Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effects of Fusarium moniliforme Culture Material Containing Known Levels of Fumonisin B1 on Progress of Salmonella Gallinarum Infection in Japanese Quail: Clinical Signs and Hematologic Studies

Abstract To study the individual and combined effects of fumonisin B1 (FB1) toxicity and Salmonella serotype Gallinarum infection, Japanese quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica) were fed Fusarium moniliforme culture material (2.5%), 150 mg FB1/kg ration, and were subsequently challenged orally with Salmonella Gallinarum organisms (2 × 104 colony-forming units) at 21 days of age. The chicks were fed culture material containing FB1 from day 5 till the end of the experiment. After being infected with Salmonella Gallinarum, observations were made 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 10, 14, and 21 days postinfection. The clinical signs of diarrhea with bloody discharges were more pronounced in the Salmonella-infected birds on the FB1 diet. Mortality caused by Salmonella Gallinarum increased by 12% in the presence of FB1. Mean body weights in both the Salmonella-infected and FB1-fed groups were significantly lower than those of the controls at almost all intervals. Mean values of hemoglobin, packed cell volume, and total erythrocyte count were slightly higher in birds fed FB1 but were lower in the Salmonella Gallinarum groups fed FB1 and plain chick mash. Anemia was evident, between 5 and 10 days postinfection, in quail chicks infected with Salmonella Gallinarum alone. Total leukocyte counts were higher in Salmonella-infected and FB1-fed groups because of an increase in the number of heterophils and lymphocytes. However, the increase in lymphocyte response to infection was lower by 4.27%–30.09% between 3 and 21 days postinfection in the FB1-fed chicks compared with chicks infected with Salmonella Gallinarum. Alanine transaminase and total serum protein were slightly higher in both the infected and FB1-fed groups. This study revealed that the continuous presence of fumonisins in the diets of quail chicks might increase the susceptibility to or the severity of Salmonella Gallinarum infection.
Design of CMOS Broadband Transimpedance Amplifier with Regulated Cascode and Series Inductive Peaking

This paper presents a new topology of Transimpedance amplifier using regulated cascode (RGC) stage with series inductive peaking for the enhancement of overall bandwidth of TIA and lowering the level of input referred noise current spectral density. TIA is able to achieve low input impedance because of RGC stage. TIA also employs series inductive peaking techniques for bandwidth enhancement by lowering the effect of junction capacitance of photodiode. Simulated transimpedance gain is 67.2 dbΩ with -3db bandwidth of about 9.5 GHz. The simulated input referred noise current spectral density is 10 pA/√Hz.
Arterial pulsation and lymph formation in an isolated sheep hindlimb preparation.

1. Lymph flow was measured by cannulating metatarsal lymphatics in the sheep hindlimb. The region was perfused with warmed, heparinized, oxygenated blood via the tibio‐cranial artery cannulated just distal to the hock. Constant and pulsatile perfusion pressures were compared. A cuff was inflated over the metatarsals to maintain venous pressure at 20 mmHg. 2. The lymph flow rates during constant perfusion at 80 mmHg were comparable to control flows in intact metatarsal preparations and oedema (monitored by measuring tissue volume) did not accumulate. Flow records were similar to those obtained from anaesthetized animals, lymph being expelled by regular lymphatic contractions. 3. Pulsatile perfusion using 120/60 mmHg (systolic cuff cycle 0.25 s inflation, 0.5 s deflation) did not increase the rate of lymph flow. Increasing the pulse pressure to 100 mmHg (150/50 mmHg) produced a 20% increase in flow but this was not statistically significant. The cuff deflation time was also increased (1 s inflation, 1 s deflation) using 120/60 mmHg but this had little effect. 4. It may be concluded that arterial pulsation is not important for lymph formation in this preparation.
Translating dementia research into practice

ABSTRACT There is a gap between the knowledge obtained in dementia research and the practical use of it. This review examines the concept of knowledge translation (KT) and the process of translating research into practice in the field of dementia. KT in dementia practice involves key players including researchers, educators, clinicians, policy-makers, the general public and consumers who act within a multidimensional network, disseminating findings widely to effect changes in community awareness, clinical practice and health policy. Challenges include the volume of dementia research; difficulties in determining who is responsible for KT; the problems of premature KT; the lack of resources to perform KT; the paucity of research about effective KT strategies; and the characteristics of the dementia care workforce. Key features of effective KT include a simple compelling message; use of interpersonal contact and roles; a practical framework with an emphasis on “know-how”; and the provision of resources and support. More effective dementia KT will require a commitment by key players to engage in the process, a better understanding of effective KT strategies, adequate resources, and judicious selection of appropriate evidence-based information.
Editorial

Is the continous improvement of TNM staging system for bladder cancer a laudable goal or an academic exercise? In the United States, transitional cell carcinoma (TCC) of the bladder is estimated to affect approximately 67,000 people, resulting in approximately 13,700 deaths annually. Radical cystectomy remains the treatment of choice for patients with muscle-invasive cancers and for select patients with nonmuscle-invasive disease. Despite advances in surgical technique and progress in postoperative care, 5-year disease-specific survival after cystectomy remains 50%-60%. Precise estimation of the likelihood of treatment success is an essential component to patient counseling, the appropriate selection of one or more treatment modalities and finally for successful clinical trial design. With the availability of effective systemic therapies, accurate prediction of the presence of systemic micrometastatic disease and, the probability of progression after radical cystectomy is essential for selection of patients who may benefit most from adjunctive systemic treatment. Anatomic staging systems are the simplest examples of prediction tools, giving a group of patients with similar anatomic findings (depth of invasion, lymph node status) a broad prediction of cure following surgical extirpation. The American Joint Committee on Cancer tumor, lymph nodes, metastasis staging system (AJCC-TNM) has been validated and widely used to predict the risk of disease recurrence and patient survival after cystectomy. On the basis of peer reviewed observations in the literature, and reflecting changing trends in urothelial carcinoma presentation, treatment, and outcomes, the TNM staging system has been repeatedly modified in an attempt to improve its accuracy. The latest rendition of the TNM staging system separates patients with extravesical tumor extension into pT3a (microscopic extravesical tumor extension) and pT3b (macroscopic extravesical extension) categories. This distinction has remained controversial, with several recent studies demonstrating no independent predictive power offered by substratification of pT3 bladder tumors. The question posed by Boudreaux and colleagues from Vanderbilt University and published in this issue is both clinically important and timely. In many settings, a patient who is lymph node-negative following radical cystectomy, but with extravesicle disease (pT3), will be counseled to receive or not receive adjunctive, systemic chemotherapy based upon the AJCC pT3 substaging protocol. As have others, the authors of this study found no difference in oncologic outcomes between patients with lymph node-negative pT3a and pT3b tumors and, therefore, the basis for recommending adjuvant chemotherapy or not may not be valid. However, several questions remain within this clinical situation that cloud the pT3
Comparison of sensitivity of BHK-21 and murine neuroblastoma cells in the isolation of a street strain rabies virus

The sensitivities of BHK-21 (C-13) and murine neuroblastoma (C-1300; clone NA) cells for the isolation of small quantities of a street strain rabies virus were compared. Suspensions of brain from mice sacrificed prior to the onset of clinical signs of rabies were used to stimulate weakly positive diagnostic specimens. The results of cell culture isolation were compared with those of the direct fluorescent-antibody test and virus isolation in weanling mice. Neuroblastoma cells were more sensitive to the street strain rabies virus than were BHK-21 cells. Neuroblastoma cell virus isolation, the mouse inoculation test, and the fluorescent-antibody test all showed comparable sensitivity.
The space vector PWM scheme for a novel three-level inverter with two parallel three-phase full-bridges

Three-level inverters are increasingly being used in high power middle voltage applications due to their superior performance compared to two-level inverters. However, The neutral point fluctuation problem associated with the traditional three-level inverter like neutral-point clamped inverter is difficult to deal with. This paper proposes a novel three-level topology which is constructed by two three-phase full-bridges with parallel dc input and isolated series ac output. Of this topology, the neutral point imbalance problem is totally avoided, the utilization ratio of dc voltage is twice that of the traditional three-level inverters, and the reliability is increased by switching to two-level mode when one bridge fault occurs. Based on the basic vectors and switching states of this novel inverter, a corresponding SVPWM scheme is developed, which is realized by categorizing switching sequence into five different cases in accordance with modulation index m. The optimized switching sequence reduced the number of switching occurrence when the reference vector changing between sectors as well as triangle areas. Finally, simulation results are provided.
Vascular evaluation in laryngeal diseases: comparison between contact endoscopy and laser Doppler flowmetry.

OBJECTIVE To determine the efficacies of 2 methods for evaluating vascular changes in laryngeal diseases. DESIGN Prospective comparative study. SETTING University hospital. PATIENTS Twenty-four adults planning to undergo laryngomicrosurgery for unilateral lesions in their vocal cords. INTERVENTION Vascular evaluation was performed using contact endoscopy and laser Doppler flowmetry during laryngomicrosurgery. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Morphological and physiological variables of the vascular changes. RESULTS Contact endoscopy examinations revealed changes in the fine vascular network patterns in the vocal cords. Hypervascularity was present in patients with polyps but not in those with nodules, and the degree of vascularity was variable in patients with malignant neoplasms. Patients with papillomas and patients in the postradiation therapy group showed hypovascularity with losses in the capillary network. Laser Doppler flowmetry revealed high mean blood flows in patients with polyps, dysplasia, and malignant neoplasms, whereas patients with papillomas and those in the postradiation therapy group had low blood flows. The variables measured by laser Doppler flowmetry and endoscopy were strongly correlated. CONCLUSION Evaluations of morphological and physiological changes of vascularity in laryngeal diseases are important for understanding their pathophysiology, and combining contact endoscopy and laser Doppler flowmetry is useful in such evaluations.
Synthesis of Titanate and Titanium Dioxide Nanotube Thin Films and Their Applications to Biomaterials

Recently, titanium compounds with one-dimensional nanostructures, such as nanotubes and nanofibers, have recently attracted much attention. Among these 1-D compounds, nanotubes composed of titanium dioxide and titanate are now being studied actively. Titanium dioxide nanotubes can be synthesized using porous anodic alumina membranes (Imai et al., 1999; Yamanaka et al., 2004), organic molecules (Jung et al., 2002), or polycarbonate membranes (Shin et al., 2004) as templates, or methods involving anodization of titanium metals (Macak et al., 2005). Since the interesting reports by Kasuga et al. (Kasuga et al., 1998; Kasuga et al., 1999) and Chen et al. (Chen et al., 2002), titanate and titanium dioxide nanotubes synthesized using the hydrothermal method have found a wide range of potential uses in photocatalysis (Tokudome et al., 2004; Jiang et al., 2008), dye sensitizing solar batteries (Uchida et al., 2002), hydrogen storage (Bavykin et al., 2005), electrochromism (Tokudome et al., 2005), bonelike apatite formation (Kubota et al., 2004), proton conductors (Thorne et al., 2005), electron field emission characteristic (Miyauchi et al., 2006), photoinduced hydrophilicity (Tokudome et al., 2004), etc.
Essential role for TLR4 and MyD88 in the development of chronic intestinal nematode infection

Expulsion of the gastrointestinal nematode Trichuris muris is mediated by a T helper 2 type response involving IL‐4 and IL‐13. Here we show that Th1 response‐associated susceptibilityis dependent on activation signals mediated by MyD88 and Toll‐like receptor 4 (TLR4). TLR4‐ and MyD88‐deficient mice are highly resistant to chronic T. muris infection and develop strong antigen‐specific Th2 responses in mucosa‐associated lymphoid tissues. Hence, TLR4 and MyD88 are involved not only in the development of pro‐inflammatory responses against bacterial pathogens but are also crucially involved in responses against multicellular organisms such as helminths. These results provide the first demonstration of the critical role of TLR4 and MyD88 in bridging the innate and acquired immune response during gastrointestinal nematode infection.
Stellate block as an adjunct to the treatment of pulmonary embolism.

MUCH interest has been evinced in recent years in the manifestations of thromboembolic disease. A voluminous literature has appeared concerning the use of anticoagulants and femoral-vein ligation. These measures, however, have been directed primarily toward preventing pulmonary embolism rather than at influencing the immediate effects of the emboli themselves, and little progress has been made in augmenting the meager list of measures that are of use in the treatment of the acute phase of the condition. The methods of immediate treatment can be divided into operative technics and all others, including the use of drugs, general supportive measures and minor .
Performance optimizations for compiler-based error detection

The trend towards smaller transistor technologies and lower operating voltages stresses the hardware and makes transistors more susceptible to transient errors. In future systems, performance and power gains will come at the cost of unreliable areas on the chip. For this reason, there is an increased need for low-overhead highlyreliable error detection methodologies. In the last years, several techniques have been proposed. The majority of them are based on redundancy which can be implemented at several levels (e.g., hardware, instruction, thread, process, etc). In instruction-level error detection approaches, the compiler replicates the instructions of the program and inserts checks wherever they are needed. The checks evaluate code correctness and decide whether or not an error has occurred. This type of error detection is more flexible than the hardware alternatives. It allows the programmer to choose the protected area of the program and it can be applied without any hardware modifications. On the other hand, the replicated instructions and the checks cause a large slowdown making software techniques less appealing. In this thesis, we propose two techniques that aim at reducing the error detection overhead of compiler-based approaches and improving system’s performance without sacrificing the fault-coverage. The first technique, DRIFT, achieves this by decoupling the execution of the code (original and replicated) from the checks. The checks are compare and jump instructions. The latter ones tend to make the code sequential and prohibit the compiler from performing aggressive instruction scheduling optimizations. We call this phenomenon basic-block fragmentation. DRIFT reduces the impact of basic-block fragmentation by breaking the synchronized execute-check-confirm-execute cycle. In this way, DRIFT generates a scheduler-friendly code with more instruction-level parallelism (ILP). As a result, it reduces the performance overhead down to 1.29× (on average) and outperforms the state-of-the-art by up to 29.7% retaining the same fault-coverage. Next, CASTED focuses on reducing the impact of error detection overhead on single-chip scalable architectures that are composed of tightly-coupled cores. The proposed compiler methodology adaptively distributes the error detection overhead to the available resources across multiple cores, fully exploiting the abundant ILP of these architectures. CASTED adapts to a wide range of architecture configurations (issuewidth, inter-core communication). The results show that CASTED matches the performance of, and often outperforms, sometimes by as mush as 21.2%, the best fixed state-of-the-art approach while maintaining the same fault coverage.
Central Corneal Thickness and Glaucoma in Adult Chinese: The Beijing Eye Study

PurposeThe aim of this study was to evaluate whether glaucoma was related to central corneal thickness (CCT). MethodsThe Beijing Eye Study 2006 is a population-based study that included 3251 (73.3%) subjects (aged 45+y) out of the 4439 subjects who had participated in the survey in 2001, and who returned for a reexamination. The main outcome measures were central corneal thickness and presence and progression of glaucomatous optic neuropathy. ResultsMeasurements of CCT were available for 3100 (95.4%) subjects. CCTs did not vary significantly (P>0.10) between the “optic disk glaucoma” [n=78 (2.5%) subjects; 551±32 μm], the “perimetric glaucoma” [n=38 (1.1%) subjects; 550±31 μm], and the normal groups (n=3022; 556±33 μm). The CCT was not significantly associated with the neuroretinal rim area (P=0.28) or the mean visual-field defect (measured by frequency-doubling perimetry) (P=0.22). In multiple regression analysis, the CCT was significantly associated with male sex, (P<0.001), urban region (P<0.001), and intraocular pressure measurements (P<0.001); whereas it was not significantly (P=0.17) associated with chronic open-angle glaucoma. During follow-ups from 2001 to 2006, 42 subjects, who showed a progression of, or development of glaucomatous abnormalities of the optic nerve head, did not differ significantly (P=0.30) in CCTs from the stable group. ConclusionsCCTs might not be markedly different between glaucomatous and normal eyes. The reasons for the discrepancies between the present population-based study and previous hospital-based investigations might be due to the differences in study design and mode of selection of study participants.
The efficacy and safety of brinzolamide 1% ophthalmic suspension (Azopt) as a primary therapy in patients with open-angle glaucoma or ocular hypertension. Brinzolamide Primary Therapy Study Group.

A randomized, multicenter, double-masked, prospective, parallel study was designed to establish the intraocular pressure (IOP)-lowering efficacy, safety, and tolerability of brinzolamide 1.0% (Azopt) as a primary therapy compared with dorzolamide 2.0% (Trusopt) and placebo in patients diagnosed with open-angle glaucoma (with or without a pseudoexfoliative or a pigmentary dispersion component) or ocular hypertension. Brinzolamide 1.0%, dosed two times (b.i.d.) and three times (t.i.d.) a day, dorzolamide 2.0% (t.i.d.), and placebo (t.i.d) were administered to patients during a 3-month treatment period. Diurnally corrected IOP reduction from baseline, including peak and trough times, was the primary end point. Sample sizes were chosen to establish statistical equivalence between treatments. Mean IOP changes observed on treatment were as follows: -3.4 mm Hg (-13.2%) to -4.1 mm Hg (-16.7%) with brinzolamide 1.0% b.i. d. ; -4.1 mm Hg (-16.6%) to -4.8 mm Hg (-19.1%) with brinzolamide 1% t.i. d. ; and -4.3 mm Hg (-16.9%) to -4.9 mm Hg (-20.1%) with dorzolamide 2.0%. IOP reductions after administration of brinzolamide 1.0% b.i. d. and t.i. d. were equivalent to each other and also clinically and statistically equivalent to those with dorzolamide 2.0% t.i. d. The incidence of ocular discomfort (burning and stinging) upon instillation was significantly higher for dorzolamide (10.7%) than brinzolamide (b.i.d. or t.i.d., 3.0% each). The most frequent non-ocular event reported was taste perversion, which was less (3.7%) with brinzolamide 1.0% b.i. d. , but brinzolamide t.i. d. was similar to dorzolamide t.i. d. (6.8% vs. 5.3%). Brinzolamide 1.0% b.i. d. , brinzolamide 1.0% t.i. d. , and dorzolamide 2.0% t.i. d. equaled each other in IOP-lowering efficacy, and brinzolamide was significantly more comfortable than dorzolamide upon instillation.
Saturation of blood brain barrier transport of amino acids in phenylketonuria.

Thirteen amino acids labeled with 14C were rapidly injected individually into rat common carotid artery along with tritiated water as a diffusable reference substance. All amino acid brain uptakes studied were reduced by a control serum vehicle pooled from nonphenylketonuric (PKU) retardeds, relative to a vehicle of buffered Ringer's solution. Two vehicles, sera pooled from phenylketonurics and a control serum vehicle to which unlabeled phenylalanine had been added and thus reconstituted to bring the serum phenylalanine level up to that of the PKU serum, each caused a significant reduction of large neutral amino acid uptakes but had an insignificant effect on basic amino acids. Saturation of the large neutral amino acid blood brain barrier transport system may result in a brain deprivation in infancy of those amino acids using the same carrier transport system as phenylalanine and thus be causally related to mental retardation in PKU.
Blood pressure control and risk profile in poststroke survivors: a comparison with the general population

Objective: Recurrent strokes are associated with higher mortality, greater disability, and increased healthcare costs compared with first-ever stroke. Lifestyle measures and drug treatment in secondary prevention decrease the risk of recurrence while improving the quality of life of patients. The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of hypertension and other cardiovascular risk factors in stroke survivors and population controls. Methods and results: A total of 424 poststroke survivors (aged 66.0 ± 10.4 years) were examined 6–36 months after their first ischemic stroke. Controls of similar age and from the same geographic region were selected from the database of the Czech post-Multinational MONItoring of trends and determinants in CArdiovascular disease Study. Hypertension was found to be the most prevalent risk factor affecting 91.5% of stroke survivors and 71.8% of controls. Use of antihypertensive drugs was reported in 79.5% of stroke survivors and 56.7% of controls. However, blood pressure lower than 140/90 mmHg was achieved in only 49.5% of hypertensive stroke survivors. More than 60% of stroke survivors used statins but low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol lower than 2.5 mmol/l was achieved in only 47.4 and 37% of male and female poststroke survivors, respectively. About a third of poststroke patients continue to smoke, and obesity is a major problem, particularly in women (prevalence 47%), who also have a high prevalence of diabetes. Conclusion: We found a high prevalence and poor control of major cardiovascular risk factors in patients surviving their first-ever ischemic stroke, thus showing poor implementation of guidelines for secondary prevention in clinical practice.