Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
α‐Spinasterol: a COX inhibitor and a transient receptor potential vanilloid 1 antagonist presents an antinociceptive effect in clinically relevant models of pain in mice

Postoperative pain is one of the most common manifestations of acute pain and is an important problem faced by patients after surgery. Moreover, neuronal trauma or chemotherapeutic treatment often causes neuropathic pain, which induces disabling and distressing symptoms. At present, treatments of both painful conditions are inadequate. α‐Spinasterol, which is well characterized as a transient receptor potential vanilloid 1 antagonist, has anti‐inflammatory, antioxidant and antinociceptive effects. Therefore, we investigated its antinociceptive potential on postoperative and neuropathic pain, as well as its effect on COX‐1 and COX‐2 activities.
Effective 3D viscoelasticity of red blood cells measured by diffraction phase microscopy

We present optical measurements of nanoscale red blood cell fluctuations obtained by highly sensitive quantitative phase imaging. These spatio-temporal fluctuations are modeled in terms of the bulk viscoelastic response of the cell. Relating the displacement distribution to the storage and loss moduli of the bulk has the advantage of incorporating all geometric and cortical effects into a single effective medium behavior. The results on normal cells indicate that the viscous modulus is much larger than the elastic one throughout the entire frequency range covered by the measurement, indicating fluid behavior.
Should we take a history of prior treatment, and check sputum status at 2-3 months when treating patients for tuberculosis?

SETTING Pinetown, South Africa (1975-1983). OBJECTIVE To determine the value of previous treatment history and sputum smear examination at 2-3 months in predicting treatment failure and relapse in tuberculosis patients treated with four drugs given twice weekly for six months under direct observation. DESIGN Four cohort studies among 562 ambulant adults with culture positive pulmonary tuberculosis, designed to test the effectiveness of isoniazid 600-900 mg, rifampicin 600 mg, pyrazinamide 2-3 g, and streptomycin 1-2 g, given twice weekly. The same drug regimen was given to all patients irrespective of previous treatment history. Therapy was not changed if smears remained positive at 2-3 months. RESULTS Positive predictive values of a history of previous treatment for a positive smear at 2-3 months (18.3%), treatment failure (5.2%), and relapse (9.4%) were poor. Although patients with positive smears at 2-3 months were more likely to fail therapy than patients with negative smears (relative risk=4.5, 95% Confidence Interval [CI]: 1.6-12.8), positive predictive value for treatment failure was only 12.5%. Although relapse was more frequent in patients with positive smears than those with negative smears (9.7% vs 6.2%; P=0.4), most patients who relapsed had been smear negative at 2-3 months (18/21). CONCLUSION A four-drug rifampicin-containing regimen can safely be given twice weekly under direct observation to both new and retreatment cases, and the 2-3 month smear examination can safely be omitted.
The relationship between women's employment and fertility: A review of the current state of research

Zusammenfassung: Der Beitrag stellt den Forschungsstand zur Frage dar, inwieweit in westlichen Industrielandern ein kausaler Zusammenhang zwischen der Erwerbstatigkeit und der Fertilitat von Frauen besteht und in welche Richtung die Kausalitat verlauft. Vorliegende Makrostudien konnen die Frage nach dem kausalen Zusammenhang zwischen Erwerbstatigkeit und Fertilitat aufgrund fehlender Drittvariablenkontrolle und der Moglichkeit eines okologischen Fehlschlusses nicht klaren. Langsschnittsanalysen auf der Mikroebene zeigen einen negativen Effekt von gegenwartiger Erwerbstatigkeit auf die Ubergangsrate zu einem (weiteren) Kind. Es besteht jedoch der Verdacht, dass es sich bei diesem Effekt nicht um einen Kausaleffekt handelt, sondern um einen Selbstselektionseffekt. Auf Grundlage von Langsschnittsstudien zum Einfluss der Fertilitat auf die Erwerbstatigkeit kann hingegen geschlossen werden, dass die Fertilitat einen kausalen Effekt auf die Erwerbstatigkeit hat. Problematisch bleibt allerdings – wiederum aufgrund moglicherweise vorliegender Selbstselektion – die genaue Quantifizierung dieses Effekts.
CHANGES IN BRAIN CHOLINESTERASES IN SENILE DEMENTIA OF ALZHEIMER TYPE

Acetyl‐ and butyryl‐cholinesterase activities have been measured biochemically in normal brain tissue, in senile dementia of Alzheimer type and in mental disorders without Alzheimer‐type abnormalities. Acetylcholinesterase was significantly reduced and butyrylcholinesterase significantly increased, compared with the normal, in the hippocampus and temporal cortex of the Alzheimer cases. No significant enzyme changes were seen in the other diseases investigated including multi‐infarct dementia, schizophrenia and depression. There was no correlation between age and acetylcholinesterase activity, but a significant positive correlation between the butyrylcholinesterase activities with increasing age (60–90 years) was found in the hippocampus. The possible connection between cholinergic system pathology and these cholinesterase abnormalities in Alzheimer dementia is discussed.
Effects of TRPV4 cation channel activation on the primary bladder afferent activities of the rat

Transient receptor potential vanilloid 4 (TRPV4) may affect afferent pathways innervating the bladder. We investigated the effects of GSK1016790A (GSK) and RN1734, a TRPV4 agonist and antagonist, respectively, and P2X‐purinoceptor antagonists (TNP‐ATP and PPADS) on cystometry (CMG), and the effect of GSK on single afferent fiber activities (SAAs) of the rat bladder and its relationship with capsaicin (Cap)‐sensitivity.
Molecular Analysis of Human and Bovine Tubercle Bacilli from a Local Setting in Nigeria

ABSTRACT To establish a molecular epidemiological baseline for the strains causing tuberculosis in Nigeria, a survey of isolates from humans and cattle was carried out. Spoligotyping and variable-number tandem-repeat analysis revealed that the majority of tuberculosis disease in humans in Ibadan, southwestern Nigeria, is caused by a single, closely related group of Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains. Using deletion typing, we show that approximately 13% of the disease in humans in this sample was caused by strains of Mycobacterium africanum and Mycobacterium bovis rather than M. tuberculosis. Molecular analysis of strains of M. bovis recovered from Nigerian cattle show that they form a group of closely related strains that show similarity to strains from neighboring Cameroon. Surprisingly, the strains of M. bovis recovered from humans do not match the molecular type of the cattle strains, and possible reasons for this are discussed. This is the first molecular analysis of M. tuberculosis complex strains circulating among humans and cattle in Nigeria, the results of which have significant implications for disease control.
The 2016 Infusion Therapy Standards of Practice

Approximately every 5 years, the Infusion Nurses Society publishes evidence-based practice standards. This article provides an overview of the process used in standards development, describes the format of the standards, and provides a short summary of selected standards as applied to home care. The Standards are an important document that should be available to every home care organization that provides home infusion therapy.
Facial Expression Recognition From Depth Video With Patterns of Oriented Motion Flow

In this paper, we propose a novel feature representation method by a new feature descriptor, named patterns of oriented motion flow (POMF) from the optical flow information, to recognize the proper facial expression from the facial video. The POMF computes different directional motion information and encodes the directional flow information with enhanced local texture micro patterns. As it captures the spatial temporal changes of facial movements through optical flow and enables us to observe both local and global structures, it shows its robustness in recognizing facial information. Finally, the POMF histogram is used to train the expression model through the hidden Markov model (HMM). To train through the HMM, the objective sequences are produced by the generation of a codebook using the K-means clustering technique. The performance of the proposed method has been evaluated over the RGB and depth camera-based video. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed POMF descriptor is more robust in extracting facial information and provides a higher classification rate than other existing promising methods.
Improved Virtual Vector Control of Single-Phase Inverter Based on Unified Model

A unified model is established for virtual vector control schemes of current-regulated single-phase inverters. Based on this model, it is proved that the cross-coupling interaction between the real and virtual orthogonal axes may induce dc positive feedback and destabilize the system. Therefore, a stability criterion is identified to reveal the special characteristics of the virtual vector control system and provide guidelines for the controller design. It is further explicated that the stability issue imposes an extra limitation on the controller parameters so that they may not be sufficiently optimized. To solve this problem, a family of improved control methods is proposed by inserting a high-pass filter in the virtual signal generation stage so that the corresponding dc gain is changed to zero to eliminate the dc positive feedback. As a result, both the steady-state and transient responses can be significantly enhanced. A comprehensive design procedure is provided for the proposed method and the results are compared with conventional solutions, both theoretically and experimentally, to verify the advantages of the improved strategy.
Study on the Marginal Benefit of Water Resources Utilization Based on the Dynamic Stochastic Frontier Production Function

Regarding water resources as one of the elements of production,the efficient production frontier is built based on the DEA relative efficiency evaluation with C2GS2 model of output oriented.Technical efficiency of production and utilization efficiency of the elements of production are analyzed.By using the Cobb-Douglas production function with Hicks neutral technical progress and multiplication random error,the dynamic stochastic frontier production function is constructed through regression analysis of series data for efficient production frontier.The serial and the sectional modals of marginal benefit for water resources utilization,the serial and the sectional modals of water shortage economic loss and the serial modal of marginal cost for water saving are structured based on the serial data of production efficient frontier.
Feline immunodeficiency virus targets activated CD4+ T cells by using CD134 as a binding receptor.

The major surface glycoprotein of feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) specifically binds to a 43-kDa glycoprotein expressed on the surface of a subset of T cells in peripheral blood mononuclear cells and IL-2-dependent T cell lines. Binding to this molecule, in conjunction with CXC chemokine receptor (CXCR) 4, is required for productive infection of these cells by primary isolates of FIV. Here, we demonstrate that the 43-kDa molecule is CD134, a receptor for FIV recently identified independently [Shimojima, M. , et al. (2004) Science 303, 1192-1195]. Furthermore, we show that CD134 is specifically up-regulated on CD4+ T cells that have been activated by treatment with IL-2 and Con A. CD8+ T cells remained negative for CD134 expression regardless of the activation state. Binding of the FIV major surface glycoprotein on activated CD4+ T cells was observed through direct interaction with CD134 whereas, on activated CD8+ T cells, the binding was CD134-independent and mediated by CXCR4 and, to a lesser extent, heparan sulfate proteoglycans. However, this CD134-independent interaction was not sufficient to render CD8+ T cells permissive to FIV infection, as FIV replicated primarily in activated CD4+ T cells and not in cells negative for CD134 expression. Altogether, our results substantiate that CD134 acts as a primary binding receptor for FIV and explain the specific targeting and depletion of the CD4+ T cell population observed during the course of infection independent of the use of CD4 as a binding receptor/coreceptor.
Fast parasitic-aware synthesis methodology for high-performance analog circuits

In this paper a fast parasitic-aware synthesis approach of CMOS analog circuit is presented. Instead of the conventional approach of circuit sizing followed by layout generation, extraction and verification, we propose a method that considers the performance constraints and layout induced parasitics simultaneously within a concurrent phase of circuit synthesis. The proposed methodology is tested with high-performance analog circuits in different technologies and the experimental results demonstrate the high efficacy of this synthesis approach.
Dynamics of the pyrethroid knockdown resistance allele in western Kenyan populations of Anopheles gambiae in response to insecticide-treated bed net trials.

Permethrin and DDT resistance in Anopheles gambiae s.s. associated with a leucine-serine knockdown resistance (kdr) mutation in the voltage-gated sodium channel gene was discovered recently in western Kenya where a large scale permethrin-impregnated bed net (ITN) program has been implemented. Collections of An. gambiae s.l. were made from intervention and control villages prior to and after onset of the program. The kdr genotypes were determined using allele-specific polymerase chain reaction diagnostic tests. In An. gambiae s.s. , the frequency of the kdr mutation prior to ITN introduction was approximately 3-4% in western Kenya and zero in samples from the coast. After ITN introduction, the kdr mutation increased in ITN and neighboring villages from approximately 4% to approximately 8%, but remained unchanged in villages at least 20 km distant and was not detected in coastal Kenya. The identical leucine-serine mutation was found in a single An. arabiensis individual among 658 tested. The leucine-phenylalanine kdr mutation common in west African An. gambiae populations was not detected in An. gambiae s.l. from Kenya. Implications for the population structure and control of An. gambiae are discussed.
Prehospital stroke care

Brain cells die rapidly after stroke and any effective treatment must start as early as possible. In clinical routine, the tight time–outcome relationship continues to be the major limitation of therapeutic approaches: thrombolysis rates remain low across many countries, with most patients being treated at the late end of the therapeutic window. In addition, there is no neuroprotective therapy available, but some maintain that this concept may be valid if administered very early after stroke. Recent innovations have opened new perspectives for stroke diagnosis and treatment before the patient arrives at the hospital. These include stroke recognition by dispatchers and paramedics, mobile telemedicine for remote clinical examination and imaging, and integration of CT scanners and point-of-care laboratories in ambulances. Several clinical trials are now being performed in the prehospital setting testing prehospital delivery of neuroprotective, antihypertensive, and thrombolytic therapy. We hypothesize that these new approaches in prehospital stroke care will not only shorten time to treatment and improve outcome but will also facilitate hyperacute stroke research by increasing the number of study participants within an ultra-early time window. The potentials, pitfalls, and promises of advanced prehospital stroke care and research are discussed in this review.
Why Are Health Care Interventions Delivered Over the Internet? A Systematic Review of the Published Literature

Background As Internet use grows, health interventions are increasingly being delivered online. Pioneering researchers are using the networking potential of the Internet, and several of them have evaluated these interventions. Objective The objective was to review the reasons why health interventions have been delivered on the Internet and to reflect on the work of the pioneers in this field in order to inform future research. Methods We conducted a qualitative systematic review of peer-reviewed evaluations of health interventions delivered to a known client/patient group using networked features of the Internet. Papers were reviewed for the reasons given for using the Internet, and these reasons were categorized. Results We included studies evaluating 28 interventions plus 9 interventions that were evaluated in pilot studies. The interventions were aimed at a range of health conditions. Reasons for Internet delivery included low cost and resource implications due to the nature of the technology; reducing cost and increasing convenience for users; reduction of health service costs; overcoming isolation of users; the need for timely information; stigma reduction; and increased user and supplier control of the intervention. A small number of studies gave the existence of Internet interventions as the only reason for undertaking an evaluation of this mode of delivery. Conclusions One must remain alert for the unintended effects of Internet delivery of health interventions due to the potential for reinforcing the problems that the intervention was designed to help. Internet delivery overcomes isolation of time, mobility, and geography, but it may not be a substitute for face-to-face contact. Future evaluations need to incorporate the evaluation of cost, not only to the health service but also to users and their social networks. When researchers report the outcomes of Internet-delivered health care interventions, it is important that they clearly state why they chose to use the Internet, preferably backing up their decision with theoretical models and exploratory work. Evaluation of the effectiveness of a health care intervention delivered by the Internet needs to include comparison with more traditional modes of delivery to answer the following question: What are the added benefits or disadvantages of Internet use that are particular to this mode of delivery?
A BCD priority encoder designed by reversible logic

In digital IC designing, energy dissipation has already become a crucial factor that is taken into consideration. Since irreversible computing is one of the most significant cause of energy dissipation, designing digital circuit by reversible logic is an efficient way to decline the energy dissipation of the circuit. While BCD encoder is one of the most common unit circuits, existing BCD encoders are all designed in irreversible way. Thus we propose a new design of BCD priority encoder by reversible logic. This revised encoder not only resolves the problem of messy codes, but also declines certain amount of energy dissipation by utilizing reversible logic.
Epidemiology and clinicopathology of aortic dissection.

STUDY OBJECTIVES To determine the incidence and mortality as well as to analyze the clinical and pathologic changes of aortic dissection. DESIGN AND SETTING A population-based longitudinal study over 27 years on a study population of 106,500, including 66 hospitalized and 18 nonhospitalized consecutively observed patients. MEASURES Analysis of data from the medical, surgical, and autopsy records of patients with aortic dissection. RESULTS Altogether, 86 cases of aortic dissection were found in 84 patients, corresponding to a 2.9/100,000/yr incidence. Sixty-six of the 84 patients (79%) were admitted to the hospital, and 18 patients (21%) died before admission. Their ages ranged from 36 to 97 years, with a mean of 65. 7 years. The male/female ratio was 1.55 to 1. A total of 22.7% of the hospitalized patients died within the first 6 h, 33.3% within 12 h, 50% within 24 h, and 68.2% within the first 2 days after admission. Six patients were operated on, with a perioperative mortality of two of six patients and a 5-year survival of two of six patients. All patients who were not operated on died. Pain was the most frequent initial symptom. Every patient had some kind of cardiovascular and respiratory sign. Neurologic symptoms occurred in 28 of 66 patients (42%). Five patients presented with clinical pictures of acute abdomen and two with acute renal failure. Trunk arteries were affected in 33 of the 80 autopsied cases (41%), and rupture of aorta was seen in 69 cases (86%). In five cases, spontaneous healing of dissection was also found. The ratio of proximal/distal dissections was 5.1 to 1. All 18 prehospital cases were acute. Fifty-nine cases (89.4%) were acute at admission, and 7 cases (10.6%) were chronic dissections. Hypertension and advanced age were the major predisposing factors. CONCLUSION Aortic dissection was the initial clinical impression in only 13 of the 84 patients (15%). Thus, 85% of the patients did not receive immediate appropriate medical treatment. For this reason, these late-recognized and/or unrecognized cases may be regarded as an untreated or symptomatically treated group, whose course may resemble the natural course of aortic dissection.
Rate of preterm births in pregnant women with common lower genital tract infection: a population-based study based on the clinical practice

Objective. To estimate the rate of preterm births in pregnant women with lower genital tract infection, i.e. vulvovaginitis-bacterial vaginosis and to check their prevention by drug treatments in the usual clinical practice. Method. The rate of preterm birth of pregnant women with or without lower genital tract infection was evaluated in the population-based large data set of the Hungarian Case–Control Surveillance of Congenital Abnormalities. Only prospectively and medically recorded diagnoses of vulvovaginitis-bacterial vaginosis were evaluated. Results. Of 38,151 newborn infants, 2698 (7.1%) had mothers with vulvovaginitis-bacterial vaginosis diagnosed in early pregnancy and the rate of preterm births was 7.5% among them, while this figure was 9.3% in babies born to mothers without these recognized genital infections. After early diagnosis and treatment of vulvovaginitis-bacterial vaginosis, clotrimazole and ampicillin seemed to be most effective to reduce the preterm birth during the study period. However, the rate of preterm births was lower in babies born to mothers without recorded vulvovaginitis-bacterial vaginosis but treated by clotrimazole and ampicillin (7.2–7.8%) as well. Conclusion. The lower rate of preterm births in babies born to mothers with vulvovaginitis-bacterial vaginosis may be explained by their effective treatment. However, the high rate of preterm births in pregnant women without genital tract infection and antimicrobial treatment may be connected with asymptomatic or unrecognized symptomatic and untreated vaginal infections.