Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Pentax Airway Scope® vs Macintosh laryngoscope for tracheal intubation in adult patients: a systematic review and meta‐analysis

The Pentax Airway Scope® is a single‐use optical videolaryngoscope designed to assist with difficult tracheal intubation. We systematically reviewed the efficacy of the Pentax Airway Scope with that of a conventional laryngoscope for tracheal intubation in adults with ‘normal’ and ‘difficult’ airways. We included 17 randomised controlled trials with a total of 1801 participants. We used the DerSimonian and Laird random‐effects model to calculate pooled relative risk or weighted mean differences. The relative risk (95% CI) of a Cormack–Lehane grade‐1 laryngeal view was 2.40 (1.76–2.49) with the Pentax Airway Scope compared with the Macintosh laryngoscope, p < 0.00001. We found no other differences between the two laryngoscopes. Despite a superior laryngeal view, the Pentax Airway Scope provides little clinical benefit over the conventional laryngoscope.
Dual band mono-chip HF-UHF tag antenna

Nowadays, RFID systems are commonly used for tracking and identifying supplies or goods. Several RFID standards exist, each have advantages and drawbacks [1]. HF and UHF RFID standards are some of the most used. This paper presents the feasibility of a single chip dual band HF-UHF RFID tag antenna. Some research focused on dual band HF and UHF RFID [2–4]. Cost is a non negligible parameter in RFID tag antenna development. For this reason, multi-layered antennas and multi chip solutions are prohibited as presented in [2, 3]. The reason is that fabrication processes are too expensive to certify a low cost product. Tag exposed in [4] exposed a multi-band antenna fed by a single chip. These performances in the HF bands are classic for tag antennas operating in this frequency band. However, performances in UHF RFID band suffer from degradations especially the maximum gain.
Cervical cancer in Morocco: epidemiological profile from two main oncological centers.

BACKGROUND In Morocco, the epidemiological profile of cervical cancer is not well established. The focus of the present study was both epidemiological and pathological characteristics. METHODS For all cases of cervical cancer treated between 2003 and 2007 in the National Institute of Oncology and the Oncology Department of the IbnRochd hospital (Casablanca), 900 cases were randomly selected. RESULTS The mean age was 52.1±11.8 years. The most (90.5%) represented histological type was squamous cell carcinoma. For more than 57.0% cases the mean distance between patient's origin and center of treatment was greater than 100 km. According to the FIGO classification, only 17.2% of patients were identified as being in early stages (0 and I). For 72.2% patients the follow-up did not exceed 2 years. At 1 year of following-up 55.8% of patients were alive and 43.4% were lost to following-up. CONCLUSION Our study addressed the issue of the burden of cervical cancer in Morocco. The result provides a basis for decision-makers for the development of strategic measures to implement the fight against cervical cancer in Morocco.
Single-inductor dual buck-boost output (SIDBBO) converter with adaptive current control mode (ACCM) and adaptive body switch (ABS) for compact size and long battery life in portable devices

A single-inductor dual buck-boost output (SIDBBO) converter is proposed to provide compact size and long battery life to portable devices. The proposed adaptive current control mode (ACCM) reduces cross-regulation and power losses since ACCM adaptively controls inductor current for output regulating. Moreover, adaptive body switch (ABS) addresses potential leakage and latch-up, which occur when N-well bias vary with supply voltage. Owing to ACCM and ABS, efficiency achieves 92% and rises from 65% to 88% at heavy and light loads.
Prevalence of onychomycosis in patients with autoimmune diseases.

BACKGROUND Onychomycosis is the most common nail disorder in adults. Many studies reported a higher prevalence of onychomycosis among particular patients, such as those with diabetes, poor peripheral circulation or immunosuppression. However, studies of the prevalence of onychomycosis in autoimmune patients who carry many of these predisposing factors have been limited OBJECTIVE Study the prevalence of onychomycosis in autoimmune compared to non-autoimmune female patients. MATERIAL AND METHOD A cross-sectional study of the prevalence of onychomycosis in autoimmune patients and non-autoimmune female patients visiting a dermatology clinic over a period of 18 months. One hundred and sixty-five female autoimmune patients were enrolled. RESULTS The prevalence of onychomycosis in autoimmune patients was 10.2% (95%CI 6.5%, 15.9%) compared to 6.7% (95%CI 3.8%, 11.6%), in non-autoimmune patients (p > 0.05, 2-sided). Of vesiculobullous patients, mainly presenting with pemphigus and who were mostly on immunosuppressive medication, 24% had onychomycosis [p = 0.013; OR 4.39 (95%CI 1.27, 14.89)]. CONCLUSION Exposure to humid microenvironments was an important factor in the occurrence of onychomycosis (p < 0.05, 2-sided). However, the number of patients with each individual disease was too small to conclude a prevalence of onychomycosis in conjunction with these individual cutaneous autoimmune diseases.
Secured Authentication through Integration of Gait and Footprint for Human Identification

Gait Recognition is a new technique to identify the people by the way they walk. Human gait is a spatio-temporal phenomenon that typifies the motion characteristics of an individual. The proposed method makes a simple but efficient attempt to gait recognition. For each video file, spatial silhouettes of a walker are extracted by an improved background subtraction procedure using Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM). Here GMM is used as a parametric probability density function represented as a weighted sum of Gaussian component densities. Then, the relevant features are extracted from the silhouette tracked from the given video file using the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) method. The Fisher Linear Discriminant Analysis (FLDA) classifier is used in the classification of dimensional reduced image derived by the PCA method for gait recognition. Although gait images can be easily acquired, the gait recognition is affected by clothes, shoes, carrying status and specific physical condition of an individual. To overcome this problem, it is combined with footprint as a multimodal biometric system. The minutiae is extracted from the footprint and then fused with silhouette image using the Discrete Stationary Wavelet Transform (DSWT). The experimental result shows that the efficiency of proposed fusion algorithm works well and attains better result while comparing with other fusion schemes.
EquationsandNomogramfor the Relationshipof HumanBloodP 50 to 2 , 3-Diphosphoglycerate , C 02 , and H

We describe a new method for tonometry of small amounts of blood (up to 0.25 mL) at known Po2 Pco2 and temperature, in small, reusable, closed Pyrex flasks. Equilibrated blood is analyzed for oxygen saturation, pH, and organic phosphate concentration with standard techniques, and its (the Po2at which hemoglobin is half-saturated with oxygen) is determined with full control of all the variables known to affect it. The SD in the measurement of P50 is 0.044 kPa (0.33 mmHg). We made 63 determinations of P50 on normal human blood under different conditions of pH and Pco2 and with different concentrations of 2,3diphosphoglycerate and AlP. Empirical equations and a nomogram were derived, which allow the calculation of P50 from known values of Pco2 pH, and [2,3-DPG]/[Hb4] molar ratio with a SD of 97 and 114 Pa (0.73 and 0.86 mmHg), respectively.
A questionnaire survey on the usage of low protein staple foods by people with phenylketonuria in Scotland.

BACKGROUND There is scarce evidence available with respect to an evaluation of the role of low protein staple foods (LPSF) in the management of phenylketonuria (PKU). The present study explored beliefs, acceptability and issues around the use of LPSF by people with PKU or their carers. METHODS A semi-anonymous questionnaire was posted to 178 people with PKU in Scotland (104 children, aged 2-17 years, and 74 adults). Questions explored were: the type and amount of LPSF ordered; perceptions on use and usefulness of LPSF; acceptability of the LPSF sensory properties (i.e. taste, smell, texture, appearance); support for the supply and use of LPSF; and comments from primary healthcare professionals regarding dispensing and prescription. RESULTS Eighty-two individuals responded (46% response rate): 97% perceived that LPSF were useful for PKU management; more than 85% reported that LPSF were important for phenylalanine control, satisfying appetite, and diet variety. The most common LPSF ordered were pasta/rice/cous cous, flour, biscuits and bread. Fifty percent of respondents ordered <51% of the recommended unit allowance of LPSF. The sensory properties of LPSF were well perceived. Forty-nine percent (n = 39) had received a comment from primary healthcare staff regarding the prescription or dispensing of LPSF; 59% (n = 23) received negative comments, the majority of which came within general practitioner surgeries. CONCLUSIONS There is a positive attitude and perception on the use and usefulness of LPSF in the management of PKU. Issues with respect to the supply and provision of LPSF within primary health care may indicate poor communication between specialists and primary healthcare professionals or a lack of scientific evidence demonstrating their clinical effectiveness.
Prospective Multicenter Study of the Epidemiology, Molecular Identification, and Antifungal Susceptibility of Candida parapsilosis, Candida orthopsilosis, and Candida metapsilosis Isolated from Patients with Candidemia

ABSTRACT A 13-month prospective multicenter study including 44 hospitals was carried out to evaluate the epidemiology of Candida parapsilosis complex candidemia in Spain. Susceptibility to amphotericin B, flucytosine, fluconazole, itraconazole, voriconazole, posaconazole, anidulafungin, caspofungin, and micafungin was tested by the microdilution colorimetric method. A total of 364 C. parapsilosis complex isolates were identified by molecular methods: C. parapsilosis (90.7%), Candida orthopsilosis (8.2%), and Candida metapsilosis (1.1%). Most candidemias (C. parapsilosis, 76.4%; C. orthopsilosis, 70.0%; C. metapsilosis, 100%) were observed in adults. No C. orthopsilosis or C. metapsilosis candidemias occurred in neonates. C. parapsilosis was most frequent in adult intensive care unit (28.8%), surgery (20.9%), and internal medicine (19.7%) departments; and C. orthopsilosis was most frequent in hematology (28.6%), pediatrics (12.0%), and neonatology (11.5%) departments. The geographic distribution of C. orthopsilosis and C. metapsilosis was not uniform. According to CLSI clinical breakpoints, all C. orthopsilosis and C. metapsilosis isolates were susceptible to the nine agents tested. Resistance (MICs > 1 mg/liter) was observed only in C. parapsilosis: amphotericin B, posaconazole, itraconazole, and caspofungin (0.3% each), anidulafungin (1.9%), and micafungin (2.5%). Applying the new species-specific fluconazole and echinocandin breakpoints, the rates of resistance to fluconazole for C. parapsilosis and C. orthopsilosis increased to 4.8% and 0.3%, respectively; conversely, for C. parapsilosis they shifted from 1.9 to 0.6% (anidulafungin) and from 2.5 to 0.6% (micafungin). Our study confirms the different prevalence of C. parapsilosis complex candidemia among age groups: neither C. orthopsilosis nor C. metapsilosis was isolated from neonates; interestingly, C. metapsilosis was isolated only from adults and the elderly. The disparity in antifungal susceptibility among species could be important for therapy.
Evaluating Eye Drop Instillation Technique in Glaucoma Patients

AimTo evaluate the technique of eye drop instillation in glaucoma patients. MethodsSeventy patients with primary open-angle glaucoma or primary angle-closure glaucoma, self-administering topical antiglaucoma medications for at least 6 months were evaluated. All patients instilled a tear substitute in 1 eye using the same technique they used for instilling antiglaucoma medications at home. The parameters that were recorded included time taken to instill the first drop, number of eye drops instilled, drop contact location, any contact with the tip of the bottle, and closure of the eyelids or tear duct after drop instillation. ResultsThe mean age of the patients was 54.1±10.0 years. The mean time taken to instill the first drop was 14.8±3.7 seconds (range, 8.7 to 23.5 s). The mean number of drops squeezed from the bottle per instillation was 1.8±1.2 drops (range, 1 to 8 drops). In 22 patients (31.43%), the eye drops fell on the eyelids or cheek. Fifty-three patients (75.7%) touched the tip of the bottle to the globe or periocular tissue. Twenty patients (28.57%) closed eyes after instilling drops and 4 patients (5.7%) occluded the punctum. Only 6 patients (8.57%) were able to correctly instill the eye drops (squeeze out 1 drop and instill it into the conjunctival sac without bottle tip contact). ConclusionsNearly, 9 of 10 glaucoma patients were unable to instill eye drops correctly. This may be an important cause of unintentional noncompliance in glaucoma medical therapy.
Identification of dimethylarsinous and monomethylarsonous acids in human urine of the arsenic-affected areas in West Bengal, India.

A speciation technique for arsenic has been developed using an anion-exchange high-performance liquid chromatography/inductively coupled argon plasma mass spectrometer (HPLC/ICP MS). Under optimized conditions, eight arsenic species [arsenocholine, arsenobetaine, dimethylarsinic acid (DMA(V)), dimethylarsinous acid (DMA(III)), monomethylarsonic acid (MMA(V)), monomethylarsonous acid (MMA(III)), arsenite (As(III)), and arsenate (As(V))] can be separated with isocratic elution within 10 min. The detection limit of arsenic compounds was 0.14-0.33 microg/L. To validate the method, Standard Reference Material in freeze-dried urine, SRM-2670, containing both normal and elevated levels of arsenic was analyzed. The method was applied to determine arsenic species in urine samples from three arsenic-affected districts of West Bengal, India. Both DMA(III) and MMA(III) were detected directly (i.e., without any prechemical treatment) for the first time in the urine of some humans exposed to inorganic arsenic through their drinking water. Of 428 subjects, MMA(III) was found in 48% and DMA(III) in 72%. Our results indicate the following. (1) Since MMA(III) and DMA(III) are more toxic than inorganic arsenic, it is essential to re-evaluate the hypothesis that methylation is the detoxification pathway for inorganic arsenic. (2) Since MMA(V) reductase with glutathione (GSH) is responsible for conversion of MMA(V) to MMA(III) in vivo, is DMA(V) reductase with GSH responsible for conversion of DMA(V) to DMA(III) in vivo? (3) Since DMA(III) forms iron-dependent reactive oxygen species (ROS) which causes DNA damage in vivo, DMA(III) may be responsible for arsenic carcinogenesis in human.
Quantifying Malaria Dynamics Within the Host

A statistical method reveals the roles of the immune system and cell availability in regulating parasitemia. Generations of malariologists have been intrigued by the mechanisms that control the number of malaria parasites living in the bloodstream (i.e., the extent of parasitemia) in an infected human host. Past studies have shown that parasite numbers rise and fall during infection (see the figure) (1) and that parasitemia is regulated by an array of forces, including human immune defenses, interactions among the parasites themselves, and the availability of resources, such as the red blood cells that the parasites invade. On page 984 of this issue, Metcalf et al. (2) take an important step toward better understanding of these controls. Drawing on data from mice, they present a new statistical approach to analyzing how parasitemia changes over time and to quantifying and comparing the roles played by the immune system and the availability of red blood cells in regulating parasite numbers.
Comment: Coma-causing brainstem lesions

Arousal, or wakefulness, is an integral component of consciousness and prerequisite for other brain functions, yet its neuroanatomy in humans is poorly understood. Classically, the brainstem “reticular formation” has been considered important for wakefulness.1 Experiments in rodents suggest this brainstem area can be subdivided into functionally discrete regions, and that injury to one region in the pontine tegmentum reliably disrupts arousal and produces coma.2 A homologous brainstem region is likely present in humans, based on analysis of coma-causing lesions.3 However, it remains unclear whether there is a human brainstem site significantly more associated with coma-causing lesions than with non–coma-causing lesions, and exactly where this site is located. Such a brainstem site would likely maintain arousal through ascending projections to other brain regions (originally termed the ascending reticular activating system, or ARAS),1,4 but this network of brain regions in humans is also unclear.
An Integrated Approach for Achieving Multirobot Task Formations

In this paper, a problem, called the initial formation problem, within the multirobot task allocation domain is addressed. This problem consists in deciding which robot should go to each of the positions of the formation in order to minimize an objective. Two different distributed algorithms that solve this problem are explained. The second algorithm presents a novel approach that uses cost means to model the cost distribution and improves the performance of the task allocation algorithm. Also, we present an approach that integrates distributed task allocation algorithms with a behavior-based architecture to control formations of robot teams. Finally, simulations and real experiments are used to analyze the formation behavior and provide performance metrics associated with implementation in realistic scenarios.
ATP modulates Ca2+ uptake by TRPV6 and is counteracted by isoform‐specific phosphorylation

Ca2+ homeostasis requires balanced uptake and extrusion, and dysregulation leads to disease. TRPV6 channels are homeostasis regulators, are upregulated in certain cancers, and show an unusual allelespecific evolution in humans. To understand how Ca2+ uptake can be adapted to changes in metabolic status, we investigate regulation of Ca2+‐influx by ATP and phosphorylation. We show that ATP binds to TRPV6, reduces whole‐cell current increments, and prevents channel rundown with an EC50 of 380 μΜ. By using both biochemical binding studies and patch‐clamp analyses of wild‐type and mutant channels, we have mapped one relevant site for regulation by ATP to residues within the ankyrin repeat domain (ARD) and identify an additional C‐terminal binding region. Stimulation of PKC largely prevented the effects of ATP. This regulation requires PKCβII and defined phosphorylation sites within the ARD and the C‐terminus. Both regulatory sites act synergistically to constitute a novel mechanism by which ATP stabilizes channel activity and acts as a metabolic switch for Ca2+ influx. Decreases in ATP concentration or activation of PKCβII disable regulation of the channels by ATP, rendering them more susceptible to inactivation and rundown and preventing Ca2+ overload. —Al‐Ansary, D. , Bogeski, I. , Disteldorf B. M. J., Becherer, U. , Niemeyer, B. A. ATP modulates Ca2+ uptake by TRPV6 and is counteracted by isoformspecific phosphorylation. FASEB J. 24, 425–435 (2010). www.fasebj. org
Romanian enterprises behaviour in the process of improvement of economic and financial disclosure quality

Introduction. This research is focused on the quality of financial and non-financial reporting of Romanian companies. Regarding Romanian companies, the lack of transparent information is visible compared to other EU member states. In Romania, it is common practice to keep some information on financial and economic results obtained secret, and requests to communicate the information to partners are not commonly encountered. The objective of our case study is focused on the analysis of the quality disclosure in reporting based on a sample of 70 companies from Romania which were investigated by means of a questionnaire consisting of 17 questions in 2011-2016. The first part of the questionnaire includes questions regarding the importance of volunteering disclosure and contribution of information in the reporting company in relation to the interests of company reporting. The second part consists of 8 questions about internal data and information of the company and the sector in which it operates. Results. The findings concerning the reporting of financial and accounting information indicate that more than one half of the surveyed companies reported additional financial accounting information. Regarding the attitude of the analysed companies towards the appropriateness of introducing a management report which will include a breakdown of information provided through financial reports, most of the companies, first of all those micro and small ones, were reticent and gave negative answers. Considering the behaviour shown by the analysed companies, we found slight differences between the features considered important for different types of users of accounting information. For managers, the most important feature was relevant and accurate representation. Investors and shareholders, as well as managers, are also interested in relevant and accurate representation. Long-term creditors show a slightly higher interest for verifiability, comparability and accuracy of representation. Conclusion. Advanced disclosure quality of both qualitative and quantitative information in reporting is of high significance for modern Romanian business. With this regard, we created the drawing prerequisites of an efficient model of disclosure. The proposed procedure, which includes qualitative and quantitative information, can influence the quality of reporting including the events and transactions registered after reporting (IAS 10), changes in the policies and accounting errors (IAS 8), peculiarities occurring during the assessment and communication of the value of intangible or tangible assets, the difference between the market value of the company and its book value, the presence of fictitious assets, the presence of fair value or optional fair value for financial instruments, etc.