Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Quality indicators in head and neck operations: a comparison with published benchmarks.

OBJECTIVE To investigate the reproducibility of quality indicators in the care of patients undergoing operations for head and neck cancer. DESIGN A review of specialty-specific surgical quality indicators in a cohort undergoing procedures for definitive treatment of head and neck cancer, stratified by high and low acuity of the surgical procedures and compared with established benchmarks. SETTING A large tertiary care institution and an associated multidisciplinary cancer center. PATIENTS Fifty randomly selected patients with evaluable data who were diagnosed as having head and neck cancer that was definitively treated using any of the 3 modalities (surgical procedures, chemotherapy, and/or radiotherapy) during a 15-month period at our center. Twenty-one patients who underwent operations form the basis of this report. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Procedures were stratified by acuity on the basis of the extent of the operation. Data were centered on quality indicators designed to reflect length of stay, readmission within 30 days postoperatively, return to the operating room within 7 days of surgery, use of blood products, 30-day mortality, adequacy of reports on surgical pathologic findings, and surgical site infection. RESULTS Diagnoses in the cohort included carcinoma of the oral cavity in 19 patients (39%), oropharynx in 14 (29%), larynx in 13 (27%), and hypopharynx in 3 (6%). High- and low-acuity surgical procedures were performed in 12 and 7 patients, respectively. No statistically significant differences in the measures for quality indicators were found between the cohort and the calculated benchmarks. CONCLUSION Our findings demonstrate the applicability of quality indicators to the care of patients with head and neck cancer treated by surgical intervention stratified by acuity and compared with established benchmarks.
Exploiting time-to-wavelength conversion for all-optical label processing

We propose a novel asynchronous all-optical header processor based on time-to-wavelength conversion. It always requires only four optical functional blocks, i.e., the whole complexity does not linearly scale with the number of possible headers. The scheme is experimentally demonstrated at 10.9 Gb/s and four different headers are distinguished at four distinct outputs. The limited amount of switches (four), the low optical power operation, and the potential photonic integration of each switch in a single chip make the system highly scalable and, therefore, suitable for devising an all-optical packet switch.
Hyperbaric-oxygen therapy.

Hyperbaric oxygen — 100 percent oxygen at two to three times the atmospheric pressure at sea level — can result in arterial oxygen tension in excess of 2000 mm Hg1 and oxygen tension in tissue of almost 400 mm Hg.2,3 Such doses of oxygen have a number of beneficial biochemical, cellular, and physiologic effects, and today there are 259 hyperbaric facilities in the United States with 344 single-occupant (“monoplace”) hyperbaric-oxygen chambers.4 In this article, we review the mechanisms of action, evidence of clinical efficacy, and risks of therapy with hyperbaric oxygen. Physiologic Effects For hyperbaric oxygen, pressure is expressed .
Topology modeling and network partitioning: an application to forest firefighting

This contribution is about emergency networks, and how to counter partitioning occurring in a mobile ad hoc network. Our approach is based on clustering, where a distributed election process is run in order to identify a node called the clusterhead, which will provide interconnection services with the rest of the network. While the election process is based on a published protocol called KCMBC, this contribution focuses on an aspect not covered by KCMBC, which is cluster maintenance. Cluster maintenance makes sure that the election process stays valid even though the partition topology changes: nodes join and leave the cluster. In this context, we propose and evaluate a maintenance protocol called passive maintenance, which generates few control messages while maintaining cluster integrity. Because our solution is assessed by means of simulation, it is important to set a representative framework for evaluation. For this reason, the contribution starts with a discussion of modeling network topology. Different models that are used for representing forest-fire fighting are compared, considering simplicity and the ability of the model to represent what is being modeled.
Biomechanical influences on head posture and the respiratory movements of the chest.

PURPOSE The head represents 6% of total body weight, therefore it can significantly affect the biomechanics of human posture control, movements and activities. When set out of vertical body axis, head position interferes with the work of the other links in the kinematic chain. The aim of our study was to evaluate the effect of head posture on the breathing activities of the chest. MATERIAL AND METHODS The research was conducted on a group of 65 patients (51 years ± 9.8 years), including 48 women and 17 men. Head posture and chest movements were assessed using a photogrammetric method. RESULTS The results confirmed the existence of a negative correlation between head position in the sagittal plane and movements of lower ribs. Forward head posture resulted in lower amplitude of costal arch motion: for the transverse plane Spearman's R = -0.296, for the frontal plane; -0.273, -0.289. Tilting the head in the frontal plane also influenced the change in the biomechanics of breathing and contributed to a reduction of respiratory movements of the lower ribs Spearman's R = -0.260. CONCLUSIONS Changing the position of the head causes disturbances in the three-dimensional shape of the chest and its respiratory movements.
Guidelines on preventing cardiovascular disease in clinical practice

Papers pp 671, 676, 677 General practice pp 680, 686, 690 Education and debate pp 702, 705, 709 Ten years ago clinical recommendations on preventing cardiovascular disease focused primarily on managing individual risk factors, particularly raised blood pressure and cholesterol concentrations. Typically, separate guidelines were developed for each risk factor and treatment was recommended when that factor was above a specified level1 The recommendations were informed mainly by evidence from cohort studies showing increased relative risks of cardiovascular disease in people with raised levels of the risk factor2 and by evidence from randomised controlled trials showing relative benefits from lowering the factor.3 4 Over the past decade we have witnessed a remarkable change from these recommendations based on relative risk to ones based on absolute risk—that is, incidence. If Geoffrey Rose, arguably the most influential cardiovascular disease epidemiologist ever, was living today, he would support this revolution, which echoes his 1991 advice that “All policy decisions should be based on absolute measures of risk; relative risk is strictly for researchers only. ”5 This week's BMJ brings together a range of papers relevant to this paradigm shift in cardiovascular risk management. One of the most recent examples of guidelines based on absolute risk is the Joint British Recommendations on the Prevention of Coronary Heart Disease in Clinical Practice, published late last year6 and summarised in this issue (p 705). 7 Taking the lead from the European societies of cardiology, atherosclerosis, and hypertension, which jointly published coronary heart disease prevention guidelines in 1998, 8 the British Cardiac Society, British Hyperlipidaemia Association, and British Hypertension Society joined forces to develop the current British recommendations. These new clinical guidelines recommend that priority for treatment should be given to patients at high absolute risk …
Increased serum levels of interleukin-6 and von Willenbrand Factor in early phase of acute coronary syndrome in a young and multiethnic Malaysian population

Objective Interleukin-6 (IL6; proinflammatory marker), von Willebrand Factor (vWF; endothelial dysfunction marker) and P-selectin (platelet activation marker), may play important roles in defining the pathogenesis of vulnerable plaques in acute coronary syndrome (ACS). This study aims to investigate the expression and relationship of these markers in early phases of ACS in a young and multiethnic Malaysian population. Design Peripheral whole blood mRNA, and serum levels of IL6, vWF and P-selectin were measured in 22 patients with ACS, and in 28 controls with angiographically significant coronary artery disease without previous ACS events. Venous blood from ACS patients was obtained within 1 h of hospital admission. Results No significant differences of IL6, vWF and P-selectin mRNA levels between ACS and controls were seen. ACS patients had significantly higher serum levels of IL6 and vWF (p<0.001), compared with controls. P-selectin correlated with IL6 (r=0.697, p=0.003) and vWF (r=0.497, p=0.05) at mRNA levels, indicating a possible association between these three indices of ACS pathogenesis. Conclusions Increased serum levels of IL6 and vWF suggest that inflammation and endothelial dysfunction may play a prominent role in the pathogenesis of the disease during the early phase of ACS.
Eficacia de la terapia de resincronización en sujetos con insuficiencia cardiaca grados III-IV de la NYHA refractarios a tratamiento farmacológico

Objetivos: Determinar, a partir de una revision sistematica de ambito internacional basada en ensayos clinicos con asignacion aleatoria, si la terapia de resincronizacion cardiaca, tanto con estimulacion aislada como estimulacion asociada a desfibrilacion, tiene algun efecto sobre la mortalidad en los pacientes en insuficiencia cardiaca grados III-IV refractaria al tratamiento farmacologico pleno, con una fraccion de eyeccion baja ( 120 ms). Metodo: Revision sistematica que evalua terapia de resincronizacion cardiaca en pacientes descritos anteriormente. Para ello se han evaluado todos los ensayos clinicos controlados con asignacion aleatoria que comparaban resincronizacion cardiaca frente a terapia convencional. Resultados: Se identificaron 2.417 referencias. Se seleccionaron 2.139 resumenes de los que 896 eran potencialmente relevantes. Cumplieron criterios generales de inclusion 62 estudios. Finalmente 10 cumplian estrictamente los criterios de seleccion. Conclusiones: En nuestro estudio, cuando comparamos resincronizacion frente a tratamiento farmacologico aislado, constatamos que la mortalidad total presenta una reduccion relativa de riesgo del 29% (RR 0,71 con IC al 95% 0,59 a 0,85). Cuando analizamos la mortalidad por insuficiencia cardiaca en el subanalisis de resincronizacion frente a tratamiento farmacologico aislado como grupo control, encontramos una reduccion significativa (37 eventos en el grupo de resincronizacion frente a los 66 del grupo de tratamiento farmacologico). Destacamos que esta diferencia para la mortalidad especifica debe interpretare como clinicamente relevante (RR 0,55 con IC al 95% 0,38 a 0,81). Conclusion: En pacientes con insuficiencia cardiaca avanzada, la resincronizacion cardiaca, respecto al tratamiento farmacologico convencional, mejora significativamente la mortalidad total y especifica.
Tuberculosis ( HIV-negative people ) : improving adherence In fectio u s d iseases

INTRODUCTION: About one third of the world's population has immunological evidence of previous exposure to Mycobacterium tuberculosis. In 2013, an estimated 9.0 million people developed tuberculosis (TB) and 1.5 million died from the disease. METHODS AND OUTCOMES: We conducted a systematic overview, aiming to answer the following clinical questions: What are the effects of directly observed treatment (DOT) versus self-administered treatment (SAT) in people with tuberculosis without HIV infection? What are the effects of support mechanisms for DOT in people with tuberculosis without HIV infection? We searched: Medline, Embase, The Cochrane Library, and other important databases up to June 2014 (BMJ Clinical Evidence overviews are updated periodically; please check our website for the most up-to-date version of this overview). RESULTS: At this update, searching of electronic databases retrieved 189 studies. After deduplication and removal of conference abstracts, 104 records were screened for inclusion in the overview. Appraisal of titles and abstracts led to the exclusion of 86 studies and the further review of 18 full publications. Of the 18 full articles evaluated, three systematic reviews and one RCT were added at this update. We performed a GRADE evaluation for 12 PICO combinations. CONCLUSIONS: In this systematic overview, we categorised the efficacy for 13 interventions based on information relating to the effectiveness and safety of directly observed treatment and support mechanisms for directly observed treatment. QUESTIONS What are the effects of directly observed treatment (DOT) versus self-administered treatment (SAT) in people with tuberculosis without HIV infection? 4 What are the effects of support mechanisms for DOT in people with tuberculosis without HIV infection? 6 INTERVENTIONS DOT VERSUS SAT IN PEOPLE WITH TUBERCULOSIS WITHOUT HIV INFECTION Unknown effectiveness Directly observed treatment compared with self-administered treatment (DOT may increase treatment compliance but there is no evidence that it increases cure rates, and there is a lack of trials in high-risk and under-served populations) . 4 SUPPORT MECHANISMS FOR DOT IN PEOPLE WITH TUBERCULOSIS WITHOUT HIV INFECTION Likely to be beneficial Participant-chosen site plus financial incentive versus participant-chosen site alone . 7 Complex support interventions versus usual treatment . 11 Mobile phone reminders versus usual treatment . 14 Unknown effectiveness Participant-chosen site versus designated site . 6 Clinic-based support versus home-based support . 9 Community-based health worker support versus family member support . 10 Food incentives versus usual treatment . 16 Covered elsewhere in Clinical Evidence See question on the effects of anti-tuberculosis prophylaxis in people with HIV infection, in review on HIV: prevention of opportunistic infections. See also review on Tuberculosis in people with HIV
M 2 muscarinic receptor contributes to contraction of the denervated rat urinary bladder

Braverman, Alan S. , Gary R. Luthin, and Michael R. Ruggieri. M2 muscarinic receptor contributes to contraction of the denervated rat urinary bladder. Am. J. Physiol. 275 (Regulatory Integrative Comp. Physiol. 44): R1654–R1660, 1998. —In vitro bladder contractions in response to cumulative carbachol doses were measured in the presence of selective muscarinic antagonists from rats that had their major pelvic ganglion bilaterally removed. Denervation induced both hypertrophy and a supersensitivity of the bladders to agonist. The affinities in control bladders for antagonism of carbachol-induced contractions were consistent with M3-mediated contractions. Affinities in denervated bladders for 4-diphenlacetoxy-N-methylpiperidine methiodide (8.5) and p-fluoro hexahydrosilodifenidol (6.6) were consistent with M2-mediated contractions, although the methoctramine affinity (6.5) was consistent with M3-mediated contractions. Subtype-selective immunoprecipitation of muscarinic receptors revealed a 50% increase in total and a 60% increase in M2 receptor density with no change in M3 receptor density in denervated bladders compared with normal or sham-operated controls. This increase in M2 receptor density is consistent with the change in affinity of the antagonists for inhibition of carbachol-induced contractions and may indicate that M2 receptors or a combination of M2 and M3 receptors directly mediates smooth muscle contraction in the denervated bladder.
Serum immunoglobulins in patients with chronic tonsillitis

In this work, the serum immunoglobulin (IgG, IgA, IgM and IgD) levels were determined in ten patients with chronic tonsillitis. The serum immunoglobulins were estimated before and two months after tonsillectomy, using the radial immuno-diffusion method. Ten normal individuals with intact tonsils were chosen as a control group. The patients had elevated serum levels of IgG and IgA. These high levels may be due to repeated antigenic stimulation. The IgM and IgD were not significantly higher than in the normal controls. The serum IgG level did decrease significantly following tonsillectomy; the other three immunoglobulins were reduced, but insignificantly. The fall in immunoglobulins may be due to a reduction in the antigenic load, to the removal of immunoglobulin-producing tissue, or to alteration in the oropharyngeal pathogenic bacteria. Tonsillectomy does not seem to compromise immunological integrity or the immunoglobulin-producting apparatus. Estimations of the serum immunoglobulin, or simply of IgA, may help us to select those candidates for adeno-tonsillectomy who will have a good prognosis, or at least to exclude those with an underlying sub-clinical immunodeficiency disease.
Can radical margins improve prognosis in primary and localized epithelioid sarcoma of the extremities?

Epithelioid sarcoma (ES) has a tendency to locally recur, spread proximally, and metastasize, in particular to lymphnodes and lungs. The aim of this report is to study the role of surgery and the extent of margins required for optimal management of patients with localized epithelioid sarcoma of the extremities.
High Rate of Joint Capsule Matrix Turnover in Chronic Human Elbow Contractures

The joint capsule is a key component in posttraumatic joint contractures. The capsule is described as thickened, but little data exist supporting the observation. Our hypotheses were that mRNA levels of (1) collagen; (2) decorin and biglycan; (3) matrix metalloproteinases; and (4) tissue inhibitors of matrix metalloproteinases were significantly elevated in anterior joint capsules obtained from 11 patients having surgery for posttraumatic contractures when compared with nine elbows, from organ donors, that were free of contractures. Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction was used to evaluate mRNA expression normalized to a housekeeping gene, glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase. In the joint capsules of the patients with elbow contractures, relative mRNA levels were increased for: collagen Types I, III, and V (1.5-2.5 times); biglycan (1.5 times); and matrix metalloproteinases-1, -2, -9, -13, and -15 (1.6-3.9 times). In contrast, expression of tissue inhibitors of matrix metalloproteinases-1, -2, and -4 were decreased (⅓-¾ times) in the capsules of patients with contractures. There was no difference between the groups in relative mRNA expression for decorin, matrix metalloproteinases-8, -14 and -16, and tissue inhibitor of matrix metalloproteinase-3. The results indicate that joint capsule matrix molecule mRNA levels are altered in the chronic stages of posttraumatic elbow contractures in humans, potentially creating an environment with high matrix turnover rates.
Ginseng Consumption Possible Effect on Liver Cancer: A Meta-Analysis

Abstract Introduction Ginseng is associated to the reduction of the risk of liver-cancer and some time is used as adjuvant therapy to treat liver-cancer, but its outcome remains uncertain. Hence, the present study aimed to determine the association between Ginseng consumption and liver-cancer. Methods By a systematic-literature search up to Decamber-2019, 9-studies included 13,766 subjects, 9235 Ginseng consumer. Odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) was determined comparing Ginseng consumption and liver-cancer relationship using the dichotomous method with a fixed-effect or random-effect models. Results Subjects consuming Ginseng had a significantly lower risk of developing liver-cancer than those not consuming Ginseng (OR, 0.46; 95% CI, 0.40-0.52, p < 0.001). Also, there was a significant relationship between Ginseng consumption as adjuvant-therapy and disease control rate (OR, 4.47; 95% CI, 2.41-8.28, p < 0.001), Karnofsky Performance Scale (OR, 4.31; 95% CI, 1.80-10.36, p = 0.001), response to chemotherapy rate (OR, 1.79; 95% CI, 1.05-3.02, p = 0.03) and decline of leukocyte count (OR, 0.17; 95% CI, 0.07-0.42, p < 0.001). However, there was no significant effect, but relatively favoring Ginseng consumption, between Ginseng consumption as adjuvant-therapy and one year survival rate (OR, 1.48; 95% CI, 0.78-2.81, p = 0.23), two year survival rate (OR, 1.69; 95% CI, 0.87-3.25, p = 0.12) gastrointestinal dysfunction (OR, 0.55; 95% CI, 0.17-1.79, p = 0.32), and the hepatic dysfunction (OR, 1.15; 95% CI, 0.59-2.22, p = 0.68). Conclusions Ginseng may have an independent relationship with reducing liver-cancer incidence when administrated to healthy subjects as a supplement and with reducing cancer-chemotherapy related outcomes risk when administrated with chemotherapy as adjuvant therapy.
Inoculation with BK virus may break immunological tolerance to histone and DNA antigens.

BK virus particles contain histones of host cell origin that combine with viral DNA to form minichromosomes. Data from earlier immunoblotting experiments demonstrated that rabbits inoculated i.v. with purified infectious BK virus produced antibodies not only to the viral structural protein VP1 but also to migrating polypeptides of a molecular mass ranging from 14-16 kDa. These proteins were believed to represent certain histone classes. To examine this hypothesis, sera from five rabbits inoculated with BK virus were analyzed by ELISA for antibodies against polynucleosomes, the individual histone classes, and double-stranded DNA, as well as against antigens carried by the structural viral proteins. Antibodies against polynucleosomes and also against histones H1 and H3 were found in sera from two of five inoculated rabbits. The same sera contained antibodies reacting with double-stranded DNA, whereas no antibodies against H2A, H2B, and H4 were detected. BK virus inoculation may thus lead to a break of tolerance, resulting in autoantibody production against highly conserved antigens that, in this context, may be regarded as "self-antigens", irrespective of the species in which they originate.
The critical aggregation concentration of peptide surfactants is predictable from dynamic hydrophobic property

Peptide surfactants are a kind of newly emerged functional materials, which have a variety of applications such as building nanoarchitecture, stabilizing membrane proteins and controlling drug release. In the present study, we report the modelling and prediction of critical aggregation concentration (CAC), an important parameter that characterizes the self-assembling behaviour of peptide surfactants through the use of statistical modelling and quantitative structure–property relationship (QSPR) approaches. In order to accurately describe the structural and physicochemical properties of the highly flexible peptide molecules, a new method called molecular dynamics-based hydrophobic cross-field (MD-HCF) is proposed to capture both the hydrophobic profile and dynamic feature of 32 surface-activity, structure-known peptides. A number of statistical models are then developed using partial least squares (PLS) regression with or without improvement by genetic algorithm (GA). We demonstrate that MD-HCF performs much better than the widely used CODESSA method in both its predictability and interpretability. We also highlight the importance of dynamic hydrophobic property in accurate prediction and reasonable explanation of peptide self-assembling behaviour in solution, albeit which is exhaustive to compute compared with those derived directly from peptide static structure. To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first to computationally model and predict the self-assembling behaviour of peptide surfactants.