Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Use of Biochemical Parameters as Nutritional Screening Tools in Surgical Patients

Nutritional status influences surgical outcome and complication rates. The National Institute of Clinical Excellence, (NICE) recommends screening patients on admission; yet traditional nutritional screening tools are underutilised. This retrospective case-control study investigates the association between biochemical factors and adverse outcomes in orthopaedic patients to ascertain whether they could provide more suitable alternatives to traditional screening tools. 66 patients with fractured neck of femur were investigated. Adverse outcomes including Length of Stay, (LOS), and deaths were recorded. Total Lymphocyte Counts, (TLC), Serum Albumin Levels and Haemoglobin levels, were recorded pre-operatively, (pre-op) and post-operatively, (post-op). Adverse outcomes in those with normal and abnormal biochemical values were compared using Chi Squared and T Testing. Linear associations were tested for using Pearson rank correlation. Automated Nutrition Scores Beta, (ANSB) were calculated and their relationship to adverse outcomes investigated. Protein energy malnutrition was common on admission. However, only 2 patients were nutritionally screened during admission. Those patients with abnormal pre-op TLC had an increased LOS in hospital. Those with abnormal albumin and/or TLC had increased mortality rates. Abnormal albumin levels were associated with a significant 3 fold increase in mortality, (p = 0.009) and post-operative TLC were found to be negatively correlated with LOS, (r = –0.3, p = 0.038). ANSB were also found to correlate with increased adverse outcomes although this was not significant. This study demonstrates that nutritional status is poorly assessed on admission in orthopaedic patients and consequently that provision of nutritional supplements is suboptimal. This study also demonstrates a highly significant relationship between abnormal albumin and adverse outcomes and identifies a new correlation between post-operative TLC and LOS. This study confirms that individual biochemical parameters and biochemical scores can be used to identify orthopaedic patients at particular risk of adverse post-op outcomes. These biochemical screening methods may be a more efficient and reliable way of stratifying malnutrition associated risk on admission.
Electroencephalographic dynamics of musical emotion perception revealed by independent spectral components

This study explores the electroencephalographic (EEG) correlates of emotional experience during music listening. Independent component analysis and analysis of variance were used to separate statistically independent spectral changes of the EEG in response to music-induced emotional processes. An independent brain process with equivalent dipole located in the fronto-central region exhibited distinct δ-band and &thgr;-band power changes associated with self-reported emotional states. Specifically, the emotional valence was associated with δ-power decreases and &thgr;-power increases in the frontal-central area, whereas the emotional arousal was accompanied by increases in both δ and &thgr; powers. The resultant emotion-related component activations that were less interfered by the activities from other brain processes complement previous EEG studies of emotion perception to music.
Digit Symbol Substitution test and future clinical and subclinical disorders of cognition, mobility and mood in older adults.

OBJECTIVE to examine whether psychomotor speed predicts individual and combined disorders in cognition, mobility and mood and if white matter hyperintensities explain these associations. DESIGN AND SETTING longitudinal; Cardiovascular Health Study. SUBJECTS 5,888 participants (57.6% women, 15.7% black, 75.1 (5.5), mean years (SD)). METHODS psychomotor speed (Digit Symbol Substitution Test (DSST)) and small vessel disease (white matter hyperintensities (WMH)) were measured in 1992-94. Global cognition (Modified Mini-Mental State (3MS) examination), mobility (gait speed (GS)) and mood (Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression (CES-D) scale) were measured annually over 5 years and classified as clinical, subclinical or no disorders based on established values (3MS: 80 and 85 points; GS: 0.6 and 1.0 m/s; CES-D: 10 and 5 points). Analyses were adjusted for demographics, baseline status, education, diabetes, hypertension, ankle-arm index. RESULTS among those with no disorder in cognition, mobility and mood (N = 619) in 1992-94, being in the lowest DSST quartile compared to the highest was associated with nearly twice the odds of developing 1+ clinical or subclinical disorders (N = 413) during follow-up. Associations were stronger for incident clinical disorders in cognition (OR: 8.44, p < 0.01) or mobility (OR: 9.09, p < 0.05) than for mood (OR: 1.88, p < 0.10). Results were similar after adjustment for WMH. CONCLUSIONS slower psychomotor speed may serve as a biomarker of risk of clinical disorders of cognition, mobility and mood. While in part attributable to vascular brain disease, other potentially modifiable contributors may be present. Further studying the causes of psychomotor slowing with ageing might provide novel insights into age-related brain disorders.
Long-Term Immunogenicity after One and Two Doses of a Monovalent MF59-Adjuvanted A/H1N1 Influenza Virus Vaccine Coadministered with the Seasonal 2009-2010 Nonadjuvanted Influenza Virus Vaccine in HIV-Infected Children, Adolescents, and Young Adults in a Randomized Controlled Trial

ABSTRACT Few data are available on the safety and long-term immunogenicity of A/H1N1 pandemic influenza vaccines for HIV-infected pediatric patients. We performed a randomized controlled trial to evaluate the safety and long-term immunogenicity of 1 versus 2 doses of the 2009 monovalent pandemic influenza A/H1N1 MF59-adjuvanted vaccine (PV) coadministered with the seasonal 2009-2010 trivalent nonadjuvanted influenza vaccine (SV) to HIV-infected children, adolescents, and young adults. A total of 66 HIV-infected patients aged 9 to 26 years were randomized to receive one (group 1) or two (group 2) doses of PV coadministered with 1 dose of SV. The main outcome was the seroconversion rate for PV at 1 month. Secondary outcomes were the geometric mean titer ratios and the seroprotection rates at 1 month for all vaccines, seroconversion rates at 1 month for SV, and longitudinal changes of antibody titers (ABTs) at 1, 2, 6, and 12 months for all vaccines. Groups 1 and 2 had similar CD4 counts and HIV RNA levels during the study. The seroconversion rate for PV was 100% at 1 month in both groups. ABTs for PV were high during the first 6 months and declined below seroprotection levels thereafter. Longitudinal changes in ABTs were similar in groups 1 and 2 for both PV and SV. The side effects of vaccination were mild and mostly local. In HIV-infected children, adolescents, and young adults, the immune response triggered by a single dose of PV was similar to that obtained with a double dose and was associated with long-term antibody response.
Modulations of Muscle Modes in Automatic Postural Responses Induced by External Surface Translations

ABSTRACT The authors applied principal component analysis to investigate muscle activation patterns (M-modes) involved in the automatic postural responses induced by external surface perturbations. They focused on M-mode modulations as responses to the effects of practice, stability of the conditions and perturbed directions. While peak center of mass velocity reduced with practice, M-modes were similar with practice and across stability conditions. In contrast, atypical sway mode coactivations that combined proximal trunk muscles with distal muscles of the opposite lower extremity of the ventral-dorsal side were observed under the unstable conditions in both forward and backward perturbations after practice. In addition, M-modes in the forward translations were characterized by increased cocontraction patterns. Results suggest that compositions of the underlying M-modes show minor differences in each perturbed direction, but practice enhances coactivation patterns combining proximal muscles with distal muscles, and with accompanying cocontraction patterns, under more challenging conditions.
Reduction in the Number of Averages Required in BOTDA Sensors Using Wavelet Denoising Techniques

This paper reports on a new mechanism to decrease the number of averages and, consequently, the measurement time of Brillouin optical time-domain analysis (BOTDA) sensors using wavelet shrinkage techniques. Two different wavelet shrinkage techniques, VisuShrink and SureShrink, are applied to denoise signals acquired from measurements in BOTDA sensors. The conventional method to denoise signals in BOTDA sensors is ensemble averaging. Ensemble averaging is a time consuming technique, as it requires many acquisitions of signals to provide an acceptable SNR. To reduce the number of acquisitions, the setup of the BOTDA sensor is modified to denoise acquired signals using VisuShrink or SureShrink before applying ensemble averaging. Experimental results show a significant reduction in the number of averages required to provide an accurate measurement, and consequently, a substantial saving in the measurement time of the sensor. It has been shown that the combination of ensemble averaging with VisuShrink or SureShrink reduces the measurement time of the sensor up to 90%. This reduction in the measurement time enables the implementation of dynamic and fast measurements with BODTA sensors and opens opportunities to target a new range of applications.
A guide to the Simulium damnosum complex (Diptera: Simuliidae) in Nigeria, with a cytotaxonomic key for the identification of the sibling species

Abstract Although approximately 40% of all the people blinded by Onchocerca volvulus are Nigerians, almost nothing was known about the various cytospecies of the blackfly vectors present in Nigeria until 1981. The activation of the Nigerian National Onchocerciasis Control Programme in 1986 (and that programme’s initiation of mass distributions of ivermectin in 1991) provided a significant stimulus to understand the biology of the Nigerian vectors but the exploration of any possible differences between the cytospecies has been hampered by a lack of accessible taxonomic information. This review attempts to satisfy that need. There are nine different cytoforms reliably recorded from Nigeria (Simulium damnosum s.s. Nile form, S. damnosum s.s. Volta form, S. sirbanum Sirba form, S. sirbanum Sudanense form, S. soubrense Beffa form, S. squamosum A, S. squamosum B, S. squamosum C and S. yahense typical form), and three more are known from surrounding countries and might be reasonably expected to occur in Nigeria. All of these cytospecies are presumed to be vectors, although there have been almost no identifications of the vectors of O. volvulus in Nigeria. The biogeographical distribution of the cytoforms is broadly similar to that known in other parts of West Africa (although many of the cytoforms remain insufficiently studied). The physico–chemical hydrology of the Nigerian breeding sites of the cytospecies does not, however, correspond to that seen elsewhere in West Africa, and it is not clear whether this might be related to differences in the cytoforms. An illustrated cytotaxonomic key is presented to facilitate and encourage future studies.
High‐pressure refolding of bikunin: Efficacy and thermodynamics

Bikunin is a glycosylated protein that aggregates extensively during mammalian cell culture, resulting in loss of activity, loss of native secondary structure, and the formation of nonnative disulfide bonds. We investigated the use of high hydrostatic pressure (1000–3000 bar) for the refolding of bikunin aggregates. The refolding yield obtained with pressure‐modulated refolding at 2000 bar was 70 (±5%) by reverse‐phase chromatography (RP‐HPLC), significantly higher than the value of 55 (±6%) (RP‐HPLC) obtained with traditional guanidine HCl “dilution‐refolding. ” In addition, we determined the thermodynamics of pressure‐modulated refolding. The change in volume for the transition of aggregate to monomer ΔVrefolding was calculated to be −28 (±5) mL/mole. Refolding was accompanied by a loss of hydrophobic exposure, resulting in a positive contribution to the ΔVrefolding. These findings suggest that the disruption of electro‐static interactions or the differences in size of solvent‐free cavities between the aggregate and the monomer are the prevailing contributions to the negative ΔVrefolding.
C-Band Multilayer Bandpass Filter Using Open-Loop Resonators With Floating Metallic Patches

This letter presents a fourth-order quasi elliptic bandpass filter based on a multilayer technology. Thanks to the use of the third dimension, multilayer technology appears as a very convenient solution when a high coupling is required. This led us to use a coupling coefficient-based approach to design a very compact filter through the association of open-loop resonators and floating metallic patches to elevate coupling.
Lipid and protein composition of membranes of Bacillus megaterium variants in the temperature range 5 to 70 degrees C

Membranes were prepared from four temperature range variants of Bacillus megaterium: one obligate thermophile, one facultative thermophile, one mesophile, and one facultative psychrophile, covering the temperature interval between 5 and 70 degrees C. The following changes in membrane composition were apparent with increasing growth temperatures: (i) the relative amount of iso fatty acids increased and that of anteiso acids decreased, the ratio of iso acids to anteiso acids being 0.34 at 5 degrees C and 3.95 at 70 degrees C, and the pair iso/anteiso acids thus seemed to parallel the pair saturated/unsaturated acids in their ability to regulate membrane fluidity; (ii) the relative/unsaturated acids in their ability to regulate membrane fluidity; (ii) the relative amount of long-chain acids (C16 to C18) increased fivefold over that of short-chain acids (C14 and C15) between 5 and 70 degrees C; (iii) the relative amount of phosphatidylethanolamine increased, and this phospholipid accordingly dominated in the thermophilic strains, whereas diphosphatidylglycerol was predominant in the two other strains; and (iv) the ratio of micromoles of phospholipid to milligrams of membrane protein increased three-fold between 5 and 70 degrees C. Moreover, a quantitative variation in membrane proteins was evident between the different strains. Briefly, membrane phospholipids with higher melting points and packing densities appeared to be synthesized at elevated growth temperatures.
GABA and glycine are protective to mature but toxic to immature rat cortical neurons under hypoxia

Although recent studies suggest that γ‐aminobutyric acid (GABA) and glycine may be ‘inhibitory’ to mature neurons, but ‘excitatory’ to immature neurons under normoxia, it is unknown whether inhibitory neurotransmitters are differentially involved in neuronal response to hypoxia in immature and mature neurons. In the present study, we exposed rat cortical neurons to hypoxia (1% O2) and examined the effects of three major inhibitory neurotransmitters (GABA, glycine and taurine) on the hypoxic neurons at different neuronal ages [days in vitro (DIV)4–20]. Our data showed that the cortical neurons expressed both GABAA and glycine receptors with differential developmental profiles. GABA (10–2000 µm) was neuroprotective to hypoxic neurons of DIV20, but enhanced hypoxic injury in neurons of < DIV20. Glycine at low concentrations (10–100 µm) exhibited a similar pattern to GABA. However, higher concentrations of glycine (1000–2000 µm) for long‐term exposure (48–72 h) displayed neuroprotection at all ages (DIV4–20). Taurine (10–2000 µm), unlike GABA and glycine, displayed protection only in DIV4 neurons, and was slightly toxic to neurons > DIV4. In comparison with delta‐opioid receptor (DOR)‐induced protection in DIV20 neurons exposed to 72 h of hypoxia, glycine‐induced protection was weaker than that of DOR but stronger than that of GABA and taurine. These data suggest that the effects of the inhibitory neurotransmitters on hypoxic cortical neurons are age‐dependent, with GABA and glycine being neurotoxic to immature neurons and neuroprotective to mature neurons.
DURHAM : a word sense disambiguation system

Ever since the 1950's when Machine Translation first began to be developed, word sense disambiguation (WSD) has been considered a problem to developers. In more recent times, all NLP tasks which are sensitive to lexical semantics potentially benefit from WSD although to what extent is largely unknown. The thesis presents a novel approach to the task of WSD on a large scale. In particular a novel knowledge source is presented named contextual information. This knowledge source adopts a sub-symbolic training mechanism to learn information from the context of a sentence which is able to aid disambiguation. The system also takes advantage of frequency information and these two knowledge sources are combined. The system is trained and tested on SEMCOR. A novel disambiguation algorithm is also developed. The algorithm must tackle the problem of a large possible number of sense combinations in a sentence. The algorithm presented aims to make an appropriate choice between accuracy and efficiency. This is performed by directing the search at a word level. The performance achieved on SEMCOR is reported and an analysis of the various components of the system is performed. The results achieved on this test data are pleasing, but are difficult to compare with most of the other work carried out in the field. For this reason the system took part in the SENSEVAL evaluation which provided an excellent opportunity to extensively compare WSD systems. SENSEVAL is a small scale WSD evaluation using the HECTOR lexicon. Despite this, few adaptations to the system were required. The performance of the system on the SENSEVAL task are reported and have also been presented in [Hawkins, 2000].
Electromagnetic scattering by multiple three-dimensional scatterers buried under multilayered media. II. Numerical implementations and results

For pt.I see ibid., vol.36, no.2, p.526-34 (1998). In part I of this paper, coupled electric-field integral equations for dielectric objects, conducting objects, and multiple dielectric and/or conducting objects were derived when they were buried under one-dimensional (1D) multilayered media. In part II of this paper, numerical implementations for these integral equations are developed by use of the method of moments, in which the "self-actions" in the method are treated special because of the presence of singularity. Sample numerical results are presented for several cases of interest, which show the validity of the scheme.
Neuroimaging in epilepsy: The state of the art

Our understanding of epileptogenesis is still limited. Knowledge is increasing with regard to structural and functional changes in chronic stages of epilepsy. At the same time, we have to appreciate that there is a significant lack of such information in new‐onset epilepsy. The First Halifax International Epilepsy Conference tried to fill this gap, focusing on the contribution of advanced neuroimaging in early stages of epilepsy. The following article aims to synthesize the themes that emerged from this meeting. Participants agreed that (1) there is a need for a unified theory of epileptogenesis, addressing the interplay of functional and structural brain changes; (2) neuroimaging reveals widespread brain alterations in epilepsy; (3) advances in neuroimaging challenge the concept of “MRI‐negative” (magnetic resonance imaging negative) focal epilepsy; (4) methodologic limitations and potential confounders must be considered in the translation of innovative imaging approaches to clinical practice; and (5) there is an urgent need for longitudinal studies that begin early in the disease process.
Penicillin-binding proteins in Bacillus subtilis mutants

The penicillin-binding proteins (PBPs) from mutants of Bacillus subtilis were studied and related to morphology. In a previously described cloxacillin-resistant mutant of B. subtilis strain Porton, PBP 2a had an altered mobility by sodium dodecyl sulfate gel electrophoresis and was present in increased amounts. In addition, PBPs 1a and 1b were missing in this mutant. The only morphological change seen was a decrease in size of about 15%. Studies of two Triton-resistant morphological mutants of B. subtilis 168, Tr49 (small diameter) and Tr61 (helical form), revealed no change in the number of PBPs compared with that of the parent strain. However, PBPs 1a and 1b had an altered mobility in the mutant Tr49.
Influence of sodium valproate on medium‐late luteal phase pulsatile LH secretion in normal women

OBJECTIVE It is not known whether gamma‐aminobutyric acid (GABA) is involved in control of pulsatile LH secretion in human beings. Previous work by our group has shown that manipulation of the GABAergic system with sodium valproate does not affect pulsatile LH secretion in normal women in the late follicular phase. However, it has been suggested that steroid levels are critical for the influence of GABA upon hormone secretion; in particular, progesterone has been said to enhance inhibition by GABA. In this work we studied the effect of sodium valproate on pulsatile LH secretion in medium‐late luteal phase of normal women.
MIC quality control guidelines for Haemophilus susceptibility tests using cefdinir (FK482), cefepime, cefetamet, cefpirome, ceftibuten, fleroxacin, temafloxacin, clarithromycin, RP59500, and trospectomycin

A multilaboratory study was performed to establish broth microdilution MIC quality control (QC) guidelines for 10 investigational drugs which previously demonstrated significant activity against Haemophilus influenzae. MIC QC ranges for H. influenzae ATCC 49247 with Haemophilus test medium were determined by using multiple contemporary lots of Haemophilus test medium and the National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards' recommended numbers of replicate tests. On the basis of these results, QC ranges (generally modal MIC +/- one log2 dilution) are proposed for cefdinir, cefepime, cefetamet, cefpirome, ceftibuten, fleroxacin, temafloxacin, clarithromycin, RP59500, and trospectomycin. The proposed QC guidelines for clarithromycin and temafloxacin were recently accepted by the National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards.
A novel handoff algorithm for hierarchical cellular networks

In this paper, we propose a novel speed and service-sensitive handoff algorithm and analytical model for hierarchical cellular networks. First, we use the Gauss-Markov mobility model to predict the speeds of mobile stations, and divide mobile stations into three classes based on the predicted speeds: fast, medium-speed, and slow. Then, according to the mobility classification, network conditions, and service types, mobile stations will be handoff to the proper target networks prior to the deterioration of the currently operating channel. We further develop an analytical model to evaluate the performance of such a hierarchical system with different speed classes and service types. Simulations and analytical results show that the proposed handoff algorithm can significantly improve the network performance in terms of the handoff failure probability, unnecessary handoff probability, and network throughput, comparing with the traditional algorithms.