Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Patient activation and use of an electronic patient portal

Primary objective: Electronic patient portals give patients access to personal medical data, potentially creating opportunities to improve knowledge, self-efficacy, and engagement in healthcare. The combination of knowledge, self-efficacy, and engagement has been termed activation. Our objective was to assess the relationship between patient activation and outpatient use of a patient portal. Research design: Survey. Methods and procedures: A telephone survey was conducted with 180 patients who had been given access to a portal, 113 of whom used it and 67 of whom did not. The validated patient activation measure (PAM) was administered along with questions about demographics and behaviors. Results: Portal users were no different from nonusers in patient activation. Portal users did have higher education level and more frequent Internet use, and were more likely to have precisely 2 prescription medications than to have more or fewer. Conclusion: Patients who chose to use an electronic patient portal were not more highly activated than nonusers, although they were more educated and more likely to be Internet users.
Botulinum toxin treatment of severe dysphagia following brainstem stroke

Objective: To evaluate botulinum toxin treatment of hyperactive upper esophageal sphincter after first-time brainstem stroke. Design: A retrospective study. Subjects: Twelve patients with long standing dysphagia after brainstem vascular injury admitted to the rehabilitation department of a medical centre. Methods: All patients underwent clinical examination, videofluoroscopic study of swallowing and electromyography. Botulinum toxin was injected percutaneously under electromyographic guide. Outcomes were measured after two weeks and through a long follow up programme, which ranged from two to ten years. Results: A total of 75% of patients (9 of 12) had favourable outcomes. Two patients showed long lasting functional benefits after only one botulinum toxin injection, while seven patients required further treatments to maintain an adequate oral intake. In seven cases it was possible to remove percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy. No relevant complications were observed. Conclusion: Botulinum toxin can improve severe dysphagia with elective hyperactivity of the upper esophageal sphincter in patients with or without unilateral paresis of the inferior constrictor muscle and in absence of a nuclear involvement of the IXth and Xth cranial nerves. The outcome could be unsatisfactory in the cases of oral phase involvement, bilateral lesion of the inferior constrictor muscle and when there is velopharyngeal insufficiency.
Effect of 15% body weight support on exercise capacity of adults without impairments.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE External support of body weight, a technique used for the gait training of patients with neurologic conditions, may also be beneficial for tests of exercise capacity in people whose impairments in motor function and balance have traditionally precluded such testing. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of using external support of 15% of body mass during treadmill exercise testing of adults without impairments. SUBJECTS AND METHODS Seven men and 8 women (mean age=55.2 years, SD=11.3, range=43-82) performed 3 treadmill tests with random assignment of testing condition: (1) no body weight support (BWS)-standard test, (2) 0% BWS-harness in place but no use of external support, and (3) 15% BWS-use of external support for 15% of body mass. Expired gas was analyzed to determine oxygen uptake, carbon dioxide production, minute ventilation, tidal volume, heart rate, and respiratory exchange ratio. RESULTS Use of external support for 15% of body mass did not affect the end-expiratory gas exchange variables, although the time to achieve peak values was lengthened. Maximal tidal volume was lower in the 15% BWS test, but maximal minute ventilation was not different. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION Because 15% BWS did not affect the exercise capacity of adults without known impairments, future study of its application to testing of patients with neurologic injuries is warranted.
Pulsed Electromagnetic Fields Partially Preserve Bone Mass, Microarchitecture, and Strength by Promoting Bone Formation in Hindlimb‐Suspended Rats

A large body of evidence indicates that pulsed electromagnetic fields (PEMF), as a safe and noninvasive method, could promote in vivo and in vitro osteogenesis. Thus far, the effects and underlying mechanisms of PEMF on disuse osteopenia and/or osteoporosis remain poorly understood. Herein, the efficiency of PEMF on osteoporotic bone microarchitecture, bone strength, and bone metabolism, together with its associated signaling pathway mechanism, was systematically investigated in hindlimb‐unloaded (HU) rats. Thirty young mature (3‐month‐old), male Sprague‐Dawley rats were equally assigned to control, HU, and HU + PEMF groups. The HU + PEMF group was subjected to daily 2‐hour PEMF exposure at 15 Hz, 2.4 mT. After 4 weeks, micro–computed tomography (µCT) results showed that PEMF ameliorated the deterioration of trabecular and cortical bone microarchitecture. Three‐point bending test showed that PEMF mitigated HU‐induced reduction in femoral mechanical properties, including maximum load, stiffness, and elastic modulus. Moreover, PEMF increased serum bone formation markers, including osteocalcin (OC) and N‐terminal propeptide of type 1 procollagen (P1NP); nevertheless, PEMF exerted minor inhibitory effects on bone resorption markers, including C‐terminal crosslinked telopeptides of type I collagen (CTX‐I) and tartrate‐resistant acid phosphatase 5b (TRAcP5b). Bone histomorphometric analysis demonstrated that PEMF increased mineral apposition rate, bone formation rate, and osteoblast numbers in cancellous bone, but PEMF caused no obvious changes on osteoclast numbers. Real‐time PCR showed that PEMF promoted tibial gene expressions of Wnt1, LRP5, β‐catenin, OPG, and OC, but did not alter RANKL, RANK, or Sost mRNA levels. Moreover, the inhibitory effects of PEMF on disuse‐induced osteopenia were further confirmed in 8‐month‐old mature adult HU rats. Together, these results demonstrate that PEMF alleviated disuse‐induced bone loss by promoting skeletal anabolic activities, and imply that PEMF might become a potential biophysical treatment modality for disuse osteoporosis. © 2014 American Society for Bone and Mineral Research.
Revolution Girl Style Now

Anfang der 1990er Jahre, in einer Zeit, in der der Feminismus von den Mainstream- und Massenmedien fur tot erklat wurde, entstand in den USA rund um die Punk-Hardcore-Szene eine neue Bewegung, die binnen kurzer Zeit zu einem aktiven, subkulturellen feministischen Netzwerk wuschs: Riot Grrrl. Sie hat einen grosen Beitrag zum popkulturellen Feminismus geleistet, der viele Madchen und junge Frauen dazu bewegte, unabhangige Medien, Musikforen, Bands und Festivals ins Leben zu rufen, sich damit Selbstermachtigungsstrategien anzueignen und eine neue Madchenidentiat zu schaffen. Die Autorin untersucht in diesem Zusammenhang die Riot Grrrls auf ihre feministischen Strukturen und Ziele und geht dabei der Frage nach, ob Riot Grrrl ein Ausdruck sozialer Bewegung ist.
The effect of minimum luminal nutrition on mucosal cellularity and immunity of the gut

Many catabolic patients can only consume small volumes of enteral nutrients. The aim of this study was to evaluate markers of cellularity and immunity in the small intestine of rats randomized to receive 6 days of parenteral nutrition, 25% enteral and 75% parenteral nutrition (i.e. minimum luminal nutrition) or enteral nutrition. The same glutamine‐enriched solution was used for both parenteral and enteral nutrition. Enteral nutrition was associated with the least amount of jejunal atrophy (P < 0.01), with the results from the minimum luminal nutrition group approximating those of the parenteral nutrition group. Parenteral nutrition was associated with the greatest number of CD2+ cells ( P < 0.05) and the lowest CD4/CD8 cell ratio ( P < 0.01) in the jejunal mucosa. In essence, we failed to demonstrate that there are any appreciable benefits associated with the enteral consumption of 25% of a nutrient load.
Web-based Knowledge Nuggets for Architecture Knowledge Management

This paper presents in-process knowledge management for technical information, managing architecture knowledge nuggets, and implemented as embedded toolbar and Web repositories façade. The façade encompasses a plug-in and approach for documenting, reviewing and communicating knowledge nuggets. The nuggets are concise representations of architecture knowledge addressing best practices, design patterns, review comments and any additional architecture concerns. The knowledge activities are embedded during the lifecycle of software product development, namely, in-process, and may foster reuse of architecture artifacts. The façade is a Web accessed system to existing and new organizational knowledge management systems, and can serve as an access point from within any existing information system (e.g., service desks). Utilizing the Web based knowledge façade reduces the time-to-value in making architecture decisions while increasing the quality of the resulted artifacts. In addition, the facade provides on-the-fly access to relevant information and best practices related to architectural design decisions during routine R&D and deployment activities.
Sentinel node biopsy is now part of routine staging in patients with clinically localized melanoma

Twenty per cent of the patients who present with a primary melanoma that has a Breslow thickness exceeding 1 mm have occult metastases in their regional lymph nodes. Without treatment, these later become evident as palpable nodes, but studies of elective (prophylactic) lymph node dissection have not shown an overall improvement in survival. Nevertheless in these studies, a survival benefit of approximately 20% was noted in the subgroup of patients who actually did have lymph node metastases. This survival advantage was greatest among individuals with melanomas of intermediate thickness, presumably because they have a high risk of lymph node involvement, while the risk of synchronous and usually fatal blood-borne metastases to visceral organs is still modest. In order to exploit this potential survival gain while not exposing patients without metastases to the morbidity of a regional node dissection, a diagnostic technique was required to detect such metastases at the time of the treatment of the primary tumour. The sentinel node biopsy (SNB) supplies this want. A multicentre randomized trial of this procedure was initiated in 1994. Patients with a melanoma at least 1 mm Breslow thickness or with Clark level IV invasion were randomized to wide excision plus SNB, with subsequent completion node dissection if metastases were identified, or to wide excision only, with node dissection if metastases later became evident. Three Australian centres contributed to this Multicenter Selective Lymphadenectomy Trial (MSLT-I) and many colleagues referred patients for participation. The final results of this, the largest and longest running surgical melanoma trial ever undertaken, have now been published.
Implementation of Blake 256 hash function for password encryption and parallel CRC

One of the major sources of information in recent times is the internet, which facilitates the exchange of information between thousands of people at any instant. The transmission of sensitive data such as passwords must be accompanied by some form of robust protection to ensure prevention of unauthorized access. The requirement of strong encryption algorithms is of utmost importance. In this paper we present the Verilog description and hardware implementation on Altera DE2115 board of password encryption using Blake 256 cryptographic hash function coupled and parallel CRC for high performance, transmission error control.
The Effect of Sub-Inhibitory Streptomycin on Capsular Polysaccharide Production and Streptomycin Resistance in Escherichia coli

Previous studies have shown that pre-treatment of Escherichia coli B23 with subinhibitory concentrations of aminoglycosides leads to a subsequent increase in the level of capsular polysaccharide, as well as an increased resistance to streptomycin. Using capsular polysaccharide synthesis pathway mutants, we investigated the correlation between the level of capsular polysaccharide and streptomycin resistance. Antibiotic resistance was measured by minimum inhibitory concentration. Capsular polysaccharide was isolated and quantified via an anthrone carbohydrate assay. After pretreatment with 2 μg/ml of streptomycin, E. coli strains B23 and up-regulated capsule strain JW0429-1 showed increased levels of capsule polysaccharide, while the mutant parental strain BW25113 and the down-regulated capsule strain JW2205-2 showed decreased levels of capsule. We did not observe an increased level of resistance in any of the 4 strains following treatment and could not confirm the previously reported effect on the B23 strain. We propose that an increased production of capsule has little effect on streptomycin resistance in E. coli. The differences in resistance and capsule production with streptomycin treatment may be due to different mechanisms of response in the strains.
On-chip frequency compensation control scheme with independently parameters tuning and green native adaptive voltage position (GNAVP) for voltage regulators

This paper proposes a novel on-chip frequency compensation control scheme with analog control loops and digital interface for voltage regulators. The novel control scheme provide on-chip frequency compensation with independently parameters changing by I2C interface, which saves component count, IC pin count, board area, and engineering time to change compensation components. Besides, the analog control loop avoids the issues of digital control loop such as cost and time delay. The control loop also adopts Green Native Adaptive Voltage Position (GNAVP) advantages of high light-load efficiency, good output voltage accuracy, and ease to achieve AVP for CPU power applications. The control scheme is implemented in controller IC for four-phase buck voltage regulator. Experiment results validate the concept. The output voltage is stable at steady-state operation, smooth at power state change, and achieves AVP at load transient.
Ballistocardiography in medical practice.

Seventy years elapsed between the description by Gordon 1 of a method for graphically recording the motion of the body with each heart beat and Starr's Harvey Lecture 2 reporting how such curves could be used in routine clinical diagnosis. Most ballistocardiographs are bulky; the latest model to be described weighs over a ton without the recording mechanism. 3 However, since 1949 there have been available three systems for recording the body's motion with very simple attachments to any type of electrocardiograph, 4 and routine use by practitioners, industrial medical and insurance examiners has become a reality. Physicians not only use the ballistocardiograph on patients, but have it used on themselves as they enter the "coronary age. " It therefore is desirable to put before them a brief description of this simple diagnostic method. When the body lies on a smooth solid surface, it moves with each respiratory and each cardiac
Radiology: an underutilized resource for undergraduate curricula

It appears quite paradoxical that although doctors encounter disease in a living human yet the familiarity of the future physicians with the human structure is grounded primarily in cadavers and artwork (Ganske et al. 2006). In the current medical curricula, time and resources to keep students abreast of an ever-increasing body of knowledge have become prized commodities (Gunderman et al. 2003). Arguably, these factors have lead to a diminutive role of anatomy in the medical curricula. The emphasis has been limited to its functional aspects only; even its raison d’etre has come under question (Ganske et al. 2006; Gunderman et al. 2003). The ‘eye of medicine’ is a resource with the potential to fill such gaps between basic sciences and clinical medicine. It can provide the future doctors with a succinct and true-to-life view of the normal as well as the disease processes in a noninvasive manner. (Ganske et al. 2006; Gunderman et al. 2003) The scope extends beyond visualization of structures; functional and molecular imaging can afford an exceptional correlation of physiological and biochemical processes with the anatomy. It is disconcerting that such a promising resource is yet to be utilized to an optimal extent. Although 80% of US medical schools have introduced radiological anatomy in their anatomy courses, with a large proportion of final evaluation comprising questions in radiological anatomy, the actual contribution of radiology to these teachings remains a mere 5%. Another ironical observation is that cadaveric crosssections, not CT or MRI images, are primarily used to teach cross-sectional anatomy. More so, future projections do not indicate an alteration in the preference of teaching methods for anatomy (Ganske et al. 2006). Regardless of the choice of specialty, almost every future doctor would utilize diagnostic imaging in patient care; be it an internist searching the reason for cough, a surgeon managing a case of acute abdomen or a pathologist seeking correlation for histopathological findings. It is high time to realize that integration of radiology into medical curricula, especially basic science courses, may not only provide medical students a practical acquaintance with the normal human processes but may also build an enduring foundation for the clinical years. We strongly urge the medical community to recognize that such endeavors can go a long way in the achievement of a well-rounded medical education.
Colectomy for refractory constipation

Abstract Objective. This study evaluated the type of colectomy, postoperative complications, functional results, and satisfaction in patients with constipation refractory to conservative therapy. Further, colonic transit time (CTT), faecal load (coprostasis), and colon length (redundancies) were compared between operated and non-operated patients. Material and methods. Out of 281 patients, 30 women and 5 men underwent surgery. All patients were evaluated by clinical and physiological investigations. Forty-four randomly selected healthy persons constituted the control group. Results. Twenty-one patients had at hemicolectomy, 11 patients a subtotal colectomy and 3 patients an ileostomy. Two patients had an anastomotic leak and one died. In 11 patients, further surgery was necessary, because of recurrent constipation. Abdominal pain disappeared and defecation patterns improved significantly to 1–4 per day after a colectomy with no uncontrolled diarrhoea. The mean CTT was 65.0 h for patients operated, 37.9 h in non-operated patients and 24.75 h in controls (p < 0.05). Abdominal bloating and pain and defecation parameters correlated significantly positively with CTT and faecal loading, which were significantly increased in operated patients (p < 0.05). The colon was significantly longer in operated patients compared to non-operated, which significantly increased CTT and aggravated symptoms. The histology of the removed colon revealed degenerative changes. Conclusions. A segmental or a subtotal colectomy reduced bloating and pain and improved defecation patterns significantly. Although patient satisfaction was rather high, there are significant risks of postoperative complications and future operations. The operated patients had a significant increased CTT, faecal load and colon length, compared to non-operated patients.
Transversus abdominis: Changes in thickness during an incremental upper limb exercise test

The aim of this study was to measure transversus abdominis (TrA) during an incremental fatiguing task. Using real-time ultrasound, TrA thickness was measured in 26 healthy subjects (18–25 years, 9 male) during an unsupported upper limb exercise test (UULEX). Repeatability of changes in TrA thickness during the UULEX was established by using a test-retest process (n=9, intraclass correlation coefficient=0.62 (95% CI 0.38–0.82), standard error of measurement ∼1 (95% CI 0.87–1.08)). Using mixed model analysis with time as an independent variable, TrA thickness changed significantly throughout the UULEX (p < 0.05). Measures of TrA thickness at minutes 10, 11, and 12 were significantly greater than at baseline (p=0.006 (95% CI 0.23–1.35), 0.001 (95% CI 0.45–1.61), and <0.0001 (95% CI 0.77–2.03), respectively). Transversus abdominis was shown to be continuously and increasingly active over the 12 minutes of an incremental bilateral upper limb test in young healthy adults. As increases in TrA thickness occurred at the points of greatest postural and ventilatory demands, these findings may have implications for subjects with musculoskeletal or respiratory impairments who are often challenged by upper limb tasks.
The Sexual Sensation Seeking Scale: Reliablity and Validity Within a Heterosexual College Student Sample

The Sexual Sensation Seeking Scale (SSSS; Kalichman & Rompa, 1995) is a measure of the propensity to seek out novel or risky sexual stimulation. This measure has been consistently related to HIV-risk behavior in several different samples of gay men and with behavioral correlates of sexual permissiveness in college students. Five hundred twenty-eight college students completed the SSSS and several other sexuality and personality measures. The results reveal significant gender differences on the SSSS and similar (although stronger among women) patterns of significant correlations with sexually permissive characteristics and behaviors. Furthermore, SSSS scores were more highly correlated with sexual measures, whereas a more general measure of sensation seeking was more highly correlated with general personality measures. We discuss implications for use of the SSSS by sexuality educators and sex therapists.
Female-biased sex ratio in the Asian corn borer, Ostrinia furnacalis: evidence for the occurrence of feminizing bacteria in an insect

The maternally inherited, female-biased sex ratio in many arthropods has been attributed to infection with micro-organisms. Male killing, thelytoky and feminization are recognized as the mechanisms of the bacteria-induced sex ratio distortion in arthropods. A sex ratio distortion towards the female has been found in the Japanese population of the Asian corn borer Ostrinia furnacalis (Lepidoptera). In the present study, inheritance of the sex ratio distortion in the Asian corn borer and its underlying mechanism were investigated. Two of the 13 field-collected females produced all-female offspring. The female-biased sex ratio was maternally inherited for three generations. There was no difference in egg hatchability between thelygenic and normal crosses. Treatment with tetracycline for two generations resulted in production of only male offspring. Considering the sex determination system in lepidopteran insects, it was concluded that chromosomal males are feminized by a cytoplasmic agent(s), most probably parasitic bacteria. This is the first report of the occurrence of feminizing bacteria in insects. The sex ratio distorter was considered to occur at low frequency in the Asian corn borer population.