Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Preclinical trial of l-arginine monotherapy alone or with N-acetylcysteine in septic shock*

Objective:l-arginine supplementation in sepsis is controversial. Septic shock has been alternatively viewed as an l-arginine-deficient state or as a syndrome caused by excess nitric oxide, an end-product of l-arginine metabolism. Design:Randomized, placebo-controlled, and double-blinded (investigators, veterinarians, and pharmacists). Setting:Laboratory. Subjects:Purpose-bred, 1- to 2-yr-old, 10- to 12-kg beagles. Interventions:The effects of parenteral l-arginine alone or in combination with N-acetylcysteine were compared with vehicle alone in a well-characterized canine model of Escherichia coli peritonitis. Two doses were studied that delivered approximately 1.5-fold (10 mg·kg−1·hr−1) and 15-fold (100 mg·kg−1·hr−1) the l-arginine dose typically administered with standard total parenteral nutrition. Animals in the low- and high-dose l-arginine arms were further randomized to receive vehicle alone or N-acetylcysteine (20 mg·kg−1·hr−1) as an antioxidant to prevent peroxynitrite formation. Measurements and Main Results:The main measurements were hemodynamics, plasma arginine and ornithine, serum nitrate/nitrite, laboratory studies for organ injury, and survival. Both doses of l-arginine similarly increased mortality (p = .02), and worsened shock (p = .001 for reduced mean arterial pressure). These effects were associated with significant increases in plasma arginine (p = .0013) and ornithine (p = .0021). In addition, serum nitrate/nitrite (p = .02), liver enzymes (p = .08), and blood urea nitrogen/creatinine ratios (p = .001) rose, whereas arterial pH (p = .001) and bicarbonate levels (p = .001) fell. N-acetylcysteine did not significantly decrease any of the harmful effects of l-arginine. Thus, parenteral l-arginine monotherapy was markedly harmful in animals with septic shock. Conclusions:These findings suggest that supplemental parenteral l-arginine, at doses above standard dietary practices, should be avoided in critically ill patients with septic shock.
Contrast Limited Adaptive Histogram Equalization Based Fusion for Underwater Image Enhancement

In order to improve contrast and restore color for underwater image captured by camera sensors without suffering from insufficient details and color cast, a fusion algorithm for image enhancement in different color spaces based on contrast limited adaptive histogram equalization (CLAHE) is proposed in this article. The original color image is first converted from RGB color space to two different special color spaces: YIQ and HSI. The color space conversion from RGB to YIQ is a linear transformation, while the RGB to HSI conversion is nonlinear. Then, the algorithm separately operates CLAHE in YIQ and HSI color spaces to obtain two different enhancement images. The luminance component (Y) in the YIQ color space and the intensity component (I) in the HSI color space are enhanced with CLAHE algorithm. The CLAHE has two key parameters: Block Size and Clip Limit, which mainly control the quality of CLAHE enhancement image. After that, the YIQ and HSI enhancement images are respectively converted backward to RGB color. When the three components of red, green, and blue are not coherent in the YIQ-RGB or HSI-RGB images, the three components will have to be harmonized with the CLAHE algorithm in RGB space. Finally, with 4 direction Sobel edge detector in the bounded general logarithm ratio operation, a self-adaptive weight selection nonlinear image enhancement is carried out to fuse YIQ-RGB and HSI-RGB images together to achieve the final fused image. The enhancement fusion algorithm has two key factors: average of Sobel edge detector and fusion coefficient, and these two factors determine the effects of enhancement fusion algorithm. A series of evaluate metrics such as mean, contrast, entropy, colorfulness metric (CM), mean square error (MSE) and peak signal to noise ratio (PSNR) are used to assess the proposed enhancement algorithm. The experiments results showed that the proposed algorithm provides more detail enhancement and higher values of colorfulness restoration as compared to other existing image enhancement algorithms. The proposed algorithm can suppress effectively noise interference, improve the image quality for underwater image availably.
Separating Intrinsic and Environmental Contributions to Growth and Their Population Consequences

Among-individual heterogeneity in growth is a commonly observed phenomenon that has clear consequences for population and community dynamics yet has proved difficult to quantify in practice. In particular, observed among-individual variation in growth can be difficult to link to any given mechanism. Here, we develop a Bayesian state-space framework for modeling growth that bridges the complexity of bioenergetic models and the statistical simplicity of phenomenological growth models. The model allows for intrinsic individual variation in traits, a shared environment, process stochasticity, and measurement error. We apply the model to two populations of steelhead trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) grown under common but temporally varying food conditions. Models allowing for individual variation match available data better than models that assume a single shared trait for all individuals. Estimated individual variation translated into a roughly twofold range in realized growth rates within populations. Comparisons between populations showed strong differences in trait means, trait variability, and responses to a shared environment. Together, individual- and population-level variation have substantial implications for variation in size and growth rates among and within populations. State-dependent life-history models predict that this variation can lead to differences in individual life-history expression, lifetime reproductive output, and population life-history diversity.
Decreasing Elementary School Children's Disruptive Behaviors: A Review of Four Evidence-Based Programs for School Counselors.

Elementary school counselors are often expected to intervene when students are disruptive. This article describes four evidence-based programs that have been shown to be highly effective in changing children’s disruptive behavior. The success of these programs rests on the involvement of both parents and teachers in developing a collaborative approach to managing children’s behavior. These four programs were evaluated in terms of their feasibility of implementation by school counselors and other school personnel, their substantiated effectiveness with diverse populations, and their accessibility and ease of use.
Precoded Chebyshev-NLMS-Based Pre-Distorter for Nonlinear LED Compensation in NOMA-VLC

Visible light communication (VLC) is one of the main technologies driving the future 5G communication systems due to its ability to support high data rates with low power consumption, thereby facilitating high speed green communications. To further increase the capacity of VLC systems, a technique called non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) has been suggested to cater to increasing demand for bandwidth, whereby users’ signals are superimposed prior to transmission and detected at each user equipment using successive interference cancellation. Some recent results on NOMA exist which greatly enhance the achievable capacity as compared with the orthogonal multiple access techniques. However, one of the performance-limiting factors affecting VLC systems is the nonlinear characteristics of a light emitting diode (LED). This paper considers the nonlinear LED characteristics in the design of pre-distorter for cognitive radio inspired NOMA in VLC, and proposes singular value decomposition-based Chebyshev precoding to improve performance of nonlinear multiple-input multiple-output NOMA-VLC. A novel and generalized power allocation strategy is also derived in this paper, which is valid even in scenarios when users experience similar channels. Additionally, in this paper, analytical upper bounds for the bit error rate of the proposed detector are derived for square $M$ -quadrature amplitude modulation.
A New Computing Model for C-Like Hardware Description Languages

Traditional C-like hardware description languages are based on single dimensional computing model. They describe only behavior of designs, while cost information is leaved to be digging out by a synthesizer at late stage of design process. However, cost information is needed in high level synthesis for making trade-off among different aspects of cost to achieve global optimized design. To solve the problem, we extended traditional computing model to multi-dimensional so cost information can be included in the language, and integrated it to a popular C++ variant hardware description language - SystemC. The result language describes both behavior and cost of designs so trade-off can be made at relative high level during synthesis process and early stage of design process, thus make it easy to optimize designs for different target applications
Collaboration between hospital physicians and nurses: an integrated literature review.

BACKGROUND Ineffective physician-nurse collaboration has been shown to cause work dissatisfaction among physicians and nurses and compromised the quality of patient care. AIM The review sought to explore: (1) attitudes of physicians and nurses toward physician-nurse collaboration; (2) factors affecting physician-nurse collaboration; and (3) strategies to improve physician-nurse collaboration. METHODS A literature search was conducted in the following databases: CINAHL, PubMed, Wiley Online Library and Scopus from year 2002 to 2012, to include papers that reported studies on physician-nurse collaboration in the hospital setting. FINDINGS Seventeen papers were included in this review. Three of the reviewed articles were qualitative studies and the other 14 were quantitative studies. Three key themes emerged from this review: (1) attitudes towards physician-nurse collaboration, where physicians viewed physician-nurse collaboration as less important than nurses but rated the quality of collaboration higher than nurses; (2) factors affecting physician-nurse collaboration, including communication, respect and trust, unequal power, understanding professional roles, and task prioritizing; and (3) improvement strategies for physician-nurse collaboration, involving inter-professional education and interdisciplinary ward rounds. CONCLUSION This review has highlighted important aspects of physician-nurse collaboration that could be addressed by future research studies. These include: developing a comprehensive instrument to assess collaboration in greater depth; conducting rigorous intervention studies to evaluate the effectiveness of improvement strategies for physician-nurse collaboration; and examining the role of senior physicians and nurses in facilitating collaboration among junior physicians and nurses. Other implications include inter-professional education to empower nurses in making clinical decisions and putting in place policies to resolve workplace issues.
Cloning, mapping, and characterization of the Escherichia coli prc gene, which is involved in C-terminal processing of penicillin-binding protein 3

The prc gene, which is involved in cleavage of the C-terminal peptide from the precursor form of penicillin-binding protein 3 (PBP 3) of Escherichia coli, was cloned and mapped at 40.4 min on the chromosome. The gene product was identified as a protein of about 80 kDa in maxicell and in vitro systems. Fractionation of the maxicells producing the product suggested that the product was associated with the periplasmic side of the cytoplasmic membrane. This was consistent with the notion that the C-terminal processing of PBP 3 probably occurs outside the cytoplasmic membrane: the processing was found to be dependent on the secY and secA functions, indicating that the prc product or PBP 3 or both share the translocation machinery with other extracytoplasmic proteins. DNA sequencing analysis of the prc gene region identified an open reading frame, with two possible translational starts 6 bp apart from each other, that could code for a product with a calculated molecular weight of 76,667 or 76,432. The prc mutant was sensitive to thermal and osmotic stresses. Southern analysis of the chromosomal DNA of the mutant unexpectedly revealed that the mutation was a deletion of the entire prc gene and thus that the prc gene is conditionally dispensable. The mutation resulted in greatly reduced heat shock response at low osmolarity and in leakage of periplasmic proteins.
Quality of Life among Female Cancer Survivors in Africa: An Integrative Literature Review

Quality of life (QOL) has been studied extensively among cancer populations in high income countries where cancer care resources are available to many. Little is known concerning the QOL of cancer groups residing in Africa where resources can be scarce. The integrative review of the literature explored and critically examined studies that had addressed QOL in female cancer survivors in Africa. The extent to which QOL studies incorporated a cultural perspective was also examined. Research studies published between 2005 and 2015 were retrieved from five databases: CINAHL, MEDLINE, SCOPUS, ProQuest dissertations and Theses full text, and GlobalHealth. Primary qualitative or quantitative studies regardless of sample size or setting were included. A total of 300 studies were identified and 28 full text studies were retrieved and assessed for eligibility. Eight studies met inclusion criteria. Factors that affected the QOL were socio-demographic especially age, education, employment, income and residence; illness-related factors such as having advanced cancer and multiple symptoms; treatment-related factors associated with surgery and radiotherapy; psychosocial factors such as support and anxiety; and cultural factors including fatalism and bewitching. Practice implications entail increasing awareness among nurses and allied healthcare providers of the potential effects on QOL of a cancer diagnosis and treatment of female cancers such as pain, fatigue, sexual dysfunction, hormonal and body image changes, anxiety, depression and cultural practices. Failure to identify and deal with these may result in poor treatment adherence, low self-esteem, and ultimately poor QOL.
The Evolution and Classification of the Published Books of Clem Tisdell: A Brief Overview

This paper outlines the evolution and classification of the major works (published books) of Clem Tisdell. To do this it divides these books into six categories. 1. Those focusing on knowledge limitations and, the presence of uncertainty (information economics). These develop microeconomic theory and apply it to policy issues. Subjects covered include the operation of market systems, the economics of decision-making, managerial economics, science and technology policy, bounded rationality, and evolutionary economics. 2. Textbooks on microeconomics and basic economics. 3. Ecological, natural resource and environmental economics. 4. Tourism economics and leisure studies. 5. Economic development in general and in particular, Asian-Pacific countries or regions. 6. Social policy, which includes coverage of gender issues, social issues associated with globalization, and the investigation of poverty and social disadvantage. The subject matter of several of these books overlaps and other classifications are also possible. Some of Tisdell’s books are co-authored and several are jointly edited. In addition, a collection of his articles (several of which are jointly authored) have not yet appeared in book form. Note that this overview is not intended to provide an in-depth analysis of recurring themes in Tisdell’s books and the development of these.
A comparison of laparoscopically assisted and open colectomy for colon cancer.

BACKGROUND Minimally invasive, laparoscopically assisted surgery was first considered in 1990 for patients undergoing colectomy for cancer. Concern that this approach would compromise survival by failing to achieve a proper oncologic resection or adequate staging or by altering patterns of recurrence (based on frequent reports of tumor recurrences within surgical wounds) prompted a controlled trial evaluation. METHODS We conducted a noninferiority trial at 48 institutions and randomly assigned 872 patients with adenocarcinoma of the colon to undergo open or laparoscopically assisted colectomy performed by credentialed surgeons. The median follow-up was 4.4 years. The primary end point was the time to tumor recurrence. RESULTS At three years, the rates of recurrence were similar in the two groups--16 percent among patients in the group that underwent laparoscopically assisted surgery and 18 percent among patients in the open-colectomy group (two-sided P=0.32; hazard ratio for recurrence, 0.86; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.63 to 1.17). Recurrence rates in surgical wounds were less than 1 percent in both groups (P=0.50). The overall survival rate at three years was also very similar in the two groups (86 percent in the laparoscopic-surgery group and 85 percent in the open-colectomy group; P=0.51; hazard ratio for death in the laparoscopic-surgery group, 0.91; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.68 to 1.21), with no significant difference between groups in the time to recurrence or overall survival for patients with any stage of cancer. Perioperative recovery was faster in the laparoscopic-surgery group than in the open-colectomy group, as reflected by a shorter median hospital stay (five days vs. six days, P<0.001) and briefer use of parenteral narcotics (three days vs. four days, P<0.001) and oral analgesics (one day vs. two days, P=0.02). The rates of intraoperative complications, 30-day postoperative mortality, complications at discharge and 60 days, hospital readmission, and reoperation were very similar between groups. CONCLUSIONS In this multi-institutional study, the rates of recurrent cancer were similar after laparoscopically assisted colectomy and open colectomy, suggesting that the laparoscopic approach is an acceptable alternative to open surgery for colon cancer.
PREVALENCE OF HERPESVIRUSES IN PATIENTS WITH LARYNX AND HYPOPHARYNX SQUAMOUS CELL CARCINOMA

The aim of this study was the analysis of the prevalence of Herpesviridae (EBV, CMV, HSV-1) among patients with head and neck cancers (larynx and hypopharynx squamous cell carcinoma). Correlation between viral infection, HNSCC, alcohol use, tobacco smoking, demographic data (gender, age, place of residence, occupation), anatomic location, pre-treatment staging, evidence of metastases to lymph nodes, and grading was also investigated. The examination samples were collected from paraffin-blocks tissues, from 35 patients. The laboratory part of investigation involved: isolation of DNA from histopathological specimens, qualitative analysis of DNA comprising of amplification of human β-globin gene (reference gene) fragment, electrophoresis of amplification products of the gene fragment, quantitative DNA analysis (using spectrophotometric method), and viral DNA amplified by the nested-PCR method. There was a statistically significant correlation between T and tobacco smoking, and T and alcohol use. There was no statistically significant correlation between the presence of EBV, CMV, HSV-1 and G and epidemiological features such as place of residence.
Organizações e Interorganizações na Gestão do Desenvolvimento Sócio-Territorial

Este estudo reflete sobre interorganizacoes orientadas ao desenvolvimento socio-territorial, revisitando o conceito de estrutura referenciada a organizacoes de textura complexa. Parcerias, consorcios, pactos, dentre outros formatos identificaveis em diversas escalas territoriais, apresentam estrutura hibridizada reticular, agenciadas por organizacoes publicas e privadas, em diversas formas de associacao. Credita-se as organizacoes associativas um protagonismo decisivo na ativacao de redes e redes de redes, formatos interorganizacionais aos quais se atribui o poder de gerir o desenvolvimento territorial, ora mais orientados a competicao, ora mais orientados as acoes solidarias. Na intencao de melhor compreender a genese e a textura das interorganizacoes voltadas ao desenvolvimento territorial, foram estudadas 180 organizacoes associativas em Salvador, Bahia, realizando uma pesquisa de tipo survey transecclonal. Conclui-se com a caracterizacao destas organizacoes e com a discussao de seu papel nas conexoes interorganizacionais integrantes de estrategias de desenvolvimento socio-territorial, destacando-se ambiguidades, contradicoes e possibilidades.
Dimethyl Sulfoxide Attenuates Hydrogen Peroxide‐Induced Injury in Cardiomyocytes via Heme Oxygenase‐1

The antioxidant property of dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) was formerly attributed to its direct effects. Our former study showed that DMSO is able to induce heme oxygenase‐1 (HO‐1) expression in endothelial cells, which is a potent antioxidant enzyme. In this study, we hypothesized that the antioxidant effects of DMSO in cardiomyocytes are mediated or partially mediated by increased HO‐1 expression. Therefore, we investigated whether DMSO exerts protective effects against H2O2‐induced oxidative damage in cardiomyocytes, and whether HO‐1 is involved in DMSO‐imparted protective effects, and we also explore the underlying mechanism of DMSO‐induced HO‐1 expression. Our study demonstrated that DMSO pretreatment showed a cytoprotective effect against H2O2‐induced oxidative damage (impaired cell viability, increased apopototic cells rate and caspase‐3 level, and increased release of LDH and CK) and this process is partially mediated by HO‐1 upregulation. Furthermore, our data showed that the activation of p38 MAPK and Nrf2 translocation are involved in the HO‐1 upregulation induced by DMSO. This study reports for the first time that the cytoprotective effect of DMSO in cardiomyocytes is partially mediated by HO‐1, which may further explain the mechanisms by which DMSO exerts cardioprotection on H2O2 injury. J. Cell. Biochem. 115: 1159–1165, 2014. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.