Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Abuse assessment screen (AAS) questionnaire: the Greek validation.

AIM Domestic violence is a social problem with increasing dimensions worldwide. The various forms of abuse and especially violence during pregnancy have not been sufficiently studied by the Greek scientific community. The aim of this study was to translate, culturally adapt and validate a special research tool that can be used by health professionals as a diagnostic tool for violence during pregnancy. METHODS The Abuse Assessment Screen (AAS) questionnaire was chosen as a screening tool. The questionnaire was translated into Greek in accordance with the procedure suggested by the 'Trust Scientific Advisory Committee', followed by the cultural adaptation of the questionnaire to the Greek reality. RESULTS Specific psychometric tests were used for the validation of the questionnaire in order to assess the questionnaire's reliability and validity, and a factor analysis was also carried out. The internal consistency for all the parties who were questioned (n = 262), as expressed by Cronbach's alpha coefficient for the AAS, was 0.806 which is quite satisfactory and the results of our study suggest that the Greek translation of the AAS has a high correlation index compared to relevant international studies. CONCLUSIONS The AAS questionnaire in the Greek version seems to be a reliable and valid tool for the diagnosis of violence during pregnancy.
Complete remission of recurrent breast cancer with multiple liver metastases after oral capecitabine and injected trastuzumab

A 32-year-old woman underwent modified radical mastectomy for right breast cancer (invasive ductal carcinoma, f, INF β, v0, ly1, pT2, pN1, M0, Stage IIB ER (±), PR (-), Her2 (3+)) in June 2003, and received postoperative systemic adjunctive chemotherapy using epirubicin combined with cyclophosphamide, followed by paclitaxel. In August 2004, after a disease-free interval of 14 months, liver metastasis appeared, and therefore from September 2004, combination chemotherapy with oral capecitabine (2,400 mg/day) and injected trastuzumab (120 mg/week) was started. After 3 cycles, all the metastases responded and this marked response has been maintained for 16 months. This therapy is currently being continued (19 cycles), and no serious side effects have been encountered.Capesitabine and trastuzumab combination therapy is effective for recurrent breast cancer showing overexpression of HER2 and resistance to taxane, and can be considered as a first-line therapy for this purpose. It is anticipated that many cases treated with this regimen will be reported and discussed in the near future.
Chronic Hepatic Disease: Usefulness of Serial CT Examinations

Purpose Our purpose was to confirm whether the progression of chronic liver disease could be determined by serial CT examinations. Method We calculated the liver (right and left lobes) and spleen volumes of 34 patients with chronic liver disease, who were examined serially for >2 years using a helical CT scanner. Progression of collateral formations was also checked during follow-up. These CT findings were compared with the liver function tests by Child-Pugh score. Results The Child-Pugh score got worse in eight patients (“score-worse group”) and did not change in the other patients (“score-static group”). The liver volume ratio between the first and last CT examinations was significantly smaller in the score-worse group than in the score-static group (p = 0.015). The right lobe volume ratio was also significantly smaller in the score-worse group (p = 0.009); however, the left lobe volume ratio and spleen volume ratio were not significantly different between the two groups (p = 0.656 and p = 0.365). In four patients of the score-static group, collateral formations progressed. Conclusion Serial CT examinations are useful to evaluate patients with chronic liver disease. The left lobe does not become hypertrophied but tends to be preserved, in contrast to the right lobe, with the progression of the disease.
Irreversible Electroporation: A New Ablation Modality — Clinical Implications

Irreversible electroporation (IRE) is a new tissue ablation technique in which micro to millisecond electrical pulses are delivered to undesirable tissue to produce cell necrosis through irreversible cell membrane permeabilization. IRE affects only the cell membrane and no other structure in the tissue. The goal of the study is to test our IRE tissue ablation methodology in the pig liver, provide first experience results on long term histopathology of IRE ablated tissue, and discuss the clinical implications of the findings. The study consists of: a) designing an IRE ablation protocol through a mathematical analysis of the electrical field during electroporation; b) using ultrasound to position the electroporation electrodes in the predetermined locations and subsequently to monitor the process; c) applying the predetermined electrotroporation pulses; d) performing histolopathology on the treated samples for up to two weeks after the procedure; and e) correlating the mathematical analysis, ultrasound data, and histology. We observed that electroporation affects tissue in a way that can be imaged in real time with ultrasound, which should facilitate real time control of electroporation during clinical applications. We observed cell ablation to the margin of the treated lesion with several cells thickness resolution. There appears to be complete ablation to the margin of blood vessels without compromising the functionality of the blood vessels, which suggests that IRE is a promising method for treatment of tumors near blood vessels (a significant challenge with current ablation methods). Consistent with the mechanism of action of IRE on the cell membrane only, we show that the structure of bile ducts, blood vessels, and connective tissues remains intact with IRE. We report extremely rapid resolution of lesions, within two weeks, which is consistent with retention of vasculature. We also document tentative evidence for an immunological response to the ablated tissue. Last, we show that mathematical predictions with the Laplace equation can be used in treatment planning. The IRE tissue ablation technique, as characterized in this report, may become an important new tool in the surgeon armamentarium.
Pharmacology of Platelet-Suppressive Agents

The dominant role of platelets in the genesis of thrombosis and atherosclerosis has led to the use of drugs which can modify platelet functions. These include adhesion to the vessel wall, shape change, aggregation and release of intracellular components. They are complex processes and incompletely understood. A precise knowledge of their molecular basis is an essential prerequisite for the understanding of the various ways in which drugs may modify platelet reactivity. Furthermore, such knowledge is vital for optimal preparation of drugs to combat acquired abnormalities in platelet function, examples of which range from the modified platelet behavior in diabetes mellitus to the more general and less well defined platelet involvement in arterial thrombosis and atherosclerosis. Platelets also have an important effect on the state of the vessel wall (injury, smooth muscle proliferation). Studies on platelet suppression must determine whether they are capable of preventing thrombosis, thromboembolism, or the development of atherosclerosis without interfering dramatically with their role in hemostasis. The involvement of platelets in thrombosis and atherosclerosis was first proposed by Osier in 1882 [110,111]. In 1948, Duguid [46] was one of the first to favor the thrombogenic theory of atherosclerosis, and during the last 15 years many experimental and anatomical findings have provided new arguments in favor of such a theory [56]. When thrombus material is not removed by the blood flow it becomes organized and incorporated into the vessel wall and then produces an intimal thickening rich in smooth muscle cells [57]. A mitogenic factor capable of stimulating smooth muscle cell proliferation has been found in serum and isolated from platelets [116]. Platelet aggregates may induce vessel wall injury. Thus, platelets contain factors which will increase the permeability of the vessel wall and cause edema of the subendothelium [102]. Platelets also contain enzymes (collagenase [37], elastase [92]), which may diffuse into the vessel wall and break up collagen and elastic tissue. Platelets do not adhere to normal endothelium, but if it is modified or removed, platelets can stick to the injured site. Subendothelial structures to which platelets can adhere are collagen, basement membrane and the microfibrils. The collagen present in the subendothelium is predominently of type III but is also present as type I.
DNA methylation and cancer therapy: new developments and expectations

Purpose of review In addition to having genetic causes, cancer can also be considered an epigenetic disease. The main epigenetic modification is DNA methylation, and patterns of aberrant DNA methylation are now recognized to be a common hallmark of human tumors. One of the most characteristic features is the inactivation of tumor-suppressor genes by CpG-island hypermethylation of the CpG islands located in their promoter regions. These sites, among others, are the targets of DNA-demethylating agents, the promising chemotherapeutic drugs that are the focus of this article. Recent findings Four exciting aspects have recently arisen at the forefront of the advancements in this field: first, the development of new compounds with DNA-demethylating capacity that are less toxic (for example, procaine) and may be administered orally (for example, zebularine); second, a better knowledge of the molecular mechanisms underlying the action of these drugs for particular genes and throughout the genome; third, the establishment of more reliable techniques to measure the effects of these drugs in clinical samples, such as high-performance capillary electrophoresis; and fourth, a decisive effort in the clinical trials that has merited the approval of 5-azacytidine by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of myelodysplastic syndrome. Summary We are at the dawn of an era when epigenetic drugs will be an important weapon in our arsenal in the war against cancer. Hematological malignancies have provided a promising starting point, but studies will surely extend to all solid tumors. However, we need to continue our research to develop more specific DNA-demethylating agents, to understand their biologic effects, and to determine whether they may be successfully combined with other epigenetic drugs, such as the inhibitors of histone deacetylases, and classic chemotherapy compounds.
Acinetobacter infection in neurosurgical intensive care patients.

BACKGROUND This study was performed to analyse the incidence of Acinetobacter infections in neurosurgical patients in the postoperative period. METHODS Two thousand three hundred and twenty postoperative cranial neurosurgical intensive care unit (ICU) patients were studied from March 1995 to August 1996; 419 patients had a variety of infections and 42 patients had multiple infections. Acinetobacter was isolated in 103 patients (24.6% of total patients infected and 4.4% of total patients analysed). Statistical analyses were performed to identify the risk factors, antibiotic sensitivity and outcome of therapy of Acinetobacter infection. RESULTS Acinetobacter infection was not significantly related to the length of hospital stay prior to surgery but was related significantly to the length of stay in the ICU after surgery. Acinetobacter was isolated from sputum/tracheal secretions in 47/103 (45.6%), followed by cerebrospinal fluid [24/103 (23.3%)], urine [15/103 (14.56%)] and blood [15/103 (11.65%)]. Acinetobacter infection was present in 54 (3.21%) of 1680 patients who had undergone routine/elective surgery and in 49 (7.66%) of 640 patients following emergency surgery. Elective/supportive ventilation for > 5 days, external ventricular cerebrospinal fluid drainage for > 5 days, intracranial pressure monitoring and prolonged indwelling Foley's urinary catheter during the perioperative period were independent risk factors (p < 0.005). Acinetobacter isolated from sputum/tracheal secretions were mostly sensitive to amikacin, cefotaxime and ceftriaxone; while those grown from the cerebrospinal fluid were more often sensitive to ciprofloxacin, amikacin and netilmycin. Twenty-four patients succumbed to Acinetobacter infection; in 11 of these patients the organism was resistant to all antibiotics. CONCLUSION Acinetobacter is an important nosocomial infection in neurosurgical intensive care patients.
Audiological Correlates of Speech Understanding Deficits in Elderly Listeners with Mild‐to‐Moderate Hearing Loss. III. Factor Representation

Objective: The objective of the study was to determine the major factors that underlie auditory/audiological performance measures in an elderly population, with particular emphasis on finding those factors responsible for speech understanding under specific conditions of interference. Design: Audiological status and auditory performance of a group of elderly (60‐ to 81‐yr‐old) and normal‐hearing young (18‐ to 30‐yr‐old) individuals was determined through a test battery. When present, the hearing loss of elderly subjects was symmetrical in the two ears and, at most, moderate. The battery included tests of speech intelligibility on the word and sentence levels, with and without the presence of interfering speech. In addition to pure‐tone and speech reception thresholds, perception of spectrally or temporally distorted speech as well as auditory resolution of frequency, time, and space were tested. Two tests received special consideration: the Speech Perception In Noise Test and the Modified Rhyme Reverberation Test. Taking the overall results as well as various subsets of the results, principal component analyses were conducted to identify major factors underlying auditory performance. Results: The factors extracted by the principal component analyses present a portrayal of the auditory performance profile in which effects of interference, high‐frequency hearing, and basic auditory function play a major role. Interference factors include general susceptibility to noise as well as segregation of concurrent speech sounds on the basis of temporal dissimilarities and spatial separation. Comparison of factors extracted from various subsets of tests indicate that factors underlying the decline of the"cocktail party effect" in the elderly are addressed mostly by tests specifically designed to assess speech understanding in spatially distributed babble or in a reverberant environment. Conclusions: Factor analysis of test measures obtained from a group of elderly individuals with normal hearing or mild‐to‐moderate hearing loss led to two main findings. First, it portrayed hearing loss as a component of different factors rather than as a factor on its own. Second, the independence of measures of speech understanding in babble or reverberation from other measures suggests that such tests should become an integral part of audiological test batteries designed to assess auditory functions in aging.
Expression and characterization of the thymidine kinase gene of African swine fever virus

The thymidine kinase (TK) gene of African swine fever virus (ASFV) was located within the viral genome by using two degenerate oligonucleotide probes derived from sequences of the vaccinia virus and cellular TK genes. The TK gene was mapped within a 0.72-kbp BglII-XhoI fragment (0.242 to 0.246 map units) derived from a 23.9-kbp SalI-B fragment of the ASFV genome. Identification of this region as the ASFV TK gene was confirmed by expression of TK in Escherichia coli and by the synthesis of active TK in a cell-free system programmed with RNA synthesized in vitro. The sequenced gene for TK includes an open reading frame of 588 nucleotides encoding a protein of 196 amino acids. The deduced amino acid sequence shows 32.4% identity with the TK of vaccinia virus.
Preoperative therapy in invasive breast cancer: pathologic assessment and systemic therapy issues in operable disease.

PURPOSE To review the state of the science with respect to preoperative systemic therapy and pathologic assessment in operable breast cancer. METHODS This article reviews data presented at the National Cancer Institute State of the Science Conference on Preoperative Therapy in Invasive Breast Cancer as well as supporting published data. RESULTS Preoperative chemotherapy in operable breast cancer has been shown to improve breast conservation rates as a result of tumor response to therapy. When patients are given preoperative systemic therapy, regimens should be the same as those established as safe and active in the adjuvant setting. At present, there are no data to suggest that systemic treatment should be tailored based on initial tumor response, or based on the extent of residual disease. In operable breast cancer, there seems to be no survival advantage from initiation of systemic therapy before surgery. A variety of clinical, imaging, and pathologic measurements are available to gauge tumor response to treatment. There is a clear correlation between tumor response in the breast and lymph nodes and both disease-free and overall survival. Pathologic complete response and other pathologic measures may be useful as surrogate end points in evaluating and understanding new therapies. CONCLUSION In operable breast cancer, preoperative systemic therapy is effective and can improve breast conservation rates. Unless the tumor is large or the patient is in a clinical trial, postoperative adjuvant systemic therapy is the standard of care. To achieve optimal outcomes, preoperative systemic therapy must be administered as part of a coordinated, multimodality treatment program. The preoperative setting provides a unique opportunity to study the impact of systemic therapies on breast cancer biology.
The influence of aging on pharyngeal collapsibility during sleep.

BACKGROUND Aging increases vulnerability to obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), but the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Recent data in awake healthy volunteers show a decrease in the genioglossus negative pressure reflex and anatomic compromise with increasing age, suggesting an age-related predisposition to pharyngeal collapse. However, aging effects on pharyngeal collapsibility have not been studied extensively during sleep. We tested the hypotheses that upper airway closing pressure (PCLOSE) and the increase in pharyngeal resistance during sleep (primary outcomes) as well as measures of arousal threshold (secondary outcomes) increase with age. METHODS We studied 21 healthy individuals (8 women [mean (+/- SD) age, 36 +/- 18 years] and 13 men [mean age, 41 +/- 23 years]) who were between 18 and 75 years of age. During overnight polysomnography, we measured nasal pressure (PMASK) and epiglottic pressure (Pepi) during stage 2 sleep before and after airway occlusion (external valve) until arousal. PCLOSE was defined as the pressure at which PMASK plateaued despite further decreases in PEPI. RESULTS Increasing age was correlated with both pharyngeal collapsibility ([PCLOSE] r = 0.69; p < 0.01) and an increase in pharyngeal resistance during sleep (r = 0.56; p < 0.01) independent of body mass index (BMI) and gender. There was no evidence for an effect of age on arousal threshold after airway occlusion during stage 2 sleep. CONCLUSIONS Older age is associated with increased pharyngeal airway collapsibility during sleep independent of gender and BMI. These data may at least partially explain the mechanisms underlying the predisposition for pharyngeal collapse in the elderly.
Rapid postnatal development of myoglobin from large liver iron stores in hooded seals

SUMMARY Hooded seals (Cystophora cristata) rely on large stores of oxygen, either bound to hemoglobin or myoglobin (Mb), to support prolonged diving activity. Pups are born with fully developed hemoglobin stores, but their Mb levels are only 25–30% of adult levels. We measured changes in muscle [Mb] from birth to 1 year of age in two groups of captive hooded seal pups, one being maintained in a seawater pool and one on land during the first 2 months. All pups fasted during the first month, but were fed from then on. The [Mb] of the swimming muscle musculus longissimus dorsi (LD) doubled during the month of fasting in the pool group. These animals had significantly higher levels and a more rapid rise in LD [Mb] than those kept on land. The [Mb] of the shoulder muscle, m. supraspinatus, which is less active in both swimming and hauled-out animals, was consistently lower than in the LD and did not differ between groups. This suggests that a major part of the postnatal rise in LD [Mb] is triggered by (swimming) activity, and this coincides with the previously reported rapid early development of diving capacity in wild hooded seal pups. Liver iron concentration, as determined from another 25 hooded seals of various ages, was almost 10 times higher in young pups (1–34 days) than in yearling animals and adults, and liver iron content of pups dropped during the first month, implying that liver iron stores support the rapid initial rise in [Mb].
Developmental pharmacology--drug disposition, action, and therapy in infants and children.

For those using drugs to treat infants and children, the integration of developmental pharmacology is crucial to appropriate clinical practice. Changes in metabolic capacity, distribution sites, and organ function all affect the way in which medications are handled in the very young. This review examines the developmental changes that profoundly affect the responses of children to medications and related therapies.
Amylin receptor components and the leptin receptor are co‐expressed in single rat area postrema neurons

Amylin is a pancreatic β‐cell hormone that acts as a satiating signal to inhibit food intake by binding to amylin receptors (AMYs) and activating a specific neuronal population in the area postrema (AP). AMYs are heterodimers that include a calcitonin receptor (CTR) subunit [CTR isoform a or b (CTRa or CTRb)] and a member of the receptor activity‐modifying proteins (RAMPs). Here, we used single‐cell quantitative polymerase chain reaction to assess co‐expression of AMY subunits in AP neurons from rats that were injected with amylin or vehicle. Because amylin interacts synergistically with the adipokine leptin to reduce body weight, we also assessed the co‐expression of AMY and the leptin receptor isoform b (LepRb) in amylin‐activated AP neurons. Single cells were collected from Wistar rats and from transgenic Fos‐GFP rats that express green fluorescent protein (GFP) under the control of the Fos promoter. We found that the mRNAs of CTRa, RAMP1, RAMP2 and RAMP3 were all co‐expressed in single AP neurons. Moreover, most of the CTRa+ cells co‐expressed more than one of the RAMPs. Amylin down‐regulated RAMP1 and RAMP3 but not CTR mRNAs in AMY+ neurons, suggesting a possible negative feedback mechanism of amylin at its own primary receptors. Interestingly, amylin up‐regulated RAMP2 mRNA. We also found that a high percentage of single cells that co‐expressed all components of a functional AMY expressed LepRb mRNA. Thus, single AP cells expressed both AMY and LepRb, which formed a population of first‐order neurons that presumably can be directly activated by amylin and, at least in part, also by leptin.