Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Diagnóstico molecular de histoplasmosis humana en muestras de sangre entera

Molecular diagnosis of human histoplasmosis in whole blood samples. To assess the value of using whole blood samples for the molecular diagnosis of histoplasmosis, we applied an in-house DNA extraction method and a nested PCR targeting a 210 bp specific segment of the Histoplasma capsulatum HcP100 gene. A whole blood volume of 2.5-3 milliliters was centrifuged and the cellular pellet was treated with Trichoderma harzianum lyticase and protei- nase K prior to applying a conventional phenol DNA extraction. This procedure allowed complete cell lysis, high DNA yield and specific amplification. The PCR detection limit was 0.25-1 yeast cells/ml of blood sample. The method was assessed on 31 blood samples from 19 patients with microbiological diagnosis of histoplasmosis, 30 healthy persons and 21 patients with other mycoses or mycobacterial diseases. Positive results were obtained in samples from 17/19 patients with histoplasmosis (14/15 immunocompromised and 3/4 without known immunological disorder). Blood samples from the 30 healthy controls and 20 patients with other conditions proved negative; the only false positive result was obtained from a patient with Mycobacterium avium-intracellulare infection. With 89% sensitivity and 98% specificity, this molecular method for detection of the agent in blood shows promising for the rapid diagnosis of human histoplasmosis.
OPAMINE D 2-CLASS RECEPTOR SUPERSENSITIVITY AS EFLECTED IN Ca 2 CURRENT MODULATION IN NEOSTRIATAL

bstract—The loss of dopaminergic neurons followed by opamine (DA) depletion in the neostriatum is a hallmark f Parkinson’s disease. Among other changes, DA D2-reeptor class (D2R-class) supersensitivity is a result of strital DA depletion. Pharmacological, biochemical and beavioral data have documented this phenomenon, but lear electrophysiological-functional correlates are still acking. This work describes an electrophysiological corelate of D2R-class supersensitivity in DA-depleted striata fter unilateral 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) lesions in the at substantia nigra compacta (SNc). Ca current moduation mediated by D2R-class activation reflected an altered ensitivity. Thus, while the concentration–response relaionship (C–R plot) from control striata was better fit with a wo sites model, the C–R plot obtained from DA-depleted triata was better fit by a three sites model, exhibited a onsiderable leftward shift, and presented an increased aximal response. Because Ca current modulation by 2R-class activation is involved in the control of spiny eurons excitability and their synaptic GABA release, the resent findings may help to explain several functional hanges found in the striatal circuitry after dopaminergic enervation. © 2009 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All ights reserved.
骨折의 Delayed Union 및 Nonunion 의 原因的 考察

34 cases of delayed and nonunion examined at SNUB during the period of 1958 to 1967 were analysed as to their probable causes. 1. Of the 34 cases, there were 28 male and 5 female patients. This figure shows marked predominence of male over female. 2. The age group between 20 and 40 occupied 61.7%. 3. Of the bones involved, femur marked 11 cases. radius and ulna 7, and tibia 4 cases respectively. 4. As to the type of fractures. there were 24 cases of open and 10 cases of closed fractures. 5. At the time of initial treatment. 2 receivd no treatment at all, 14 were conservatively treated, and the remaning 18 cases were operated on in order to attain internal fixation. 6. Of the probable causes of delayed union and nonunion. 12 were caused by inadequate immobilization, 10 by infection, and 5 by too much separation between fragments. 7. Infection played major role in 10 cases of which 3 were caused by infection primarily complicated on open fracture. ani 7 by postsurgical infection. 4 out of 10 open fractures underwent surgical intervention and all of them turned out to be infected. 34 cases of delayed and nonunion were analysed and the author was quite surprised to find that most of the cases were caused by malpractice of physicians and were at the same time preventable.
An architectural style for multiple real-time data feeds

We present an architectural style for the integration of multiple real-time data feeds on Windows NT platforms. We motivate the development of this style by highlighting different application areas in which the style has been deployed. We present the requirements that will be met by the architectural style and discuss the design of customizable components that implement the style based on Microsoft's Component Object Model.
IL–1β protein in human skin lymph does not discriminate allergic from irritant contact dermatitis

Recent data suggest a key rôle for IL‐1β in the induction phase of allergic contact dermatitis. In the present study, (he protein levels of IL‐1β were measured in skin lymph derived from normal untreated skin as well as from irritant and allergic (induction and elicitation phase) contact dermatitis. IL‐1β increased in the course of both types of contact dermatitis, displaying the highest levels in irritant CD. Using a reverse transcriptase‐polymerase chain reaction, low signal strength of IL‐1β mRNA was demonstrated in lymph cells derived from normal skin and allergic CD. In lymph cells collected 2 × daily during the induction phase of allergic contact dermatitis, no upregulation of the IL‐1β mRNA signal was found. Isolated CD 1a+ lymph cells derived from normal skin us welt as from the induction and elicitation phase of allergic contact dermatitis did not express IL‐1β mRNA. Our results demonstrate that in human skin lymph, the IL‐1β p profiles do not discriminate between irritant and allergic contact dermatitis and that besides resident epidermal and dermal cells, circulating lymph cells may also contribute to 1L‐1β protein production.
Sensing and Handling Engagement Dynamics in Human-Robot Interaction Involving Peripheral Computing Devices

When human partners attend to peripheral computing devices while interacting with conversational robots, the inability of the robots to determine the actual engagement level of the human partners after gaze shift may cause communication breakdown. In this paper, we propose a real-time perception model for robots to estimate human partners' engagement dynamics, and investigate different robot behavior strategies to handle ambiguities in humans' status and ensure the flow of the conversation. In particular, we define four novel types of engagement status and propose a real-time engagement inference model that weighs humans' social signals dynamically according to the involvement of the computing devices. We further design two robot behavior strategies (explicit and implicit) to help resolve uncertainties in engagement inference and mitigate the impact of uncoupling, based on an annotated human-human interaction video corpus. We conducted a within-subject experiment to assess the efficacy and usefulness of the proposed engagement inference model and behavior strategies. Results show that robots with our engagement model can deliver better service and smoother conversations as an assistant, and people find the implicit strategy more polite and appropriate.
Mental Health Services for Looked after Children: Implications from Two Studies

Two recent studies by Glasgow researchers have highlighted the high level of emotional and behavioural difficulties experienced by looked after children. One was a survey of children entering the care system (Dimigen et al, 1999) while the other was a randomised controlled trial of a training programme for foster carers. The survey was carried out in Glasgow, while the trial was carried out across another part of the Central Belt of Scotland. Despite their different designs and geographical areas, the two studies came up with complementary results. Helen Minnis and Christina Del Priore synthesise these results in this paper and use them to argue that practitioners need to take a fresh look at mental health services for looked after children and at the assessments which should determine what these children need.
Is Aphasia Therapy Effective? Exploring the Evidence in Systematic Reviews

Abstract In December 1999, Greener, Enderby and Whurr reported the findings of their Cochrane review to assess the effects of formal speech and language therapy for people with aphasia following stroke. They concluded that aphasia therapy had not been shown to be “clearly effective or clearly ineffective within a randomised controlled trial (RCT)” (p. 1). Their conclusion led to much discussion among speech pathologists with some expressing grave concern that the outcome of the review would undermine the provision of services for people with aphasia and their carers. In this paper, evidence for the effectiveness of aphasia therapy that has been provided by published systematic reviews is critically explored. Clearly, challenges remain with respect to provision of evidence-based aphasia therapy. However, the weight of evidence accumulated over the years and synthesised in systematic reviews supports the broad conclusion that aphasia therapy is effective.
The Association of NAD(P)H:quinine Oxidoreductase Gene Polymorphisms With Pediatric Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia

Objectives: Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is the most common pediatric cancer. NAD(P)H:quinone oxidoreductase 1 (NQO1) is an enzyme that protects cells against mutagenicity of free radicals and toxic oxygen metabolites. C to T base substitution at nucleotides 609 and 465 of NQO1 cDNA, results in loss of enzyme activity. Low NQO1 activity may play a role in etiology of ALL. In the present study, we investigated the association between the NQO1 polymorphisms and increased risk of ALL in children. Methods: C609T and C465T polymorphisms of NQO1 were explored using polymerase chain reaction and restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) assay in 100 pediatric ALL patients and 135 healthy controls. Results: Although C609T polymorphism is very common among the Iranian population, we found no association between this variant and increased risk for pediatric ALL [odds ratio (OR) = 0.95; 95% confidence interval (95% CI) = 0.55–1.64]. Interestingly the other polymorphic allele of NQO1 (C465T) was strongly associated with pediatric ALL (OR = 7.83; 95% CI= 3.27-18.75). Conclusion: These findings do not support the predisposing role of NQO1 C609T polymorphism for pediatric ALL. However, The C465T polymorphism was associated with increased risk of pediatric ALL. Further studies with larger sample including evaluating multiple gene– gene interactions seem necessary to validate the exact role of these mutations.
Defective Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinase Signaling in Central Control of Cardiovascular Effects in the Nucleus Tractus Solitarii of Spontaneously Hypertensive Rats

Recently we have shown functional involvement of the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)-Akt-nitric oxide synthase (NOS) signaling pathway in central control of cardiovascular effects in the nucleus tractus solitarii (NTS) of normotensive Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) rats. In this study we determined whether PI3K/Akt signaling was defective in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR). WKY rats and SHR were anesthetized with urethane. Mean blood pressure (MBP) and heart rate (HR) were monitored intra-arterially. Unilateral microinjection (60 nL) of insulin (100 IU/mL) into the NTS produced prominent depressor and bradycardic effects in 8- and 16-week-old normotensive WKY and 8-week-old SHR. However, no significant cardiovascular effects were found in 16-week-old SHR after insulin injection. Furthermore, pretreatment with PI3K inhibitor LY294002 and NOS inhibitor L-NAME into the NTS attenuated the cardiovascular response evoked by insulin in WKY and 8-week-old SHR but not in 16-week-old SHR. Unilateral microinjection of 1 mmol/L of PI(3,4,5)P3 (phosphatidylinositol 3,4,5-triphosphate), a phospholipids second messenger produced by PI3K, into the NTS produced prominent depressor and bradycardic effects in 8- or 16-week-old WKY rats as well as 8-week-old SHR but not in 16-week-old SHR. Western blot analysis showed no significant increase in Akt phosphorylation in 8-week-old pre-hypertensive SHR after insulin injection. Similar results were also found in hypertensive 16-week-old SHR. Our results indicate that the Akt-independent signaling pathway is involved in NOS activation to regulate cardiovascular effects in the NTS of 8-week-old pre-hypertensive SHR. Both Akt-dependent and Akt-independent signaling pathways are defective in hypertensive 16-week-old SHR.
Long-Term Care Providers and Their Perceptions of the External Environment: Rural Versus Urban Differences

Long-term care organizations are facing rapid environmental changes given recent market and policy changes, which include the implementation of the Balanced Budget Act (BBA; 1997), the growthof managed care, the increased number of nursing home alternatives, and nurse staffing shortages. Using survey data, this study examined urban and/or rural differences in the environment perceptions across long-term care provider types in Pennsylvania: nursing homes, home health agencies, and assisted living facilities. In addition, it analyzed how long-term care organizations have responded to the implementation of the BBA (1997). Results show that urban and rural long-term care providers have similarities and differences in their environmental perceptions and in their response to environmental changes. Workforce issues were identified almost universally by rural and urban facilities as the critical industry problem. On the other hand, there were also differences, with rural nursing home providers showing the greatest vulnerability among long-term care organizations.
Health of children less than 5 years old in an upper middle income country: parents' views

Health literature in the Caribbean, and in particular Jamaica, has continued to use objective indices such as mortality and morbidity to examine children’s health. The current study uses subjective indices such as parent-reported health conditions and health status to evaluate the health of children instead of traditional objective indices. The study seeks 1) to examine the health and health care-seeking behaviour of the sample from the parents’ viewpoints; and 2) to compute the mean age of the sample with a particular illness and describe whether there is an epidemiological shift in these conditions. Two nationally representative cross-sectional surveys were used for this study (2002 and 2007). The sample for the current study is 3,062 respondents aged less than 5 years. For 2002, the study extracted a sample of 2,448 under 5 year olds from the national survey of 25,018 respondents, and 614 under 5 year olds were extracted from the 2007 survey of 6,728 respondents. Parents-reported information was used to measure issues on children under 5 years old. In 2007, 43.4% of the sample had very good health status; 46.7% good health status; 2.5% poor health and 0.3% very poor health status. Almost 15% of children had illnesses in 2002, and 6% more had illnesses in 2007 over 2002. In 2002, the percentage of the sample with particular chronic illnesses was: diabetes mellitus (0.6%); hypertension (0.3%) and arthritis (0.3%). However, none was recorded in 2007. The mean age of children less than 5 years old with acute health conditions (i.e. diarrhoea, respiratory diseases and influenza) increased over 2002. In 2007, 43.4% of children less than 5 years old had very good health status; 46.7% good health status; 7.1% fair health status; 2.5% poor and 0.3% very poor health status. The association between health status and parent- reported illness was –x2 (df = 4) = 57.494, P< 0.001-with the relationship being a weak one, correlation coefficient=0.297. A cross-tabulation between health status and parent-reported diagnosed illness found that a significant statistical correlation existed between the two variables –x2 (df = 16) = 26.621, P < 0.05, cc = 0.422, – with the association being a moderate one, correlation coefficient = 0.422. A cross tabulation between health status and health care- seeking behaviour found a significant statistical association between the two variables –x2 (df = 4) = 10.513, P < 0.033-with the correlation being a weak one-correlation coefficient = 0.281. Rural children had the least health status. The health disparity that existed between rural and urban less than 5 year olds showed that this will not be removed simply because of the abolition of health care utilization fees.
Put your thinking cap on: detecting cognitive load using EEG during learning

Current learning technologies have no direct way to assess students' mental effort: are they in deep thought, struggling to overcome an impasse, or are they zoned out? To address this challenge, we propose the use of EEG-based cognitive load detectors during learning. Despite its potential, EEG has not yet been utilized as a way to optimize instructional strategies. We take an initial step towards this goal by assessing how experimentally manipulated (easy and difficult) sections of an intelligent tutoring system (ITS) influenced EEG-based estimates of students' cognitive load. We found a main effect of task difficulty on EEG-based cognitive load estimates, which were also correlated with learning performance. Our results show that EEG can be a viable source of data to model learners' mental states across a 90-minute session.
Hemodynamic Influences of Azelnidipine, a Novel Calcium Channel Blocker, on Cerebral Circulation in Hypertensive Patients with Ischemic White Matter Lesions

Calcium channel blockers have been widely used for the treatment of hypertension because several clinical trials have demonstrated their strong action on lowering blood pressure and their role in preventing cardiovascular events such as stroke and coronary heart disease. However, there have been few reports on the effects on cerebral hemodynamics when blood pressure is lowered with this class of drug. In this study, we used positron emission tomography and acetazolamide challenge tests to measure cerebral blood flow and cerebrovascular reserve before and after administration of a novel calcium channel blocker, azelnidipine, in nine hypertensive patients (mean age, 66.1 years) with ischemic white matter lesions. Systemic blood pressure was significantly decreased from baseline (153.8±15.5/92.1±8.5 mmHg) after treatment with azelnidipine (138.4±16.3/81.8±6.2 mmHg). The baseline global cerebral blood flow values before and after treatment were 40.1±7.2 mL/min/100 g and 39.2±8.2 mL/min/100 g, respectively. The cerebrovascular reserve values before and after treatment were 58.6±21.7% and 56.3±21.3%, respectively. Differences in these parameters were not significant. A regional analysis showed no statistical differences in regional cerebral blood flow or cerebral perfusion reserve throughout the brain before and after treatment. No associations between the decreased blood pressure and the changes in cerebral blood flow or cerebrovascular reserve were found in the whole brain or in the deep white matter with ischemic lesions. In conclusion, we found that the cerebral blood flow and cerebral vascular reserve were preserved after blood pressure lowering with azelnidipine administration in hypertensive patients with ischemic white matter lesions. Azelnidipine, a novel calcium channel blocker, could be a feasible antihypertensive regimen in terms of cerebral circulation in patients with ischemic white matter lesions.
Impact of Metabolic Syndrome among Patients with and without Diabetes Mellitus on Long-Term Outcomes after Percutaneous Coronary Intervention

Metabolic syndrome (MS) is highly prevalent and an established key risk factor for coronary artery disease, regardless of the presence or absence of diabetes mellitus (DM). Long-term follow-up studies have addressed the influence of MS with and without DM on the prognosis of patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). We classified 748 consecutive patients who had undergone PCI into four groups as follows: neither DM nor MS, DM alone, MS alone, and both DM and MS. Post hoc analyses were conducted using prospectively collected clinical data. Multivariate Cox regression was used to evaluate the risk within each group for all-cause mortality and composite cardiac events (cardiac death, non-fatal acute coronary syndrome), adjusting for age, gender, body mass index, low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol level, hypertension, smoking, prior coronary artery bypass graft, presentation of acute coronary syndrome, left ventricular ejection fraction, multivessel disease, and procedural success. The progress of 321 (42.9%) patients with neither DM nor MS, 109 (14.6%) patients with DM alone, 129 (17.2%) patients with MS alone, and 189 (25.3%) patients with both DM and MS was followed up for a mean of 12.0±3.6 years. Patients with both DM and MS had significant risk for increased all-cause mortality (2.10 [1.19–3.70]). Patients with MS alone (2.14 [1.31–3.50]) and with both DM and MS (1.87 [1.18–2.96]) were at significant risk for increased cardiac events. In conclusion, the risk of cardiac events is significantly increased in patients with metabolic syndrome following PCI, irrespective of DM.
The relationship between number of natural teeth and oral health behavior in adult Japanese people

Objectives: The Survey of Dental Diseases in Japan in 2005 has reported that most of 80 year old people have fewer than 20 teeth. The aim of the present study was to investigate the association of tooth loss with oral health behavior among Japanese people. Methods: Subjects were 825 persons over 50 years in the eastern part of Hokkaido, Japan. The survey items were age, sex, smoking status, oral health behavior such as frequency of tooth brushing, and so on. Furthermore, among the 825 subjects, we selected 750 subjects who had over 5 present teeth. The analysis of the relationship between number of natural teeth and tooth brushing, using an interdental brush or dental floss used those subjects. Odds ratios (ORs) and their 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of variables related to having teeth fewer than 20 were evaluated using the unconditional logistic regression model by sex. Results: Habitual smoking was significantly associated with risk of having teeth fewer than 20 in the male subjects (OR=2.46, 95%CI: 1.05-5.78) as well as in the female subjects (OR=2.94, 95%CI: 1.09-7.94). Tooth brushing less than or equal to once a day (OR=2.57, 95%CI:1.38-4.80), nonuse of either an interdental brush (OR=2.14, 95%CI: 1.27-3.59) or dental floss (OR=3.56, 95%CI: 1.48-8.55) and no complaint of oral condition (OR=0.56, 95%CI:0.34-0.95) were significantly associated with risk of having teeth fewer than 20 in the female subjects. Conclusion: Frequent oral health behavior may reduce the risk of tooth loss.