Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An Update on the Hazards and Risks of Forensic Anthropology, Part I: Human Remains

This work reviews the hazards and risks of practicing forensic anthropology in North America, with a focus on pathogens encountered through contact with unpreserved human remains. Since the publication of Galloway and Snodgrass' seminal paper concerning the hazards of forensic anthropology, research has provided new information about known pathogen hazards, and regulating authorities have updated recommendations for the recognition and treatment of several infections. Additionally, forensic anthropology has gained popularity, exposing an increased number of students and practitioners to these hazards. Current data suggest many occupational exposures to blood or body fluids go unreported, especially among students, highlighting the need for this discussion. For each pathogen and associated disease, this work addresses important history, reviews routes of exposure, provides an overview of symptoms and treatments, lists decontamination procedures, and presents data on postmortem viability. Personal protection and laboratory guidelines should be established and enforced in conjunction with the consideration of these data.
The Relationship between Mechanical Stiffness, Dynamic Strength and Static Strength following Eccentric or Concentric Activity

Workplace exertions can involve static, muscle lengthening (eccentric), or muscle shortening (concentric) exertions. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between mechanical stiffness, dynamic strength and static (isometric) strength following sub maximal eccentric or concentric exercise. Participants were randomly assigned to perform eccentric or concentric forearm supinations at 50% of isometric supination strength for 30 minutes. Mechanical stiffness, isometric and dynamic strength were measured prior, one hour after and 24 hours after exercise. Average mechanical stiffness decreased 31% (p < 0.05) after 24 hours for the eccentric group and decreased 16% (p > 0.05) for the concentric group. Average static strength in both groups recovered to within 2% of pre exercise levels for both groups after 24 hours. Average dynamic strength decreased 18% (p < 0.05) 24 hours after exercise for the eccentric group and increased 7% (p > 0.05) for the concentric group. Significant correlation (r = 0.664 to 0.832, p < 0.05) was observed between changes in mechanical stiffness and dynamic strength. Reductions in dynamic strength and mechanical stiffness persisted 24 hours after unaccustomed eccentric exertions but similar changes were not observed for static strength.
Designing Telemedicine Systems for Geriatric Patients: A Review of the Usability Studies.

BACKGROUND One area where telemedicine may prove to be highly effective is in providing medical care to the geriatric population, an age group predicted to account for 20% of the population in the near future. However, even though telemedicine has certain advantages, the usability of these systems with this population merits investigation. MATERIALS AND METHODS This article reviews the literature published from 2000 to 2016 with the goal of analyzing the characteristics of usability-related studies conducted using geriatric participants and the subsequent usability challenges identified. Articles were found using Web of Knowledge and PubMed citation indexing portals using the keywords (1) Telemedicine* AND Geriatrics* (2) Telemedicine* AND Usability* (3) Telemedicine* AND Usability* AND Older Adults*. RESULTS A total of 297 articles were obtained from the initial search. After further detailed screening, 16 articles were selected for review based on the inclusion criteria. Of these, 60% of the studies focused on the overall usability of telemedicine systems; 6.25% focused on the usability of a telepresence robot; 12.5% compared a face-to-face medical consultation with the use of telemedicine systems, and 25% focused on the study of other aspects of telemedicine in addition to its usability. Findings reported in the studies included high patient satisfaction with telemedicine in 31.25%, whereas another 31.25% indicated a high acceptance of this method of medical consultation. Care coordination in 6.25% of the studies; confidence in telemedicine in 6.25%; trust, privacy, and reliability in 6.25%; and increased convenience when compared to personal visits in 18.75% were also reported. CONCLUSIONS This review suggests limited research providing scientifically valid and reproducible usability evaluation at various stages of telemedicine system development. Telemedicine system designers need to consider the age-related issues in cognition, perception, and behavior of geriatric patients while designing telemedicine applications. Future directions for research were developed based on the limitations as well as other results found in this systematic review.
Hypoglycaemia: Possible mediation by chromium salt medication

Drugs are the commonest cause of hypoglycaemia in patients without diabetes mellitus. However, in spite of this, a recent review highlighted the poor quality of evidence available supporting the association between numerous drugs and hypoglycaemia. In the context of the increasing use of nutritional supplements, appreciation of their potential side effects is ever more important. We report an unusual case of hypoglycaemia which occurred during self-administration of chromium salt supplements, and which has not recurred following supplements discontinuation.
Toward nanotechnology-based solutions for a particular disease: ovarian cancer as an example

Abstract Recent nanotechnology research has been enhancing or creating new applications that have the potential to advance the diagnosis or therapy of diseases. These contributions to the field of nanomedicine have so far been focused on creating the new technologies rather than focusing on particular diseases in order to improve their outcomes. For the latter to occur, we recommend the following: (1) creation of interdisciplinary research funding that awards collaborations between biological, medical, clinical, and pharmaceutical scientists with their colleagues in engineering, physics, and chemistry, (2) increasing the training of bio- and medical students in the field of nanotechnology, and (3) focusing on specific diseases for creating nano-based solutions. In this review, we focus on ovarian cancer as an example of a disease that could benefit from advances in nanotechnology to enhance its understanding, diagnosis, and therapy. We also stress the need to train biological, medical, clinical, and pharmaceutical students in the field of nanotechnology with presenting results on such training in USA pharmacy schools.
Transition from paediatric to adult health services in Scotland for young people with cerebral palsy

Transition from paediatric to adult health-care services has been characterized as being poorly planned and coordinated, resulting in a reduction in services and may be distressing for families. This study aimed to establish what provisions are currently available in Scotland for transition of young people with cerebral palsy and what some clinicians believe future provisions should involve. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 13 community paediatricians (or equivalents in health boards without community paediatricians) from 12 different Scottish health boards. Interviews were audio recorded, transcribed and analysed thematically using framework analysis. Both current transition provision and the areas that the clinicians felt needed improvement varied greatly between health boards. Key areas in need of improvement were coordination and communication within health services and also between health services and educational, social services and adult health services to which young people were transitioning. Transition remains problematic and variable. For transition to be improved, further research is needed to explore the effect this variation is having on young people and their families.
LHCSR1-dependent fluorescence quenching is mediated by excitation energy transfer from LHCII to photosystem I in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii

Significance Unlike another effector protein for algal nonphotochemical quenching (NPQ)—LIGHT HARVESTING COMPLEX II STRESS RELATED PROTEIN 3 (LHCSR3)—the role of LHCSR1 in NPQ has been very limited. In this report, we studied the fluorescence quenching event occurring in the presence and the absence of LHCSR1 and demonstrated that there is a significant excitation energy transfer from Light-harvesting complex II (LHCII) to Photosystem I (PSI), and not only to Photosystem II, upon activation of LHCSR1 by low pH. The results suggest another layer of photoprotection mechanism based on this UV-inducible protein LHCSR1. Photosynthetic organisms are frequently exposed to light intensities that surpass the photosynthetic electron transport capacity. Under these conditions, the excess absorbed energy can be transferred from excited chlorophyll in the triplet state (3Chl*) to molecular O2, which leads to the production of harmful reactive oxygen species. To avoid this photooxidative stress, photosynthetic organisms must respond to excess light. In the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, the fastest response to high light is nonphotochemical quenching, a process that allows safe dissipation of the excess energy as heat. The two proteins, UV-inducible LHCSR1 and blue light-inducible LHCSR3, appear to be responsible for this function. While the LHCSR3 protein has been intensively studied, the role of LHCSR1 has been only partially elucidated. To investigate the molecular functions of LHCSR1 in C. reinhardtii, we performed biochemical and spectroscopic experiments and found that the protein mediates excitation energy transfer from light-harvesting complexes for Photosystem II (LHCII) to Photosystem I (PSI), rather than Photosystem II, at a low pH. This altered excitation transfer allows remarkable fluorescence quenching under high light. Our findings suggest that there is a PSI-dependent photoprotection mechanism that is facilitated by LHCSR1.
Association of physical activity and sedentary lifestyle patterns with obesity and cardiometabolic comorbidities in Greek adults: Data from the National Epidemiological Survey

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the association between physical activity (PA) and sedentary lifestyle (SL) patterns with overweight (OW), obesity (OB), abdominal obesity (AO) and cardiometabolic comorbidities in Greek adults based on data from the National Epidemiological Survey for the prevalence of obesity. DESIGN: Cross-sectional epidemiological survey. Participants were selected via stratified sampling. 17,887 men and women, 20–70 years old, underwent anthropometric measurements for the estimation of OW, OB and AO prevalence. Assessment of PA, SL patterns and metabolic comorbidities was performed using an in-home questionnaire allowing self-evaluation of diverse activities and self-report for the presence of hypercholesterolemia (HCE), type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) or hypertension (HTN). RESULTS: In men, even small amounts of walking were associated with decreased risk of being OW and AO, while larger amounts were associated with decreased risk of being OB. In women, engagement in entertainment activities for more than 4 hours per week was associated with less risk of being OW. concerning cardiometabolic comorbidities, substantial improvement was evident mainly for men, e.g. signfiicantly reduced risk for HCE, T2DM and HTN by frequent engagement in exercise. On the other hand, frequent TV watching and long hours of office work significantly increased the risk of HCE and HTN in men. CONCLUSIONS: In Greek adults, and men in particular, walking activity was significantly associated with lower risk for obesity. In addition, frequent exercise and less sedentary behaviour were associated with reduced risk for cardiometabolic factors, mainly hypercholesterolemia and hypertension.
Comparative safety and efficacy of combined IVT and MT with direct MT in large vessel occlusion

Objective In this multicenter study, we sought to evaluate comparative safety and efficacy of combined IV thrombolysis (IVT) and mechanical thrombectomy (MT) vs direct MT in emergent large vessel occlusion (ELVO) patients. Methods Consecutive ELVO patients treated with MT at 6 high-volume endovascular centers were evaluated. Standard safety and efficacy outcomes (successful reperfusion [modified Thrombolysis in Cerebral Infarction IIb/III], functional independence [FI] [modified Rankin Scale (mRS) score of 0–2 at 3 months], favorable functional outcome [mRS of 0–1 at 3 months], functional improvement [mRS shift by 1-point decrease in mRS score]) were compared between patients who underwent combined IVT and MT vs MT alone. Additional propensity score–matched analyses were performed. Results A total of 292 and 277 patients were treated with combination therapy and direct MT, respectively. The combination therapy group had greater functional improvement (p = 0.037) at 3 months. After propensity score matching, 104 patients in the direct MT group were matched to 208 patients in the combination therapy group. IVT pretreatment was independently (p < 0.05) associated with higher odds of FI (odds ratio [OR] 1.75; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.02–2.99) and functional improvement (common OR 1.64; 95% CI 1.05–2.56). Combination therapy was independently (p < 0.05) related to lower likelihood of 3-month mortality (0.50; 95% CI 0.26–0.96). Conclusions This observational study provides preliminary evidence that IVT pretreatment may improve outcomes in ELVO patients treated with MT. The question of the potential effect of IVT on ELVO patients treated with MT should be addressed with a randomized controlled trial. Classification of evidence This study provides Class III evidence that for stroke patients with emergent large vessel occlusion, combined IVT and MT is superior to direct MT in improving functional outcomes.
Mechanical properties of beating pulp and paper from rice straw

This study was carried out to investigate the effect of beating on rice straw pulp and paper properties. The rice straw pulps were produced from pulping process using chemi-mechanical pulping (CMP) method and then were beaten. Pulp produced with and without beating was evaluated for apparent density and freeness. The beaten pulp showed significantly better apparent density and freeness than unbeaten pulp. The apparent density of beaten and unbeaten pulps was 0.74 g/cm 3 and 0.69 g/cm 3 respectively, while the freeness of beaten and unbeaten pulps was 250 ml and 415 m l respectively. The paper from beaten pulp showed significantly better mechanical properties, whereby the tensile index is at 79.57 Nm/g, burst index at 5.70 kPa.m 2 , tear index at 4.17 mNm 2 /g and folding endurance at 508, whereas, the unbeaten paper is at 67.28 Nm/g, 4.98 kPa.m 2 , 3.28 mNm 2 /g and 195 respectively. The optical behaviour such as opacity and brightness of paper from beaten and unbeaten pulps showed no significant values. The opacity and brightness of paper for beaten pulp were 99.81% and 32.44% respectively, while the paper using unbeaten pulp were 99.88% for opacity and 33.58% for brightness.
Low temperature processing and electrical properties of embedded ferrite-cored inductor

The inductance of low temperature processable particulate filled polymer matrix composite inductors is constrained by the limited magnetic properties of the polymer matrix. The microstructural and electrical properties of inductors made from amorphous nickel-zinc-iron oxide matrix filled with polycrystalline nickel zinc ferrite (NZF) fillers are investigated in this study. NZF has high resistance, and is essential for high frequency application to reduce eddy current loss. Planar spiral NZF-composite (with 20v% fillers) inductors were fabricated on a glass wafer substrate and heated treated at different temperatures. The electrical properties of the inductors were characterized at frequencies in the MHz range. The inductance is found to increase between 10%-20% for composite inductors after heating at 300/spl deg/C for 1 hour. The increase is comparable to those reported previously for polymer ferrite composite inductors, albeit the polymer version has significantly higher filler content (90wt%) while the current NZF-composite filler content is markedly less (10-20%). This indicates that the increase is associated with improvement of the matrix's properties. The changes in matrix microstructures were characterized by X-ray diffraction. The increase in inductance and associated electrical properties are then explained based on the observed microstructural changes. The increase in matrix inductance indicates that the current approach has strong potential for giving a large enhancement in inductance when high filler content is used.
Endovascular Treatment with Intravenous Thrombolysis versus Endovascular Treatment Alone for Acute Anterior Circulation Stroke : A Meta-Analysis of Observational Studies

Objective The aim of this study was to determine outcome of ischemic stroke patients in the anterior circulation treated with endovascular treatment (EVT) with intravenous thrombolysis (IVT) versus EVT alone group. Methods A systemic literature review was performed using online database from January 2004 to January 2017. Primary outcomes were successful recanalization seen on finial angiography and good outcome at three months. Secondary outcomes were mortality and the development of symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage (S-ICH) after the procedure. A fixed effect model was used when heterogeneity was less than 50%. Egger’s regression test was used to assess publication bias. Results Five studies were included for final analysis. Between EVT with IVT and EVT alone group, successful recanalization (odds ratio [OR] 1.467, p=0.216), good clinical outcome at three months (OR 1.199, p=0.385), mortality (OR 0.776, p=0.371), and S-ICH (OR 1.820, p=0.280) did not differ significantly. Egger’s regression intercept with 95% confidence interval (CI) was 1.99 (95% CI -2.91 to 6.89) in successful recanalization and -0.27 (95% CI -6.35 to 5.80) in good clinical outcome, respectively. Conclusion The two treatment modalities, EVT with IVT and EVT alone, could be comparable in treating acute anterior circulation stroke. Studies to find specific beneficiary group for EVT alone, without primary IVT, are needed further.
Practitioners’ perspectives on community‐based breast cancer survivorship care in Singapore: A focus group study

With the long-term goal of optimising the delivery of breast cancer survivorship care in Singapore, we conducted a qualitative study to gather in-depth descriptions from community practitioners (general practitioners and community pharmacists) about their perceptions of community-based cancer survivorship care in Singapore. Sixteen participants (11 general practitioners and five community pharmacists) participated in four structured focus group discussions between August and November 2016. The focus group discussions were analysed using deductive content analysis. The majority of community practitioners do not encounter breast cancer survivors in their clinical practices. Perceived barriers to community-based survivorship care include patients' lack of confidence in primary care, financial constraints and lack of empanelment. Most community practitioners concur that the success of community-based survivorship care largely depends on the co-operation and participation of survivors. Survivorship management via standardised care pathways is not fully advocated by practitioners. Survivorship care plans are identified as useful, but they should also incorporate a non-cancer-related medical history and medication list. Community practitioners in Singapore are eager to participate in the delivery of cancer survivorship care. Future studies should develop a community-based care model that involves community practitioners and evaluate the cost-effectiveness of such a care model. The current model of cancer survivorship in Singapore is not sustainable. Differences in healthcare ecosystems, cultures and resources available in an Asian context should be taken into consideration before designing a community-based cancer survivorship program in Singapore.
Physiological Levels of Nitric Oxide Diminish Mitochondrial Superoxide. Potential Role of Mitochondrial Dinitrosyl Iron Complexes and Nitrosothiols

Mitochondria are the major source of superoxide radicals and superoxide overproduction contributes to cardiovascular diseases and metabolic disorders. Endothelial dysfunction and diminished nitric oxide levels are early steps in the development of these pathological conditions. It is known that physiological production of nitric oxide reduces oxidative stress and inflammation, however, the precise mechanism of “antioxidant” effect of nitric oxide is not clear. In this work we tested the hypothesis that physiological levels of nitric oxide diminish mitochondrial superoxide production without inhibition of mitochondrial respiration. In order to test this hypothesis we analyzed effect of low physiological fluxes of nitric oxide (20 nM/min) on superoxide and hydrogen peroxide production by ESR spin probes and Amplex Red in isolated rat brain mitochondria. Indeed, low levels of nitric oxide substantially attenuated both basal and antimycin A-stimulated production of reactive oxygen species in the presence of succinate or glutamate/malate as mitochondrial substrates. Furthermore, slow releasing NO donor DPTA-NONOate (100 μM) did not change oxygen consumption in State 4 and State 3. However, the NO-donor strongly inhibited oxygen consumption in the presence of uncoupling agent CCCP, which is likely associated with inhibition of the over-reduced complex IV in uncoupled mitochondria. We have examined accumulation of dinitrosyl iron complexes and nitrosothiols in mitochondria treated with fast-releasing NO donor MAHMA NONOate (10 μM) for 30 min until complete release of NO. Following treatment with NO donor, mitochondria were frozen for direct detection of dinitrosyl iron complexes using Electron Spin Resonance (ESR) while accumulation of nitrosothiols was measured by ferrous-N-Methyl-D-glucamine dithiocarbamate complex, Fe(MGD)2, in lysed mitochondria. Treatment of mitochondria with NO-donor gave rise to ESR signal of dinitrosyl iron complexes while ESR spectra of Fe(MGD)2 supplemented mitochondrial lysates showed presence of both dinitrosyl iron complexes and nitrosothiols. We suggest that nitric oxide attenuates production of mitochondrial superoxide by post-translational modifications by nitrosylation of protein cysteine residues and formation of protein dinitrosyl iron complexes with thiol-containing ligands and, therefore, nitric oxide reduction in pathological conditions associated with endothelial dysfunction may increase mitochondrial oxidative stress.