Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Genital ulcer disease among STD clinic attenders in Nairobi: association with HIV-1 and circumcision status

In previous studies, genital ulcers in men have been found to be associated with increased risk of HIV-1 seroconversion. To further explore this association male patients attending a sexually transmitted disease STD clinic in Nairobi for either urethritis controls, n 276 or a genital ulcer cases, n 607 were compared with respect to sexual behaviour, presence of HIV-1 antibody and circumcision status. Patients were followed to study risk factors for incident genital ulcers and HIV-1 seroconversion. At entry, being married was associated with higher prevalence of HIV-1 OR 1.76 and genital ulcers OR 1.42 . Lack of circumcision was associated with both HIV-1 infection OR 4.67 and the presence of a genital ulcer OR 2.23 . Genital ulcers were also associated with HIV-1 infection OR 1.87 independent of circumcision status. On follow-up, HIV-1 seropositivity was associated with incident genital ulcers. It is argued that the association between genital ulcers and HIV-1 infection may be more complex than ulcers simply being a risk factor for HIV-1 infection, and that HIV-1 infection may either increase the risk of acquiring a genital ulcer, or HIV-1 infection and genital ulcers may have some unknown risk factor in common.
Proposal of a pupil response model synchronized with burst-pause of utterance based on the heat conduction equation

In our previous study, we performed the analysis of pupil response during his or her utterance by using a pupil measurement device and demonstrated that speaker's pupil response dilates with synchronization to the burst-pause of utterance. In addition, we developed a pupil response robot called “Pupiloid” that generates the pupil response with mechanical structure, and demonstrated that the pupil response is effective to express own affect. In this paper, in order to enhance affective conveyance, we propose a pupil response model synchronized with burst-pause of utterance based on the heat conduction equation in human-robot interaction. This model estimates the degree of affective conveyance and generates the pupil response based on the estimated value.
Implementing quality improvements in the intensive care unit: Ventilator bundle as an example

Objective:Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) is a target for health care quality improvement. The Institute for Healthcare Improvement has led the charge with its ventilator bundle aimed at VAP prevention. We set out to review the literature on the effectiveness of the bundle to prevent VAP. Design:Systematic literature review. Setting:Intensive care unit. Measurements and Main Results:We identified four studies that met the inclusion criteria. The review revealed major methodologic flaws in design, reporting and results of the studies, including bias, confounding, and lack of generalizability. Conclusion:Lack of methodologic rigor of the reported studies precludes any conclusive statements about the bundle’s effectiveness or cost-effectiveness. To assure efficient allocation of the limited healthcare resources, rigorous evaluation of optimal strategies for VAP prevention is needed to 1) establish best practices and 2) create a benchmark against which new technologies’ value can be assessed. The vent bundle is not a viable quality measure in the intensive care unit at this time.
Nanostructured glass–ceramic coatings for orthopaedic applications

Glass–ceramics have attracted much attention in the biomedical field, as they provide great possibilities to manipulate their properties by post-treatments, including strength, degradation rate and coefficient of thermal expansion. In this work, hardystonite (HT; Ca2ZnSi2O7) and sphene (SP; CaTiSiO5) glass–ceramic coatings with nanostructures were prepared by a plasma spray technique using conventional powders. The bonding strength and Vickers hardness for HT and SP coatings are higher than the reported values for plasma-sprayed hydroxyapatite coatings. Both types of coatings release bioactive calcium (Ca) and silicon (Si) ions into the surrounding environment. Mineralization test in cell-free culture medium showed that many mushroom-like Ca and phosphorus compounds formed on the HT coatings after 5 h, suggesting its high acellular mineralization ability. Primary human osteoblasts attach, spread and proliferate well on both types of coatings. Higher proliferation rate was observed on the HT coatings compared with the SP coatings and uncoated Ti-6Al-4V alloy, probably due to the zinc ions released from the HT coatings. Higher expression levels of Runx2, osteopontin and type I collagen were observed on both types of coatings compared with Ti-6Al-4V alloy, possibly due to the Ca and Si released from the coatings. Results of this study point to the potential use of HT and SP coatings for orthopaedic applications.
Role of prostanoids and endothelins in the prevention of cyclosporine-induced nephrotoxicity.

Cyclosporine A nephrotoxicity includes both functional toxicity and histological changes, whose seriousness is dependent upon the dose and the duration of the drug administration. Several vasoactive agents have been found to be implicated in cyclosporine induced nephrotoxicity, among which prostanoids and endothelins are the most important. In previous studies we were able to prevent the early stage (7 days) of cyclosporine (37.4 micromol [45 mg]/kg/day) induced nephrotoxicity in rats either by the administration, i) of OKY-046, a thromboxane A(2)synthase inhibitor, ii) of ketanserine, an antagonist of S(2)serotonergic, a(1)adrenergic, and H(1)histaminergic receptors and iii) of nifedipine, a calcium channel blocker, or by diet supplementation either with evening primrose oil or fish oil. All these protective agents elevated ratios of excreted renal prostanoid vasodilators (prostaglandins E(2), 6ketoF(1 alpha)) to vasoconstrictor (thromboxane B(2)), a ratio which was decreased by the administration of cyclosporine alone. Nifedipine averted the cyclosporine induced increase of urinary endothelin-1 release. All protections were associated with the reinstatement of glomerular filtration rate forwards normal levels whereas renal damage defence, consisting of a decrease of the cyclosporine induced vacuolizations, was variable. Ketanserine and evening primrose oil were the only agents which prevented the animal body weight loss. These data suggest that prostanoids and endothelin-1 may mediate functional toxicity while thromboxane A(2)is involved the morphological changes too, provoked in the early stage of cyclosporine treatment. However, other nephrotoxic factors and additional mechanisms could also be implicated in the cyclosporine induced nephrotoxicity.
Control of cyclic adenosine 3',5'-monophosphate levels by depolarizing agents in fungi

It has been reported that diverse treatments which depolarize the plasma membrane of Neurospora crassa produce rapid increases in cyclic adenosine 3',5'-monophosphate (cyclic AMP) levels. In the current study, membrane active antibiotics, which are known or putative depolarizing agents, were found to produce similar cyclic AMP increases, not only in N. crassa, but also in the distantly related fungi Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Mucor racemosus. Uncouplers of oxidative phosphorylation, which have been found to depolarize Neurospora, also produced cyclic AMP increases in all three fungi. The time course of the cyclic AMP response to these various treatments was similar in all three fungi. The fungal studies and studies on depolarized central nervous tissue suggest that cyclic AMP increases may be produced in response to plasma membrane depolarization in diverse eucaryotic cells. A model is proposed for eucaryotic microorganisms in which membrane depolarization serves as a signal of breakdown of the plasma membrane integrity. The subsequent cyclic AMP increase, in turn, may mediate cellular response to help protect the plasma membrane from chemical and mechanical threats to its integrity.
Effects of work status congruence and perceived management concern for employees on turnover intentions in a fast casual restaurant chain

ABSTRACT The current study examines a proposed turnover intention model on hourly employees in a large fast casual dining restaurant chain located in the United States. High levels of turnover have been a consistent and costly issue in the restaurant industry. The study was developed to help restaurant owners and managers determine how relationships between variables influence the turnover intentions of their employees, in order to overcome the economic hardship that organizations face when their turnover rates are high. Many factors were found to influence employee turnover intentions, including work status congruence, perceived management concern for employees, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment. Hence, it is important for fast casual restaurant operators in the United States to develop their managers' human resource skills, in order to have satisfied and committed hourly employees, who should as a result develop lower turnover intentions. Managerial and academic implications are discussed in detail.
Somatodendritic Dopamine Release Requires Synaptotagmin 4 and 7 and the Participation of Voltage-gated Calcium Channels*

Somatodendritic (STD) dopamine (DA) release is a key mechanism for the autoregulatory control of DA release in the brain. However, its molecular mechanism remains undetermined. We tested the hypothesis that differential expression of synaptotagmin (Syt) isoforms explains some of the differential properties of terminal and STD DA release. Down-regulation of the dendritically expressed Syt4 and Syt7 severely reduced STD DA release, whereas terminal release required Syt1. Moreover, we found that although mobilization of intracellular Ca2+ stores is inefficient, Ca2+ influx through N- and P/Q-type voltage-gated channels is critical to trigger STD DA release. Our findings provide an explanation for the differential Ca2+ requirement of terminal and STD DA release. In addition, we propose that not all sources of intracellular Ca2+ are equally efficient to trigger this release mechanism. Our findings have implications for a better understanding of a fundamental cell biological process mediating transcellular signaling in a system critical for diseases such as Parkinson disease.
The Navigation Transformation

This work introduces a novel approach to the solution of the navigation problem by mapping an obstacle-cluttered environment to a trivial domain called the point world, where the navigation task is reduced to connecting the images of the initial and destination configurations by a straight line. Due to this effect, the underlying transformation is termed the “navigation transformation. ” The properties of the navigation transformation are studied in this work as well as its capability to provide—through the proposed feedback controller designs—solutions to the motion- and path-planning problems. Notably, the proposed approach enables the construction of temporal stabilization controllers as detailed herein, which provide a time abstraction to the navigation problem. The proposed solutions are correct by construction and, given a diffeomorphism from the workspace to a sphere world, tuning free. A candidate construction for the navigation transformation on sphere worlds is proposed. The provided theoretical results are backed by analytical proofs. The efficiency, robustness, and applicability of the proposed solutions are supported by a series of experimental case studies.
Drop attacks in older patients secondary to an otologic cause

Article abstract— The clinical features and treatment of seven patients with drop attacks attributable to inner ear disease presenting after age 65 are described. A neurologic or cardiovascular cause of drop attacks was initially suspected. Audiovestibular testing documented a unilateral inner ear disorder. The salient clinical features of these cases are discussed. The patients underwent ablative vestibular surgery, and all compensated well and were free of vertigo and falls up to 10 years postoperatively.
Stochastic Equipment Capital Budgeting with Technological Progress

We provide multi‐factor real option models (and quasi‐analytical solutions) for equipment capital budgeting under uncertainty, when there is either unexpected, or anticipated, or uncertain (volatile) technological progress. We calculate the threshold level of revenues and operating costs using the incumbent equipment that would justify replacement. Replacement is deferred for lower revenue thresholds. If progress is anticipated or highly uncertain, alert financial managers should wait longer before replacing equipment. Replacement deferral increases with decreases in the expected correlation between revenue and operating costs, and with increases in the revenue and/or operating cost volatility. Uncertain technological progress increases the real option value of waiting. The best approach for equipment suppliers is to reduce the expected revenue and/or cost volatility, and/or reduce the expected uncertainty of technological innovations, since then an incentive exists for the early replacement of old equipment when a technologically advanced version is launched.
The Airway Epithelium: Soldier in the Fight against Respiratory Viruses

SUMMARY The airway epithelium acts as a frontline defense against respiratory viruses, not only as a physical barrier and through the mucociliary apparatus but also through its immunological functions. It initiates multiple innate and adaptive immune mechanisms which are crucial for efficient antiviral responses. The interaction between respiratory viruses and airway epithelial cells results in production of antiviral substances, including type I and III interferons, lactoferrin, β-defensins, and nitric oxide, and also in production of cytokines and chemokines, which recruit inflammatory cells and influence adaptive immunity. These defense mechanisms usually result in rapid virus clearance. However, respiratory viruses elaborate strategies to evade antiviral mechanisms and immune responses. They may disrupt epithelial integrity through cytotoxic effects, increasing paracellular permeability and damaging epithelial repair mechanisms. In addition, they can interfere with immune responses by blocking interferon pathways and by subverting protective inflammatory responses toward detrimental ones. Finally, by inducing overt mucus secretion and mucostasis and by paving the way for bacterial infections, they favor lung damage and further impair host antiviral mechanisms.
Performance of the New VITEK 2 GP Card for Identification of Medically Relevant Gram-Positive Cocci in a Routine Clinical Laboratory

ABSTRACT The VITEK 2 gram-positive (GP) identification card (bioMérieux, Marcy l'Etoile, France) has been redesigned to achieve greater accuracy in the identification of gram-positive cocci. A total of 43 biochemical tests, including 17 enzymatic tests, are present in the card and interpreted in a kinetic mode, for up to 8 h. The VITEK 2 database, used in conjunction with the GP identification card, allows the identification of 115 different taxa. A total of 364 strains of GP cocci (217 Streptococcaceae strains and 147 Micrococcaceae strains) belonging to 31 taxa were tested with the new VITEK 2 GP identification card. Of the 364 strains, 105 were taken from routine primary plating media. A total of 344 strains (94.5%) were correctly identified to the species level and 17 strains (4.7%) were identified with low discrimination, requiring additional tests, whereas 1 strain (0.3%) was incorrectly identified and 2 strains (0.5%) remained unidentified. Within 7 h of the start of incubation, more than 90% of all strains were identified. Of the 105 primary cultures, 97% were correctly identified to the species level, 2% were identified with low discrimination, and 1% remained unidentified. Identification performance data were independent of each of the three plating media used. It is concluded that the new VITEK 2 GP identification card provides reliable results for the identification of GP cocci under routine laboratory conditions.
Analysis of survival in pediatric high-grade brainstem gliomas: A population-based study

Background: The purpose of this study was to use the National Cancer Institutes′ Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database to perform a large-scale analysis of brainstem anaplastic astrocytoma (AA) and glioblastoma multiforme (GBM). Use of the SEER database gave us a larger sample size of this rare tumor type, allowing for the analysis of the relationship between prognostic factors and survival. Materials and Methods: We selected pediatric patients (<18 years old) from the SEER database with histologically confirmed diagnoses of primary high-grade gliomas (World Health Organization Grade III/IV) of the brainstem. In univariate and multivariate analysis, we analyzed the relationship between demographic (age, gender, race, diagnosis date), histologic (AA, GBM), and treatment (surgery, radiation) factors on survival. Results: In our cohort of 124 patients, those with AA had a median survival of 13 months and those with GBM 9 months. Higher-grade tumors were associated with statistically significantly increased mortality (hazard ratio [HR]: 1.74, confidence intervals [CIs]: 1.17-2.60). Surgical intervention was associated with a significantly lower mortality, either alone (HR: 0.14, CI: 0.04-0.5) or in combination with radiation (HR: 0.35, CI: 0.15-0.82). Radiation therapy alone was significantly associated with decreased mortality within the first 9 months after diagnosis but not with overall mortality. No demographic characteristics were significantly associated with mortality. Conclusions: Outcome remains poor in the pediatric high-grade brainstem glioma population. Survival is correlated with lower-grade tumor histology, radiation therapy only in the first 9 months after diagnosis, and surgical resection.
Visual Field Dependence in Elderly Fallers and Non-Fallers

Two tests of visual field dependence (a measure of reliance upon the spatial framework provided by vision in the perception of the upright)—roll vection and the rod and frame test—were administered to 136 participants aged fifty-nine to ninety-seven years. It was found that the fifty-nine participants who had experienced one or more falls in the past year were significantly more visually field dependent in both tests compared with the seventy-seven participants who had not fallen. Mean error in perception of the true vertical in the rod and frame test was 20.7 degrees for the falters and 17.2 degrees for the non-fallers. Mean error in perception of the true vertical in the roll vection test was 6.6 degrees for the fallers and 3.6 degrees for the non-fallers. The test of roll vection was the better discriminator between fallers and non-fallers, which may be due in part to less misunderstanding of the required task by the participant. The results suggest that tilted or rolling visual stimuli may be factors leading to postural instability and falls in the elderly. The findings support the claim that greater dependence on visual information shown by fallers may be the result of reduced proprioceptive and vestibular function resulting from increased age and chronic health problems.
Comparing objective feature statistics of speech for classifying clinical depression

Human communication is saturated with emotional context that aids in interpreting a speakers mental state. Speech analysis research involving the classification of emotional states has been studied primarily with prosodic (e.g., pitch, energy, speaking rate) and/or spectral (e.g., formants) features. Glottal waveform features, while receiving less attention (due primarily to the difficulty of feature extraction), have also shown strong clustering potential of various emotional and stress states. This study provides a comparison of the major categories of speech analysis in the application of identifying and clustering feature statistics from a control group and a patient group suffering from a clinical diagnosis of depression.
Targeted Mutations of Genes Reveal Important Roles in Palatal Development in Mice

AbstractThe process of palatal development is regulated by growth factors, extracellular matrix (ECM) protein, and cell adhesion molecules, of which disturbance may result in cleft palate. Knockout mice are important animal models for studying the role of genes during palatal development. Therefore, in this review, we will describe genes knockout in mice to reveal the biological mechanisms of these genes in the formation of the cleft palate.
Prenatal maternal stress programs infant stress regulation.

OBJECTIVE Prenatal exposure to inappropriate levels of glucocorticoids (GCs) and maternal stress are putative mechanisms for the fetal programming of later health outcomes. The current investigation examined the influence of prenatal maternal cortisol and maternal psychosocial stress on infant physiological and behavioral responses to stress. METHODS The study sample comprised 116 women and their full term infants. Maternal plasma cortisol and report of stress, anxiety and depression were assessed at 15, 19, 25, 31 and 36 + weeks' gestational age. Infant cortisol and behavioral responses to the painful stress of a heel-stick blood draw were evaluated at 24 hours after birth. The association between prenatal maternal measures and infant cortisol and behavioral stress responses was examined using hierarchical linear growth curve modeling. RESULTS A larger infant cortisol response to the heel-stick procedure was associated with exposure to elevated concentrations of maternal cortisol during the late second and third trimesters. Additionally, a slower rate of behavioral recovery from the painful stress of a heel-stick blood draw was predicted by elevated levels of maternal cortisol early in pregnancy as well as prenatal maternal psychosocial stress throughout gestation. These associations could not be explained by mode of delivery, prenatal medical history, socioeconomic status or child race, sex or birth order. CONCLUSIONS These data suggest that exposure to maternal cortisol and psychosocial stress exerts programming influences on the developing fetus with consequences for infant stress regulation.