Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Dietary and fluid restrictions in CKD: a thematic synthesis of patient views from qualitative studies.

BACKGROUND Managing the complex fluid and diet requirements of chronic kidney disease (CKD) is challenging for patients. We aimed to summarize patients' perspectives of dietary and fluid management in CKD to inform clinical practice and research. STUDY DESIGN Systematic review of qualitative studies. SETTING & POPULATION Adults with CKD who express opinions about dietary and fluid management. SEARCH STRATEGY & SOURCES MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO, CINAHL, Google Scholar, reference lists, and PhD dissertations were searched to May 2013. ANALYTICAL APPROACH Thematic synthesis. RESULTS We included 46 studies involving 816 patients living in middle- to high-income countries. Studies involved patients treated with facility-based and home hemodialysis (33 studies; 462 patients), peritoneal dialysis (10 studies; 112 patients), either hemodialysis or peritoneal dialysis (3 studies; 73 patients), kidney transplant recipients (9 studies; 89 patients), and patients with non-dialysis-dependent CKD stages 1 to 5 (5 studies; 80 patients). Five major themes were identified: preserving relationships (interference with roles, social limitations, and being a burden), navigating change (feeling deprived, disrupting held truths, breaking habits and norms, being overwhelmed by information, questioning efficacy, and negotiating priorities), fighting temptation (resisting impositions, experiencing mental invasion, and withstanding physiologic needs), optimizing health (accepting responsibility, valuing self-management, preventing disease progression, and preparing for and protecting a transplant), and becoming empowered (comprehending paradoxes, finding solutions, and mastering change and demands). LIMITATIONS Limited data in non-English languages and low-income settings and for adults with CKD not treated with hemodialysis. CONCLUSIONS Dietary and fluid restrictions are disorienting and an intense burden for patients with CKD. Patient-prioritized education strategies, harnessing patients' motivation to stay well for a transplant or to avoid dialysis, and viewing adaptation to restrictions as a collaborative journey are suggested strategies to help patients adjust to dietary regimens in order to reduce their impact on quality of life.
Yeast Rad 55 and Rad 57 proteins form a heterodimer that functions with replication protein A to promote DNA strand exchange by Rad 51 recombinase

Saccharomyces cerevisiae RAD51, RAD55, and RAD57 genes, required for genetic recombination and D N A double-strand-break repair, encode proteins homologous to one another and to the Escherichia coli RecA protein. Rad51 protein catalyzes the D N A strand-exchange reaction with a dependence on ATP and on the heterotrimeric single-strand D N A (ssDNA) binding factor replication protein A (RPA). By several independent criteria, RAD55and RAD57-encoded products are shown here to exist as a stable heterodimer, wi th a dissociation constant of <2 x 10 l° M. In strand exchange, the reaction proceeds efficiently if RPA is incorporated after nucleation of Rad51 onto s sDNA, but if RPA is present during the nucleation phase, as is l ikely the case in vivo, the amount of strand-exchange products becomes relatively insignificant. Inclusion of the Rad55-Rad57 heterodimer with Rad51 and RPA results in a marked st imulat ion of strand exchange, providing evidence for a role of the Rad55-Rad57 heterodimer in overcoming the inhibitory effect of RPA.
A Proposed Rapid Methodology to Assess the Prevalence and Causes of Blindness and Visual Impairment

Purpose: To determine whether a sample of the 50-year-old and above population would provide comparable information to a total population-based survey. Methods: In 1996, a national eye survey of the total population in The Gambia was undertaken and the results concerning the prevalence and distribution of blindness and low vision have been reported. The same data set was used to analyse the prevalence and causes of blindness and low vision in people aged 50 years and above, and to compare the findings with the total population. Results: Of 55 bilaterally blind people in the total population, 83.6% were 50 years of age or older. The distribution by cause of blindness was similar for the total population and for those aged 50 years and above. Cataract and uncorrected aphakia accounted for 46% and 13%, respectively, in the total population and 48% and 15% in the 50 year and above age group. Trachoma accounted for 5% and 4%, and other corneal opacities for 16% and 13%, respectively. Phthisis bulbi, which may follow perforated corneal ulcers, ocular trauma/surgery or occasionally severe uveitis, accounted for 4% in both age groups, and glaucoma accounted for 9% in the total population and 11% in the 50 year plus group. Conclusion: Assessment of the 50 year and above age group proved to be a good indicator for the causes of blindness and visual impairment in the total population and for determining those causes of blindness that are avoidable. Such an assessment requires a much smaller sample size, less than 20% of the sample size for the total population, and is likely to be less expensive.
Does care reasoning make a difference? Relations between care, justice and dispositional empathy

The aim of this study was to investigate relationships between care and justice reasoning, dispositional empathy variables and meta‐ethical thinking among 128 students from a university of applied sciences. The measures were Skoe’s Ethic of Care Interview, the Defining Issues Test, Davis’s Interpersonal Reactivity Index and Meta‐Ethical Questionnaire. The results showed that levels of care reasoning were positively related to the post‐conventional schema and negatively related to the personal interest schema in justice reasoning. Age, meta‐ethical thinking, the post‐conventional schema and perspective taking predicted care reasoning. Sympathy was positively related to both modes of moral reasoning among men and predicted their care reasoning. The results point out common elements for care and justice reasoning, underscore the importance of perspective taking for moral reasoning and indicate that the relationship between affective‐based empathy and moral reasoning is gender‐specific and far more complex than previous theories suggest.
The microbiology of butyrate formation in the human colon.

Butyrate arising from microbial fermentation is important for the energy metabolism and normal development of colonic epithelial cells and has a mainly protective role in relation to colonic disease. While certain dietary substrates such as resistant starch appear to be butyrogenic in the colon, it is not known to what extent these stimulate butyrate production directly, e.g. by promoting amylolytic species, or indirectly, e.g. through cross-feeding of fermentation products. Cultural and molecular studies indicate that the most numerous butyrate-producing bacteria found in human faeces are highly oxygen-sensitive anaerobes belonging to the Clostridial clusters IV and XIVa. These include many previously undescribed species related to Eubacterium, Roseburia, Faecalibacterium and Coprococcus whose distribution and metabolic characteristics are under investigation. A better understanding of the microbial ecology of colonic butyrate-producing bacteria will help to explain the influence of diet upon butyrate supply, and to suggest new approaches for optimising microbial activity in the large intestine.
Rupture prématurée des membranes avant 32 semaines d ’ aménorrhée : facteurs pronostiques prénatals Premature rupture of membranes before 32 weeks of gestation : Prenatal prognosis factors

Objective. – Premature preterm rupture of membranes (PPROM) accounts for a significant part of overall perinatal mortality and morbidity. This study aims to define potential prognostic factors for neonatal outcome. Patients and methods. – One hundred and thirty-one pregnancies complicated with PPROM at between 26 and 32 weeks were retrospectively reviewed over a three-year period. The influence of chorioamnionitis on perinatal morbidity and mortality was assessed using a composite outcome. Results. – On admission, gestational age (GA) at diagnosis, fetal heart rate anomalies and increasing severity of clinical features of chorioamnionitis were significantly related with an adverse outcome. Significant factors associated with a favourable outcome were an administration of steroids for lung maturation, prophylactic antibiotics and tocolytic therapies. Stratifying according to GA at PPROM, the survival rates were 43 and 52% at before 22 weeks and between 22 and 26 weeks respectively. The prognosis dramatically improved after 26 weeks * Auteur correspondant. Adresse e-mail : norbert.winer@chu-nantes.fr (N. Winer). 1297-9589/$ – see front matter # 2008 Elsevier Masson SAS. Tous droits réservés. doi:10.1016/j.gyobfe. 2008.04. 020 A. Paumier et al. / Gynécologie Obstétrique & Fertilité 36 (2008) 748–756 749 with an 84.6% rate of survival without impairment. Although this rate reached 97.5% after 30 weeks, there was no statistical evidence supporting any benefit to prolong pregnancies beyond this point. The complete expression of chorioamnionitis independently increased the mortality rate by 41% (OR = 1.41; 95% CI [0.99–2.01]. Overall, the most relevant factor was GA at delivery, levelling the prognostic value of GA at diagnosis. Discussion and conclusion. – If no consensus rules PPROM at the moment, the most efficient prognosis factor before 34 weeks is mostly determined by GA at delivery. # 2008 Elsevier Masson SAS. Tous droits réservés. Mots clés : Rupture prématurée des membranes (RPM) ; Mortalité périnatale ; Prématurité
The Gonococcus fights back: is this time a knock out?

Since the introduction of antibiotics in the 1930s, Neisseria gonorrhoeae has exhibited a remarkable ability to acquire novel genetic resistance determinants. Initially, sulphonamides were replaced by penicillin, while tetracyclines were prescribed for penicillin-allergic patients. With the advent of penicillinase-producing gonococci, spectinomycin was only briefly useful as alternative treatment and plasmid-mediated tetracycline resistance spread rapidly from the mid-1980s onwards. The fluoroquinolones followed but chromosomally mediated resistance appeared after only a decade of use. Seventy years on, we now face a global public health challenge of immense significance—the emergence of resistance to cephalosporins. With lack of investment in the search for new anti-gonococcal antimicrobial agents or vaccine research, the global spread of multiresistant gonococci can be seen. The impact of untreatable gonorrhoea on HIV transmission could be enormous in high-prevalence countries. This threat comes at a time when many national STI control programmes are weak. To delay the emergence of extensively drug-resistant gonorrhoea, public health systems require strengthening and novel strategies need implementing to enhance the therapeutic lifespan of the few antimicrobial agents that we have left.
Coupled oscillators for modeling and analysis of EEG/MEG oscillations

Abstract This study presents three EEG/MEG applications in which the modeling of oscillatory signal components offers complementary analysis and an improved explanation of the underlying generator structures. Coupled oscillator networks were used for modeling. Parameters of the corresponding ordinary coupled differential equation (ODE) system are identified using EEG/MEG data and the resulting solution yields the modeled signals. This model-related analysis strategy provides information about the coupling quantity and quality between signal components (example 1, neonatal EEG during quiet sleep), allows identification of the possible contribution of hidden generator structures (example 2, 600-Hz MEG oscillations in somatosensory evoked magnetic fields), and can explain complex signal characteristics such as amplitude-frequency coupling and frequency entrainment (example 3, EEG burst patterns in sedated patients).
Validation of the 2 Temperatures Noise Model Using Pre-Matched Transistors in W-Band for Sub-65 nm Technology

This letter presents high frequency noise measurements carried out for MOSFETs in W-band (75-110 GHz). Because the 50 ¿ noise figure of 65 nm node MOSFETs is higher than 10 dB in W-band, pre-matched structures covering the entire band have been developed to reduce the noise figure and to increase the gain. Then, in order to validate the 2 temperatures noise model in W-band, only F50 measurements of pre-matched structures are necessary.
Endoscopic Treatment of Snapping Hips, Iliotibial Band, and Iliopsoas Tendon

Indications for endoscopic surgery of the hip have expanded recently. The technique has found a clear indication in the management of snapping hip syndromes, both external snapping hip and internal snapping hip. Even though the snapping hips (external and internal) share a common name, they are very different in origin. The external snapping hip is produced by the iliotibial band snapping over the prominence of the greater trochanter during flexion and extension. Indication for surgical treatment is painful snapping with failure of conservative treatment. The endoscopic technique is designed to release the iliotibial band producing a diamond shape defect on the iliotibial band lateral to the greater trochanter. The defect allows the greater trochanter to move freely without snapping. The greater trochanteric bursa is resected through the defect and the abductor tendons inspected. This procedure is performed without traction and usually only the peritrochanteric space is accessed. If necessary, hip arthroscopy can also be performed. There is limited literature regarding the results of endoscopic treatment for the external snapping hip syndrome, but early reports are encouraging. The internal snapping hip syndrome is produced by the iliopsoas tendon snapping over the iliopectineal eminence or the femoral head. The snapping phenomenon usually occurs with extension of the hip from a flexed position of more than 90 degree. Two different endoscopic techniques have been described to treat this condition. Iliopsoas tendon release at the level of the hip joint, with this technique the iliopsoas bursa is accessed through an anterior hip capsulotomy and is frequently referred to as a transcapsular release. The second technique is a release at the insertion of the iliopsoas tendon on the lesser trochanter, with this technique the iliospaos bursa is accessed directly. In every report the iliopsoas tendon release has been combined with arthroscopy of the hip joint. It has been documented that more than half of the patients with internal snapping hip syndrome have intra-articular hip pathology. The results of endoscopic release of the iliopsoas tendon in the treatment of internal snapping hip syndrome are encouraging and seem to be better than those reported for open procedures.
Improving the stability of wrapper variable selection applied to binary classification

Wrapper variable selection methods are widely adopted in many applications, among which the design of classifiers. The main problem related to these approaches regards the stability of the selection, namely the exploitation of different training data set can lead to the selection of different variable subsets. This problem is particularly critical in applications where variable selection is used to interpret the behaviour of the process or phenomenon under consideration, i.e. to understand which among a potentially huge list of variables actually affect the classification. The paper proposes a method that improves the stability of the wrapper variable selection procedures while preserving and possibly improving the classification performance. Moreover three binary classifiers are performed in order to prove the effectiveness of the proposed method.
Numerical modelling of symmetric and asymmetric punching and post-punching shear responses of RC flat slabs

The design and construction of civil engineering structures take into great consideration the sensitivity of such structures in the event of local failures. Flat slab structural systems are very prone to progressive collapse after the failure of a connection or column. Hence, to improve their robustness the introduction of integrity reinforcement is recommended in Eurocode 2, ACI 318-11 and Model Code 2010. However, very little investigation has been carried out on the asymmetric post-punching response of these connections or the actual contribution of designed integrity reinforcement to robustness at a system level. Presented in this paper, is a numeric approach developed for modelling the response of isolated RC flat slab test specimens using the finite element (FE) software LS-DYNA. This is in view of their incorporation into system models for both quasi-static and dynamic assessments of robustness in flat slab structures. Quarter FE models of four symmetric isolated RC flat slab specimens with experimental responses available in literature were developed. These quarter FE models were analysed numerically using a quasi-static displacement controlled approach and their flexural, punching shear and post-punching shear responses observed. A sensitivity analysis was carried out to obtain the optimum element characteristics for punching shear strength as well as other response criteria. Half asymmetric F.E models of two slab specimens were also developed and analysed. These provided the asymmetric punching and post-punching shear response of the slab specimens, assuming the loss of an interior column. Results of quarter symmetric FE models gave accurate predictions of slab load-deformation responses, punching and post-punching shear strengths. Maximum percentage differences of 2% and 3% were obtained when comparing test and FE results of symmetric slab specimens for peak punching and post-punching shear strengths respectively. Asymmetric FE models gave post-punching shear strengths lower than values obtained from tests on symmetric specimens. Robustness of flat slab structures after the loss of an internal column could be significantly overestimated where models adopted do not take into consideration such reductions in post punching shear strength. The results presented validate the use of this FE approach on LS-DYNA to predict the response of concrete flat slab connections.
Stressors, coping, and coping effectiveness among professional rugby union players

The overall purpose of this study was to examine stressors, coping strategies, and perceived coping effectiveness among professional rugby union players. Eight first class professional male rugby union players maintained diaries over a 28-day period. The diaries included a stressor checklist, an open-ended coping response section, and a Likert-type scale evaluation of coping effectiveness. Total reported stressors and coping strategies were tallied and analyzed longitudinally. The most frequently cited stressors were injury concerns, mental errors, and physical errors. The most frequently cited coping strategies were increased concentration, blocking, positive reappraisal, and being focused on the task. The most effective coping strategies were focusing on task and increasing effort. Professional rugby players use a variety of different coping strategies in order to manage the stressors they experience, but the effectiveness of their coping attempts can vary.
The Complex Relationship between BRCA 1 and ER A in Hereditary Breast Cancer

Breast cancer1 (BRCA1) was initially identified as one of the genes conferring genetic predisposition to both breast and ovarian cancer. One of the interesting aspects of BRCA1-linked cancers is the observed specificity for estrogen-responsive tissues such as breast and ovary. Recent advances in our understanding of BRCA1-linked breast cancers have revealed a complex relationship between BRCA1and estrogen receptor a (ERa) signaling. Estrogen stimulation increases expression of BRCA1 at the mRNA and protein level and conversely BRCA1functions to both induce ERamRNA expression and act as a negative regulator of ERa signaling. Here, we review the relationship between BRCA1and ERa and discuss the use of antiestrogen therapies such as tamoxifen and aromatase inhibitors in the treatment of BRCA1mutation carriers.
Extracellular acid increases the open probability of transduction channels in spider mechanoreceptors

Ion channels of the epithelial sodium channel, degenerin and acid‐sensitive channel (ENaC/DEG/ASIC) family share a number of structural and functional homologies. Several members of this group have been linked to mechanoreception and nociception, but there is no direct evidence that these molecules cause the transduction of mechanical stimuli in any mechanoreceptor. The receptor channels of a spider mechanoreceptor, the VS‐3 slit‐sense organ of Cupiennius salei, show several similarities to ENaC/DEG/ASIC channels, including Na+ selectivity and amiloride blockade. We recorded the receptor current under voltage clamp in VS‐3 neurons at different extracellular pH values. Acid pH partially blocked the delayed rectifier K+ current and increased the receptor current in these cells. Noise analysis of the receptor current showed that low pH increased the open probability of the receptor channels. Therefore, acid sensitivity is a further similarity between these mechanoreceptor channels and the ENaC/DEG/ASIC family.
Adaptive Cancelling for Frequency-Fluctuating Periodic Interference

Periodic interference frequently affects the measurement of small signals and causes problems in clinical diagnostics. Adaptive filters can be used as potential tools for cancelling such interference. However, when the interference has a frequency fluctuation, the ideal adaptivefilter coefficients for cancelling the interference also fluctuate. When the adaptation property of the algorithm is slow compared with the frequency fluctuation, the interference-cancelling performance is degraded. However, if the adaptation is too quick, the performance is degraded owing to the target signal. To overcome this problem, we propose an adaptive filter that suppresses the fluctuation of the ideal coefficients by utilizing a π2 phasedelay device. This method assumes a frequency response that characterizes the transmission path from the interference source to the main input signal to be sufficiently smooth. In the numerical examples, the proposed method exhibits good performance in the presence of a frequency fluctuation when the forgetting factor is large. Moreover, we show that the proposed method reduces the calculation cost. key words: periodic interference, adaptive filter, RLS algorithm, frequency fluctuation, higher harmonic