Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Efficacy of compression stockings in preventing post-thrombotic syndrome in patients with deep venous thrombosis: a systematic review and metaanalysis.

BACKGROUND Here, we update an earlier systematic review on the preventive efficacy of active compression stockings in patients with diagnosed proximal deep venous thrombosis (DVT) by including the results of recently published trials. The aims are to synthesize the results of the original studies, and to identify details to explain heterogeneous results. METHODS We searched the Cochrane Library, PubMed, Scopus, and Medline for original studies that compared the preventive efficacy of active compression stockings with placebo or no compression stockings in patients with diagnosed proximal DVT. Only randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were included. RESULTS Five eligible RCTs with a total of 1393 patients (sample sizes ranged from 47 to 803 patients) were included. In three RCTs, patients started to wear compression stockings, placebo stockings or no stockings within the first three weeks after the diagnosis of DVT. The results of two RCTs indicate a statistically significant reduction in post-thrombotic syndrome (PTS) of 50% or more after two or more years. The result of one RCT shows no preventive effect of compression stockings at all. Due to the heterogeneity of the study results, we refrained from pooling the results of the RCTs. In a further RCT, randomization to groups with and without compression stockings took place six months after the diagnosis of DVT, and in another RCT, only patients with the absence of PTS one year after the diagnosis of DVT were analyzed. One RCT revealed a significant reduction in symptoms, whereas another RCT failed to show any benefit of using compression stockings. CONCLUSIONS At this time, it does not seem to be justifiable to entirely abandon the recommendations regarding compression stockings to prevent PTS in patients with DVT. There is evidence favoring compression stockings, but there is also evidence showing no benefit of compression stockings.
Phytochemical screening and Haemolytic activities of hydroalcoholic extract of Santalum album .L leaves

The present study has been designed to screen the phytochemical constituents present in the hydroalcoholic extract of Santalum album linn leaves to ascertain the presence of saponins and futher studies carried out on the extract to evaluate its haemolytic activity towards bovine erythrocytes. Haemolytic effect of S. album leaf extract was evaluated according to the WHO guidelines in which the varying concentration of the extract was treated with the blood and lysis was determined visually. The result revealed that the S. album leaf extract produced lysis of erythrocyte at a minimum concentration of 475µg/ml. These observations will stimulate further research in the field of phytochemistry and also in clinical application of the phytochemical constituents of S. album. L.
REAL-TIME DETECTION OF BACTERIAL BIOFILM GROWTH USING SURFACE PLASMON RESONANCE IMAGING

Surface Plasmon Resonance imaging (SPRi) was used for real-time detection of bacterial growth inside microfluidic channels. First, 50 micron diameter beads were spotted on a gold coated prism surface and visualized with both SPRi and a stereo microscope to validate images. Then, fluorescent Escherichia coli was loaded into microfluidic polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) channels on the SPRi sensor surface and observed for 6 hours. Afterwards, the sample was imaged with a fluorescence microscope. Both images showed bacterial growth at the same locations in the channels, confirming that bacterial growth can be directly monitored in real-time by SPRi.
Roundabout 4 Is Expressed on Hematopoietic Stem Cells and Potentially Involved in the Niche‐Mediated Regulation of the Side Population Phenotype

Roundabout (Robo) family proteins are immunoglobulin‐type cell surface receptors that are expressed predominantly in the nervous system. The fourth member of this family, Robo4, is distinct from the other family members in that it is expressed specifically in endothelial cells. In this study, we examined the expression of Robo4 in hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) and its possible role in HSC regulation. Robo4 mRNA was specifically expressed in murine HSCs and the immature progenitor cell fraction but not in lineage‐positive cells or differentiated progenitors. Moreover, flow cytometry showed a correlation between higher expression of Robo4 and immature phenotypes of hematopoietic cells. Robo4high hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells presented higher clonogenic activity or long‐term repopulating activity by colony assays or transplantation assays, respectively. A ligand for Robo4, Slit2, is specifically expressed in bone marrow stromal cells, and its expression was induced in osteoblasts in response to myelosuppressive stress. Interestingly, overexpression of Robo4 or Slit2 in HSCs resulted in their decreased residence in the c‐Kit+Sca‐1+Lineage−‐side population fraction. These results indicate that Robo4 is expressed in HSCs, and Robo4/Slit2 signaling may play a role in HSC homeostasis in the bone marrow niche. STEM CELLS 2009;27:183–190
Aortic regurgitation associated with chronic bacterial endocarditis in one adult thoroughbred gelding Archivos Veterinaria, vol. 46, núm. 2, 2014, pp. 263-269

This article describes chronic bacterial endocarditis as the cause of aortic regurgitation in a 25-year-old Thoroughbred used for horseback riding. The horse presented signs of depression, exercise intolerance, and weight loss. A pandiastolic murmur was identified, but no other clinical signs of bacterial endocarditis were identified. Haematological, serum biochemical, and urine analyses did not show any particular abnormalities. Electrocardiography showed a physiological dysrhythmia that was not pertinent to this case. Echocardiography revealed left ventricle (LV) dilatation and a nodule in the left coronary cusp of the aortic valve associated with regurgitation. Based on the prevalence of aortic valve pathology in geriatric horses, a noninfectious condition with a myxomatous noninflammatory infiltrate was suspected; therefore, no special treatment was prescribed due to the absence of heart failure. Several months later, the animal was euthanised after experiencing a femur fracture. At necropsy, the horse showed an eccentric left ventricle hypertrophy and 2 nodules in the left coronary cusp of the aortic valve. Histological examination revealed the presence of bacteria, which led to the diagnosis of chronic bacterial endocarditis.
Absorbable Organic Halide (AOX) Reduction in Elemental Chlorine-Free (ECF) Bleaching of Bagasse Pulp from the Addition of Sodium Sulphide

A laboratory investigation was developed to confirm and to quantify the reductions in absorbable organic halide (AOX) discharge when sodium sulphide was added during elemental chlorine-free (ECF) bleaching of sugarcane bagasse pulp. After the chlorine dioxide bleaching stage, the pulp was sent directly into the extraction stage without washing. FTIR was employed to determine the breakage of chemical bonds in the pulp, and GC-MS was used to measure the composition of the bleaching effluent. The addition of sodium sulphide caused a reduction in AOX of up to 46.7%. The AOX reduction reached this maximum when the sodium sulphide was added 30 min after the start of the extraction stage and when the pH was higher than 12. FTIR spectroscopy showed that the phenolic lignin of the pulp was degraded by the sodium sulphide and that the syringyl lignin and C-O-C, C=O structure of the pulp holocellulose of the pulp was preserved during the extraction stage. The GC-MS showed that the chlorobenzene and chlorophenol contents decreased noticeably after the addition of sodium sulphide.
Preclinical Efficacy of Nimotuzumab, an Anti-Egfr Monoclonal Antibody as a Single Agent Therapy in Human GBM u87mg Xenografts

Background: The poor prognosis of patients with high-grade glioma multiform (GBM) has led investigators to the search of new therapeutic strategies. Current treatment includes surgery when possible, radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Molecular-targeted therapies are in the process of clinical testing, and promising agents include monoclonal antibodies. Our study examined the antitumor activity of three different single therapies in nude mice bearing both subcutaneous and orthotopic brain xenografts of the U87MG human GBM cell line. Methods: Cell culture, Histology, Immunohistochemistry, Animal experiments, Statistical analysis. Results: Different groups of treatment included nimotuzumab, a humanized monoclonal antibody that inhibits the EGFR tyrosine kinase activity, or total body irradiation, or the chemotherapeutic agent temozolomide (TMZ). For the control group animals received saline solution instead of the antibody. For the subcutaneous model, only nimotuzumab or TMZ produced a significant delay in tumor growth. In the intracranial model, unlike TMZ, the systemic administration of the antibody did not reduce the tumor growth, despite both therapies inhibited the formation of microsatellites in the brain of mice. The antitumor activity of nimotuzumab was accompanied by a decrease in the microvessel density and the proliferative activity of tumor cells. TMZ only inhibited the tumor cell proliferation but not the formation of new tumor-associated microvessels in xenografts. For radiation therapy, neither antiproliferative nor antiangiogenic activity was found, in accordance with the lack of antitumor activity. Only nimotuzumab reduced the frequency of chemo and radioresistant CD133 + population. Conclusion: Our results illustrate the potential efficacy of nimotuzumab as a single agent against an EGFR-amplified human GBM, a tumor resistant to the therapy with all well-known forms of treatment.
Hierarchical safety supervisory control strategy for robot-assisted rehabilitation exercise

SUMMARY Clinical outcomes have shown that robot-assisted rehabilitation is potential of enhancing quantification of therapeutic process for patients with stroke. During robotic rehabilitation exercise, the assistive robot must guarantee subject's safety in emergency situations, e.g., sudden spasm or twitch, abruptly severe tremor, etc. This paper presents a hierarchical control strategy, which is proposed to improve the safety and robustness of the rehabilitation system. The proposed hierarchical architecture is composed of two main components: a high-level safety supervisory controller (SSC) and low-level position-based impedance controller (PBIC). The high-level SSC is used to automatically regulate the desired force for a reasonable disturbance or timely put the emergency mode into service according to the evaluated physical state of training impaired limb (PSTIL) to achieve safety and robustness. The low-level PBIC is implemented to achieve compliance between the robotic end-effector and the impaired limb during the robot-assisted rehabilitation training. The results of preliminary experiments demonstrate the effectiveness and potentiality of the proposed method for achieving safety and robustness of the rehabilitation robot.
A computational technique for iron losses in electrical machines

This paper aims to compare different methods for the computation of the iron losses. First of all, a brief recall on iron losses models is considered. In particular, Bertotti's formula, a homogenization technique and a vectorized Jiles-Atherton model are implemented. Afterwards, the adopted methods are validated considering an iron ring and an inset PM synchronous machine. A comparison between experimental measurements on the iron ring and the adopted methods is presented. The inset PM synchronous machine is simulated in different operating conditions: both at standstill and no load. Good agreement has been found between the results.
on SOD 1 mediated toxicity in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis *

Smriti Sangwan David S. Eisenberg Molecular Biology Institute and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, UCLA, Los Angeles CA, USA Molecular Biology Institute and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, UCLA, Box 95170, Los Angeles CA 90095-1570, USA; e-mail: david@mbi.ucla. edu Received: May 30, 2016 Accepted: June 7, 2016 Abbreviations: ALS, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; SOD1, superoxide dismutase 1; fALS, familial ALS; sALS, sporadic ALS; wtSOD1, wild-type SOD1; mSOD1, mutant SOD1; H/D, hydrogen/deuterium *The authors dedicate this review to the honor of Dr. Alexander Wlodawer on his 70th birthday, with admiration for his applications of structural biology to the understanding and treatment of disease. Acknowledgements: We thank Elizabeth Guenther and Paul Seidler for discussion and NIH and HHMI for support. S.S. is supported by the Whitcome pre-doctoral fellowship
Materials design of solid electrolytes.

Solid electrolytes play an important role in several technological applications, such as fuel cells. Optimization of such materials is often done by trial and error. The work of Andersson et al. (1) in this issue of PNAS demonstrates that the choice of dopants can be guided by computer simulations, in which parameters that are essential for the high ionic conductivity are determined from a series of first-principles density functional theory (DFT) calculations (2). The material of interest is ceria (CeO2), which can be doped to optimize the ionic conductivity. The parent compound has a simple cubic structure (Fig. 1), in which the Ce ions form a face-centered-cubic (fcc) structure and the oxygen ions form a simple cubic sublattice. The current flows by means of oxygen ions, which are transported through the lattice in a vacancy-assisted activated process. Vacancies occur, for example, when ceria is …
Extensive sharing of chloroplast haplotypes among European birches indicates hybridization among Betula pendula, B. pubescens and B. nana

Extensive sharing of chloroplast haplotypes among the silver birch, Betula pendula Roth. , the downy birch, B. pubescens Ehrh. , and the dwarf birch, B. nana L. , was discovered using polymerase chain reaction–restriction fragment length polymporphism markers. The geographical component of the genetic variation was stronger than the species component: the species were not significantly different while 11% of the variation could be attributed to differentiation between the two main regions studied, Scandinavia and western Russia. All haplotypes occurring in more than 2% of the individuals were shared among the species and the introgression ratios were quite large: 0.79 between B. pubescens and B. pendula and 0.67 between B. pubescens and B. nana. The data also indicate that B. pendula individuals are more similar to sympatric B. pubescens than to B. pendula individuals from nearby forests. However, this trend is not as pronounced when B. pubescens is considered, suggesting that introgression is not symmetrical. The haplotype sharing among the three Betula species is most likely caused by hybridization and subsequent cytoplasmic introgression.
Subdural Hematoma and Aging: Crash Characteristics and Associated Injuries

Among motor vehicle crash head injuries, subdural hematomas (SDH) are both frequent and life-threatening, especially for older occupants. Previous research on the mechanism of injury and on the increased vulnerability of older individuals to SDH has focused on the failure of bridging veins, which are one possible source of subdural bleeding. For all age groups, the injury mechanism and injury tolerance for SDH as a result of other bleeding sources has not been addressed. In the current study, two US crash databases were used to compare crash and injury characteristics for SDH cases in different age groups, with a focus on the original source of bleeding. Review of cases from the Crash Injury Research and Engineering Network (CIREN) database showed that both bridging veins and bleeding sources other than bridging veins are responsible for SDH among crash occupants in all age groups. Analysis of weighted data from the National Automotive Sampling System Crashworthiness Data System (NASS CDS) showed that the frequency of isolated SDH increases with age, potentially reflecting an increase in the frequency of SDH caused by bridging vein bleeding, particularly in frontal crashes and among women. SDH accompanied by brain contusions or other potential bleeding sources on the surface of the brain are also common, especially in side impacts and among occupants younger than 70. These cases potentially represent injuries where subdural bleeding came from sources other than bridging veins. Improved definition of SDH injury tolerance for all adult occupants will require a better understanding of the mechanism of injury from sources other than bridging veins, but determination of SDH injury tolerance for older occupants should focus on evaluation of the increasing risk of bridging vein failure with age.
Design of nonlinear predictors for adaptive predictive coding of speech signals

Linear predictive coding is probably the most frequently used technique in speech signal processing. Its main advantage comes from the analogy of the simplified vocal tract model with speech production system. However, this neglects nonlinearities in the speech production process. The paper deals with nonlinear prediction of speech based on truncated Volterra series. Long-term one-tap Volterra predictor is designed in order to decrease computational complexity. Further improvements are obtained using frame/subframe structure and fractional delay.
Optimal bidirectional associative memories

This paper proposes a model for linear optimal bidirectional associative memories (BAMs), in which the design of the weight matrix is based on a least-squares cost functional. The minimization of the functional leads to a Lyapunov-type matrix equation. The mathematical properties of such an optimal bidirectional system are studied in detail. Simulations are conducted for the bidirectional association of pattern pairs with grey levels. It is shown that this optimal design of BAM is effective for memorizing patterns with grey levels.
Manufacturing & Service Operations Management: An Introduction

The publication of Volume 1, Number 1 of M&SOM marks the end of a process that began more than three years ago: a process whose goal was to create the premier journal in operations management. I will leave it to you, the reader of 1:1, to decide whether or not we have been successful "right out of the blocks" or if more issues must be published before we can rightfully claim to have succeeded. But we will suceed. I am committed to it. So are the distinguished group of senior editors and the esteemed members of M&SOM's Editorial Review Board, whose names are, and will remain, prominently featured in every issue. And most important, so are the authors who have submitted their manuscripts to us.
Regarding Several Points of Doubt of the Structure of the Olfactory Bulb: As Described by T. Blanes

In order to complement the studies on the fila olfactoria completed by Dr. Santiago Ramón y Cajal, we have included a translation of “Sobre Algunos Puntos Dudosos de la Estructura del Bulbo Olfatorio” by T. Blanes, a student of Dr. Cajal. This work describes in stunning detail additional morphological aspects of the olfactory pathway, including what was at the time the modestly studied neuroglia. The neuroglia of the olfactory system has been revisited in the last several decades for its importance in the field of regenerative neuroscience. Olfactory ensheathing glia has the unique quality of providing ensheathment to neurons which traverse from the central to the peripheral nervous system and are being used as a candidate in present‐day transplantation studies to mimic this phenomenon at the dorsal root entry zone after a central nervous system injury. Although this fine work has passed its centennial anniversary since initial publication, it has been widely cited throughout the years, and of recent when Pressler and Stowbridge reported Blanes cell electrophysiological recordings (Neuron V 49, 6; p 889–904, 2006). An English translation the details of what Blanes initially documented with unduplicated precision can now be made available to a wider audience in the field of neuroscience, and is especially important now that more and more present‐day studies require a precise and complete understanding of the anatomical structures contained within the olfactory system. Anat Rec, 291:751‐762, 2008. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Germin Gene Expression Is Induced in Wheat Leaves by Powdery Mildew Infection

Germin gene expression is induced in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) leaves by powdery mildew (Erysiphe graminis f. sp. tritici) infection. Germin is a protein marker for early cereal development and is an oxalate oxidase, an enzyme that catalyzes the conversion of oxalate to CO2 and H2O2. The induction of germin gene expression by powdery mildew infection is consistent with the importance of H2O2 to plant defense and identifies a mechanism for the elevation of H2O2 levels in wheat leaves. Germin mRNA levels increased 2 d after inoculation of seedlings with powdery mildew and continued to increase throughout an 8-d time course. The increase in accumulation of germin mRNA was accompanied by an increase in the germin oligomer, which reached maximal levels by d 6. An increase in oxalate oxidase activity paralleled germin oligomer accumulation. Germin gene expression was induced in a relatively resistant cultivar (Bobwhite) as well as in a susceptible cultivar (Cheyenne), suggesting that the induction of germin gene expression is an indicator of powdery mildew infection rather than cultivar resistance.
Trends in social class inequalities in health status, health-related behaviors, and health services utilization in a Southern European urban area (1983-1994).

BACKGROUND The objective of this study was to describe the evolution of social class inequalities in Barcelona (Spain) residents in perceived health status, health-related behaviors, and utilization of health services between 1983 and 1994. METHODS The information was obtained from the Health Interview Surveys conducted in 1983, 1986, 1992, and 1994 in Barcelona. In this study we included noninstitutionalized people ages >14 years. Social class was obtained from the Spanish adaptation of the British Registrar General classification. We studied health status, health-related behaviors, and health services utilization variables. Age-adjusted percentages and the relative index of inequality were obtained. RESULTS Of the health status variables, having been confined to bed and acute restriction of activity in the 2 weeks prior to the interview showed an increase in inequalities by social class in 1994. The pattern of chronic conditions by social class in men did not change between 1983 and 1994. Women had a higher prevalence of chronic conditions and the inequalities among social classes had increased. In men there were no social class inequalities in smoking in 1983. In 1992 and 1994 smoking was more prevalent in men of social classes IV and V. In women, smoking was more prevalent in social classes I and II in 1983 than in social classes IV and V, something that had changed by 1994. Lack of usual physical activity in men was always more prevalent in social classes I and II, and this difference increased since more people of advantaged classes moved into inactivity. Health services utilization showed no inequalities in the years studied. CONCLUSION The changing pattern according to social class of smoking and physical activity practice needs to be taken into account by policy-makers and public health workers.