Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Efficient inhibition of cervical cancer by dual drugs loaded in biodegradable thermosensitive hydrogel composites

Background and Purpose We aimed to explore the anti-tumor effect and mechanism of the combination of cisplatin (DDP)-containing thermosensitive hydrogel (PEG-PCL-PEG, or PECE) and paclitaxel (PTX)-loaded MPEG-PCL polymeric micelles called PDMP on human cervical carcinoma (HeLa) cell. In our previous studies, we found that PDMP in situ treatment of lung cancer will be liable to have potential in Lung cancer patients. Results Compared with other treatments, PDMP was most effective in prolonging survival time (P < 0.05), inhibiting tumor growth (P < 0.05), decreasing expression of CD133 (P < 0.05), CD31 (P < 0.05), and aldehyde dehydrogenase 1 (ALDH1) (P > 0.05), inducing G1 phase arrest (P < 0.05), increasing the apoptosis rate (P < 0.05), and in expressing ATM and γ-H2AX (P < 0.05). Conclusions PDMP is regarded as a promising anti-tumor reactant, when it comes to the treatment of cervical carcinoma. Methods we used a xenograft cervical cancer model to verify the anti-tumor activity of PDMP and to explore its mechanism of action. Mice were intratumorally administered with NS, PECE, PTX+DDP or PDMP. After two days of treatment, three mice per group were sacrificed and tumor tissue was harvested. Levels of histone H2AX phosphorylation (γ-H2AX) were determined by immunohistochemistry and ataxia telangiectasia mutated(ATM) protein levels were measured by western blot analysis. In addition, it would sacrifice each of group of three mice through 10 days’ treatment, what’s more, it would harvest tumor by virtue of flow cytometry and immunohistochemical analysis. It would like to use there maining mice to analyze tumor growth and survival. The remaining mice were analyzed for tumor growth and survival.
Acute Fracture Neck of Femur Among Inpatients: Severe Injuries Which Need to be Taken Seriously

Objectives This study assesses fall prevention measures and subsequent incident reporting of falls resulting in an “inpatient fracture neck of femur (FNOF)” within a single NHS Trust, with the aim of identifying potential areas of improvement and changing practice within a Trust. Methods Forty patients (mean age, 82.6 years) sustained an injury while being treated in hospital for an unrelated cause between January 2012 and June 2013. Case notes and incident reports were analyzed retrospectively. Results Thirty-three (82.5%) of 40 patients had at least 1 fall screen on admission, with 27 patients (81.8%) identified as a fall risk. Fifteen patients (37.5%) had at least one fall before sustaining a FNOF. Fifteen falls occurred between midnight—0500 hours and only 4 falls were witnessed. Thirty-nine of 40 falls were reported, but none were rated as “severe” injuries. Twenty-eight (71.8%) of 39 patients had a root cause analysis performed for the injury, but only 10 root cause analyses (25.6%) produced an action plan. Fifty percent of patients died within 1 year of injury. Conclusion Accurate fall risk assessments and adequate patient supervision are essential to minimize risks of falls, as the inpatient FNOF is linked to a higher mortality rate than patients injured in the community. A standardized method of analyzing such incidents and dissemination of the results of investigation are also required to reduce the risk of similar incidents from occurring within the hospital environment.
Repeatable and adjustable on-demand sciatic nerve block with phototriggerable liposomes

Significance We demonstrate an injectable drug-delivery system that would allow patients to adjust the timing, duration, and intensity of local anesthesia in painful parts of the body. Such on-demand analgesia could greatly enhance the management of a variety of pain states. Light-sensitive liposomes containing the potent local anesthetic tetrodotoxin induced sensory and motor nerve block in vivo upon irradiation with a 730-nm laser. The timing, duration, and intensity of the nerve blockade were adjustable by the timing, irradiance, and duration of irradiation. Tissue reaction to the formulation and associated irradiation was benign. Pain management would be greatly enhanced by a formulation that would provide local anesthesia at the time desired by patients and with the desired intensity and duration. To this end, we have developed near-infrared (NIR) light-triggered liposomes to provide on-demand adjustable local anesthesia. The liposomes contained tetrodotoxin (TTX), which has ultrapotent local anesthetic properties. They were made photo-labile by encapsulation of a NIR-triggerable photosensitizer; irradiation at 730 nm led to peroxidation of liposomal lipids, allowing drug release. In vitro, 5.6% of TTX was released upon NIR irradiation, which could be repeated a second time. The formulations were not cytotoxic in cell culture. In vivo, injection of liposomes containing TTX and the photosensitizer caused an initial nerve block lasting 13.5 ± 3.1 h. Additional periods of nerve block could be induced by irradiation at 730 nm. The timing, intensity, and duration of nerve blockade could be controlled by adjusting the timing, irradiance, and duration of irradiation. Tissue reaction to this formulation and the associated irradiation was benign.
High mobility group box-1 (HMGB-1) in osteoarthritic cartilage.

OBJECTIVES Nucleosomal high mobility group box-1 (HMGB-1) is translocated and released from necrotic and activated cells as an endogenous danger signal (alarmin) and cytokine. It was hypothesised that it plays a role in osteoarthritis (OA). characterised by cellular activation, inflammation and enchondral bone formation. METHODS Bovine knee joint samples, collected from culled animals, were scored using histologic/histochemical grading to intact looking, mild, moderate or severe and immunohistochemically stained for HMGB-1. Chondrocyte pellets, produced from human bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells and stimulated with tumour necrosis factor-a (TNF-alpha), were similarly stained. RESULTS In healthy looking OA cartilage chondrocyte nuclei were usually HMGB-1 negative and in mild OA staining was restricted to nuclei. In moderate OA lesions HMGB-1 was also seen in the cytoplasm and occasionally pericellular matrix and in severe OA lesions often also in intra- and inter-territorial matrix. The tidemark in healthy cartilage did not contain HMGB-1, which however was seen at this interface as linear deposits even in intact-looking and mild OA lesions, as multiple wave-like deposits in moderate and as heavy granular deposits in severe lesions. TNF-alpha stimulation of chondrocytes caused translocation of HMGB-1 from the nucleus to the cytoplasm. CONCLUSIONS In resting chondrocytes tight nucleosomal HMGB-1 binding might cause steric hindrance of immunostaining. TNF-alpha- or OA-mediated activation leads to nuclear staining and cytoplasmic translocation. Advancing OA leads to increasingly intense extra-/pericellular deposition of HMGB-1 alarmin, indicating local chondrocyte activation and/or necrosis. In particular, HMGB-1 at the tidemark might play a role in the pathological thickening of subchondral bone plate/osteophyte formation.
Bone Marrow Erythroid Precursor Ca++ Regulates the Response to Human Recombinant Erythropoietin (Rhuepo) in Hemodialysis Patients

The modulation of erythropoiesis by erythropoietin is conditioned by the concentration of Ca++ in the cytoplasm of the bone marrow erythroid precursors. We evaluated in vitro erythroid colony development from bone marrow erythroid precursors incubated with increasing concentrations of Ca++ or Ca++ plus 1,25 (OH)2 D3, and bone marrow erythroid precursor cytoplasmic Ca++ concentrations in 10 anemic hemodialysis (HD) patients before and during rHuEPO therapy. Results showed that: a) in vitro: in uremics patients before rHuEPO therapy, bone marrow erythroid precursor cytoplasmic Ca++ was lower than in normal subjects; the addition of Ca++ to the bone marrow erythroid precursors induced a dose-dependent Ca++ and erythroid colony development increase; 1,25 (OH)2 D3 potentiated this effect; b) in vivo: rHuEPO normalized bone marrow erythroid precursor Ca++ and erythroid colony development. An inverse correlation was seen between bone marrow erythroid colony development, precursor CA++ before therapy, the in vitro erythroid and the rHuEPO dose needed in vivo to normalize hematological parameters. These data emphasize the role of Ca++ in erythropoiesis and may aid understanding of the mode of action of rHuEPO in HD.
Two-stage model fitting approach for human body shape estimation from a single depth image

Recovering an accurate 3D human body shape from a single depth image is one of the challenging problems in computer vision due to sensor noises, complexity of human body shapes, and variation of individual body shapes. In this paper, we address the problem using a two-stage model fitting approach. At the first stage, a coarse template model is fitted to the human pose of the input depth image using skeleton deformation. Then the model is fitted to the human shape by Laplacian surface editing. This fitting may corrupt the human-like shape of the template model due to the incompleteness of depth information. Then in the second stage, body shape details are recovered by fitting of a fine model to the deformed template by Stitched Puppet model fitting. Several experiments demonstrate that our approach recovers the most likely body shape of the input and deals with over a variety of input body shapes.
Network Kernel SVM for microarray classification and gene sets selection

The importance of network-based approach to identifying biological markers has been increasingly recognized. Lots of papers indicated that genes in a network tend to function together in biological processes, so taking full advantage of the biological observation can improve the performance of microarray classification. However, lots of SVM methods don't consider this situation during their classifier building. The main idea of this paper intends to embed the information of gene networks into a new SVM learning framework. Based on a new regularization, we propose a novel method, Network Kernel SVM (NK-SVM), for binary classification problem and gene sets selection. By constructing some special kernel matrixes from the prior information of gene network, the new NK-SVM method makes the genes in the same set to be selected (or eliminated) together. The numerical experiments on a real microarray application show that the proposed method tends to provide a better performance than other methods on gene sets selection.
Artificial neural network-aided image analysis system for cell counting.

BACKGROUND In histological preparations containing debris and synthetic materials, it is difficult to automate cell counting using standard image analysis tools, i.e., systems that rely on boundary contours, histogram thresholding, etc. In an attempt to mimic manual cell recognition, an automated cell counter was constructed using a combination of artificial intelligence and standard image analysis methods. METHODS Artificial neural network (ANN) methods were applied on digitized microscopy fields without pre-ANN feature extraction. A three-layer feed-forward network with extensive weight sharing in the first hidden layer was employed and trained on 1,830 examples using the error back-propagation algorithm on a Power Macintosh 7300/180 desktop computer. The optimal number of hidden neurons was determined and the trained system was validated by comparison with blinded human counts. System performance at 50x and lO0x magnification was evaluated. RESULTS The correlation index at 100x magnification neared person-to-person variability, while 50x magnification was not useful. The system was approximately six times faster than an experienced human. CONCLUSIONS ANN-based automated cell counting in noisy histological preparations is feasible. Consistent histology and computer power are crucial for system performance. The system provides several benefits, such as speed of analysis and consistency, and frees up personnel for other tasks.
Mycobacterium grossiae sp. nov., a rapidly growing, scotochromogenic species isolated from human clinical respiratory and blood culture specimens.

A previously undescribed, rapidly growing, scotochromogenic species of the genus Mycobacterium (represented by strains PB739T and GK) was isolated from two clinical sources - the sputum of a 76-year-old patient with severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, history of tuberculosis exposure and Mycobacterium avium complex isolated years prior; and the blood of a 15-year-old male with B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia status post bone marrow transplant. The isolates grew as dark orange colonies at 25-37 °C after 5 days, sharing features in common with other closely related species. Analysis of the complete 16S rRNA gene sequence (1492 bp) of strain PB739T demonstrated that the isolate shared 98.8 % relatedness with Mycobacterium wolinskyi. Partial 429 bp hsp65 and 744 bp rpoB region V sequence analyses revealed that the sequences of the novel isolate shared 94.8 and 92.1 % similarity with those of Mycobacterium neoaurum and Mycobacterium aurum, respectively. Biochemical profiling, antimicrobial susceptibility testing, HPLC/gas-liquid chromatography analyses and multilocus sequence typing support the taxonomic status of these isolates (PB739T and GK) as representatives of a novel species. Both isolates were susceptible to the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute recommended antimicrobials for susceptibility testing of rapidly growing mycobacteria including amikacin, ciprofloxacin, moxifloxacin, doxycycline/minocycline, imipenem, linezolid, clarithromycin and trimethropin/sulfamethoxazole. Both isolates PB739T and GK showed intermediate susceptibility to cefoxitin. We propose the name Mycobacterium grossiae sp. nov. for this novel species and have deposited the type strain in the DSMZ and CIP culture collections. The type strain is PB739T (=DSM 104744T=CIP 111318T).
Decision making in the treatment of peripheral arterial disease - A single-institution comparative study using information from color doppler and digital subtraction angiogram studies

Abstract Background: Numerous studies have compared the accuracy of color Doppler (CD) with that of digital subtraction angiography (DSA) in the diagnosis of peripheral arterial disease (PAD). However, only a few have looked at the influence of these diagnostic tests on the treatment decision in PAD. Aim: This study evaluated the differences in treatment decisions that were based on CD and with those based on DSA findings. Methods and Materials: Findings from CD and DSA studies obtained in 40 patients were entered on line diagrams by two radiologists working separately. These were randomized and sent to three experienced clinicians - two vascular surgeons and one interventional radiologist. The treatment decisions of the clinicians based on each proforma were collected and analyzed to look for the degree of agreement between Doppler-based and DSA-based decisions. Results: There was fair to moderate agreement between CD-based and DSA-based decisions for all three clinicians, with some improvement in agreement with the addition of clinical data. The vascular surgeons showed better agreement with each other on treatment decisions compared to the interventional radiologist who showed a fair-to-moderate level of agreement with the vascular surgeons, which did not significantly change with the addition of clinical data. Conclusion: There is a fair to moderate agreement between treatment decisions based on CD findings and those based on DSA findings. We conclude that CD along with clinical data is sufficient to make decisions in the treatment of PAD.
Similar estimates of population genetic composition and sex ratio derived from carcasses and faeces of Eurasian otter Lutra lutra

Collecting faeces is viewed as a potentially efficient way to sample elusive animals. Nonetheless, any biases in estimates of population composition associated with such sampling remain uncharacterized. The goal of this study was to compare estimates of genetic composition and sex ratio derived from Eurasian otter Lutra lutra spraints (faeces) with estimates derived from carcasses. Twenty per cent of 426 wild‐collected spraints from SW England yielded composite genotypes for 7–9 microsatellites and the SRY gene. The expected number of incorrect spraint genotypes was negligible, given the proportions of allele dropout and false allele detection estimated using paired blood and spraint samples of three captive otters. Fifty‐two different spraint genotypes were detected and compared with genotypes of 70 otter carcasses from the same area. Carcass and spraint genotypes did not differ significantly in mean number of alleles, mean unbiased heterozygosity or sex ratio, although statistical power to detect all but large differences in sex ratio was low. The genetic compositions of carcass and spraint genotypes were very similar according to confidence intervals of θ and two methods for assigning composite genotypes to groups. A distinct group of approximately 11 carcass and spraint genotypes was detected using the latter methods. The results suggest that spraints can yield unbiased estimates of population genetic composition and sex ratio.
An ecological risk assessment for triclosan in lotic systems following discharge from wastewater treatment plants in the United States

A modeling study was conducted to examine the distribution of concentrations of the antimicrobial triclosan (2,4,4′‐trichloro‐2′‐hydroxydiphenyl ether) in rivers following discharge from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). Most uses of triclosan are disposed of down residential drains and ultimately reach WWTPs. A modeling analysis was conducted to simulate the discharge of triclosan in WWTP effluents to rivers and calculate the expected concentrations based on characteristics of the reach where the discharge occurred, the estimated concentration of triclosan in the WWTP effluent, and the physicochemical properties of triclosan. A probabilistic exposure assessment was conducted based on data on the characteristics of U.S. reaches receiving wastewater discharges and the physicochemical characteristics of triclosan. A risk assessment was conducted by comparing the estimated concentrations with toxicity endpoint concentrations for species representative of key ecological groups. For fish and invertebrates, neither acute nor chronic risks are of concern, and no concerns exist for vascular aquatic plants. However, certain types of algae are the most sensitive species to triclosan by more than an order of magnitude than other algal or aquatic plant species. For these algae, the potential exists for some risk from triclosan exposure near the WWTP discharge location during low‐flow‐rate periods for some WWTPs with small dilutions. The risks downstream are lower because of dissipation of triclosan.
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN RISKY BEHAVIOR AND HIV AND HEPATITIS C VIRUS INFECTION IN AFGHANISTAN

This study aims to investigate the relationship the high risk injecting behaviour and high rate of HCV infection . Since , most rate of HIV infections are related to injecting drug use . Afghanistan includes about 74% of the world’s opium production in world . There are some influential factors to increase some infection diseases such as poor socioeconomic conditions , high opium production, international policies against drug trafficking and expanding trafficking routes that may have facilitated heroin consumption . The addiction pattern in Afghanistan changed from smoking to injecting, which is a more cost-effective and a faster method of drug delivery. Some programs such as access to needle and syringe exchange programs and other harm reduction services must be continued to provide a comprehensive package of harm reduction services in order to reduce exposures associated with HIV and HCV infection.
[Prevalence of arterial hypertension and lipid profile in HIV patients].

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE It is not known whether human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients present, compared to non-HIV controls, higher vascular risk factors. Our objective was to analyze whether there are differences in blood pressure in HIV patients compared to non-HIV controls. PATIENTS AND METHOD We retrospectively analyzed all HIV patients controlled in our centre, who were compared with a control group of blood donors, matched for age and sex, blood pressure and lipid profile. We evaluated the following variables: demographic data, date of HIV diagnosis, presence of lipodystrophy, antiretroviral treatment, duration of this treatment, and vascular risk factors. RESULTS We evaluated 740 patients (mean age: 41.8 years; 75% men). We detected a higher prevalence of hypertension in the HIV group (25% vs. 15%) with a significant difference in the mean systolic/diastolic blood pressure between both groups (p < 0.0001). In the HIV group, hypertensives were older than normotensives, and had higher prevalence of lipodystrophy and higher total cholesterol with a shorter disease duration (75 vs 85 months). In the total group of hypertensives, HIV patients were younger than non-HIV (44.2 vs 47.9 years; p < 0.009) and had higher total cholesterol values (5.44 vs 5.18 mmol/l; p < 0.052). CONCLUSIONS We found a higher prevalence of hypertension in HIV patients compared with matched controls, as well as a higher prevalence of lipodystrophy and vascular risk factors in hypertensive HIV patients compared with non-hypertensive.
Efficacy and feasibility of gemcitabine and carboplatin as first‐line chemotherapy in elderly patients with advanced non‐small cell lung cancer

Background Although platinum‐based chemotherapy is a standard first‐line treatment in advanced non‐small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), further research for the safety and efficacy of combination chemotherapy in elderly patients has been required. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of gemcitabine and carboplatin as first‐line treatment in elderly patients with advanced NSCLC and to evaluate the prognostic factors. Methods Eligibility included: (1) age of 70 years or more, (2) histologically confirmed NSCLC, (3) chemotherapy‐naïve, (4) advanced disease with stage IIIB or IV, (5) Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status (PS) 0‐2, (6) adequate organ function. Patients received intravenous carboplatin (area under curve (AUC)=5) on day 1 and gemcitabine (1000 mg/m2) on days 1 and 8, every 3 weeks. Results The medical records of forty patients were reviewed retrospectively. Median age was 73.9 years (range, 70‐84.6), and there were 27 men (67.5%). Thirty‐seven patients (92.5%) had ECOG PS 0‐1. Adenocarcinoma was found in 57.5%. Median cycles were administrated with 4.5 per person (range: 1‐6). Best responses were partial response in 22 (55.0%) patients and stable disease (SD) in 13 (32.5%). The median progression free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were 5.9 months (95% CI: 4.5‐7.3 months) and 9.6 months (95% CI: 8.2‐11.0 months), respectively. Grade 4 hematologic toxicities for neutropenia (7.5%), thrombocytopenia (7.5%) and anemia (5.0%) were observed. Histology was significant prognostic factor for PFS (P=0.024). Conclusion Gemcitabine and carboplatin combination chemotherapy is an effective and manageable treatment option in elderly advanced NSCLC patients with good performance status.