Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Computational Characterization of Afucosylation-Based IgG1 Heterogeneity

IgG1s produced by cell culture are heterogeneous with respect to their afucosylated Fc glycan content. Since afucosylation content dramatically changes the nature of IgG1s, there exists a need for methods capable to dissecting the contributions of the different afucosylated IgG1 forms to biological activity. Recently, Zhan and Chung applied classical ligand-receptor mathematical analysis to receptor binding data obtained from heterogeneous mixtures of afucosylated IgG1s in order to develop methods capable of performing such operations [1] . By explaining important experimental observations and extracting valuable biochemical property information embedded in the data, their model provides a convincing demonstration of the role that mechanistic mathematical modeling can play in characterizing heterogeneous mixtures of complex molecules. This review highlights important features of their mathematical analysis from a drug development perspective.
Ergonomic standards, guidelines, and strategies for prevention of back injury.

: Now is the time for ergonomics to be taken seriously. OSHA and other regulatory agencies are concentrating on ergonomic issues, directing greater efforts in developing ergonomic guidelines and standards. Employers are being required to develop multifaceted programs to include prevention, education, and treatment. Ergonomics will become one of the direct responsibilities of ergonomists, safety professionals, and health care providers. Progress in preventing musculoskeletal injuries and illness will depend on the cooperation and availability of trained safety and health professionals who are knowledgeable about ergonomics and the extent of musculoskeletal problems in the workplace. These trained personnel must be able to educate workers and employers about risk factors and to assist them in implementing effective control procedures for prevention. Those responsible for the program will need to keep up-to-date with current engineering and medical trends in the field and be required to keep abreast of the latest legislation and regulations. The challenge is great but the rewards are even greater. Employers implementing ergonomic programs have not only reduced recordable injuries, saved hundreds of thousands of dollars in labor and materials, and reduced turnover, but have experienced increases in production and quality. The reduction in human suffering alone is reason enough to develop an effective proactive ergonomic management program.
Ensayo de infección artificial de garrapatas cubanas con Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto

Como es conocido, Borrelia spp. constituye un grupo importante de patogenos bacterianos transmitidos por garrapatas, a excepcion de Borrelia recurrentis que es transmitida por piojos del cuerpo. Estos microorganismos son los causantes de borreliosis o enfermedad de Lyme y fiebre recurrente.1El complejo B. burgdorferi sensu lato es causante de la enfermedad de Lyme, y el principal vector descrito lo constituyen las garrapatas duras del genero Ixodes.2 Recientemente se ha reportado en Mexico y Brasil la presencia de ADN de B. burgdorferi sensu stricto,3,4 una de las 19 genomaespecies del complejo, en garrapatas Amblyomma cajennense, pero se desconoce si esta especie es capaz de transmitir las borrelias a un nuevo hospedero. En Cuba, a partir de evidencias serologicas especificas de la infeccion por este agente y teniendo en cuenta las especies de ixodidos que prevalecen, asi como sus caracteristicas ecologicas y antropofilicas, las garrapatas A. cajennense y Rhipicephalus sanguineus se consideran vectores potenciales de las borrelias.5Sobre la base de los hallazgos e hipotesis anteriormente mencionados se hace necesario iniciar investigaciones para comprobar si otras especies diferentes de Ixodes spp. son capaces de transmitir las borrelias. Ello requiere contar con un metodo sencillo y eficaz que permita la infeccion artificial de ixodidos. Se han reportado disimiles estrategias con estos fines, entre las que se incluyen el empleo de camaras de alimentacion con membranas naturales o artificiales, la infusion por enema, la inoculacion hemocelica y la alimentacion por capilares.
The computer is in

Computers already are an important counseling and guidance aid. This article describes present and future computer-based systems used in counseling and guidance, and provides several descriptive references. It also notes selected aspects of developing technology and suggests that computers become increasingly available to counselors. Finally, the article describes five types of systems, some of which replace and go beyond certain current counseling functions.
Le principe de précaution et les champs électriques et magnétiques : mise en œuvre et évaluation

Le principe de precaution, une recommandation visant a etudier les actions qui permettraient d’eviter des dommages possibles, meme si leur survenue est incertaine, est defini et interprete de facon tres variee. Nous presentons la gamme de ses definitions en mettant l’accent sur leurs exigences en matiere de force des preuves de nocivite et d’actions recommandees. Nous decrivons les approches variees qui ont ete utilisees pour developper des politiques qui abordent la question de possibles effets des champs electriques et magnetiques (CEM) sur la sante face aux incertitudes scientifiques. Nous examinons ensuite les aspects specifiques de l’incertitude scientifique concernant les risques des CEM pour la sante, risques qui sont particulierement importants pour le developpement de politiques de precaution et nous introduisons le cadre de precaution developpe par l’Organisation mondiale de la sante (OMS) pour aborder les CEM et les autres expositions, technologies ou agents qui pourraient comporter des risques pour la sante publique. Nous concluons avec des exemples tires de politiques de compromis de risque sur les CEM qui doivent etre pris en consideration lorsqu’on developpe toute politique de precaution et nous emettons des recommandations pour mieux definir et appliquer des mesures de precaution.
Using animation to confront stigma, discrimination and low perceptions of personal risk to HIV/AIDS in Chiang Mai, Thailand

Mplus is a small community-based organisation, based in Chiang Mai, Thailand, committed to reducing high-risk sexual behavior and stemming the spread of HIV. In 2008, Mplus produced a series of screen-based animations for use in real-time and online peer-based HIV outreach and prevention activities targeting men who have sex with men (MSM), male sex workers and transgender people.
Medication error trends for 1999-2003

Each year, beginning with 1999, United States Pharmacopeia (USP) has conducted an analysis of aggregate data submitted to the MEDMARX error reporting system database. The most recent report examines error trends over the five-year period 1999-2003. It also includes a special focus on technology-related errors, specifically computer entry, computerized prescriber order entry, and automated dispensing devices.
Development of a disease activity score based on judgment in clinical practice by rheumatologists.

Abstract In a prospective study of up to 3 years' duration of 113 patients with early rheumatoid arthritis a disease activity score (DAS) was developed based on the clinical judgment of 6 rheumatologists. The patients were divided in groups with high and low disease activity according to explicit rules. By various statistical methods, including discriminant analysis and multiple regression analysis, a DAS could be defined. This DAS is a continuous measure consisting of the variables Ritchie articular index, number of swollen joints, erythrocyte sedimentation rate and general health measured on a visual analog scale.
Drug-Using Sex Workers in the Streets of Valencia

Abstract In order to characterize factors that affect sex work and their influence on risk practices, this ethnographic study carried out in a barrio in Valencia describes female sex workers who use illegal drugs, some who inject drugs and some who do not. A study conducted ten years earlier had shown that women in this setting who injected drugs had more irregular work habits, were less selective about their clientele, took more risks of HIV infection, and lowered their prices and lengthened their working hours when compared to women who did not inject drugs. The current study found most of these contrasts to continue, but, through observation and in-depth interviews, characterized drug-using female sex workers in terms of socioeconomic background and choice of drugs. In all cases, drugs had not motivated their entry into sex work as much as had intimate relationships. Choice of drugs appears to exert influence over risk as it occurs in sex work.
Does exercise reduce obesity? Evidence from Australia

The International Obesity Taskforce calls obesity one of the most important medical and public health problems of our time. An estimated 1 billion people around the world are over weight, of whom around 300 million are clinically obese. Estimates suggest that obesity levels will continue to rise in the early 21st century - with severe health consequences in the absence of quick and directed intervention. Leaving genetics aside, obesity is essentially due to an imbalance between caloric intake and expenditures i.e, too high caloric intake and too low caloric expenditure. A large part of the economic research on obesity has focused on factors that lead to this imbalance. In this paper we examine the relationship between obesity (as measured by BMI) and the duration of exercise. Single equation estimates show that exercise duration has a negative and statistically significant effect on the probability of being overweight or obese. However when we take into account the potential endogeneity of exercise duration in the BMI regressions (arising from a standard problem of reverse causation), we no longer nd a negative relationship between exercise duration and BMI. There is either no e ect or the e ect is actually positive indicating that the results are essentially driven by individuals who are and who perceive themselves to be overweight and obese conducting more exercise.
Model checking for the concurrent constraint paradigm: Thesis

This paper abstracts the contents of the PhD dissertation which has been recently defended by the author. Although model checking was defined to automatically verify hardware, in the last decades it has been showed that it is possible to apply the technique also to software. The concurrent constraint paradigm is a simple but powerful computational model which we can use to specify reactive and hybrid systems. The thesis considers three of the timed languages of this paradigm. It presents two methods to apply the model checking technique to two different timed concurrent constraint languages, and it is also defined a denotational semantics which is fully abstract w.r. t. the operational behavior of another timed concurrent constraint language. This new semantics allows one to perform useful static analysis of programs.
A potential strategy to treat liver fibrosis: Drug targeting to hepatic stellate cells applying a novel linker technology

Liver fibrosis is the 9th leading cause of death in the world. This chronic disease cannot be treated successfully with conventional antifibrotic and anti-inflammatory drugs currently on the market, because they either lack efficacy or cause too many side-effects. Targeting of antifibrotic agents to hepatic stellate cells is considered a promising strategy to increase their therapeutic potential. This thesis will present a novel strategy to synthesize drug targeting conjugates aimed at hepatic stellate cells. The core of our invention is a novel platinum based a linker system, the so-called Universal Linkage System (ULS), that allows us to couple a broad range of drugs. Three different drugs have been employed in the present thesis. Pentoxifylline is an anti-inflammatory drug that has been suggested as a potential antifibrotic drug once delivered specifically to hepatic stellate cells (1). Losartan is an angiotensin II receptor antagonist that is widely used for the treatment of hypertension and renal disease. Its beneficial effects on the renin-angiotensin system can be applied to improve the liver function during fibrosis (2). The third drug we have employed is a PDGF-R tyrosine kinase inhibitor (PTKI), a gleevec-like compound. Due to the role of platelet derived growth factor (PDGF-B) as the most potent mitogen to the HSC during liver fibrosis (3), PTKI is regarded as a potential new drug to stop the fibrogenic process. The aim of the present thesis is therefore to study the therapeutical approach of targeting antifibrotic drugs specifically to the hepatic stellate cells to improve the liver injury. Three different drug targeting conjugates are discussed in detailed, as well as the screening of its efficacy in vitro and in vivo.
Therapeutic Modalities in Rehabilitation

PART ONE FOUNDATIONS OF THERAPEUTIC MODALITIES 1. THE SCIENCE OF THERAPEUTIC MODALITIES by WILLIAM E. PRENTICE 2. THE HEALING PROCESS AND GUIDELINES FOR USING THERAPEUTIC MODALITIES by WILLIAM E. PRENTICE 3. THE ROLE OF THERAPEUTIC MODALITIES IN WOUND HEALING by PAMELA E. HOUGHTON 4. MANAGING PAIN WITH THERAPEUTIC MODALITIES by CRAIG R. DENEGAR and PHILLIP B. DONLEY PART TWO ELECTRICAL MODALITIES 5. BASIC PRINCIPLES OF ELECTRICITY by WILLIAM E. PRENTICE 6. ELECTRICAL STIMULATING CURRENTS by DANIEL N. HOOKER 7. IONTOPHORESIS by WILLIAM E. PRENTICE 8. BIOFEEDBACK by WILLIAM E. PRENTICE 9. PRINCIPLES OF ELECTROPHYSIOLOGIC EVALUATION AND TESTING by JOHN HALLE and DAVID GREATHOUSE PART THREE THERMAL MODALITIES 10. SHORTWAVE AND MICROWAVE DIATHERMY by WILLIAM E. PRENTICE and DAVID O. DRAPER 11. INFRARED MODALITIES by GERALD W. BELL and WILLIAM E. PRENTICE 12. THERAPEUTIC ULTRASOUND by DAVID O. DRAPER and WILLIAM E. PRENTICE PART FOUR LIGHT THERAPY 13. LOW-LEVEL LASER THERAPY by ETHAN SALIBA and SUSAN FOREMAN-SALIBA 14. ULTRAVIOLET THERAPY by J. MARC DAVIS PART FIVE MECHANICAL MODALITIES 15. SPINAL TRACTION by DANIEL N. HOOKER 16. INTERMITTENT COMPRESSION DEVICES by DANIEL N. HOOKER PART SIX OTHER MODALITIES 17. THERAPEUTIC MASSAGE by WILLIAM E. PRENTICE and CLAIRBETH LEHN 18. EXTRACORPOREAL SHOCK WAVE THERAPY by CHARLES THIGPEN PART SEVEN SUMMARY 19. THE PHYSIOLOGIC EFFECTS OF THERAPEUTIC MODALITY INTERVENTION ON THE BODY SYSTEMS by ERIC SHAMUS and STANLEY H. WILSON APPENDIX A-1. LOCATIONS OF THE MOTOR POINTS APPENDIX A-2. UNITS OF MEASURE
Managing Quality in Health Care: Involving Patient Care Information Systems and Healthcare Professionals in Quality Monitoring and Improvement

textabstractIt is no longer possible to ignore the issue of quality in health care. Care institutions strive to provide all patients with effective, efficient, safe, timely, patient-centered care. Increased attention for quality is also found in discussions regarding use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in health care processes. In these discussions, ICT is almost always brought into a direct relationship with improving the quality of care, especially ICTs that professionals use directly in patient care, which are also known as patient care information systems (PCIS) [1-4]. Well-known quality reports from the US Institute of Medicine, such as To Err is Human [5] and Crossing the Quality Chasm [6], identify the lack of and delay in ICT development and implementation as a partial explanation for quality problems in existing healthcare systems. Both reports call for wider-scale implementation of PCIS, such as electronic patient records and computerized physician order entry (CPOE) systems. Such systems purportedly bring an end to illegible or lost records and forms, and thus reduce the number of mistakes made. Moreover, intelligent PCIS, such as decision support systems, would potentially support the care professional in making a diagnosis and determining the best course of action, which would make medical practice both more evidence-based and efficient [see also 3,7-10]. A large number of research projects also reflect these positive effects, but the conclusions of systematic reviews are mixed [11-16].
State legislations that limit the use of thimerosal in vaccines for pregnant women and their infants

Abstract Thimerosal is a mercurial preservative that was widely used in vaccines in the United States and Europe until 2001. By 1999, expanding recommendations for infant vaccinations indicated that United States children who received a complete series of vaccines that contained thimerosal received up to 187.5 μg of ethyl mercury during the first six months of life. This cumulative exposure could exceed the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s recommended safe intake level, estimated in 1997, to be no more than 0.1 μg of mercury per kilogram of body weight per day. This observation lead to a recommendation by the American Academy of Pediatrics that thimerosal is removed to all vaccines that are administered to infants in the United States. Realizing the potential dangers of thimerosal in vaccines, six states have enacted legislations that have limited the amount of thimerosal that can be used in vaccines in their States (Iowa, California, New York, Missouri, Delaware and Washington). In 1987, Congress established the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program to provide compensation to family of individuals who suffer injuries from vaccines. Until recently, these judgments have been paid only to families of non-autistic children who received complications due to the vaccines. In 2008, the Government conceded its first vaccine-autism case in Federal Court. Scientific studies of this autistic child suggested that the autism was related to a mitochondrial disorder. The Federal Government should enact legislation that prohibits the use of thimerosal in vaccines given to pregnant women and their infants.
Constrained-Path Discovery by Selective Diffusion

The demand for live and interactive multimedia services over the Internet raises questions on how well the Internet Protocol (IP)s best-effort effort service can be adapted to provide adequate end-to-end quality of service (QoS) for the users. Although the Internet community has developed two different IP-based QoS architectures, neither has been widely deployed. Overlay networks are seen as a step to address the demand for end-to-end QoS until a better solution can be obtained. As part of the telecommunication research at Blekinge Institute of Technology (BTH) in Karlskrona, Sweden we are investigating new theories and algorithms concerning QoS routing. We are in the process of developing Overlay Routing Protocol (ORP), a framework for overlay QoS routing consisting of two protocols: Route Discovery Protocol (RDP) and Route Management Protocol (RMP). In this paper we describe RDP and provide preliminary simulation results for it.
Human Genome Epidemiology: A Scientific Foundation for Using Genetic Information to Improve Health and Prevent Disease

Human health is determined by the interplay of genetic factors and the environment. In this context the recent advances in human genomics are expected to play a central role in medicine and public health by providing genetic information for disease prediction and prevention. After the completion of the human genome sequencing, a fundamental step will be represented by the translation of these discoveries into meaningful actions to improve health and prevent diseases, and the field of epidemiology plays a central role in this effort. These are some of the issues addressed by Human Genome Epidemiology –A scientific foundation for using genetic information to improve health and prevent disease, a volume edited by Prof. M. Khoury, Prof. J. Little, Prof.W. Burke and published by Oxford university Press 2004. This book describes the important role that epidemiological methods play in the continuum from gene discovery to the development and application of genetic tests. The Authors calls this continuum human genome epidemiology (HuGE) to denote an evolving field of inquiry that uses systematic applications of epidemiological methods to assess the impact of human genetic variation on health and disease. The book is divided into four sections and it is structured to allow readers to proceed systematically from the fundamentals of genome technology and discovery, to the epidemiological approaches, to gene characterisation, to the evaluation of genetic tests and their use in health services and public health.
Correlação entre o número de parafusos e o percentual de correção no tratamento cirúrgico da escoliose neuromuscular

OBJETIVO: evaluar si existe una relacion entre el numero de tornillos pediculares (densidad de tornillos) y el porcentual de correccion de la curva principal en el tratamiento quirurgico de la escoliosis neuromuscular. METODOS: fueron evaluados, retrospectivamente, 55 pacientes portadores de la escoliosis neuromuscular sometidos al tratamiento quirurgico por medio de la artrodesis, exclusivamente por la via posterior. Fueron analizados el valor de la curva preoperatoria, el porcentual de correccion y el valor de la curva postoperatoria en las radiografias pre y postoperatoria inmediata. Se calculo la densidad de tornillos (numero de tornillos por pediculo en el area correspondiente a la curva principal) y se evaluo su relacion con el porcentaje de correccion, por medio del analisis de correccion de Spearman. RESULTADOS: de los 55 pacientes, 28 (51%) eran del sexo femenino y 27 (49%) del masculino, con promedio de edad de 16.04 anos (dp=4.45). La patologia de base mas comun fue la paralisis cerebral. El valor de la escoliosis preoperatoria fue en promedio de 81.96o (dp=25.49) y de la escoliosis residual de 33.82o (dp=19.02), con porcentual de correccion de 60.28% (dp=15.89). Hubo una relacion positiva (r=0.266) y estadisticamente significativa entre la densidad de los tornillos y la correccion de la deformidad (p=0.045). CONCLUSIONES: en el tratamiento quirurgico de las deformidades neuromusculares, hay una relacion positiva entre el mayor numero de tornillos dentro del area de la curva principal y el porcentual de correccion.
Creating excellence in dementia care: A research review for Ireland's national dementia strategy

Dementia is a progressive condition that largely affects older people, impacting on their memory, language, ability to communicate, mood and personality. The course of the illness may be gradual and sometimes subtle, as is classically the case in Alzheimer’s disease. While dementia is a medical condition, recent insights from the psychosocial, sociopolitical and public health perspectives have focused attention on the human, social and economic implications of the disease. The ageing of the population across Europe and beyond means that the number of people with dementia will grow in future decades with consequent implications for care provision, care burden and public expenditure. It is no wonder, therefore, that many countries are already preparing for the projected rise in the number of people with dementia by putting in place dedicated action plans and/or dementia strategies.