Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Hospital environment, nurse-physician relationships and quality of care: questionnaire survey.

AIM This paper is a report of a study conducted to (a) to compare hospitalized patients' and nurses' perceptions of the hospital environment, nurse-physician relationships and quality of care; (b) to determine which factors best predict the quality of care from hospitalized patients' and nurses' perspectives; and (c) to assess the relationships among all variables. BACKGROUND Quality of care is a function of many factors and includes elements of the hospital environment and nurse-physician relationships. However, comparisons between patients' and nurses' perceptions are relatively limited. METHODS This was a cross-sectional study, and 575 patients and 220 nurses across 13 units completed questionnaires. Data were collected in 2009 and analysed using descriptive statistics, independent t-tests, stepwise regression and path analysis. RESULTS Overall, patients' mean scores were statistically significantly higher than those of nurses on perception of hospital environment (3·05 vs. 2·65 points), nurse-physician relationships (7·88 vs. 6·53 points) and quality of care (7·91 vs. 6·63 points) (P < 0·001). Both the hospital environment and nurse-physician relationships were statistically significant predictors of quality of care. Path analysis showed that quality of care was affected by the hospital environment, nurse-physician relationships and years of education for patients (P < 0·05). However, for nurses, quality of care was only directly affected by the hospital environment and nurse-physician relationships (P < 0·05). CONCLUSION These findings may help nursing leaders to ensure future excellent patient care by helping them to see which areas need improvement. They may also help nursing leaders to develop strategies to meet patients' and nurses' expectations.
SPERM COMPETITION AND MATE HARM UNRESPONSIVE TO MALE‐LIMITED SELECTION IN DROSOPHILA: AN EVOLVING GENETIC ARCHITECTURE UNDER DOMESTICATION

Earlier research by W.R. Rice showed that experimentally limiting gene expression to males in Drosophila melanogaster leads to the rapid evolution of higher fitness. Using a similar male‐limited (ML) selection protocol, we confirmed that result and showed that eliminating intralocus sexual conflict results in a comprehensive remodeling of the sexually dimorphic phenotype. However, despite starting from laboratory‐evolved descendants of the same founder population used in earlier work, we found no evidence for the increased performance in sperm competition or increased postmating harm to females previously demonstrated. We employed females with both ancestral population genotypes and those of the special “clone generator” females used in ML selection. Despite strong differences in sperm storage or usage patterns between these females, there was no detectable adaptation by males to the specific female stock used in the selection protocol. The lack of evolution of postcopulatory traits suggests either that requisite genetic variation was eliminated by long‐term domestication of the base population, or that complex male‐by‐male‐by‐female interactions made these traits unavailable to selection. The different evolutionary outcomes produced by two very similar experiments done at different time points underscores the potential for cryptic adaptation in the laboratory to qualitatively affect inferences made using quantitative genetic methodologies.
Noninvasive measurement of human ascending colon volume

The capacitance and motor functions of the colon are important determinants of its overall function. A simple, noninvasive method to quantify regional colonic volume is required for further physiologic and pharmacologic studies. Our aim was to determine whether measurements of human ascending colon (AC) volume using two-dimensional (2-D) images are as accurate as estimates using three-dimensional (3-D) images. Five healthy male volunteers each ingested a methacrylate-coated capsule containing 99Tcm-labelled Amberlite pellets. Two- and 3-D images were obtained using a gamma camera with single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) capability. Ascending colon volume was estimated by a variable region of interest (VROI) program and by full-width half-maximum (FWHM) analysis, and results were compared to the volume estimates by SPECT. Full-width half-maximum analysis yielded volume estimates that were not significantly different from SPECT (slope = 1.093; t = 0.51; P>0.5), whereas VROI estimates were significantly different from volume measurements by SPECT and, hence, considered less accurate (slope = 0.438; t = 4.93; P<0.02). Thus, the less expensive and more easily available planar imaging technique with analysis by FWHM estimates AC volume as accurately as SPECT.
Detection of enterotoxigenic Clostridium perfringens in food and fecal samples with a duplex PCR and the slide latex agglutination test

A duplex PCR procedure was evaluated for the detection of Clostridium perfringens in food and biological samples and for the identification of enterotoxigenic strains. This method uses two sets of primers which amplify in the same reaction two different DNA fragments simultaneously: the 283-bp C. perfringens phospholipase C gene fragment and the 426-bp enterotoxin gene fragment. Internal primers within the two primer sets confirmed the specificity of the method by DNA-DNA hybridization with the PCR products. No cross-reaction was observed with other Clostridium species or with other bacteria routinely found in food. The detection level was approximately 10(5) C. perfringens cells per g of stool or food sample. When overnight enrichment culture was used, 10 C. perfringens cells per g was detected in 57 artificially contaminated food samples. The duplex PCR is a rapid, sensitive, and reliable method for the detection and identification of enterotoxigenic C. perfringens strains in food samples. A slide latex agglutination test was also evaluated as a rapid, simple technique for the detection of C. perfringens enterotoxin in stool samples.
Conducting polymer discotic hybrids for organic semiconductor applications

We report the preliminary results of triphenylene pyrrole hybrid molecules in an attempt to introduce self-assembled crystallinity into electroconductive polymers, in order to increase the polymer performance. However, to date, the solution state electropolymerisation has resulted in amorphous films, with no sign of crystallinity.
A PILOT STUDY EVALUATING EFFICACY OF TWO DOSING REGIMENS FOR REPLETION OF HYPOVITAMINOSIS D IN PEDIATRIC INFLAMMATORY BOWEL DISEASE

BACKGROUND/AIMS—Vitamin D is critical for skeletal health, hypovitaminosis D is common in pediatric IBD, yet optimal repletion therapy is not well studied. We aimed to conduct a pilot trial comparing the efficacy of two Vitamin D regimens of weekly dosing for repletion of hypovitaminosis D in pediatric IBD. METHODS—Subjects identified from our IBD clinic with 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) concentrations below 30 ng/mL were randomized to 10,000 (n=18) or 5,000 (n=14) IU of oral vitamin D3/10 kg body weight/week for six weeks. Serum 25(OH)D, Ca, and PTH concentrations were measured at baseline, week 8 and week 12. RESULTS—In the higher dosing group, serum 25(OH)D increased from 23.7 ±8.5 ng/mL at baseline to 49.2 ±13.6 ng/mL at 8 weeks; P<0.001. In the lower dosing group, serum 25(OH)D increased from 24.0 ±7.0 ng/mL at baseline to 41.5 ±9.6 ng/mL at 8 weeks; P<0.001. At 12 weeks, serum 25(OH)D concentrations were 35.1 ± 8.4 ng/mL and 30.8 ± 4.2 ng/mL for the higher and lower dose regimens, respectively. Mean serum Ca and PTH concentrations did not significantly change during the study. No patient exhibited hypercalcemia, and no serious adverse events occurred. CONCLUSIONS—Both treatment arms were safe and effective at normalizing vitamin D nutriture in pediatric IBD. While significant repletion of 25(OH)D concentration was achieved in the lower dose group at 8 weeks, this effect was lost by the 12-week follow-up. Maintenance Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work AND Revising the work critically for important intellectual content; AND Final approval of the version to be published; AND Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved. Kugathasan: Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND revising the work critically for important intellectual content; AND Final approval of the version to be published; AND Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved. Simek et al. Page 2 J Pediatr Gastroenterol Nutr. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2017 February 01. A uhor M anscript
Properties of pilot-operated water hydraulic relief valve with different structure parameters

Computational fluid dynamics methods were applied to obtain the static velocity distributions in the main stage channel of the valve with different structure parameters or different pressure and flow rate.The effects of the structural parameters on the stream were investigated.The structural parameters were optimized on the basis of information obtained from simulation.Experimental results showed that the(pilot-)operated water hydraulic relief valve had good properties,3% lower hysteresis,88% higher stabilization precision,shorter than 0.075 s raising time,and 14% lower overshoot.Optimization of the structure parameters of the pilot-operated water hydraulic relief valve can increase the static property.Use of computational fluid dynamics approaches can also improve its response characteristic.
Melanoma of the female urethra

Melanoma is a malignant tumor that can affect any area of the anatomical economy. Its appearance in the female urethra is extremely rare, with approximately 121 cases in indexed literature since 1966. The subject to be described is an 86-year-old woman who seeks assessment for intermittent macroscopic hematuria with blood clots of 3 months progression. On physical examination, there are no suspicious lesions detected on the surface of the skin. On external genital examination, it is observed a friable lesion at the level of the urethral meatus, with heterogeneous digitations, dark brown to black, and irregular polycyclic borders. No inguinal adenomegalies were palpated. Cystourethroscopy and biopsy of the lesion confirm the diagnosis. Melanoma of the female urethra is an extremely infrequent pathology. Due to lack of published case reports and the absence of prospective randomized trials on treatment outcomes, treatment must be directed using the same anatomical and surgical criteria for female urethral tumors, adding also the concepts of treatment of mucosal melanoma, even though its prognosis is different from the before mentioned.
Reading the brain visual system as an inverse problem

Standard inference in neuroimaging consists in describing brain activations elicited and modulated by different kinds of stimuli. Recently however, paradigms have been studied in which the converse operation is performed, thus inferring behavioral or mental states associated with activation images. Here, we use the well-known retinotopy of the visual cortex to infer the visual content of real scenes from the activation patterns that they elicit. We present an explicit decoding technique, based on the current knowledge of the retinotopic structure of the visual areas. Our algorithm can predict the stimulus identity with significant accuracy
Transcriptomic alterations in human prostate cancer cell LNCaP tumor xenograft modulated by dietary phenethyl isothiocyanate

Temporal growth of tumor xenografts in mice on a control diet was compared to mice supplemented daily with 3 µmol/g of the cancer preventive compound phenethyl isothiocyanate. Phenethyl isothiocyanate decreased the rate of tumor growth. The effects of phenethyl isothiocyanate on tumor growth were examined by RNAseq to elucidate molecular changes that may contribute to tumor growth suppression. Bio‐informatic analysis of differentially expressed genes identified changes in inflammation and extracellular matrix pathways that were modulated by treatment with phenethyl isothiocyanate. Specific gene expression changes in these pathways included up‐regulation of insulin‐like growth factor binding protein 3, fibronectin, thyroxine degradation enzyme, and down regulation of integrin beta 6. In addition, feeding phenethyl isothiocyanate induced alternative splicing of gene variants. This study represents the first use of RNAseq to analyze tumors from animals consuming dietary phenethyl isothiocyanate and to identify potential molecular signatures that may explain the cancer protective effect of this compound. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Tissue-specific Structure/Function Differentiation of the Liver Isoform of 6-Phosphofructo-2-kinase/Fructose-2,6-bisphosphatase*

The crystal structures of the human liver 6-phosphofructo-2-kinase/fructose-2,6-bisphosphatase in three different liganding states were determined and compared with those of the rat testis isozyme. A set of amino acid sequence heterogeneity from the two distinct genes encoding the two different tissue isozymes leads to both global and local conformational differences that may cause the differences in catalytic properties of the two isozymes. The sequence differences in a β−hairpin loop in the kinase domain causes a translational shift of several hydrophobic interactions in the dimeric contact region, and its propagation to the domains interface results in a 5° twist of the entire bisphosphatase domain relative to the kinase domain. The bisphosphatase domain twist allows the dimeric interactions between the bisphosphatase domains, which are negligible in the testis enzyme, and as a result, the conformational stability of the domain is increased. Sequence polymorphisms also confer small but significant structural dissimilarities in the substrate-binding loops, allowing the differentiated catalytic properties between the two different tissue-type isozymes. Whereas the polymorphic sequence at the bisphosphatase-active pocket suggests a more suitable substrate binding, a similar extent of sequence differences at the kinase-active pocket confers a different mechanism of substrates bindings to the kinase-active pocket. It includes the ATP-sensitive unwinding of the switch helix α5, which is a characteristic ATP-dependent conformational change in the testis form. The sequence-dependent structural difference disallows the liver kinase to follow the ATP-switch mechanism. Altogether these suggest that the liver isoform has structural features more appropriate for an elevated bisphosphatase activity, compared with that of the testis form. The structural predisposition for bisphosphatase activity in the liver isozyme is consistent with the liver-unique glucose metabolic pathway, gluconeogenesis.
Viability and acrosome staining of stallion spermatozoa by Chicago sky blue and Giemsa

A simple trypan blue-neutral red-Giemsa staining procedure for simultaneous evaluation of acrosome, sperm head, and tail membrane integrity and morphology has been used to evaluate equine spermatozoa. Some special characteristics and problems have arisen in evaluating stallion semen. One problem was the differentiation of intact vs. damaged sperm tails primarily in frozen and thawed samples. After freezing and thawing, a high percentage of spermatozoa with an unstained head and stained tail were observed. These cells are considered immotile. Therefore, unambiguous differentiation of intact vs. damaged sperm tail membrane is very important for evaluating semen quality. The aim of our study was to develop a method especially for stallion sperm to distinguish more accurately the different cell types. We compared Chicago sky blue 6B (CSB) to trypan blue (TB) for viability staining. CSB/Giemsa staining showed good repeatability and agreement with TB/Giemsa measurements. For densitometry analysis, individual digital images were taken from smears stained by CSB/Giemsa and by TB/Giemsa. A red-green-blue (RGB) histogram for each area of spermatozoa was drawn. Differences of means of RGB values of live vs. dead tails and separate live vs. dead heads from each photo were used to compare the two staining procedures. CSB produced similar live/dead sperm head differentiation and better tail differentiation. TB can be replaced by CSB and this results in more reliable evaluation. After staining with 0.16% CSB and 4 min fixation, 2–4 h Giemsa staining at 25–40° C is recommended for stallion semen.
Smart-grid technologies and progress in Europe and the USA

The work discusses historical and technical events in USA and Europe over the last few years that are aimed at modernizing the electric power grid. The US federal government has ratified the “smart grid” as official policy for modernizing the electricity grid with provisions for timely information and control options to consumers and deployment of “smart” technologies. European countries are unified in researching and developing related technologies through various structures supported by the European Union. This paper presents the development of smart grids and in-depth analysis of the methodologies, milestones and expected evolutions of grid technologies that will transform our society in the very near future.
Proteomic analysis of acute myeloid leukemia: Identification of potential early biomarkers and therapeutic targets

The main goal of this study was to analyze, using proteomic techniques, changes in protein expression of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cells that could give insights into a better early prognosis for tumor pathophysiology. Proteomic analysis of different subtypes of AML cells was carried out using 2‐DE and MALDI‐TOF PMF analysis. Proteins identified as more significantly altered between the different AMLs belonged to the group of suppressor genes, metabolic enzymes, antioxidants, structural proteins and signal transduction mediators. Among them, seven identified proteins were found significantly altered in almost all the AML blast cells analyzed in relation to normal mononuclear blood cells: alpha‐enolase, RhoGDI2, annexin A10, catalase, peroxiredoxin 2, tromomyosin 3, and lipocortin 1 (annexin 1). These differentially expressed proteins are known to play important roles in cellular functions such as glycolysis, tumor suppression, apoptosis, angiogenesis and metastasis, and they might contribute to the adverse evolution of the disease. Proteomic analysis has identified for the first time novel proteins that may either help to form a differential prognosis or be used as markers for disease outcome, thus providing potential new targets for rational pathogenesis‐based therapies of AML.
Plasmacytoid dendritic cell leukaemia/lymphoma: towards a well defined entity?

CD4+/CD56+ haematodermic neoplasm or ‘early’ plasmacytoid dendritic cell leukaemia/lymphoma (pDCL) was described as a disease entity in the last World Health Organisation/European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer classification for cutaneous lymphomas. These leukaemia/lymphomas co‐express CD4 and CD56 without any other lineage‐specific markers and have been identified as arising from plasmacytoid dendritic cells. Despite a fairly homogeneous pattern of markers expressed by most pDCL, numerous distinctive features (e.g. cytological aspects and aberrant marker expression) have been reported. This may be related to the ‘lineage‐independent developmental’ programme of dendritic cells, which may be able to develop from either immature or already committed haematopoietic progenitors. This highlights the need for specific validated markers to diagnose such aggressive leukaemia. Here, we propose –among others (e.g. T‐cell leukaemia 1) – blood dendritic cell antigen‐2 and high levels of CD123 expression as potential markers. In addition, we propose a multidisciplinary approach including several fields of haematology to improve pDCL diagnosis.
Comparative Pharmacokinetics and Glucodynamics of Two Human Insulin Mixtures 70/30 and 50/50 insulin mixtures

OBJECTIVE To compare and contrast the pharmacokinetics and glucodynamics of two insulin mixtures, one of 50% NPH human insulin and 50% Regular human insulin (50/50) and one of 70% NPH human insulin and 30% Regular human insulin (70/30), in healthy male volunteers after subcutaneous administrations of 0.3 U/kg. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS We administered single doses of 50/50 and 70/30 insulins to 18 volunteers in a randomized crossover fashion. All subjects received 0.3 U/kg of each mixture separated by at least 7 days. Each dose was given after an overnight fast and during a glucose clamp to maintain a euglycemic state. We measured serum insulin and Cpeptide concentrations through frequent blood sampling after each treatment. Pharmacokinetic measurements were calculated from insulin data corrected for C-peptide, including maximum insulin concentration (Cmax), time to maximum insulin concentration (tmax), terminal rate constant (β), area under the curve from 0 to ∞, (AUC x0), and mean residence time (MRT). Pharmacodynamic measurements were summarized from C-peptide concentrations (minimum C-peptide concentration [Cmin], time to minimum C-peptide concentration [tmin], area between the C-peptide baseline and the C-peptide suppression curve [AOCc], absolute maximal difference from baseline [Sdiff] and glucose clamp measurements. The glucose clamp measurements included maximum infusion rates (Rmax) and time to Rmax (TRmax) from glucose infusion rate (GIR) documentation, as well as cumulative glucose infused during the first 4 h (40Gtot) and total glucose infused (Gtot) during the study. RESULTS For the pharmacokinetic assessment, statistically greater values of insulin Cmax and β were found for the 50/50 mixture, whereas the 70/30 mixture had a greater MRT. Statistical differences were also detected in glucodynamics, with greater values of Rmax and (40Gtot) found with the 50/50 mixture. Notably, differences were not detected for insulin AUCx0 and Gtot values. CONCLUSIONS Higher insulin concentrations and a greater initial response were present with the 50/50 mixture, but the two mixtures had equivalent bioavailability and cumulative effects. These results support use of the 50/50 mixture in situations where greater initial glucose control is required.
The Impact of Venture Capital on the Productivity Growth of European Entrepreneurial Firms: 'Screening' or 'Value added' Effect?

We aim to ascertain to what extent the better performance of European venture capital (VC)‐backed firms in high-tech industries is due to either ‘screening’ or ‘value added’ provided by VC investors. We compare portfolio firms' productivity growth before and after the first VC round, using a matched control group as benchmark. We show that productivity growth is not significantly different between VC and non-VC-backed firms before the first round of VC financing, whereas significant differences are found in the first years after the investment event. We also find that the value-adding services provided by VC investors ‘imprint’ the portfolio firm.