Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Hydrocortisone as an Intervention for Dexamethasone-Induced Adverse Effects in Pediatric Patients With Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia: Results of a Double-Blind, Randomized Controlled Trial.

PURPOSE Dexamethasone is a key component in the treatment of pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), but can induce serious adverse effects. Recent studies have led to the hypothesis that neuropsychological adverse effects may be a result of cortisol depletion of the cerebral mineralocorticoid receptors. We examined whether including a physiologic dose of hydrocortisone in dexamethasone treatment can reduce neuropsychologic and metabolic adverse effects in children with ALL. PATIENTS AND METHODS We performed a multicenter, double-blind, randomized controlled trial with a crossover design. Of 116 potentially eligible patients (age 3 to 16 years), 50 were enrolled and were treated with two consecutive courses of dexamethasone in accordance with Dutch Childhood Oncology Group ALL protocols. Patients were randomly assigned to receive either hydrocortisone or placebo in a circadian rhythm (10 mg/m(2)/d) during both dexamethasone courses. Primary outcome measure was parent-reported Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire in Dutch, which assesses psychosocial problems. Other end points included questionnaires, neuropsychological tests, and metabolic parameters. RESULTS Of 48 patients who completed both courses, hydrocortisone had no significant effect on outcome; however, a more detailed analysis revealed that in 16 patients who developed clinically relevant psychosocial adverse effects, addition of hydrocortisone substantially reduced their Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire in Dutch scores in the following domains: total difficulties, emotional symptoms, conduct problems, and impact of difficulties. Moreover, in nine patients who developed clinically relevant, sleep-related difficulties, addition of hydrocortisone reduced total sleeping problems and disorders of initiating and maintaining sleep. In contrast, hydrocortisone had no effect on metabolic parameters. CONCLUSION Our results suggest that adding a physiologic dose of hydrocortisone to dexamethasone treatment can reduce the occurrence of serious neuropsychological adverse effects and sleep-related difficulties in pediatric patients with ALL.
Crisis multidimensional y sostenibilidad de la vida

En el presente texto se propone una mirada a la crisis desde la sostenibilidad de la vida como alternativa a la perspectiva hegemonica focalizada en los mercados. Se argumenta que la crisis es multidimensional y acumulada, civilizatoria, y que precede al estallido financiero. Se analizan sus consecuencias en terminos de los procesos vitales y se propone abrir dos debates para afrontarla: que entender por vida que merezca la pena ser vivida y como construir una responsabilidad colectiva en la generacion de sus condiciones de posibilidad. Finalmente, se argumenta que es necesario devolver la economia al terreno de la discusion politica.
Shadow Maps Timo Ahokas

Generation and rendering of realistic three-dimensional graphics depend on many separate tasks shadows being one of the most important ones. Various shadowing techniques have been used depending on the type of application. Shadow maps are an efficient way of producing realistic shadows with reasonable time and space requirements. This paper discusses the traditional shadow map algorithm along with other new shadow map algorithms and improvements used in current applications.
Management of ocular inflammation and pain following cataract surgery: focus on bromfenac ophthalmic solution

Recently, several new ophthalmic NSAID products have been introduced for commercial use in the United States. The purpose of this review is to briefly overview the ophthalmic NSAIDs currently in use and to discuss the management of postoperative ocular inflammation and pain following cataract surgery with a particular focus on bromfenac ophthalmic solution 0.09%. Bromfenac ophthalmic solution 0.09% is indicated for the reduction of ocular pain and inflammation following cataract surgery. Studies have shown that bromfenac ophthalmic solution 0.09% has equivalent efficacy to the other topical NSAIDs in reducing postsurgical inflammation and controlling pain. The unique chemical structure of bromfenac makes it both a potent inhibitor of the COX-2 enzyme and a highly lipophilic molecule that rapidly penetrates to produce early and sustained drug levels in all ocular tissues. Clinically, these pharmacokinetic features are manifested in a rapid reduction of postsurgical inflammation and pain with bid dosing. Bromfenac ophthalmic solution 0.09% is a versatile agent and is effective when used as either monotherapy or as an adjunct therapy to steroids.
Neuroendocrine Interactions between Galanin, Opioids, and Neuropeptide Y in the Control of Reproduction and Appetite a

Abstract: Galanin is a pleiotropic neuroendocrine signal produced in discrete subpopulations of neurons distributed in several sites in the hypothalamus. Neuropeptide Y and β‐endorphin also display pleiotropism, but they are produced by subpopulations of neurons located only in the arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus. Each of these neuropeptides exerts a regulatory influence on reproduction and appetitive behavior. Experimental and morphologic evidence from our laboratory show direct contacts and interplay among these diverse signals. Seemingly, an interconnected network composed of these three neuropeptide‐producing neurons provides precision and site specificity in the relay of information necessary to govern reproduction and appetite. Disruptions in this interplay are likely to manifest in untoward consequences such as infertility and obesity.
Association of Endothelial Nitric Oxide Synthase Gene Polymorphisms with Coronary Artery Disease: An Updated Meta-Analysis and Systematic Review

Several association studies of endothelial nitric oxide synthase (NOS3) gene polymorphisms with respect to coronary artery disease (CAD) have been published in the past two decades. However, their association with the disease, especially among different ethnic subgroups, still remains controversial. This prompted us to conduct a systematic review and an updated structured meta-analysis, which is the largest so far (89 articles, 132 separate studies, and a sample size of 69,235), examining association of three polymorphic forms of the NOS3 gene (i.e. Glu298Asp, T786-C and 27bp VNTR b/a) with CAD. In a subgroup analysis, we tested their association separately among published studies originating predominantly from European, Middle Eastern, Asian, Asian-Indian and African ancestries. The pooled analysis confirmed the association of all the three selected SNP with CAD in three different genetic models transcending all ancestries worldwide. The Glu298Asp polymorphism showed strongest association (OR range = 1.28–1.52, and P<0.00001 for all comparisons), followed by T786-C (OR range = 1.34–1.42, and P<0.00001 for all comparisons) and 4b/a, (OR range = 1.19–1.41, and P≤0.002 for all comparisons) in our pooled analysis. Subgroup analysis revealed that Glu298Asp (OR range = 1.54–1.87, and P<0.004 for all comparisons) and 4b/a (OR range = 1.71–3.02, and P<0.00001 for all comparisons) have highest degree of association amongst the Middle Easterners. On the other hand, T786-C and its minor allele seem to carry a highest risk for CAD among subjects of Asian ancestry (OR range = 1.61–1.90, and P≤0.01 for all comparisons).
Subjetividade e pós-modernidade na enfermagem

This work aims at reflecting upon the transition, or paradigmatic rupture, and the urgency of investigations that favor the essence of subjectivity. We envision an idea of transformation and mutation in many different areas of knowledge in face of post-modern culture novelties. One of the definitions attributed to post-modernity is the synergy between archaism and technological development. Studies on subjectivity require an incursion in an epistemological framework different from the classic positivistic model. A social practice such as Nursing, which deals with caring for people who are subject to alterations between the health-disease status, must compulsorily understand and question the subjectivity forms, the new concepts of subject and knowledge about what is human. The epistemological questions take the incursions of the act of caring to a contestation territory, where one can interchange rationality with sensitivity in face of cultural meanings.
Dissolving boundaries: social technologies and participation in design

The emphasis on participation in social technologies challenges some of our traditional assumptions about the role of users and designers in design. It also exposes some of the limitations and assumptions about design embedded in our traditional models and methods. Based on a review of emerging practice we present four perspectives on design in the context of social technologies. By presenting this 'lay of the land', we seek to contribute to ongoing work on the nature of participation and design in the context of social technologies. We draw particular attention to the ways in which roles and responsibilities in design are being reassigned and redistributed. As traditional boundaries between design and use and designer and user dissolve, design is becoming more public. In the context of social technologies design is moving out into the wild.
Milk or Wine: Does Software Security Improve with Age?

We examine the code base of the OpenBSD operating system to determine whether its security is increasing over time. We measure the rate at which new code has been introduced and the rate at which vulnerabilities have been reported over the last 7.5 years and fifteen versions. We learn that 61% of the lines of code in today's OpenBSD are foundational: they were introduced prior to the release of the initial version we studied and have not been altered since. We also learn that 62% of reported vulnerabilities were present when the study began and can also be considered to be foundational. We find strong statistical evidence of a decrease in the rate at which foundational vulnerabilities are being reported. However, this decrease is anything but brisk: foundational vulnerabilities have a median lifetime of at least 2.6 years. Finally, we examined the density of vulnerabilities in the code that was altered/introduced in each version. The densities ranged from 0 to 0.033 vulnerabilities reported per thousand lines of code. These densities will increase as more vulnerabilities are reported.
"De-Randomizing" congestion losses to improve TCP performance over wired-wireless networks

Currently, a TCP sender considers all losses as congestion signals and reacts to them by throttling its sending rate. With Internet becoming more heterogeneous with more and more wireless error-prone links, a TCP connection may unduly throttle its sending rate and experience poor performance over paths experiencing random losses unrelated to congestion. The problem of distinguishing congestion losses from random losses is particularly hard when congestion is light: congestion losses themselves appear to be random. The key idea is to "de-randomize" congestion losses. This paper proposes a simple biased queue management scheme that "de-randomizes" congestion losses and enables a TCP receiver to diagnose accurately the cause of a loss and inform the TCP sender to react appropriately. Bounds on the accuracy of distinguishing wireless losses and congestion losses are analytically established and validated through simulations. Congestion losses are identified with an accuracy higher than 95% while wireless losses are identified with an accuracy higher than 75%. A closed form is derived for the achievable improvement by TCP endowed with a discriminator with a given accuracy. Simulations confirm this closed form. TCP-Casablanca, a TCP-Newreno endowed with the proposed discriminator at the receiver, yields through simulations an improvement of more than 100% on paths with low levels of congestion and about 1% random wireless packet loss rates. TCP-Ifrane, a sender-based TCP-Casablanca yields encouraging performance improvement.
A Digital Multichannel Bioimpedance Analyser: Signal Processing Task and its Solution

Measurement of electrical bioimpedance enables to characterize a state of tissues/organs, to get diagnostic images, to find hemodynamical parameters, etc. In this paper we consider a digital multichannel bioimpedance analyser developed for monitoring of the state of a working heart. The signal-processing task, which must be solved in this analyser, is described and some proposed alternative algorithmic and hardware solutions of this task are considered and compared
THE LEVEL AND PHOSPHORYLATION OF HSP70 IN THE RAT LIVER CYTOSOL AFTER ADRENALECTOMY AND HYPERTHERMIA

Hepatic heat shock protein Hsp70 synthesis and in vitro phosphorylation were studied in the liver cytosol of intact, adrenalectomized and dexamethasone‐administered adrenalectomized rats after 41°C whole body hyperthermic stress. Hsp70 was detected by immunoblotting with N27F3‐4 monoclonal antibody recognizing both constitutive and inducible forms of the protein. A comparison between basal and heat stress‐induced levels of the protein in the liver cytosol of the three groups of animals suggested that glucocorticoid hormones stimulate the basal synthesis of Hsp70 and inhibit its induction by stress. In both unstressed and hyperthermia‐exposed animals, hepatic Hsp70 was detected as a phosphoprotein. The extent of itsin vitro phosphorylation was found to be significantly reduced by heat stress or adrenalectomy, but dexamethasone failed to restore it to the original level.
Lower Respiratory Tract Infections

This review will focus on the infectious etiologies and more common noninfectious causes of lower respiratory tract syndromes among major immunosuppressed populations. The changing epidemiology of infections in the era of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) in the case of HIV-positive patients and the impacts of both newer immune-suppressant therapies and anti-infective prophylaxis for other immunocompromised hosts will be discussed, with emphasis on diagnostic approaches and practice
Modulation of sodium current by lactate in guinea pig ventricular myocytes.

OBJECTIVE The aim was to elucidate whether or not lactate modifies the fast sodium current (INa) in cardiac cells. METHODS A tight seal whole cell clamp technique was used to record the action potentials and INa in single ventricular cells from the guinea pig heart. RESULTS In voltage clamp experiments, superfusion with 20 mM lactate shifted both the normalised conductance (gNa)-voltage relationship and the channel availability curve toward hyperpolarisation by approximately 4 mV, but did not affect the maximum conductance (gNa,max). In the test solution containing only CaCl2 as the main divalent component, 20 mM lactate reduced the ionised calcium concentration from 1.02 to 0.84 mM. When the calcium concentration was kept constant by the addition of CaCl2 into the lactate containing solution the lactate effect was nullified. However, a change in the calcium concentration from 1.0 to 0.84 mM without lactate induced a 4 mV negative shift of the channel availability curve. Current clamp experiments in Tyrode solution showed that 20 mM lactate shifted the threshold for the action potential upstroke by 2.5-3 mV, in accordance with the voltage clamp experiments. CONCLUSIONS Lactate modifies INa of ventricular myocytes by shifting its kinetics toward hyperpolarisation. This shift seems to be caused exclusively by a decrease in the ionised divalent cation concentrations and a resultant change in the negative surface charge of the sarcolemma.
Culture, Complexity, and Informing: How Shared Beliefs Can Enhance Our Search for Fitness

Where shared knowledge, beliefs, attitudes and artifacts exist within a group, we have a culture. Culture plays a central role in informing research with two key themes being dominant: 1) the challenges presented by communicating across cultures, and 2) the impact of shared attributes, such as receptiveness to novel ideas, on a culture’s readiness to be informed. Recent research in organizational behavior suggests another perspective: that having a strong culture that is also adaptable can significantly improve an organization’s performance across a broad range of possible attributes. In other words, culture itself—independent of specifics—can exert a positive influence. The paper considers this proposition in the context of complex environments, finding considerable theoretical justification. Complex environments present major challenges to individuals seeking to improve their personal fitness; rules tend to be highly localized and fitness drops between states are often sharp. Using a combination of informing science models and simulations of complex landscapes, the paper demonstrates how imitating nearby neighbors proves to be a highly effective strategy as complexity grows. A strong culture fosters similarities across individuals or entities within a group, ensuring that participants have many self-similar neighbors to observe. The shared values can also serve to reduce the distortion we experience when we relate our own experiences and listen to the experiences of others. Encouraging the development of strong culture is not without risk, however. It is already well established that certain cultural traits—such as the unwillingness to attend to individuals outside the cultural grouping—can impede informing. There is also the danger that the underlying processes that produce strong culture—such as homophily and social contagion—may succeed too well in static environments, leading to values that are over-constrained and therefore do not adapt well. By understanding the informing implications of culture, we may be able to better avoid such obstacles in the future.
The Evolution of the UK’s Research Assessment Exercise: Publications, Performance and Perceptions

This article examines how the UK Research Assessment Exercise (RAE), along with the development of performance indicators, fits into the production of research within a changing policy context. The historical evolution of the RAE from 1985–2001 is considered, before looking specifically at how research output (in the form of journal publications) was, and is, assessed. Changes in process and output measurements necessitated a move from quantitative to quality evaluation, which affected both academic publishing and the role of journals within the RAE. The issue of quality – in terms of perceptions and performance – as applied to both is explored.
Community perceptions of mental disorders: a Greek perspective

The present cross-sectional study examines the perceptions of residents of a rural community in Greece pertaining to the interpretation, explanation, treatment and prognosis of various psychological problems. In all, 100 community residents took part. A series of vignettes in combination with both qualitative and quantitative data collection procedures was employed. The findings indicate a variation in the endorsement of interpretations and causal attributions as a function of the type of symptomatology presented. The overt psychotic cases of schizophrenia were more likely to be understood within a genetic explanatory framework while the less overt symptoms of mental disorders were perceived as being indicative of emotional problems triggered by personality and social environmental factors. A preference for psychological methods of treatment was expressed. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Identification of Redundant Objective Functions in Multi-Objective Stochastic fractional Programming Problems

Redundancy in constraints and variables are usually studied in linear, integer and non-linear programming problems. However, main emphasis has so far been given only to linear programming problems. In this paper, an algorithm that identifies redundant objective functions in multi-objective stochastic fractional programming problems is provided. A solution procedure is also illustrated. This reduces the number of objective functions in cases where redundant objective functions exist.
Chronic arsenic exposure and risk of infant mortality in two areas of Chile.

Chronic arsenic exposure has been associated with a range of neurologic, vascular, dermatologic, and carcinogenic effects. However, limited research has been directed at the association of arsenic exposure and human reproductive health outcomes. The principal aim of this study was to investigate the trends in infant mortality between two geographic locations in Chile: Antofagasta, which has a well-documented history of arsenic exposure from naturally contaminated water, and Valparaíso, a comparable low-exposure city. The arsenic concentration in Antofagasta's public drinking water supply rose substantially in 1958 with the introduction of a new water source, and remained elevated until 1970. We used a retrospective study design to examine time and location patterns in infant mortality between 1950 and 1996, using univariate statistics, graphical techniques, and Poisson regression analysis. Results of the study document the general declines in late fetal and infant mortality over the study period in both locations. The data also indicate an elevation of the late fetal, neonatal, and postneonatal mortality rates for Antofagasta, relative to Valparaíso, for specific time periods, which generally coincide with the period of highest arsenic concentration in the drinking water of Antofagasta. Poisson regression analysis yielded an elevated and significant association between arsenic exposure and late fetal mortality [rate ratio (RR) = 1.7; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.5-1.9], neonatal mortality (RR = 1.53; CI, 1.4-1.7), and postneonatal mortality (RR = 1.26; CI, 1.2-1.3) after adjustment for location and calendar time. The findings from this investigation may support a role for arsenic exposure in increasing the risk of late fetal and infant mortality. ImagesFigure 1Figure 2Figure 3Figure 4Figure 5
Exploring The Role Of Network Effects In It Implementation : The Case Of Knowledge Management Systems

One of the key themes in knowledge management is the role of information systems designed to facilitate the sharing and reuse of knowledge – often referred to as knowledge management systems (KMS). However, the intended users of such systems are often reluctant to use them, and implementation failures are common. While prior research offers important insights into the problems and practices of IS implementation in general, little is known about the special problems involved in implementing KMS. This study seeks to better understand the process of KMS implementation and establish a theoretical framework for examining the underlying dynamics of adoption and use. We suggest that efforts to implement KMS need to be sensitive to the social interactions and the collective sensemaking of the intended users if they are to be successful. In making this argument, we build on recent research within the field of network economics and highlight the concept of network effects. Using an exploratory case study as an illustration, we argue that KMS exhibit strong network effects and that these create positive feedback loops that complicate the implementation process. Our conclusion is that the concept of network effects offers an interesting and useful analytic perspective for understanding the implementation of KMS in organizations. Implications of using this theoretical lens for both research and practice are discussed.