Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Impact of Preoperative Immunosuppressive Agents on Postoperative Outcomes in Crohn’s Disease

BACKGROUND: Immunosuppressive agents are essential in the management of Crohn’s disease. Their safety before surgery, however, is still controversial. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to evaluate whether the preoperative use of immunosuppressive agents is associated with increased postoperative complications in Crohn’s disease. DATA SOURCES: A literature search of PubMed, EMBASE, and The Cochrane Library was undertaken in February 2013. STUDY SELECTION: All studies describing postoperative outcomes of patients undergoing bowel resections for Crohn’s disease were included if they reported data comparing patients on preoperative immunosuppressive agents with an appropriate control group. INTERVENTIONS: All immunosuppressive agents used to manage Crohn's disease were studied. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The main outcomes measured were total overall complications and total infectious complications. RESULTS: Twenty-one eligible studies (20 retrospective and 1 prospective) with 6899 patients were included. When individual studies were examined, only 2/14 (14%), 4/13 (31%), and 1/8 (13%) studies found an association between postoperative complications and preoperative anti-tumor necrosis factor agents, corticosteroids, and thiopurines. In meta-analyses, patients on anti-tumor necrosis factor agents (risk ratio, 1.29; 95% CI, 1.07-1.55), and corticosteroids (risk ratio, 1.55; 95% CI, 1.23-1.95) were found to have a higher risk of postoperative infectious complications. The use of anti-tumor necrosis factor agents was also significantly associated with wound infection (risk ratio, 1.62; 95% CI, 1.12-2.34) and septic shock (risk ratio, 1.81; 95% CI, 1.03-3.17). There was no association between the use of thiopurines or combined immunomodulator drugs and postoperative complications. LIMITATIONS: Most studies were retrospectively designed, and there were large variations in the patient populations and outcome definitions. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with Crohn’s disease on preoperative immunosuppressive agents are at higher risk for complications. Both corticosteroids and anti-tumor necrosis factor agents may increase the risk of infections and septic shock. A preoperative drug-free interval, when feasible, might be considered to reduce the risk of infections. The adoption of any operative strategies that modify these outcomes may additionally counter these risks.
Quantitative assessment of MRI lesion load in monitoring the evolution of multiple sclerosis.

In recent years, several segmentation techniques have been developed to quantify brain MRI lesion load in multiple sclerosis and are now being used increasingly for both evaluating the natural history of the disease and monitoring the efficacy of treatment. Such techniques have been applied extensively to conventional T2-weighted images; there is less experience to date with gadolinium-enhanced scans and newer MR parameters which are thought to reflect the more destructive aspects of the pathological process. Manual outlining of lesions on T2-weighted images is moderately accurate when performed by an experienced observer and has been validated in large clinical trials, but is very time consuming. Semi-automated intensity-based techniques appear to be more reproducible, but are still slow to perform. Faster techniques with higher reproducibility are still needed. The correlations between conventional T2 lesion load and clinical outcome is strong in patients seen at first presentation with clinically isolated syndromes suggestive of multiple sclerosis, but much weaker in established multiple sclerosis. The application of quantitative assessment of the MR parameters which are more specific for the disabling aspects of the pathological process (i.e. demyelination, axonal loss and spinal cord involvement) may improve the correlation with clinical status.
Comparison of buprenorphine and methadone effects on opiate self-administration in primates.

The effects of ascending and descending doses of buprenorphine (0.014-0.789 mg/kg/day) and methadone (0.179-11.86 mg/kg/day) on opiate and food intake were studied in Macaque monkeys over 195 to 245 days. Food (1-g banana pellets) and i.v. drug self-administration (heroin 0.01 or 0.02 mg/kg/injection or Dilaudid 0.02 mg/kg/injection) were maintained on a second-order schedule of reinforcement [FR 4 (VR 16:S)]. Buprenorphine (0.282-0.789 mg/kg/day) produced a significant suppression of opiate self-administration at 2.5 to 7 times the dose shown to be effective in human opiate abusers (P less than .05-.001). Methadone (1.43-11.86 mg/kg/day) did not suppress opiate self-administration in four of five monkeys across a dose range equivalent to 100 to 800 mg/day in man. The distribution of opiate self-administration across drug sessions did not account for the absence of methadone suppression as monkeys took 43% of the total daily opiate injections during the first daily drug session, 2.5 hr after methadone administration. During buprenorphine maintenance, food intake remained stable or increased significantly above base-line levels. Methadone maintenance was associated with significant decrements in food intake in four of five monkeys. Buprenorphine appeared to be significantly more effective in suppressing opiate self-administration than methadone across the dose range studied. Buprenorphine had none of the toxic side effects (seizures, respiratory depression, profound psychomotor retardation) associated with high doses of methadone over 6 to 8 months of daily drug treatment. These data are consistent with clinical studies of buprenorphine effects on heroin self-administration in human opiate addicts.
Analyzing the radial pulse waveform: narrowing the gap between blood pressure and outcomes.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW The use of peripheral pressure wave recording devices to estimate central vessel pressure profiles has grown over the past decade. This review will briefly recount the history behind this technology and discuss where it fits into the measurement of vascular properties that may predict outcomes such as death, heart attack, stroke or kidney disease progression. RECENT FINDINGS Recent cross-sectional studies involving both children with chronic kidney disease and adult patients with cardiovascular disease are reviewed. Importantly there are now at least three prospective series that indicate pulse wave analysis technology may be useful both for endpoint prediction (complementing blood pressure and other standard vascular risk factors) and for informing mechanisms of benefit when clinical trials with similar blood pressure control have discordant outcomes depending on the drug assignment. SUMMARY Pulse wave analysis is an interesting technology with the plausible benefit of estimating central vascular pressures. Since the principal target organs we seek to protect with our treatments are all connected to the aorta, it may be that a better understanding of target organ risk from an aortic as opposed to a brachial standpoint will help move forward our interventions to reduce vascular disease.
Relationship Between Primary Stability and Crestal Bone Loss of Implants Placed with High Insertion Torque: A 3-Year Prospective Study.

PURPOSE Concerns have been expressed about the possibility of high insertion torque (IT) causing necrosis, impaired osseointegration, and crestal bone loss over time. The present study investigated the relationship between primary stability and implant success, including early and late maintenance of crestal bone levels. MATERIALS AND METHODS Implants were placed in patients at three study centers. Every effort was made to achieve the highest possible primary stability, which was measured with IT and implant stability quotient (ISQ). The IT and ISQ at insertion and reopening (3 to 4 months), as well as bone levels at several points in time, were recorded. The correlations between IT, ISQ, and immediate and 3-year crestal bone loss were investigated through linear regression analyses. RESULTS Average IT was 76.1 ± 20.8 Ncm, while the average ISQ score was 80.4 ± 8.4. The implant success rate at 36 months was 98.6%. The crestal bone loss around most implants (41.0%) ranged from 0.05 to 0.5 mm. None of the osseointegrated implants had crestal bone loss greater than 2.5 mm. The linear regression analysis showed no correlation among early or 3-year crestal bone loss and IT, ISQ at surgery, and ISQ at reopening. CONCLUSION The implants studied avoided any negative effects deriving from the high IT values (≥ 50 Ncm) applied during 3 years of follow-up.
Stress and Autoimmune Thyroid Diseases

Autoimmune thyroid diseases (AITD) are the far most common autoimmune disorders, their prevalence in Western countries exceeding 5% of the general population. In the large majority of individual cases the clinical impact of AITD is not severe, however, their widespread diffusion renders them a significant health problem. AITD are heterogeneous in their clinical presentation: the two main forms are autoimmune thyroiditis (AT) and Graves’ disease (GD). Although they probably share, at least in part, a common genetic background and may occur in the same family as well as in the same individual, they are definitely two distinct diseases both in their clinical presentation and their pathophysiology. In fact, AT causes structural thyroid damage (mainly via cell-mediated immune destruction of thyroid follicular cells) which results, as a rule, in functional impairment (hypothyroidism); however, depending on clinical variants, evolution towards hypothyroidism may be very low, or thyroid function impairment occurs after an initial phase of mild thyrotoxicosis due to relatively rapid gland destruction. GD patients have hyperthyroidism, often severe, due to autoantibody-mediated thyrotropin receptor stimulation, with thyroid cell hyperplasia and hyperfunction. Such a functional heterogeneity is a key feature for the clinical management: as a matter of fact, therapy of AITD is mainly therapy of thyroid dysfunction. Moreover, since hyperthyroidism is quite early perceived by the patient as a cause of discomfort, the timing of the natural history of GD is relatively well defined; on the other hand, AT may be asymptomatic for a long time and defining its natural history in a single patient may be difficult. In some AITD patients (mainly, but not exclusively, with GD), clinical features not directly related to thyroid dysfunction, such as orbitopathy, are present. Graves’ orbitopathy is probably related, at least in part, to autoantibodies directed to thyrotropin receptor; it may be, in a minority of patients, severe and sight-threatening, and represents an independent clinical problem.
Bacterial xanthine oxidase from Arthrobacter S-2

Arthrobacter S-2, originally isolated by enrichment on xanthine, produced high levels of xanthine oxidase activity, requiring as little as a 20-fold purification to approach homogeneity with some preparations. Molecular oxygen, ferricyanide, and 2,6-dichlorophenol-indophenol served as electron acceptors, but nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide did not. The enzyme was relatively specific when compared with previously studied xanthine-oxidizing enzymes, but at least one purine was observed to be oxidized at each of the three positions of the purine ring that have been subject to oxidation by this type of enzyme. The enzyme had a relatively high Km for xanthine (1.3 X 10(-4) M), and substrate inhibition was not observed with this compound, in contrast to the enzyme from cow's milk. In fact, an opposite effect was observed, and double-reciprocal plots with xanthine as the variable substrate showed a concave downward deviation at high concentrations. At 2.5 mM xanthine the enzyme had a specific activity approximately 50 times that of the most active preparations of the milk enzyme. The spectrum of the Arthrobacter enzyme resembled that of milk xanthine oxidase, suggesting a similarity of the prosthetic centers of the two enzymes. The bacterial enzyme was relatively small and may be dimeric, with approximate native and subunit molecular weights of 146,000 and 79,000, respectively.
[Effect of gene polymorphism on detoxifying glutathione-S-transferase enzymes on chromosomal stability of squamous epithelial carcinomas in the area of the head-neck].

BACKGROUND While cigarette smoking and chronic alcohol consumption are the major risk factors for the development of head and neck cancer, it is assumed that genetic factors contribute to risk. MATERIAL AND METHODS We examined genotype frequencies from leukocyte DNA of 269 laryngeal cancer patients, 123 pharyngeal cancer patients and 216 controls. Polymorphisms at different glutathione-S-transferase (GST) gene loci were investigated. Losses of heterozygosity (LOH) at 12 different chromosomal gene loci were determined in 37 of the study patients by comparing blood and tumor cell DNA. The relationship between high risk genotypes and the occurrence of LOH was investigated. RESULTS Glutathione-S-transferase high risk genotypes were identified at the first and third genes of the M family (GSTM1, GSTM3) and the first gene of the P family (GSTP1). These high risk genotypes are seen to have a statistically significant influence on the occurrence of LOH in the tumor tissue. CONCLUSION There is evidence that the polymorphisms studied play a role in the carcinogenic process by influencing the chromosomal fragility which may lead to the inactivation of tumor suppressor genes or the activation of oncogenes.
Information searching behaviour of young Slovenian researchers

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present the findings of an empirical study of information behaviour of young Slovenian researchers.Design/methodology/approach – Built on some well‐known models of scholarly information behaviour the study complements a previously conducted study of the same population, which focused on the aspects of user friendliness. This second study is an attempt to shape a more detailed picture of the investigated user group. Presented are types of scholarly information behaviour, enriched by some complementary issues regarding their behaviour as digital users.Findings – The respondents were found to express many of the features of both digital scholars and other users of digital technology. Direct searching and power browsing are most often expressed searching behaviours; also common are probing and accessing. Collecting behaviour is mostly expressed through “squirrelling”, and sometimes gathering. Satisfaction with the system and with search results is very influential, bu.
Commentary: reflections on the Cicero et al. paper (PDS 06 0174.R2)

Cicero et al. have provided an important and provocative paper. The authors are to be commended for a thoughtful analysis, one that provides scientific information on a very important topic about which there has heretofore been only speculation: the relationship between therapeutic use and the abuse of opioids. The authors have provided an important ‘denominator’ for markers of abuse of specific opioids that are often represented solely as ‘numerators. ’ Be it emergency room mentions, instances of non-medical use, or substance abuse related treatment episodes, the growing problem of prescription drug abuse continues to be represented without ways to ground the observations of misuse in a fashion that is helpful for designing risk management programs. Cicero et al. have proposed a way to do so, one that juxtaposes use of particular opioids (benefit) versus their abuse (risk). This is an innovative idea. Typically, when one calculates a risk-benefit ratio, it is based within the confines of the user of the drug (i.e., what will the
Race and Timeliness of Transfer for Revascularization in Patients With Acute Myocardial Infarction

ObjectivesPatients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) who are admitted to hospitals without coronary revascularization are frequently transferred to hospitals with this capability. We sought to determine whether the timeliness of hospital transfer and quality of destination hospitals differed between black and white patients. MethodsWe evaluated all white and black Medicare beneficiaries admitted with AMI at nonrevascularization hospitals in 2006 who were transferred to a revascularization hospital. We compared hospital length of stay before transfer and the transfer destination's 30-day risk-standardized mortality rate for AMI between black and white patients. We used hierarchical regression to adjust for patient characteristics and examine within and across-hospital effects of race on 30-day mortality and length of stay before transfer. ResultsA total of 25,947 (42%) white and 2345 (37%) black patients with AMI were transferred from 857 urban and 774 rural nonrevascularization hospitals to 928 revascularization hospitals. Median (interquartile range) length of stay before transfer was 1 day (1 to 3 d) for white patients and 2 days (1 to 4 d) for black patients (P<0.001). In adjusted models, black patients tended to be transferred more slowly than white patients, a finding because of both across and within-hospital effects. For example, within a given urban hospital, black patients were transferred an additional 0.24 days (95% confidence interval 0.03-0.44 d) later than white patients. In addition, the lengths of stay before transfer for all patients at urban hospitals increased by 0.37 days (95% confidence interval 0.28-0.47 d) for every 20% increase in the proportion of AMI patients who were black. These results were attenuated in rural hospitals. The risk-standardized mortality rate of the revascularization hospital to which patients were ultimately sent did not differ between black and white patients. ConclusionsBlack patients are transferred more slowly to revascularization hospitals after AMI than white patients, resulting from both less timely transfers within hospitals and admission to hospitals with greater delays in transfer; however, 30-day mortality of the revascularization hospital to which both groups were sent to appeared similar. Race-based delays in transfer may contribute to known racial disparities in outcomes of AMI.
Novel InSb-based quantum well transistors for ultra-high speed, low power logic applications

InSb-based quantum well field-effect transistors, with gate length down to 0.2 /spl mu/m, are fabricated for the first time. Hall measurements show that room temperature electron mobilities over 30,000 cm /sup 2/V/sup -1/s/sup -1/ are achieved with a sheet carrier density over 1/spl times/10/sup 12/ cm/sup -2/ in a modulation doped InSb quantum well with Al/sub x/In/sub 1-x/Sb barrier layers. Devices with 0.2 /spl mu/m gate length and 20% Al barrier exhibit DC transconductance of 625 /spl mu/S//spl mu/m and f/sub T/ of 150 GHz at V/sub DS/ =0.5V. 0.2 /spl mu/m devices fabricated on 30% Al barrier material show DC transconductance of 920 /spl mu/S//spl mu/m at V/sub DS/ = 0.5 V. Benchmarking against state-of-the-art Si MOSFETs indicates that InSb QW transistors can achieve equivalent high speed performance with 5-10 times lower dynamic power dissipation and therefore are a promising device technology to complement scaled silicon-based devices for very low power, ultra-high speed logic applications.
Studies on the Effect of Sargassum polycystum (C.Agardh, 1824) Extract on the Growth and Biochemical Composition of Cajanus cajan (L.) Mill sp

In the present study, an attempt has been made to investigate the effect of seaweed liquid fertilizer of S. polycystum on the seed germination growth, yield, biochemical and pigment characteristics of C. cajan. The 0.50% concentration of both water and alcohol extract showed better results of seed germination, growth parameters, biochemical and pigments constitutions. The lowest concentration (0.50%) showed higher seed germination (99.12±6.03%), shoot length (18.51±2.52 cm), root length (6.96±0.19 cm), fresh weight (0.326±0.037 mg g fr.wt) and dry weight (0.093±0.005 mg g fr.wt). The highest concentrations (1.5%) exhibit the lower 11 seed germination (81.19±4.83%), shoot length (9.63±1.08 cm), root length (3.21±0.173 cm), fresh weight (0.148±0.031 mg g fr.wt) and dry weight (0.042±0.005 mg g fr.wt). The biochemical composition such as 11 protein (4.48%±0.138%), lipid (5.96%±0.039%) and carbohydrate (9.21%±0.482%) showed the maximum at 0.50% concentration. The minimum biochemical composition such as protein (1.187%±0.047%), lipid (2.573%±0.050%) and carbohydrate (4.987%±0.411%) was recorded at 1.5% concentration. Pigment content such as chlorophyll 'a'(0.615±0.032 mg g fr.wt), chlorophyll 'b' (0.445±0.13 mg g fr.wt), total chlorophyll (1.107±0.041 mg g 11 1 fr.wt) and carotenoids (0.712±0.52 mg g fr.wt) shows the maximum at lower concentration (0.50%) than that 1 of higher concentration (1.5%).
ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF INSURANCE FRAUD 1

We survey recent developments in the economic analysis of insurance fraud. The paper first sets out the two main approaches to insurance fraud that have been developped in the literature, namely the costly state verification and the costly state falsification. Under costly state verification, the insurer can verify claims at some cost. Claims’ verification may be deterministic or random, and it can be conditioned on fraud signals perceived by insurers. Under costly state falsification, the policyholder expends resources for the building-up of his or her claim not to be detected. We also consider the effects of adverse selection, in a context where insurers cannot distinguish honest policyholders from potential defrauders, as well as the consequences of credibility constraints on anti-fraud policies. Finally, we focus attention on the risk of collusion between policyholders and insurance agents or service providers.
The Value of Producing Food, Energy, and Ecosystem Services within an Agro-Ecosystem

Abstract Agricultural ecosystems produce food, fiber, and nonmarketed ecosystem services (ES). Agriculture also typically involves high negative external costs associated with, for example, fossil fuel use. We estimated, via field-scale ecological monitoring and economic value-transfer methods, the market and nonmarket ES value of a combined food and energy (CFE) agro-ecosystem that simultaneously produces food, fodder, and bioenergy. Such novel CFE agro-ecosystems can provide a significantly increased net crop, energy, and nonmarketed ES compared with conventional agriculture, and require markedly less fossil-based inputs. Extrapolated to the European scale, the value of nonmarket ES from the CFE system exceeds current European farm subsidy payments. Such integrated food and bioenergy systems can thus provide environmental value for money for European Union farming and nonfarming communities.
Bacterial Enhancement of Vinyl Fouling by Algae

The role of bacteria in the development of algae on low-density vinyl was investigated. Unidentified bacterial contaminants in unialgal stock cultures of Phormidium faveolarum and Pleurochloris pyrenoidosa enhanced, by 1 to 2 orders of magnitude, colonization of vinyl by these algae, as determined by epifluorescence microscopy counts and chlorophyll a in extracts of colonized vinyl. Colonization by bacteria always preceded that by algae. Scanning electron microscopy of the colonized Phormidium-bacteria mixture revealed the presence of a slime matrix engulfing both bacteria and algae that may have facilitated algal attachment. Slime was not evident in the Pleurochloris-bacteria mixture, suggesting that the attachment mechanisms differ for the two algae.