Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cinnamon Use in Type 2 Diabetes: An Updated Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

PURPOSE Cinnamon has been studied in randomized controlled trials (RCTs) for its glycemic-lowering effects, but studies have been small and show conflicting results. A prior meta-analysis did not show significant results, but several RCTs have been published since then. We conducted an updated systematic review and meta-analysis of RCTs evaluating cinnamon’s effect on glycemia and lipid levels. METHODS MEDLINE, Embase, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) were searched through February 2012. Included RCTs evaluated cinnamon compared with control in patients with type 2 diabetes and reported at least one of the following: glycated hemoglobin (A1c), fasting plasma glucose, total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), or triglycerides. Weighted mean differences (with 95% confidence intervals) for endpoints were calculated using random-effects models. RESULTS In a meta-analysis of 10 RCTs (n = 543 patients), cinnamon doses of 120 mg/d to 6 g/d for 4 to 18 weeks reduced levels of fasting plasma glucose (−24.59 mg/dL; 95% CI, −40.52 to −8.67 mg/dL), total cholesterol (−15.60 mg/dL; 95% CI, −29.76 to −1.44 mg/dL), LDL-C (−9.42 mg/dL; 95% CI, −17.21 to −1.63 mg/dL), and triglycerides (−29.59 mg/dL; 95% CI, −48.27 to −10.91 mg/dL). Cinnamon also increased levels of HDL-C (1.66 mg/dL; 95% CI, 1.09 to 2.24 mg/dL). No significant effect on hemoglobin A1c levels (−0.16%; 95%, CI −0.39% to 0.02%) was seen. High degrees of heterogeneity were present for all analyses except HDL-C (I2 ranging from 66.5% to 94.72%). CONCLUSIONS The consumption of cinnamon is associated with a statistically significant decrease in levels of fasting plasma glucose, total cholesterol, LDL-C, and triglyceride levels, and an increase in HDL-C levels; however, no significant effect on hemoglobin A1c was found. The high degree of heterogeneity may limit the ability to apply these results to patient care, because the preferred dose and duration of therapy are unclear.
Three new species of Trichoderma with hyaline ascospores from China

Collections of Trichoderma having hyaline ascospores from different areas of China were examined. Using combined analyses of morphological data, culture characters and phylogenetic information based on rDNA sequences of partial nuc translation elongation factor 1-α encoding gene (TEF1-α) and the gene encoding the second largest nuc RNA polymerase subunit (RPB2), three new species, Trichoderma applanatum, T. oligosporum and T. sinoluteum, were discovered and are described. Trichoderma applanatum produces continuous flat to pulvinate, white to cream stromata with dense orange or pale brown ostioles, and simple acremonium-like to verticillium-like conidiophores, belongs to the Hypocreanum clade and is closely related to T. decipiens. Trichoderma oligosporum forms reddish brown stromata with a downy surface, hyaline conidia and gliocladium-like conidiophores, and is closely related to but distinct from T. crystalligenum in the Psychrophila clade. Trichoderma sinoluteum, as a member of the Polysporum clade, is characterized by pale yellow stromata, white pustulate conidiomata, pachybasium-like conidiophores, and hyaline conidia. Differences between the new species and their close relatives are discussed.
Heart Rate as a Predictor of First-Trimester Spontaneous Abortion After Ultrasound-Proven Viability

To discover whether first-trimester spontaneous abortion can be predicted by embryonic heart rate (EHR), we performed a cross-sectional study during the first trimester of pregnancy using high-frequency transvaginal sonography combined with pulsed Doppler. Heart rate was measured in 603 embryos; of these, 580 continued beyond 13 weeks' gestation and 23 ended in first-trimester spontaneous abortion. Based on the continuing pregnancies, we constructed and compared EHR nomograms relating to gestational age, mean diameter of the gestational sac, and crown-rump length (CRL). Embryonic heart rate correlated best with CRL (r=0.87), and the correlation was best described by a second-degree polynomial regression equation. The mean EHR increased progressively from 110 beats per minute (bpm) at CRL of 3-4 mm to 171-178 bpm at CRL 15-32 mm. At CRL greater than 32 mm, the EHR remained stable at a mean of 170 bpm. The EHRs of the 23 embryos that spontaneously aborted in the first trimester were evaluated according to these nomograms. In 15 cases, the EHR fell outside the 95% confidence interval for CRL (sensitivity 65%), but it was within normal limits in eight (false-negative rate 35%). In ten embryos for which pregnancy continued beyond 13 weeks, the EHR fell outside the 95% confidence interval (specificity 98%, false-positive rate 2%). Our findings suggest that EHR measurements in early pregnancy may be useful in the prediction of first-trimester spontaneous abortion after ultrasound-proven viability. (Obstet Gynecol 78:330, 1991)
A Hollow Cylindrical PMMA Strut for Cervical Spine Reconstruction After Cervical Multilevel Corpectomy

Study Design: Between January 2002 and December 2005, a prospective study was performed with 14 patients. The patients had cervical diseases and received more than 1 segment anterior cervical corpectomies. Objectives: We investigated the effectiveness of the hollow cylindrical polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) strut with the autograft for fusion and reconstruction of the cervical spine after multiplelevel cervical corpectomy. Summary of Background Data: We usually used the titanium mesh cage to reconstruct the cervical spine after cervical corpectomy. A significant number of poor outcomes were noted. Because the mesh cage is very hard, it sinks into the vertebral body without the cortex. It is also difficulty to assess the fusion status. Methods: A total of 14 patients (age range: 31 to 76 y) underwent anterior cervical corpectomy after fusion and reconstruction with cylindrical PMMA struts. Each patient was reinforced with anterior cervical plate fixation. Follow-up radiographic evaluation was comprised of plain lateral dynamic radiographs and computerized tomography (CT) scans. We evaluated the patients for cervical lordosis and vertebral body height on the basis of plain radiographs. The fusion status was evaluated with CT scans. Neurologic status was assessed preoperative and postoperatively using the Nurick's grading system. Results: The mean follow-up was 48.2 months (range: 28 to 70 mo). All patients showed spinal stability at 6 months follow-up on the basis of plain lateral dynamic radiograph results. Thirteen patients showed neurologic improvement with complete bony fusion in the 24-month reconstructed CT scans. There were no complications related to the hollow cylindrical PMMA strut. One patient had loosened screws and required a second operation. Conclusions: The cylindrical PMMA strut provides solid fusion and increased cervical lordosis and vertebral body height. There are few complications associated with the use of this strut, and neurologic recovery is satisfactory. The hollow cylindrical PMMA strut, combined with an anterior cervical plate, is a very successful surgical construct in these patients after long-segmental cervical corpectomy.
Antithrombin concentrate with plasma exchange in purpura fulminans

Objective To report successful treatment of three patients admitted with purpura fulminans. Design Three cases with purpura fulminans: clinical presentation, laboratory findings, treatment, and outcome. Setting A seven-bed medical and general surgical Intensive therapy unit in a district general hospital. Patients Three young patients with clinical and laboratory findings of severe meningococcal sepsis and purpura. Interventions Early replacement therapy with antithrombin concentrate after a single initial plasma exchange, together with conventional antibiotic and supportive treatment. Measurements and Main Results All three cases had abnormal coagulation profile consistent with disseminated intravascular coagulation, adult respiratory distress syndrome, impaired renal function, and severe hemodynamic instability requiring inotropic support. Plasma antithrombin levels were measured in all cases. All patients survived and made a good recovery. Conclusions We consider that correction of antithrombin to supranormal levels may have a beneficial effect on survival and outcome in purpura fulminans despite sustained low levels of protein C.
Influenza B and C Virus NEP (NS2) Proteins Possess Nuclear Export Activities

ABSTRACT Nucleocytoplasmic transport of viral ribonucleoproteins (vRNPs) is an essential aspect of the replication cycle for influenza A, B, and C viruses. These viruses replicate and transcribe their genomes in the nuclei of infected cells. During the late stages of infection, vRNPs must be exported from the nucleus to the cytoplasm prior to transport to viral assembly sites on the cellular plasma membrane. Previously, we demonstrated that the influenza A virus nuclear export protein (NEP, formerly referred to as the NS2 protein) mediates the export of vRNPs. In this report, we suggest that for influenza B and C viruses the nuclear export function is also performed by the orthologous NEP proteins (formerly referred to as the NS2 protein). The influenza virus B and C NEP proteins interact in the yeast two-hybrid assay with a subset of nucleoporins and with the Crm1 nuclear export factor and can functionally replace the effector domain from the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 Rev protein. We established a plasmid transfection system for the generation of virus-like particles (VLPs) in which a functional viral RNA-like chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) gene is delivered to a new cell. VLPs generated in the absence of the influenza B virus NEP protein were unable to transfer the viral RNA-like CAT gene to a new cell. From these data, we suggest that the nuclear export of the influenza B and C vRNPs are mediated through interaction between NEP proteins and the cellular nucleocytoplasmic export machinery.
The Relationship between Hospital Market Competition, Evidence-Based Performance Measures, and Mortality for Chronic Heart Failure

Using data from the Joint Commission's ORYX initiative and the Medicare Provider Analysis and Review file from 2003 to 2006, this study employed a fixed-effects approach to examine the relationship between hospital market competition, evidence-based performance measures, and short-term mortality at seven days, 30 days, 90 days, and one year for patients with chronic heart failure. We found that, on average, higher adherence with most of the Joint Commission's heart failure performance measures was not associated with lower mortality; the level of market competition also was not associated with any differences in mortality. However, higher adherence with the discharge instructions and left ventricular function assessment indicators at the 80th and 90th percentiles of the mortality distribution was associated with incrementally lower mortality rates. These findings suggest that targeting evidence-based processes of care might have a stronger impact in improving patient outcomes.
Reduced Urinary Insulin Clearance in Patient With Abnormal Insulinemia

We recently reported a new case of abnormal insulinemia with LeuA3 insulin. Herein, we measured urinary insulin clearance during oral glucose tolerance tests in a proband with abnormal insulinemia (44-yr-old female), three affected family members, two unaffected family members, two other hyperinsulinemic patients with obesity, five non-insulin-dependent diabetic patients, and five normal control subjects. Urinary insulin-to-creatinine clearance ratio in the proband and her affected family members was 0.22 × 10−3 ± 0.07 (mean ± SD, n = 4) and was markedly reduced compared with those of other groups: 1.73 × 10−3 in two unaffected family members, 2.77 × 10−3 in two other hyperinsulinemic patients with obesity, 2.99 × 10−3 ± 1.48 in five non-insulin-dependent diabetic patients, and 2.54 × 10−3 ± 0.67 in five normal control subjects. In contrast, urinary C-peptide clearance in these groups was not significantly different from controls. Binding of immunopurified insulins extracted from urine of the patients with abnormal insulinemia to guinea pig kidney membrane was slightly decreased (71% of standard insulin), in contrast with the observation that serum insulin of the proband had much less receptor-binding activity. Reverse-phase HPLC analysis of the immunopurified insulin of the proband revealed that the ratios of normal insulin to abnormal insulin were 8:3 in urine and 1:7 in serum, respectively. These results suggest that excretion of abnormal insulin in urine is much less than that of normal insulin.
Introduction: valuing land in Eastern Africa

In the neighbouring regions of northern Uganda and South Sudan, where the editors have undertaken research in recent years, we were often told by interviewees that people now knew or had ‘realized’ the ‘value’ of land. Reflecting on an apparent or anticipated increase in the monetary price of access to land, people cast this in terms of a dawning knowledge – a new awareness of land’s value. Such statements would seem to correspond to broader trajectories – albeit with regional temporal variation – of commodification, rising land values and competition for land, which are frequently asserted or predicted in both academic and policy literature on Africa (e.g. Berry 2002, 638; Cotula 2007; Jayne, Chamberlin, and Headey 2014; Peters 2013, 547– 548). Indeed, it is hard to controvert the ubiquity and inexorability of these processes when their effects are so widely documented and are a focus of popular concern, even in areas where land markets have only recently or partially emerged. Yet it was also evident in Leonardi’s research in 2014 in the Uganda-South Sudan borderlands that there was a much more complicated picture behind these assertions of the sudden awareness of land’s value (Leonardi and Santschi 2016). Land here had not been transformed into a commodity that could be bought and sold and resold without restriction in a ‘world of generalized, universalizable standard value’ (van Binsbergen 2005). Even in the expanding urban areas, where plots of land were being surveyed with varying degrees of technical and legal capacity, the issuing of leasehold titles was subject to considerable locally defined regulation, hybrid governance and elite influence. In the rural areas, people accessed land and asserted land rights through clan-based definitions of landholding communities, in complement or tension with family-based inheritance and with claims to rights based on long-term occupancy and use. More exclusionary definitions of land rights were being asserted in order to inhibit, as much as or more than to enable the sale of land. In many ways then, people were talking about the realization of land’s value in the sense of a change in perception and knowledge rather than necessarily in terms of the capacity to realize that value in a monetary sense. This range of possible dimensions to realizing the value of land is crucial for understanding the multiple possibilities of valuation itself, from the cognitive, conceptual and imaginative, to the presentational, performative and discursive, and to the material, monetary and commercial. The aim of this collection is to highlight and explore the multiple ways in which land may be valued and how this value is realized. In doing so, it seeks to engage with the multivalence of ‘value’ itself. As David Graeber and others have argued, it is not a coincidence
An Exploration into Research on Critical Thinking and Its Cultivation: An Overview

The intellectual root of critical thinking can trace back to Socratics in ancient Greece. Since then, a variety of conceptions and models have been proposed, which constitute the theoretic core of critical thinking. They place different weights on different aspects of critical thinking. In the meantime, the cultivation of critical thinking commenced when Socrates attempted to apply theories of critical thinking into the instruction. Consequently, a variety of instruction approaches and strategies and assessment of critical thinking have been developed. However, there is still a dispute on whether critical thinking can be developed independently of subject content. The paper attempts to review research on critical thinking with the aim to discover commonalities and clarify the subtle differences among diversities of conceptions, models, instruction approaches and strategies, and assessment. The discovery and clarification could be significant for the instruction of critical thinking, especially, conducted in non-western countries.
DNA barcoding of freshwater ichthyoplankton in the Neotropics as a tool for ecological monitoring

Quantifying and classifying ichthyoplankton is one of the most effective ways of monitoring the recruitment process in fishes. However, correctly identifying the fish based on morphological characters is extremely difficult, especially in the early stages of development. We examined ichthyoplankton from tributaries and reservoirs along the middle stretch of the Paranapanema River, one of the areas most impacted by hydroelectric projects in the Neotropics. Matching DNA sequences of the COI gene (628–648 bp) allowed us to identify 99.25% of 536 samples of eggs (293) and larvae (243) subjected to BOLD‐IDS similarity analysis with a species‐level threshold of 1.3%. The results revealed 37 species in 27 genera, 15 families and four orders, some 23.8% of documented fish species in the Paranapanema River. Molecular identification meant that we could include data from egg samples that accounted for about 30% of the species richness observed. The results in this study confirm the efficacy of DNA barcoding in identifying Neotropical ichthyoplankton and show how the data produced provide valuable information for preparing plans for conserving and managing inland waters.
Free muscle flap reconstructions using interpositional vein grafts vs. local anastomosis: a 5-year experience at a rural tertiary care center.

BACKGROUND The use of free muscle or myocutaneous flaps is well established as a means for reconstructing tissue defects over nearly any part of the body. This free tissue transfer is based on the availability of a robust blood supply in the recipient wound. The reliability of native blood supplies within the zone of injury is suspect even in the best of conditions. There are several causes of flap failure however; one of the most common is vascular compromise. Though refinements in the technique of vascular anastomosis have lessened the risk, it is still significant, especially when dealing with an area of injury at the recipient site. The mechanisms of scar formation and healing that occur within the zone of injury often limit the potential for viable anastomotic targets. This often leads to delay in wound coverage and exposes the patient to all of the risks associated with having an open wound. Free flap failure can be devastating for patients, even leading to the loss of limbs. Therefore, it is vital that all measures possible to ensure the survival of the transferred tissue be employed. METHODS We will examine interpositional vein grafts versus local anastomoses in the context of free tissue transfer for wound coverage in the traumatized and reconstructed patient. We will retrospectively review the case histories of free tissue transfers preformed at West Virginia University Hospital over a 5-year period (2001-2006). We will examine data including the demographics of our patient population, type and locations of the free flaps, length of stay in the hospital, time interval between injury and repair, and the Success and failure rate. RESULTS The overall success rate was 38 out of 45 or 84%. Success was defined as a healthy flap and preservation of the limb and/or successful wound coverage at time of discharge. Flap success was present in 18 of 23 (78%) of the vein interposition grafts, and flap failure occurred in 5 (22%). In patients with local anastomoses, 20 out of 22 flaps survived (91%) with 2 failures (9%). GOALS We will demonstrate that the use of interpositional vein grafts for free tissue transfer is a viable option in the wound coverage. We will demonstrate that this is especially 'true in the patient population that exists in rural America.
Active terahertz device based on optically-controlled organometal halide perovskite

An active all-optical high-efficiency broadband terahertz device based on an organometal halide perovskite (CH<sub>3</sub>NH<sub>3</sub>PM<sub>3</sub>, MAPbI<sub>3</sub>)/inorganic (Si) structure is investigated. Spectrally broadband modulation of the THz transmission is obtained in the frequency range from 0.2 to 2.6 THz, and a modulation depth of nearly 100% can be achieved with a low-level photoexcitation power (~0.4 W/cm<sup>2</sup>). Both THz transmission and reflection were suppressed in the MAPbI<sub>3</sub>/Si structure by an external continuous-wave (CW) laser. Enhancement of the charge carrier density at the MAPbI<sub>3</sub>/Si interface is crucial for photo-induced absorption. The results show that the proposed high-efficiency broadband optically-controlled terahertz device based on the MAPbI<sub>3</sub>/Si structure has been realized.
The balance of payments accounting as a factor for macroeconomic equilibrium achievement in an open economy

Purpose – To study the concept of the balance of payments (BOP) as the main international financial statement of a nation, to identify the causes and effects of its imbalances and the factors of achieving external equilibrium for a national economy, as well. Methods – The theoretical and methodological research is based on systematic, structural and functional analysis, logical abstraction, induction, deduction, as well as comparative and statistical analysis. Approach – The theoretical justification of the relationship between key figures of the balance of payments and the main macroeconomic identities, the research of the balance of payments regulation tools aimed at achieving its steady state as a precondition for open economy equilibrium. Findings – The rationale for choosing the balance of payments regulation policy based on using some theories aimed at searching for an optimal balance or so-called equilibrium between the development of external and internal factors of the economy. Thus, the study has shown that the practical implementation of these theoretical concepts finds its application in various ways of equalizing the balance of payments. The constituent elements of these concepts are the forms of equalization, the level of regulation, the methods and tools of state regulation.
A Low-Complexity Bit-Loading Algorithm for OFDM Systems Under Spectral Mask Constraint

This letter aims to solve the power minimization problem for interference-free OFDM systems under achievable throughput and spectral mask constraints. To this end, we use a general analytic formula to yield an efficient initial bit vector, i.e., given a total number of bits, the total power use corresponding to an efficient bit vector is minimum. We propose a low-complexity algorithm that achieves the global optimum of the problem. We theoretically prove that the number of bits required to add/remove, starting from the efficient initial bit vector, is upper bounded by the sum of half the number of active subcarriers and an arbitrary tolerance value. Simulation results show that the total power consumption is minimized with significant reduction of the computation cost as compared to other optimum algorithms.