Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Long-term mortality and causes of death in endoscopically verified upper gastrointestinal bleeding: comparison of bleeding patients and population controls

Abstract Objective: Upper gastrointestinal bleeding (UGIB) is a common emergency, with in-hospital mortality between 3 and 14%. However, the long-term mortality and causes of death are unknown. We investigated the long-term mortality and causes of death in UGIB patients in a retrospective single-centre case-control study design. Methods: A total of 569 consecutive patients, aged ≥18 years, admitted to Kuopio University Hospital for their first endoscopically verified UGIB during the years 2009–2011 were identified from hospital records. For each UGIB patient, an age, sex and hospital district matched control patient was identified from the Statistics Finland database. Data on endoscopy procedures, laboratory values, comorbidities and medication were obtained from patient records. Data on deaths and causes of death were obtained from Statistics Finland. Results: In-hospital mortality of UGIB patients was low at 3.3%. The long-term (mean follow-up 32 months) mortality of UGIB patients was significantly higher than controls (34.1 versus 12.1%, p < .001). During the 6 months following UGIB, the risk of death compared to controls was highest (HR 19.2, 95% CI 7.0–52.4, p < .001) and remained higher up to 3 years after the bleeding. Beyond 3 years’ follow-up, there was no difference in mortality between the groups (HR 0.7, 95% CI 0.4–1.6, p = .436). During the first 3 months after the UGIB episode, mortality was related to gastrointestinal diseases; after 3 months, the causes of death were related to comorbidities and did not differ from causes of death in controls. Conclusions: UGIB patients have three times higher long-term mortality than population controls.
Psychosocial Factors Influencing Weight Control Behavior of African American Women

The purpose of this descriptive study was to seek directly from college-educated African American women factors which they perceived influenced their individual weight control behavior, and those that influenced African American women collectively. Face-to-face, in-depth interviews were conducted, primarily in their homes, with 36African American women. Thirteen major categories were identified. Six factors that influenced the women's individual weight control behavior were emotions/feelings, beliefs, life events, self-control, discipline, and commitment. Perceived benefits of the behavior and perceived barriers to the behavior were influential in determining the attractiveness, the type, and the extent of the weight control behavior Five factors related to the African American culture were identified and described by the women. Recognition of psychosocial determinants of weight control behavior may enable health professionals to design unique interventions relevant to African American women.
Supplemental social services improve outcomes in public addiction treatment.

AIMS To evaluate the effectiveness and value of social services added to standard addiction rehabilitation. DESIGN A controlled, quasi-experimental, field study with repeated measures. SETTING Conducted in two groups of publicly supported outpatient addiction treatment programs. Control programs provided standard, twice-weekly, outpatient group counseling. "Enhanced" programs provided standard counseling but also case managers to coordinate and expedite use of pre-contracted medical screenings, housing assistance, parenting classes and employment services. MEASUREMENTS The Addiction Severity Index was used to record the nature and severity of patient problems in seven areas at treatment admission and at 6-month follow-up. Services provided during treatment were measured with the Treatment Services Review. Measures were taken on consecutive samples of patients admitted to all programs--before enhancements (wave 1, N = 431)--and at 12 months (wave 2, N = 710); and 26 months following enhancements (wave 3, N = 187). FINDINGS There were no significant differences in patient characteristics, treatment services or 6-month outcomes of the two sets of programs in wave 1. Wave 2 and especially wave 3 enhanced programs provided significantly more social and medical services than control programs. Patients treated in enhanced programs showed significantly less substance use, fewer physical and mental health problems and better social function at 6-months than Controls. CONCLUSIONS Adding social services to public sector programs substantially improved the outcomes of addiction treatment. Changes in "real world" systems require time to implement; early evaluations may fail to capture the full impact of those changes.
Open Innovation Effort, Entrepreneurship Orientation and their Synergies onto Innovation Performance in SMEs of Korea

While open innovation has become a popular strategy to enhance innovation in firms, open innovation in the context of entrepreneurship is not yet well understood. Particularly in small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), the necessity of understanding the role of entrepreneurship combined with open innovation is much greater. This research focuses on the role of entrepreneurship in the open innovation process and its impact on innovation performance. Our primary research question is: What are the impacts of open innovation, entrepreneurship and their synergy effects onto innovation performance, especially onto Korean Information Technology (IT) SMEs? To answer this question, a survey was conducted about open innovation, entrepreneurship orientation, business models and sales, and innovation performance for approximately 400 Korean SMEs in the IT sector. The regression results and findings from the analysis are presented and discussed.
Necroptosis as a potential therapeutic target in multiple organ dysfunction syndrome

Purpose To investigate how necroptosisis, i.e. programmed necrosis, is involved in MODS, and to examine whether Nec-1, a specific necroptosis inhibitor, ameliorates multiorgan injury in MODS. Experimental Design A model of MODS was established in six-week old SD rats using fracture trauma followed by hemorrhage. Control animals received sham surgery. Cell death form and necrosome formation were measured by fluorescence-activated cell sorting and western blotting. MODS rats were randomly assigned to receive Nec-1 or saline with pretreatment and once daily. The first end-point was 72 hours survival. Organ injury and dysfunction, inflammatory cytokine levels, and necroptotic execution protein expression were also recorded. Results Organ injury and dysfunction were significantly more severe in the MODS group than the sham group (all p<0.01). Furthermore, MODS-induced liver, lung and kidney tissue injury was characterized by necroptosis rather than apoptosis, and accompanied by necrosome formation. Compared to MODS group, Nec-1 administration significantly improved 72 hours survival (p<0.01). Nec-1 administration significantly reduced necroptosis-induced liver, lung and kidney injury and dysfunction, inhibited inflammatory cytokines production, inhibited release of necroptotic execution proteins such as high-mobility group box 1 and mixed-lineage kinase domain-like protein pseudokinase in MODS rats (all p<0.01). Conclusions These results suggest that necroptosis is involved the pathology of MODS. Further, a necroptotic inhibitor Nec-1 may be considered as an adjunct treatment for MODS.
Navigating a way forward: using focused ethnography and community readiness to study disability issues in Ladakh, India

Purpose. This article offers a discussion about the use of focused ethnography and the community readiness model to study disability at the community level in cross-cultural or international settings. It describes lessons learned when applying these methods to inform community-based disability programming in remote, rural villages in Ladakh, India. Methods. Data were collected from 30 persons with disabilities, family members and community leaders in four remote villages using interviews and participant observation. All interviews were analysed qualitatively using a mix of inductive and deductive techniques. Community readiness interviews were scored using anchored rating scales to determine level of ‘readiness’ to take action on meeting the needs of persons with disabilities. Following the initial assessment, community workshops were used to disseminate results and facilitate local engagement in planning and intervention. Results. There were minor challenges and significant benefit in the application of these two approaches in Ladakh; outcomes included: a known level of community readiness that can be used to improve targeting of appropriate community-based intervention and assess change over time, identification of salient needs, barriers and facilitators for persons with disabilities and their families; and community-level engagement during and following the research. Conclusions. Research models with participatory components like focused ethnography and community readiness hold significant promise for planning and evaluating community-based disability programmes.
Effects of long-term treatment with estrogen and medroxyprogesterone acetate on synapse number in the medial prefrontal cortex of aged female rats

Objective The present study investigated the effects of long-term hormone treatment, including the most commonly prescribed progestin, medroxyprogesterone acetate, during aging on synaptophysin-labeled boutons, a marker of synapses, in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) of rats. Methods Female Long Evans hooded rats were ovariectomized at middle age (12-13 mo) and were placed in one of four groups: no replacement (n = 5), 17&bgr;-estradiol alone (n = 6), estradiol and progesterone (n = 7), or estradiol and medroxyprogesterone acetate (n = 4). Estradiol was administered in the drinking water and progestogens were administered via subcutaneous pellets that were replaced every 90 days. After 7 months of hormone replacement, the animals were euthanized, and the brains were stained for synaptophysin, a membrane component of synaptic vesicles. The density of synaptophysin-labeled boutons was quantified in the mPFC using unbiased stereology and multiplied by the volume of the mPFC to obtain the total number. Results Animals receiving estradiol and medroxyprogesterone acetate had significantly more synaptophysin-labeled boutons in the mPFC than did animals not receiving replacement (P < 0.03) and those receiving estradiol and progesterone (P < 0.02). In addition, there was a nonsignificant trend for animals receiving estradiol alone to have more synapses than those receiving estradiol and progesterone. Conclusions This study is the first to examine the effects of estradiol and medroxyprogesterone acetate during rat aging on cortical synaptic number. Estradiol with medroxyprogesterone acetate, but not progesterone, resulted in a greater number of synapses in the mPFC during aging than did no replacement.
Streptococcus agalactiae infections in non-pregnant adults: single center experience of a growing clinical problem.

BACKGROUND Group B beta-hemolytic streptococcus (Streptococcus agalactiae) has been traditionally considered a major pathogen in neonates and pregnant women. However, there is accumulating concern about its significance in non-pregnant adults too. MATERIAL/METHODS To study Streptococcus agalactiae infections in non-pregnant adults in a 354-bed general tertiary center in Athens, Greece, we analyzed retrospectively collected data from patients with Streptococcus agalactiae isolates during a 5-year period. RESULTS Sixty-nine strains were isolated from specimens of 65 non-pregnant adults (42 women and 23 men). Thirty-four of them were managed as inpatients and 31 as outpatients. Mean age of the 34 inpatients was 57.7 (range 18-84) years. Nineteen (17 women and 2 men) of the 34 inpatients had the organism isolated from urine. Thirteen of these 19 (68.4%) patients had clinical evidence of urinary tract infection (UTI). Streptococcus agalactiae infections were diagnosed in 26 of 34 inpatients. Besides the 13 inpatients with an UTI, 2 had bacteremia of unknown origin, 2 pneumonia, 2 erysipelas, 1 spondylodiscitis, 1 peritonitis, 2 prostatitis, 1 perirectal abscess, 1 testicular abscess, and 1 diabetic foot infection. Underlying conditions of the 26 inpatients possibly predisposing to infections were neoplasia, diabetes mellitus, heart disease, splenectomy, and corticosteroid treatment. CONCLUSIONS In keeping with results from other recent studies Streptococcus agalactiae was isolated more frequently than previously believed from non-pregnant adults in our study. In addition, our data suggest that Streptococcus agalactiae may be an underestimated cause of UTI in non-pregnant women.
Aquaporins in yeasts and filamentous fungi

Recently, genome sequences from different fungi have become available. This information reveals that yeasts and filamentous fungi possess up to five aquaporins. Functional analyses have mainly been performed in budding yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, which has two orthodox aquaporins and two aquaglyceroporins. Whereas Aqy1 is a spore‐specific water channel, Aqy2 is only expressed in proliferating cells and controlled by osmotic signals. Fungal aquaglyceroporins often have long, poorly conserved terminal extensions and differ in the otherwise highly conserved NPA motifs, being NPX and NXA respectively. Three subgroups can be distinguished. Fps1‐like proteins seem to be restricted to yeasts. Fps1, the osmogated glycerol export channel in S. cerevisiae, plays a central role in osmoregulation and determination of intracellular glycerol levels. Sequences important for gating have been identified within its termini. Another type of aquaglyceroporin, resembling S. cerevisiae Yfl054, has a long N‐terminal extension and its physiological role is currently unknown. The third group of aquaglyceroporins, only found in filamentous fungi, have extensions of variable size. Taken together, yeasts and filamentous fungi are a fruitful resource to study the function, evolution, role and regulation of aquaporins, and the possibility to compare orthologous sequences from a large number of different organisms facilitates functional and structural studies.
Effect of letter separation on computerised visual acuity measurements: comparison with the gold standard Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study (ETDRS) chart

Contour interaction plays an important role in letter recognition and has long been known to influence clinical visual acuity measurements. LogMAR charts originally employed between – letter and line spacing of one letter width/height; however, in more recent designs, half letter width spacing has become accepted without validation. COMPlog is a computerised visual acuity measurement device being developed and validated for routine and research clinical use and is available commercially. This study was performed to investigate the effect of letter separation on computerised visual acuity measurements. An iterative series of experiments was performed in which test and retest fully interpolated five letters‐per‐line logMAR visual acuity measurements were taken in three groups of a total 100 adult subjects. Each group had visual acuity measured using ETDRS charts 1 and 2 and on COMPlog using various combinations of letter and line spacing. The first group consisted of 31 subjects tested using 3.75 and 2.50 stroke width spacing, the second 45 subjects using 2.50 and 1.25 stroke width spacing and the last group, 24 subjects tested using 1.90 stroke width spacing. The methods of Bland and Altman were used to analyse the data. No significant bias was noted between the gold standard ETDRS measurements and those taken using COMPlog with 3.75 stroke width spacing. Significant bias of half a logMAR line was found with crowding of 1.90 and 1.25 stroke widths. A small systematic bias with a reduction of 1 ETDRS letter was found with spacing of 2.50 stroke widths which has not been demonstrated in previous validation studies. Crowding of 2.50 stroke widths is the smallest spacing which can be used in the design of COMPlog.
Identification and characterization of human SNAIL3 (SNAI3) gene in silico.

Human SNAIL1 (SNAI1) protein encoded by SNAI1/SNA gene represses transcription of E-cadherin/CDH1 gene. Human SNAIL2 (SNAI2) protein encoded by SNAI2/SLUG gene induces the first phase of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), including desmosome dissociation, cell spreading, and initiation of cell separation. Here, we have identified human SNAIL3 (SNAI3) gene using bioinformatics. Human SNAI3 gene, consisting of at least three exons, spans around the nucleotide position 320214-328221 of human reference genomic contig NT_010404. 8 in the reverse orientation. SNAI3 gene, was located between KIAA0233 gene and CBFA2T3 gene in human chromosome 16q24.3, a region affected in breast cancer, gastric cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma, ovarian cancer, and therapy-related myeloid leukemia with t(16;21)(q24;q22) translocation. Human SNAI3 gene was found to encode 292-amino-acid polypeptide with the N-terminal SNAG domain and five zinc finger domains. N-terminal SNAG domain was identified in zinc finger proteins SNAI1, SNAI2, SNAI3, SCRATCH (SCRT1), GFI1, and GFI1B. ATP/GTP binding site was identified in SCRT1, GFI1 and GFI1B, but not in SNAI1, SNAI2 and SNAI3. Phylogenetic analysis of human zinc finger proteins with SNAG domain revealed that SNAI1, SNAI2 and SNAI3 were more closely related. These results clearly indicate that SNAI1, SNAI2 and SNAI3 constitute a subfamily among SNAG zinc-finger proteins. Human SNAI3 mRNA was expressed in skin melanotic melanoma, lung epidermoid carcinoma, and germ cell tumor. Because SNAG zinc-finger proteins are transcriptional repressors implicated in carcinogenesis and embryogenesis, SNAI3 gene might be a potent target of pharmacogenomics in the field of oncology and regenerative medicine.
Accuracy and reliability of 10 pedometers for measuring steps over a 400-m walk.

PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to determine the accuracy and reliability of the following electronic pedometers for measuring steps: Freestyle Pacer Pro (FR), Kenz Lifecorder (KZ), New Lifestyles NL-2000 (NL), Omron HJ-105 (OM), Oregon Scientific PE316CA (OR), Sportline 330 (SL330) and 345 (SL345), Walk4Life LS 2525 (WL), Yamax Skeletone EM-180 (SK), and the Yamax Digi-Walker SW-701 (DW). METHODS Ten males (34.7 +/- 12.6 yr) (mean +/- SD) and 10 females (43.1 +/- 19.9 yr) ranging in BMI from 19.8 to 33.6 kg.m-2 walked 400-m around an outdoor track while wearing two pedometers of the same model (one on the right and left sides of the body) for each of 10 models. Four pedometers of each model were assessed in this fashion. The actual steps taken were tallied by a researcher. RESULTS The KZ, NL, and DW were the most accurate in counting steps, displaying values that were within +/-3% of the actual steps taken, 95% of the time. The SL330 and OM were the least accurate, displaying values that were within +/-37% of the actual steps, 95% of the time. The reliability within a single model (Cronbach's alpha) was >0.80 for all pedometers with the exception of the SL330. The intramodel reliability was exceptionally high (>0.99) in the KZ, OM, NL, and the DW. CONCLUSION Due to the variation that exists among models in regard to the internal mechanism and sensitivity, not all pedometers count steps accurately. Thus, it is important for researchers who use pedometers to assess physical activity to be aware of their accuracy and reliability.
Treating delayed gastric emptying in critical illness: metoclopramide, erythromycin, and bedside (cortrak) nasointestinal tube placement.

BACKGROUND We describe experience using the Cortrak nasointestinal feeding tube and prokinetics in critically ill patients with delayed gastric emptying. METHODS Patient cohorts fed via a Cortrak electromagnetically guided nasointestinal tube (EGNT) or 14 French-gauge nasogastric tube plus prokinetics were retrospectively compared. RESULTS Of 69 EGNT placements in 62 patients, 87% reached the small intestine. The median percentage of the enteral nutrition goal increased from 19% pre-EGNT to 80%-100% between days 1 and 10 post-insertion and was greater than in 58 patients prescribed metoclopramide (40%-87%: days 1-2, 5-7, P < or = .018) or 38 patients prescribed erythromycin (48%-98%; days 1 and 5, P < .0084). Up to day 10, the cumulative feeding days lost were lower for EGNT (1.06) than for metoclopramide (2.6, P < .02) or erythromycin (3.1, P < .02). The EGNT group had a lower use of prokinetics and lower treatment cost. CONCLUSION Most bedside EGNT placements succeed and, compared to nasogastric feeding plus prokinetics, increase enteral nutrition delivery and reduce both cumulative feeding days lost and prokinetic use.
Basal and stimulation day 5 anti-Mullerian hormone serum concentrations as predictors of ovarian response and pregnancy in assisted reproductive technology cycles stimulated with gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist--gonadotropin treatment.

BACKGROUND Anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) has been recently proposed as a marker for ovarian ageing and poor ovarian response to controlled ovarian hyperstimulation in assisted reproduction cycles. The present study was undertaken to investigate the usefulness of baseline cycle day 3 AMH levels and AMH serum concentrations obtained on the fifth day of gonadotropin therapy in predicting ovarian response and pregnancy in women undergoing ovarian stimulation with FSH under pituitary desensitization for assisted reproduction. METHODS A total of 80 women undergoing their first cycle of IVF/intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) treatment were studied. Twenty consecutive cycles which were cancelled because of a poor follicular response were initially selected. As a control group, 60 women were randomly selected from our assisted reproduction programme matching by race, age, body mass index, basal FSH and indication for IVF/ICSI to those in the cancelled group. For each cancelled patient, three IVF/ICSI women who met the matching criteria were included. RESULTS Basal and day 5 AMH serum concentrations were significantly lower in the cancelled than in the control group. Receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) analysis showed that the capacity of day 5 AMH in predicting the likelihood of cancellation in an assisted reproduction treatment programme was significantly higher than that for basal AMH measurement. However, the predictive capacity of day 5 AMH was not better than that provided by day 5 estradiol. In addition, neither basal nor day 5 AMH or estradiol measurements were useful in the prediction of pregnancy after assisted reproductive treatment. CONCLUSIONS AMH concentrations obtained early in the follicular phase during ovarian stimulation under pituitary suppression for assisted reproduction are better predictors of ovarian response than basal AMH measurements. However, AMH is not useful in the prediction of pregnancy. Definite clinical applicability of AMH determination as a marker of IVF outcome remains to be established.