Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The preparation and characterisation of cells and their scaffolds suitable for tissue repair applications.

In this research, a tissue engineering approach was investigated for the fabrication of homogeneous polymer/cells scaffolds suitable for applications in the clinic, in particular for the treatment of coronary disease and atherosclerosis. Sodium alginate chemically modified with an RGD-containing peptide promoting cell attachment was chosen as the natural polymer for the preparation of matrix/cells constructs. Several conditions were investigated to optimise the derivatisation of the biomaterial, and no major dissimilarities were identified among alginates with different guluronic/mannuronic acid compositions and viscosities during the derivatisation process. Successful incorporation of the GRGDY-pentapeptide onto the alginate was achieved. Amino acid analysis, which allowed a reliable quantification of the degree of peptide attached, demonstrated that the complete pentapeptidic sequence was present in the alginate after completion of the derivatisation procedure. However, a significant loss of the peptide's final tyrosine residue was consistently observed during derivatisation. Studies were also performed using multipotent fibroblast-like plastic-adherent cells recovered from frozen bone marrow samples of adult patients, here defined as human "mesenchymal stem cells" (hMSCs). Prior to the cell immobilisation in the alginate matrix, the optimal conditions for cell expansion in monolayer culture were identified. Cell samples were assessed according to their percent viability at each expansion passage, doubling time, cell growth rate and specific glucose consumption rate. Overall, the highest cell growth kinetics, highest cell viabilities and lowest doubling times were observed for the combined use of serum-/bFGF-supplemented low-glucose DMEM medium and non-coated culture vessels in a 21% dissolved oxygen tension atmosphere. hMSCs expanded for four subsequent passages under these monolayer conditions proved to retain their undifferentiated state and their ability to differentiate toward multiple phenotypes. Finally, alginate/cells beads were prepared and maintained in the optimal culture conditions identified in the monolayer studies. Constructs prepared with either hMSCs or human foreskin fibroblasts in either unmodified alginate or alginate coupled with the GRGDY-pentapeptide were analysed. After immobilisation, both cell types failed to adhere to the matrix and to acquire their characteristic elongated, spindle-shaped morphology. Lack of cell proliferation and.
Classroom level effects of children's prior participation in child care

Previous research indicates that children who spend many hours in early child care exhibit more externalizing behavior problems than children who spend less time in child care. Concern has been expressed regarding the cumulative effect of these problem behaviors on elementary school classes. We collected information about children’s child-care histories from parents of first through fourth graders ( N = 429) and about classroom functioning from their teachers ( N = 31). We analyzed associations between the proportion of children in the class who had spent many hours in care prior to school entry and teachers’ reports of the time they spent in instruction and management, the difficulty they had in teaching and managing the class and the frequency of students’ positive and negative behavior in the classroom. No significant associations were found to support the contention that prior child-care participation negatively affects classroom functioning.
Quality of Inpatient Psychiatric Care at VA, Other Government, Nonprofit, and For-Profit Hospitals: A Comparison.

OBJECTIVE Little is known about the quality of inpatient psychiatric care. This study examined associations between performance on seven measures of inpatient psychiatric quality and hospital ownership. METHODS The study design was a cross-sectional analysis of The Joint Commission's 2014 inpatient psychiatric hospital quality measures. The measures evaluate admission screening for violence risk, substance use, psychological trauma history, and patient strengths; use of seclusion and restraint; the practice of discharging patients on multiple antipsychotics; providing appropriate justification when patients are discharged on multiple antipsychotics; creation of continuing care plans; and transmission of care plans to the next level of care. Participants were 665 inpatient psychiatric facilities accredited by The Joint Commission. RESULTS The mean±SD percentage of patients who received admission screening was 90%±21%; multiple antipsychotics at discharge, 11%±10%; appropriate justification for use of multiple antipsychotics at discharge, 53%±33%; a continuing care plan, 88%±22%; and transmission of the care plan to the next level of care, 82%±23%. Restraint was used for . 32±1.1 hours per 1,000 patient hours, and seclusion was used for . 27±. 8 hours per 1,000 patient hours. Hospital performance on a given measure did not necessarily predict performance on other measures. Government hospitals were low performers, and hospitals owned by the U.S. Department of Veterans Administration (VA) performed worst. CONCLUSIONS Lack of correlation across measures suggests either that inpatient psychiatric care quality is multidimensional or that it is unreliably assessed. Hospital ownership strongly predicted performance, and VA hospitals performed relatively poorly across most measures.
Inverse Problems in Soft Tissue Elastography using Boundary Element Methods

Elastography is an emerging functional imaging technique of current clinical research interest due to a direct relation between mechanical material parameters, especially the tissue stiffness, and tissue pathologies such as cancer. Digital Image Elasto-Tomography (DIET) is a new method that aims to develop elastographic techniques and create a simplified, improved breast cancer screening process. The elastic material information of breast tissue is reconstructed in the DIET concept from mechanically excited steady-state harmonic motion observed on the surface of the breast. While this inversion process has been traditionally approached using finite element methods, this surface-orientated problem is naturally suited to the use of Boundary Element Methods (BEMs) requiring the discretization only on the surface of the domain and on the interface of a potential inclusion. As only approximate information is available about breast tissue material parameters, this thesis presents the development of BEM based inverse problem algorithms suitable for the reconstruction of all material parameters in a proportionally damped isotropic linear elastic solid, where only the material density is known. The highly nonlinear identification process of a potential inclusion is treated through the combination of a systematic Grid-Search with gradient descent techniques. This algorithm is extended to a three-step algorithm that performs a background material parameter estimation before the subsequent identification of an inclusion and thus provides a confident indication for the differentiation between cancerous and healthy breast tissue. The development of these algorithms is illustrated by several simulation studies highlighting important reconstruction behaviors relevant to the elastographic inverse problem. A first experimental test on a silicon based breast phantom is presented.
Robust Simulation of Sparsely Sampled Thin Features in SPH-Based Free Surface Flows

Smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) is efficient, mass preserving, and flexible in handling topological changes. However, sparsely sampled thin features are difficult to simulate in SPH-based free surface flows, due to a number of robustness and stability issues. In this article, we address this problem from two perspectives: the robustness of surface forces and the numerical instability of thin features. We present a new surface tension force scheme based on a free surface energy functional, under the diffuse interface model. We develop an efficient way to calculate the air pressure force for free surface flows, without using air particles. Compared with previous surface force formulae, our formulae are more robust against particle sparsity in thin feature cases. To avoid numerical instability on thin features, we propose to adjust the internal pressure force by estimating the internal pressure at two scales and filtering the force using a geometry-aware anisotropic kernel. Our result demonstrates the effectiveness of our algorithms in handling a variety of sparsely sampled thin liquid features, including thin sheets, thin jets, and water splashes.
Critical assessment of the current state of scientific knowledge, terminology, and research needs concerning the role of organic aerosols in the atmosphere, climate, and global change

In spite of impressive advances in recent years, our present understanding of organic aerosol (OA) composition, physical and chemical properties, sources and transformation characteristics is still rather limited, and their environmental effects remain highly uncertain. This paper discusses and prioritizes issues related to organic aerosols and their effects on atmospheric processes and climate, providing a basis for future activities in the field. Four main topical areas are addressed: i) sources of OA; ii) formation transformation and removal of OA; iii) physical, chemical and mixing state of OA; iv) atmospheric modelling of OA. Key questions and research priorities regarding these four areas are synthesized in this paper, and outstanding issues for future research are presented for each topical area. In addition, an effort is made to formulate a basic set of consistent and universally applicable terms and definitions for coherent description of atmospheric OA across different scales and disciplines.
Convolutional Neural Networks for Image Classification and Captioning

In this paper, we explore the use of convolutional neural networks (CNNs) for the image classification and image captioning problems. These tasks are extremely important in modern computer vision and have numerous applications. We explore the performance of several deep learning models on the image classification problem. We then use a CNN trained for the image classification problem as a feature extractor to describe a simple CNN–RNN architecture that achieves near state-of-the-art performance on the image captioning task.
Xylem vessel relays contribute to radial connectivity in grapevine stems (Vitis vinifera and V. arizonica; Vitaceae).

PREMISE OF THE STUDY Xylem network connections play an important role in water and nutrient transport in plants, but also facilitate the spread of air embolisms and xylem-dwelling pathogens. This study describes the structure and function of vessel relays found in grapevine xylem that form radial and tangential connections between spatially discrete vessels. METHODS We used high-resolution computed tomography, light microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and single-vessel dye injections to characterize vessel relays in stems and compare their distributions and structure in two Vitis species. KEY RESULTS Vessel relays were composed of 1-8 narrow diameter (~25 µm) vessel elements and were oriented radially, connecting vessels via scalariform pitting within a xylem sector delineated by rays. The functional connectedness of vessels linked by vessel relays was confirmed with single-vessel dye injections. In 4.5-cm sections of stem tissue, there were 26% more vessel relays in V. vinifera compared with V. arizonica. • CONCLUSIONS Because of their spatial distribution within Vitis xylem, vessel relays increase the connectivity between vessels that would otherwise remain isolated. Differences in vessel relays between Vitis species suggest these anatomical features could contribute to disease and embolism resistance in some species.
Optimum Heating Conditions for Pan-Frying Beef

The optimum frying conditions for beef were determined by heating a 20 mm •~ 50 mm dia. piece of beef in a pan at various temperatures (120, 160, 180, 200 and 220•Ž). The respective heating times that were necessary to make the center temperature of a samples reach 55, 70 and 85•Ž were measured. After heating, the weight loss, thickness, surface color and hardness were also measured. The results indicate that the hardness and thickness were directly related to the center temperature, regardless of the pan temperature. On the other hand, the pan temperature had strong influence on the surface color, and the range of time for good browning at various pan temperatures could be defined. The heating time calculated by applying the unsteady heat conduction in a semi-infinite plate and the surface browning time range were used to determine the optimum heating conditions for beef. (Received September 5, 1997; Accepted in revised form November 12, 1998)
Efficiency of Conditionally Attenuated Salmonella enterica Serovar Typhimurium in Bacterium-Mediated Tumor Therapy

ABSTRACT Increasing numbers of cancer cases generate a great urge for new treatment options. Applying bacteria like Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium for cancer therapy represents an intensively explored option. These bacteria have been shown not only to colonize solid tumors but also to exhibit an intrinsic antitumor effect. In addition, they could serve as tumor-targeting vectors for therapeutic molecules. However, the pathogenic S. Typhimurium strains used for tumor therapy need to be attenuated for safe application. Here, lipopolysaccharide (LPS) deletion mutants (ΔrfaL, ΔrfaG, ΔrfaH, ΔrfaD, ΔrfaP, and ΔmsbB mutants) of Salmonella were investigated for efficiency in tumor therapy. Of such variants, the ΔrfaD and ΔrfaG deep rough mutants exhibited the best tumor specificity and lowest pathogenicity. However, the intrinsic antitumor effect was found to be weak. To overcome this limitation, conditional attenuation was tested by complementing the mutants with an inducible arabinose promoter. The chromosomal integration of the respective LPS biosynthesis genes into the araBAD locus exhibited the best balance of attenuation and therapeutic benefit. Thus, the present study establishes a basis for the development of an applicably cancer therapeutic bacterium. IMPORTANCE Cancer has become the second most frequent cause of death in industrialized countries. This and the drawbacks of routine therapies generate an urgent need for novel treatment options. Applying appropriately modified S. Typhimurium for therapy represents the major challenge of bacterium-mediated tumor therapy. In the present study, we demonstrated that Salmonella bacteria conditionally modified in their LPS phenotype exhibit a safe tumor-targeting phenotype. Moreover, they could represent a suitable vehicle to shuttle therapeutic compounds directly into cancerous tissue without harming the host. Cancer has become the second most frequent cause of death in industrialized countries. This and the drawbacks of routine therapies generate an urgent need for novel treatment options. Applying appropriately modified S. Typhimurium for therapy represents the major challenge of bacterium-mediated tumor therapy. In the present study, we demonstrated that Salmonella bacteria conditionally modified in their LPS phenotype exhibit a safe tumor-targeting phenotype. Moreover, they could represent a suitable vehicle to shuttle therapeutic compounds directly into cancerous tissue without harming the host.
The significance of serum leptin level in patients with early stage nonsmall cell lung cancer

Backgrounds: The serum leptin level (SLL) has been shown to increase in patients with nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, available data regarding the relation between SLL and tumor subtypes, survival, cachexia, and tumor respectability in NSCLC are still under debate. The aim of this study is to evaluate SLL in NSCLC patients with and without cachexia. Materials and Methods: A total of 71 patients with early stage NSCLC were enrolled in this prospective study. SLL was measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The relationship between SLL and clinicopathological factors including histopathological subtypes, weight loss, overall survival, and tumor resectability were evaluated. Results: Of the 71 patients, 57 (81%) were male with a mean age of 63.3 ± 8.2 years. The rates of histological subtypes of NSCLC were as follows: Squamous cell carcinoma 60.5%, adenocarcinoma 32%, and others 7.2%. Mean SLL was 12.9 ± 38.4 pmol/mL. There was no distinctive difference between SLL, weight loss, and survival. However, when stratifying the groups according to the lung cancer histological subtypes, mean SLL was significantly higher in patients with adenocarcinoma than those with squamous cell subtype (26.9 ± 6.2 pmol/mL vs. 5.1 ± 9.1 pmol/mL, P = 0.004). Conclusions: SLL might be beneficial as a useful biomarker in preclinical setting of NSCLC to guide detecting the lung cancer subtypes as well as monitoring the patients.
Short-Term Crossover Study on the Effect of Orthogonalized Deep-Grooved Posterior Artificial Teeth on the Masticatory Efficiency of Complete Denture Wearers

Background: Mastication has been regarded to play an important role in achieving quality daily life for the elderly. On the occlusal surface of posterior artificial teeth, parallel grooves of 1 mm depth and 1 mm width with an inter-groove distance of 2 mm have been found to significantly improve masticatory efficiency on a mechanical simulator. Materials and Methods: In the present study, the effect of the grooved design on masticatory efficiency in edentulous subjects using a short-term crossover trial was evaluated. Six edentulous participants, 1 male and 5 females, were assigned into two groups. One received duplicated complete dentures with grooved molars first, and the other received duplicated complete dentures with conventional molars first. The design of the teeth was crossover after evaluating masticatory efficiency. Raw carrot, raw lettuce and mixed foodstuffs were used to evaluate masticatory efficiency. Subjects were instructed to masticate 20 strokes and arbitrary strokes until they felt like swallowing. Results: The number of masticatory strokes taken was significantly smaller using the grooved design (p<.05). Masticatory efficiency analysis revealed that the grooved design achieved significantly higher masticatory efficiency at 20 masticatory strokes for raw carrot and mixed foodstuffs (p<.05). Conclusion: Results show that compared with conventional lingualized occlusion, the grooved design accomplishes higher masticatory efficiency in vivo. Considering the distinction of this design that it can be applied to any existing denture occlusion, the design might help improve the dietary life of the elderly.
Impact of vitamin D receptor gene polymorphisms in pathogenesis of Type-1 diabetes mellitus.

BACKGROUND Type 1 diabetes mellitus (TIDM) results from an immune-mediated destruction of insulin-producing-cells in the pancreatic islets of Langerhans. There are clear differences in immunogenetic predisposition to type1 diabetes among countries. Studies have indicated that vitamin D supplementation in early childhood decreases the risk of TIDM. Vitamin D exerts its action via the nuclear vitamin D receptor (VDR), which shows an extensive polymorphism. VDR gene polymorphisms have been associated with altered gene expression or gene function. Four single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the VDR gene produce variation in four recognition sites. These recognition sites variants include Fok I, Bsm I, Apa I and Taq I. AIM OF THE STUDY TO investigate the relationship between VDR gene polymorphisms (at positions Taq I and Apa I) and the incidence of TIDM in Egyptian peoples. SUBJECTS AND METHODS This study included 74 patients with type 1 DM in addition to 28 healthy age and sex matched control subjects. All of them were subjected to full history taking and clinical examination. Three ml of venous blood were withdrawn from each patient at fasting and postprandial times and used for genomic DNA extraction, estimation of Hb A1C, as well as, fasting and postprandial C-peptide and blood glucose levels. RESULTS Apa I recognition site was found in low frequency in diabetic patients (14/74) 18.9% while, its frequency was high (16/28) 57.1% among normal subjects. Taq I has two recognition sites. The first was found at nucleotide number 293 that was found in a frequency of (2/28) 7.1% in normal non-diabetic individuals while it was detected in (14/74) 18.9% in diabetic patients. The second Taq I recognition site was found at nucleotide number 494 without any differences between diabetic and normal individuals. CONCLUSION This study indicates that there is an association between VDR genetic polymorphism and incidence of TIDM in Egyptian patients.
Safety, pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of single doses of rivaroxaban – an oral, direct factor Xa inhibitor – in elderly Chinese subjects

Summary Rivaroxaban is a novel, oral, direct factor Xa (FXa) inhibitor for the prevention and treatment of thromboembolic disorders. The aim of this study was to investigate the safety, pharmacokinetics (PK) and pharmacodynamics (PD) of rivaroxaban in healthy, elderly Chinese subjects. In this single-centre, single-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group, dose-escalation study, 79 subjects, aged 59–74 years (mean 62.8), were randomised to receive once-daily oral doses of rivaroxaban 5, 10, 20, 30 or 40 mg. Rivaroxaban was well tolerated: there was a low incidence of treatment-emergent adverse events and all events were of mild intensity. Rivaroxaban was absorbed rapidly, reaching maximum plasma concentrations within 2–4 hours. The PK of rivaroxaban were dose dependent over the dose range tested. Maximal inhibition of FXa occurred 2–3 hours after dosing and returned to baseline after 24–48 hours, reflecting rivaroxaban plasma concentrations. Inhibition of FXa was associated with dose-dependent effects on global clotting tests. There were no clinically relevant differences in rivaroxaban plasma concentrations between male and female subjects. In conclusion, rivaroxaban was well tolerated and was found to have predictable PK and PD in healthy, elderly Chinese subjects.