Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Guidelines for the use of nonsurgical interventions in osteoarthritis management

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a major cause of disability in the population and interventions are necessary to optimize function in patients with this disease. The recommended OA therapy consists of a basic set of interventions to maintain function as far as possible, including information, weight loss (in the case of obesity) and exercises. To ensure compliance with such programs and to relieve pain, a stepwise increasing analgesia may be added, beginning with paracetamol and supplemented by second-line analgesics, including opioids for more significant pain situations. The role of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, is suggested to be that of treating flares of disease activity characterized by inflammation; they should not be used routinely. Alternative medications are widely used by patients and may have some role in pain relief, although the potency of such compounds is generally somewhat low.
The Emerging Role of Electronic Medical Records - What Do They Mean to Quality and Value?

President Bush identified electronic medical records (EMRs), also known as electronic health records (EHRs), as one of the 4 cornerstones in his value driven health care initiative. EMRs represent a “disruptive technology” insofar as they change the way we capture, store, retrieve, share, and use health information. Because they have the ability to transform and enhance virtually all communications, transactions, and analyses involving healthcare information, implementation of EMRs will have a profound effect on patients, providers, and payers. The transformation likely will parallel the one which occurred as information technology enhanced knowledge and productivity in the non-healthcare segments of the U.S. economy. As such, the potential of EMRs to have a significant and positive impact on quality and value in healthcare is great.
THE EFFECT OF HEAT, pH AND ORGANIC SOLVENTS ON THE ELECTRICAL IMPEDANCE AND PERMEABILITY OF EXCISED HUMAN SKIN

SUMMARY. — The permeability of excised human skin to dimethyl sulphoxide and the effects of this solvent on water permeability are described. The results of measurements of the electrical impedance of excised human skin both before and after chemical and heat treatments are also given. Stratum corneum is shown to undergo irreversible structural changes when heated above 65°C. or incubated in aqueous media at pH < 3 or > 9. Simultaneous measurements of water permeability and electrical impedance of skin samples subjected to treatments with dimethyl sulphoxide, detergents and surfactants show that there is a good correlation (coefficient ‐ 0·78) between the two quantities. Some organic solvents including aliphatic acids, bases, and neutral compounds are shown to produce large changes in electrical impedance, and hence, it is inferred, in water permeability. It is suggested that these changes are due to solution of skin components, loosening of the skin structure, and hence swelling and hydration of the skin. The solvent induced changes in water permeability provide an explanation for the accelerating effect of the solvents on the penetration rates of topically applied drugs.
An overview of the progress in the treatment of multiple myeloma

Effective therapy for multiple myeloma has existed for a little more than the last half century. The introduction of melphalan 55 years ago was followed by a stagnant period of four decades in which many combinations of alkylating agents and chemotherapeutic drugs were developed without a significant increase in overall survival. The first novel agent, thalidomide, was introduced 15 years ago when it was used as an anti-angiogenesis agent. This was followed by a proteasome inhibitor, bortezomib. Then lenalidomide, a second-generation analog of thalidomide was introduced. More recently carfilzomib, a proteasome inhibitor, and pomalidomide, a third-generation derivative of thalidomide have entered the marketplace. Many new agents are in development and potentially available for future therapy.
The emerging role of carfilzomib combination therapy in the management of multiple myeloma

Carfilzomib is a proteasome inhibitor that selectively and irreversibly binds to its target, resulting in sustained inhibition absent of off-target effects relative to bortezomib. Single-agent carfilzomib has produced robust and durable responses in clinical trials and it has been approved in the US for treating relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma (MM). Due to its favorable safety profile, carfilzomib is particularly suitable for use in combination strategies. Promising data have been reported from studies that investigated the use of carfilzomib in combination with immunomodulators, alkylating agents, glucocorticoids, histone deacetylase inhibitors and kinesin spindle protein inhibitors. Ongoing pivotal randomized Phase III studies are investigating the efficacy and safety of carfilzomib combinations in patients with relapsed MM and transplant ineligible patients.
Factor VIII therapy for hemophilia A: current and future issues

Hemophilia A is a congenital, recessive, X-linked bleeding disorder that is managed with infusions of plasma-derived or recombinant factor (F) VIII. The primary considerations in FVIII replacement therapy today are the: 1) immunogenicity of FVIII concentrates, 2) role of longer-acting FVIII products, 3) prophylactic use of FVIII in children and adults with severe hemophilia A, and 4) affordability and availability of FVIII products. Improving patient outcomes by increasing the use of FVIII prophylaxis, preventing or eliminating FVIII inhibitors, and expanding access to FVIII concentrates in developing countries are the major challenges confronting clinicians who care for patients with hemophilia A.
Engineering a new generation of hemostatic agents: highlights of the Scientific Session on Hemostasis at the 2013 meeting of the American Society of Hematology

This article is a review of the program organized by the Scientific Committee on Hemostasis entitled ‘Engineering a New Generation of Hemostatic Agents’, at the American Society of Hematology 2013 annual meeting. This field is one in which high quality basic research is currently being translated into novel therapeutics to manage bleeding and improve the quality of life for persons with hemophilia and their families. The program focused on three examples of novel strategies for improving therapeutics for hemophilia: engineering more effective procoagulant molecules based on a detailed understanding of coagulation factor structure/function relationships; prolonging the circulating lifetime of coagulation factor therapeutics and utilizing therapies that target a coagulation inhibitor to allow hemostatic clot formation even in the presence of low or absent levels of FVIII or FIX. The session organized by the Scientific Committee on Hemostasis at the American Society of Hematology 2013 meeting was entitled ‘Engineering a New Generation of Hemostatic Agents’. It was designed to showcase just a sample of the ways in which cutting-edge science is being translated into new drugs to manage hemophilia. In developed countries, the expected lifespan of a person with hemophilia is now approaching that of the general population. While many persons with hemophilia in developing countries still do not have ready access to adequate amounts of replacement therapy, simple survival is no longer the major issue for a child born with hemophilia in a developed country. Rather, optimizing treatment to maintain optimal health and function is becoming the dominant concern. A number of new products are just now becoming available that are aimed at making therapy of hemophilia more effective and more convenient. Currently, we are witnessing the emergence of a variety of potential new products that have promise to improve the management of hemophilia. These products include biosimilar versions of current products, which promise to improve access to therapy for the many undertreated patients; longer-lasting versions of the deficient factors or bypassing agents, which promise to reduce the burden of repeated infusions for therapeutic or prophylactic therapy; variants of factors engineered with increased activity, which might be effective at lower concentrations or in those who are resistant to conventional therapy; and novel approaches that do not depend directly on factor replacement, which have the potential to synergize with more conventional approaches.
MANAGEMENT OF ANTIPLATELET THERAPY FOR ENDOSCOPIC PROCEDURES: OPTIMAL CESSATION PERIOD OF ANTIPLATELET THERAPY FOR JAPANESE

Although antiplatelet agents are widely used for the treatment and prevention of thrombotic diseases, only a few studies have reported the validity of the cessation period prior to endoscopic procedures. In 2002, the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ASGE) published a reference on the management of anticoagulation and antiplatelet therapy for endoscopic procedures, but it should be confirmed as appropriate for use in Asian patients. To evaluate the optimal cessation period of antiplatelet agents prior to endoscopic procedures for Japanese, we have studied: (i) the current clinically adopted cessation period of antiplatelet agents prior to invasive endoscopic procedures in Japan; (ii) the relationship between the cessation period of antiplatelet agents and complications around the invasive endoscopic procedures; (iii) colonic mucosal bleeding time after aspirin ingestion; and (iv) the time course of primary hemostasis after cessation of antiplatelet agents. We conclude that 3 days cessation period for aspirin, 5 days cessation for ticlopidine and 7 days cessation for aspirin + ticlopidine administration should be sufficient for Japanese.
Retrospective: An Experimental Study of Data Retention Behavior in Modern DRAM Devices: Implications for Retention Time Profiling Mechanisms

Our ISCA 2013 paper provides a fundamental empirical understanding of two major factors that make it very difficult to determine the minimum data retention time of a DRAM cell, based on the first comprehensive experimental characterization of retention time behavior of a large number of modern commodity DRAM chips from 5 major vendors. We study the prevalence, effects, and technology scaling characteristics of two significant phenomena: 1) data pattern dependence (DPD), where the minimum retention time of a DRAM cell is affected by data stored in other DRAM cells, and 2) variable retention time (VRT), where the minimum retention time of a DRAM cell changes unpredictably over time. To this end, we built a flexible FPGA-based testing infrastructure to test DRAM chips, which has enabled a large amount of further experimental research in DRAM. Our ISCA 2013 paper's results using this infrastructure clearly demonstrate that DPD and VRT phenomena are significant issues that must be addressed for correct operation in DRAM-based systems and their effects are getting worse as DRAM scales to smaller technology node sizes. Our work also provides ideas on how to accurately identify data retention times in the presence of DPD and VRT, e.g., online profiling with error correcting codes, which later works examined and enabled. Most modern DRAM chips now incorporate ECC, especially to account for VRT effects. This short retrospective provides a brief analysis of our ISCA 2013 paper and its impact. We describe why we did the work, what we found and its implications, what the findings as well as the infrastructure we built to discover them have enabled in later works, and our thoughts on what the future may bring.
Common skin diseases of farmed and pet fish

Title Picture courtesy of Dr Lydia Brown THE incidence of skin disease in fish in the wild is much lower than in those fish maintained in more intensive conditions. Wild fish also have the freedom to avoid unpleasant environments and stressful situations. The aquatic environment which provides fish with the medium to move, breathe and obtain food is also an excellent means of disease transmission, particularly within the physical restrictions of aquacultural units where disease explosions can occur very rapidly. Most disease conditions are initiated by stress factors such as poor water quality, high temperature and overcrowding. It is with these parameters in mind that the fish farmer must attempt to maximise production and profitability. Many veterinarians are familiar with the control of environment and stocking rates in intensive husbandry situations of farm stock. A similar, but more complex, situation exists in aquaculture with an animal which is very susceptible to stress. Well managed aquaria suffer minimal disease problems. Overfeeding of the fish by beginners may be a triggering factor for disease because of increased ammonia and decreased oxygen levels resulting from decomposing food in the tank bottom. The tank water appears cloudy and the fish listless. This is an ideal broth for a disease explosion. Every summer there are sudden mortalities in garden ponds because of a number of factors. High water temperature increases the metabolic rate of fish and reduces oxygen retention in the water. The previous year's plants decompose and parasites and bacteria flourish. Elevated levels of carbon dioxide during the night and high parasite burdens may prove too much for many fish in overstocked ponds.
Tackling antibiotic resistance in febrile neutropenia: current challenges with and recommendations for managing infections with resistant Gram-negative organisms

Multidrug resistant (MDR) Gram-negative bacteria (GNB) have emerged as important pathogens and a serious challenge in the management of neutropenic patients worldwide. The great majority of infections are caused by the Enterobacteriaceae (especially Escherichia coli and Klebsiella spp.) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and less frequently Acinetobacter spp. and Stenotrophomonas maltophilia. A broader-spectrum empiric antibiotic regimen is usually recommended in patients with a history of prior bloodstream infection caused by a MDR GNB, in those colonized by a MDR GNB, and if MDR GNBs are frequently isolated in the initial blood cultures. In any situation, de-escalation to standard empiric regimen is advised if infection with MDR GNB is not documented.
OpenRAN: a software-defined ran architecture via virtualization

With the rapid growth of the demands for mobile data, wireless network faces several challenges, such as lack of efficient interconnection among heterogeneous wireless networks, and shortage of customized QoS guarantees between services. The fundamental reason for these challenges is that the radio access network (RAN) is closed and ossified. We propose OpenRAN, an architecture for software-defined RAN via virtualization. It achieves complete virtualization and programmability vertically, and benefits the convergence of heterogeneous network horizontally. It provides open, controllable, flexible and evolvable wireless networks.
Sticky platelet syndrome: an important cause of life-threatening thrombotic complications

Sticky platelet syndrome (SPS) is a prothrombotic thrombocytopathy with familial occurrence, characterized by hyperaggregability of platelets in response to adenosine diphosphate (ADP), epinephrine (EPI) or both. The syndrome has been identified in approximately 21% of unexplained arterial thrombotic episodes, regarded to be the most common thrombophilia in arterial thrombosis and 13.2% of unexplained venous thromboembolism (VTE). The relatively young age at the first manifestation, relation to fertility and pregnancy, seriousness of the symptoms, easy and effective management of the disorder indicate to the necessity to take it into account in the differential diagnosis of the underlying cause of the thrombotic event. As the various localizations of the thrombosis in SPS have been reported, its management often requires a multidisciplinary approach. This review deals with the clinical aspects of thrombophilia, its etiopathogenesis, diagnosis as well as novel advances in the treatment and outlines the challenges for the further research.
Novel targeted therapeutics for mantle cell lymphoma – What’s on the horizon?

ABSTRACT Major advances have significantly improved the outcome of mantle cell lymphoma (MCL). Incorporation of rituximab to CHOP regimen, the adoption of high dose cytarabine with frontline autologous stem cell transplantation in young patients, maintenance rituximab or bortezomib based chemotherapy in elderly patients, improved the disease outcome. Bortezomib, lenalidomide, temsirolimus and ibrutinib have proven their efficacy and are approved for the use in refractory or relapsed MCL patients. Several other molecules are currently being evaluated such as cyclin dependent kinase 4/6 (CDK4/6), phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K), B cell lymphoma-2 (BCL2) and Poly ADP-ribose polymerase (PARP) inhibitors. Unfortunately, we don’t have specific biomarkers that could reveal which of the underlying pathways or genetic alterations are mostly involved in each individual case of MCL. Efforts should be done in this field aiming to an optimal personalized therapy.
College and Professional Women’s Basketball Players’ Lower Extremity Injuries: A Survey of Career Incidence

Context: Lower extremity injuries in women’s basketball players are generally presented as seasonal team incidence. Available data were reported by team athletic trainers to overseeing bodies yielding estimates of injury rates as a percentage of all injuries sustained. By summarizing career incidence of women’s basketball players’ injuries, a new perspective indicating potential risk of injury can be considered. Objectives: To summarize the career incidence of lower extremity injuries in intercollegiate and professional women’s basketball players, examine the effect of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury on professional basketball players’ career longevity, and explore the relationship between ankle sprains and knee injuries in this population. Design: Survey. Participants: 246 elite-level women’s basketball players. Outcome Measures: Career incidence of lower extremity injury, professional career length, relationship between history of ankle sprain and ACL injury frequency calculations, and chi-squar.
A machine-to-machine architecture to merge semantic sensor measurements

The emerging field Machine-to-Machine (M2M) enables machines to communicate with each other without human intervention. Existing semantic sensor networks are domain-specific and add semantics to the context. We design a Machine-to-Machine (M2M) architecture to merge heterogeneous sensor networks and we propose to add semantics to the measured data rather than to the context. This architecture enables to: (1) get sensor measurements, (2) enrich sensor measurements with semantic web technologies, domain ontologies and the Link Open Data, and (3) reason on these semantic measurements with semantic tools, machine learning algorithms and recommender systems to provide promising applications.
Effects of Arsenic Trioxide on Electrocardiography

Background: Arsenic trioxide had recently been found to be very effective for relapsed acute promyelocytic leukemia. Several articles reported prolongation of QT interval or ventricular arrhythmias in patients receiving arsenic trioxide. However, the effects on other electrocardiogram (ECG) have not been determined. Methods: Three-channel ECG (leads II, V1 and V5) was recorded from adult Hartley guinea pigs (400-600gm). The P wave, PR interval and QRS duration were measured at baseline condition just before the administration of various doses (10 mg/Kg, 30 mg/Kg, and 50 mg/Kg) of arsenic trioxide or water (control group) via nasogastric tube, and every 30 minutes until 3 hours. The effect of intravenous arsenic trioxide was also tested. Arsenic trioxide, 0.15 mg/Kg, 0.45 mg/Kg, and 1.5 mg/Kg, were infused for duration of 2 hours. The control group received equivalent volume of saline. The ECG parameters were measured immediately before infusion, at 10 minutes after, and every 30 minutes after infusion for a total of 2 hours. Results: Both oral and intravenous arsenic trioxide increased P wave, PR interval and QRS duration in guinea pigs. The percent increase was dose-dependent, and time-dependent, and was more prominent in PR interval compared with those in the P wave and QRS duration. There was no change in the control group. Atrioventricular block was observed in high-dose group. Conclusions: We have demonstrated that oral and intravenous arsenic trioxide prolonged P wave, PR interval and QRS duration. Routine regular ECG follow-up in patients receiving arsenic trioxide therapy may be indicated, especially in patients who already have prolongation of P wave, PR interval, or bundle branch block, or receiving concomitant administration of sodium channel blockers.
The Association between Height and Cognitive Function in Community Dwelling Old Women

Background: There are growing evidences that structural and functional brain reserves may be crucial in cognitive function of late life. In old men, height as an important marker of growth and development, is related to late life cognitive decline or dementia. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship of height to cognitive function in community dwelling old women. Methods: A total of 150 community dwelling old women who can carry out daily life independently were recruited in this study. We measured height, weight and blood pressure with an automatic device and investigated medical history and behavioral habits. We obtained fasting blood samples for the glucose and lipid profile tests and measured physical performance. The Korean version of Mini Mental State Examination (K-MMSE) was used for the assessment of cognitive function. Results: The acceptable cognition group (K-MMSE score ≥ 24) was taller than the impaired cognition group (K-MMSE score < 24) (mean height 150.9 ± 6.1, 148.0 ± 5.4, respectively, P-value < 0.01). In Pearson correlation analysis, height was positively associated with K-MMSE score (r = 0.342, P < 0.01). Multiple linear regression analysis showed that height independently related to K-MMSE score after adjustment of age, waist circumference, systolic blood pressure, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, alcohol drinking, residential district, education, gait speed (� = 0.102, P = 0.03). Conclusion: Height was independently associated with cognitive function in community dwelling old women. For the evaluation of the relationship between height and cognition in diverse cohorts, many studies will be necessary.
Prognosis and treatment of patients with acute alcoholic hepatitis

Despite alcoholic hepatitis (AH) is the most acute manifestation of alcohol-related liver disease, its treatment remains controversial. Corticosteroids, given either as monotherapy or together with N-acetylecysteine, have been associated with a moderate short-term survival benefit in patients with severe disease. The Maddrey’s discriminant function; Glasgow alcoholic hepatitis score; age, bilirubin, INR and creatinine score; and the Model for end-stage liver disease have been proposed for stratifying prognosis in AH enabling selection of the patients to treat. Definition of treatment non-responders using the Lille model after 7 days of therapy may prevent a detrimental impact of prolonged corticosteroids. Pentoxifylline is an effective alternative reducing the occurrence of hepatorenal syndrome. Emerging evidence supports use of liver transplantation in a strictly selected subset of corticosteroid non-responders.