Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Feasibility of Using a Hand-Carried Sonographic Unit for Investigating Median Nerve Pathology

Numerous research studies describe the prevalence of work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WRMSD) in diagnostic medical sonographers, but little research has investigated contributing factors and biological changes in symptomatic individuals. Improved image quality and portability, combined with lower cost and dynamic capabilities, have led to increased use of sonography over magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in musculoskeletal evaluations. The purpose of this pilot study was to develop a valid and reliable sonographic protocol for the evaluation of work-related median nerve pathology with a hand-carried sonographic unit. A GE Logiq i (Milwaukee, Wisconsin) hand-carried unit with a 12-MHz linear transducer was used to collect nine longitudinal and transverse images of the median nerve at various anatomical locations in the distal upper extremity of three healthy volunteers. Doppler waveforms were also collected in the median nerve sheath. Qualitative review indicated high-quality images with well-defined structures, resulting in valid measures between multiple researchers of anterior-posterior diameter, cross-sectional area, anterior transverse carpal ligament bulge, and Doppler flow. The use of a hand-carried sonographic unit appears to be a feasible alternative to MRI to detect musculoskeletal changes in symptomatic sonographers. Additional basic and clinical studies are necessary to validate the use of hand-carried sonography as a measure of biological changes in longitudinal WRMSD research.
Children's Heart Rates and Enjoyment Levels During PE Classes in Hong Kong Primary Schools

Levels of activity and enjoyment were measured in 73 Hong Kong primary school children (39 girls and 34 boys), during regularly scheduled physical education (PE) classes. Classroom activities were classified into one of 4 types (ball games, athletics, gymnastics and free play). Activity levels were monitored by heart rate telemetry and by direct observation (CARS), whilst enjoyment was scored using a 5-point Likert scale. Results showed that the average PE class used 22 minutes of the scheduled 35 class time, whilst the students spent 3.7 min in moderate-to-vigorous (MVPA) activity (60-90%HRR), and nearly 50% of the children spent less than 2 minutes with their heart rate above 159 beats · min−1. There were no significant differences in activity levels between genders. Ball games and free play generally produced statistically higher heart rates and CARS values than gymnastics. The levels of enjoyment were low (3.7 − 1.0), but did not vary significantly between gender or activity type. A variety of social .
Immuno-stabilizing effect of thymosin-alpha-1 on post- modified radical mastectomy (MRM) of breast cancer patients

Chengdu Family Planning Guidance Institute, Qingyang District, Chengdu, 610031, Sichuan Province, P. R. China. School of Chinese Medicine, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, P. R. China. UNIMED Medical Institute, Hng Kong. Jin Hua Dentistry, Chengdu, 610041, Sichuan Province, P. R. China. Department of Stomatology, Medical College of Jinan University, Guang Zhou, China.
Epidemiology of oral cancer from a socioeconomic perspective

Tackling health inequalities is a policy priority. Research on cancer and particularly oral cancer aetiology has somewhat overlooked this area, in favour of pursuing genetic and 'lifestyle' risk factors. The over-arching aim of this thesis was to investigate the epidemiology of oral cancer in relation to individual socioeconomic status (SES), area-based socioeconomic circumstances, and socioeconomic inequalities. Descriptive epidemiology studies undertaken demonstrated that the burden of oral cancer was increasing across the UK, especially in Scotland, and a socioeconomic gap was widening with those from more deprived communities having significantly greater and increasing incidence of the disease. A systematic review and meta-analysis of the world literature showed that low compared to high SES was associated with significantly elevated risk of oral cancer independent of behavioural factors. A local case-control study provided unclear findings when individual- and area-based socioeconomic factors were explored together; however, a framework for future analyses was developed. In totality, this thesis suggests that public health policy to address the overall rising incidence and widening inequalities of oral cancer needs to acknowledge the complexity of the risk factors; in addition, the findings provide evidence to steer policy, which focus on lifestyles factors towards an integrated approach incorporating measures designed to tackle the root causes of disadvantage.
Epigenome-wide analysis in familial hypercholesterolemia identified new loci associated with high-density lipoprotein cholesterol concentration.

AIM This study aims to assess whether epigenetic changes may account for high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) level variability in familial hypercholesterolemia (FH), a recognized human model to study cardiovascular disease risk modulators. MATERIALS & METHODS A genome-wide DNA methylation analysis (Infinium HumanMethylation27 BeadChip, Illumina) was performed on peripheral blood DNA samples obtained from men with FH with low (n = 10) or high (n = 11) HDL-C concentrations. The initial association with one of the top differentially methylated loci located in the promoter of the TNNT1 gene was replicated in a cohort of 276 FH subjects using pyrosequencing. RESULTS According to the Ingenuity Pathway Analysis software, the HDL-C differentially methylated loci identified were significantly associated with pathways related to lipid metabolism and cardiovascular disease. TNNT1 DNA methylation levels were positively correlated with mean HDL particle size, HDL-phospholipid, HDL-apolipoprotein AI, HDL-C and TNNT1 expression levels. CONCLUSION These results suggest that epigenome-wide changes account for interindividual variations in HDL particle metabolism and that TNNT1 is a new candidate gene for dyslipidemia.
Training general practitioners in family systems medicine

Finnish general practitioners (GPs) spend increasing time on patients' psychosocial problems, yet undergraduate medical education and specialty training in general practice have an inadequate psychosocial curriculum. To remedy this, a 2-year family systems medicine continuing education course for GPs was developed at the University of Oulu, Finland. The goal was to enhance the trainee's skills in work with families. The first trainee group included 12 GPs. Four trained family therapists planned and organized the course, which consisted of family systems theory seminars and small-group activities, including role playing and case supervision. At the end of the course, the trainees estimated how their clinical practice had changed by using Doherty and Baird's model to assess their level of involvement with families. The GPs evaluated themselves as having increased their level of involvement from simply providing medical information and advice (level two) to providing emotional support for families (level thr.
Extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy for renal calculi: Current status and future aspects

Summary. More than 10 years after its clinical introduction, extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy (ESWL) has proved to be the safest treatment modality for more than 90% of urinary stones. Absolute contraindications are untreated coagulopathy, urinary tract infection and pregnancy. After careful preparation, even patients with severe coagulopathy (haemophiliacs A/B, thrombocytopenia) can be treated successfully by ESWL. Shock wave lithotripsy for an increasing amount of small symptomatic renal calculi resulted in a stone-free rate of 50% and a complaint-free rate of 52%. A 50% chance of success justifies initial ESWL treatment for stones in caliceal diverticula. A stone-free rate of 70% was reported for stone-bearing horseshoe kidneys, but the recurrence rate was 29%. Therefore, percutaneous stone removal may become necessary in such cases.The utilization of indwelling stents has contributed to the extension of indication for ESWL monotherapy, even for staghorn calculi, as acute morbidity is reduced. Dou.
Constructions Of Health, Healing And Well Being In The New Age: A Qualitative Study Exploring The Understanding Held By Spiritual Healers

Despite a recent renaissance of holistic therapies, spiritual accounts of health and healing are still largely marginalised in western healthcare contexts, where the dominant discourse of health and illness is the biomedical model. The Cartesian mind-body dualism that is assumed by the medical model contrasts sharply with the holistic approach that characterises much of the spiritual healing literature. Indeed it might be argued that the medical model and spiritual healing approaches are constructed in an entirely different vocabulary. While the medical model is predicated upon clearly defined units such as cells, tissues, organs, systems, and measurable factors such as deficiencies, excesses and infective agents; spiritual healing approaches resist the construction of boundaries and insist on an interactive model which is not readily amenable to testing and measurement. Furthermore there is considerable variation in the range of beliefs and practices that can be considered ‘spiritual healing’. Despite this diversity, it is possible to identify a number of common ideas that lie at the core of the spiritual healing literature. These recurring themes are worthy of brief consideration before exploring the accounts offered by the healers in the current study.
Common carotid artery intima-media thickness and brain infarction : the Etude du Profil Génétique de l'Infarctus Cérébral (GENIC) case-control study. The GENIC Investigators.

BACKGROUND-The use of intima-media thickness (IMT) as an outcome measure in observational studies and intervention trials relies on the view that it reflects early stages of atherosclerosis and cardiovascular risk. There is little knowledge concerning the relation between IMT and brain infarction (BI). METHODS AND RESULTS-We investigated the relation of IMT with BI and its subtypes in 470 cases and 463 controls. Cases with BI proven by MRI were consecutively recruited and classified into subtypes by cause of BI. Controls were recruited among individuals hospitalized at the same institutions and matched for age, sex, and center. IMT was measured at the far wall of both common carotid arteries (CCA) using an automatic detection system. Adventitia-to-adventitia diameters and CCA-IMT were measured on transverse views; lumen diameter was computed using these measures. Mean (+/-SEM) CCA-IMT was higher in cases (0.797+/-0.006 mm) than in controls (0.735+/-0.006 mm; P<0. 0001). This difference remained after adjustment for lumen diameter and when analyses were restricted to subjects free of previous cardiovascular or cerebrovascular history. The difference in CCA-IMT between cases and controls was significant in the main subtypes. The risk of BI increased continuously with increasing CCA-IMT. The odds ratio per SD increase (0.150 mm) was 1.82 (95% confidence interval, 1.54 to 2.15); adjustment for cardiovascular risk factors slightly attenuated this relation (odds ratio, 1.73; 95% confidence interval, 1.45 to 2.07). CONCLUSIONS-An increased CCA-IMT was associated with BI, both overall and in the main subtypes. An increased IMT may help select patients at high risk for BI.
A study to assess the validity of clinical judgement in determining paediatric dental anxiety and related outcomes of management.

ummary. Objective. The aim of the present study was to determine the validity of subjective anxiety assessment and the outcomes of management of children receiving operative dental treatment. Setting. The study was conducted at the Departments of Sedation and Child Dental Health, Newcastle Dental Hospital, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. Subjects and methods. One hundred children and adolescents aged between 8 and 15 years participated in the study. Clinicians subjectively allocated 50 children for treatment with local analgesia alone (low anxiety), and identified 50 children who had the potential to benefit from nitrous oxide and oxygen sedation (high anxiety). Participants then completed the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children (STAIC), the Venham Picture Test (VPT) and the Child Fear Survey Schedule – Dental Subscale (CFSS-DS). A global rating scale classified behaviour during dental treatment. Results. State anxiety and dental fear prior to treatment were significantly higher in children allocated to receive inhalation sedation (P = 0·004 and P = 0·005, respectively). There was no significant difference in trait anxiety or post-treatment state anxiety between the two groups (P = 0·69 and P = 0·06, respectively). Only 11% displayed ‘negative’ behaviour during treatment: 82% of this group represented those allocated to receive sedation. Conclusion. Children receiving inhalation sedation were significantly more anxious prior to treatment than children receiving treatment with local analgesia alone. The findings support the subjective assessment of anxiety in children; however, objective anxiety measures may assist clinicians in identifying specific fears, which may ultimately aid patient management.
How antibacterials really work: impact on drug discovery.

Large-scale failure of target-based anti bacterial drug-discovery programs has triggered a move back to empirical whole-cell screens for the identification of new chemotypes, which are urgently needed to keep drug resistance at bay. Lead finding and optimization using whole bac teria instead of molecular targets is possible. The price to pay is inefficient medicinal chemistry work owing to the ‘black box’ nature of this approach. Furthermore, many modern drug-discovery tools, such as structure-guided design or fragment-based screening, cannot be employed. Why did target-based antibacterial drug discovery not deliver? Is there a way to reconnect modern genome-based biology and rational target-based medicinal chemistry? Recently, a few papers have demonstrated, for the first time, how antibacterials work at the whole-cell level, and how they actually kill the organisms [1–10]. These initial findings suggest that antibacterials have an ‘extended’ mechanism of action beyond the well-known modulation of their primary targets. This could, at least in part, explain why we have failed in the past – our target selection criteria might have been too simplistic.
MAGNETIC FIELD EFFECTS ON THE NEUROPROCESSING OF PAIN

Magnetic fields can affect behaviour in a variety of ways, in a manner that is dependent on the particulars of the magnetic field exposure. A specific pulsed magnetic field with analgesic properties was investigated using functional magnetic resonance imaging with acute thermal pain. The functional activation of pain was significantly different pre/post exposure vs. a sham condition within areas of the brain associated with the affective component of pain, in particular the anterior cingulate and the right insula. Sleep was found to be a significant confound with a 45-minute exposure. This was the first time fMRI has been used as a tool to investigate bioelectromagnetics effects, and demonstrates that an MR system can be used for both image acquisition and exposure. This technique will have applications to functional tasks beyond the acute thermal pain tested here.
Chronic Inhalation Study Findings as a Basis for Proposing a New Occupational Dust Exposure Limit

This article briefly reviews the history of the current threshold limit value and the permissible exposure limit for occupational dusts derived originally from the Nuisance Dust standard. Chronic inhalation studies of appropriate design are described in terms of their key findings and potential impact on the dust standards, especially modern, experimental studies which have been affected by the problem of dust overloading. Many studies show that dust overloading produces a significant and progressive retardation of macrophage-mediated dust removal leading to various dysfunctional and pathologic changes which confound the interpretation of chronic toxicity study findings. Assuming that there may be a human counterpart to this condition at the same milligram dust per gram lung concentration, extrapolation modeling can be used to show that the current occupational dust limits do not protect worker lungs from this eventuality. Several bases for substantially reducing the current occupational standards are discussed.
Implementation and use of an electronic health record : measuring relevance and participation in four hospitals

For more than a decade, there have been claims of the advantages of Electronic Health Records (EHR). Nevertheless the results of these IT-based innovations do not meet the expected improvements in healthcare performance. This paper investigates this phenomenon by studying relevance and participation during the implementation process of EHR in four different hospitals. From the case studies it can be concluded that the relevance of HER merely focuses on the availability of information at any time and any place. This employment of relevance does not meet end-users' expectations and is insufficient to accomplish the aspired improvements. The used participation approaches do not facilitate diffusion of EHR in hospitals. Participation from the start can help to leverage the relevance of the EHR, but the other way around more relevance can also help to motivate participation. A careful balance is needed to avoid a deadlock situation (No relevance, No participation).
A Study on Exploration of Ethnobotanical Knowledge of Rural Community in Bangladesh: Basis for Biodiversity Conservation

Rural home garden is an important traditional source of medicinal plants for daily curative uses throughout Bangladesh. Such knowledge is continuing from generation to generation without documentation. An ethnobotanical investigation was conducted through focus group discussions and households’ survey accompanied by field observation to document the indigenous knowledge of herbal medicines being used by the rural communities of Comilla district in Bangladesh. A total of 45 ethnomedicinal plant species belonging to 34 families were found, where trees (37.78%) were the most commonly utilized growth form. Plant resources are used to treat 31 different individual ailments ranging from simple cuts to heart disease. Plants are mainly used to treat dysentery (12 species), cold ailments, cough, and fever (6 species each). For curing ailments, the use of the above ground plant parts was higher (86.44%); particularly fruits (37.29%) and leaves (30.51%) were the most commonly used plant parts. More than half of the medicinal plants are indigenous (71.11%), being edible fruit bearer (48.89%), plants parts suitable for animals and birds (57.78%), and natural regeneration present (64.44%) indicated that medicinal plants play a vital role in biodiversity conservation in the study area.
Nf-GH, a glycosidase secreted by Naegleria fowleri, causes mucin degradation: an in vitro and in vivo study.

AIM The aim of this work was to identify, characterize and evaluate the pathogenic role of mucinolytic activity released by Naegleria fowleri. MATERIALS & METHODS Zymograms, protease inhibitors, anion exchange chromatography, MALDI-TOF-MS, enzymatic assays, Western blot, and confocal microscopy were used to identify and characterize a secreted mucinase; inhibition assays using antibodies, dot-blots and mouse survival tests were used to evaluate the mucinase as a virulence factor. RESULTS A 94-kDa protein with mucinolytic activity was inducible and abolished by p-hydroxymercuribenzoate. MALDI-TOF-MS identified a glycoside hydrolase. Specific antibodies against N. fowleri-glycoside hydrolase inhibit cellular damage and MUC5AC degradation, and delay mouse mortality. CONCLUSION Our findings suggest that secretory products from N. fowleri play an important role in mucus degradation during the invasion process.
Protective effect of sildenafil against cysteamine induced duodenal ulcer in Wistar rats

The aim of the current study was to investigate the possible protective effect of sildenafil (SIL) on cysteamine induced peptic ulcer in Wistar rats. Rats were randomly divided into five groups; six animals each. Normal control group; in which animals received an aqueous solution of Tween 80 (1 ml/kg) as a vehicle, two doses orally at an interval of 4 h. SIL group, in which animals received 25 mg/kg SIL orally 30 min before vehicle administration. Cysteamine group; in which duodenal ulceration was induced by two oral doses of cysteamine-HCl (450 mg/kg in 10% aqueous solution) at an interval of 4 h. Cysteamine+omepeazole group; in which animals were pretreated with 20 mg/kg omeprazole orally 30 min before cysteamine. Cysteamine+SIL group; in which animals were pretreated with 25 mg/kg SIL orally, 30 min before cysteamine. Twenty-four hours after the last dose of vehicle or cysteamine, rats were euthanized and the duodena were removed to determine the number of ulcers, ulcer surface area, ulcer score and ulcer index as well as superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-PX), myeloperoxidase (MPO), thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) in tissue homogenates referring to the malondialdehyde, reduced glutathione (GSH) and oxidized glutathione (GSSG). The results of the present study showed that SIL treatment decreased the number of ulcers, the ulcer surface area, the ulcer score and the ulcer index in the cysteamine induced duodenal ulcer. Moreover, SIL ameliorated the biochemical changes that were induced by cysteamine. In conclusion, SIL attenuates experimentally induced peptic ulceration using cysteamine partially through induction of nitrogen oxide (NO) and antioxidant effect which may be useful in the treatment of cystinosis. Key words: Cysteamine, cystinosis, sildenafil, duodenal ulcer, rats.
Boaters’ Perceptions of a Mobile App for a Marine Conservation Social Marketing Campaign

This case study explored recreational boaters’ perceptions of a mobile app being developed in the context of a campaign to promote environmental responsibility in a U.S. Florida lagoon. Transcripts from six focus groups conducted with a target population of boaters to guide the conservation campaign were analyzed to identify and understand the barriers and benefits of the app that may influence its adoption with the desired behavior of better navigating the lagoon. Extant literature on social marketing and adoption and diffusion theory informed analysis. Overall, the results uncovered five perceived benefits and seven perceived barriers to adoption of the mobile app. Participants were interested in the app and had generally favorable reactions. They thought the app could fill a gap in boating technology and provide geographic information useful for improving the boating experience and health of the marine environment. However, there were also questions about the app’s purpose for the campaign and its ability to provide the quality and quantity of information desired for certain features. While some of this study’s identified benefits and barriers were consistent with the literature, others appeared unique to this social marketing and marine environment situation. The article concludes with a discussion of theoretical connections, practical implications, and future research recommendations.