Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Radiofrequency ablation of bilateral splanchnic nerve in acute pancreatitis pain: Interventional approach

A 37-year-old male presented with chief complaints of severe pain abdomen radiating to back and vomiting since 6-months. The pain aggravated following meals and was not relieved with analgesics. The verbal numeric rating scale (VNRS)[2] was 9/10. Patient was chronic alcoholic since 25 years. Blood investigations were within acceptable range. Computed tomography (CT) of the abdomen showed bulky and heterogeneous pancreas with necrosis (>50%) in body and tail of pancreas sparing the head region [Figure 1a] with modified CT severity index of 10. A large collection 9 cm × 6 cm was present in the lesser sac, which was managed with the ultrasound-guided aspiration of a pseudocyst. The patient showed clinical improvement, but the VNRS continued to be 8/10 in spite of analgesics. Patient had received several trials of the combination of analgesics including; paracetamol, tramadol, paracetamol-codeine phosphate combination, tapentadol, flupirtine, and adjuvant medications like pancreatic enzyme supplementation, with no relief in symptoms. A CT scan done after 4 weeks revealed a bulky pancreas with heterogeneous density with modified CT severity index of 6 for which no surgical intervention was required. Patient was referred to a pain clinic. After explaining the procedure to the patient and written informed consent, RFA of bilateral splanchnic nerve was planned. An intravenous access (IV) was placed and 1 L normal saline was administered. Monitoring (Aestiva 5TM, GE healthcare, Datex-Ohmeda division, Helsinki, Finland) was started and IV fentanyl 50 μg and diclofenac 50 mg were administered to reduce pain related to the prone position. Under strict asepsis and fluoroscopic guidance a 20G, 10 cm RF needle with 10 mm curved active tip (Cosman cannula RFKTM Cosman Medical, Inc., Burlington, MA, USA) was placed at the junction of anterior one-thirds and posterior two-thirds of T11 vertebral body [Figure 1b] and after confirmation with nonionic radio-opaque contrast, sensory stimulation was confirmed at 50-Hz frequency and at 0.5 V [Figure 1c]. Following no motor stimulation, RFA was done at 60°C, and four cycles of 120 s each were applied. A mixture of 5 ml of 0.2% ropivacaine and 20 mg of triamcinolone was injected before removing the RF needle. A similar procedure was done on the other side. The patient’s VNRS reduced to 0/10. At 1-year, VNRS remained 2/10 with improvement in quality of life and occasional requirement of mild analgesics.
Extracurricular sports activities in preschool children: impact on motor achievements and physical literacy

The aim of the research was to determine the influence of an extracurricular sports program on motor abilities and physical literacy of preschool children aged from 4 to 6 years. For this purpose, the battery of six motor tests of known metric characteristics was used to measure the following motor abilities: coordination, strength, flexibility and balance. The data were calculated by descriptive statistics. The differences in motor abilities between two time points (initial and final), as well as the interactional effect of a single variable on the global results of motor abilities in repeated measurement with regard to the point of measurement and gender, were calculated by multivariate analysis of variance. The obtained results have confirmed the previous findings describing the benefits of continuous physical activity for the development of preschool children motor abilities and physical literacy. The results are also consistent with the previous research showing that boys have better achievements in explosive strength and coordination, whereas girls have better achievements in dynamic strength, flexibility and balance.
Laços sociais e formação de arranjos organizacionais cooperativos: proposição de um modelo de análise

The strategic and economic benefits go as a first issue on the formation and management of cooperative arrangements (LANE; BEAMISH, 1990). However researches have showed that social-cultural issues play an important role at the performance of this kind of arrangements (EBERS, 1997; GULATI, 1985; RING; VAN DE VEN, 1994) and that the economic and technological issues, by the time, are embedded in social relations being shaped by them (GRANOVETTER, 1985; POLANYI, 1944; UZZI, 1997). By taking in count the different phases of the process of the formation of cooperative organisational arrangements (GULATI, 1998), some one could say that the social ties play great influences on each phase, where theses variation depend on the type of arrangement. This paper consists on a theoretical essay whose proposition is a theoretical model of analysis about the relation between social ties and the formation of cooperative organisational arrangements. The first part presents the central argument and the basic assumptions of the study. The second part is a review of the concept of cooperative organisational arrangements and the influence of the social issues. The third part consists on the review of the social ties' concept. The last part presents the model of analysis and recommendations to empirical test.
Chronic ( − )-epicatechin improves vascular oxidative and inflammatory status but not hypertension in chronic nitric oxide-deficient rats

The present study analysed the effects of the flavanol ( − )-epicatechin in rats after chronic inhibition of NO synthesis with NG-nitro-l-arginine methyl ester (l-NAME), at doses equivalent to those achieved in the studies involving human subjects. Wistar rats were randomly divided into four groups: (1) control-vehicle, (2) l-NAME, (3) l-NAME-epicatechin 2 (l-NAME-Epi 2) and (4) l-NAME-epicatechin 10 (l-NAME-Epi 10). Rats were daily given by oral administration for 4 weeks: vehicle, ( − )-epicatechin 2 or 10 mg/kg. Animals in the l-NAME groups daily received l-NAME 75 mg/100 ml in drinking-water. The evolution in systolic blood pressure and heart rate, and morphological and plasma variables, proteinuria, vascular superoxide, reactivity and protein expression at the end of the experiment were analysed. Chronic ( − )-epicatechin treatment did not modify the development of hypertension and only weakly affected the endothelial dysfunction induced by l-NAME but prevented the cardiac hypertrophy, the renal parenchyma and vascular lesions and proteinuria, and blunted the prostanoid-mediated enhanced endothelium-dependent vasoconstrictor responses and the cyclo-oxygenase-2 and endothelial NO synthase (eNOS) up-regulation. Furthermore, ( − )-epicatechin also increased Akt and eNOS phosphorylation and prevented the l-NAME-induced increase in systemic (plasma malonyldialdehyde and urinary 8-iso-PGF2α) and vascular (dihydroethidium staining, NADPH oxidase activity and p22phox up-regulation) oxidative stress, proinflammatory status (intercellular adhesion molecule-1, IL-1β and TNFα up-regulation) and extracellular-signal-regulated kinase 1/2 phosphorylation. The present study shows for the first time that chronic oral administration of ( − )-epicatechin does not improve hypertension but reduced pro-atherogenic pathways such as oxidative stress and proinflammatory status of the vascular wall induced by blockade of NO production.
Forward, relaxed, and reverse selection for reduced and enhanced sensitivity to ethanol's locomotor stimulant effects in mice.

BACKGROUND Rarely have trait markers for alcoholism risk been identified. However, relative sensitivity to the arousing effects of ethanol and sensitivity to ethanol's sedative effects have been distinguished as potentially valuable behavioral risk factors. Both traits are genetically influenced and have been modeled in mice by measuring sensitivity to ethanol-induced locomotor stimulation and hypnosis. Reverse selection was performed to examine the hypothesis that forward selection for differential sensitivity to ethanol's locomotor stimulant effects resulted in homozygous fixation of selection trait-relevant alleles and to test the hypothesis that common genes influence ethanol's stimulant and sedative effects. METHODS Bidirectional selective breeding was completed for enhanced (FAST mice) and reduced (SLOW mice) sensitivity to ethanol's locomotor stimulant effects. Selection was terminated (relaxed), and the lines were tested to detect genetic drift. Reverse selection for enhanced sensitivity to ethanol-induced stimulation in SLOW mice and reduced sensitivity in FAST mice was performed for 16 generations. Forward and reverse selected lines were tested for sensitivity to ethanol's sedative effects by measuring duration of ethanol-induced loss of righting reflex. RESULTS Differential sensitivity to the sedative effects of ethanol emerged with selection for differential ethanol stimulation, indicating a common genetic influence on these traits. SLOW mice developed greater sensitivity to ethanol's sedative effects relative to FAST mice. Reverse selection, never before reported for a pharmacogenetic trait, was effective in eliminating most of the difference in stimulant sensitivity between the FAST and SLOW lines and also eliminated the difference in loss of righting reflex duration. CONCLUSIONS Residual heterozygosity persisted at trait-relevant loci even at the selection plateau, possibly due to heterosis, natural selection favoring heterozygosity, or epistatic phenomena involving differences in the sets of genes regulating the high- versus low-sensitivity traits. They also suggest that some common genes influence sensitivity to ethanol's locomotor stimulant and sedative effects.
Exploiting Meta Attributes for Identifying Event Related Hashtags

Users in social media often participate in discussions regarding different events happening in the physical world (e.g., concerts, conferences, festivals) by posting messages, replying to or forwarding messages related to such events. In various applications like event recommendation, event reporting, etc. it might be useful to find user discussions related to such events from social media. Finding event related hashtags can be useful for this purpose. In this paper, we focus on the problem of finding relevant hashtags for a given event. Features are defined to identify the event related hashtags. We specifically look for features that use similarities of the hashtags with the event metadata attributes. A learning to rank algorithm is applied to learn the importance weights of the features towards the task of predicting the relevance of a hashtag to the given event. We experimented on events from four different categories (namely, Award ceremonies, E-commerce events, Festivals, and Product launches). Experimental results show that our method significantly outperforms the baseline methods.
Mindfulness Meditation May Lessen Anxiety, Promote Social Skills, and Improve Academic Performance Among Adolescents With Learning Disabilities

Students with learning disabilities (LD; defined by compromised academic performance) often have higher levels of anxiety, school-related stress, and less optimal social skills compared with their typically developing peers. Previous health research indicates that meditation and relaxation training may be effective in reducing anxiety and promoting social skills. This pilot study used a pre—post no-control design to examine feasibility of, attitudes toward, and outcomes of a 5-week mindfulness meditation intervention administered to 34 adolescents diagnosed with LD. Postintervention survey responses overwhelmingly expressed positive attitudes toward the program. All outcome measures showed significant improvement, with participants who completed the program demonstrating decreased state and trait anxiety, enhanced social skills, and improved academic performance. Although not directly assessed, the outcomes are consistent with a cognitive-interference model of learning disability and suggest that mindfulness meditation decreases anxiety and detrimental self-focus of attention, which, in turn, promotes social skills and academic outcomes.
Successful treatment of rheumatoid arthritis is associated with a reduction in synovial membrane cytokines and cell adhesion molecule expression.

OBJECTIVE To investigate the change in synovial membrane cytokine content and cell adhesion molecule expression in sequential biopsies from the same knee joint of patients with rheumatoid arthritis, before and following anti-rheumatic drug treatment and to assess the relationship of these changes with clinical responses to the drug treatment. METHODS A selected group of patients with rheumatoid arthritis, some of whom had achieved a disease remission based on American College of Rheumatology (ACR) criteria, were included in this study. Sequential synovial biopsies obtained before and throughout the treatment period were studied by immunohistochemical labelling techniques for the cellular content, production of a range of pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines and the expression of cell adhesion molecules. The staining was quantitated using computer-assisted digital image analysis. RESULTS There was a decrease in tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNFalpha) and interleukin-1beta (IL-1beta) production in the synovial membrane lining and sublining of all patients who responded to treatment. The changes in IL-1 receptor antagonist production were variable. Paradoxically, there was a trend to decreased synovial membrane production of the anti-inflammatory cytokines, IL-10 and transforming growth factor-beta (TGFbeta), while IL-4 was not detectable in any of the synovial membrane biopsies. A significant reduction in the density and total amount of E-selectin expression in the synovial membrane was seen. Similarly, intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) expression in the lining and sublining was decreased in those patients who had a significant clinical response to drug treatment or attained disease remission. There were no consistent or significant changes seen in the expression of other cell adhesion molecules in the synovial membranes of these patients. CONCLUSIONS Successful drug treatment of rheumatoid arthritis patients is characterized at the synovial membrane level by a decrease in TNFalpha, IL-10 and TGFbeta production. Some (E-selectin and ICAM-1) but not all (P-selectin, VCAM-1, PECAM-1) cell adhesion molecules are modulated in patients who respond clinically to drug treatment. E-selectin and ICAM-1 may be important targets for the development of future drug treatments for rheumatoid arthritis.
PROSPECTS AND DILEMMAS IN EMOTION PSYCHOLOGY

There is general agreement in the literature on emotions concerning their central role in many aspects of our every day life. In order to give an overview over the theoretical issues in the field of emotion psychology, we will define first of all emotion, as well as their components and functions, before we turn to differentiate between emotions, feelings, affects and moods. Following, the dimensional and categorical approaches of emotion will be distinguished, and an outline of classic and contemporary emotion theories will evidence a renewed interest in the neural processes underlying emotions. While both social psychological perspectives and the interest in neurophysiology represent actual intriguing prospects of emotion psychology, the dilemmas in the field will also be outlined.
Wideband re-synthesis of narrowband CELP-coded speech using multiband excitation model

In this paper, a method for improving the quality of narrowband CELP-coded speech is present. The approach is to reduce the hoarse voice in CELP-coded speech by enhancing the pitch periodicity in the reproduction signal and also to reduce the muffing characteristics of narrowband speech by regenerating the highband components of speech spectra from the reproduction signal. In the proposed method, multiband excitation (MBE) analysis is performed on the reproduction speech signal from a CELP decoder and the pitch periodicity is enhanced by resynthesizing the speech signal using a harmonic synthesizer according to the MBE model. The highband magnitude spectra are regenerated by matching to lowband spectra using a trained wideband spectral codebook. Information about the voiced/unvoiced (V/UV) excitation in the highband are derived from a training procedure and then stored alongside with the wideband spectral codebook so that they can be recovered by indexing to the codebook using the matched lowband index. Simulation results indicate that the quality of the wideband resynthesized speech is significantly improved over the narrowband CELP-coded speech.
The Correlates of Female Criminality in Nigeria

ABSTRACT There is a great need to study female criminality in African Societies. Therefore, this paper investigates the general characteristics of Nigerian female offenders incarcerated in a major woman's prison in Nigeria. In a preliminary study of female offenders in Nigeria, Oloruntimehin (1982) suggests that female criminality in Nigeria may be correlated with socioeconomic and family background variables. Consequently, the major task of this study is to find out the relationship between socioeconomic and family bond measures and female criminality in Nigeria. The offenses the inmates committed form the dependent variables. The data show that most of the inmates had a loose attachment to their families prior to the time they committed the offense that led to their imprisonment, most of the offenders are lower-class persons. There is an inverse correlation between socioeconomic measures and involvement in property crimes (p =.01) and crimes without victims (p=.001). Also, there is no significant relati.
Can Winter-Active Bumblebees Survive the Cold? Assessing the Cold Tolerance of Bombus terrestris audax and the Effects of Pollen Feeding

There is now considerable evidence that climate change is disrupting the phenology of key pollinator species. The recently reported UK winter activity of the bumblebee Bombus terrestris brings a novel set of thermal challenges to bumblebee workers that would typically only be exposed to summer conditions. Here we assess the ability of workers to survive acute and chronic cold stress (via lower lethal temperatures and lower lethal times at 0°C), the capacity for rapid cold hardening (RCH) and the influence of diet (pollen versus nectar consumption) on supercooling points (SCP). Comparisons are made with chronic cold stress indices and SCPs in queen bumblebees. Results showed worker bees were able to survive acute temperatures likely to be experienced in a mild winter, with queens significantly more tolerant to chronic cold temperature stress. The first evidence of RCH in any Hymenoptera is shown. In addition, dietary manipulation indicated the consumption of pollen significantly increased SCP temperature. These results are discussed in the light of winter active bumblebees and climate change.
Primary Percutaneous Coronary Angioplasty With and Without Eptifibatide in ST-Segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction: A Safety and Efficacy Study of Integrilin-Facilitated Versus Primary Percutaneous Coronary Intervention in ST-Segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction (ASSIST)

Background—Primary percutaneous coronary intervention, if performed promptly, is the preferred strategy to restore flow to the infarct-related artery in patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction. We sought to determine whether eptifibatide, a platelet glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitor, given before catheterization would improve clinical outcomes in patients referred for primary percutaneous coronary intervention. Methods and Results—We randomly assigned a total of 400 patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction referred for primary percutaneous coronary intervention to treatment initiated before cardiac catheterization, with either heparin plus eptifibatide (201 patients) or heparin alone (199 patients), in addition to oral aspirin (160 mg) and high-dose clopidogrel (600 mg). The primary end point was a composite of death from any cause, recurrent myocardial infarction, or recurrent severe ischemia during the first 30 days after randomization. At 30 days, the primary end point was reached by 13 patients (6.47%) assigned to heparin plus eptifibatide and by 11 patients (5.53%) assigned to heparin alone (relative risk, 1.18; 95% CI, 0.52 to 2.70; P=0.69). The rates of major or minor bleeding were higher in patients assigned to heparin plus eptifibatide than that in patients assigned to heparin alone (22.4% versus 14.6%; relative risk, 1.69; 95% CI, 1.01 to 2.83; P=0.04). Conclusions—In patients pretreated with high-dose clopidogrel who were referred for primary PCI, treatment with heparin plus eptifibatide, when compared with heparin alone, did not improve clinical outcomes and was associated with more bleeding complications.
Prospective Randomized Study Comparing Ex-PRESS to Trabeculectomy: 1-Year Results

Purpose:To compare the efficacy and safety of the Ex-PRESS glaucoma shunt with standard trabeculectomy. Patients and Methods:Consenting patients with medically uncontrolled open-angle glaucoma were prospectively randomized to trabeculectomy or Ex-PRESS shunt both with mitomycin-C. Exclusion criteria included previous ocular surgery with the exception of clear cornea phaco or 1 previous trabeculectomy, uveitis, and vitreous in the anterior chamber. Standardized data collection sheets were completed at baseline and postoperative day 1, weeks 1 and 2, and months 1, 2, 3, 6, and 12. Primary outcome was intraocular pressure (IOP). Complete success was defined as an IOP between 5 and 18 mm Hg and a 20% reduction from baseline without medication. A sample size calculation determined that 52 eyes were required to detect a 2.0 mm Hg IOP difference with a power of 80%. Results:Sixty-four subjects were enrolled, 33 in the Ex-PRESS and 31 in the trabeculectomy group. IOP was not statistically significantly different between groups. Baseline and 1-year mean IOP was 22.0±6.8 versus 22.7±10.3 mm Hg (P=0.76) and 11.6±4.5 versus 11.3±4.5 mm Hg (P=0.81) in the trabeculectomy versus Ex-PRESS groups, respectively. Complete success was 57% versus 70% (P=0.28) in the trabeculectomy versus Ex-PRESS groups, respectively. There were no statistically significant differences in surgical time, number of glaucoma medications, visual acuity, central corneal thickness, endothelial cell counts, complications, interventions, or bleb morphology between the trabeculectomy and the Ex-PRESS groups. Conclusions:There was no statistically significant difference between the trabeculectomy and Ex-PRESS groups regarding IOP, success rates, complications, additional interventions, and bleb morphology.
A review of software change impact analysis

Change impact analysis is required for constantly evolving systems to support the comprehension, implementation, and evaluation of changes. A lot of research effort has been spent on this subject over the last twenty years, and many approaches were published likewise. However, there has not been an extensive attempt made to summarize and review published approaches as a base for further research in the area. Therefore, we present the results of a comprehensive investigation of software change impact analysis, which is based on a literature review and a taxonomy for impact analysis. The contribution of this review is threefold. First, approaches proposed for impact analysis are explained regarding their motivation and methodology. They are further classified according to the criteria of the taxonomy to enable the comparison and evaluation of approaches proposed in literature. We perform an evaluation of our taxonomy regarding the coverage of its classification criteria in studied literature, which is the second contribution. Last, we address and discuss yet unsolved problems, research areas, and challenges of impact analysis, which were discovered by our review to illustrate possible directions for further research.