Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Patterns of Primary, Specialty, Urgent Care, and Emergency Department Care in Children with Inflammatory Bowel Diseases.

OBJECTIVES Pediatric patients with inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) require treatment, monitoring, and health maintenance services. We described patterns of primary, specialty, emergency department (ED) and urgent care delivery, and explored patient- and system-related variables that impact ED/urgent care utilization. METHODS We conducted a cross sectional survey of parents of children with IBD at a large tertiary children's hospital. RESULTS 161 parents completed the survey (75% response). Mean patient age 13.9 years (51% male); 80% Crohn's, 16% ulcerative colitis, 4% IBD-unspecified. Mean disease duration 4 years (standard deviation (SD) 2.7). 30% had at least one other chronic disease, 31% had a history of IBD-related surgery. Parents were predominantly Caucasian (94%), well-educated (61% bachelor's degree/higher), part of a two-parent household (79%) living in a suburban setting (57%). 77% of patients had private insurance. In the past year, most children had 1-2 IBD-related office visits (54%) with their gastroenterology (GI) doctor and no IBD-related hospitalizations (79%). 88% (N = 141) had a primary care provider (PCP), and most (70%) saw their PCP 1-2 times. Even so, 86% (N = 139) received medical care from places other than their PCP or GI doctor; 27% in the ED and 45% at urgent care. Children of parents with less than a bachelor's degree, families that lived further from their GI doctor, and children who saw their PCP more often were more likely to utilize ED/urgent care. CONCLUSIONS ED/urgent care utilization in pediatric patients with IBD was greater than expected, potentially contributing to fragmented, costly care and worse outcomes.
Interferon + bevacizumab – a new generation of renal cell cancer immunotherapy?

uważany był za nowotwór oporny na leczenie systemowe. Uznaje się go za nowotwór immunogenny, którego wzrost i progresja w dużej mierze są możliwe dzięki nabyciu umiejętności ucieczki spod kontroli układu odpornościowego wynikającej z: zaburzenia ekspresji molekuł powierzchniowych, antygenów nowotworowych czy sekrecji czynników immunosupresyjnych, takich jak VEGF, TGF-β, IL-4 czy IL-10. W latach 90. ubiegłego wieku standardem postępowania w przerzutowym raku nerki było stosowanie cytokin (IFN-α w Europie i IL-2 w Stanach Zjednoczonych), przy czym efektywność immunoterapii nieswoistej opartej o cytokiny była ograniczona. Wiązało się to zarówno z niewielkim odsetkiem odpowiedzi klinicznych, jak również z wysoką toksycznością leczenia. W ciągu ostatnich 5 lat terapie celowane oparte o leki ukierunkowane molekularnie (bewacyzumab + IFN-α, sorafenib, sunitinib, temsirolimus, everolimus) spowodowały przełom w leczeniu, wydłużając czas przeżycia do progresji, a w przypadku temsirolimusu czas przeżycia całkowitego chorych z przerzutowym rakiem nerki. Bewacyzumab, inhibitory kinaz tyrozynowych czy kinazy mTOR wywierają głównie efekt cytostatyczny uwarunkowany hamowaniem angiogenezy, w niewielkim stopniu oddziałując bezpośrednio na komórki nowotworowe. W konsekwencji ww. leki stosowane w monoterapii umożliwiają uzyskanie odpowiedzi klinicznej i długotrwałą stabilizację choroby, ale praktycznie nie dają szans na całkowite wyleczenie chorego. W odróżnieniu od terapii celowanych, immunoterapia pozostaje nadal jedynym leczeniem mogącym potencjalnie doprowadzić do wyleczenia pacjentów z uogólnionym rakiem nerki. Neutralizacja krążącego VEGF (bewacyzumab, VEGF-trap) nie tylko indukuje silny efekt antyangiogenny, ale również może zahamować immunosupresję indukowaną VEGF. Skojarzenie immunoterapii (IFN-α) z terapią anty-VEGF (bewacyzumab będący jedynym zarejestrowanym lekiem anty-VEGF) wydaje się stanowić nową strategię immunoterapeutyczną. U chorych z grupy niskiego ryzyka poddanych wcześniejszej nefrektomii, u których łączna masa nowotworu jest niewielka i nie wywiera jeszcze negatywnego wpływu na organizm, terapia taka daje potencjalnie szansę na uzyskanie długotrwałej odpowiedzi całkowitej, która w wielu przypadkach może oznaczać całkowite wyleczenie.
Influence of Perovskite Interface Morphology on the Photon Management in Perovskite/Silicon Tandem Solar Cells.

Perovskite/silicon tandem solar cells are considered as one of the cost-effective solutions for determining high energy conversion efficiencies. Efficient photon management allows improving light incoupling in the solar cells by reducing optical losses. The optics relies upon the interface morphology, consequently, the growth mechanism of the top cell on the bottom cell is crucial for the implementation of efficient perovskite/silicon tandem solar cells. To describe the interface morphologies of perovskite/silicon tandem solar cells, a three-dimensional surface algorithm is used that allows investigating the perovskite solar cells deposited on the textured crystalline silicon solar cells. We distinguish between two extreme cases in which the film grows only in the direction of the substrate normal or in the direction of the local surface normal. The growth mode has a significant influence on the film roughness, the effective thickness of the film, the optics of the solar cell, and the photovoltaic parameters. The optics is investigated by finite-different time-domain simulations. The influence of the interface morphology on the photovoltaic parameters is discussed and guidelines are provided to reach high short-circuit current density and energy conversion efficiency.
Improving Sensor Interoperability for Fingerprint Biometric Systems

Interoperability refers to the system’s ability to work with various set of devices. Fingerprints of a person are the oldest biometric identifiers and are most widely used for authentication purposes. The advances in sensor technology allow us to acquire fingerprint data of a person through variety of fingerprint sensors. The manufacturing technologies of these sensors are different. With the advancing technology, it is common to replace older designs with newer ones. So, the sensors used at the time of fingerprint enrollment and identification can be different. Different types of sensors can induce different types of variations in resolution, scanning area etc. So, there should be interoperability between sensors otherwise the performance of recognition system will be affected. The system should be able to handle the variations induced by different sensors used. This problem is discussed and a solution to overcome this problem is proposed in this paper.
The association between visceral adiposity with systemic inflammation, oxidative stress, and risk of post-surgical adhesion

Abstract Abdominal and pelvic adhesions are common post-operative complications. Despite new medical technologies, these adhesions are appearing to be unavoidable and little is known about their causation; for example, why certain patients/or tissues are more prone to adhesions. There have been no clinical studies about increasing the risk adhesions in obese patients, but there is some evidence about the molecular mechanisms involving visceral fat (VF) that may lead to profibrotic conditions. VF is an endocrine/inflammatory organ which produces many biologically active molecules such as adipokines and inflammatory cytokines. Inflammatory conditions, oxidative stress, and the expression some fibrotic molecules in the VF may induce pathological conditions in the abdominal cavity that predispose to the formation of fibrotic bands.
KINETIC MODELLING OF VITAMIN C (ASCORBIC ACID) DEGRADATION IN TOMATO AND PAWPAW UNDER MARKET STORAGE CONDITIONS

Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) is one of the most important and popular vitamins, and is contained in most fruits and vegetables; the problem with vitamin C is its easy degradation during storage. In this study, the degradation kinetics of vitamin C was determi methods considered were: open air (ambient) storage and sack (jute bag) storage for six days. Iodometric method of analysis was employed in analyzing the concentration of vitamin C in fruit samples. The vita duration of 6days. The rate constants were calculated for both fruits under the two storage methods using the integrated law method; half pawpaw under the two storage conditions followed the first determination (R pawpaw stored in open air and rate constant for tomato stored in open air and jute bags were 0.1331day respectively. The half storage is open air because the rate constants depicted from the model equations were lower, and the half life longer, hence, slower rate of degradation.
An Acute Care Contingency Management Program for the Treatment of Stimulant Use Disorder: A Case Report.

BACKGROUND Illicit stimulants such as crystal methamphetamine and cocaine are a rising cause of morbidity and mortality in North America. Unfortunately, there are few evidence-based approaches for the management of stimulant use disorder. Contingency management programs are currently the best evidenced treatment strategy, designed to reward behavior change and offer competing reinforcers toward the goal of reducing substance use, but these programs are often difficult to access. Given that it is well understood that hospitalization presents a valuable opportunity for the initiation of treatment for a variety of substance use disorders, the adaptation of contingency management programs to an acute medicine inpatient setting is a potentially viable option to improve care, and to increase access to effective treatment for stimulant use disorders. CASE SUMMARY We present a case outlining the clinical care of a complex medical patient admitted with osteomyelitis, whose course in hospital changed significantly upon enrollment in a pilot contingency management program in an urban hospital in Canada. DISCUSSION This case illustrates how effective treatment programs can be adapted as needed for use in novel settings, especially where current options are inaccessible, inadequate, or ineffective.
A Single-Image Super-Resolution Algorithm for Infrared Thermal Images

Summary Infrared (IR) images are significant in several major fields such as security, military and landform determination. However, due to physical limitations of the precision optics and expensive image sensors, these images tend to have poor resolution. This paper presents a Single-image Super-Resolution (SISR) algorithm for IR thermal images which effectively reconstructs High-resolution (HR) image from its low-resolution (LR) counterpart without an external database. In this method, the training data set is built from in-place self-examples generated by a bi-pyramid of recursively scaled and subsequently interpolated image patches. The relation between self-example patch-pairs is learned by a regression operator represented as a matrix and used as a prior to super-resolve LR infrared thermal images. Subjective and objective evaluation of the proposed algorithm validates the efficiency of the proposed algorithm.
Isolation of selenate from selenite, carbonate, phosphate, and arsenate solutions for δ18O-selenate determination

ABSTRACT Selenium and oxygen isotope systematics can be useful tools for tracing sources and fate of Se oxyanions in water. In order to measure δ18O values of selenate, SeO4 2– must first be sequestered from water by precipitation as BaSeO4(s). However, other dissolved oxyanions insoluble with Ba2+ require removal. Dissolved selenate was separated from dissolved selenite, carbonate, phosphate, and arsenate by addition of Ce3+ cations that quantitatively removed these oxyanions by precipitation as insoluble Ce2(SeO3)3(s), Ce2(CO3)3(s), CePO4(s), and CeAsO4(s), respectively. δ18O-selenate (−8.19 ± 0.17 ‰) did not change after four replicates of selenite removal by Ce2(SeO3)3(s) precipitation and Ce3+ removal by cation exchange (−8.20 ± 0.14, −8.32 ± 0.09, −8.17 ± 0.13, and −8.29 ± 0.13 ‰). δ18O-selenate values (−10.86 ± 0.45 ‰) were preserved also when selenate was pre-concentrated on anion exchange resin, quantitatively retrieved by elution, and processed with Ce3+ to remove interfering oxyanions (−10.77 ± 0.07 ‰). The extraction and purification steps developed here successfully isolated dissolved selenate from interfering oxyanions while preserving δ18O-selenate values. This method should be useful for characterizing δ18O-selenate when present with the co-occurring oxyanions above in laboratory experiments and field sites with high Se concentrations, although further research is required for methods to eliminate any co-occurring sulphate.
Loss of an H3K9me anchor rescues laminopathy-linked changes in nuclear organization and muscle function in an Emery-Dreifuss muscular dystrophy model

In this study, Harr et al. use C. elegans to investigate the consequences of a missense mutation (Y45C) in lamin A (encoded by LMNA) found in the human Emery-Dreifuss muscular dystrophy (EDMD) syndrome. Using muscle-specific emerin Dam-ID and other in vivo approaches, the authors report that they were able to counteract the dominant muscle-specific defects provoked by LMNA mutation by the ablation of a lamin-associated H3K9me anchor, suggesting a novel therapeutic pathway for treating EDMD.
Long intergenic non-coding RNA 1939 eliminates proliferation and migration of human renal cell carcinoma (RCC) cells by down-regulation of miR-154

Abstract Renal carcinoma (RCC) is widely accepted as a malignant tumour of urinary system. Long intergenic non-coding RNA 1939 (LINC01939) is a novel lncRNA which was found to be down-regulated in RCC. Thus, we set out to explore the effect and regulation mechanism of LINC01939 in RCC. LINC01939 and miR-154 in RCC tissues and cell lines were detected using qRT-PCR assay. To examine cellular viability of ACHN and CAKI-1 cells, cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8) assay was exploited here. Flow cytometric analysis was conducted to examine apoptosis. Cell mobility was valued through wound healing assays. Western blotting was applied for examination of proteins related to proliferation, apoptosis, migration and Wnt/β-catenin/Notch. LINC01939 was down-regulated in RCC tissues. LINC01939 overexpression impeded proliferation and migration, and induced apoptosis. Further study found that the overexpression of LINC01939 strongly suppressed miR-154 expression. Then, the inhibiting effect of overexpressed LINC01939 on proliferation and mobility and the promoting role of LINC01939 in apoptosis were abolished by the combination of miR-154 mimic. Finally, we found that overexpressed LINC01939 inactivated Wnt/β-catenin and Notch through suppressing miR-154. Up-regulation of LINC01939 inhibited proliferation and migration of RCC cells by down-regulating miR-154.
Clinical response to pazopanib in a patient with endolymphatic sac tumor not associated with von Hippel-Lindau syndrome

Endolymphatic sac tumors (ELSTs) are rare, locally invasive, vascular tumors of the temporal bone. These lesions are associated with von Hippel-Lindau syndrome but may arise sporadically. Early surgical intervention is recommended to prevent permanent neurologic deficits; however, many ELSTs are unresectable or are subtotally resected due to neurovascular compromise. Chemotherapeutic salvage therapy in trials of neoplasms of associated syndromes has targeted angiogenesis with variable response. We present the case of a sporadic ELST, previously minimally responsive to bevacizumab, treated with pazopanib, a multi-kinase inhibitor and antiangiogenic, with good response. Cases such as our patient may demonstrate the utility of novel antiangiogenics in the treatment of these rare neoplasms, particularly when the tumor is unresectable or necessitates subtotal resection.
Evidence for physiological seed dormancy cycling in the woody shrub Asterolasia buxifolia and its ecological significance in fire-prone systems.

Dormancy cycling is a key mechanism that contributes to the maintenance of long-term persistent soil seed banks but has not been recorded in long-lived woody shrub species from fire-prone environments. Such species rely on seed banks and dormancy break as important processes for post-fire recruitment and recovery. We used germination experiments with smoke treatments on fresh seeds and those buried for 1 year (retrieved in spring) and 1.5 years (retrieved the following late autumn) to investigate whether Asterolasia buxifolia, a shrub from fire-prone south eastern Australia with physiologically dormant seeds, exhibited dormancy cycling. All seeds had an obligation for winter seasonal temperatures and smoke to promote germination, even after ageing in the soil. A high proportion of germination was recorded from fresh seeds but germination after the first retrieval was significantly lower, despite high seed viability. After the second retrieval, germination returned to the initial level. This indicates a pattern of annual dormancy cycling, one of the few observations to our knowledge for a perennial species. Additionally, A. buxifolia's winter temperature and smoke requirements did not change over time, highlighting the potential for seeds to remain conditionally dormant (i.e. restricted to a narrow range of germination conditions) for long periods. For physiologically dormant species such as A. buxifolia, we conclude that dormancy cycling is an important driver of successful regeneration, allowing seed bank persistence, sometimes for decades during fire-free periods unsuitable for successful recruitment, while ensuring that a large proportion of seeds are available for recruitment when a fire occurs.
FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE THE CHOICE OF VIRTUALIZED ENVIRONMENTS IN SMALL MEDIUM ENTERPRISES.

Virtualization is an emerging technology in the recent computing worlds and has become a platform for the implementation of utility computing (e.g. cloud computing) and the rising Virtual Private Networks. It helps to centralize and integrate IT resources there by reducing costs and energy usage. Organizations are implementing this technology, however, what factors determine the choice of virtual environments to be implemented? Moreover, to what extend therefore can an organization virtualize? This research proposes a paper that will investigate the above stated factors so that they can be able to breakeven and survive the ever changing economic times. The research shall achieve this by identifying and investigating factors that determine the choice of virtualized environments in these organizations. This will be accomplished by a qualitative design through a desktop research. This research is important for small and medium organizations who would need to evaluate the factors that they would consider before they choose to go virtualization. Some of the benefits that come with this technology include to reduce operating costs based on virtualization platforms, promote efficiency on clouds and enable organizations to shift the emphasis on the management, rather than ownership of ICT resources.
An analysis of patient’s and disease related factors predictive of the outcomes of surgery for carpal tunnel syndrome

Abstract Purpose Outcomes of surgery for carpal tunnel syndrome may differ in relation to certain factors like age, duration of symptoms, clinical and electrophysiological severity. The objective of this study was an investigation into the hypothesis that several factors are predictive of results of surgical treatment of the condition. Methods The pre- and postoperative records of 1,117 patients: 909 women (81 %) and 208 men (19 %) with a mean age of 63 years were analysed. Outcomes recorded in the sensory and functional severity scores of the Levine questionnaire were dichotomized into achieving or not-achieving a minimally clinically important difference. The effect of selected variables: sex, age, duration of symptoms, clinical and electrophysiological severity of and presence of comorbidities on outcomes of surgery at 6 months was investigated. Results Univariate and multivariate analysis of covariates based on sex, age, duration of the disease and its clinical severity showed female gender and worse baseline symptom severity scores to be significant predictors for an improvement following carpal tunnel syndrome surgery. It showed also younger age, shorter duration of symptoms and higher baseline symptom severity scores to be predictive of a greater improvement of total grip strength, and younger age to be predictive of a greater pain cessation following surgery. Conclusion Of all considered patient’s and disease related factors, the baseline clinical severity expressed in the Levine symptom severity scores had appeared to be the strongest predictor of better outcomes of surgery for carpal tunnel syndrome.
The "Super-Child" Approach Is Applied To Estimate Retinol Kinetics and Vitamin A Total Body Stores in Mexican Preschoolers.

BACKGROUND Retinol isotope dilution (RID) and model-based compartmental analysis are recognized techniques for assessing vitamin A (VA) status. Recent studies have shown that RID predictions of VA total body stores (TBS) can be improved by using modeling and that VA kinetics and TBS in children can be effectively studied by applying population modeling ("super-child" approach) to a composite data set. OBJECTIVES The objectives were to model whole-body retinol kinetics and predict VA TBS in a group of Mexican preschoolers using the super-child approach and to use model predictions of RID coefficients to estimate TBS by RID in individuals. METHODS Twenty-four healthy Mexican children (aged 3-6 y) received an oral dose (2.96 μmol) of [13C10]retinyl acetate in corn oil. Blood samples were collected from 8 h to 21 d after dosing, with each child sampled at 4 d and at 1 other time. Composite data for plasma labeled retinol compared with time were analyzed using a 6-component model to obtain group retinol kinetic parameters and pool sizes. Model-predicted TBS was compared with mean RID predictions at 4 d; RID estimates at 4 d were compared with those calculated at 7-21 d. RESULTS Model-predicted TBS was 1097 μmol, equivalent to ∼2.4 y-worth of VA; using model-derived coefficients, group mean RID-predicted TBS was 1096 μmol (IQR: 836-1492 μmol). TBS at 4 d compared with a later time was similar (P = 0.33). The model predicted that retinol spent 1.5 h in plasma during each transit and recycled to plasma 13 times before utilization. CONCLUSIONS The super-child modeling approach provides information on whole-body VA kinetics and can be used with RID to estimate TBS at any time between 4 and 21 d postdose. The high TBS predicted for these children suggests positive VA balance, likely due to large-dose VA supplements, and warrants further investigation.