Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Suppression of retinal neovascularization with an antagonist to vascular endothelial cadherin.

OBJECTIVES To examine the role of vascular endothelial cadherin (VE-cadherin) in cellular processes underlying angiogenesis and the effects of VE-cadherin inhibition on retinal angiogenesis. METHODS Retinal neovascularization was induced in newborn mice by exposure to 75% oxygen (postnatal days 7-12) followed by room air and quantitated from histological sections. Mice received daily intraperitoneal injections of either a VE-cadherin antagonist or a control peptide from postnatal days 12 to 17. In vitro cell migration, proliferation, and tubule formation were examined in the presence of the VE-cadherin antagonist. The effect of antagonist treatment on the integrity of established cell junctions was examined by fluorescein isothiocyanate-dextran monolayer permeability and VE-cadherin immunocytochemistry. RESULTS Treatment with the VE-cadherin antagonist significantly reduced retinal angiogenesis. Inhibition of VE-cadherin function suppressed tubule formation in endothelial cells. The antagonist treatment also decreased cell migration and proliferation. The antagonist treatment did not affect the integrity of existing cell junctions. Immunostaining for VE-cadherin and rates of monolayer permeability were comparable to those in untreated controls. CONCLUSION Our study points to a pivotal role played by VE-cadherin in the angiogenic process. CLINICAL RELEVANCE Inhibition of VE-cadherin might be an effective strategy for pharmacological inhibition in proliferative retinopathies.
Effects of testosterone replacement on metabolic and inflammatory markers in men with opioid‐induced androgen deficiency

Symptomatic androgen deficiency is common in patients taking opioid analgesics, and testosterone replacement in these men improves libido, quality of life and body composition. However, the effects of testosterone replacement on metabolic and inflammatory markers in this setting have not been evaluated. This is important as opiate use itself has been associated with metabolic abnormalities. The objective of this investigation was to determine the effects of testosterone administration on metabolic and inflammatory markers in adult men with opioid‐induced androgen deficiency.
The African Descent and Glaucoma Evaluation Study (ADAGES): design and baseline data.

OBJECTIVE To identify factors accounting for differences in glaucoma onset and rate of progression between individuals of African descent and European descent. DESIGN A prospective, multicenter observational cohort study of 1221 participants of African descent and European descent with no glaucoma (normal), suspected glaucoma, and glaucoma. Six hundred eighty-six patient participants in the African Descent and Glaucoma Evaluation Study will be followed up longitudinally. Four hundred thirty-six participants of European descent from the Diagnostic Innovations in Glaucoma Study (DIGS) were also included. Baseline demographics, visual function (standard automated perimetry, short-wavelength automated perimetry, frequency doubling technology perimetry), optic nerve structure (retina tomography, optical coherence tomography), clinical status, and risk factors were measured. RESULTS Individuals of African descent had (1) thinner corneas (P < .001) across all diagnostic groups, (2) a higher percentage of reported diabetes mellitus (P < .001) and high blood pressure (P < .001) and a lower percentage of reported heart disease (P = .001), and (3) worse pattern standard deviation for standard automated perimetry fields overall (P = .001) and within normal limits (P = .01) than individuals of European descent. No differences were present for mean intraocular pressure (P = .79). CONCLUSIONS Significant baseline differences were found in a number of clinical findings between persons of African descent compared with European descent. Longitudinal data from the African Descent and Glaucoma Evaluation Study will be important for determining which baseline features are important and predictive for accurate diagnosis and follow-up in this high-risk group. Trial Registration clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT00221923.
Metastatic Osseous Pain Control: Bone Ablation and Cementoplasty

Abstract Nociceptive and/or neuropathic pain can be present in all phases of cancer (early and metastatic) and are not adequately treated in 56 to 82.3% of patients. In these patients, radiotherapy achieves overall pain responses (complete and partial responses combined) up to 60 and 61%. On the other hand, nowadays, ablation is included in clinical guidelines for bone metastases and the technique is governed by level I evidence. Depending on the location of the lesion in the peripheral skeleton, either the Mirels scoring or the Harrington (alternatively the Levy) grading system can be used for prophylactic fixation recommendation. As minimally invasive treatment options may be considered in patients with poor clinical status or limited life expectancy, the aim of this review is to detail the techniques proposed so far in the literature and to report the results in terms of safety and efficacy of ablation and cementoplasty (with or without fixation) for bone metastases. Percutaneous image-guided treatments appear as an interesting alternative for localized metastatic lesions of the peripheral skeleton.
Safety of Anti-TNF Treatment in Liver Transplant Recipients: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Background and Aim Little is known about the risk of serious infection when combining anti-tumour necrosis factor [TNF] therapy for refractory inflammatory bowel disease [IBD] with immunosuppression after liver transplantation [LT]. Our aim was to investigate the infection risk in this patient group by systematic review and meta-analysis of the available data. Methods A search was conducted for full papers and conference proceedings through September 2015, regarding liver transplant recipients and anti-TNF therapy. All studies were appraised using the adapted Newcastle-Ottawa Scale [NOS]. Two reviewers independently extracted patient data [age, duration of follow-up, number of all infections, number of serious infections, time since transplant]. As an additional control population, primary sclerosing cholangitis [PSC]-IBD patients from the Leiden University Medical Center [LUMC] LT cohort were used. Poisson regression was used to compare serious infections (according to International Conference on Harmonisation [ICH] definition) per patien-year follow-up between the anti-TNF and control groups. Results In all 465 articles and abstracts were identified, of which eight were included. These contained 53 post-LT patients on anti-TNF therapy and 23 post-LT patients not exposed to anti-TNF therapy. From the LUMC LT-cohort, 41 PSC patients with PSC-IBD not exposed to anti-TNF therapy were included as control population. The infection rate for TNF-exposed patients was 0.168 serious infections per patient year, compared with 0.149 in the control patients (rate ratio 1.12 [95% confidence interval: 0.233-5.404, P = 0.886]. When correcting for time since transplant, the infection rate was 0.194 in the TNF-exposed vs 0.115 in the non-exposed [p = 0.219]. Conclusions No significant increase in the rate of serious infection was observed in LT recipients with PSC-IBD during exposure to anti-TNF therapy.
Surviving the Whiteman's world : adult education in Aboriginal society

A magnetic memory system is provided that includes magnetic domain data chips having a block replicate organization wherein the system may include data chips having one or more defective minor loops. A dedicated minor loop is provided on the chip to store a redundancy map for locating the defective minor loops. The dedicated minor loop also provides for storing a synchronization pattern for initializing the system by having each minor loop properly addressed for transferring magnetic domains. The dedicated loop can only be accessed by a separate swap pin preventing a write operation by the user thus preserving the data stored therein.
Hypnosis in the Relief of Pain

Pain and Hypnosis. Hypnosis. Pain. Controlling Pain. Hypnosis in Pain Control. Hypnosis and Clinical Pain. Cancer. Obstetrics. Surgery. Dentistry. A Perspective on the Hypnotic Control of Pain. Hidden Pain and Its Interpretation. The Future of Hypnosis in Pain Control. Supplement to the First Edition. Recent Developments in the Knowledge of Hypnosis and Pain. Appendices. Stanford Hypnotic Clinical State (SHCS). The Availability of Hypnotic Services.
Globally chaotic analysis of Heart Rate Variability during acute auditory stimulus by heavy metal music

OBJECTIVE: Auditory stimulation with relaxing style music can improve cardiac autonomic regulation in subjects treated with a cardio-toxic medication. We assess the acute effect of heavy metal music on cardiac autonomic regulation, through novel high spectral chaotic global analysis techniques: (a) high spectral detrended fluctuation, (b) high spectral entropy (c) spectral multi-taper method. METHOD: We investigated young adult women between 18 and 30 years old exposed to heavy metal (75-84 dB) music for 20 min. Normality tests were applied: (i) Anderson-Darling, (ii) Ryan-Joiner (similar to Shapiro-Wilk); (iii) Lilliefors for low number of subjects. They all indicated a non-normal data distribution. Consequently we applied the Kruskal-Wallis non-parametric test. Also because of the small population, we used a broader than usual level of significance (critical p = 0.1). RESULTS: The application of the three tests for normality and the non-parametric test of significance by the KruskalWallis technique showed that acute musical auditory stimulation with heavy metal music lead to a significant increase (p < 0.07) in one of the seven combinations of chaotic globals. The most significant combination of chaotic globals is the Chaos Forward Parameter One (CFP1), which includes all three studied chaotic globals (high spectral detrended fluctuation, high spectral entropy, spectral multi-taper method). We found significantly increased values during musical auditory stimulation for this specific CFP1. CONLCUSION: It is suggested that acute musical stimulation with heavy metal influences cardiac autonomic regulation at a more complex level than previously reported and that this may be beneficial to heart function.
Extended morning fasting, energy balance and human health

Cross-sectional evidence associates breakfast omission with negative health outcomes. The present work aimed to examine if these cross-sectional associations have a causal component, by conducting randomised control trials in healthy humans. It was established using lean individuals that there are divergent hormonal responses to morning feeding and fasting, although increased energy intake at lunch following fasting incompletely compensated for breakfast intake. Hormonal and subjective appetite responses in the afternoon did not consistently provide evidence for increased hunger following fasting. In the same participants assigned to a 6-week free-living intervention of either 700 kcal pre 11:00 or fasting until 12:00 daily, it was found that energy intake was greater in those assigned breakfast consumption, but that physical activity was also greater than those fasting. Cardiovascular risk factors and measures of metabolic control were largely unaffected by either intervention. There was no adaptation of acute metabolic/hormonal responses to feeding following either intervention. In obese individuals, similar patterns of results were obtained for the hormonal and metabolic responses to acute feeding and fasting, but with no compensation for breakfast intake at lunch. Results from the free-living intervention demonstrated no difference in energy intake between groups or physical activity over the entire day, but greater energy expenditure during the morning in those consuming breakfast. Markers of cardiovascular health and metabolic control were generally not differently affected by either intervention. Neither intervention caused adaptation of the acute hormonal and metabolic responses to feeding. In summary, acute morning fasting does not cause complete compensation for breakfast intake at lunch, or result in greater hunger throughout the afternoon. Daily morning fasting does not affect acute responses to feeding or cause increased energy intake or weight gain relative to self-selected breakfast consumption, but seems to limit physical activity in lean, and to a lesser extent, in obese individuals.
Mesenchymal Stem Cell Therapy for Apoptosis After Spinal Cord Injury

Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a devastating clinical problem that has irreversible consequences, results in permanent functional loss, and life time disability (Sekhon and Fehlings, 2001). This debilitating condition often affects young and healthy individuals at the prime of their life, creates enormous physical and emotional cost, and places a significant financial burden to society at large (Ackery et al., 2004). Even though years of research have led to a better understanding in the pathophysiology of permanent neural injuries at the cellular level, much of the mechanism and processes of secondary injury at the molecular level remain to be elucidated. With modern molecular strategies and techniques, breakthroughs in the understanding of neuronal injury and neural regeneration provide new promises for reversal of spinal cord injury that once was thought to be permanent and irreversible (Carlson and Gorden, 2002). Spinal cord injury involves an initial mechanical or primary injury followed by a series of cellular and molecular secondary events that amplify the extent of the initial damage and results in the progressive destruction of spinal cord tissue. After acute contusion, the spinal cord undergoes a sequential progression of pathologic changes, including micro hemorrhage, cytotoxic edema, neuronal necrosis, axonal fragmentation, demyelination, further secondary cellular destruction and eventually cyst formation (Balentine, 1978; Balentine and Greene, 1984; Coutts and Keirstead, 2008). Damage to the spinal cord results in extensive proliferation of microglia and macrophages in and around the injury epicenter. This acute inflammatory response at the injury site is at least partly responsible for secondary spinal cord injury ( Popovich et al., 1997; Carlson et al., 1998; Taoka et al., 1998). The inflammatory cells (particularly macrophages/microglia) mediate tissue damage by producing a variety of cytotoxic factors including interleukins (Rice et al., 2007) and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) (Beattie et al., 2002). White matter breakdown begins at the grey-white matter junction with progressive edema (Dohrmann et al., 1972). Axoplasmic stasis and axonal swelling that contains multiple organelles, mitochondria, neurofilament, and smooth endoplasmic reticulum eventually undergo glandular dissolution and myelin
Modeling Landscape-Level Spatial Variation in Sex Ratio Skew in the Mountain Pine Beetle (Coleoptera: Curculionidae)

Abstract Through their influence on effective population sizes, sex ratio skew affects population dynamics. We examined spatial variation in female-biased sex ratios in the mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae Hopkins) outbreak in western Canada to better understand how environmental context affects sex ratio skew. Our specific objectives were to: 1) characterize spatial variation in mountain pine beetle sex ratio; 2) test previously asserted hypotheses that beetle sex ratio varies with tree diameter and year in outbreak; and 3) develop predictive models of sex ratio skew for larval and adult populations. Using logistic regression, we modeled the probability that an individual beetle (n = 2,369) was female as a function of multiple environmental variables across 34 stands in British Columbia and Alberta, Canada. We identified a consistent female-biased sex ratio with significantly greater skew in adults (2: 1, n = 713) than in larvae (1.76: 1, n = 1,643). We found that the proportion of larval females increased with decreasing tree size and with outbreak age. However, adults did not respond to tree size and larvae did not respond to outbreak age. Predictive models differed between larvae and adults. All identified models perform well and included predictors related to weather, tree diameter, and year in outbreak. Female-biased sex ratios appear to originate from differential male mortality during development rather than from sex-biased oviposition, suggesting sex ratio skew is not the cause of outbreaks, but rather a consequence.
Vitamin D and retinopathy in adults with diabetes mellitus.

OBJECTIVE To explore a hypothesized association between vitamin D inadequacy and diabetic retinopathy. METHODS This cross-sectional study analyzed data from individuals aged 40 years and older with diabetes mellitus who participated in the interview and medical examination components of the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey conducted from October 1, 1988, through September 30, 1994. The relationship between diabetic retinopathy and serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentration was evaluated using regression analysis in the presence of demographic and clinical covariates, such as age, race, obesity, and persistent hyperglycemia. RESULTS On the basis of the 1790 adults with diabetes who met the study's inclusion criteria, the percentage of individuals with vitamin D deficiency increased with severity of retinopathy: no retinopathy, 27.9%; mild, 28.2%; moderate to severe, 43.2%; and proliferative, 64.6% (P = .01). Regression analysis of retinopathy severity vs serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentration did not demonstrate a statistically significant relationship between the two variables (P = .07). CONCLUSIONS This study found an association between severity of diabetic retinopathy and prevalence of vitamin D deficiency, but the findings were inconclusive about the existence of a relationship between retinopathy severity and serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentration. Given previous research indicating possible anti-inflammatory and antiangiogenic properties of vitamin D, the connection between vitamin D and diabetic retinopathy warrants further study.
Development and Survival of Spodoptera exigua (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) on Alternate Crops in Cotton Cropping Pattern, with Implications to Integrated Pest Management

Abstract Spodoptera exigua (Hübner) is a polyphagous pest that shifts its population to different hosts during its life cycle to receive nutritive advantages. Therefore, demographic evaluation of alternate hosts is important for effective pest management. Here, we have evaluated castor (Ricinus communis L.), cauliflower (Brassica oleracea L.), cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.), okra (Abelmoschus esculentus L.), and spinach (Spinacia oleracea L.) for growth, survival, and population development of S. exigua. Development of early populations of S. exigua is best supported on castor where earlier instars had least mortalities (10%) compared with spinach (36%), although later instars and pupae had significantly higher mortalities (20.8%) on it. Spinach and okra, on the other hand, promote larval survivals in later instars. Little or no differences in stadia lengths were observed during early development of larvae and, interestingly, the longevity of female moths increased significantly when reared on castor, cauliflower, and spinach (12.3, 11.3, and 11.7 d, respectively), resulting into significantly higher fecundity. The survival curves of all five populations have clearly demonstrated a steep early decline in larval numbers when reared on okra and only 60% larvae could survive. These findings conclude that S. exigua when fed on spinach was greatly disadvantaged in terms of growth and development; hence, the pest's field population can be opportunistically controlled by spraying adjacent spinach fields. In addition, the results highlight the vulnerable stages in pest's life cycle in the field where we can apply integrated control strategies for its effective management.
Treatment of microsporidia keratitis with topical voriconazole monotherapy.

Microsporidia are obligate intracellular eukaryotic pathogens known to cause superficial punctate keratitis and stromal keratitis in both immunocompromised and immuno-competent individuals. Traditionally, microsporidia were classified as primitive eukaryotes; however, recent genomic evidence supports their reclassification as fungi.1 Definitive treatment for micro-sporidial keratitis has not been established. Based on the classification of microsporidia as fungi, use of topical antifungal agents may be beneficial as monotherapy. Voriconazole is available through compounding pharmacies in topical form and is effective against several fungal pathogens.2 Herein, we report 2 cases of microsporidial superficial punctate keratitis that were responsive to treatment with topical voriconazole. To our knowledge, this is the first case series of the successful treatment of microsporidial superficial punctate keratitis with topical voriconazole.
Tuberculosis Cutis Miliaris Acuta Generalisata รายงานผู้ป่วยและทบทวนวารสาร

วณโรคเปนโรคทมความสาคญในปญหา สาธารณสขของประเทศไทย สถตผปวยวณโรคป 2520–2522อตราการตดเชอในประชากรทกหมวด อายเฉลยรอยละ40. 6(1)แมวาผปวยวณโรคมบรเวณขาหนบขางซายฝแตกออกเองรกษากบ จานวนมาก แตวณโรคชนดแพรกระจายโดยมรอย หมอตามบานประมาณ 10 วนอาการดขนเลก โรคทผวหนงทวไปพบไดไมบอยนก(2)โดยเฉพาะ นอย20วนกอนมาโรงพยาบาลมไขปวดตนขา ในผใหญมรายงานจากตางประเทศเพยงสบกวารายซายไอมเสมหะเลกนอยสขาวไมหอบรกษาท (3) โรงพยาบาลประจาจงหวดอยประมาณ 10 วน รายงานผปวย อาการไมดขนผปวยขอกลบไปรกษาตอทบาน 8 ผปวยชายไทยคอาย36ป(HN31932-22,AN วนกอนมาโรงพยาบาลมตมหนองขนตามตว แขน 09984–22)จากจงหวดสกลนครอาชพขบรถขาและหนามไขไมหนาวสนไอหายใจหอบ รบจาง รบไวรกษาในโรงพยาบาลขอนแกน ออนเพลยมากจงมาโรงพยาบาลขอนแกน กระทรวงสาธารณสขระหวางวนท 10 - 14 ม. ย. 2522
Evolving systemic targeted therapy strategies in uveal melanoma and implications for ophthalmic management: a review

Uveal melanoma (UM) is the most common primary ocular tumour in adults. Despite good local control of the primary tumour with current methods, survival after the development of metastasis has remained poor over the last 30 years. After cutaneous melanoma, UM is the most common type of melanoma, and an ongoing debate exists regarding whether these conditions should be considered separate entities, particularly in the context of targeted therapy, where many of the initial trials for patients with metatatic cutaneous melanoma excluded metastatic UM. This paper will review the recent and ongoing investigations designed to validate systemic targeted therapy and immunotherapy in patients with metastatic UM and suggests ways in which these developments may affect management of UM by ophthalmologists in the near future.