Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Association between preoperative acute phase response and postoperative complications.

OBJECTIVE To find out if there is an association between the acute phase response preoperatively and the development of postoperative infective complications. DESIGN Prospective open study. SETTING Teaching hospital Germany. SUBJECTS 229 patients who were to undergo major abdominal operations. INTERVENTIONS Measurements of serum concentrations of interleukin 6 (IL-6), alpha-1-antitrypsin, C-reactive protein (CRP), albumin, and prealbumin. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Abnormal values of substances measured. RESULTS Serum concentrations of IL-6, alpha-1-antitrypsin and CRP were raised, and those of albumin and prealbumin were reduced in 5% to 14% of patients. 25 (11%) developed major complications, of whom 9 (4%) died. 9 Patients (4%) had a severe systemic inflammatory response caused by infective complications that did not result from technical failure of the operative technique. Of these 9 patients, 7 (78%) already had signs of an increased acute phase response before operation that was significantly different from the incidence among patients who recovered without complications (21/204. p < 0.001) CONCLUSION These data suggest that if there are signs of an acute phase response preoperatively the patient's response to operation and infection during the postoperative period may be adversely affected.
Fatigue reduces the complexity of knee extensor torque fluctuations during maximal and submaximal intermittent isometric contractions in man

Healthy physiological systems generate time series possessing complex structures, as seen for example in heart rate variability, respiratory rate and gait. A loss of complexity in physiological time series has been associated with system dysfunction, and this loss is a characteristic feature of torque output from the ageing neuromuscular system. We sought to determine the effect of neuromuscular fatigue on the complexity of knee extensor torque output in healthy young humans performing repeated maximal and submaximal contractions. Fatigue resulted in a substantial loss of knee extensor torque complexity, with the noise in the torque signal becoming increasingly Brownian in character. Complexity has been associated with system adaptability, and the fatigue‐induced loss of complexity, the physiological origin of which is obscure, may contribute to the inability to sustain physical exercise.
An octapeptide in the juxtamembrane domain of VE-cadherin is important for p120ctn binding and cell proliferation.

The cadherins are a family of adhesive proteins involved in cell-cell homophilic interactions. VE-cadherin, expressed in endothelial cells, is involved in morphogenesis, regulation of permeability, and cellular proliferation. The cytoplasmic tails of cadherins contain two major domains, the juxtamembrane domain that plays a role in the intercellular localization of the protein and also serves for binding of p120ctn, and a C-terminal domain that associates with beta- or gamma-catenin. A highly conserved region present in the juxtamembrane domain of the cadherins has been shown to be necessary for p120ctn binding in E-cadherin. Using a mutant VE-cadherin lacking a highly conserved octapeptide, we demonstrated that it is required for p120ctn binding to VE-cadherin as determined by immunoprecipitation and colocalization studies. By immunofluorescence, this mutant protein has a topographical distribution similar to that of the wild-type VE-cadherin and, therefore, we conclude that the topographical distribution of VE-cadherin is independent of this motif. In addition, although cell-cell association is present in cells expressing this mutant form of VE-cadherin, we found that the strength of adhesion is decreased. Finally, our results for the first time demonstrate that the interaction of VE-cadherin with p120 catenin plays an important role in cellular growth, suggesting that the binding of p120 catenin to cadherins may regulate cell proliferation.
The cross‐sectional associations between objectively measured sedentary time and cardiometabolic health markers in adults – a systematic review with meta‐analysis component

Sedentary time is viewed as an independent risk factor for adverse cardiometabolic health (CMH). No systematic review and meta‐analysis on the cross‐sectional associations between objectively measured sedentary time and CMH markers has been conducted. PubMed, Scopus and Web of Science Core Collection were searched for papers that examined the cross‐sectional association between objectively measured sedentary time and CMH markers in adults. Forty‐six papers met the inclusion criteria. The included papers had a combined sample size of 70,576 and an age range of 18–87 years. To examine the effect of increased levels of sedentary time on CMH markers, data on effect sizes and moderators were extracted, where possible. By pooling the unadjusted data from the included papers, increased sedentary time was shown to have a significant detrimental association with fasting glucose (Δ = 0.12, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.02, 0.23), fasting insulin (Δ = 0.19, 95% CI: 0.06, 0.32), triglycerides (Δ = 0.25, 95% CI: 0.14, 0.37), high‐density lipoprotein cholesterol (Δ = −0.20, 95% CI: −0.28, −0.13) and waist circumference (Δ = 0.25, 95% CI: 0.15, 0.35). How sedentary time was quantified and the device used to measure sedentary time significantly influence the size of the effect reported. Future interventions focused on both decreasing sedentary time and increasing physical activity may be the most effective strategy to improve CMH.
Shorted stacked antenna with folded feed for microwave detection of brain stroke

In this paper, an antenna for microwave brain stroke imaging application is proposed. The designed antenna has a coaxial probe feed together with planar inverted type structure. Patch antenna has two parallel arms with same length but with different widths. Also, by use of two capacitive rings increase in the bandwidth is obtained. Total size of the antenna including the ground plane is 60 × 60 × 20.4 mm<sup>3</sup>, 0. 12λ<sub>o</sub> × 0. 12λ<sub>o</sub> × 0. 05λ<sub>o</sub> at the center frequency of 617 MHz, Antenna can be easily fabricated with low manufacturing cost. Also, designed antenna has an impedance bandwidth of 98% from 315 MHz to 920 MHz, Finally, the antenna is also matched with a commercially available coupling medium, which is necessary for microwave biomedical imaging applications.
Informing parents about CT radiation exposure in children: it's OK to tell them.

OBJECTIVE The purpose of our study was to determine how parents' understanding of and willingness to allow their children to undergo CT change after receiving information regarding radiation dose and risk. MATERIALS AND METHODS One hundred parents of children undergoing nonemergent CT studies at a tertiary-care children's hospital were surveyed before and after reading an informational handout describing radiation risk. Parental knowledge of whether CT uses radiation or increases lifetime risk of cancer was assessed, as was willingness to permit their child to undergo both a CT examination that their child's doctor recommended and one for which their doctor thought observation might be equally effective. RESULTS Of the 100 parents who were surveyed, 66% believed CT uses radiation before reading the handout, versus 99% afterward (p < 0.01). Before reading the handout, 13% believed CT increases the lifetime risk of cancer, versus 86% afterward (p < 0.01). After reading the handout, parents became less willing to have their child undergo CT given a hypothetic situation in which their doctor believed that either CT or observation would be equally effective (p < 0.01), but their willingness to have their child undergo CT recommended by their doctor did not significantly change. After reading the handout, 62% of parents reported no change in level of concern. No parent refused or requested to defer CT after reading the handout. CONCLUSION A brief informational handout can improve parental understanding of the potential increased risk of cancer related to pediatric CT without causing parents to refuse studies recommended by the referring physician.
Auditory system in a personal robot, PaPeRo

This paper presents implementation and evaluation of the auditory system in a personal robot, PaPeRo. The system consists of direction of arrival estimation, noise cancellation, and echo cancellation. It is implemented on PaPeRo which is operated by Windows XP on a Mobile Pentium 4-M 1.6 GHz chip. Evaluation results with recorded signals in the real environment demonstrates 40% higher source-localization accuracy as well as 65% and 71% higher speech recognition rates in noisy environment and during robot utterances. PaPeRo with this noise canceller is on exhibition at the 2005 World Exposition (EXPO 2005), Aichi, Japan
Sleep and children’s development in India

Change in lifestyle, late marriage and various other reasons results preterm baby, caesarean baby and various birth defects. Further children's health is becoming fragile due to change in food habits like: regular use of snacks, caffeinated drinks, fast foods, inorganic foods etc., use of plastics as food vessels, use of antibiotics, due to lesser physical activity, lesser play, and stressful study routine etc. Proper sleep to a large extent makes body evolve and adapt to the changed requirements. But due to late night sleeping of parents and opening of schools in early morning, children are sleeping inadequately. All these are making havoc pressure on children's health, causing collapsing of immunity, physical health, mental health etc. This article explains basic importance of proper sleep and way to have it. As our topic is of common interest, we have kept our words simple and matter conclusive.
Diversity of Helicobacter pylori cagA and vacA Genes in Costa Rica: Its Relationship with Atrophic Gastritis and Gastric Cancer

Background: Associations between Helicobacter pylori gene diversity and gastric cancer have not been reported on in Costa Rica, despite its being one of the countries with the highest gastric cancer incidence and mortality rates in the world. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of H. pylori cagA and vacA genes and investigate whether it could be correlated with atrophic gastritis (AG) and gastric cancer (GC) in Costa Rica.
Defence mechanisms and immune evasion in the interplay between the humane immune system and Plasmodium falciparum.

Immunity to P. falciparum malaria is developed as a result of long term exposure to the parasite and depends on immunological memory. The key directors in immune recognition and regulation of the immunological responses are the T-cells. It seems reasonable to propose that immunity is acquired when a critical mass of T-cells, recognizing relevant malaria antigens, has been developed. These T-cells mediate immunity by regulating macrophage and B-cell activity, but they may also act directly as cytotoxic cells on infected hepatocytes and through production of parasite-toxic cytokines. The potential immune effector mechanisms against P. falciparum are many. The relative importance of each in protection is unknown and protection seems to be mediated through different mechanisms according to the degree of exposure to malaria and the pattern of malaria transmission. Since immunity to malaria is not an absolute phenomenon, many effector mechanisms are probably working together in (partially) protected individuals. Immunity to P. falciparum is acquired after years of exposure to the parasite and several disease episodes. The protracted course to clinical immunity indicates that the parasite interfere with development of immunity. Several mechanisms seem to be operating. 1) Induction of the immune response to some macromolecules is avoided because the parasites are living inside host cells during part of their life cycle, and the reaction to other molecules is apparently avoided by mimicry of host molecules. 2) Immune recognition is hampered by the extraordinary diversity of antigen phenotypes in the parasite population. 3) Immune regulation is obstructed by immune suppression. During P. falciparum malaria such suppression is characterized by a profoundly diminished in vitro proliferative response to malaria antigens, which probably is precipitated by defects in the early events of T-cell activation and inhibition of IL-2 function elucidated, but soluble factors secreted either by the parasites, or by host cells as a result of exposure to the parasite, seem to be involved. 4) Immune effector mechanisms in the liver and the spleen are avoided by sequestration of the mature parasites to the vascular endothelium. The interplay between the human defence system and the malaria parasite governs the symptomatology, the pathology and the development of immunity to the disease. These interactions are extremely complex, and only partly understood. Figure 1 summarizes my view on how these interactions could explain the characteristics of acquired immunity to P. falciparum. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
Fighting for a Niche: An Evolutionary Model of Storage

We know intuitively that if two devices, such as HDVD and Blu-Ray discs, have no clear difference in terms of cost, speed, or capacity, one will eventually leave the market. In evolutionary biology, this principle is termed “competitive exclusion”: if species occupy the same environmental niche, one will eventually outcompete the others (though predicting which will live is out of scope, we can see that the niche can only support one). Our wild and crazy plan is to project the future of storage systems by tracking the co-evolution of devices along with the underlying storage marketplace, or our “niche. ” While technical challenges such as bit density are a factor, it is infamously hard to predict when new technologies will take off in the storage market. As a community, we’ve been talking about phase change memory, MRAM, racetrack memory, memristors, and other “upcoming” storage devices for a generation. While there have been significant theoretical and engineering advances in many of these device types, they have for the most part not hit the mass market. Discussions of why this happens tend to devolve into either focusing on a minor technical hurdle or blaming some combination of “industry foresight,” “market pressure,” or the ever nebulous “pipeline. ” Any project that attempts to address archival storage must make some assumptions about the future device landscape. These models are often forced to make naïve assumptions about the trajectory of storage devices using simple linear scaling or Kryder’s rate (which assumes disks will improve in density by 15% per year), and all device types are presumed to be independent [2]. Moreover, projections typically only consider a single device attribute, such as cost per byte, even though devices clearly grow in different dimensions at different rates over time. The classic example of this is the lack of improvement in disk speed over a time period where cost has improved dramatically. Figure 1 shows a set of devices including disks, SSDs, and flash sticks, where the color represents the release date. Note that the devices, instead of clustering across time, cluster by time. Figure 1: Storage devices over time according to cost (USD) per MB and IOPS. Data from McCallam and others.
Stability of Ibuprofen solutions in normal saline or 5% dextrose in water.

BACKGROUND A shortage of the standard medication for treatment of patent ductus arteriosus has necessitated use of parenteral ibuprofen, which is equally efficacious for this indication. The beyond-use date recommended by the manufacturer is very short and has implications for resource allocation and wastage. OBJECTIVE To evaluate the stability of ibuprofen (undiluted or diluted in either 0.9% sodium chloride [normal saline; NS] or 5% dextrose in water [D5W]) with storage for up to 21 days under refrigeration or at room temperature in glass vials or polypropylene syringes. METHODS Six glass vials, each containing undiluted ibuprofen (5 mg/mL), were prepared. In addition, ibuprofen was diluted to 2.5 mg/mL in NS or D5W, and 6 syringes were prepared for each diluent (total of 12 syringes). Finally, 6 extension tubes were each primed with 1 mL of ibuprofen (duplicates of undiluted solution and solutions diluted to 2.5 mg/mL in NS or D5W). Half of the vials, syringes, and tubes were stored under refrigeration (4°C) and the other half at room temperature (23°C). The concentration of ibuprofen was determined by a validated, stability-indicating liquid chromatographic method on study days 0, 1, 2, 3, 6, 8, 10, 13, 17, and 21 for samples stored in vials and syringes, or at time 0, 6, 24, and 30 h for samples stored in tubes. RESULTS Analysis of variance showed differences in the percentage of ibuprofen remaining due to study day (p < 0.001) and diluent (p < 0.005), but no differences due to concentration (p = 0.06) or temperature (p = 0.12). All solutions of ibuprofen were stable throughout the study period, retaining at least 90% of their initial concentration. CONCLUSIONS Undiluted ibuprofen (5 mg/mL) stored in glass vials and ibuprofen diluted to 2.5 mg/mL with either NS or D5W and stored in polypropylene syringes will retain more than 92% of its initial concentration with storage for up to 14 days at 4°C. A beyond-use date of 14 days would allow for up to 24 h storage at 23°C during this 14-day period. Storage of ibuprofen solutions in extension tubing should not exceed 29 h at 4°C or 17 h at 23°C. Beyond-use dates should be applied only after consideration of US Pharmacopeia Revised General Chapter <797> guidelines for compounding of sterile preparations.
Comparison of Facial Morphology in Two Populations with Complete Unilateral Cleft Lip and Palate from Two Different Centers

Objective To identify differences in craniofacial morphology of two populations with a history of complete unilateral cleft lip and palate (UCLP) treated under different protocols. Design Retrospective longitudinal cohort study. Setting Cleft Center of the University of Nijmegen, The Netherlands, and the Cleft Lip and Palate Program, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada. Subjects Nineteen patients (16 male, 3 female) from Nijmegen and 19 patients (16 male, 3 female) from Toronto. Each patient was matched for sex and age with a patient from the other group. The mean ages at which lateral cephalometric radiographs were available for the Nijmegen group were 5.5, 9.9, and 18.3 years, while for the Toronto group these were available at mean ages of 5.3, 10.1, and 18.3 years, respectively. Eighteen patients from the Nijmegen group received an alveolar bone graft at a mean age of 9.5 years (range 8.2 to 13.5 years). None of the patients from Toronto received bone grafts. Main Outcome Measures Eighteen cephalometric variables per radiograph were calculated at each time registration, using Dentofacial Planner cephalometric software. Statistical evaluation was performed with repeated-measures analysis of variance. Results No differences were seen in the maxillary measurements. The patients in the Toronto group had significantly larger mandibles at all three time registrations. Conclusions The Nijmegen and Toronto protocols resulted in similar maxillary projections in patients with UCLP. Comparison of data from other studies supports the contention that the larger profile convexity of the Nijmegen group is a reflection of a genetically determined smaller mandibular size in the Dutch population.
Total Fume and Metal Concentrations during Welding in Selected Factories in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Welding is a major industrial process used for joining metals. Occupational exposure to welding fumes is a serious occupational health problem all over the world. The degree of risk to welder’s health from fumes depends on composition, concentration, and the length of exposure. The aim of this study was to investigate workers’ welding fume exposure levels in some industries in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. In each factory, the air in the breathing zone within 0.5 m from welders was sampled during 8-hour shifts. Total particulates, manganese, copper, and molybdenum concentrations of welding fumes were determined. Mean values of eight-hour average particulate concentrations measured during welding at the welders breathing zone were 6.3 mg/m3 (Factory 1), 5.3 mg/m3 (Factory 2), 11.3 mg/m3 (Factory 3), 6.8 mg/m3 (Factory 4), 4.7 mg/m3 (Factory 5), and 3.0 mg/m3 (Factory 6). Mean values of airborne manganese, copper, and molybdenum levels measured during welding were in the range of 0.010 mg/m3–0.477 mg/m3, 0.001 mg/m3–0.080 mg/m3 and 0.001 mg/m3–0.058 mg/m3 respectively. Mean values of calculated equivalent exposure values were: 1.50 (Factory 1), 1.56 (Factory 2), 5.14 (Factory 3), 2.21 (Factory 4), 2.89 (Factory 5), and 1.20 (Factory 6). The welders in factories 1, 2, 3, and 4 were exposed to welding fume concentration above the SASO limit value, which may increase the risk of respiratory health problems.
Capacity-aware state aggregation for interdomain QoS routing

Quality-of-service (QoS) routing between domains is an essential component for providing service differentiation in the Internet. State aggregation is a technique that makes QoS routing scalable to large internetworks, by presenting a concise and accurate representation of the domain to the routing process. The concept of using a domain's routing capacity as a bandwidth aggregate has been in existence for some time. However, no methodology has been suggested in the literature for its estimation and usage. Also, the impact of a domain's routing capacity on the routing performance has not been studied before. This paper aims to fill these voids by presenting a framework based on "network flows" for estimating a domain's routing capacity and evaluating its efficacy on the routing performance. The routing capacity is used in conjunction with the conventional widest path bandwidth as the domain aggregate. Analytical and experimental results show that appropriate use of routing capacity along with the widest path bandwidth reduces the tendency of the advertised aggregate to overestimate bandwidth availability, and makes the routing process more robust to the frequency of domain state updates. During periods of congestion, the use of routing capacity can improve the bandwidth admitted into the network by as much as 20%
Motoric cognitive risk syndrome and the risk of dementia.

BACKGROUND Despite growing evidence of links between gait and cognition in aging, cognitive risk assessments that incorporate motoric signs have not been examined. We sought to validate a new Motoric Cognitive Risk (MCR) syndrome to identify individuals at high risk of developing dementia. METHODS We evaluated 997 community residing individuals aged 70 and older participating in the Einstein Aging Study over a median follow-up time of 36.9 months. MCR syndrome was defined as presence of cognitive complaints and slow gait (one standard deviation below age- and sex-specific gait speed means) in nondemented individuals. Cox models were used to evaluate the effect of MCR syndrome on the risk of developing dementia and subtypes. RESULTS Fifty-two participants met criteria for MCR syndrome at baseline with a prevalence of 7% (95% CI: 5-9%). Prevalence of MCR increased with age. Participants with MCR were at higher risk of developing dementia (hazard ratio [HR] adjusted for age, sex, and education: 3.27, 95% CI: 1.55-6.90) and vascular dementia (adjusted HR: 12.81, 95% CI: 4.98-32.97). The association of MCR with risk of dementia or vascular dementia remained significant even after accounting for other confounders and diagnostic overlap with "cognitive" mild cognitive impairment syndrome subtypes. CONCLUSIONS A motor-based MCR syndrome provides a clinical approach to identify individuals at high risk for dementia, especially vascular dementia, to target for further investigations and who may benefit from preventive interventions.