile left ventricular (LV) function allows for differentiation of PIR's effects: contractility vs unloading. We, therefore analyzed ESPVR and LV function in 16 CAD patients before and after PIR, 0.75 mg/kg intravenously. Emax increased by 39% (9/16 patients) and loops of the ESPVR (16 patients) moved leftward, indicating improved contractility. The delta % changes PIR vs control (16 patients) demonstrated augmentation of LV function via unloading: LV volumes decreased (ESV by 37%, EDV by 19%), LV filling pressure by 34%, and systemic vascular resistance by 19%; dP/dtmax increased by 28%, LV efficiency by 24%, cardiac index by 21%, and ejection fraction by 13%. Pacing-induced anginal threshold increased by 47% after PIR and ischemic postpacing LV filling pressure and ST segment changes tended to normalize under the drug's influence. Thus, PIR improved LV function by both, unloading and positive inotropy. Lack of PIR-induced angina and an increased anginal threshold indicate that the drug can be used safely in CAD patients as well. The analysis of ESPVR proved to be safe and reliable in identifying contractility during the diagnostic cardiac catheterization routine.
Education and Role Title as Predictors of Enacted (Actual) Scope of Practice in Generalist Nurses in a Pediatric Academic Health Sciences Center

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to document the enacted (actual) scope of practice (SOP) of nurses in pediatric settings in relation to education level and position. BACKGROUND: Baccalaureate-prepared staff nurses routinely carry out only a fraction of the activities essential for quality of care and patient safety they have been educated for. A direct care nurse clinician role exists for nurses with bachelor’s degrees in Quebec, Canada. METHOD: Survey of 301 nurses in a pediatric university hospital in Quebec was conducted. RESULTS: Enacted (actual) SOP for baccalaureate-educated nurses was significantly broader than that of nurses with junior college diplomas and nurse clinicians (baccalaureate-educated) carried out complex activities more frequently. CONCLUSION: The creation of job titling and role descriptions that reflect the upper range of nursing competencies could be an important tool for promoting broadened SOP for baccalaureate nurses.
Application of PSO technique for optimal location of FACTS devices considering system loadability and cost of installation

This paper presents the application of particle swarm optimization (PSO) technique to find optimal location of flexible AC transmission system (FACTS) devices to achieve maximum system loadability with minimum cost of installation of FACTS devices. While finding the optimal location, thermal limit for the lines and voltage limit for the buses are taken as constraints. Three types of FACTS devices, thyristor controlled series compensator (TCSC), static VAr compensator (SVC), and unified power flow controller (UPFC) are considered. The optimizations are performed on four parameters namely the location of FACTS devices, their setting, their type, and installation cost of FACTS devices. Two cases namely, single type devices (same type of FACTS devices) and multi type devices (combination of TCSC, SVC, and UPFC) are considered. Simulations are performed on IEEE 6 and 30 bus systems for optimal location of FACTS devices and the results obtained are encouraging and will be useful in electrical restructuring
Heterology Expression of the ArabidopsisC-Repeat/Dehydration Response Element Binding Factor 1 Gene Confers Elevated Tolerance to Chilling and Oxidative Stresses in Transgenic Tomato1

In an attempt to improve stress tolerance of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) plants, an expression vector containing an Arabidopsis C-repeat/dehydration responsive element binding factor 1 (CBF1) cDNA driven by a cauliflower mosaic virus 35S promoter was transferred into tomato plants. Transgenic expression of CBF1 was proved by northern- and western-blot analyses. The degree of chilling tolerance of transgenic T1 and T2 plants was found to be significantly greater than that of wild-type tomato plants as measured by survival rate, chlorophyll fluorescence value, and radical elongation. The transgenic tomato plants exhibited patterns of growth retardation; however, they resumed normal growth after GA3(gibberellic acid) treatment. More importantly, GA3-treated transgenic plants still exhibited a greater degree of chilling tolerance compared with wild-type plants. Subtractive hybridization was performed to isolate the responsive genes of heterologous ArabidopsisCBF1 in transgenic tomato plants.CATALASE1 (CAT1) was obtained and showed activation in transgenic tomato plants. The CAT1 gene and catalase activity were also highly induced in the transgenic tomato plants. The level of H2O2 in the transgenic plants was lower than that in the wild-type plants under either normal or cold conditions. The transgenic plants also exhibited considerable tolerance against oxidative damage induced by methyl viologen. Results from the current study suggest that heterologous CBF1expression in transgenic tomato plants may induce several oxidative-stress responsive genes to protect from chilling stress.
Behavior in social learning networks: Early detection for online short-courses

We study learning outcome prediction for online courses. Whereas prior work has focused on semester-long courses with frequent student assessments, we focus on short-courses that have single outcomes assigned by instructors at the end. The lack of performance data makes the behavior of learners, captured as they interact with course content and with one another in Social Learning Networks (SLN), essential for prediction. Our method defines several (machine) learning features based on behaviors collected on the modes of (human) learning in a course, and uses them in appropriate classifiers. Through evaluation on data captured from three two-week courses hosted through our delivery platforms, we make three key observations: (i) behavioral data is predictive of learning outcomes in short-courses (our classifiers achieving AUCs ≥ 0.8 after the two weeks), (ii) it has an early detection capability (AUCs ≥ 0.7 with the first week of data), and (iii) the content features have an “earliest” detection capability (with higher AUC in the first few days), while the SLN features become the more predictive set over time, as the network matures. We also discuss how our method can generate behavioral analytics for instructors.
Health-related quality of life of school-age children with familial Mediterranean fever.

OBJECTIVES To describe and compare the parent proxy-reported and child self-reported physical and psychosocial HRQOL of school age children who have FMF with healthy peers. METHODS The Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory 4.0 (Peds QL 4.0) Generic Core Scales was used to measure HR-QOL. Fifty-one patients and 81 healthy peers were enrolled in the study. Patients were grouped according to their ages as : 1) Children (8-12 years) and 2) Adolescents (13-18 years). An accompanying parent completed the parent proxy-report of the Peds QL 4.0. RESULTS Peds QL scores of children (8-12 years) with FMF were significantly lower than healthy peers for physical and psychosocial functioning for both child self-report and parent proxy-report. The parent proxy-report and child self-reported Peds QL scores of adolescent patients (13-18 years) with FMF were lower than the healthy group for physical, emotional and school functioning; however no significant difference was detected regarding the social functioning. Adolescents with FMF had significantly higher social scores when compared to the younger age group (8-12 years) with FMF, 92.6 +/- 8.5 and 82.2 +/- 17.6, respectively (p=0.028). The scores of physical, emotional and school functioning were similar in both groups (p=0.73, p=0.93, and p=0.028). Correlations among child self-report subscales and proxy-report subscales were all significant and varied from moderate to high. CONCLUSION This study suggested that assessment of HRQOL has potential clinical implications for the healthcare needs of children and adolescents with FMF. Given the degree of reported impairment in their health-related quality of life, individualized counseling and interventions are needed.
Nucleoside Analog 1592U89 and Human Immunodeficiency Virus Protease Inhibitor 141W94 Are Synergistic In Vitro

ABSTRACT The use of combinations of anti-human immunodeficiency virus (anti-HIV) agents targeted to different molecular targets will most likely result in increased viral suppression and may also delay or prevent the emergence of resistant HIV strains. The purpose of the present study was to develop information on the in vitro anti-HIV activities of combinations of the reverse transcriptase inhibitor 1592U89 and the protease inhibitor 141W94 to help guide the choice of dosages in clinical trials. Triplicate in vitro dose-response matrices were prepared with MT-2 cells infected with HIV type 1 (HIV-1) strain IIIB. In order to account for the effects of protein binding, tissue culture medium with 10% fetal bovine serum was supplemented with the human serum proteins α1 acid glycoprotein (1 mg/ml) and albumin (40 mg/ml). The three-dimensional drug interaction surface for 1592U89 and 141W94 was constructed with the program MacSynergy II. As analyzed relative to a Bliss Independence null reference model, this combination was synergistic, with volumes of synergy exceeding 100 (99% confidence). Analysis of the data set with a fully parametric form of an equation for the quantitation of drug interaction developed by Greco et al. (W. R. Greco, G. Bravo, and J. C. Parsons, Pharmacol. Rev. 47:331–385, 1995) resulted in an interaction term statistically significantly greater than 0.0, indicating true synergy. Both methods concur that this combination is significantly synergistic. These data, with favorable findings from phase I/II trials for each drug alone, suggest that the combination of 1592U89 plus 141W94 should be further evaluated in clinical trials.
Using Community-Based Participatory Approaches to Mobilize Communities for Policy Change

The Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health (REACH) Alabama Breast and Cervical Cancer Coalition used community-based participatory research principles to address breast and cervical cancer disparities among Alabama's most vulnerable African American communities. With funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Alabama Breast and Cervical Cancer Coalition implemented a multilevel action plan, which entailed disseminating evidence-based strategies to community organizations interested in addressing cancer and other health disparities. Based on the Alabama Breast and Cervical Cancer Coalition's technical assistance on advocacy, an independent, community-led coalition was formed. This article uses a case study approach to document the steps taken by this empowered coalition to mobilize their community to impact cancer disparities using community-based participatory research principles as a tool to change tobacco and breast and cervical cancer legislation.
Dissociation mediates the association between intimate partner violence and posttraumatic stress among treatment-seeking incarcerated women

ABSTRACT Objective: Women in prison experience high rates of interpersonal trauma as well as elevated rates of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) relative to women in the general population. The present study examined the relationship between recent intimate partner violence (IPV), additional forms of lifetime trauma exposure, trait dissociation, and posttraumatic stress among a sample of incarcerated female survivors of IPV. Method: Participants were 186 treatment-seeking incarcerated women who reported experiences of IPV in the year prior to incarceration. Participants completed self-report measures of IPV, nonpartner-perpetrated lifetime trauma exposure, trait dissociation, and PTSD symptomatology. Associations among study variables were evaluated using sequential multiple regression. Results: Participants reported experiencing several forms of interpersonal trauma. More than half of respondents (i.e., 53%) fell beyond a conservative cutoff score on the PTSD Checklist–Civilian Version, indicating clinically significant symptoms of PTSD. Trait dissociation partially mediated the association between IPV and PTSD symptoms above and beyond history of nonpartner-perpetrated violence. Trait dissociation emerged as the strongest independent predictor of PTSD symptoms and explained approximately 15% of the variance in PTSD symptoms. Conclusion: This finding highlights the need for additional research concerning dissociation among women in prison and warrants consideration in future research and intervention efforts focused on trauma recovery among incarcerated women.
Risk Factors and Outcome Analysis of Acinetobacter baumannii Complex Bacteremia in Critical Patients*

Objectives:Acinetobacter baumannii complex bacteremia has been identified increasingly in critical patients admitted in ICUs. Notably, A. baumannii complex bacteremia has a high mortality rate, yet the risk factors associated with mortality remain unclear and controversial. Design:Retrospective study. Setting:All adult ICUs at a tertiary care medical center. Patients:All patients with A. baumannii complex bacteremia admitted in 2009–2010. Interventions:None. Measurements and Main Results:Risk factors for mortality were analyzed. Bacterial isolates were identified by 16S-23S ribosomal RNA intergenic spacer region sequencing for genospecies and genotyped by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis. Carbapenemase genes were detected by polymerase chain reaction and sequencing. A total of 298 patients met the inclusion criteria, including 73 (24.5%) infected by imipenem-resistant A. baumannii complex. The overall 30-day mortality was 33.6% (100 of 298). Imipenem-resistant A. baumannii complex bacteremia specifically showed a high mortality (69.9%) and was associated with prior use of broad-spectrum antibiotics for more than 5 days for treating ventilator-associated pneumonia before the occurrence of bacteremia. Mortality was associated with inappropriate initial antimicrobial therapy, which was correlated with imipenem-resistant A. baumannii complex but not with any specific genospecies. ISAba1–blaOXA-23–ISAba1 (Tn2006) was found in most (66.7%, 40 of 68) imipenem-resistant A. baumannii (genospecies 2) and also spread beyond species border to all imipenem-resistant genospecies 3 (2), 13TU (2), and 10 (1). Conclusions:For critical patients with A. baumannii complex infection, ventilator-associated pneumonia in particular, the selective pressure from prior use of broad-spectrum antibiotics for 5 days or more increased risk of subsequent imipenem-resistant A. baumannii complex bacteremia. To reduce mortality, rapid identification of imipenem-resistant A. baumannii complex and early initiation of appropriate antimicrobial therapy in these high-risk patients are crucial.
Psychosocial Challenges Experienced by Partners of People With Parkinson Disease

ABSTRACT Although researchers have examined issues related to partners providing care for a person with Parkinson disease (PWP), few have explored partners’ broader psychosocial experiences. To investigate this underexplored area, individual, in-depth interviews with 23 partners of PWPs were conducted. Participants reported significant psychosocial challenges, including having the PWP withdraw from communication, being unable to “rescue” the PWP, being the recipient of the PWP’s frustration, expressing impatience with the PWP, shouldering increased responsibility, being confronted with possibly losing the PWP, losing valued activities, feeling housebound, being unable to predict the PWP’s daily well-being, and experiencing uncertainty about future caregiving and disease progression. These results indicate that being the partner of a PWP involves serious, complex psychosocial challenges related to both caregiving and noncaregiving issues. This research highlights the need for a family-centered approach to Parkinson care and provides valuable insight that can inform interventions and nursing practice for this population.
Structural controls on stratigraphic architecture of the southern Bouse Formation near Cibola , Arizona

Introduction The latest Miocene to early Pliocene Bouse Formation is a regionally extensive deposit of carbonate and siliciclastic sedimentary rocks exposed discontinuously along the lower Colorado River corridor (Buising, 1990; Metzger, 1968). These deposits record arrival and integration of the early Colorado River (House et al., 2008; Pearthree and House, 2014), though the conditions and paleo-environments of deposition are controversial and uncertain (Spencer et al., 2013). Recent work reveals systematic stratal wedging, basinward thickening, and pinch-out of units toward the eastern basin margin in the Cibola area (Homan, 2014), indicating a need to better understand the style, timing, and origin of synto post-Bouse deformation in the southern Blythe basin region. The goal of the research presented here is to determine if there is a structural control on the stratigraphic architecture of the Bouse Formation southeast of Cibola, Arizona. To address this question, we combine field data and structural interpretations from measured sections, lithofacies descriptions, stratigraphic panels, geologic mapping, and fault measurements. While structural controls on Bouse Formation depocenters are suggested by the regional map pattern (Howard and Miller, 1992; Jachens and Howard, 1992), and several faults cut the Bouse Formation (e.g. Homan, 2014), little work has been done to understand the age and kinematics of synto post-Bouse Formation faults and folds in this region. Below we suggest that excellent exposures of the Bouse Formation display stratigraphic architecture that likely was produced by two stages of normal fault propagation and tilting during deposition of the Bouse Formation.
Inhibition of carbamyl phosphate synthetase-I and glutamine synthetase by hepatotoxic doses of acetaminophen in mice.

The primary mechanisms proposed for acetaminophen-induced hepatic necrosis should deplete protein thiols, either by covalent binding and thioether formation or by oxidative reactions such as S-thiolations. However, in previous studies we did not detect significant losses of protein thiol contents in response to administration of hepatotoxic doses of acetaminophen in vivo. In the present study we employed derivatization with the thiol-specific agent monobromobimane and separation of proteins by SDS-PAGE to investigate the possible loss of specific protein thiols during the course of acetaminophen-induced hepatic necrosis. Fasted adult male mice were given acetaminophen, and protein thiol status was examined subsequently in subcellular fractions isolated by differential centrifugation. No decreases in protein thiol contents were indicated, with the exception of a marked decrease in the fluorescent intensity, but not of protein content, as indicated by staining with Coomassie blue, of a single band of approximately 130 kDa in the mitochondrial fractions of acetaminophen-treated mice. This protein was identified by isolation and N-terminal sequence analysis as carbamyl phosphate synthetase-I (CPS-I) (EC 6.3.4.16). Hepatic CPS-I activities were decreased in mice given hepatotoxic doses of acetaminophen. In addition, hepatic glutamine synthetase activities were lower, and plasma ammonia levels were elevated in mice given hepatotoxic doses of acetaminophen. The observed hyperammonemia may contribute to the adverse effects of toxic doses of acetaminophen, and elucidation of the specific mechanisms responsible for the hyperammonemia may prove to be useful clinically. However, the preferential depletion of protein thiol content of a mitochondrial protein by chemically reactive metabolites generated in the endoplasmic reticulum presents a challenging and potentially informative mechanistic question.
In vitro activity and beta-lactamase stability of LJC 10,627

The in vitro activity of LJC 10,627, a new carbapenem, was compared with those of imipenem, cefotaxime, ceftazidime, and gentamicin. LJC 10,627 inhibited 90% of Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Klebsiella oxytoca, Enterobacter aerogenes, Enterobacter agglomerans, Enterobacter cloacae, Hafnia alvei, Citrobacter freundii, Citrobacter diversus, Proteus mirabilis, Morganella morganii, Proteus rettgeri, Serratia marcescens, Pseudomonas cepacia, salmonellae, shigellae, aeromonas, and yersiniae at less than or equal to 2 micrograms/ml. Haemophilus influenzae was inhibited by 0.5 microgram/ml, and moraxellae were inhibited by 0.12 microgram/ml. LJC 10,627 was twofold more active than imipenem against aerobic gram-negative organisms and inhibited ceftazidime-, cefotaxime-, and gentamicin-resistant members of the genera Klebsiella, Enterobacter, Citrobacter, and Serratia at less than or equal to 2 micrograms/ml. Xanthomonas maltophilia strains were resistant to the drug. Imipenem was two- to fourfold more active than LJC 10,627 against Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis. LJC 10,627 did not inhibit most methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus or methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus epidermidis strains. LJC 10,627 inhibited Streptococcus pyogenes and Streptococcus pneumoniae at 0.06 and 0.12 microgram/ml, respectively. Bacteroides fragilis and other Bacteroides spp. were inhibited by 0.5 microgram of LJC 10,627 per ml. Serum (50%) did not affect the MICs. LJC 10,627 was not hydrolyzed by plasmid-mediated beta-lactamases of Bush types 2b, 2b', TEM-1, TEM-2, TEM-3, TEM-5, TEM-7, TEM-9, and SHV-1; the chromosomal beta-lactamases of Bush type 1; P-99; a Morganella enzyme; or a Citrobacter freundii enzyme. The Bush type 2c and 2d enzymes OXA-1, OXA-2, PSE-1, PSE-2, and PSE-4 did not hydrolyze LJC 10,627, nor did the beta-lactamases of Staphylococcus aureus, Moraxella spp. , Bacteroides fragilis, and Proteus vulgaris. The beta-lactamase of Xanthomonas hydrolyzed LJC 10,627, albeit at approximately one-third the rate that imipenem was hydrolyzed.