Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Primary Sternal Closure with Titanium Plate Fixation: Plastic Surgery Effecting a Paradigm Shift

Background: Postoperative mediastinitis is a serious and potentially lethal complication from cardiac surgery. Although postoperative mediastinitis cannot be reliably predicted, a number of preoperative and intraoperative risk factors have been defined by previous work. The authors now present their cumulative experience with primary sternal fixation of high-risk patients as one preventative measure. Methods: A retrospective review from July of 2000 to October of 2006 was performed on 750 patients who had at least three established risk factors for postoperative mediastinitis and received primary titanium plate sternal fixation. Patients were followed for a minimum of 6 weeks and monitored for pain, instability, wound breakdown, and plate migration. Results: Rigid plate fixation was completed at the end of the primary cardiac surgical procedure in all 750 patients. Sternal dehiscence occurred in 18 patients (2.4 percent), necessitating reexploration. Four of these patients developed postoperative mediastinitis and had other significant comorbidities, such as ongoing inflammatory breast cancer or pneumonia, that were beyond the typical risk factors identified for developing mediastinitis. Successful sternal fixation was therefore accomplished in 732 patients (97.6 percent). Despite changes in instrumentation and technique, this approach was adopted by the cardiac surgical team consistently after an initial mentoring and training period by the plastic surgeons. Conclusions: Primary sternal fixation is a simple and reliable method for prevention of postoperative mediastinitis development in high-risk patients. This technique, conceptualized by plastic surgeons, is now being implemented by cardiac surgeons in increasing numbers. This demonstrates the ability for plastic surgery to initiate a paradigm shift in other fields of medicine and to decrease the complications that primarily affect our practice.
Effect of Chlorantraniliprole on Biochemical and Certain Biomarkers in Various Tissues of Freshwater Fish Labeo rohita(Hamilton)

Fish were exposed for 15 and 30 days to sublethal concentration of chlorantraniliprole (1/20th LC50) and their biochemical constituents, oxidative stress induction potential was estimated in various tissues of fish Labeo rohita. Protein content of the various tissues like liver, kidney, gills, and muscle decreased by (41%, 37%, 63%, and 50%) respectively, The maximum reduction of amino acid content in kidney, liver, gills, and muscle of pesticide exposed fish were (60%, 63%, 62%, and 51%) respectively, the same trend was also observe in glycogen and total lipids content. SOD, CAT, GST, Gpx and LPO levels fluctuated in all tissues, compare to control, at sublethal concentration for 15 and 30 days. These findings may be used as biomarker for water pollution.
Investigating mobility styles using smartphones: advantages and limitations according to a field study in Southern Switzerland

Diffusion of smart mobile devices offers unprecedented opportunities to monitor travel behaviour, by means of the GPS devices they are equipped with: using a suitable application, potentially every smartphone owner can produce huge, inexpensive quantities of data suitable to profile her mobility patterns. We take advantage of this opportunity within the e-mobiliTI project, which aims at analysing the main psychological and behavioural barriers affecting the transition to new mobility solutions. The project sets up a ”living lab” made up of around twenty families and gives them the opportunity to test electric cars and bikes, public transport season tickets and car and bike sharing. Beside traditional social research tools (questionnaires, interviews, focus groups), to analyse their mobility behaviour we use a specifically developed smartphone application. In this paper we present the results of the first phase of our field trial and discuss the major challenges faced so far in the automatic gathering of mobility data: high battery consumption, limited performances of the GPS smartphone devices, problems in the Internet connectivity, limited reliability of the information the application asks to the users and risk that the users quit using the application, due to the lack of immediate compensation for the nuisance of being always monitored and for the daily effort of actively using the application.
High-Resolution Terrain Map from Multiple Sensor Data

The authors present 3-D vision techniques for incrementally building an accurate 3-D representation of rugged terrain using multiple sensors. They have developed the locus method to model the rugged terrain. The locus method exploits sensor geometry to efficiently build a terrain representation from multiple sensor data. The locus method is used to estimate the vehicle position in the digital elevation map (DEM) by matching a sequence of range images with the DEM. Experimental results from large-scale real and synthetic terrains demonstrate the feasibility and power of the 3-D mapping techniques for rugged terrain. In real world experiments, a composite terrain map was built by merging 125 real range images. Using synthetic range images, a composite map of 150 m was produced from 159 images. With the proposed system, mobile robots operating in rugged environments can build accurate terrain models from multiple sensor data. >
Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)-based microfluidic channel with integrated commercial pressure sensors

The precise characterisation of boiling in microchannels is essential for the optimisation of applications requiring two phase cooling. In this paper polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) is employed to make microchannels for characterising microboiling. In particular the material properties of PDMS facilitate rapid prototyping and its optical transparency provides the capability to directly view any fluid flow. The production of microchannels is complicated by the need to integrate custom made sensors. This paper presents a PDMS microfluidic device with integrated commercial pressure sensors, which have been used to perform a detailed characterisation of microboiling phenomena. The proposed approach of integrating commercial pressure sensors into the channel also has potential applications in a range of other microsystems.
Active Engagement Improves Primary Auditory Cortical Neurons' Ability to Discriminate Temporal Modulation

The effect of attention on single neuron responses in the auditory system is unresolved. We found that when monkeys discriminated temporally amplitude modulated (AM) from unmodulated sounds, primary auditory cortical (A1) neurons better discriminated those sounds than when the monkeys were not discriminating them. This was observed for both average firing rate and vector strength (VS), a measure of how well neurons temporally follow the stimulus' temporal modulation. When data were separated by nonsynchronized and synchronized responses, the firing rate of nonsynchronized responses best distinguished AM- noise from unmodulated noise, followed by VS for synchronized responses, with firing rate for synchronized neurons providing the poorest AM discrimination. Firing rate-based AM discrimination for synchronized neurons, however, improved most with task engagement, showing that the least sensitive code in the passive condition improves the most with task engagement. Rate coding improved due to larger increases in absolute firing rate at higher modulation depths than for lower depths and unmodulated sounds. Relative to spontaneous activity (which increased with engagement), the response to unmodulated sounds decreased substantially. The temporal coding improvement—responses more precisely temporally following a stimulus when animals were required to attend to it—expands the framework of possible mechanisms of attention to include increasing temporal precision of stimulus following. These findings provide a crucial step to understanding the coding of temporal modulation and support a model in which rate and temporal coding work in parallel, permitting a multiplexed code for temporal modulation, and for a complementary representation of rate and temporal coding.
The Jordanian primary healthcare practitioner in cancer control

Aim To measure the knowledge, perceptions, and practices of Jordanian primary healthcare practitioners (PHCPs) (physicians, nurses, midwives, and nurse aids) employed in Jordanian Ministry of Health (MoH) primary health clinics with respect to counseling on cancer (cancer screening, the signs and symptoms of cancer, and referral for specialized care). Background Integration of oncology services within primary care is a means of enhancing cancer early detection, and requires involvement of skilled. In the Middle East, little is known about PHCPs’ potential to be providers of such services. Methods A questionnaire measuring PHCP perceptions and practices related to counseling on cancer screening and diagnosis was distributed to PHCPs across MoH clinics covering the main regions of Jordan. Findings A total of 322 practitioners responded (75.1% response). Across most activities involving cancer detection, no more than 30% reported performing activities. Roughly half of PHCPs expressed discomfort at providing cancer-related counseling and at least 43% of non-physicians expressed limited confidence in cancer-related counseling. Confidence was a consistent predictor of provision of counseling and confidence in turn was associated with having greater knowledge, having positive a valuation of counseling, and being a physician. Results reveal points where educational efforts can strengthen PHCPs’ provision of cancer control-related services.
Literature update 1998, part 3

Pre-clinical studies of xenografting continued to be reported in non-human primates [2]. Lambrigts, working with Cooper and others, contributed a complete review of all the published experiments involving discordant organs transplanted into primates [3]. The overall results continue to be disappointing and the published data do not appear to be suf®cient at this time to support the initiation of clinical trials of pig-to-human organ transplantation. Ierino, working with Robson and others, described the onset of disseminated intravascular coagulation at the time of pig organ rejection in primates [4], indicating that there are some particular risks associated with xenogeneic transplantation. There were two follow-up studies from pig-tohuman transplant experiments that were reported previously: one on the ultrastructural ®ndings of pig islets transplanted into diabetic patients [5] and the other on complement activation and deposition in pig kidneys that had been perfused with human blood [6]. Hyperacute rejection
Extreme infrared variables from UKIDSS – II. An end-of-survey catalogue of eruptive YSOs and unusual stars

We present a catalogue of 618 high amplitude infrared variable stars (1 < DeltaK < 5 mag) detected by the two widely separated epochs of 2.2 um data in the UKIDSS Galactic plane survey, from searches covering 1470 deg^2. Most were discovered by a search of all fields at 30 < l < 230 deg. Sources include new dusty Mira variables, three new CV candidates, a blazar and a peculiar source that may be an interacting binary system. However, c. 60 per cent are YSOs, based on spatial association with star forming regions at distances ranging from 300 pc to over 10 kpc. This confirms our initial result in Contreras Pena et al.(Paper I) that YSOs dominate the high amplitude infrared variable sky in the Galactic disc. It is also supported by recently published VVV results at 295 < l < 350 deg. The spectral energy distributions of the YSOs indicate class I or flat spectrum systems in most cases, as in the VVV sample. A large number of variable YSOs are associated with the Cygnus X complex and other groups are associated with the North America/Pelican nebula, the Gemini OB1 molecular cloud, the Rosette complex, the Cone nebula, the W51 star forming region and the S86 and S236 HII regions. Most of the YSO variability is likely due to variable/episodic accretion on timescales of years, albeit usually less extreme than classical FUors and EXors. Luminosities at the 2010 WISE epoch range from c. 0.1 Lsun to 10^3 Lsun but only rarely exceed 10^2.5 Lsun.
Metabolic effects of interleukin‐6 in human splanchnic and adipose tissue

Interleukin‐6 (IL‐6) was infused intravenously for 2.5 h in seven healthy human volunteers at a dose giving rise to a circulating IL‐6 concentration of ≈35 ng l−1. The metabolic effects of this infusion were studied in subcutaneous adipose tissue on the anterior abdominal wall and in the splanchnic tissues by the Fick principle after catheterizations of an artery, a subcutaneous vein draining adipose tissue, and a hepatic vein, and measurements of regional adipose tissue and splanchnic blood flows. In control studies without IL‐6 infusion subcutaneous adipose tissue metabolism was studied by the same technique in eight healthy subjects. The net release of glycerol and fatty acids from the subcutaneous abdominal adipose tissue remained constant in the control experiment. IL‐6 infusion gave rise to increase in net glycerol release in subcutaneous adipose tissue while the net release of fatty acids did not change significantly. In the splanchnic region IL‐6 elicited a pronounced vasodilatation, and the uptake of fatty acids and the gluconeogenic precursors glycerol and lactate increased significantly. The splanchnic net output of glucose and triacylglycerol did not change during the IL‐6 infusion. It is concluded that IL‐6 elicits lipolytic effects in human adipose tissue in vivo, and that IL‐6 also has effects on the splanchnic lipid and carbohydrate metabolism.
Marketing Warfare in the Hospitality Industry: A Case Study of Selected Hotels in Harare, Zimbabwe

The study investigated on the competitive rivalry amongst selected hotels in Harare with a broad aim of determining their competitive profiles. A company’ competitive profile can be market leader, market challenger, market follower or market nicher. Four major hotel groups in Harare were taken for the study and these are; Meikles, Rainbow Towers, African Sun and Cresta Hospitality. African Sun is represented by its flagship hotels: Holiday Inn and Crown Plaza whereas Cresta has Cresta Jameson and Cresta Jameson. A mixed research design methodology was used; the quantitative and qualitative the research approaches. For the quantitative research a total of 25 hotel guests were taken per each hotel to measure satisfaction with hotel services. The data was collected through questionnaires with structured questions. Documentary evidence was used for the qualitative approach. Information on market share, profitability, average room rates and room occupancy was sought from published sources. The study revealed that African Sun is the leading firm with a market share of 35%. The market challenger turned out to be Rainbow Towers whilst Cresta Jameson assumed the market follower status. Meikles stood out to be a market nicher.
Gastroösophagealer Reflux und Asthma

Der mögliche Kausalzusammenhang zwischen GER und Asthma wird seit langem rege und zunehmend diskutiert. Der GER und dadurch verursachte Erkrankungen sind ein Paradebeispiel für die interdisziplinäre Zusammenarbeit mit Blick auf Diagnose, Therapie und klinische Forschung. Nicht nur die internistischen Schwerpunkte, sondern auch das otorhinolaryngologische Fachgebiet sind hierbei von großer Bedeutung. Gerade weil der Grund für den engen Zusammenhang zwischen Asthma und GER bis heute unklar ist, wird auf diesem Gebiet im Rahmen klinischer Studien intensiv geforscht.
60 years of placebo-controlled antipsychotic drug trials in acute schizophrenia: systematic review, Bayesian meta-analysis and meta-regression of efficacy predictors

Objective : Antipsychotic drug efficacy may have decreased over the decades. We, therefore, present a comprehensive meta-analysis of all placebo-controlled trials in acute schizophrenia, we investigate which trial characteristics have changed over the years and which ones are moderators of drug-placebo efficacy differences. Method: We searched multiple electronic databases, ClinicalTrials.gov and the FDA website. The outcomes were overall efficacy (primary outcome), responder rates, drop-out rates, positive, negative and depressive symptoms, quality of life, functioning, and major side-effects. Multiple potential moderators of overall efficacy were analyzed by meta-regression. Results : 167 double-blind randomized controlled trials with 28102 participants were included. The standardized mean difference (SMD) for overall efficacy was 0.47 (95% CrI 0.42,0.51), but accounting for small trial effects/publication bias reduced the SMD to 0.38. 51% in the antipsychotic group versus 30% in placebo had at least a ‘minimal’ response, and 23% versus 14% had a ‘good’ response. Positive symptoms improved more than negative symptoms and depression. There were also small-to medium sized improvements in quality of life and functioning (SMDs 0.35 and 0.34). In the analysis of response predictors, 17 of 26 trial characteristics analyzed changed over the decades. But in a multivariable meta-regression, only industry-sponsorship and increasing placebo response were significant moderators of effect sizes. Importantly, drug response remained stable over time. Conclusions : Approximately two times more patients improved under antipsychotics compared to placebo, but only a minority experienced a good response. Industry sponsorship reduced, rather than increased effect sizes. The decrease of effect sizes over the years was caused by increasing placebo response, not by decreasing drug response. Meta-analyses need to take this confounder into account. In drug development, somewhat smaller sample sizes but better selected patients may overcome a possible vicious circle of increasing sample sizes, more variability and smaller effect sizes.
A MODEL FOR PREDICTING SIGNAL TRANSMISSION PERFORMANCE OF WIRELESS SENSORS IN POULTRY LAYER FACILITIES

Wireless sensor networking technology has great potential to advance monitoring of animal environments. Recent applications are very limited due to a lack of understanding of the performance of wireless sensors in large-scale, concentrated, and confined animal feeding operations. Wireless sensor performance in poultry layer facilities was evaluated through empirical testing of path loss, which was measured as the received signal strength indicator value, using two commercial wireless sensor modules connected in a point-to-point configuration. Significant path loss was caused by free space, animal cages, animal presence, and concrete floor separations. The influence of each affecting factor was modeled based on the single slope derivation of the Friis free space path loss model. The transmission efficiency factor within a single aisleway was found to be 2.6. Fully stocked animal cages yielded an additional 22.5 and 24.9 dB path loss for one and two cages, respectively. Concrete floors separating levels of the test layer facility exhibited an additional path loss compared to the path loss at a similar distance when not separated by concrete. A two-dimensional path loss prediction model was developed based on the log of transmission distance, the number of aisle separations, a second-order aisle separation term, and an interaction term between separation distance and aisle separation. The model was able to predict 86% of the system variability and was able to produce an average error of -0.7 dB for all combined points. The model results are based on experimental measurements made versus a 1 mW transmission source and can thus be accurately scaled to predict the performance of higher or lower power transmission systems within a similarly designed poultry layer facility.
Genetic Variants in the Host Restriction Factor APOBEC3G are Associated With HIV-1–Related Disease Progression and Central Nervous System Impairment in Children

Background:Apolipoprotein B mRNA editing catalytic polypeptide 3G (APOBEC3G) protein is incorporated into nascent virus particles and mediates cytidine deamination (C-to-U) of first-strand reverse transcripts of HIV-1 in target cells resulting in G-to-A hypermutation of the coding strand and premature degradation. We investigated the effects of APOBEC3G genetic variants on HIV-1–related disease in children. Methods:APOBEC3G variants were detected using real-time polymerase chain reaction in HIV-1–infected children from Pediatric AIDS Clinical Trials Group (PACTG) protocols P152 and P300 that evaluated the effectiveness of 3 mono- or dual-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor treatments. Results:Of the 1049 children evaluated, 60% were non-Hispanic black, 26% Hispanic, 13% non-Hispanic white, and 1% other or unknown race/ethnicity. Age ranged from 42 days to 18 years; 45% were males. APOBEC3G-H186R homozygous G/G genotype was associated with more rapid HIV-1 disease progression [hazard ratio (HR): 1.69; P = 0.01] and central nervous system (CNS) impairment (HR: 2.00; P = 0.02) compared with the wild-type A/A or heterozygous A/G genotype in a recessive model. In both additive and dominant models, APOBEC3G-F119F-C allele was associated with protection against disease progression (HR [additive]: 0.69; P = 0.002 and HR [dominant]: 0.60; P = 0.001, respectively) and CNS impairment (HR [additive]: 0.65; P = 0.02 and HR [dominant]: 0.54; P = 0.007, respectively). These associations remained significant in multivariate analyses controlling for baseline characteristics or previously identified genetic variants known to alter HIV-1–related disease in this cohort of children. Conclusions:APOBEC3G-H186R and F119F variants are associated with altered HIV-1–related disease progression and CNS impairment in children.
Stage IV of Piaget's theory of infant's object concepts: a longitudinal study.

GRATCH, GERALD, and LANDERS, WILLIAM F. Stage IV of Piaget's Theory of Infant's Object Concepts: A Longitudinal Study. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1971, 42, 359-372. 13 6-month-old infants were observed biweekly until they were about 12 months of age to replicate and elaborate the observations which Piaget employs to define State IV in the development of object concepts. Piaget observed that when infants first are able to find an object which is visibly hidden in one place, they search for it in that place when it is visibly hidden at a second place. A developmental sequence was found which confirms Piaget's observations and generally supports his explanation.