Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Perioperative management and postoperative outcome of patients undergoing cytoreduction surgery with hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy

Background and Aims: The existence of cytoreductive surgery (CRS) with hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) as a multidisciplinary approach for peritoneal cancer gains acceptance in many countries including Saudi Arabia. The aim of our study is to describe the perioperative management of patients who received CRS/HIPEC and to report their outcomes and complications at our tertiary centre. Methods: The preoperative characteristics, surgical variables, perioperative management, postoperative course and outcomes of 38 CRS/HIPEC patients were prospectively collected and analysed. Results: The mean age of our patients was 52 years, and 23 (60.5%) of them were females. The overall postoperative mortality was 42.1%. Univariate analyses of risk factors for deaths after HIPEC demonstrated that low preoperative (haemoglobin, potassium, calcium and albumin), high (tumour marker (CA19.9), intraoperative transfusion of human plasma protein (HPP), colloids, postoperative activated partial thromboplastin time and bacterial infections were potential risk factors for patient's mortality. Multivariate analysis of those variables demonstrated that low preoperative calcium [hazard ratio (HR) = 0.116; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.033–0.407; P= 0.001], high intraoperative HPP transfusion (HR = 1.004; 95% CI = 1.001–1.003; P= 0.012) and presence of postoperative bacterial infection (HR = 5.987; 95% CI = 1.009–35.54; P= 0.049) were independent predictors of patient's death. Seventy morbidities happened after HIPEC; only bacterial infection independently predicted postoperative mortality. Conclusion: To improve postoperative outcome of CRS/HIPEC, optimisation of transfusion, temperature, electrolytes and using broader-spectrum prophylaxis to manage postoperative infections should be warranted.
Plant-Based Fat, Dietary Patterns Rich in Vegetable Fat and Gut Microbiota Modulation

Diet is advocated as a key factor influencing gut microbiota. Several studies have focused on the effect of different carbohydrates, mainly fiber, on gut microbiota. However, what remains to be elucidated is the impact of a key component of diet that is widely debated upon: dietary fats. This review highlights the importance of understanding the source, quality, and type of fats that could differentially modify the intestinal microbiome. Fats from plant-based sources such as nuts, or vegetable oils have shown positive alterations in gut microbiota biodiversity both in in vivo and in vitro studies. Nuts and other plant-based fat sources, dietary patterns (e.g., Mediterranean diet) rich in polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats and, in some cases, polyphenols, and other phytochemicals, have been associated with increased bacterial diversity, as well beneficial butyrate-producing bacteria imparting a positive metabolic influence. It is with this interest, this narrative review brings together evidences on different plant-based fat sources, dietary patterns rich in vegetable fats, and associated changes in gut microbiota.
A Safe and Effective Magnetic Labeling Protocol for MRI-Based Tracking of Human Adult Neural Stem Cells

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) provides a unique tool for in vivo visualization and tracking of stem cells in the brain. This is of particular importance when assessing safety of experimental cell treatments in the preclinical or clinical setup. Yet, specific imaging requires an efficient and non-perturbing cellular magnetic labeling which precludes adverse effects of the tag, e.g., the impact of iron-oxide-nanoparticles on the critical differentiation and integration processes of the respective stem cell population investigated. In this study we investigated the effects of very small superparamagnetic iron oxide particle (VSOP) labeling on viability, stemness, and neuronal differentiation potential of primary human adult neural stem cells (haNSCs). Cytoplasmic VSOP incorporation massively reduced the transverse relaxation time T2, an important parameter determining MR contrast. Cells retained cytoplasmic label for at least a month, indicating stable incorporation, a necessity for long-term imaging. Using a clinical 3T MRI, 1 × 103 haNSCs were visualized upon injection in a gel phantom, but detection limit was much lower (5 × 104 cells) in layer phantoms and using an imaging protocol feasible in a clinical scenario. Transcriptional analysis and fluorescence immunocytochemistry did not reveal a detrimental impact of VSOP labeling on important parameters of cellular physiology with cellular viability, stemness and neuronal differentiation potential remaining unaffected. This represents a pivotal prerequisite with respect to clinical application of this method.
Prediction of mortality risk in patients with traffic injury: A case study in tabriz hospitals, Iran

Background: Trauma caused by traffic accidents is one of the main causes of mortality in the world. The trauma is a time-dependent condition. Trauma scoring systems help service providers to determine the severity of the injury and mortality risk and provide appropriate and timely services. This study aimed to predict mortality risk in patients with traffic injuries in Tabriz hospitals. Materials and Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study included 11,238 traffic-injured patients. Databases of the emergency medicine service and forensic medicine were used to collect information. Glasgow Coma Scale, Age, and Systolic Blood Pressure (GAP) scoring system, binary logistic regression model, odds ratio with 95% confidence interval, and sensitivity and specificity were used to predict mortality. Results: Overall, 71 cases of death were identified. Pedestrians had the most rates of deaths with 31 cases (43.66%). Head trauma with 31 cases (43.66%) was the main cause of death. Mean (standard deviation) of the GAP score was 21.8 (1.8). The death rates in high-, moderate-, and low-risk groups were 22.4%, 3.18%, and 0.42%, respectively. The likelihood of death in people with saturation of oxygen (SO2) ≤95 was 1.96 times higher than those with SO2>95. The likelihood of death increased by 0.001 times each year. Furthermore, when the GAP score was ≤18, sensitivity was 64%, and for the GAP score of ≤10, sensitivity was 15.5%. Conclusion: GAP score seems to be a reliable and easy-to-use scoring method for predicting traffic injury mortality in an Iranian setting and yields reasonable results concerning international standards.
Species-Level Salivary Microbial Indicators of Well-Resolved Periodontitis: A Preliminary Investigation

Objective: To profile the salivary microbiomes of a Hong Kong Chinese cohort at a species-level resolution and determine species that discriminated clinically resolved periodontitis from periodontally healthy cases. Methods: Salivary microbiomes of 35 Hong Kong Chinese subjects' under routine supportive dental care were analyzed. All subjects had been treated for any dental caries or periodontal disease with all restorative treatment completed at least 1 year ago and had ≤3 residual pockets. They were categorized based on a past diagnosis of chronic periodontitis into “healthy” (H) or “periodontitis” (P) categories. Unstimulated whole saliva was collected, genomic DNA was isolated, and high throughput Illumina MiSeq sequencing of 16S rRNA (V3-V4) gene amplicons was performed. The sequences were assigned taxonomy at the species level by using a BLASTN based algorithm that used a combined reference database of HOMD RefSeqV14.51, HOMD RefSeqExtended V1.1 and GreenGeneGold. Species-level OTUs were subjected to downstream analysis in QIIME and R. For P and H group comparisons, community diversity measures were compared, differentially abundant species were determined using DESeq2, and disease indicator species were determined using multi-level pattern analysis within the R package “indicspecies. ” Results: P subjects were significantly older than H subjects (p = 0.003) but not significantly different in their BOP scores (p = 0.82). No significant differences were noted in alpha diversity measures after adjusting for age, gender, and BOP or in the beta diversity estimates. Four species; Treponema sp. oral taxon 237, TM7 sp. Oral Taxon A56, Prevotella sp. oral taxon 314, Prevotella sp. oral taxon 304, and Capnocytophaga leadbetteri were significantly more abundant in P than in the H group. Indicator species analysis showed 7 significant indicators species of P group. Fusobacterium sp oral taxon 370 was the sole positive indicator of P group (positive predictive value = 0.9, p = 0.04). Significant indicators of the H category were Leptotrichia buccalis, Corynebacterium matruchotii, Leptotrichia hofstadii, and Streptococcus intermedius. Conclusion: This exploratory study showed salivary microbial species could discriminate treated, well-maintained chronic periodontitis from healthy controls with similar gingival inflammation levels. The findings suggest that certain salivary microbiome features may identify periodontitis-susceptible individuals despite clinical disease resolution.
Effect of pre-discharge instructions on patients’ activities and functional ability post spinal cord injury

© 2018 Egyptian Nursing Journal | Published by Wolters Background Spinal cord injury (SCI) disrupts spinal cord function, and patients after SCI require long-term physical and occupational therapy, as the injuries interfere with activities of daily (ADL) living and function ability. This studymay bring into light the amount of care and dependency that individuals with SCI will face as they are discharged from hospital and re-integrate back into their usual life. Aim This study aimed to evaluate the effect of predischarge instructions on ADL and functional ability of patients with SCI. Patients and methods The study was conducted in Neurosurgery and Physical Medicine Department at Aswan University Hospital. Sample This study included 120 adult patients of both sexes. These patients were divided equally into twogroups:studyandcontrol.Datawerecollected fromthemwithin1year fromJanuary2015 toJanuary2016. Inclusioncriteriawere recent admissionbecause of SCI with no previous spinal surgery, no other medical problems and muscleskeleton deformity that may interfere with educational instructions outcome, and had no hindering factors to communicate verbally. A control patient group with the same inclusion criteria was matched with the study group but was not given predischarge instructions.Four toolswereused:1.Structured interviewquestionsandMedicalData Sheet; 2. KnowledgeQuestionnaire andLifestyleAssessmentQuestionnaire: 3. ADL Questionnaire. 4. Compliance Discharge Instructions. Results Findings revealed that only 8.3%of pre instruction patientswere oriented about range ofmotionexercises, and6.6%abouthealthy lifestyleascomparedwith thesatisfactory post instructions knowledge (96.6%, 95.0% respectively), at P values=. 000*). Conclusion Statistical significant difference between pre & post instruction of discharge knowledge regarding range of motion exercises, lifestyle, ADL and overall discharge compliance. Recommendations Encourage a simple illustrated booklet to patients’ post SCI includes all therapeutic instructions could help increasing patient’s awareness, understanding, and perform activities.
Osteocalcin Levels in Male Idiopathic Hypogonadotropic Hypogonadism: Relationship With the Testosterone Secretion and Metabolic Profiles

Idiopathic hypogonadotropic hypogonadism (IHH) patients are characterized by the absence of puberty and varying degrees of deteriorated metabolic conditions. Osteocalcin (OC) could regulate testosterone secretion and energy metabolism, but it remains unknown whether such an effect exists in IHH patients. Our study is aimed to examine the relationship between serum OC levels with testosterone and its responsiveness to gonadotropin stimulation and metabolic profiles in male IHH patients. A total of 99 male patients aged 18–37 years and diagnosed with IHH were enrolled in the current study, and the relationships between OC and testicular volume, baseline total testosterone (TT), free testosterone (FT), and peak TT (Tmax) levels after human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) stimulation, gonadotropin responsiveness index (GRI), which is calculated by dividing Tmax by testicular volume, as well as metabolic profiles, such as 2-h post-challenge glucose (2hPG) and fat percentage (fat%), were analyzed. The results showed that OC had an independent negative relationship with testicular volume (r = −0.253, P = 0.012) and a positive association with Tmax (r = 0.262, P = 0.014) after adjusting for confounders. In addition, OC was a major determinant of GRI (adjusted R2 for the model = 0.164, P = 0.012), fat% (adjusted R2 for the model = 0.100, P = 0.004), and 2hPG (adjusted R2 for the model = 0.054, P = 0.013) in IHH patients. In conclusion, OC is associated with testosterone secretion upon gonadotropin stimulation, glucose metabolism, and fat mass variations in IHH. This study was registered at clinicaltrials.gov (NCT02310074).
Selection of an Endophytic Streptomyces sp. Strain DEF09 From Wheat Roots as a Biocontrol Agent Against Fusarium graminearum

Selection of biological control agents (BCA) profits from an integrated study of the tripartite interactions occurring among the BCA, the plant and the pathogen. The environment plays a crucial role in the efficacy of BCA, therefore, the selection process shall utmost mimic naturally occurring conditions. To identify effective biocontrol strains against Fusarium graminearum, the major cause of Fusarium head blight (FHB) in wheat and deoxynivalenol (DON) accumulation in grains, a workflow consisting of in vitro and in vivo assays was set up. Twenty-one Streptomyces strains, 16 of which were endophytes of different plants, were analyzed. In vitro and in vivo tests characterized their plant growth promoting (PGP) traits. Biocontrol activity against F. graminearum was firstly assessed with a dual culture assay. An in vivo germination blotter assay measured Fusarium foot rot and root rot symptoms (FFR-FRR) reduction as well as growth parameters of the plant treated with the Streptomyces strains. A selected subset of Streptomyces spp. strains was then assessed in a growth chamber measuring FFR symptoms and growth parameters of the wheat plant. The approach led to the identification of an effective Streptomyces sp. strain, DEF09, able to inhibit FHB on wheat in controlled conditions by blocking the spread of the pathogen at the infection site. The results were further confirmed in field conditions on both bread and durum wheat, where DEF09 decreased disease severity up to 60%. This work confirms that FRR and FFR pathosystems can be used to identify BCA effective against FHB.
Scalable Algorithms for Realistic Real-time Rendering

In computer graphics, realistic rendering of virtual scenes is a computationally complex problem. State-of-the-art rendering technology must become more scalable to meet the performance requirements for demanding real-time applications. This dissertation is concerned with core algorithms for rendering, focusing on the ray tracing method in particular, to support and saturate recent massively parallel computer systems, i.e., to distribute the complex computations very efficiently among a large number of processing elements. More specifically, the three targeted main contributions are: 1. Collaboration framework for large-scale distributed memory computers The purpose of the collaboration framework is to enable scalable rendering in real-time on a distributed memory computer. As an infrastructure layer it manages the explicit communication within a network of distributed memory nodes transparently for the rendering application. The research is focused on designing a communication protocol resilient against delays and negligible in overhead, relying exclusively on one-sided and asynchronous data transfers. The hypothesis is that a loosely coupled system like this is able to scale linearly with the number of nodes, which is tested by directly measuring all possible communication-induced delays as well as the overall rendering throughput. 2. Ray tracing algorithms designed for vector processing Vector processors are to be efficiently utilized for improved ray tracing performance. This requires the basic, scalar traversal algorithm to be reformulated in order to expose a high degree of fine-grained data parallelism. Two approaches are investigated: traversing multiple rays simultaneously, and performing multiple traversal steps at once. Efficiently establishing coherence in a group of rays as well as avoiding sorting of the nodes in a multi-traversal step are the defining research goals. 3. Multi-threaded schedule and memory management for the ray tracing acceleration structure Construction times of high-quality acceleration structures are to be reduced by improvements to multi-threaded scalability and utilization of vector processors. Research is directed at eliminating the following scalability bottlenecks: dynamic memory growth caused by the primitive splits required for high- quality structures, and top-level hierarchy construction where simple task par- allelism is not readily available. Additional research addresses how to expose scatter/gather-free data-parallelism for efficient vector processing. Together, these contributions form a scalable, high-performance basis for real-time, ray tracing-based rendering, and a prototype path tracing application implemented on top of this basis serves as a demonstration. The key insight driving this dissertation is that the computational power necessary for realistic light transport for real-time rendering applications demands massively parallel computers, which in turn require highly scalable algorithms. Therefore this dissertation provides important research along the path towards virtual reality.
HealthPal: an intelligent personal medical assistant for supporting the self-monitoring of healthcare in the ageing society

In this paper we introduce HealthPal, an intelligent dialogue-based mobile health monitoring system, which aims at supporting the elderly people who lack IT skills into monitoring their health condition on a daily basis, in their preferred environments and without relying on the assistance of their caretakers. HealthPal is a software application that we have designed in order to assist the ageing society take care of their health related needs in an independent and autonomous manner. The most innovative feature of the HealthPal system is the dialogue-based application that it incorporates and which enables the effective interaction between the system and the user even if the latter has no technology skills at all. This paper discusses the system architecture and usage scenarios, while commenting on the expected social impact of the system on the ageing society in general.
Heart Rate and Temperature Monitoring System using ARM 7 and Labview Software

In the Present Work, the heart rate, temperature sensors and LPC2148 Microcontroller Integrated Chip plays the main role. This is embedded project in this Microcontroller Integrated Chip and interfaced to all the peripherals. The timer program is inside the Microcontroller IC to maintain all the functions as per the scheduled time. Heart rate Sensor Device Emits and/or detects infrared radiation to sense a particular phase in the environment. The design of a simple, low-cost microcontroller based heart rate measuring device with LCD output. Heart rate of the subject is measured from the finger using optical sensors and the rate is then averaged and displayed on a text based LCD. Generally, thermal radiation is emitted by all the objects in the infrared spectrum. The infrared sensor detects this type of radiation which is not visible to human eye. Temperature sensor is device which senses variations in human body temperature across it. This result can be seen in LabVIEW software.
The Organization of the Second Optic Chiasm of the Drosophila Optic Lobe

Visual pathways from the compound eye of an insect relay to four neuropils, successively the lamina, medulla, lobula, and lobula plate in the underlying optic lobe. Among these neuropils, the medulla, lobula, and lobula plate are interconnected by the complex second optic chiasm, through which the anteroposterior axis undergoes an inversion between the medulla and lobula. Given their complex structure, the projection patterns through the second optic chiasm have so far lacked critical analysis. By densely reconstructing axon trajectories using a volumetric scanning electron microscopy (SEM) technique, we reveal the three-dimensional structure of the second optic chiasm of Drosophila melanogaster, which comprises interleaving bundles and sheets of axons insulated from each other by glial sheaths. These axon bundles invert their horizontal sequence in passing between the medulla and lobula. Axons connecting the medulla and lobula plate are also bundled together with them but do not decussate the sequence of their horizontal positions. They interleave with sheets of projection neuron axons between the lobula and lobula plate, which also lack decussations. We estimate that approximately 19,500 cells per hemisphere, about two thirds of the optic lobe neurons, contribute to the second chiasm, most being Tm cells, with an estimated additional 2,780 T4 and T5 cells each. The chiasm mostly comprises axons and cell body fibers, but also a few synaptic elements. Based on our anatomical findings, we propose that a chiasmal structure between the neuropils is potentially advantageous for processing complex visual information in parallel. The EM reconstruction shows not only the structure of the chiasm in the adult brain, the previously unreported main topic of our study, but also suggest that the projection patterns of the neurons comprising the chiasm may be determined by the proliferation centers from which the neurons develop. Such a complex wiring pattern could, we suggest, only have arisen in several evolutionary steps.
Variation in developmental temperature alters adulthood plasticity of thermal tolerance in Tigriopus californicus

ABSTRACT In response to environmental change, organisms rely on both genetic adaptation and phenotypic plasticity to adjust key traits that are necessary for survival and reproduction. Given the accelerating rate of climate change, plasticity may be particularly important. For organisms in warming aquatic habitats, upper thermal tolerance is likely to be a key trait, and many organisms express plasticity in this trait in response to developmental or adulthood temperatures. Although plasticity at one life stage may influence plasticity at another life stage, relatively little is known about this possibility for thermal tolerance. Here, we used locally adapted populations of the copepod Tigriopus californicus to investigate these potential effects in an intertidal ectotherm. We found that low latitude populations had greater critical thermal maxima (CTmax) than high latitude populations, and variation in developmental temperature altered CTmax plasticity in adults. After development at 25°C, CTmax was plastic in adults, whereas no adulthood plasticity in this trait was observed after development at 20°C. This pattern was identical across four populations, suggesting that local thermal adaptation has not shaped this effect among these populations. Differences in the capacities to maintain ATP synthesis rates and to induce heat shock proteins at high temperatures, two likely mechanisms of local adaptation in this species, were consistent with changes in CTmax owing to phenotypic plasticity, which suggests that there is likely mechanistic overlap between the effects of plasticity and adaptation. Together, these results indicate that developmental effects may have substantial impacts on upper thermal tolerance plasticity in adult ectotherms. Summary: Developmental temperatures affect thermal limit plasticity in adults of a marine ectotherm, and changes in these limits are paralleled by differences in ATP synthesis rate and heat shock protein expression.