Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Measurement of fine‐scale atmospheric structure using an optical propagation technique

A propagation experiment was performed with a coherent beam of optical-frequency radiation transmitted over a 10-meter path. The combination of short path length and short wavelength makes the experiment sensitive to the fine-scale structure of the turbulent atmosphere. From the propagation measurements, we are able to infer both the characteristic size of the small-scale eddies known as the microscale l0 and the functional form of the spectrum of permittivity fluctuations at wave numbers in the region of dissipation (i.e., wave numbers of the order of the microscale).
An Aboriginal family and community healing program in metropolitan Adelaide: description and evaluation

This paper describes and evaluates the process, impacts and outcomes of an Aboriginal Family and Community Healing (AFCH) Program based in metropolitan Adelaide, South Australia. The evaluation used participatory action oriented methodology, mixed methods and multiple data sources. The AFCH comprised complex and dynamic activities for Aboriginal men, women and youth built around community engagement, and hosted by the regional primary health care Aboriginal outreach service. The AFCH Program was designed to develop effective responses to family violence that took into account the complexities within Aboriginal families and communities. The evaluation identified strengths of the program including: evidence-based design, holistic approach, clinical focus, committed staff, intersectoral linkages, peer support, mentoring, Aboriginal cultural focus, strategic partnerships and creative use of resources. Clients and workers were unanimous in their enthusiastic support for the program; their stories highlight beneficial impacts on Aboriginal clients, families and community. Other services may be able to adapt strategies from this AFCH to address the needs of their Aboriginal communities.
EVALUATION OF ANTI-CANCER ACTIVITY OF SURVIVIN siRNA DELIVERED BY FOLATE RECEPTOR-TARGETED POLYETHYLENE-GLYCOL LIPOSOMES IN K562-BEARING XENOGRAFT MICE

Objective: To investigate anti-cancer activity of the novel survivin siRNA Folate Receptor (FR)-targeted Polyethylene-Glycol Liposomes (PEG) liposomes in K562-bearing nude mice. Methods: The leukemia cell line K562 xenograft model was established in balb/c nu/nu mice, and survivin siRNA FR-targeted PEG liposomes was administrated by intraperitoneal (i.p.). The same volume of liposomes was administrated as placebo control. The real time PCR and western blotting were used to examine the knocking down effect. The tumor weight and size in nude mice was measured to evaluate the inhibitory effect in vivo. Results: The expression ratio of survivin mRNA in siRNA group was 0.35 ± 0.1 (survivin/GAPDH) vs. 1.85 ± 0.65 in control group with significant difference (p < 0.05), as well as protein level by western blotting analysis (p < 0.05). The results also showed the novel survivin siRNA liposomes could inhibit the growth of K562 in xenograft model. Conclusion: This novel survivin siRNA FR-targeted PEG liposome delivery system may be a potential gene therapy for the treatment of leukemia.
Real-Time PCR Systems Targeting Giant Viruses of Amoebae and Their Virophages

Giant viruses that infect amoebae, including mimiviruses and marseilleviruses, were first described in 2003. Virophages were subsequently described that infect mimiviruses. Culture isolation with Acanthamoeba spp. and metagenomic studies have shown that these giant viruses are common inhabitants of our biosphere and have enabled the recent detection of these viruses in human samples. However, the genomes of these viruses display substantial genetic diversity, making it a challenge to examine their presence in environmental and clinical samples using conventional and real-time PCR. We designed and evaluated the performance of PCR systems capable of detecting all currently isolated mimiviruses, marseilleviruses and virophages to assess their prevalence in various samples. Our real-time PCR assays accurately detected all or most of the members of the currently delineated lineages of giant viruses infecting acanthamoebae as well as the mimivirus virophages, and enabled accurate classification of the mimiviruses of amoebae in lineages A, B or C. We were able to detect four new mimiviruses directly from environmental samples and correctly classified these viruses within mimivirus lineage C. This was subsequently confirmed by culture on amoebae followed by partial Sanger sequencing. PCR systems such as those implemented here may contribute to an improved understanding of the prevalence of mimiviruses, their virophages and marseilleviruses in humans.
Memory Cocktail Therapy: A General Learning-Based Framework to Optimize Dynamic Tradeoffs in NVMs

Non-volatile memories (NVMs) have attracted significant interest recently due to their high-density, low static power, and persistence. There are, however, several challenges associated with building practical systems from NVMs, including limited write endurance and long latencies. Researchers have proposed a variety of architectural techniques which can achieve different tradeoffs between lifetime, performance and energy efficiency; however, no individual technique can satisfy requirements for all applications and different objectives. Hence, we propose Memory Cocktail Therapy (MCT), a general learning-based framework that adaptively chooses the best techniques for the current application and objectives.Specifically, MCT performs four procedures to adapt the techniques to various scenarios. First, MCT formulates a high-dimensional configuration space from all different combinations of techniques. Second, MCT selects primary features from the configuration space with lasso regularization. Third, MCT estimates lifetime, performance and energy consumption using lightweight online predictors (eg. quadratic regression and gradient boosting) and a small set of configurations guided by the selected features. Finally, given the estimation of all configurations, MCT selects the optimal configuration based on the user-defined objectives. As a proof of concept, we test MCT’s ability to guarantee different lifetime targets and achieve 95% of maximum performance, while minimizing energy consumption. We find that MCT improves performance by 9.24% and reduces energy by 7.95% compared to the best static configuration. Moreover, the performance of MCT is 94.49% of the ideal configuration with only 5.3% more energy consumption. CCS CONCEPTS • Hardware → Memory and dense storage.
Perfil epidemiológico e fatores de risco para mortalidade em pacientes idosos com disfunção respiratória

OBJECTIVES: To describe the population of aged as compared to young patients under mechanical ventilation and to analyze the mortality risk factors of this group in an intensive care unit. METHODS: This was a prospective observational trial in patients over 18 years of age, admitted in an intensive care unit and under mechanical ventilation, during one year. Patients were divided into two groups according to age: Group 1 - patients over 65 years old; and Group 2, 65 years old or younger. RESULTS: eighty one mechanic ventilation patients were included, 62 aged and 18 younger, mean ages from aged was 76 years, while in the younger it was 56 years. As compared to the control, aged patients had longer mechanic ventilation time , higher intensive care unit and hospital mortality: 63.1% versus 26.3% and 74.2% versus 47.4% (P<0.05), respectively. In addition, the aged under mechanic ventilation had increased desintubation failures, difficult ventilatory weaning and deaths directly related to respiratory dysfunction. The mechanic ventilation time was an independent risk factor for death in the intensive care unit in aged patients (OR= 2.7, p=0.02). The area under the ROC curve of mechanic ventilation about intensive care unit death was 0.92 (95% CI 0.85-0.97, p (area 0.5)=0.0001), cutoff point of 4 days, sensitivity 89.4% and specificity 77.1%. CONCLUSIONS: Mechanic ventilation patients over 65years of age have a worse prognosis than the younger, and the longer the mechanic ventilation time, the higher will be intensive care mortality.
Manual of clinical psychopharmacology

General Principles of Psychopharmacological Treatment Diagnosis and Classification Antidepressants Antispychotic Drugs Mood Stabilizers Antianxiety Agents Hypnotics Stimulants Combination and Adjunctive Treatments Emergency Room Treatment Pharmacotherapy of Chemical Dependence and Abuse Pharmacotherapy in Special Situations Appendix A - Strengths and Costs per 100 Pills of Antidepressant Drugs Appendix B - Suggested Reading.
Comparison of vincristine, carmustine, melphalan, cyclophosphamide, prednisone (VBMCP) and interferon‐α with melphalan and prednisone (MP) and interferon‐α (IFN‐α) in patients with good‐prognosis multiple myeloma: a prospective randomized study

Abstract: Objectives: The purpose of the study was to evaluate, in a selected group of myeloma patients with favorable prognosis, the effect, on response and survival, of polychymotherapy compared with melphalan–prednisone, plus interferon in both arms. Methods: Eighty‐nine previously untreated patients with multiple myeloma and prognostic factors indicating a good prognosis were randomized to either oral melphalan plus prednisone (MP) in combination with recombinant interferon‐α (rIFN‐α) or combination chemotherapy with vincristine, carmustine, melphalan, cyclophosphamide, and prednisone (VBMCP) alternating with rIFN‐α. The two treatment groups were comparable in terms of pretreatment characteristics. Results: The overall response rate was 67.4% (2.3% complete remission, 65.1% partial response) in the MP/IFN‐α group and 69.1% (14.3% complete remission, 54.8% partial response) in the VBMCP/IFN‐α group (p=0.59). There were no differences also in response duration and overall survival between the two treatment groups. The median response duration was 39.1 months in the MP/IFN‐α group and was not reached in the VBMCP/IFN‐α group (p=0.6). Overall survival was long in both treatment groups. The estimated 5‐yr survival was 66% and 62% in the MP/IFN‐α and VBMCP/IFN‐α group, respectively (p=0.8). Toxicity was modest and treatments were well tolerated. Neutropenia (WHO grade 3 or 4) was higher, but not statistically significant, in the VBMCP/IFN‐α group. Conclusions: The results of the study show that in myeloma patients with good prognosis, combination chemotherapy alternating with interferon‐α has no advantage over conventional MP plus interferon‐α, in regard to response rate, response duration, and overall survival of patients.
Ultrasound tissue analysis and characterization

On the battlefield of the future, it may become feasible for medics to perform, via application of new biomedical technologies, more sophisticated diagnoses and surgery than is currently practiced. Emerging biomedical technology may enable the medic to perform laparoscopic surgical procedures to remove, for example, shrapnel from injured soldiers. Battlefield conditions constrain the types of medical image acquisition and interpretation which can be performed. Ultrasound is the only viable biomedical imaging modality appropriate for deployment on the battlefield -- which leads to image interpretation issues because of the poor quality of ultrasound imagery. To help overcome these issues, we develop and implement a method of image enhancement which could aid non-experts in the rapid interpretation and use of ultrasound imagery. We describe an energy minimization approach to finding boundaries in medical images and show how prior information on edge orientation can be incorporated into this framework to detect tissue boundaries oriented at a known angle.
Updating the OMERACT Filter: Discrimination and Feasibility

The “Discrimination” part of the OMERACT Filter asks whether a measure discriminates between situations that are of interest. “Feasibility” in the OMERACT Filter encompasses the practical considerations of using an instrument, including its ease of use, time to complete, monetary costs, and interpretability of the question(s) included in the instrument. Both the Discrimination and Reliability parts of the filter have been helpful but were agreed on primarily by consensus of OMERACT participants rather than through explicit evidence-based guidelines. In Filter 2.0 we wanted to improve this definition and provide specific guidance and advice to participants.
Use of Gold Nanoparticles in Diagnostics, Surgery and Medicine: A Review.

Noble metals and their compounds have a long and distinguished history as therapeutic agents in medicine. Recent years have seen tremendous progress in the design and study of nanomaterials geared towards biological and biomedical applications. Particularly gold nanoparticles have attracted intensive interest, because they are easily prepared, have low toxicity and can be readily attached to molecules of biological interest. The gold nanoparticles have become more precious than pretty gold because of their wide use and applications. The present article gave a critical review of the wide applications and uses of gold nanoparticles in diagnostics, surgery and medicine. DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.3329/bjmb.v5i2. 13346 Bangladesh J Med Biochem 2012; 5(2): 56-60
A new approach to weight loss: just activate endothelial NO synthase!

Sustained consumption of dietary fats induces endothelial dysfunction and insulin resistance in experimental models and humans. Endothelial dysfunction, manifested by reduced endothelium-dependent dilation, is a hallmark of several cardiovascular diseases and obesity. Indeed, exercise training and caloric restriction attenuate endothelial dysfunction and delay the onset or reduce the magnitude of vascular diseases and insulin resistance. Article, see p 1176 A major pathway controlling endothelium-dependent vasodilation is via endothelial NO synthase (eNOS) generation of the vasodilatory, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant autacoid, NO. NO can serve as a paracrine mediator promoting various beneficial functions through several mechanisms including activation of soluble guanylyl cyclase and nitrosation of cellular proteins and lipids that promote vascular relaxation and attenuate proinflammatory pathways. In this issue of Circulation Research , Sansbury et al1 provide striking evidence that eNOS-derived NO actively participates in regulating the extent of adiposity. Previous work has …
Nerve transfers for elbow and finger extension reconstruction in midcervical spinal cord injuries.

OBJECT The objective of this study was to report the results of elbow, thumb, and finger extension reconstruction via nerve transfer in midcervical spinal cord injuries. METHODS Thirteen upper limbs from 7 patients with tetraplegia, with an average age of 26 years, were operated on an average of 7 months after a spinal cord injury. The posterior division of the axillary nerve was used to reinnervate the triceps long and upper medial head motor branches in 9 upper limbs. Both the posterior division and the branch to the middle deltoid were used in 2 upper limbs, and the anterior division of the axillary nerve in the final 2 limbs. For thumb and finger extension reconstruction, the nerve to the supinator was transferred to the posterior interosseous nerve. RESULTS In 22 of the 27 recipient nerves, a peripheral type of palsy with muscle denervation was identified. At an average of 19 months follow-up, elbow strength scored M4 in 11 upper limbs and M3 in 2, according to the British Medical Research Council scale. Thumb extension scored M4 in 8 upper limbs and scored M3 in 4. Finger extension scored M4 in 12 hands. No donor-site deficits were reported or observed. CONCLUSIONS Nerve transfers are effective at restoring elbow, thumb, and finger extension in patients with a midcervical spinal cord injury, which occurs in the majority of patients with a peripheral type of palsy with muscle denervation in their upper limbs. Efforts should be made to perform operations in these patients within 12 months of injury.
Predicting Outcome after Traumatic Brain Injury

The purpose of this review is to look at the most recent work carried out on predicting outcome after traumatic brain injury (TBI). TBI is a leading cause of death and disability but prediction of long-term outcome for individual patients is difficult. In particular, predicting outcome in the first few hours or days after injury is limited by the paucity of scoring systems or clinical models available. Many clinical variables have been studied to determine if they may play a role in outcome prediction, including age, admission Glasgow Coma Score and pupillary reactivity. Newer variables being studied include serum biomarkers, abnormalities seen on magnetic resonance imaging and data obtained from evoked potentials and electroencephalography studies. There are many factors that impact on outcome and a perfect model is yet to be developed. Models must take into account the economic status of the country in which the trauma occurs. It is important that less affluent nations are not left behind in the search for accurate prognostic modelling.
Antithrombin treatment in patients with non-ST-elevation acute coronary syndromes undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention

Unfractionated heparin (UFH) has long been the only thrombin inhibitor used in non ST-elevation ACS (NSTE-ACS) patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention. Better anticoagulation regimens have been developed given the limitations of UFH which include its sometimes difficult-to-manage effects on coagulation, the need for repeated monitoring of coagulation, the narrow therapeutic window, the potential induction of platelet activation, and the risk of thrombocytopenia. The three new anticoagulants, enoxaparin, fondaparinux, and bivalirudin have demonstrated improvements, against UFH and represent new alternative therapies. We have reviewed the major challenges for each of them to become ideal. Additional data are needed for enoxaparin when accumulation of the drug is likely to occur (obese patients, renal insufficiency) given the risk of subsequent bleeding. Fondaparinux and bivalirudin represent an opportunity to improve safety. However, cost is a real concern for bivalirudin especially when access to the catheterization laboratory is delayed. In addition, whether bivalirudin can replace selective procedural abciximab use in the catheterization laboratory in high-risk ACS patients also remains to be established. Catheter thrombosis is a concern for fondaparinux and the need for combining UFH with fondaparinux to overcome this potential detrimental side effect is an unexpected limitation that needs re-appraisal.
Adapted dietary inflammatory index and its association with a summary score for low-grade inflammation and markers of glucose metabolism: the Cohort study on Diabetes and Atherosclerosis Maastricht (CODAM) and the Hoorn study.

BACKGROUND Diet may be associated with the development of type 2 diabetes through its effects on low-grade inflammation. OBJECTIVES We investigated whether an adapted dietary inflammatory index (ADII) is associated with a summary score for low-grade inflammation and markers of glucose metabolism. In addition, we investigated the mediating role of inflammation in the association between ADII and markers of glucose metabolism. DESIGN We performed cross-sectional analyses of 2 Dutch cohort studies (n= 1024). An ADII was obtained by multiplying standardized energy-adjusted intakes of dietary components by literature-based dietary inflammatory weights that reflected the inflammatory potential of components. Subsequently, these multiplications were summed. Six biomarkers of inflammation were compiled in a summary score. Associations of the ADII (expressed per SD) with the summary score for inflammation and markers of glucose metabolism were investigated by using multiple linear regression models. Inflammation was considered a potential mediator in the analysis with markers of glucose metabolism. RESULTS A higher ADII was associated with a higher summary score for inflammation [β-adjusted = 0.04 per SD (95% CI: 0.01, 0.07 per SD)]. The ADII was also adversely associated with insulin resistance [homeostatic model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR): β-adjusted = 3.5% per SD (95% CI: 0.6%, 6.3% per SD)]. This association was attenuated after the inclusion of the summary score for inflammation [β-adjusted+inflammation = 2.2% (95% CI: -0.6%, 5.0%)]. The ADII was also adversely associated with fasting glucose and postload glucose but not with glycated hemoglobin. CONCLUSION The significant mediating role of low-grade inflammation in the association between the ADII and HOMA-IR suggests that inflammation might be one of the pathways through which diet affects insulin resistance.
Gluten intake and gluten-free diet in the Netherlands

Celiac disease is an intolerance to dietary gluten in genetically predisposed individuals, leading to alterations of the small bowel mucosa. The treatment consists of a life-long, gluten-free diet. The aims of this thesis were to measure some of the environmental factors considered to play a role in the prevention of celiac disease. For that purpose breast milk was studied on the presence of glutenpeptides and a food frequency questionnaire was developed and validated to quantify gluten intake in young infants. Furthermore, the current treatment at different ages and the ability to develop gluten tolerance were studied. It became clear that the nutrient intake of adolescents on a gluten-free diet can be ameliorated, and that the rather new naturally gluten-free cereal tef is frequently used by Dutch celiac patients and a wide majority of them can consume tef without clinical symptoms. Therefore tef can be a valuable addition to their diet. Although celiac disease is considered to be a permanent condition, we made an attempt to find patients who have become tolerant to gluten. We found 2 of these exceptional patients and found that one of them had HLA-typing different from HLA-DQ2/DQ8, suggesting that genetic factors may play a role in the development of tolerance. The underlying mechanisms leading to prevention, disease development or tolerance to gluten are complex and need to be further studied.