Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Evaluation of the first-generation AAOS clinical guidelines on the prophylaxis of venous thromboembolic events in patients undergoing total joint arthroplasty: experience with 3289 patients from a single institution.

BACKGROUND Patients undergoing total hip or total knee arthroplasty have risks that include venous thromboembolism. The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons has promulgated guidelines for the preoperative assessment of patients with the primary objective of preventing pulmonary embolism. We aimed to evaluate and establish the utility of the first-generation American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons guidelines for the prophylaxis of venous thromboembolism in patients undergoing total joint arthroplasty at a single institution. METHODS A prospective analysis of 3289 consecutive patients managed with total hip or total knee arthroplasty at the Connecticut Joint Replacement Institute between June 1, 2009, and April 30, 2011, was conducted. Data on age, sex, body mass index, American Society of Anesthesiologists classification, and a personal or family history of blood clots requiring long-term warfarin use were analyzed, as were data on a personal history of a malignant tumor, a bleeding disorder, gastrointestinal bleeding, or a hemorrhagic cerebrovascular accident. All patients were managed prophylactically with a specific algorithm based on the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons guidelines. All of the patients were mobilized on postoperative day one, and pneumatic foot-pump compression was used for the duration of the hospitalization. RESULTS Thirty-six major venous thromboembolic events were documented with Doppler ultrasound or computed tomography angiography, for a ninety-day incidence of 1.1% (95% confidence interval, 0.8% to 1.5%). A personal history of blood clots was significantly associated with a blood clot in the proximal part of the thigh or a pulmonary embolism, but a family history of blood clots and a personal history of a malignant tumor did not show a significant relationship with venous thromboembolism. The ninety-day incidence of venous thromboembolism was significantly different between total hip arthroplasty patients (0.56%; 95% confidence interval, 0.30% to 1.15%) and total knee arthroplasty patients (1.46%; 95% confidence interval, 1.01% to 2.10%). The risk was greater in high-risk total knee arthroplasty patients compared with high-risk total hip arthroplasty patients despite comparable prophylaxis with enoxaparin sodium for twenty-eight days. CONCLUSIONS The prospective use of the first-generation American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons guidelines resulted in a low incidence of clinically important thromboembolic events in total hip and total knee arthroplasty patients. When properly used in these patients, the guidelines to minimize adverse outcomes are executable and effective. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE Therapeutic Level IV. See Instructions for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.
Sleep and the Immune Response

Both the central nervous system and the immune system respond to stimuli, select appropriate information, commit this information to memory, integrate it, and initiate suitable adaptive responses. The realization that these systems have mutual functions in host defense formed the basis for numerous studies of their relationships! We shall focus on one of these relationships, that between slow-wave sleep and the immune response. The latter term is used here in a broad sense. Many substances that lead to immune responses also enhance sleep and actually have been found in brain, suggesting that sleep may indeed be intimately involved in processes that counter infections.
Systematic evaluation of errors occurring during the preparation of intravenous medication

Introduction: Errors in the concentration of intravenous medications are not uncommon. We evaluated steps in the infusion-preparation process to identify factors associated with preventable medication errors. Methods: We included 118 health care professionals who would be involved in the preparation of intravenous medication infusions as part of their regular clinical activities. Participants performed 5 infusion-preparation tasks (drug-volume calculation, rounding, volume measurement, dose-volume calculation, mixing) and prepared 4 morphine infusions to specified concentrations. The primary outcome was the occurrence of error (deviation of > 5% for volume measurement and > 10% for other measures). The secondary outcome was the magnitude of error. Results: Participants performed 1180 drug-volume calculations, 1180 rounding calculations and made 1767 syringe-volume measurements, and they prepared 464 morphine infusions. We detected errors in 58 (4.9%, 95% confidence interval [CI] 3.7% to 6.2%) drug-volume calculations, 30 (2.5%, 95% CI 1.6% to 3.4%) rounding calculations and 29 (1.6%, 95% CI 1.1% to 2.2%) volume measurements. We found 7 errors (1.6%, 95% CI 0.4% to 2.7%) in drug mixing. Of the 464 infusion preparations, 161 (34.7%, 95% CI 30.4% to 39%) contained concentration errors. Calculator use was associated with fewer errors in dose-volume calculations (4% v. 10%, p = 0.001). Four factors were positively associated with the occurence of a concentration error: fewer infusions prepared in the previous week (p = 0.007), increased number of years of professional experience (p = 0.01), the use of the more concentrated stock solution (p < 0.001) and the preparation of smaller dose volumes (p < 0.001). Larger magnitude errors were associated with fewer hours of sleep in the previous 24 hours (p = 0.02), the use of more concentrated solutions (p < 0.001) and preparation of smaller infusion doses (p < 0.001). Interpretation: Our data suggest that the reduction of provider fatigue and production of pediatric-strength solutions or industry-prepared infusions may reduce medication errors.
A Mathematical Model Of Intracranial PressureAnd Cerebral Hemodynamics ResponseTo CO2 Changes

Alterations in blood CO] tension (paco) are frequently used in neurosurgical Intensive Care Units to manage patients with severe brain diseases and to test the status of mechanisms regulating cerebral blood flow. In this work, the complex relationships between Pacc>2> cerebral blood volume, cerebral blood flow and intracranial pressure (ICP) are investigated by means of an original mathematical model. The model incorporates the intracranial compliance, the cerebrospinal fluid production and reabsorption processes, the collapse of the terminal cerebral veins, and the active response of large and small cerebral arteries to perfusion pressure changes (autoregulation) and to changes inpaCO; (chemical regulation). Two different kinds of simulations have been performed to validate the model and to test its possible clinical usefulness. In a first stage, ICP was maintained constant to mimic experiments with the open skull and the ccrebrovascular response to changes in systemic arterial pressure and in Paco^ was reproduced. The results of the model show that agreement with the experimental curves of various authors is quite good. In the second stage, conditions occurring with a closed skull were simulated. These are characterized by acute changes in ICP, induced by active changes in cerebral blood volume. In these conditions, the model was used to reproduce the time pattern of ICP and blood flow velocity at the level of the middle cerebral artery observed in patients during alterations in systemic arterial pressure and Paco^A comparison between simulation results and real tracings is presented and discussed. The model may represent a valid tool to interpret the complex relationships between cerebral hemodynamic quantities in neurosurgical Intensive Care Units. Transactions on Biomedicine and Health vol 4, © 1997 WIT Press, www.witpress. com, ISSN 1743-3525
NVM cell degradation induced by femtosecond laser backside irradiation for reliability tests

In this paper we present the behavior of a single nonvolatile Flash floating gate memory cell when it is irradiated, from the backside, by femtosecond laser pulses. For the first time we show that the memory cell state can change using this type of stimulation. The measurements were carried out with an experimental setup with an ad hoc probe station built around the optical bench. We present the experimental results using different memory bias conditions to highlight the charge injection in the floating gate. Then, we study the cell degradation to check the state of the tunnel oxide and the drain-bulk junction. The aim is to understand the failure mechanisms and use this technique for accelerated reliability tests. Finally we report the experimental results achieved for different laser energies.
Foot Trajectory Kept Motion Retargeting

This paper presents a novel method for retargeting motions. In this method we consider the whole leg as a length changeable skeleton, through keeping the length proportion and direction of the leg vector before and after retargeting we can accomplish the motion retargeting by scale the root node. Because we transform the constraint of foot position to the constraints of the leg vector's length and direction and adjusting the leg vector is easy, our method need not the complex optimization algorithm. The experimental results show that the method is a real-time method and the characteristic of foot trajectory can be kept after retargeting.
A model-driven treatment of a Cantonese-speaking dyslexic patient with impairment to the semantic and nonsemantic pathways

This paper describes a case study evaluating the efficacy of a reading therapy on a Cantonese brain-injured patient, CSH, with hypothesised deficits to the semantic and nonsemantic reading routes. The treatment emphasised the re-establishment of phonetic radical-to-syllable correspondences in regular and partially regular phonetic compounds, and encouraged the patient to make use of the semantic information associated with the signific radical to assist her in arriving at the target pronunciation. By the end of the therapy, CSH read all the treatment items flawlessly and improved significantly on reading generalisation probes, while no observable change was found in the irregular phonetic compound control probes. Specific treatment effect was evidenced by the synchrony between the introduction of training and the marked progress seen at various treatment stages, and greater improvement on treatment than on generalisation probes. In addition, CSH demonstrated an increase in regularisation errors coupled with a decrease in “no responses. ”
Tobacco smoking and risk of bladder cancer

Tobacco smoking is the main known cause of urinary bladder cancer in humans. In most populations, over half of cases in men and a sizeable proportion in women are attributable to this habit. Epidemiological studies conducted in different populations have shown a linear relationship between intensity and duration of smoking and risk. Quitting smoking reduces the risk of bladder cancer. Smoking black (air-cured) cigarettes results in a higher risk than smoking blond (flue-cured) tobacco cigarettes; results on inhalation patterns and use of filter are not consistent. Cigar and pipe smoking also increases the risk of bladder cancer; data on other tobacco products are limited. The evidence for non-transitional bladder carcinoma is limited, but consistent with an increased risk. The available evidence does not point towards a different carcinogenic effect of tobacco smoking in men and women or in whites and blacks. Data on involuntary smoke and use of smokeless tobacco products are limited, but do not suggest an increased risk of bladder cancer.
Inadequacy of zero-width approximation for a light Higgs boson signal

A bstractIn the Higgs search at the LHC, a light Higgs boson $ \left( {{115}\,{\text{GeV}} \lesssim {M_{\text{H}}} \lesssim {13}0\,{\text{GeV}}} \right) $ is not excluded by experimental data. In this mass range, the width of the Standard Model Higgs boson is more than four orders of magnitude smaller than its mass. The zero-width approximation is hence expected to be an excellent approximation. We show that this is not always the case. The inclusion of off-shell contributions is essential to obtain an accurate Higgs signal normalisation at the 1% precision level. For gg (→ H) → VV, V = W,Z, $ \mathcal{O} $(10 %) corrections occur due to an enhanced Higgs signal in the region MV V> 2 MV, where also sizable Higgs-continuum interference occurs. We discuss how experimental selection cuts can be used to exclude this region in search channels where the Higgs invariant mass cannot be reconstructed. We note that the H → V V decay modes in weak boson fusion are similarly affected.
Antihistaminic agents and ascorbic acid in the early treatment of the common cold.

Recently there has been widespread interest in the use of antihistaminic drugs in the treatment of the common cold. Several enthusiastic papers have appeared in the medical literature. These reports have been widely publicized in the lay press, and, since some of the antihistaminic drugs have been released for over-the-counter sale, a tremendous advertising campaign has gotten under way. Brewster's reports1of 1947 and 1949were on the use of diphenhydramine (benadryl®) hydrochloride, tripelennamine (pyribenzamine®) hydrochloride, pyranisamine maleate (neo-antergan®) and methapyrilene (histadyl® and thenylene®) hydrochloride. He was the first to emphasize the importance of the early use of these drugs in the treatment of the common cold. In his 1949 series, all symptoms were aborted in 19 of 21 patients who started medication within the first hour and in 48 of 55 patients who started medication within two hours of onset. One may reasonably ask how many of these patients
[Doctor-patient relationship barriers to substance dependents seeking treatment].

INTRODUCTION Knowing the barriers substance dependents come across when seeking treatment has medical and public health implications. The study's aim was to formulate hypothesis on psychological and social and familiar variables forming subjective barriers to early treatment. METHODS A qualitative exploratory study was conducted in an intentional sample (selected through saturation and variety of types) of 13 substance dependents who sought treatment. In-depth open-question semi-structured interviews were conducted and the transcribed data underwent qualitative analysis. RESULTS The main barriers in doctor-patient relationship were fear of doctors and facilities which are regarded as "sadistic," and the perception of doctor-patient "distancing. " CONCLUSIONS Health care professionals should take into consideration the existence of barriers to treatment and should bear this in mind when promoting their services. Issues such as "fear of being abused" and "doctors wouldn't know how to treat me" should be covered in structured questionnaires of further quantitative studies.
Long-term condition management: health professionals' perspectives.

INTRODUCTION Long-term conditions (LTCs) are the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in New Zealand. The burden upon patients and health care services to manage these conditions has prompted calls for primary care to lead the way in early diagnosis and coordination of LTC care. The purpose of this study was to investigate the perspectives of health professionals in a geographically-isolated region of New Zealand regarding current levels of LTC management to provide direction for future service development. METHODS Semi-structured, face-to-face interviews conducted in 2009 with 10 purposively sampled health professionals in the primary care field, including four general practitioners, four nurses and two management team personnel, all practising in a regional District Health Board. The resultant data were analysed using a general inductive thematic approach. FINDINGS Three main themes were identified by the health professionals as being key issues pertaining to the management of LTCs. These are discussed as issues pertaining to management, information and communication and leadership. CONCLUSION The results showed that LTC management is rated as highly important by health care professionals who are aware of the need to change current delivery methods to improve client outcomes. All those interviewed highlighted issues related to funding as being a significant barrier to implementing innovations in LTC management, including nurse-led services. Plans to develop integrated family health centres, information technology systems and increased collaboration between clinicians were hailed as potential solutions to improving LTC management.
Calcium/Calmodulin-dependent Protein Kinase II Phosphorylates and Regulates the Drosophila Eag Potassium Channel*

Modulation of neuronal excitability is believed to be an important mechanism of plasticity in the nervous system. Calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII) has been postulated to regulate the ether à go-go(eag) potassium channel in Drosophila. Inhibition of CaMKII and mutation of the eag gene both cause hyperexcitability at the larval neuromuscular junction (NMJ) and memory formation defects in the adult. In this study, we identify a single site, threonine 787, as the major CaMKII phosphorylation site in Eag. This site can be phosphorylated by CaMKII both in a heterologous cell system and in vivo at the larval NMJ. Expression of Eag in Xenopus oocytes was used to assess the function of phosphorylation. Injection of either a specific CaMKII inhibitor peptide or lavendustin C, another CaMKII inhibitor, reduced Eag current amplitude acutely. Mutation of threonine 787 to alanine also reduced amplitude. Moreover, both CaMKII inhibition and the alanine mutation accelerated inactivation. The reduction in current amplitudes and the accelerated inactivation of dephosphorylated Eag channels would result in decreased outward potassium currents and hyperexcitability at presynaptic terminals and, thus, are consistent with the NMJ phenotype observed when CaMKII is inhibited. These results show that Eag is a substrate of CaMKII and suggest that direct modulation of potassium channels may be an important function of this kinase.
Rate-compatible spatially coupled LDPC code ensembles based on repeat-accumulate extensions

A family of rate-compatible capacity-approaching codes is obtained by spatially coupling multiple identical copies of rate-compatible base codes. The base code consists of a given regular low-density parity-check (LDPC) code and a parameter-adjustable repeat-accumulate (RA) extension. The RA-extension repeatedly accumulates all of the variable nodes of the given LDPC code by q + 1 times to generate q + 1 blocks of accumulated nodes, in which all of the accumulated variable nodes in the first q blocks and the α-fractional accumulated variable nodes in the last block are transmitted. The spatially coupled versions of the base codes, called RA-extended spatially coupled LDPC (SC-LDPC) codes, achieve arbitrary rates by simply adjusting parameters q and α, and thus they are rate-compatible. The potential thresholds of the base code ensembles are calculated to predict the iterative decoding performance of the proposed RA-extended SC-LDPC codes. Numerical results and simulations show that the authors’ proposed rate-compatible codes are capacity-approaching over binary erasure channels.
Rhythmic chloroplast migration in the green alga Ulva: dissection of movement mechanism by differential inhibitor effects.

The chloroplasts of the green alga, Ulva lactuca L. , migrate rhythmically between the outer (periclinal) cell walls in the daytime ("face" position) and the anticlinal cell walls at night ("profile" position). Both NaN3 and colchicine inhibit chloroplast movement mainly in the direction from profile towards face position. Differential drug sensitivity is suggestive of different mechanisms for the two directions of chloroplast migration. UV light reverses the inhibition by colchicine, presumably through the formation of lumicolchicine, the non-tubulin-binding isomer of colchicine. This result is indicative of microtubule involvement. Interpretation of the effects of azide is complicated by changes in the biological clock (phase delay and lengthening of the period). Cytochalasin B has no effect on chloroplast movement when added alone, but when added with colchicine it prevents colchicine inhibition of movement. We hypothesize that chloroplast position is controlled by a balance between two opposing movement systems with differential drug sensitivity.
Rhoptries are major players in Toxoplasma gondii invasion and host cell interaction

Rhoptries are unique secretory organelles shared by all Apicomplexan invasive stages. They are exocytosed upon host cell invasion and their contents are involved in creating the moving junction that propels the parasite in the cell and in building the parasitophorous vacuole in which the parasite will develop. In addition, some rhoptry proteins are targeted to the host cell nucleus. The array of roles played by these organelles has considerably expanded in the recent years, making them a major clue to the understanding of the early interaction between these parasites and their host. Yet, our knowledge on these organelles is still very poor and much has to be done before we get a clear view of the part they play in Apicomplexan biology.
The relevance of inflammatory markers in metabolic syndrome.

ABSTRACT OBJECTIVES To identify how severe is inflammation in metabolic syndrome using as inflammatory markers: C-reactive protein and leukocytes. To asses these markers considering the diversity of metabolic syndrome elements. MATERIAL AND METHOD We performed a study that enrolled 258 patients registered to a family physician and diagnosed with metabolic syndrome. The subjects included in the study were divided in two groups: group A-137 subjects diagnosed with metabolic syndrome that was defined by 3 elements: abdominal obesity+arterial hypertension+diabetes mellitus; group B-121 patients diagnosed with metabolic syndrome based on 5 elements: abdominal obesity+arterial hypertension+diabetes mellitus+decreased high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C)+increased triglycerides. RESULTS We observed increased values of CRP and leukocytes for group B in comparison to group A: 0.9±0.8 mg/dl vs 0.79±0.8 mg/dl (p=0.02, significantly statistic). Leukocytes value was higher for group B, but not significantly statistic. CONCLUSIONS Inflammation in patients with metabolic syndrome depends on the number and association of elements that define this entity and it is more accentuated for subjects who associate more elements.