Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Hypoprothrombinemia Associated with Cefmetazole

Objective To report a case of hypoprothrombinemia associated with the use of cefmetazole sodium, define patients at risk for this adverse effect, and identify options to prevent this problem. Case Summary A malnourished patient with endstage renal disease received cefmetazole following a below-the-knee amputation of the right leg. Three days later, a prothrombin time (FT) and an international normalized ratio (INR) were obtained and were markedly elevated from baseline; however, the patient had no clinical symptoms of bleeding. Cefmetazole was discontinued. Vitamin K and fresh frozen plasma were administered. The PT and INR normalized within 24 hours and remained normal throughout the remainder of hospitalization. Discussion The incidence of hypoprothrombinemia associated with cefmetazole reported in the literature is conflicting and not consistent. There are three proposed mechanisms of cephalosporin-associated hypoprothrombinemia, two of which involve the N-methylthiotetrazole (NMTT) chain. The most plausible mechanism is NMTT inhibition of vitamin K epoxide reductase in the liver. Patients at an increased risk for this adverse event include those with low vitamin K stores, specifically patients who are malnourished, with low albumin concentrations and poor food intake. The elderly and patients with liver or renal dysfunction are examples of populations at risk. Conclusions Hypoprothrombinemia may occur with cephalosporins and is especially problematic with those containing an NMTT side chain. Clinicians need to identify patients at risk for developing antibiotic-associated hypoprothrombinemia, monitor them closely, and give vitamin K as prophylaxis accordingly.
Ethosomes: A Tool for Transdermal Drug Delivery

Since skin offers an excellent barrier to molecular transport, as stratum corneum is the most formidable barrier to the passage of most of the drugs, except for highly lipophilic, low molecular weight drugs. Various attempts have been made for enhanced drug delivery into the body through the intact skin including using lipid vesicles like liposome, niosomes etc. Classic liposomes are of little or no value as carriers for transdermal drug delivery because they do not deeply penetrate the skin. One of the major advances in vesicle research is the finding that some specially designed vesicles possessed properties that allowed them to successfully deliver drugs in deeper layer of skin. Ethosome is one of the specially designed lipid carrier recently developed by Touitou et al, showing enhanced skin delivery. Ethosome are characterized by prolong physical stability with respect to liposomes.
Prevalence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus nasal carriage in the community pediatric population

Background. Reports from various geographic regions indicate that the prevalence of community-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection is increasing. The primary reservoir is the anterior nares; nasal carriage is a risk factor for infection in a variety of populations. Little is known about MRSA nasal carriage rates among children in Nashville, TN and the associated likelihood of community MRSA transmission. Methods. Nasal swabs were collected from 500 children at well-child visits at either a university hospital pediatric clinic or a private pediatric office. Cultures were plated onto selective staphylococcal media, with or without oxacillin. S. aureus isolates were confirmed by coagulase tube testing. Antibiotic susceptibilities were determined for suspected methicillin-resistant S. aureus isolates by standard broth microdilution methods (National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards). Pulsed field gel electrophoresis was used to evaluate epidemiologic relatedness. PCR testing was done to assess for the mecA gene. A parent questionnaire was administered regarding MRSA risk factors. Results. Four patients had oxacillin-resistant S. aureus isolates (MIC ≥ 4 &mgr;g/ml), and two had borderline resistant isolates (MICs = 1 and 2 &mgr;g/ml). One of the borderline-resistant isolates and one of the MRSA isolates had pulsed field gel electrophoresis typing results indicating close relatedness. The mecA gene was present in all resistant isolates and one of the borderline-resistant isolates. Only having a household member employed in a hospital was associated with a greater risk of MRSA nasal carriage (odds ratio, 9.6;P = 0.008). Conclusions. MRSA nasal colonization is present within Nashville’s healthy pediatric population. Children with household contacts employed in a hospital are significantly more likely to be colonized.
Compact UWB microstrip BPF using meander line resonator

A compact UWB band pass filter is proposed and simulated using meander line resonator, aiming at transmitting the signals in most of the UWB pass band of 3.1-10.6 GHz. The proposed filter consists of one low-impedance meander line section in the center and two high-impedance line sections at two sides. A good UWB band pass behavior with four transmission poles is achieved after optimization of the proposed structure.
Prospective evaluation of soft tissue masses and sarcomas using fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography

The differentiation of soft tissue sarcoma (STS) from benign masses is difficult owing to their clinical and radiological similarities. Accurate staging is hindered by the large number of sites at which metastases may be found. This study examined the value of whole‐body [18F]2‐fluoro‐2‐deoxy‐D‐glucose positron emission tomography (FDG PET) in patients presenting with soft tissue masses.
Use Support Vector Machine (SVM) to estimate gas concentration in mixture condition

In many gas sensors, the selectivity is still a big issue, which makes the real concentration distortion. We introduce a way to estimate its concentration in gas mixture condition. The system consists of three gas sensors, carbon dioxide sensor, carbon monoxide sensor and humidity sensor in environment-controlled chamber, which give lots of different concentration combinations. To estimate its concentration, we use machine learning techniques called Support Vector Machine (SVM). First, the measurement data are labeled according to its concentration combination. Second, the measurement data are trained as many classifier via SVM and then make new measurement data (unlabeled) to be classified. After classified, each label will get different votes. Finally, weighted averages concentration according to the votes. We show that the analysis results are close to the real values.
The role of the extrinsic thoracic limb muscles in equine locomotion

Muscles have two major roles in locomotion: to generate force and to absorb/generate power (do work). Economical force generation is achieved by short‐fibred pennate muscle while the maximum power output of a muscle is architecture independent. In this study we tested the hypothesis that there is an anatomical and structural separation between the force‐generating anti‐gravity muscles and the propulsive (limb/trunk moving) muscles of the equine forelimb. Muscle mass and fascicle length measurements were made on the thoracic limb extrinsic muscles of six fresh horse cadavers. Physiological cross‐sectional area and maximum isometric force were then estimated. Maximum power was estimated from muscle volume and published contraction velocity data. The majority of extrinsic forelimb muscles were large with long fascicles arranged in parallel to the long axis of the muscle. Muscles arranged in this way are optimised for doing work. The architecture of serratus ventralis thoracis (SVT) was unique. It had short (48 ± 17 mm) fascicles, arranged at about 45° to the long axis of the muscle, which would suggest a force‐generating, anti‐gravity role. The muscle belly of SVT was sandwiched between two broad, thick sheets of aponeurosis. Hence, SVT could make a significant contribution to the overall elastic properties of the thoracic limb.
Finite-time consensus of time-varying nonlinear multi-agent systems

This paper investigates the problem of leader–follower finite-time consensus for a class of time-varying nonlinear multi-agent systems. The dynamics of each agent is assumed to be represented by a strict feedback nonlinear system, where nonlinearities satisfy Lipschitz growth conditions with time-varying gains. The main design procedure is outlined as follows. First, it is shown that the leader–follower consensus problem is equivalent to a conventional control problem of multi-variable high-dimension systems. Second, by introducing a state transformation, the control problem is converted into the construction problem of two dynamic equations. Third, based on the Lyapunov stability theorem, the global finite-time stability of the closed-loop control system is proved, and the finite-time consensus of the concerned multi-agent systems is thus guaranteed. An example is given to verify the effectiveness of the proposed consensus protocol algorithm.
Approaches to large‐scale parallel self‐consistent field calculations

The availability of massively parallel computers with high computation rates but limited memory and input/output bandwidth prompts the reevaluation of appropriate solution schemes for the self‐consistent field (SCF) equations. Several algorithms are considered which exhibit between linear and quadratic convergence using various approximations to the orbital Hessian. A prototype is developed to understand the computational expense of each approach. The optimal choice is found to be a conjugate–gradient method preconditioned with a level‐shifted approximation to the orbital Hessian. This is a compromise between efficiency, stability, and low memory usage. Sample benchmarks on two parallel supercomputers are also reported. © 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Prioritized random access for machine-to-machine communications in OFDMA based systems

In machine-to-machine (M2M) communications, machine nodes perform a random access (RA) to synchronize with the eNodeB in order to transmit their new packets. However, the conventional RA cannot support prioritized accesses during the RA procedure, even though there are a variety of classes with different quality-of-service (QoS). In this paper, we propose a prioritized random access (PRA) scheme, which enables machine nodes to indicate their access priority during the access phase by differentiating their transmission power level. Moreover, we thoroughly analyze the PRA scheme in terms of collision probability and access delay. The performance evaluation shows that the PRA scheme enables the nodes to indicate the access priority according to their QoS during the RA procedure as well as to achieve much lower collision probabilities and shorter access delay.
Living with Parental Multiple Sclerosis: Children's Experiences and Clinical Implications

Background. Health professionals need to understand how chronic illness affects all family members. Purpose. This study explored the everyday experiences of children who have a parent with multiple sclerosis. Methods. Exploratory, semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight Queensland children, aged 7 to 14 years. Videotapes were transcribed verbatim and analysed inductively. Findings. Themes were labelled changing roles and responsibilities, emotional impact, and things that helped. Participants described taking on additional roles and responsibilities that restricted their participation in developmentally appropriate occupations, the emotional and practical impact of having aparent with MS and different methods they employed to cope with this impact. Implications. The findings emphasise the need for therapists to look beyond the diagnosed individual and see MS as a chronic illness affecting the whole family. Occupational therapists might assist parents and children to maintain their occupations through the provision of appropriate interventions and connection to referral networks.
Dealing whith occultation when accounting for observation error correlation in a wavelet space

Numerical weather prediction requires the determination of the initial state of the system. Indeed, the true state, at a given moment and in all points of space, is not accessible. In order to retrieve an optimal initial condition one uses the so called data assimilation methods that combine information from observations, model equations and their respective error statistics. Since the late 70s, satellites are a dominant source of information. Errors associated to such data are highly correlated in space, which can be detrimental if this is not properly accounted for. However their density in space allows for the efficient use of multi-scale transformation, which in turn permit a cheap but good approximation of said error statistics representation. The drawback of such approach is that the impact of missing data on the error statistics representation may not be trivial. The aim of this paper is to propose solutions to overcome the problem of missing data (without introducing more signal, e.g. through inpainting, which would cause even more statistical problems) when representing the noise properties in a wavelet space.
Adjusting for differential proportions of second‐line treatment in cancer clinical trials. Part II: An application in a clinical trial of unresectable non‐small‐cell lung cancer

The CPT‐11 trial was conducted to confirm the superiority of CDDP+CPT‐11 (CPT‐P) arm to CDDP+VDS (VDS‐P) arm with regard to survival for patients with previously untreated advanced (stage IIIB/IV) non‐small‐cell lung cancer. However, the CPT‐P arm did not show the survival benefit for patients with stage IIIB. The proportion of patients with stage IIIB treated by active radiation given as second‐line treatment (second‐line radiotherapy) after initial (first‐line) treatment was 45 per cent in the CPT‐P arm while 61 per cent in the VDS‐P arm. This showed that not proving survival advantage in the CPT‐P arm might be due to the benefits of second‐line radiotherapy. We apply two causal models appeared in the companion paper to test and estimate the survival differences that would have been observed if all the patients had been received the same second‐line radiotherapy. Based on several assumptions, we inferred that the CPT‐P arm still would not have showed survival advantage if all the patients had been given identical second‐line radiotherapy. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Guideline on Steroids in Pregnancy

Subcommittee Members: Prof. Dr. Fenella Wojnarowska, Oxford (UK) Prof. Dr. Ching-Chi Chi, Chiayi (Taiwan) Prof. Dr. Gudula Kirtschig, Amsterdam (Netherlands) Prof. Dr. Werner Aberer, Graz (Austria) Prof. Dr. Jean Paul Gabbud, Bern (Switzerland) Prof. Dr. Jasna Lipozencic, Zagreb (Croatia) Prof. Dr. Sarolta Kárpáti, Budapest (Hungary) Prof. Dr. Uwe-Frithjof Haustein, Leipzig (Germany) Prof. Dr. Torsten Zuberbier, Berlin (Germany)
Ethics and Professional Conduct.

A Although the expression “conflict of interest” has been widely used in conversation for quite some time, it can be tricky to define. This fairly vague concept can spawn questions: What is a conflict of interest and how do you recognize it? Are there several types of conflicts? What does the term “interest” refer to exactly? First of all, we suggest that you read our definition of conflict of interest, which is based on various sources:1 A situation in which people in a position of authority have a real or potential interest that may influence or seem to influence the way they execute their tasks or responsibilities. In other words, a conflict of interest begins when a physical or legal entity is directly or indirectly involved in multiple interests and one of these interests has undue influence over the others. For example, a conflict of interest occurs when an individual acting in a position of authority, a public office or the public interest has personal interests that complete with the mission of his or her function. A conflict of interest is not necessarily illegal or criminal, but raises public doubts and suspicions about the integrity and impartiality of people in positions of authority. Although they may appear minor in the beginning, when these situations are repeated, they inevitably undermine the public’s trust in the people or groups of people who are in a position of authority.
60 GHz wireless data center channel measurements: Initial results

This paper reports initial results of wireless data center (WDC) 60 GHz radio channel measurements in a real data center. A channel sounder based on a vector network analyzer is used to measure the channel transfer function. In addition, ray-tracing simulations are conducted to verify the measurements accuracy. Data post processing procedure is presented to derive the power delay profiles (PDP). PDPs are processed using a peak detection algorithm for quick clusters enumeration. Two measurement sets are considered, namely neighbor racks scenario set and cross aisle scenario set. It is found that ray-tracing simulations results show a reasonable agreement for both sets. Cluster number and path loss results exhibit a slight difference for the two sets. Moreover, path loss results of neighbor racks scenarios show a 3 dB better link budget compared to cross aisle scenarios.
Coordination of Marine Robots Under Tracking Errors and Communication Constraints

This paper presents the development and the experimental validation of a centralized coordination control scheme that is robust to communication constraints and individual tracking errors for a team of possibly heterogeneous marine vehicles. By assuming the existence of a lower level target tracking control layer, a centralized potential-field-based coordination scheme is proposed to drive a team of robots along a path that does not necessarily need to be defined a priori. Furthermore, the formation is allowed to hold its position (the vehicles hold their positions with regard to a static virtual leader), which is particularly appreciated in several marine applications. As it is important to guarantee stability and mission completion in adverse environments with limited communications, the centralized control scheme for coordination is constructed in a way that makes it robust to tracking errors and intermittent communication links. The study and developments presented in this paper are complemented with field experiments in which vehicles have coordinated their operation to keep in formation over a dynamic path and static points. This work considers two types of communication technologies. Firstly, standard high rate radio communications are used to drive the formation and, secondly, acoustic communications are employed to assess the performance and the robustness of the proposed approach to degraded and highly variable conditions.
Differences in spatiotemporal landing variables during a dynamic stability task in subjects with CAI

Chronic ankle instability (CAI) has been previously associated with deficits in dynamic stability and proximal joint neuromuscular alterations separately, but it is unclear how the two factors relate. The purpose of this investigation was to examine the contributions of lower extremity kinematics during an assessment of dynamic stability in subjects with CAI. Thirty‐eight subjects were divided equally into those with and without unilateral CAI. Subjects performed 10 single‐limb jump landings on each limb. Kinematic position 100 ms pre‐impact as well as peak and time‐to‐peak kinematic position post‐impact were recorded for ankle plantar flexion, knee flexion and hip flexion. Ground reaction force data in the A/P and M/L directions were used to calculate the resultant vector time to stabilization (RVTTS). For the RVTTS data, a significant main effect (P=0.03) revealed that the CAI group had significantly reduced dynamic stability. For knee flexion pre‐impact, a significant main effect for group (P=0.005) demonstrated that the CAI group prepared to land with less knee flexion than the Control group. Decreased knee flexion angle in preparation to land was apparent in the CAI group, and may play a role in the diminished dynamic stability in CAI subjects.
Consumers' perception of food traceability in Europe

Food traceability has become mandatory since 1st January 2005 in the European Union. Traceability of products and activities in the supply chain has become a new factor of competitiveness in agribusiness and is deemed to be an important criterion of perception of food product quality and safety for consumers. This paper has three objectives: i) to get a deeper understanding of the role of the "ability-to- trace" in consumer decision- making process with respect to food, ii) to measure consumers' acceptability for food traceability, iii) to check the differences of these matters across twelve European countries in order to highlight any specificity. The purpose is based on the analysis of the verbatim recorded within twenty four focus groups discussions carried- out in autumn 2005.
Simultaneous multislice inversion contrast imaging using power independent of the number of slices (PINS) and delays alternating with nutation for tailored excitation (DANTE) radio frequency pulses

A method for simultaneous multislice (SMS) inversion contrast imaging is presented using a combination of the delays alternating with nutation for tailored excitation (DANTE) and the power independent of the number of slices (PINS) techniques. In SMS imaging, simultaneously excited slices result in an aliased image that is disentangled using parallel imaging reconstruction techniques. At high‐magnetic field strengths, the peak amplitude and specific absorption rate of conventional (summed) SMS radio frequency pulses can be prohibitively high. Using the PINS approach, specific absorption rate is independent of the number of slices allowing high SMS acceleration factors even at high fields. Using DANTE, adiabatic SMS radio frequency pulses can be created to be combined with PINS. This allows 2D imaging protocols that employ adiabatic pulses to also reap the benefits of low specific absorption rate SMS acceleration. As a proof‐of‐concept, simulations and measurements using hyperbolic secant inversion pulses are shown. Magn Reson Med, 2013. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.