Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Awareness about medico legal aspects and Consumer Protection Act (CPA) among dental fraternity

Introduction: A dentist is a healthcare professional providing care for the patient, as a physician. There has been increase in the number of patients challenging the dentist’s authority over treatment planning and consent issues in the past few years. Thus, while providing the oral healthcare services a dentist has to follow certain set of standards in almost all the activities related to the management of patient. Failure to exercise such practice could invite litigation in the name of malpractice. Therefore, this study was performed to assess the level of knowledge and understanding relevant to CPA and Medico legal aspects that can affect Dentists. Materials and Methods: A self-structured validated questionnaire comprising of 15 questions related to medicolegal aspect and CPA was designed. A total of 150 dental professionals were surveyed. ; 50 were undergraduates, 50 were postgraduates and 50 were dental faculty. Chi-square test was used to compare the awareness of medico-legal issues among dentists. Result: The CPA awareness scores were significantly higher among faculty when compared with those of undergraduates and postgraduates. About 44.0% of BDS students, 84.0% of MDS students and 94.0% of the dental faculty are aware about CPA. Nearly 20.0% of the BDS students, 42.0% of the MDS students and 52.0% of the dental faculty know the legal procedures to tackle COPRA/CPA. Conclusion: Considering the present situation, a better understanding of CPA is essential for dentists in India to be on the safer side and an educational program would be useful to increase the understanding and confidence of dentists in any medical legal jurisprudence to avoid any lawsuit. Keywords: Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS), Consumer Protection Act (CPA), Dental Council of India (DCI), Master of Dental Surgery (MDS), postgraduate (PG) students.
Cultural meaning of quality of life: perspectives of Brazilian burn patients

Purpose. This study was designed to explore the cultural meaning and dimensions of quality of life from the perspective of Brazilian burn patients. Method. A qualitative research approach was used. Nineteen burn patients and their close relatives participated in this ethnographic study. Data were collected by means of direct observation and semi-structured interviews, conducted in a hospital outpatient clinic and during visits to patients' homes. The following inter-related phases guided the analysis process: reading of the material and data reduction, data display, conclusion outlining and verification. Results. Participants reported that the quality of life is related to autonomy and the ability to work. The dimensions of quality of life included: resuming work and functional ability, body image, having leisure and interpersonal relationships. Their descriptions revealed their feelings and attitudes about resuming their previous activities and social lives, particularly concerning the work. Conclusion. For burn patients, quality of life is associated with the concept of normality, the satisfactory performance of social roles in the context of family life and the social world. The results showed the importance of the sociocultural dimension in the concept of quality of life for persons undergoing burn rehabilitation.
Fluctuations of state anxiety, spinal structure, and postural stabilityacross the menstrual cycle in active women.

BACKGROUND/AIM To investigate differences in state anxiety, spinal posture and mobility, postural competency, and stability across the menstrual cycle in active women. MATERIALS AND METHODS Thirteen physically active women (18-25 years) with a regular menstrual cycle were recruited. Anxiety with the Spielberger State Trait Anxiety Inventory; spinal posture, mobility, and competency with a Spinal Mouse device (Idiag, Fehraltorf, Switzerland); and postural stability with a Biodex Balance System SD (Biodex Medical Systems, Inc., Shirley, NY, USA) were evaluated across phases of the menstrual cycle. RESULTS No significant differences were observed between phases of the menstrual cycle for state anxiety, spinal posture, mobility, or competency (P > 0.05). No differences were found for static postural stability (P > 0.05); however, a significant difference was detected in dynamic postural stability within three phases of the menstrual cycle (P < 0.05). The highest values of overall stability, anterior-posterior and mediolateral indexes were at menses; the lowest values were at the midluteal phase. CONCLUSION State anxiety, spinal posture, mobility, and postural competence did not change across the menstrual cycle. However, dynamic stability declined in menses. Improving awareness of dynamic stability impairment during menses may be important toward injury prevention in active women.
Comparison of Multivariate Data Analysis Strategies for High-Content Screening

High-content screening (HCS) is increasingly used in biomedical research generating multivariate, single-cell data sets. Before scoring a treatment, the complex data sets are processed (e.g., normalized, reduced to a lower dimensionality) to help extract valuable information. However, there has been no published comparison of the performance of these methods. This study comparatively evaluates unbiased approaches to reduce dimensionality as well as to summarize cell populations. To evaluate these different data-processing strategies, the prediction accuracies and the Z′ factors of control compounds of a HCS cell cycle data set were monitored. As expected, dimension reduction led to a lower degree of discrimination between control samples. A high degree of classification accuracy was achieved when the cell population was summarized on well level using percentile values. As a conclusion, the generic data analysis pipeline described here enables a systematic review of alternative strategies to analyze multiparametric results from biological systems.
Stretch‐activated calcium channels relay fast calcium waves propagated by calcium‐induced calcium influx

For nearly 30 years, fast calcium waves have been attributed to a regenerative process propagated by CICR (calcium‐induced calcium release) from the endoplasmic reticulum. Here, I propose a model containing a new subclass of fast calcium waves which is propagated by CICI (calcium‐induced calcium influx) through the plasma membrane. They are called fast CICI waves. These move at the order of 100 to 1000 μm/s (at 20°C), rather than the order of 3 to 30 μm/s found for CICR. Moreover, in this proposed subclass, the calcium influx which drives calcium waves is relayed by stretch‐activated calcium channels. This model is based upon reports from approx. 60 various systems. In seven of these reports, calcium waves were imaged, and, in five of these, evidence was presented that these waves were regenerated by CICI. Much of this model involves waves that move along functioning flagella and cilia. In these systems, waves of local calcium influx are thought to cause waves of local contraction by inducing the sliding of dynein or of kinesin past tubulin microtubules. Other cells which are reported to exhibit waves, which move at speeds in the fast CICI range, include ones from a dozen protozoa, three polychaete worms, three molluscs, a bryozoan, two sea urchins, one arthropod, four insects, Amphioxus, frogs, two fish and a vascular plant (Equisetum), together with numerous healthy, as well as cancerous, mammalian cells, including ones from human. In two of these systems, very gentle local mechanical stimulation is reported to initiate waves. In these non‐flagellar systems, the calcium influxes are thought to speed the sliding of actinomyosin filaments past each other. Finally, I propose that this mechanochemical model could be tested by seeing if gentle mechanical stimulation induces waves in more of these systems and, more importantly, by imaging the predicted calcium waves in more of them.
Digital distribution of games: the players' perspective

The online distribution of games has in the past few years become increasingly commonplace. Currently the brick and mortar retailers and physical copies still hold a dominant position in the overall market but online market -- including online distribution of full game titles, subscription-based models, downloadable content, virtual commodities and related value-added services -- is quickly developing. Still we know very little of the player attitudes towards digital distribution of games. Therefore the study at hand focuses on examining the players' experiences and notions concerning online distribution. Based on the findings the following factors have a significant influence on how players consider digital distribution: amount of time used on game playing, the social activities related to games, familiarity with other forms of downloadable content. A notable majority of those who had downloaded games highlighted the importance of the following issues: wide variety of games available, ease of finding downloadable games, affordability and simple payment methods. At the same time, more than half of these people announced that they still preferred to have their games as physical copies.
Design of a Low Cost Multiple User Virtual Environment for Rehabilitation (MUVER) of Patients with Stroke

We describe the development and preliminary testing of a low cost virtual reality system that patients with stroke or other neurological impairments could use independently in the home on a personal computer to improve upper extremity motor function, including hand and finger control. The system would help meet the needs of the rising number of patients with stroke with impaired hand function. We introduce the concept of a Multiple User Virtual Environment for Rehabilitation (MUVER). The MUVER has three components: the low cost P5 Glove (tracks arm, hand and finger movements), the open source Panda3D game engine, and laboratory created software. A unique aspect of the MUVER design is the system's capability for four types of multiple user interactions: competition, cooperation, counter-operative, and mixed. Such virtual interactions may help to increase patients' motivation to improve and possibly alleviate feelings of social isolation for those who remain homebound. Thus far, a proof of concept virtual environment that uses competitive interaction has been created and tested with six healthy subjects.
Automatic sleep staging based on ballistocardiographic signals recorded through bed sensors

This study presents different methods for automatic sleep classification based on heart rate variability (HRV), respiration and movement signals recorded through bed sensors. Two methods for feature extraction have been implemented: time variant-autoregressive model (TVAM) and wavelet discrete transform (WDT); the obtained features are fed into two classifiers: Quadratic (QD) and Linear (LD) discriminant for staging sleep in REM, nonREM and WAKE periods. The performances of all the possible combinations of feature extractors and classifiers are compared in terms of accuracy and kappa index, using clinical polysomographyc evaluation as golden standard. 17 recordings from healthy subjects, including also polisomnography, were used to train and test the algorithms. When automatic classification is compared. QD-TVAM algorithm achieved a total accuracy of 76.81 ± 7.51 % and kappa index of 0.55 ± 0.10, while LD-WDT achieved a total accuracy of 79 ± 10% and kappa index of 0.51 ± 0.17. The results suggest that a good sleep evaluation can be achieved through non-conventional recording systems that could be used outside sleep centers.
The Effects of Eccentric Exercise on Muscle Function and Proprioception of Individuals Being Overweight and Underweight

Abstract Paschalis, V, Nikolaidis, MG, Theodorou, AA, Deli, CK, Raso, V, Jamurtas, AZ, Giakas, G, and Koutedakis, Y. The effects of eccentric exercise on muscle function and proprioception of individuals being overweight and underweight. J Strength Cond Res 27(9): 2542–2551, 2013—The aim of this study was to estimate the effect of being overweight or underweight on proprioception at rest and after muscle damaging eccentric exercise. Twelve lean, 12 overweight, and 8 underweight female participants performed an eccentric exercise session using the knee extensor muscles of the dominant leg. Muscle damage indices and proprioception were assessed up to 3 days postexercise. The results indicated that proprioception at baseline of the lean individuals was superior to that of the other 2 groups. The overweight individuals exhibited a smaller knee joint reaction angle to release than did the lean group, whereas the underweight individuals exhibited a larger reaction angle to release than did the lean group. After eccentric exercise, proprioception was affected more in the overweight and the underweight groups than in the lean group. The greater exercise-induced muscle damage appeared in the overweight group, and the deficient muscle mass of the underweight participants could explain in part the greater disturbances that appeared in proprioception in these 2 groups than for the lean counterparts. In conclusion, deviating from the normal body mass is associated with significant disturbances in the proprioception of the legs at rest and after participation in activities involving eccentric actions.
Electron and hole drift velocity measurements in silicon and their empirical relation to electric field and temperature

The drift velocity of electrons and holes in silicon has been measured in a large range of the electric fields (from 3 . 102to 6 . 104V/cm) at temperatures up to 430 K. The experimental data have been fitted with a simple formula for the temperatures of interest. The mean square deviation was in all cases less than 3.8 percent. A more general formula has also been derived which allows to obtain by extrapolation drift velocity data at any temperature and electric field.
Implement Community Based Standards of Care

OBJECTIVE To briefly review steps that should be followed in the progression from considering therapeutic options on the basis of evidence-based medicine (EBM) to implementing formulary decisions and clinical guidelines. SUMMARY Results from EBM should guide selection of therapy for routine clinical practice. Pharmacists must spend considerable time carefully reviewing the designs and results of clinical trials and postmarketing information to develop accurate safety and efficacy profiles. The Pharmacy & Therapeutics (P&T) committee also requires pharmacoeconomic data for its deliberations, and that should include information about the economic, clinical, and humanistic value of new therapies. The P&T committee ultimately determines the business value of the new therapy based on the efficacy and safety profile derived from EBM, comparison with treatment alternatives, cost, provider needs, and system orientation. CONCLUSION Proper accomplishment of all of these steps should result in adoption of efficacious, safe, and cost-effective therapies.
Jk3 antibodies complicated with severe fetal anaemia requiring intrauterine transfusion: a case report

Dear Sir, Antibodies against Kidd antigens are recognised in delayed haemolytic transfusion reactions and haemolytic disease of the fetus and newborn (HDFN) (Daniels 2002; Dean 2005; Kim & Lee, 2006). There are three recognised antigens in Kidd group (Jka, Jkb and Jk3) (Issitt & Anstee 1998; Dean 2005; Deelert et al., 2010). Anti-Jk3 is a rare cause of HDFN which often gives rise to less severe HDFN (Dean 2005). Also this Jk-null phenotype, Jk(a−b−), is rare in most populations (Dean 2005). The Kidd system of antigens plays a key role in urea transport through cell membrane of red blood cells (RBCs) (Olives et al., 1995; Dean 2005). This Jk(a−b−) represents the null phenotype and usually results from homozygosity for a silent gene at the Jk locus (Roback et al., 2008). The Kidd blood group gene locus was found to be linked to two different restriction fragment-length polymorphisms assigned to chromosome 18 in 1987 (Lawicki et al., 2016). Anti-Jk3 can be found in patients with the Jk(a−b−) phenotype, causing acute and delayed haemolytic transfusion reactions and HDFN (Dean 2005). The Jk(a−b−) phenotype can be routinely identified by the absence of Jka and Jkb antigens when testing RBCs with specific antiserum using the indirect antiglobulin test (IAT) (Dean 2005). The null phenotype has been described in most ethnic groups worldwide (Geitvik et al., 1987; Roback et al., 2008). There is, however, an increased prevalence of this among certain ethnicities including Polynesians/Pacific Islanders and Southeast Asians (Geitvik et al., 1987; Roback et al., 2008; Makroo et al., 2013). Those with the null phenotype may produce an antibody to the high frequency Jk3 antigen necessitating the requirement of rare, antigen negative blood for transfusion (Geitvik et al., 1987). These rare donor blood products can be extremely difficult to find (Geitvik et al., 1987). Although few case reports with pregnancies complicated by anti-Jk3 have been published, this is the first report with severe HDFN requiring intrauterine transfusion (IUT) treatment. Here, we describe a case complicated with maternal antibodies for Jk3 requiring IUT of maternal blood. A 42-year-old, Sinhala-ethnic Lankan woman, A blood group Rhesus D positive with Jk(a−b−) (null phenotype), gravida 3, para 1 was referred at 29 (+6 days) weeks of gestation to the Fetal Medicine Unit of University Obstetrics Unit at the North Colombo Teaching Hospital due to rising titre of Jk3 antibody
Experimental Parameters Leading to Optimal Bilayers for Total Internal Reflection Fluorescence Microscopy Visualization

Abstract Supported lipid bilayer systems were evaluated following various experimental procedures in an effort to determine their appropriateness for visualization using total internal reflection fluorescence (TIRF) microscopy. The incorporation and distribution of Texas Red® 1,2-dihexadecanoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphoethanolamine (TR-DHPE) was studied when incorporated into bilayers of variable lipid composition using different forms of mechanical shearing. Results showed that 0.8 mol% TR-DHPE provides the most optimum TIRF images. At this concentration, a sufficient level of photostability can be achieved without an undesirable increase in TR-DHPE aggregates caused by excess probe molecules. Solutions composed of a 3:1 molar ratio of DOPC:DPPC with 0.8 mol% TR-DHPE produce bilayers that consistently display clear, distinct, rounded domains, whereas other lipid compositions did not. This optimum phase separation appears to be influenced by an increase in mechanical shearing during the vesicle formation process, when the lipid solutions were exposed to sonication and extrusion processes. The combination of a sonication and extrusion process also helped with eliminating the presence of TR-DHPE aggregates within the model membranes. It was also shown that bilayers formed on conditioned glass, placed on a slide, produced more highly detailed bilayers in which distinct lipid phase separation could be optimally visualized using TIRF microscopy.
CARDIAC AND THERMOREGULATORY EFFECTS OF INSTILLED PARTICULATE MATTER-ASSOCIATED TRANSITION METALS IN HEALTHY AND CARDIOPULMONARY-COMPROMISED RATS

Particulate matter air pollution has been associated with cardiopulmonary morbidity and mortality in many recent epidemiological studies. Previous toxicological research has demonstrated profound cardiac and thermoregulatory changes in rats following exposure to residual oil fly ash (ROFA), a combustion-derived particulate. The response to ROFA appeared biphasic, consisting of both immediate (0-6 h) and delayed (24-96 h) bradycardia and hypothermia. Other studies have demonstrated that much of the pulmonary toxicity of ROFA was caused by its constitutive transition metals, namely, Fe, Ni, and V. This study examined the contributions of these metals to the observed cardiac and thermoregulatory changes caused by ROFA in conscious, unrestrained rats. Prior to exposure, each animal was surgically implanted with a radiotelemetry device capable of continuously monitoring heart rate, electrocardiographic, and core temperature data. Individual metals were intratracheally instilled in healthy rats ( n = 4 per metal species) and in rats with monocrotaline (MCT; 60 mg/kg)-induced pulmonary hypertension ( n = 10 per metal species); combinations of metals were instilled in MCT-treated rats only ( n = 6 per combination of metal species). Metals were administered in doses equivalent to those found in the highest dose of ROFA used in previous studies, that is, 105 w g Fe 2 (SO 4 ) 3 , 263 w g NiSO 4 , and 245 w g VSO 4 . Healthy and MCT-treated rats demonstrated similar responses to metals. Fe caused little response, whereas V caused marked bradycardia, arrhythmogenesis, and hypothermia immediately following instillation and lasting ~6 h. Ni caused no immediate response, but induced a delayed bradycardia, arrhythmogenesis, and hypothermia that began ~24 h after instillation and lasted for several days. When instilled in combination, Ni appeared to exacerbate the immediate effects of V, whereas Fe attenuated them. These data suggest that the biphasic response to instilled ROFA may result from a summation of the temporally different effects of V and Ni.
N‐acetylcysteine for Prevention of Radiographic Contrast Material–Induced Nephropathy: Is the Intravenous Route Best?

Use of oral N‐acetylcysteine for preventing radiographic contrast material–induced nephropathy (RCIN) has become widespread, despite conflicting results from clinical trials and meta‐analyses. The variability in study results may reflect differences in baseline risks in study patients, hydration regimens, choice of contrast agent, definition of RCIN, and the oral dosage formulation of N‐acetylcysteine used. Injectable N‐acetylcysteine recently has become available in the United States. Although oral N‐acetylcysteine regimens are typically administered during a 48‐hour period, more rapid intravenous administration could offer an important advantage for urgent procedures such as coronary angiography. However, the three published studies in which intravenous N‐acetylcysteine protocols were used have produced divergent results, likely because of substantially different dosage regimens. With few intravenous studies available, clinicians may look to more broadly studied oral regimens to estimate equivalent intravenous dosages. In the oral studies, however, a wide range of formulations were used, and the bioavailability of each product was uncertain. In addition, the intravenous route circumvents first‐pass metabolism, resulting in less glutathione production, perhaps compromising the antioxidant effects of N‐acetylcysteine administration. Overall, little evidence exists that any studied N‐acetylcysteine protocol improves clinical outcomes in terms of reducing length of hospital stay, need for dialysis, or mortality. Furthermore, N‐acetylcysteine may directly affect serum creatinine level, which all clinical trials to date have used as a primary outcome measure. If oral or intravenous N‐acetylcysteine is used with the intention of preventing RCIN, more‐established preventive measures should not be overlooked, including adequate hydration with isotonic saline, avoidance of potentially nephrotoxic drugs, and use of iso‐osmolar radiographic contrast media.