Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Readability of Patient Information Pamphlets in Urogynecology

Objective The purpose of this study was to determine the reading level of frequently used patient information pamphlets and documents in the field of urogynecology. Methods Urogynecology pamphlets were identified from a variety of sources. Readability was determined using 4 different accepted formulas: the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level, the simple measure of gobbledygook Index, the Coleman-Liau Index, and the Gunning Fog index. The scores were calculated using an online calculator (http://www.readability-score.com). Descriptive statistics were used for analysis. The average of the 4 scores was calculated for each pamphlet. Subsequently, Z-scores were used to standardize the averages between the reading scales. Results Of the 40 documents reviewed, only a single pamphlet met the National Institutes of Health–recommended reading level. This document was developed by the American Urological Association and was specifically designated as a “Low-Literacy Brochure. ” The remainder of the patient education pamphlets, from both industry-sponsored and academic-sponsored sources, consistently rated above the recommended reading level for maximum comprehension. Conclusions The majority of patient education pamphlets, from both industry-sponsored and academic-sponsored sources, are above the reading level recommended by the National Institutes of Health for maximum patient comprehension. Future work should be done to improve the educational resources available to patients by simplifying the verbiage in these documents.
The Role of Peritoneal Dialysis as the First-Line Renal Replacement Modality

Twenty years after its introduction, peritoneal dialysis (PD) is a well-established alternative to hemodialysis (HD) as a modality of renal replacement therapy. Much debate and research is apparent in the literature, comparing hemodialysis and PD as “opposite” modalities and trying to ascertain which modality should be more optimal. In our opinion, HD and PD are two distinct modalities, each with its own advantages and disadvantages. In addition, it is clear that for both HD and PD, rates of technique failure are high, causing patients to transfer between modalities. The question is thus not which modality is best, but rather, which flow-chart of modalities makes best use of the advantages of each modality, while avoiding its disadvantages. In this respect, HD and PD appear to be complementary modalities. The better preservation of residual renal function, lower risk of infection with hepatitis B and C, better outcome after transplantation, preservation of vascular access, and lower costs are arguments to promote PD as a good initial treatment. When PD-related problems arise (adequacy, ultrafiltration, peritonitis, patient burnout), a timely transfer to HD has to be planned. This editorial tries to review arguments supporting the complementary nature of both modalities, and especially the role of PD as the first-line renal replacement therapy.
Does the Introduction of Stock Index Futures Reduce the Stock Market Volatility

Traditional econometric models assume a constant one period forecast variance. However, many financial time series display volatility clustering, that is, autoregressive conditional heteroscedasticity (ARCH). The aim of this paper is to estimate conditional volatility models in an effort to capture the salient features of stock market volatility in India and evaluate the models in terms of out-of sample forecast accuracy. The paper also investigates whether there is any change in volatility after the introduction of futures. The estimation of volatility is made at the macro level on a major market index, namely, S&P CNX Nifty. In addition, 50 individual companies' share prices currently included in S&P CNX Nifty are used to examine the heteroscedastic behaviour of the Indian stock market at the micro level. The volatility is estimated by fitting different models to the market indices by dividing the study duration into two different time period's, one pre-future and another post-futures -: • Historical moving average model • Standard Generalized autoregressive conditional heterosedasticity GARCH (I, 1) model. The paper found • A strong evidence of time-varying volatility. • A tendency of the periods of high and low volatility to cluster • A high persistence and predictability of volatility. After futures trading has been introduced in all main stock exchanges, the economic literature intensified the debate on the economic and social impact of futures and options trading. Management Dynamics, Volume 6, Number 2(2006)
Detecting Natural ``Plateaus'' in One-Dimensional Patterns

A method of detecting natural ``plateaus'' (equals maximal intervals of approximately constant value) in a one-dimensional pattern is described. The method is based on examining neighborhoods of each point having a range of sizes; rejecting neighborhoods of each size for which the standard deviation (of pattern values over the neighborhood) is not a local minimum; and further rejecting any neighborhood N whose subintervals of conparable size do not have mean pattern values approximately equal to that of N.
Inhibiting Microglia Expansion Prevents Diet-Induced Hypothalamic and Peripheral Inflammation

Cell proliferation and neuroinflammation in the adult hypothalamus may contribute to the pathogenesis of obesity. We tested whether the intertwining of these two processes plays a role in the metabolic changes caused by 3 weeks of a high–saturated fat diet (HFD) consumption. Compared with chow-fed mice, HFD-fed mice had a rapid increase in body weight and fat mass and specifically showed an increased number of microglia in the arcuate nucleus (ARC) of the hypothalamus. Microglia expansion required the adequate presence of fats and carbohydrates in the diet because feeding mice a very high-fat, very low-carbohydrate diet did not affect cell proliferation. Blocking HFD-induced cell proliferation by central delivery of the antimitotic drug arabinofuranosyl cytidine (AraC) blunted food intake, body weight gain, and adiposity. AraC treatment completely prevented the increase in number of activated microglia in the ARC, the expression of the proinflammatory cytokine tumor necrosis factor-α in microglia, and the recruitment of the nuclear factor-κB pathway while restoring hypothalamic leptin sensitivity. Central blockade of cell proliferation also normalized circulating levels of the cytokines leptin and interleukin 1β and decreased peritoneal proinflammatory CD86 immunoreactive macrophage number. These findings suggest that inhibition of diet-dependent microglia expansion hinders body weight gain while preventing central and peripheral inflammatory responses due to caloric overload.
Relative extents of preformation and neoformation in tree shoots: Analysis by a deconvolution method.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Neoformation is the process by which organs not preformed in a bud are developed on a growing shoot, generally after preformation extension. The study of neoformation in trees has been hindered due to methodological reasons. The present report is aimed at assessing the relative importance of preformation and neoformation in the development of shoots of woody species. METHODS A deconvolution method was applied to estimate the distribution of the number of neoformed organs for eight data sets corresponding to four Nothofagus species and a Juglans hybrid. KEY RESULTS The number of preformed organs was higher and less variable than the number of neoformed organs. Neoformation contributed more than preformation to explain full-size differences between shoots developed in different positions within the architecture of each tree species. CONCLUSIONS Differences between the distributions of the numbers of preformed and neoformed organs may be explained by alluding to the duration of differentiation and extension for each of these groups of organs. The deconvolution of distributions is a useful tool for the analysis of neoformation and shoot structure in trees.
Enhancement of Commutation Reliability of an HVDC Inverter by Means of an Inductive Filtering Method

A new filter-commutated inverter (FCI) is proposed in this paper to enhance the commutation reliability of the HVDC systems applied in the high-voltage fields. The topology of the FCI is established based on an inductive filtering method, which mainly consists of a new converter transformer, fully tuned (FT) branches, inverter bridges, and a related control system. Unlike the traditional line-commutated inverter (LCI), the equivalent commutating impedance of the FCI includes not only the transformer leakage impedance but also the total impedance of the FT branches. The mathematical model is established to express such equivalent commutating impedance. Based on this, the commutation performance of the FCI is investigated in detail by comparing with LCI. Besides, the commutation reliability is evaluated under different operating conditions (e.g., normal operation, balanced, and unbalanced faults). Both the simulation and the experimental results validate the theoretical analysis, and indicate that the FCI with the use of the inductive filtering method can greatly increase the commutation margin of the HVDC systems, enhance the commutation reliability of the inverter, and prevent the occurrence of commutation failures.
Cytoarchitecture of the Spinal Cord of the Postnatal (P4) Mouse

Interpretation of the new wealth of gene expression and molecular mechanisms in the developing mouse spinal cord requires an accurate anatomical base on which data can be mapped. Therefore, we have assembled a spinal cord atlas of the P4 mouse to facilitate direct comparison with the adult specimens and to contribute to studies of the development of the mouse spinal cord. This study presents the anatomy of the spinal cord of the P4 C57Bl/6J mouse using Nissl and acetyl cholinesterase‐stained sections. It includes a detailed map of the laminar organization of selected spinal cord segments and a description of named cell groups of the spinal cord such as the central cervical (CeCv), lateral spinal nucleus, lateral cervical, and dorsal nuclei. The motor neuron groups have also been identified according to the muscle groups they are likely to supply. General features of Rexed's laminae of the P4 spinal cord showed similarities to that of the adult (P56). However, certain differences were observed with regard to the extent of laminae and location of certain cell groups, such as the dorsal nucleus having a more dispersed structure and a more ventral and medial position or the CeCv being located in the medial part of lamina 5 in contrast to the adult where it is located in lamina 7. Motor neuron pools appeared to be more tightly packed in the P4 spinal cord. The dorsal horn was relatively larger and there was more white matter in the P56 spinal cord. Anat Rec, 2012. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Classification of mild Alzheimer's disease by artificial neural network analysis of SPET data

An evaluation of the performance of artificial neural networks (ANNs) for the classification of probable Alzheimer's disease (pAD) patients was undertaken using data extracted from four regions of interest constructed on single photon emission tomographic (SPET) cerebral perfusion images. Two studies using feed-forward neural networks (FFNNs) were undertaken. The first was to determine if it would be possible to classify pAD patients and normal subjects in a mixed group, comprising 29 patients diagnosed as having pAD varying in severity from mild, established dementia to moderate dementia and 10 healthy control subjects. The second was to determine if the networks generated in the first study could prospectively classify 15 additional patients with very mild or mild cognitive impairment. The results were compared to those obtained using the same data and discriminant analysis. The relative performances of the two analysis techniques were assessed on the basis of the area under receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curves. The FFNN successfully classified all datasets in the first study, achieving an area under the ROC curve of 1.00, whereas discriminant analysis achieved 0.94. When tested on data from the second group, the areas under the ROC curves varied between 0.86 and 1.00 for the FFNN, whereas that for discriminant analysis was 0.99. We conclude that FFNNs can accurately classify pAD patients with mild to moderate dementia using data obtained from SPET cerebral perfusion images.
Anaphylactoid purpura with cardiac involvement.

hydroxyproline level when the alkaline phosphatase level is of the order found in this patient. Further evidence of normal bone metabolism was obtained from the normal hydroxyproline excretion. There was no laboratory evidence to suggest hyperparathyroidism. The normal galatose-l-phosphate uridyl transferase level ruled out galactosaemia. Though a diagnosis of glycogen storage disease was considered, no confirmatory laboratory evidence was found. The high serum alkaline phosphatase level in this boy has not been explained.
Preschooler Obesity and Parenting Styles of Mothers and Fathers: Australian National Population Study

OBJECTIVE. The purpose of this work was to determine relationships between BMI status at ages 4 to 5 years and mothers' and fathers' parenting dimensions and parenting styles. PARTICIPANTS AND METHODS. Participants were composed of all 4983 of the 4- to 5-year-old children in wave 1 of the nationally representative Longitudinal Study of Australian Children with complete BMI and maternal parenting data. Mothers and fathers self-reported their parenting behaviors on 3 multi-item continuous scales (warmth, control, and irritability) and were each categorized as having 1 of 4 parenting styles (authoritative, authoritarian, permissive, and disengaged) using internal warmth and control tertile cut points. Using a proportional odds model, odds ratios for children being in a higher BMI category were computed for mothers and fathers separately and together, after adjustment for factors associated with child BMI, including mothers' and fathers' BMI status. RESULTS. The sample was composed of 2537 boys and 2446 girls with a mean age 56.9 months; 15% were overweight and 5% were obese (International Obesity Task Force criteria). Mothers' parenting behaviors and styles were not associated in any model with higher odds of children being in a heavier BMI category, with or without multiple imputation to account for missing maternal BMI data. Higher father control scores were associated with lower odds of the child being in a higher BMI category. Compared with the reference authoritative style, children of fathers with permissive and disengaged parenting styles had higher odds of being in a higher BMI category. CONCLUSIONS. This article is the first, to our knowledge, to examine the parenting of both parents in relation to preschoolers' BMI status while also adjusting for parental BMI status. Fathers' but not mothers' parenting behaviors and styles were associated with increased risks of preschooler overweight and obesity. Longitudinal impacts of parenting on BMI gain remain to be determined.
Autophagy-mediated catabolism of visual transduction proteins prevents retinal degeneration

ABSTRACT Autophagy is a lysosomal degradation pathway critical to preventing the accumulation of cytotoxic proteins. Deletion of the essential autophagy gene Atg5 from the rod photoreceptors of the retina (atg5Δrod mouse) results in the accumulation of the phototransduction protein transducin and the degeneration of these neurons. The purpose of this study is to test the hypothesis that autophagic degradation of visual transduction proteins prevents retinal degeneration. Targeted deletion of both Gnat1 (a gene encoding the α subunit of the heterotrimeric G-protein transducin) and Atg5 in the rod photoreceptors resulted in a significantly decreased rate of rod cell degeneration as compared to the atg5Δrod mouse retina, and considerable preservation of photoreceptors. Supporting this we used a novel technique to immunoprecipitate green fluorescent protein (GFP)-tagged autophagosomes from the retinas of the GFP-LC3 mice and demonstrated that the visual transduction proteins transducin and ARR/arrestin are associated with autophagosome-specific proteins. Altogether, this study shows that degradation of phototransduction proteins by autophagy is necessary to prevent retinal degeneration. In addition, we demonstrate a simple and easily reproducible immunoisolation technique for enrichment of autophagosomes from the GFP-LC3 mouse retina, providing a novel application to the study of autophagosome contents across different organs and specific cell types in vivo.
Detection of N2,3-ethanoguanine in DNA after treatment with chloroacetaldehyde in vitro.

The reaction of chloroacetaldehyde, a reactive metabolic of the carcinogen vinyl chloride, with DNA produces in addition to the hitherto known adducts, 1,N6-ethenoadenine and 3,N4-ethenocytosine, an ethenoguanine adduct, namely N2,3-ethenoguanine. This adduct is formed in the reaction of chloroacetaldehyde with the free base as well. After DNA hydrolysis followed by isolation of this new adduct by h.p.l.c. , its mass spectrum and fluorescence spectrum are identical with those published in the literature for the chemically synthesized N2,3-ethenoguanine. The formation of only this guanine derivative out of several theoretically possible reaction products allows the formulation of a reaction scheme. The absence of 7-(2-oxoethyl)-guanine, another recently detected DNa adduct of vinyl chloride, in chloroacetaldehyde-treated DNA suggests its origin from the other reactive metabolic of vinyl chloride, chloroethylene oxide. The potential of N2,3-ethenoguanine to lead to misincorporation of deoxythymidine monophosphate opposite of guanine and the high fluorescence of this adduct provide it with potentially high biological significance and ease of analytical monitoring.
Hydroxyapatite Does Not Improve the Outcome of a Bipolar Hemiarthroplasty

In a one-surgeon study the clinical and radiographic results of 30 cementless bipolar hip prostheses in 24 patients younger than 55 years were evaluated. Eleven noncoated prostheses (Noncoated Group) and 19 hydroxyapatite-coated prostheses (Hydroxyapatite Group) were compared after a mean followup of 10.4 years. The Harris hip score increased from a preoperative average of 41 points to 76 points at final followup (Noncoated Group, 70 points; Hydroxyapatite Group, 80 points). Thigh or groin pain was present in 15 patients (16 hips) (Noncoated Group, 55%; Hydroxyapatite Group, 53%). Radiographically, subsidence was the major problem at the noncoated prostheses (Noncoated Group, 91%; Hydroxyapatite Group, 5%), whereas osteolysis mainly was seen at the hydroxyapatite-coated prostheses (Noncoated Group, 18%; Hydroxyapatite Group, 89%). The obtained aseptic revision rate of 27% (Noncoated Group, 27%; Hydroxyapatite Group, 26%) is too high to use this implant in young patients. The large amounts of polyethylene wear debris generated by the bipolar system play an important role in this limited success. In the initially well-fixed hydroxyapatite-coated prostheses the sealing effect of a hydroxyapatite coating creates high concentrations of polyethylene in the limited joint space, resulting in massive proximal femoral osteolysis. Consequently, a hydroxyapatite coating introduces a new failure mechanism. Therefore, hydroxyapatite does not improve the outcome of a cementless bipolar hemiarthroplasty in the long-term.
Relationship Among Practice Change, Motivation, and Self‐Efficacy

Introduction: The relationship between an individual's sense of self‐efficacy, motivation to change, and the implementation of improvement programs has been reported. This research reports the relationship among self‐efficacy, motivation to change, and intent to implement continuing medical education (CME) activity learnings. Methods: The measure of individual sense of self‐efficacy was a 4‐item scale. The measure of motivation was a 4‐item scale following on the work of Johnson, et al. The self‐efficacy scale has been confirmed for structure, and together the 2 scales provide indicators of 3 underlying variables—2 self‐efficacy constructs and a motivation variable. In addition, a global intent to implement measure was collected. Results: Preliminary analysis demonstrates a significant relationship between a self‐efficacy construct, the motivation to change construct, and global intent to change. Specifically, the sense of efficacy in effecting change in the practice environment is predictive of a high level of motivation to change, which, in turn, is predictive of formation of an intent to change practice patterns. Discussion: Further inspection of the motivation to change construct suggests that it mediates the self‐efficacy constructs’ effect on intent. This is consistent with an earlier report on the relationship among self‐efficacy, barriers to change, and stated intent. This new finding suggests that the proximal construct motivation completely masks an important underlying causal relationship that appears to contribute to practice change following CME: selfefficacy. A focus on the participants’ sense of self‐agency may provide a path to practice change.
Quantitative PCR Targeting 16S rRNA and Reductive Dehalogenase Genes Simultaneously Monitors Multiple Dehalococcoides Strains

ABSTRACT The 16S rRNA gene provides insufficient information to infer the range of chloroorganic electron acceptors used by different Dehalococcoides organisms. To overcome this limitation and provide enhanced diagnostic tools for growth measurements, site assessment, and bioremediation monitoring, a quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) approach targeting 16S rRNA genes and three Dehalococcoides reductive dehalogenase (RDase) genes with assigned function (i.e., tceA, bvcA, and vcrA) was designed and evaluated. qPCR standard curves generated for the RDase genes by use of genomic DNA from Dehalococcoides pure cultures correlated with standard curves obtained for both Bacteria- and Dehalococcoides-targeted 16S rRNA genes, suggesting that the RDase genes are useful targets for quantitative assessment of Dehalococcoides organisms. RDase gene probe/primer pairs were specific for the Dehalococcoides strains known to carry the diagnostic RDase gene sequences, and the qPCR method allowed the detection of as few as 1 to 20 and quantification of as few as 50 to 100 tceA, bvcA, or vcrA gene targets per PCR volume. The qPCR approach was applied to dechlorinating enrichment cultures, microcosms, and samples from a contaminated site. In characterized enrichment cultures where known Dehalococcoides strains were enumerated, the sum of the three RDase genes equaled the total Dehalococcoides cell numbers. In site samples and chloroethane-dechlorinating microcosms, the sum of the three RDase genes was much less than that predicted by Dehalococcoides-targeted qPCR, totaling 10 to 30% of the total Dehalococcoides cell numbers. Hence, a large number of Dehalococcoides spp. contain as-yet-unidentified RDase genes, indicating that our current understanding of the dechlorinating Dehalococcoides community is incomplete.