Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Solid and liquid gastric emptying in patients with gastro‐oesophageal reflux

A dual isotope radionuclide technique has been used to assess solid and liquid gastric emptying simultaneously in 72 patients with symptomatic gastro‐oesophageal reflux and 22 normal controls. Objective evidence of gastro‐oesophageal reflux was obtained from standard acid reflux testing and/or endoscopy in all patients. Solid emptying was delayed in 32 patients (44 per cent), liquid emptying was delayed in 27 patients (37 per cent) and 16 of those two groups had delayed solid and liquid emptying. Thus 29 patients (40 per cent) had normal solid and liquid emptying. The solid lag period was significantly delayed in the patient group (P<0.01). There was a significant correlation (P<0.01) between the solid and liquid gastric emptying values obtained in patients. No significant correlation was found between gastric emptying and the resting lower oesophageal sphincter pressure or the presence of symptoms of regurgitation and epigastric fullness. In the patients with delayed solid emptying there was a higher incidence of oesophagitis than in patients with normal emptying (P<0.05).
Grammar Intervention: Content and Procedures for Facilitating Children's Language Development

Children with language impairment (LI) show an overall immaturity in grammatical structure. This includes difficulties with basic sentence constituents, pronouns, verb form elaboration, negative and interrogative sentences, noun phrase elaboration, and complex sentences. This article describes explicit instruction and scaffolding strategies, based on a review of current research, that can be used to expand the range of grammatical structures produced by children with LI. A plan for combining explicit instruction drills and use of scaffolding within embedded therapy activities is suggested. Research is needed to test the efficacy of this recommended approach.
Irritable bowel syndrome subtypes: Clinical and psychological features, body mass index and comorbidities.

BACKGROUND Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is classified into subtypes according to bowel habit. OBJECTIVE To investigate whether there are differences in clinical features, comorbidities, anxiety, depression and body mass index (BMI) among IBS subtypes. METHODS The study group included 113 consecutive patients (mean age: 48 ± 11 years; females: 94) with the diagnosis of IBS. All of them answered a structured questionnaire for demographic and clinical data and underwent upper endoscopy. Anxiety and depression were assessed by the Hospital Anxiety and Depression scale (HAD). RESULTS The distribution of subtypes was: IBS-diarrhea (IBS-D), 46%; IBS-constipation (IBS-C), 32%, and mixed IBS (IBS-M), 22%. IBS overlap with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), functional dyspepsia, chronic headache and fibromyalgia occurred in 65.5%, 48.7%, 40.7% and 22.1% of patients, respectively. Anxiety and/or depression were found in 81.5%. Comparisons among subgroups showed that bloating was significantly associated with IBS-M compared to IBS-D (odds ratio-OR-5.6). Straining was more likely to be reported by IBS-M (OR 15.3) and IBS-C (OR 12.0) compared to IBS-D patients, while urgency was associated with both IBS-M (OR 19.7) and IBS-D (OR 14.2) compared to IBS-C. In addition, IBS-M patients were more likely to present GERD than IBS-D (OR 6.7) and higher scores for anxiety than IBS-C patients (OR 1.2). BMI values did not differ between IBS-D and IBS-C. CONCLUSION IBS-M is characterized by symptoms frequently reported by both IBS-C (straining) and IBS-D (urgency), higher levels of anxiety, and high prevalence of comorbidities. These features should be considered in the clinical management of this subgroup.
New strategies for the prevention of stroke

1. Stroke is a major cause of disability and death worldwide. It is preferable to prevent stroke rather than to treat it and, for the prevention of stroke, all risk factors relating to stroke need to be understood. The present paper reviews potential new strategies for the prevention of stroke based on findings of new risk factors, as well as classical risk factors.
Management of malignant pericardial effusion and tamponade.

THE OPTIMAL management of neoplastic cardiac tamponade has been controversial, with ardent proponents of pericardiocentesis (with or without sclerotherapy), 1-3 surgical decompression, 4-8 and radiation therapy 9-11 as primary therapeutic modalities. In the eight years since this oncologic emergency was last reviewed in this journal, 12 several informative therapeutic trials have been reported that warrant a reappraisal of the recommended interventions for this condition. Epidemiology Although neoplastic involvement of the heart is commonly regarded as a rare condition, a compilation of autopsy series suggests that 3.4% (642/19130) of general autopsies 13-18 and 11.6% (1280/11078) of cancer autopsies 13-21 demonstrate cardiac metastatic disease. Of 770 cases of cardiac metastases for which adequate information was reported, 533 (69.2%) had involvement of the pericardium. 13-16,19,21 The majority of cases were clinically insignificant; however, 29% of such patients developed symptoms referable to pericardial metastases and 16% developed cardiac tamponade. 22 Pericardial lesions were either
Combinatorial and Probabilistic Approaches to Motif Recognition

Short substrings of genomic data that are responsible for biological processes, such as gene expression, are referred to as motifs. Motifs with the same function may not entirely match, due to mutation events at a few of the motif positions. Allowing for non-exact occurrences significantly complicates their discovery. Given a number of DNA strings, the motif recognition problem is the task of detecting motif instances in every given sequence without knowledge of the position of the instances or the pattern shared by these substrings. We describe a novel approach to motif recognition, and provide theoretical and experimental results that demonstrate its efficiency and accuracy. Our algorithm, MCL-WMR, builds an edge-weighted graph model of the given motif recognition problem and uses a graph clustering algorithm to quickly determine important subgraphs that need to be searched further for valid motifs. By considering a weighted graph model, we narrow the search dramatically to smaller problems that can be solved with significantly less computation. The Closest String problem is a subproblem of motif recognition, and it is NP-hard. We give a linear-time algorithm for a restricted version of the Closest String problem, and an efficient polynomial-time heuristic that solves the general problem with high probability. We initiate the study of the smoothed complexity of the Closest String problem, which in turn explains our empirical results that demonstrate the great capability of our probabilistic heuristic. Important to this analysis is the introduction of a perturbation model of the Closest String instances within which we provide a probabilistic analysis of our algorithm. The smoothed analysis suggests reasons why a well-known fixed parameter tractable algorithm solves Closest String instances extremely efficiently in practice. Although the Closest String model is robust to the oversampling of strings in the input, it is severely affected by the existence of outliers. We propose a refined model, the Closest String with Outliers problem, to overcome this limitation. A systematic parameterized complexity analysis accompanies the introduction of this problem, providing a surprising insight into the sensitivity of this problem to slightly different parameterizations. Through the application of probabilistic and combinatorial insights into the Closest String problem, we develop sMCL-WMR, a program that is much faster than its predecessor MCL-WMR. We apply and adapt sMCL-WMR and MCL-WMR to analyze the promoter regions of the canola seed-coat. Our results identify important regions of the canola genome that are responsible for specific biological activities. This knowledge may be used in the long-term aim of developing crop varieties with specific biological characteristics, such as being disease-resistant.
Feature Selection Based on Reinforcement Learning for Object Recognition

This paper presents a novel method that allows learning the best feature that describes a given image. It is intended to be used in object recognition. The proposed approach is based on the use of a Reinforcement Learning procedure that selects the best descriptor for every image from a given set. In order to do this, we introduce a new architecture joining a Reinforcement Learning technique with a Visual Object Recognition framework. Furthermore, for the Reinforcement Learning, a new convergence and a new strategy for the exploration-exploitation trade-off is proposed. Comparisons show that the performance of the proposed method improves by about 6.67% with respect to a scheme based on a single feature descriptor. Improvements in the convergence speed have been also obtained using the proposed exploration-exploitation trade-off.
Can Dietary Supplements with Folic Acid or Vitamin B6 Reduce Cardiovascular Risk? Design of Clinical Trials to Test the Homocysteine Hypothesis of Vascular Disease

Correspondence and requests for reprints to Dr Robert Clarke, Clinical Trial Service Unit, Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford OX2 6HE, UK. Tel: +44 1865 557241 ; fax: +44 1866 658817; e-mail: robert.clarke@ctsu.ox. ac.uk Introduction Moderately elevated levels of blood total homocysteine have been identified as a potentially important modifiable risk factor for cardiovascular disease [ 11. Many studies, conducted in various settings, have reported that patients with coronary heart disease [2-231, stroke [24-301 and peripheral vascular disease [31-361 , have higher homocysteine levels than controls. T h e initial studies were case-control (or ‘retrospective’) studies, which compared homocysteine levels in samples from cases, collected after the onset of disease, with those in controls. Weaker associations have been reported in some prospective studies in which blood was taken some years before vascular disease was diagnosed [2,3,6], and no association was reported in others [4,5]. In a meta-analysis of the published epidemiological studies of homocysteine and coronary heart disease in this issue, Danesh and Lewington estimate that the odds ratio of coronary heart disease for a 5 pmol/l higher blood total homocysteine level was 1.3 (95% CI 1.1-1.5) in prospective studies, 1.6 (95% CI 1.4-1.7) in retrospective studies with population controls, and 1.9 (95% CI 1.6-2.3) in retrospective studies with other controls. In addition, elevated homocysteine levels have been associated with an increased risk of mortality among patients with established coronary disease [37]. I t is unclear to what extent the discrepant results of different study designs are a result of random error, bias (resulting from the effects of illness on blood homocysteine levels) or incomplete adjustment for confounding factors (such as blood pressure, smoking and cholesterol). Furthermore, substantial uncertainty persists about the strength of the relationship between homocysteine and vascular disease in ageand sex-specific groups, and about the graded nature of increasing risk with increasing homocysteine levels across the distribution found in the general population. This has prompted a meta-analysis of individual participant data from all the observational studies in order to address these issues.
Isolated vertigo and dizziness of vascular origin.

INTRODUCTION Vertigo of vascular origin is usually limited to migraine, transient ischemic attacks, and ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke. Excluding migraines, focal neurologic deficits usually allow a fast identification of the impending neural damage and permit a rapid transfer to a stroke team. Few authors have considered that a vascular origin should be thought of in cases of positional vertigo or vertigo not associated with neurologic signs (ie, isolated vertigo) in patients with vascular disease risk factors. OBJECTIVES (1) To present a case series of vertigo and dizziness without vertigo of probable vascular origin and (2) to perform an evidence-based review regarding the incidence of isolated vertigo and dizziness of vascular origin. DESIGN Retrospective nonrandomized case series. SETTING Tertiary referral centre. METHOD (1) All patients from a vertigo clinic found to have vertigo of potential vascular origin had a complete neuro-otologic examination and were investigated by magnetic resonance angiography. (2) A MEDLINE literature search was performed using specific search terms to identify pertinent publications concerning this pathology. They were reviewed and graded according to the quality of their evidence. RESULTS We identified nine cases of vertigo and dizziness without vertigo of probable vascular origin. We identified 27 818 potentially pertinent articles. A detailed review yielded 13 studies for further analysis. Although isolated vertigo has frequently been reported as the only symptom in case series of cerebellar infarcts, only one article discussed its incidence. CONCLUSION Vascular origin should be considered in cases of positional vertigo and isolated vertigo or dizziness when the etiology remains unclear. A single study has determined that 52% of patients with isolated vertigo of unclear etiopathology have posterior circulation anomalies.
Performance Analysis of Maximal Ratio Combining of Spatially Filtered Signals

Using multiple receive antennas, some uncorrelated versions of the transmitted signal can be gathered and combined to enhance the system performance. In this case, receive antennas are apart enough to ensure statistically uncorrelated receptions. Whereas, the performance improvement using beamforming antennas usually requires small antenna spacing so that the signals received at from all antennas should be correlated and coherent. This paper discovers and verifies the fact that both beamforming and diversity gains can be simultaneously obtained using array antenna composed of antenna elements linearly spaced out half-wavelength.
Cell-Type-Specific H+-ATPase Activity in Root Tissues Enables K+ Retention and Mediates Acclimation of Barley (Hordeum vulgare) to Salinity Stress1[OPEN]

The differential sensitivity of various root tissues to salt stress is not related to their ability to exclude or sequester sodium but rather is determined by the differences in their ability to retain potassium. While the importance of cell type specificity in plant adaptive responses is widely accepted, only a limited number of studies have addressed this issue at the functional level. We have combined electrophysiological, imaging, and biochemical techniques to reveal the physiological mechanisms conferring higher sensitivity of apical root cells to salinity in barley (Hordeum vulgare). We show that salinity application to the root apex arrests root growth in a highly tissue- and treatment-specific manner. Although salinity-induced transient net Na+ uptake was about 4-fold higher in the root apex compared with the mature zone, mature root cells accumulated more cytosolic and vacuolar Na+, suggesting that the higher sensitivity of apical cells to salt is not related to either enhanced Na+ exclusion or sequestration inside the root. Rather, the above differential sensitivity between the two zones originates from a 10-fold difference in K+ efflux between the mature zone and the apical region (much poorer in the root apex) of the root. Major factors contributing to this poor K+ retention ability are (1) an intrinsically lower H+-ATPase activity in the root apex, (2) greater salt-induced membrane depolarization, and (3) a higher reactive oxygen species production under NaCl and a larger density of reactive oxygen species-activated cation currents in the apex. Salinity treatment increased (2- to 5-fold) the content of 10 (out of 25 detected) amino acids in the root apex but not in the mature zone and changed the organic acid and sugar contents. The causal link between the observed changes in the root metabolic profile and the regulation of transporter activity is discussed.
The Development of Valid Subtypes for Depression in Primary Care Settings: A Preliminary Study Using an Explanatory Model Approach

A persistent theme in the debate on the classification of depressive disorders is the distinction between biological and environmental depressions. Despite decades of research, there remains little consensus on how to distinguish between depressive subtypes. This preliminary study describes a method that could be useful, if implemented on a larger scale, in the development of valid subtypes of depression in primary care settings, using explanatory models of depressive illness. Seventeen depressed Hispanic patients at an inner city general practice participated in explanatory model interviews. Participants generated illness narratives, which included details about symptoms, cause, course, impact, health seeking, and anticipated outcome. Two distinct subtypes emerged from the analysis. The internal model subtype was characterized by internal attributions, specifically the notion of an “injured self. ” The external model subtype conceptualized depression as a reaction to life situations. Each subtype was associated with a distinct constellation of clinical features and health seeking experiences. Future directions for research using explanatory models to establish depressive subtypes are explored.
Ultrastructural localization of mu‐1 opioid receptor in the dorsal raphe nucleus of the rat

A simple pre‐embedding avidin‐biotin‐peroxidase complex technique was used to study the ultrastructural localization of mu‐1 opioid receptor in the rat dorsal raphe nucleus. Using low concentrations of the first antiserum for incubation with a short reaction time to 3,3′‐diaminobenzidine, the immunostaining was faint at the light microscopic level. However, at the electron microscopic level strong immunoreaction was observed. Mu‐1 opioid receptors were found to be localized on the postsynaptic membrane of dendrites, extra‐synaptic plasma membrane, and the surface of the small, clear vesicles in axon terminals. Of the total 407 immunopositive profiles observed, 76.4% (311/407) were dendrites and 18.9% (77/407) were axon terminals. The immunostained myelinated axons and perikarya were relatively rare, with frequencies of 1.0% (4/407) and 3.7% (15/407), respectively. About 50.8% of the immunopositive dendrites (158/311) were immunostained having their MOR‐LI results beneath the postsynaptic membrane, although about 19.6% of them (31/158) also exhibited MOR‐LI on other components, including the extrasynaptic plasma membrane. Other immunopositive dendrites showed staining in some other contents, including extrasynaptic plasma membrane (82/311, 26.4%) or not on the plasma membranes (71/311, 22.8%). Less than half of the immunopositive axon terminals (35/77, 45.5%) were found to make synapses with nonimmunoreactive dendrites (31/77, 40.3%) or immunopositive dendrites (4/77, 5.2%); none were found to make synapses with immunoreactive perikarya. The present study shows that mu‐1 opioid receptor in the dorsal raphe nucleus plays a role at both synapse or not. Synapse 29:240–247, 1998. © 1998 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
STUDENTS' PERCEPTION OF PERFORMANCE VS. ACTUAL PERFORMANCE DURING COMPUTER BASED TESTING: A TEMPORAL APPROACH

In this paper we present a case study of tracking a) students‟ perceptions of performance and goal expectancy before taking a computer-based test, b) their perception of performance after taking the test, c) their actual performance as it is calculated by the testing environment itself and d) their timespent behavior during test. Our goal is to explore whether students' time-spent behavior during computer-based testing – expressing “(un-)certainty” - can reveal any differences between what they believe they know, and what they actually know. Furthermore, we investigate the correlation between students' goal-expectancy and their “(un-)certainty”. We conducted a case study with a simplified version of the LAERS assessment environment. We used statistical methods and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) for the construction of a predictive model which explains the results, based on students‟ time-spent on answering each question of a multiple choice quiz. Initial results indicate that a) students‟ perceptions of performance and their actual performance significantly differ, both pre and post test, b) students‟ temporal behavior can explain satisfactorily what they actually know, and c) goal-expectancy has an indirect effect on students‟ “(un-)certainty”.
Ina Maria Hinnenthal and Mauro Cibin on Allaman Allamani's “Failure and Transformation in the Relationship: Between Patient and Therapist”

The concept of spirituality as a deciding factor for recovery from alcohol dependency has been the subject of a lot of criticism until recent times. Psychiatrists and psychotherapists after Jung mostly decided that the therapeutic treatment of addiction disorders was not possible in a scientific way. And rather happily they left the field of treating “them” mainly to the self-help groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) or to others considered to be “less specific” professional helpers such as social workers. The medical specialists did not know what to do. Spiritual awakenings, or the feelings of rebirth, sounded like “church” or “religion” and did not seem to be a serious medical or scientific approach. The scission of view between mind and body did not help either to overcome the scission between the biological-driven treatment of addiction and effective emotional help for recovery. It was only during the “1990s” with its new equipments and neurobiological scientific findings [positron emission tomography (PET), functional magnetic resonance tomography (MRT), research on receptors, etc.] was it possible to use new models for understanding the brain’s structure. This enabled scientific explanations, the importance of cognitive and emotive reorganization, or better integration of both cerebral hemispheres for obtaining stable recovery in the addiction syndromes. The first models of psychic trauma, as described by Horowitz (1976), used in the description of phases correlated with a traumatic life event showed that after a first moment of “scream,” the person easily enters into a sort of frozen emotional state. It was, as if, the right side, themore emotionally functioning brain hemisphere entered into a sort of anesthetic state and the brain’s main hemisphere, the left one, remains, halving the brain’s potential. That phase can endure for years, even for decades. And then a moment arises in which, as it were, there is a reemerging of the posttraumatic material that must be elaborated. This actively creates a new sense to those past events and to the entire life opening a way to a psychological recovery from the posttraumatic pain. It is during this phase of