Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Remifentanil without muscle relaxants for intubation in microlaryngoscopy: a double blind randomised clinical trial.

OBJECTIVES We aimed to compare the effect of remifentanil without muscle relaxant with succinylcholine for intubation in microlaryngoscopy. PATIENTS AND METHODS Eighty patients were randomly divided into two groups: Group R (n=40) and S (n=40) received remifentanil 4 µg/kg intravenously or 1 µg/kg respectively. Anesthesia was induced with 2 mg/kg propofol in both groups. Intubation was performed after bolus administration of 10 ml saline as a placebo or 1 mg/kg of succinylcholine in Group R and S respectively. Remifentanil infusion was initiated at 0.025 μg/kg in each groups. RESULTS Intubation conditions were similar in both groups. The mean arterial pressure (MAP) values at post-induction period were significantly lower in the Group S than in the Group R (p = 0.001). The requirement for ephedrine in Group R was found to be significantly lower than Group S (p = 0.023). Recovery times were significantly shorter (p = 0.001) and recovery scores were significantly higher (p = 0.021) in Group R. Time to patient could respond to commands was significantly longer in the Group S (p = 0.001). The surgeon's satisfaction score was significantly higher in Group R (p = 0.001). CONCLUSIONS It was concluded that remifentanil without muscle relaxants provides similar intubating conditions as that provided by succinylcholine, and remifentanil is superior to succinylcholine with regard to haemodynamic stability and recovery duration.
School Violence, Mental Health, and Educational Performance in Uganda

BACKGROUND: Violence against children from school staff is anecdotally common in low- and middle-income countries, but data on prevalence and associations with mental health and educational outcomes are lacking. METHODS: We report data from a cross-sectional survey conducted in June and July 2012 in Luwero District, Uganda. Forty-two primary schools representing 80% of students in the district were randomly selected; 100% agreed to participate. The International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect Child Abuse Screening Tool—Child Institutional; Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire; and reading, spelling, and math tests were administered. We present descriptive statistics and logistic regression models, accounting for the complex sampling scheme used in the survey. RESULTS: We surveyed 3706 students and 577 school staff members; 93.3% (SE 1.0%) of boys and 94.2% (SE 1.6%) of girls attending primary school reported lifetime experience of physical violence from a school staff member, and >50% reported experience in the past week. Past-week physical violence was associated with increased odds of poor mental health and, for girls, double the odds of poor educational performance (adjusted odds ratio = 1.78, 95% confidence interval = 1.19–2.66). For boys, significant interactions were present. CONCLUSIONS: Despite a ban on corporal punishment in Ugandan schools since 1997, the use of violence against students is widespread and associated with poor mental health and educational performance. School violence may be an important but overlooked contributor to disease burden and poor educational performance in low- and middle-income settings.
Age- and Gender-Related Collagen Distribution in Human Vocal Folds

The composition of the lamina propria in human vocal folds has been shown to affect vocal performance. Collagen plays a significant role in the biomechanical effects of the lamina propria. Specifically, it lends tensile strength to the rapidly oscillating fold. We obtained from a state medical examiner 38 larynges from men and women in infant, adult, and geriatric age groups. We stained the vocal folds for collagen using a picric acid stain and studied them using an image analysis system. Distributions of collagen were measured from the superficial to deep layers (from epithelium to vocalis muscle) within the lamina propria. The data showed an increase in collagen content from infant to adult stages. Infant folds had about 51 % of the collagen found in all adults and in geriatric patients (p < .001). There was no significant difference between adult and geriatric folds (p < .16). There was, however, a gender difference in the amount of collagen in both adult and geriatric specimens. Female adult and geriatric folds had about 59% of the collagen found in male adult and geriatric folds (p < .001). The distribution pattern of collagen showed that most of the collagen was present in the deep layer. From these data we conclude that there are age-related and gender-related differences between male and female infant, adult, and geriatric vocal folds. Stress-strain performance studies need to be correlated with histologic findings to better study the phonetic implications of these findings.
Lead Level in Umbilical Cord Blood and its Effects on Newborns Anthropometry.

INTRODUCTION High concentration of blood lead is accompanied by adverse health effects on growth of foetus and the newborn. AIM The aim of this study was to determine umbilical cord blood lead level and its relationship with birth weight, length and head circumference of the newborns in Abadan, Iran. MATERIALS AND METHODS In this cross-sectional study, 3 ml blood was collected from the umbilical cord vein in 147 newborns, immediately after the birth. Blood lead was measured using atomic absorption spectrophotometry. Data collection instruments included demographic questionnaire (age of mother, gestational age, newborn gender, job and education of mother) and also data registration form (umbilical cord blood lead concentration, weight, length, and head circumference of newborn). Data was analyzed with SPSS software version 16.0. RESULTS The mean of umbilical cord blood lead was determined 0.65±0.32 µg/dl (0.3-1.35 µg/dl). The decrease of birth weight with increased blood lead level was small and was not statistically significant. There was reverse significant correlation between umbilical cord blood lead level and birth length and head circumference. There was no significant correlation between blood lead and other variables such as age, weight, education and job of mother and gestational age. CONCLUSION Umbilical blood lead level was determined <5 µg/ dl. Excess of umbilical cord blood lead caused decreasing birth weight, length and head circumference of the newborns.
Direct Calculation Method of Reference Flux Linkage for Maximum Torque per Ampere Control in DTC-Based IPMSM Drives

This paper proposes a maximum torque per ampere control strategy for direct-torque-controlled interior permanent magnet synchronous motor drives. The proposed method is based on the solutions of a quartic equation, a motor model in the d-q rotating frame often used for the synchronous motor controllers, and a well-known equation for maximum torque per ampere control. Therefore, the proposed method does not use a lookup table that depends on parameters of the motor and that has to be created in advance. In addition, the proposed method can use the estimated parameters. Particularly, the variations of the d- and q-axes inductances can be estimated when the inductances are modeled as the functions of the d- and q-axes current. The simulation results validate that the proposed method can achieve the maximum torque per ampere control. In addition, the simulation and experimental results verify the accuracy improvement of the maximum torque per ampere control with the iterated calculation.
Notice of RetractionMaintenance disassembly optimization based on Petri net and A∗ algorithm

In the equipment design stage, the disassembling operation regulations have not been established. The optimization of disassembly process with the determination of disassembly time is a difficulty. This article gives a method to solve the problem. The first step is to analyze the constraint relationships between parts and express the relationships as a disassembly precedence constraint matrix. The second step is to set up the disassembly Petri net model based on Timed Transition Petri Net, including sub-nets which reflect the disassembly priorities. The third step is using A* heuristic search algorithm to select the best disassembly path by evaluation function from the paths represented by reachability graph of disassembly Petri net and get the disassembly time. At last, an example of optimizing disassembly sequence and getting disassembly time about some ship equipment device is presented, which shows the rationality of the method.
A theoretical and methodological framework for social economic value theory

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to contribute to research on the impact that the creation of value theory has on professional, organizational, and economic performance. However, a special emphasis is on explicating the theoretical foundation of the concept. Design/methodology/approach - This paper is based on a hermeneutic study of the relationship between value creation and managing economic resources. The paper traces the value creation concept to its roots from the foundation of Western Civilization through the value theory of Adam Smith and up to recent technological age advancements in value theory. Findings - Since its emergence the value concept has been explicated in an abundance of literature. However, there has been very little in regards to explanations detailing the theoretical underpinnings of the concept. According to John Stuart Mill, attempts to apply value theory will fail (due to misinformation or inaccurate information) without inclusiveness of the full scope of what is relevant for social science and social economic research. Research limitations/implications - Although studies on organizational behavior encompass the economic aspects of research economic research tends to be narrower in scope making it difficult to verify some value claims in economic terms. This is especially true in terms of making claims in regards to the connection between economic value theory, social value theory, the Philosophy of Economics, and the Philosophy of Science. Practical implications - The study introduces a theoretical framework for integrating the value added and value creation concepts as a strategy for increasing shareholder benefits, stakeholder capital, and social capital. Social implications - The paper explains how the value creation concept contributes to an increase in wealth, prosperity, flourishing by drawing from a technological age approach to value creation. Originality/value - The paper fills the void in the literature regarding the theoretical framework of the concept thus undergirds claims about its practical benefits by clarifying its theoretical framework.
Beyond diet reconstruction: Stable isotope applications to human physiology, health, and nutrition

Analysis of stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes from soft or mineralized tissues is a direct and widely‐used technique for modeling diets. In addition to its continued role in paleodiet analysis, stable isotope analysis is now contributing to studies of physiology, disease, and nutrition in archaeological and living human populations. In humans and other animals, dietary uptake and distribution of carbon and nitrogen among mineralized and soft tissue is carried out with varying efficiency due to factors of internal biology. Human pathophysiologies may lead to pathology‐influenced isotopic fractionation that can be exploited to understand not just skeletal health and diet, but physiological health and nutrition. This study reviews examples from human biology, non‐human animal ecology, biomedicine, and bioarchaeology demonstrating how stable isotope analyses are usefully applied to the study of physiological adaptation and adaptability. Suggestions are made for future directions in applying stable isotope analysis to the study of nutritional stress, disease, and growth and development in living and past human populations. Am. J. Hum. Biol. 25:445–456, 2013. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Pramipexole vs levodopa as initial treatment for Parkinson disease: a 4-year randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND The best way to initiate dopaminergic therapy for early Parkinson disease remains unclear. OBJECTIVE To compare initial treatment with pramipexole vs levodopa in early Parkinson disease, followed by levodopa supplementation, with respect to the development of dopaminergic motor complications, other adverse events, and functional and quality-of-life outcomes. DESIGN Multicenter, parallel-group, double-blind, randomized controlled trial. SETTING Academic movement disorders clinics at 22 sites in the United States and Canada. PATIENTS Patients with early Parkinson disease (N = 301) who required dopaminergic therapy to treat emerging disability, enrolled between October 1996 and August 1997 and observed until August 2001. INTERVENTION Subjects were randomly assigned to receive 0.5 mg of pramipexole 3 times per day with levodopa placebo (n = 151) or 25/100 mg of carbidopa/levodopa 3 times per day with pramipexole placebo (n = 150). Dosage was escalated during the first 10 weeks for patients with ongoing disability. Thereafter, investigators were permitted to add open-label levodopa or other antiparkinsonian medications to treat ongoing or emerging disability. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Time to the first occurrence of dopaminergic complications: wearing off, dyskinesias, on-off fluctuations, and freezing; changes in the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale and quality-of-life scales; and adverse events. RESULTS Initial pramipexole treatment resulted in a significant reduction in the risk of developing dyskinesias (24.5% vs 54%; hazard ratio, 0.37; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.25-0.56; P<.001) and wearing off (47% vs 62.7%; hazard ratio, 0.68; 95% CI, 0.49-0.63; P =.02). Initial levodopa treatment resulted in a significant reduction in the risk of freezing (25.3% vs 37.1%; hazard ratio, 1.7; 95% CI, 1.11-2.59; P =.01). By 48 months, the occurrence of disabling dyskinesias was uncommon and did not significantly differ between the 2 groups. The mean improvement in the total Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale score from baseline to 48 months was greater in the levodopa group than in the pramipexole group (2 +/- 15.4 points vs -3.2 +/- 17.3 points, P =.003). Somnolence (36% vs 21%, P =.005) and edema (42% vs 15%, P<.001) were more common in pramipexole-treated subjects than in levodopa-treated subjects. Mean changes in quality-of-life scores did not differ between the groups. CONCLUSIONS Initial treatment with pramipexole resulted in lower incidences of dyskinesias and wearing off compared with initial treatment with levodopa. Initial treatment with levodopa resulted in lower incidences of freezing, somnolence, and edema and provided for better symptomatic control, as measured by the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale, compared with initial treatment with pramipexole. Both options resulted in similar quality of life. Levodopa and pramipexole both appear to be reasonable options as initial dopaminergic therapy for Parkinson disease, but they are associated with different efficacy and adverse-effect profiles.
Systematic errors in indirect estimates of basilar membrane travel times.

There exist in the literature three attempts to derive basilar membrane travel times from the phase versus frequency characteristics of responses to tones in the auditory nerve [Anderson et al., J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 4. , 1131-1139 (1971)], cochlear nucleus [Gibson et al., in Psychophysics and Physiology of Hearing, edited by Evans and Wilson (Academic, New York, 1977), pp. 57-68], and basilar membrane [Robles et al., J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 59, 926-939 (1976)]. It is argued in this paper that these derivations probably have overestimated the actual mechanical travel times. Travel time was originally defined by von Békésy as the latency between the onset of a click stimulus and the onset of basilar membrane vibration. For a linear bandpass system, the frequency-domain equivalent of this latency is the high-frequency asymptotoic slope of the phase lag versus frequency characteristic, which is not generally a linear function. In the neural studies (auditory nerve and cochlear nucleus) it was assumed that the phase versus frequency characteristic was a straight line. Slopes derived under a linear assumption are probably closer to the weighted average group delay (i.e., the center of gravity of the click response) than they are to travel time. In the Mössbauer study of basilar membrane mechanics the latency of the response to clicks was compared with the low-frequency slope of the phase characteristic. The comparison should have been made with the high-frequency slope.
A drug inhibits the mitochondrial protease inducing calmitine deficiency in skeletal muscle of patients with Duchenne's muscular dystrophy and dy/dy dystrophic mice.

This study demonstrates that the cause of calmitine deficiency in dy/dy dystrophic mice and patients with Duchenne's muscular dystrophy (DMD) is the same; i.e., the absence of an inhibitor of calmitine-specific mitochondrial protease. This inhibitor, which is present in control mice and control subjects, prevented degradation of the protein. It is also shown that a drug (IP96) was capable in vitro of inhibiting calmitine-specific mitochondrial protease from muscle of DMD patients and dy/dy mice. This drug was also active in vivo in an experimental model of myopathy created in the normal mouse by a single injection of chlorpromazine, a myotoxic drug, which induced temporary calmitine degradation. Thus, it seems quite likely that IP96 prevents calmitine degradation by inhibiting the specific protease.
Variation in strength of inhibitory synapses in the CA3 region of guinea‐pig hippocampus in vitro.

1. Simultaneous recordings were made from inhibitory cells located close to the stratum pyramidale and from pyramidal cells in the CA3 region of guinea‐pig hippocampal slices, to examine inhibitory synaptic interactions. 2. The average amplitude of inhibitory postsynaptic potentials (IPSPs) initiated by single action potentials at different synapses varied between 0.3 and 2.6 mV. Experiments were performed to investigate the source of this variation. 3. Unitary IPSPs reversed at similar potentials to the first phase of the synaptic inhibition elicited by afferent fibre stimulation. IPSPs evoked by single action potentials or repetitive inhibitory cell firing were suppressed by picrotoxin, a gamma‐aminobutyric acid (GABAA) receptor antagonists. 4. The time to peak and amplitude of averaged IPSPs were not related as predicted if amplitude variations resulted simply from different electrotonic locations of inhibitory terminals. 5. Transmission failures could be resolved at connections which generated small averaged IPSPs, but were not apparent at connections where averaged IPSPs were large. 6. IPSPs elicited by the same inhibitory cell in several pyramidal cells were of similar amplitude. The amplitudes of simultaneous IPSPs impinging on pairs of neighboring pyramidal cells were positively correlated. 7. Thus, the variation in efficacy of inhibitory synapses may result from differences in transmitter release from different inhibitory cells and not from postsynaptic factors.
Development of Minimal Lentivirus Vectors Derived from Simian Immunodeficiency Virus (SIVmac251) and Their Use for Gene Transfer into Human Dendritic Cells

ABSTRACT Lentivirus-derived vectors are very promising gene delivery systems since they are able to transduce nonproliferating differentiated cells, while murine leukemia virus-based vectors can only transduce cycling cells. Here we report the construction and characterization of highly efficient minimal vectors derived from simian immunodeficiency virus (SIVmac251). High-fidelity PCR amplification of DNA fragments was used to generate a minimal SIV vector formed from a 5′ cytomegalovirus early promoter, the 5′ viral sequences up to the 5′ end of gagrequired for reverse transcription and packaging, the Rev-responsive element, a gene-expressing cassette, and the 3′ long terminal repeat (LTR). Production of SIV vector particles was achieved by transfecting 293T cells with the vector DNA and helper constructs coding for the viral genes and the vesicular stomatitis virus glycoprotein G envelope. These SIV vectors were found to have transducing titers reaching 107 transducing units/ml on HeLa cells and to deliver a gene without transfer of helper functions to target cells. The central polypurine tract can be included in the minimal vector, resulting in a two- to threefold increase in the transduction titers on dividing or growth-arrested cells. Based on this minimal SIV vector, asin vector was designed by deleting 151 nucleotides in the 3′ LTR U3 region, and this SIV sin vector retained high transduction titers. Furthermore, the minimal SIV vector was efficient at transducing terminally differentiated human CD34+cell-derived or monocyte-derived dendritic cells (DCs). Results show that up to 40% of human primary DCs can be transduced by the SIV vectors. This opens a new perspective in the field of immunotherapy.
Correction to 'On the existence of positive-definite maximum-likelihood estimates of structured covariance matrices'

A correction to, and a more complete proof of, Theorem 1 of Fuhrmann and Miller (see ibid., vol.34, no.7, p.722-29, 1988) is given. We consider the existence of solutions to the maximum-likelihood (ML) structured covariance estimation problem. In particular, we are interested in determining the circumstances under which the log likelihood is unbounded above for a given covariance constraint set R and a data set x/sub 1/. x/sub M/. Theorem 1 states that, provided certain conditions are met by the constraint set R, the log likelihood is unbounded above if and only if there exists some singular matrix R/sub 0/ in R whose range space contains the data. We refer to the latter occurrence as the failure condition of the ML covariance estimation problem. This result has a certain intuitive appeal; however, one must take care in specifying the conditions on R for this to be precisely correct. In the statement of Theorem 1, two restrictions are given, one for sufficiency and one for necessity. Both restrictions as stated are in error. In this article we propose modified restrictions on the space of covariances R which will correct these errors.
ONTOTracED: A Framework to Capture and Trace Ontology Development Processes

In the last two decades several methodologies to assist the ontology development process have been reported in the literature. However, despite important advances, there are no computational tools supporting them yet. Thus, when an ontology development process ends, the things that remain are just design products (e.g., competency questions, class diagrams, implementations, etc.), without an explicit representation of how they were obtained. This paper presents a framework meant to explicitly capture and trace ontology development processes (the activities carried out, the actors executing them, etc.), along with their associated products.
Cleavage theory meets Europe’s crises: Lipset, Rokkan, and the transnational cleavage

ABSTRACT This article argues that the perforation of national states by immigration, integration and trade may signify a critical juncture in the political development of Europe no less consequential for political parties and party systems than the previous junctures that Lipset and Rokkan detect in their classic article. We present evidence suggesting that (1) party systems are determined in episodic breaks from the past; (2) political parties are programmatically inflexible; and, (3) as a consequence, party system change comes in the form of rising parties.