Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Shoulder load during synchronous handcycling and handrim wheelchair propulsion in persons with paraplegia.

OBJECTIVE To compare the shoulder load during handcycling and wheelchair propulsion under similar conditions of external power in persons with spinal cord injury. DESIGN Cross-sectional. SUBJECTS Eight men with spinal cord injury. METHODS Kinetics and kinematics were measured during handbike and wheelchair propulsion at 25, 35, 45 and 55 W on a treadmill. Shoulder load (glenohumeral contact forces, relative muscle forces) was calculated with the Delft Shoulder and Elbow Model. RESULTS At all power output levels, glenohumeral contact forces were significantly lower during handcycling compared with wheelchair propulsion (p < 0.001). At 55 W, the mean glenohumeral contact force was 345 N for hand-cycling, whereas it was 585 N for wheelchair propulsion. Also, relative muscle forces were lower during handcycling. The largest differences between handbike and wheelchair propulsion were found in the supraspinatus (4.5% vs. 20.7%), infraspinatus (3.7% vs. 16.5%) and biceps (5.0% vs. 17.7%). CONCLUSION Due to continuous force application in hand-cycling, shoulder load was lower compared with wheelchair propulsion. Furthermore, muscles that are prone to overuse injuries were less stressed during handcycling. Therefore, handcycling may be a good alternative for outdoor mobility and may help prevent overuse injuries of the shoulder complex.
Methods for reducing peak pressure in laparoscopic grasping

During tissue retraction with a laparoscopic grasper, tissue-damaging pressures can occur. Past research suggests that peak pressures can be considerably reduced by rounding the edges or covering the tip of the end effector with a silicon sleeve. To identify grasping methods that limit tissue damage, the effects of (a) Young’s modulus of the end effector, (b) curvature of the end effector, and (c) angle with which the tissue is pulled relative to the plane of the end effector, on the pressure generated on the tissue were investigated. Artificial skin was placed between two non-serrated jaws, a pressure-sensitive film was interposed between the skin and upper jaw, and the end effector was loaded with 13 N. End effectors with Young’s moduli of 0.09, 0.67, 1.49 MPa, and 69 GPa, and with non-rounded and 5 mm rounded edges were tested under pulling angles of 25°, 50°, and 75°. For non-rounded end effectors, the maximum pressure and the area across which pressure exceeded the safety threshold for tissue damage increased with Young’s modulus and pulling angle. For rounded end effectors, maximum pressure did not increase monotonically with Young’s modulus. Instead, the end effector with the second lowest Young’s modulus yielded significantly lower maximum pressure than the end effector with the lowest Young’s modulus. For rounded end effectors, pressures were below the safety threshold for all Young’s moduli. This indicates that to prevent tissue damage, soft graspers may not be needed; rounding the edges of metal graspers could suffice for preventing tissue damage.
Postoperated hip fracture rehabilitation effectiveness and efficiency in a community hospital.

INTRODUCTION This study aims to determine the inpatient rehabilitation effectiveness (REs) and rehabilitation efficiency (REy) of hip fracture in a Singapore community hospital (CH), its association with socio-demographic variables, medical comorbidities and admission Shah-modified Barthel Index (BI) score as well as change in independent ambulation from discharge to 4 months later. MATERIALS AND METHODS A retrospective cohort study using data manually extracted from medical records of all patients who had hip fracture within 90 days and admitted to a CH after the operation for rehabilitation. Multiple linear regressions are used to identify independent predictors of REs and REy. RESULTS The mean REs was 40.4% (95% Confidence Interval (CI), 36.7 to 44.0). The independent predictors of poorer REs on multivariate analysis were older age, Malay (vs non-Malay) patients, fewer numbers of rehabilitative therapy sessions and dementia. The mean REy was 0.41 units per day [CI, 0.36 to 0.46]. The independent predictors of poorer REy on multivariate analysis were higher admission BI and being non-hypertensive patient. The prevalence of independent ambulation improved from 78.9% at the discharge to 88.3% 4 months later. CONCLUSION CH inpatient rehabilitative therapy showed REs 40.4% and REy of 0.41 units per day and the optimum number of rehabilitative therapy session was from 28 to 41 in terms of rehabilitation effectiveness and the maximum rehabilitation efficiency was seen in those doing 14 to 27 sessions of rehabilitative therapy. The study also showed improvement in BI at discharge and improvement in the independent ambulation 4 months after discharge from the CH.
Modification of medical outcome study (MOS) instrument for quality of life assessment & its validation in HIV infected individuals in India.

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVE Several instruments have been developed specifically to assess the quality of life (QOL) in HIV infected individuals. No information is available in this aspect from India. The present study was thus carried out to assess the QOL among HIV infected persons, to study their relationship with socio-demographic characteristics and stages of disease progression, and to examine change in QOL over time. METHODS One time assessment of QOL on 100 and repeat evaluation on 20 HIV infected persons enrolled in an ongoing longitudinal prospective study of clinical progression was done. Medical Outcome Study (MOS-QOL) core instrument was modified to suit the Indian cultural settings and interview-administered. RESULTS The overall scale had Cronbach alpha 0.75. Instrument showed significant positive inter-domain correlations and linear association between QOL scores and CD4 counts. QOL was markedly affected in the domains of physical health, work and earnings, routine activities, and appetite and food intake. Women had significantly lower QOL scores despite having less advanced disease. The QOL scores decreased with drop in CD4 counts mainly in the physical health domains. Generally, the QOL scores were high in the follow up visit compared to baseline. INTERPRETATION & CONCLUSION The modified MOS scale with Cronbach alpha of more than 0.7 and linear relationship between CD4 counts and the QOL scores indicated that the instrument was reliable and valid for evaluation of QOL in HIV infected persons in India. Comparative lower scores in the domains of physical health indicate medical intervention to greatly benefit the HIV infected persons. Longitudinal studies need to be undertaken to assess the impact of introduction of anti retroviral therapy (ART) through the national programme on disease progression and changes in QOL.
Cardiovascular Effects of Acute Oxygen Administration in Healthy Adults

Supplementary oxygen is commonly administered in current medical practice. However, attention has recently been drawn to the potentially disadvantageous hemodynamic consequences in certain patients. Possible mechanisms underlying the cardiovascular responses to acute hyperoxia are unclear. The effects of acute oxygen administration on heart rate, blood pressure, cardiac output, systemic vascular resistance, and baroreflex sensitivity were studied in a series of randomised, placebo-controlled studies in healthy individuals, using validated, non-invasive techniques. The effects of oxygen administration on forearm blood flow responses to locally administered acetylcholine, an endothelium-dependent vasodilator, sodium nitroprusside, an endothelium-independent vasodilator, and l-NG-monomethylarginine, a nitric oxide synthase inhibitor, were studied using venous occlusion plethysmography. Oxygen administration for 1 hour caused a reduction in heart rate (P < 0.01) and cardiac index (P < 0.05), and an increase in mean arterial pressure (P < 0.01), systemic vascular resistance (P < 0.05), large artery stiffness (P < 0.05), and baroreflex sensitivity (P < 0.05). There were no effects on vascular responses in the isolated forearm bed. These findings indicate that oxygen administration causes acute effects on cardiovascular function, which might be important in the context of acute illness.
Submento-Submandibular Intubation-an Adjnct in Orthognathic Surgery?

The submento-submandibular intubation technique has been used in facial trauma cases where there is a requirement of addressing the facial fracture requiring intraoperative verification of occlusal relationship and also addressing the nasal fractures. However the utility of this technique in orthognathic surgery cases has not been reported as much. The case report presents and discusses the effective use of this technique in the surgical management of a case of bimaxillary protrusion with lip deficiency.
[Dasatinib treatment based on BCR- ABL mutation detection in imatinib- resistant patients with chronic myeloid leukemia].

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the efficiency of dasatinib as the second- or third-line tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI)in imatinib-resistant patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML)based on BCR-ABL mutation detection. METHODS 122 CML patients received dasatinib treatment, including 83 with imatinib-resistance and 39 with both imatinib- and nilotinib-resistance, 55 in the chronic-phase (CP), 21 in the accelerated- phase (AP)and 46 in the blast- phase (BP). Those harboring dasatinib highly- resistant mutations (T315I/A, F317L/V/C and V299L)were excluded based on BCR-ABL kinase domain mutation screening by Sanger sequencing at baseline. Hematologic, cytogenetic and molecular responses were evaluated regularly, and rates of progression-free-survival (PFS)and overall survival (OS)were analyzed. BCR- ABL mutation detection was performed once the patients failed on dasatinib. RESULTS In the CP patients, the rates of complete hematological response (CHR), complete cytogenetic response (CCyR), major molecular response (MMR)and molecular response 4.5 (MR4.5)were 92.7%, 53.7%, 29.6% and 14.8%, respectively. 4-year PFS and OS rates were 84.4% and 89.5%, respectively. In the AP patients, HR and CCyR rates were 81.0% and 35.0%; and 3-year PFS and OS rates were 56.1% and 59.3%, respectively. In the BP patients, HR and CCyR rates were 63.0% and 21.4%; and 1-year PFS and OS rates were 43.6% and 61.8%, respectively. Outcomes were similar when dasatinib was used as the second- line TKI or the third-line TKI. Of the 75 patients who were resistant to dasatinib, 37 (48.7%)developed new mutation(s), and T315I (59.5%)was the most common mutation type. The patients who already harbored mutation(s)before dasatinib therapy achieved similar responses and outcomes to those with no mutation at baseline. However, they had higher likelihood of developing additional mutations associated with resistance to dasatinib (65.7%vs 34.1%,P=0.006). CONCLUSIONS Dasatinib was proved to be effective in the treatment of imatinib- or/and nilotinib-resistant CML patients, especially in both CP and AP cohorts. The significance of BCR-ABL mutation screening and monitoring should be highlighted before and during dasatinib therapy.
Mediating effects of nocturnal blood pressure and morning surge on the contributions of arterial stiffness and sodium intake to morning blood pressure: A path analysis

Abstract Background. The aim of this study was to evaluate the mediating effects of nocturnal blood pressure (BP) and morning surge on the contribution of arterial stiffness and sodium intake to morning BP in a middle-aged general population. Methods. The study included 124 subjects aged 30–59 years, from rural Yeoju County, Gyeonggi Province, South Korea. Ambulatory BP monitoring, 24 h urinary sodium excretion (24 h UNa) and brachial–ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV) measurements were performed in all subjects. Results. The mean ± SD age was 48.1 ± 8.2 years and the proportion of male subjects was 41.1%. After adjusting for covariates, morning systolic blood pressure (SBP) was significantly correlated with morning surge [coefficient = 0.761, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.651–0.872, p < 0.001], nocturnal SBP (coefficient = 0.576, 95% CI 0.454–0.698, p < 0.001) and baPWV (coefficient = 3.550, 95% CI 1.447–5.653, p = 0.001). Path analysis modeling revealed that baPWV had significant direct (0.035, p = 0.013) and indirect effects (0.042, p = 0.012) on morning SBP. The indirect effect mediated by nocturnal SBP was statistically significant (0.054, p = 0.005), but the indirect effect mediated by the morning surge was not significant. The 24 h UNa had no significant direct or indirect effects on morning SBP. Conclusion. baPWV had significant direct and indirect effects on morning SBP. The indirect effect was mediated by nocturnal SBP, but not by morning surge. The 24 h UNa had neither significant direct nor indirect effects on morning SBP.
In vitro classical conditioning of abducens nerve discharge in turtles

In vitro classical conditioning of abducens nerve activity was performed using an isolated turtle brainstem-cerebellum preparation by direct stimulation of the cranial nerves. Using a delayed training procedure, the in vitro preparation was presented with paired stimuli consisting of a 1 sec train stimulus applied to the auditory nerve (CS), which immediately preceded a single shock US applied to the trigeminal nerve. Conditioned and unconditioned responses were recorded in the ipsilateral abducens nerve. Acquisition exhibited a positive slope of conditioned responding in 60% of the preparations. Application of unpaired stimuli consisting of CS-alone, alternate CS and US, or backward conditioning failed to result in conditioning, or resulted in extinction of CRs. Latencies of CR onset were timed such that they occurred midway through the CS. Activity-dependent uptake of the dye sulforhodamine was used to examine the spatial distribution of neurons labeled during conditioning. These data showed label in the cerebellum and red nucleus during conditioning whereas these regions failed to label during unconditioned responses. Furthermore, the principal abducens nucleus labeled heavily during conditioning. These findings suggest the feasibility of examining classical conditioning in a vertebrate in vitro brainstem-cerebellum preparation. It is postulated that the abducens nerve CR represents a behavioral correlate of a blink- related eye movement. Multiple sites of conditioning are hypothesized, including the cerebellorubral circuitry and brainstem pathways that activate the principal abducens nucleus.
Tea Drinking as a Risk Factor for Neural Tube Defects in Northern China

Background: Tea catechins inhibit the activity of the enzyme dihydrofolate reductase, which catalyzes the inactive form of folate 7,8-dihydrofolate to the active form of folate 5,6,7,8-tetrahydrofolate. This inhibition leads to disturbance of the folate metabolic pathway and to lower bioavailability of folate to cells; therefore, it may increase the risk of neural tube defects (NTDs) in a developing embryo. We examined the association between tea drinking during the periconceptional period and the risk of NTDs. Methods: Cases were fetuses or neonates with an NTD as ascertained through a population-based surveillance system in 4 rural counties of Shanxi Province in northern China during 2002 through 2007. Controls were term infants without congenital malformations. Demographic, reproductive, and exposure data were obtained through a face-to-face interview. Results: A total of 631 NTD cases and 857 controls were included in the analysis. Compared with women who did not drink tea during the periconceptional period (487 cases and 688 controls), women who drank tea daily (20 cases and 9 controls) had a 3-fold increased risk (odds ratio = 3.1 [95% confidence interval = 1.4–7.0]) of having an NTD-affected pregnancy. The elevated risk associated with daily tea drinking remained after adjusting for maternal age, educational level, occupation, and periconceptional folic acid supplementation (3.4 [1.4–8.3]). The association was present for all 3 major subtypes of NTDs (ie, anencephaly, spina bifida, and encephalocele). Conclusions: Daily tea drinking during the periconceptional period was associated with an elevated risk of NTDs in this Chinese population.
Extended Abstract for Second-Chance Offers

eBay has become one of the most important market places for retail goods worldwide. Yet important aspects of the strategic bidding incentives in eBay auctions remain unexplored. eBay’s main sales mechanism is closely related to a second-price auction, which has been extensively studied. There are, however important difference to a standard second-price auction. In particular, the eBay auction allows the seller to sell multiple units of the same good. While the seller is committed to sell the first unit to the highest bidder at essentially the second-highest bid, she also retains the option to make “second-chance offers”. She may offer a second unit to the secondhighest bidder at the second-highest bid, a third unit to the third-highest bidder at the third-highest bid, and so on. The opportunity to make second-chance offers raises a number of interesting questions. In particular, what is the impact of second-chance offers on the seller’s revenue, the buyers’ welfare, and on the aggregate welfare of all market participants? And: does the eBay mechanism have optimality properties as a multi-unit auction, parallel to the well-known optimality properties of the second-price auction mechanism in a single-unit world?
Analgesic efficacy and safety of oral flupirtine in the treatment of cancer pain.

In a controlled, double-blind clinical trial the analgesic efficacy and safety of flupirtine 100 mg capsules were compared with pentazocine capsules 50 mg. Fifty two patients with "severe" to "very severe" cancer pain were treated. The duration of therapy was up to one week with a daily dose of up to 6 capsules of each drug. The analgesic efficacy was assessed by a verbal 4-point grading scale. The treatment groups revealed no differences in baseline pain and the dosage was similar in each. In this small series of patients flupirtine produced numerically more "good" or "very good" results than pentazocine (68% and 50% respectively) although these differences were not statistically significant (P greater than 0.3). A similar number of adverse reactions occurred in each group but patients receiving pentazocine seemed to be more likely to develop reactions affecting the central nervous system, an important point in the therapy of ill, but often ambulant patients. Flupirtine fulfilled the requirements of both patients and doctors for effective cancer pain relief e.g. maintenance of the quality of life by complete or nearly complete pain remission in association with lack of abuse potential, oral dosage form and lack of disturbance of vital functions.
[Radiofrequency ablation of malignant liver tumors].

INTRODUCTION Radio-frequency ablation (RFA) is a minimally invasive therapy for malignant liver tumours. In a pilot study, we evaluated the technique and its ability to achieve local tumour control. The treatments were performed either as a percutaneous procedure in inoperable patients or intraoperatively during partial hepatectomy to destroy unresectable metastases. MATERIAL AND METHODS Fourteen patients with liver metastases from colorectal (11) or endocrine (3) tumours were treated with cooled-needle electrode RFA. The electrodes were placed in the treated tumours under ultrasound guidance. Two patients were excluded from the study and in the remaining 12 patients, 52 metastases (7-50 mm in diameter) were treated in 26 sessions. Procedure efficacy was evaluated with contrast enhanced CT and ultrasound guided biopsy performed 1, 3, and 6 months after treatment. RESULTS Complete response was achieved in 89% of treated metastases, evaluated after a follow-up of 4-35 months (mean 15 months). Complications were seen in five of 26 treatment sessions, among these the most serious was a gall bladder fistula. DISCUSSION RFA appears to be a promising therapeutic modality in the treatment of hepatic malignancies. The clinical use of RFA has shown an ability to achieve local tumour control in about 90% of treated metastases. The patients treated were inoperable, but the nevertheless survival data are encouraging. The role of RFA as the treatment of choice has still to be tested against surgery in a large, prospective, randomised series with a long observational period. RFA is a commendable treatment, because of its minimal invasiveness, the low rate of complications, and the low cost.
Involvement of Nitric Oxide in Killing of Schistosoma Mansoni Sporocysts by Hemocytes From Resistant Biomphalaria Glabrata

In strains of the snail Biomphalaria glabrata (Gastropoda) that are resistant to the parasite Schistosoma mansoni (Trematoda), hemocytes in the hemolymph are responsible for elimination of S. mansoni sporocysts. The defensive role of reactive nitrogen species was investigated in in vitro interactions between hemocytes derived from the resistant 13-16-R1 strain of B. glabrata and the parasite. The nitric oxide synthase (NOS) inhibitor Nω-nitro-l-arginine methylester (l-NAME) and the nitric oxide (NO·) scavenger 2-(4-carboxyphenyl)-4,4,5,5-tetramethylimidazoline-1-oxyl-3-oxide reduced cell-mediated killing of S. mansoni sporocysts. To determine if peroxynitrite (ONOO−) is involved in killing, assays were run in the presence of the ONOO− scavengers uric acid and deferoxamine. These did not influence the rate of parasite killing, indicating that NO· is directly responsible for mediating cytotoxicity, but ONOO− is not. The combination of the NOS inhibitor l-NAME and catalase, an enzyme that detoxifies hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), reduced average sporocyst mortality to a greater extent than l-NAME alone. Killing of the sporocysts was, however, not totally inhibited. It is suggested that NO· and H2O2 are both involved in hemocyte-mediated toxicity of 13-16-R1 B. glabrata against S. mansoni sporocysts.
Apparent diffusive motion of centrin foci in living cells: implications for diffusion-based motion in centriole duplication

The degree to which diffusion contributes to positioning cellular structures is an open question. Here we investigate the question of whether diffusive motion of centrin granules would allow them to interact with the mother centriole. The role of centrin granules in centriole duplication remains unclear, but some proposed functions of these granules, for example, in providing pre-assembled centriole subunits, or by acting as unstable ‘pre-centrioles’ that need to be captured by the mother centriole (La Terra et al 2005 J. Cell Biol. 168 713–22), require the centrin foci to reach the mother. To test whether diffusive motion could permit such interactions in the necessary time scale, we measured the motion of centrin-containing foci in living human U2OS cells. We found that these centrin foci display apparently diffusive undirected motion. Using the apparent diffusion constant obtained from these measurements, we calculated the time scale required for diffusion to capture by the mother centrioles and found that it would greatly exceed the time available in the cell cycle. We conclude that mechanisms invoking centrin foci capture by the mother, whether as a pre-centriole or as a source of components to support later assembly, would require a form of directed motility of centrin foci that has not yet been observed.
A feature matching method for simultaneous localization and mapping

Simultaneous Localization and Mapping is an important technology which help a mobile robot to determine its location and build the environment map. Recently, the RGBD sensor is widely used in the robot, research on RGBD-SLAM becomes a hot topic. In order to calculate the movement parameters of robot, feature matching is adopted to register the two adjacent RGBD images in the video stream. This paper proposed an improved feature matching method for RGBD-SLAM. The experiment results show that, compared with the traditional SIFT feature matching methods for RGBD-SLAM, the performance of the proposed method is improved significantly.