Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Recent Exposure to Caspofungin or Fluconazole Influences the Epidemiology of Candidemia: a Prospective Multicenter Study Involving 2,441 Patients

ABSTRACT A prospective multicenter surveillance program on yeast bloodstream infections was implemented in the Paris, France, area without restrictions on ward of hospitalization (intensive care unit, hematology, and surgery) or age (adults and children). The present analysis concerns 2,618 isolates collected over 7 years from 2,441 patients. Centralized species identification and antifungal susceptibility testing using the EUCAST methodology were performed. Almost 10% (232/2,441) of the patients had recently (≤30 days) been treated with antifungal drugs. We analyzed the effect of recent exposure to fluconazole (n = 159) or caspofungin (n = 61) on the proportions of the five major Candida species. For both drugs, preexposure was associated with a decreased prevalence of Candida albicans in favor of less drug-susceptible species (C. glabrata and C. krusei for the former and C. parapsilosis and, to a lesser extent, C. glabrata and C. krusei for the latter; P = 0.001). In the multivariate analysis, the risk of being infected with an isolate with decreased susceptibility to fluconazole was independently associated with an age of ≥15 years (odds ratio [OR] = 2.45; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.39 to 4.31; P = 0.002) and with recent exposure to fluconazole (OR = 2.17; 95% CI = 1.51 to 3.13; P < 0.001), while the risk of being infected with an isolate with decreased susceptibility to caspofungin was independently associated with an age <15 years (OR = 2.53; 95% CI = 1.43 to 4.48; P = 0.001) and with recent exposure to caspofungin (OR = 4.79; 95% CI = 2.47 to 9.28; P < 0.001). These findings could influence future recommendations for the management of candidemia.
Enlargement of the foveal avascular zone in diabetic retinopathy after adjunctive intravitreal bevacizumab (avastin) with pars plana vitrectomy.

PURPOSE The aim of this study was to describe a case of angiographically documented foveal avascular zone (FAZ) enlargement after intravitreal bevacizumab following vitrectomy and intravitreal bevacizumab treatment of a diabetic patient. METHODS This study was done as a case report. RESULTS A 40-year-old diabetic man was treated with a pars plana vitrectomy and intravitreal bevacizumab for a nonclearing vitreous hemorrhage. Despite successful surgery, the postoperative best-corrected visual acuity was not improved. FAZ area had increased from 1.48 mm(2) preoperatively to 1.96 mm(2) postoperatively (24.5% increase). CONCLUSIONS Although intravitreal bevacizumab is an effective modality for diabetic retinopathy, it may deteriorate pre-existing retinal ischemia.
Utility of Pattern Recognition in the Detection of Unsuspected Additional Primary Malignancies on Positron Emission Tomography–Computed Tomography

Positron emission tomography–computed tomography (PET-CT) has been shown to detect unexpected synchronous malignancies in up to 4.8% of patients and has been shown to be more sensitive than conventional staging alone. Detection of an unsuspected synchronous malignancy on PET-CT will often affect both patient treatment and prognosis. This article reviews expected patterns of disease spread so that a synchronous malignancy can be more easily recognized.
Recruitment and Selection - the Great Neglected Topic

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the literature on recruitment and selection (R&S) and to link what these different bodies of research reveal in terms of the relationship between employee selection and different strands of education and training policy and practice. The intention of the paper is not to offer a comprehensive literature review, but to act as a catalyst for trying to understand R&S as a process, rather than as a series of atomised strategies; and also to begin to move thinking forward on this important but neglected topic. In particular, the aim is to learn how far R&S impinges and impacts on general education and training policy debates.
Rifampin Reduces Concentrations of Trimethoprim and Sulfamethoxazole in Serum in Human Immunodeficiency Virus-Infected Patients

ABSTRACT To determine whether rifampin reduces concentrations of trimethoprim (TMP) and sulfamethoxazole (SMX) in serum of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected persons, levels of these agents were determined by high-performance liquid chromatography before and after more than 12 days of standard antituberculosis treatment for 10 patients who had been taking one double-strength tablet of co-trimoxazole once daily for more than 1 month. Statistically significant, 47 and 23% decreases in TMP and SMX mean areas under the concentration-time curve from 0 to 24 h (AUC0–24), respectively, were observed after administration of rifampin.N-Acetyl-SMX profiles without and with rifampin were similar. The steady-state AUC0–24 metabolite/parent drug ratio increased by 32% with rifampin administration. Our study shows that rifampin reduces profiles of TMP and SMX in serum of HIV-infected patients.
Smoking during pregnancy: lessons learned from epidemiological studies and experimental studies using animal models

Numerous epidemiological studies in the human population clearly indicate that smoking while pregnant has deleterious effects on fetal development as well as long-term adverse consequences on postnatal development and maturation of several organ systems. Low birth weight, sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), behavioral disorders including attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), externalizing and internalizing behavioral problems and conduct disorders in children have all been linked to prenatal exposure to tobacco smoke. The major pharmacologically active chemical found in tobacco smoke is nicotine, and prenatal exposure to nicotine has been shown to have significant effect on the development of multiple organ systems, including the nervous, respiratory, and cardiovascular systems. In this review, we define mainstream and sidestream smoke, summarize the major classes of compounds found in cigarette smoke, and describe how use of laboratory animal models can be used to assess mechanisms of toxicity and risk in the human population in general. We then discuss the association with smoking during pregnancy and the occurrence of reduced lung function, low birth weight, the incidence of congenital structural malformations, SIDS, ADHD, cognitive impairment, and mood disorders in children, and review pertinent experimental studies using a variety of animal models of developmental nicotine exposure, including, rats, mice, monkeys, lambs, and pigs that have increased our understanding of the pathophysiology of these disorders.
Multivariate Optimization of Volatile Compounds Extraction in Chardonnay Wine by Headspace-Solid Phase Micro Extraction and Gas Chromatography Coupled with Tandem Mass Spectrometry

A method for optimization of extraction of volatile compounds in Chardonnay wine was developed using headspace-solid phase microextraction (HS-SPME) and gas chromatography coupled with triple quadrupole tandem mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS). Optimization of the HS-SPME conditions, temperature (T, °C) and extra-ction time (t, minutes), was carried out using a 22 factorial central composite rota- tional design (CCRD). Total area of chromatographic peaks of nineteen compounds was monitored in order to identify the best response and the data was collected on multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode. The mathematical model that describes the response surface for the CCRD was validated using the analysis of variance (ANO VA) with 95% of confidence level. This model showed a lack of fit based on mean square pure error ratios for each response, in which Fcalculated was 2.23 higher than Ftabulated. Even though the models cannot be rigorously used to make quantitative predictions, the coefficients of the model, especially the linear ones, are useful for understanding systematic behaviour of the response values as a function of the factor levels. Multivariate statistical design can be used in optimization of HS-SPME extraction parameters with reduced number of experiments and can be useful in sampling method of volatile compounds of Chardonnay wines analysis by CG-MS/MS. The optimal condition achieved in this method was 30°C and 45 minutes of extraction.
Risperidone as an adjunct to clozapine therapy in chronic schizophrenics.

BACKGROUND Some treatment-resistant schizophrenic patients improve enough to remain out of the hospital but continue to have significant positive or negative symptoms. METHOD The goal of this study was to assess the safety and potential efficacy of risperidone as an adjunct for schizophrenic patients treated with clozapine. In an open 4-week trial involving 12 DSM-III-R-diagnosed patients, the addition of risperidone to clozapine was well tolerated and did not affect serum clozapine concentrations significantly. RESULTS Total Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) scores and subscales measuring positive symptoms, negative symptoms, and depressive symptoms were significantly reduced from baseline. Ten of 12 participants had a 20% or greater reduction in the total BPRS score. CONCLUSION In this open trial, the addition of risperidone to clozapine was well tolerated and produced significant reduction of symptoms, suggesting that this may be a useful clinical approach. Because this was an open trial, the improvement we observed must be replicated in a controlled trial.
Pre-Processing for Latent Dirichlet Allocation

To apply natural language modeling techniques to new corpora requires users to convert documents to data using various pre-processing treatments. However, the effects of these transformations are still poorly understood. We describe several studies that quantify the impact of preprocessing in different forms, focusing on topic modeling applications. We find that many common practices either have no measurable effect or have a negative effect after accounting for biases induced by feature selection. Finally, we provide recommendations as to how to pre-process text for novice users of topic models looking to investigate their own text corpora.
Size-dependent proinflammatory effects of ultrafine polystyrene particles: a role for surface area and oxidative stress in the enhanced activity of ultrafines.

Studies into the effects of ultrafine particles in the lung have shown adverse effects considered to be due in part to the particle size. Air pollution particles (PM(10)) are associated with exacerbations of respiratory disease and deaths from cardiovascular causes in epidemiological studies and the ultrafine fraction of PM(10) has been hypothesized to play an important role. The aim of the present study was to investigate proinflammatory responses to various sizes of polystyrene particles as a simple model of particles of varying size including ultrafine. In the animal model, we demonstrated that there was a significantly greater neutrophil influx into the rat lung after instillation of 64-nm polystyrene particles compared with 202- and 535-nm particles and this was mirrored in other parameters of lung inflammation, such as increased protein and lactate dehydrogenase in bronchoalveolar lavage. When surface area instilled was plotted against inflammation, these two variables were directly proportional and the line passed through zero. This suggests that surface area drives inflammation in the short term and that ultrafine particles cause a greater inflammatory response because of the greater surface area they possess. In vitro, we measured the changes in intracellular calcium concentration in mono mac 6 cells in view of the potential role of calcium as a signaling molecule. Calcium changes after particle exposure may be important in leading to proinflammatory gene expression such as chemokines. We demonstrated that only ultrafine polystyrene particles induced a significant increase in cytosolic calcium ion concentration. Experiments using dichlorofluorescin diacetate demonstrated greater oxidant activity of the ultrafine particles, which may explain their activity in these assays. There were significant increases in IL-8 gene expression in A549 epithelial cells after treatment with the ultrafine particles but not particles of other sizes. These findings suggest that ultrafine particles composed of low-toxicity material such as polystyrene have proinflammatory activity as a consequence of their large surface area. This supports a role for such particles in the adverse health effects of PM(10).
Interaction Between Mitochondria and Caspases: Apoptotic and Non-Apoptotic Roles

Mitochondria, play an important role in a variety of processes including energy production, apoptosis, autophagy and inflammation. Caspases, are proteases that play an essential role in mediating apoptotic process of programmed cell death. An association between mitochondria and caspases is very well defined during apoptosis. Besides apoptosis, emerging data is strongly suggesting a direct association between mitochondria and caspases in regulation of a variety of non-apoptotic processes such as mitochondrial dynamics, autophagy, mitochondrial membrane permeabilization, immune responses and differentiation. On one hand mitochondria regulate activation and localization of caspases, caspases also regulate mitochondrial function, thus a feedback loop exist between mitochondria and caspases to regulate a variety of processes. In this review, we have focused on interaction between caspases and mitochondria in the regulation of each other for mediating a variety of apoptotic and non-apoptotic functions. Since both mitochondria and caspases play an important role in development of a variety of diseases like cancer, neurodegeneration, immune disorders, accelerated aging; understanding association between the two will pave the way for better understanding and designing the therapeutics modalities for a variety of diseases. This review is a part of special issue on mitochondria: implication in human health and diseases.
Resistance to Evaluation

Programme evaluators frequently encounter resistance from individuals affected by evaluation. Resistance occurs throughout the evaluation process, from the inception of an evaluation to the utilization of its findings. This article addresses possible psychological explanations for such resistance. The objectives of the article are: to provide a review of the relevant evaluation literature; to offer a theoretical analysis of social (and organizational) psychological concepts (e.g. control, reactance, competition, etc.) with regard to their explanatory value for the resistance phenomenon; and to derive strategies on how to deal effectively with resistance. In order to investigate the empirical legitimacy of the proposed theoretical explanations, we conducted a study asking 21 expert evaluation practitioners about their views on the plausibility and practical relevance of the suggested psychological explanations.
Allergic contact dermatitis from 1,6‐diisocyanatohexane in an anti‐pill finish

We report an outbreak of occupational allergic contact dermatitis from l,6‐diisocyanatohexane (old name hexamethylene diisocyanate or HDI), in the anti‐pill finish Evafanol AS‐1, in 2 clothing factories. The 19 Operatives Iron: 2 dressmaking mills all complained of work‐related dermatitis. 5 of the subjects had positive patch tests to the fabric with which they were working, and when all 19 were patch tested to Evafanol AS‐1 (1% aq). II were positive. 6 of these II were patch tested to MDI (l% pet.) and all 6 were positive. It appears that HDI in our group of clothing workers acted as a potent sensitizer affecting around 10% of the workforce.
Bacillus thuringiensis Delta-Endotoxin Cry1C Domain III Can Function as a Specificity Determinant forSpodoptera exigua in Different, but Not All, Cry1-Cry1C Hybrids

ABSTRACT In order to test our hypothesis that Bacillus thuringiensis delta-endotoxin Cry1Ca domain III functions as a determinant of specificity for Spodoptera exigua, regardless of the origins of domains I and II, we have constructed by cloning and in vivo recombination a collection of hybrid proteins containing domains I and II of various Cry1 toxins combined with domain III of Cry1Ca. Cry1Ab, Cry1Ac, Cry1Ba, Cry1Ea, and Cry1Fa all become more active against S. exigua when their domain III is replaced by (part of) that of Cry1Ca. This result shows that domain III of Cry1Ca is an important and versatile determinant of S. exigua specificity. The toxicity of the hybrids varied by a factor of 40, indicating that domain I and/or II modulate the activity as well. Cry1Da-Cry1Ca hybrids were an exception in that they were not significantly active against S. exigua or Manduca sexta, whereas both parental proteins were highly toxic. Incidentally, in a Cry1Ba-Cry1Ca hybrid, Cry1Ca domain III can also strongly increase toxicity for M. sexta.
Absolute distance measurement with an optical feedback interferometer.

An important use of the self-mixing effect inside a frequency-modulated single-mode laser diode is in laser velocimetry and range-finding applications. The optical beam reflected by a target and injected into the laser diode cavity modulated by a reshaped current is mixed with the light inside the cavity, causing variations of the optical output power. A theoretical analysis of this effect is proposed, based on the determination of the beat frequencies of the optical power variations, to improve the accuracy of laser distance measurement. A resolution of ? 1.5 mm from 50 cm to 2 m is obtained when thermal effects are taken into account.
Comparative Clinical Study of Coronally Positioned Flap with and Without Dehydrated Amnion Allograft in the Treatment of Gingival Recession

A pleasing smile involves a harmonious relationship among the teeth, the gingival scaffold and the lip framework. In dental profession, aesthetics of the patient is the main factor to be focused on along with treating the disease of the patient. The primary goal of esthetic dental treatment is the restoration to a natural, healthy, and esthetic appearance from an otherwise damaged dentition [1]. Today, gingival reconstruction has become a routine part of periodontal practice. The ability to cover exposed and sensitive roots and crown margins, to reconstruct lost ridges, and to enhance prosthetic reconstruction has undergone a rapid explosion [2]. Numerous surgical methods and materials have been used for the treatment of gingival recession. Some of the materials used in these techniques are autogenous free gingival grafts, autogenous connective tissue grafts and allograft dermis tissue [3]. Besides, biologic mediators such as enamel matrix derivative, hyaluronic acid gel and recombinant platelet derived growth factorhave been imported into surgical protocols with the intent of advancing and influencing the wound healing [4-6]. Coronally advanced flap procedure is currently seen as one of the most predictable technique available to achieve root coverage, while maintaining high aesthetics [7]. Clinical results with coronally advanced flap procedure have been promising showing improved root coverage, gain in clinical attachment level (CAL) and increased width of keratinized gingiva [8]. It also helps in overcoming the several disadvantages of free gingival grafts and connective tissue grafts, like the need of second surgical site, which is an additional discomfort to the patients.
Dual renin gene targeting by Cre-mediated interchromosomal recombination.

This study describes a new approach to targeting clustered genes. Our study began with the establishment of two lines of mice carrying different mutations in either Ren1 or Ren2. These two genes, both encoding renin, span over 40 kb in tandem on chromosome 1. Each gene was mutated by gene targeting to contain loxP sites. These two mutants and Cre transgenic mice were mated to produce offspring carrying the mutant Ren1 and Ren2 genes, as well as the Cre transgene concurrently. Initially, two mutant Ren genes were located on separate chromosomes. Southern analysis of mice from the second generation revealed that the mutant Ren1 and Ren2 were interchromosomally recombined at the loxP sites to produce a new dually mutated allele on the chromosome at the rate of 9.6% (7/73). Thus, interchromosomal recombination can be efficiently programmed by mating as designed using the Cre-loxP system.
An outbreak of hepatitis A among homeless drug users in Rotterdam, The Netherlands

From the end of January to mid‐June 2004 (weeks 5–24) a hepatitis A virus (HAV) outbreak occurred among a homeless and drug user community in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. To prevent further spread of the virus within this group and to the general population, the Municipal Health Service of Rotterdam organized a mass vaccination campaign during which 83% (1,515/1,800) of the homeless people were vaccinated. As part of a national HAV typing study, blood and/or fecal samples of 30 Rotterdam HAV IgM(+) patients who fell ill during the period of 1 September 2003–1 December 2004 were tested. The tests included RT‐PCR and sequencing at the VP3‐VP1 and VP1‐P2a regions of the HAV genome. It was found that 12 homeless people, one family member of a homeless person and two people without a known risk were infected with a unique subtype 3a strain. Four of the homeless patients became ill after vaccination and were probably infected at the time. This study shows that Dutch homeless people and drug users involved in HAV outbreaks should be offered HAV vaccine actively to prevent further spread of the infection. Furthermore, it was shown by molecular techniques that the unique subtype 3a strain was not found before the Rotterdam outbreak or afterwards, indicating that the mass vaccination campaign was successful. J. Med. Virol. 77:360–366, 2005. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
The Validity of Hysterical Signs and Symptoms

In an attempt to validate recent assertions that the strongest indicators of hysteria are the “positive” findings in the neurological examination, seven of the most accepted features (history of hypochondriasis, secondary gain, la belle indifference, nonanatomical sensory loss, split of midline by pain or vibratory stimulation, changing boundaries of hypalgesia, giveaway weakness) were sought in 30 consecutive neurology service admissions with acute structural nervous system damage. All subjects showed at least one of these findings; most presented three or four. The presence of these “positive” findings of hysteria in patients with acute structural brain disease invalidates their use as pathognomonic evidence of hysteria. A second, retrospective study on the misdiagnosis of hysteria demonstrated that women, homosexual men, the psychiatrically ill, and patients presenting plausible psychogenie explanations for their illness are most liable to be misdiagnosed. Certain disorders, particularly movement disorders and paralysis, are most often mislabeled as hysteria. A diagnosis of hysteria must be made with great caution as it so often proves incorrect.