Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Suitability of quality-of-life outcome measures in palliative care in the South African setting

Abstract Objective: Quality of life (QoL) is a multidimensional, subjective, and highly individual phenomenon. The current study speaks to the QoL domains identified by palliative patients living in Africa. The need to identify these domains has been recognized but seemed to still be lacking. This study filled this knowledge gap by providing the domains and by giving directions in terms of the assessment of QoL in palliative patients living in resource-restricted communities in South Africa. Method: We followed a multi-method approach and conducted a literature review to identify and describe the multidimensional QoL instruments used in African palliative care. A secondary analysis design and open-coding method was employed to identify the domains influencing the QoL of palliative patients living in a resource-restricted South African community, after which we compared these domains to the domains assessed by the identified QoL instruments. Results: We found that two multidimensional QoL of life instruments—the Missoula–Vitas Quality of Life Index (MVQoLI) and the Functional Assessments of Chronic Illness Therapy–Palliative Care (FACIT–Pal)—have been used in African palliative care and have identified various domains, grouped as four themes: physical concerns, psychosocial issues, financial restraints, and existential issues. The patient-identified QoL domains were to a great extent not assessed by the MVQoLI and FACIT–Pal. Significance of Results: Our study highlights the complexity of QoL and QoL assessment. A more accurate representation of the QoL of palliative patients living in resource-restricted communities might be obtained by using individualized measures or exploring what QoL means to these patients and selecting QoL instruments accordingly.
Preliminary data on the effect of osseous anatomy on ex vivo joint mobility in the equine thoracolumbar region.

REASONS FOR PERFORMING STUDY The thoracolumbar region is clinically important in horses; however, the link between joint mobility and bony joint morphology has not been tested quantitatively. OBJECTIVES To establish which aspects of vertebral morphology correlate with ex vivo range of motion in the thoracolumbar region of Equus caballus, and demonstrate methodologies for linking vertebral form and function. STUDY DESIGN Morphometric study of osteological specimens. METHODS A digital model was created of a disarticulated thoracolumbar region to examine bone-to-bone interactions during in silico bending. Linear measurements and geometric morphometric landmarks were taken from 6 vertebrae per specimen (specimens n = 5, vertebrae n = 30), and compared with experimental range of motion in dorsiflexion, ventroflexion, lateroflexion and axial rotation data using Spearman's rank correlation, to test a priori hypotheses regarding thoracolumbar functional anatomy. RESULTS Decreased sagittal mobility correlates with a tall, heart-shaped vertebral body, although bony interactions restrict dorsiflexion more than ventroflexion. Lateroflexion correlates with a narrow vertebral body, a short transverse process lever arm, and narrowly placed horizontally oriented zygapophyses. Lateral joints also restrict lateroflexion in the posterior lumbar region. Axial rotation is related to the shape of the zygapophyseal joint. CONCLUSIONS These preliminary data suggest that vertebral joint morphology does determine experimentally measured range of motion, but patterns depend upon the type of motion. These methods are useful for identifying functionally relevant morphological variation and suggest osteological features are important in determining motion.
LPC residual phase investigation

This paper examines the information content of the residual error associated with the LPC approach to speech analysis. This is done in the Fourier transform domain. In the ideal case, the magnitude of the residual spectrum is Hat, suggest ing that the major information component is in the phase. We present results on the relative importance of phase and magnitude by various non-linear processing schemes applied to the residual prior to re-construction in a conventional full RELP system. Included in the experiments are LPC vector quantisation and forward and backward pitch prediction. We show that most of the important information within the residual signal is contained
Application of molecular markers in farm animal improvement: prospects and challenges.

The discovery of genetic polymorphism at the DNA sequence level has been exploited as markers to explain the observed phenotypic variability in animals. Molecular markers have proven to be more reliable than other forms of genetic markers. The overview of the applications of molecular markers in the areas of genetic diversity conservation, identification of disease carriers, parentage determination, marker-assisted selection, transgenesis, sex-determination; and the enumeration of some challenges to the application of these markers in the developing countries, especially Nigeria, form the crux of this paper. Some of the challenges include economic factors, mechanical and logistics factors, lack of funding/grants for research, IPR issues and lack of adequately trained personnel in areas of molecular genetics.
P 7170 : a novel molecule with unique profile of mTORC 1 / C 2 and Activin Receptor-Like Kinase 1 inhibition leading to anti-tumor and anti-angiogenic activity

Archana Jalota-Badhwar, Dimple Bhatia, Srinivas Boreddy, Asavari Joshi, Magesh Venkatraman, Nikesh Desai, Sarika Chaudhari, Julie Bose, Lakshmi Sireesha Kolla, Vijaykumar Deore, Nilambari Yewalkar, Sanjay Kumar, Rajiv Sharma, Anagha Damre, Avinash More, Somesh Sharma, Veena R Agarwal. Department of Pharmacology, Department of Medicinal Chemistry, Department of Pharmacokinetics and Drug Metabolism, Piramal Enterprises Ltd., 1-Nirlon Complex, Off Western Express Highway, Goregaon (E), Mumbai 400063, India. $ Both the authors have contributed equally.
Age‐related complications in treatment‐naïve patients with thalassaemia intermedia

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Pulmonary Nodule Characterization, Including Computer Analysis and Quantitative Features

Pulmonary nodules are commonly detected in computed tomography (CT) chest screening of a high-risk population. The specific visual or quantitative features on CT or other modalities can be used to characterize the likelihood that a nodule is benign or malignant. Visual features on CT such as size, attenuation, location, morphology, edge characteristics, and other distinctive “signs” can be highly suggestive of a specific diagnosis and, in general, be used to determine the probability that a specific nodule is benign or malignant. Change in size, attenuation, and morphology on serial follow-up CT, or features on other modalities such as nuclear medicine studies or MRI, can also contribute to the characterization of lung nodules. Imaging analytics can objectively and reproducibly quantify nodule features on CT, nuclear medicine, and magnetic resonance imaging. Some quantitative techniques show great promise in helping to differentiate benign from malignant lesions or to stratify the risk of aggressive versus indolent neoplasm. In this article, we (1) summarize the visual characteristics, descriptors, and signs that may be helpful in management of nodules identified on screening CT, (2) discuss current quantitative and multimodality techniques that aid in the differentiation of nodules, and (3) highlight the power, pitfalls, and limitations of these various techniques.
Maternal reporting of acute respiratory infection in Egypt.

BACKGROUND Acute respiratory infection (ARI) is a major cause of childhood morbidity and mortality in developing countries. Community surveys are used to determine the proportion of children with ARI for whom care is sought by questioning mothers about the signs and symptoms of illness episodes. The validity of this approach has been studied infrequently. METHODS We evaluated maternal reporting of signs and symptoms 2 and 4 weeks after diagnosis among 271 Egyptian children < 5 years old. Children with ARI were evaluated by physical examination, chest radiography, and pulse oximetry, and were alternately assigned for a maternal interview about the episode 14 or 28 days later. RESULTS For radiographically-defined acute lower respiratory infection (ALRI), the sensitivity of several symptoms for combined open- and close-ended questions was relatively high: nahagan (deep or rapid breathing) (80%), nafas sarie (fast breathing) (66%), and kharfasha (coarse breath sounds) (63%). The specificity of these terms was 50-68%. The specificity was inversely related to the follow-up time. No term provided both a sensitivity and specificity of > 50% at day 28 across the radiographically, clinically- and pulse oximetry-based definitions of ALRI. Spontaneously mentioned karshet nafas (difficult or rapid breathing) at 14 days had a specificity and sensitivity for radiographic ALRI of 87% and 41%, respectively, suggesting that this term is a good choice for community surveys. CONCLUSIONS Maternal reporting of ARI symptoms is non-specific 2 and 4 weeks after diagnosis but may be useful for monitoring trends in the proportion of children with pneumonia who receive medical care. To maximize specificity, ARI programmes should generally use a recall period of 2 weeks.
Approaches for immunological tolerance induction to stem cell-derived cell replacement therapies

The shortage of donors for organ transplantation and also to treat degenerative diseases has led to the development of the new field of regenerative medicine. One aim of this field, in addition to in vivo induction of endogenous tissue regeneration, is to utilize stem cells as a supplementary source of cells to repair or replace tissues or organs that have ceased to function owing to ageing or autoimmunity. Embryonic stem cells hold promise in this respect because of their developmental capacity to generate all tissues within the body. More recently, the discovery of induced pluripotent stem cells, somatic cells reprogrammed to a primitive embryonic-like state by the introduction of pluripotency factors, may also act as an important cell source for cell replacement therapy. However, before cell replacement therapy can become a reality, one must consider how to overcome the potential transplant rejection of stem cell-derived products. There are several potential ways to circumvent the hurdles presented by the immune system in this setting, not least the induction of immunological tolerance in the host. In this review, we consider this and other approaches for engendering acceptance of stem cell-derived tissues.
Multicenter clinical trials in orthopaedics: time for musculoskeletal specialty societies to take action.

Orthopaedic surgeons want what is best for their patients. Determining best practice, however, is not always straightforward. Clinicians use many sources of information to determine treatment options for their patients. Surgeons rely in large part on their training. As surgeons progress through their careers, practice learned through training is influenced by their own experience, the advice of colleagues, and their personal learning, including continuing medical education and the use of texts or the surgical literature. One of the more powerful forces in shaping best practice is, and should be, the surgical literature. The literature, however, is often contradictory. Contradictory literature leads to conflicting treatment recommendations for many conditions, and, in some situations, to a complacency among surgeons that anything goes (as surgeons can find some support for just about anything in the literature). Varying treatment recommendations in the literature and subsequent variation in practice may be acceptable if different treatments address different clinical situations, if different treatments have similar outcomes, or if different treatments address the variation in patient preferences. Barring these circumstances, if different treatments have meaningful differences in outcome, then practice variation may adversely affect patient outcomes. Why do the recommendations for treatment reported in the literature vary for many conditions? At least some of the variation in the surgical literature reflects the variation in study quality. Surgeons intuitively recognize that a more rigorous research design provides more convincing and dependable results. Study design is the basis for levels of evidence. Although critical appraisal is required to determine the merit of an individual study, according to the Levels of Evidence in The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery 1 , randomized trials (Level I) are considered the highest quality research. Although the case series (Level IV), the predominant form of orthopaedic research, are considered a less rigorous research …
Valence bonds and the Lieb-Schultz-Mattis theorem.

Etude du decouplage des etats de liaisons de valence a courte distance dans des secteurs topologiquement distincts. Sur un reseau carre de largeur impaire, ce decouplage implique que les etats de liaison de valence resonnante a courte distance soient doublement degeneres. Ce resultat est equivalent au theoreme de Lieb-Schultz-Mattis
Discrete Time Evolution Process Descriptor for Shape Analysis and Matching

In shape analysis and matching, it is often important to encode information about the relation between a given point and other points on a shape, namely, its context. To this aim, we propose a theoretically sound and efficient approach for the simulation of a discrete time evolution process that runs through all possible paths between pairs of points on a surface represented as a triangle mesh in the discrete setting. We demonstrate how this construction can be used to efficiently construct a multiscale point descriptor, called the Discrete Time Evolution Process Descriptor, which robustly encodes the structure of neighborhoods of a point across multiple scales. Our work is similar in spirit to the methods based on diffusion geometry, and derived signatures such as the HKS or the WKS, but provides information that is complementary to these descriptors and can be computed without solving an eigenvalue problem. We demonstrate through extensive experimental evaluation that our descriptor can be used to obtain accurate results in shape matching in different scenarios. Our approach outperforms similar methods and is especially robust in the presence of large nonisometric deformations, including missing parts.
Pulse dispersion in layered cylindrical dielectric waveguides

The distortion of a pulse or signal, caused by dispersion, as it propagates along a layered, cylindrical, dielectric waveguide is investigated. Computed dispersion diagrams of the phase constant and numerical integration are used to compute the shape of dispersed pulses having square and Gaussian envelope shapes. Numerical results are presented for several cases, demonstrating the effect of structure parameters on the dispersion distorted signals.
Assessment of Depression Prevalence and Its Relation With Interleukin 18 One Year After Renal Transplantation

Renal transplantation is the treatment of choice for many patients with end-stage renal disease. Because there is little information about depression after kidney transplantation, we investigated frequency and determinant factors of depression and also its association with interleukin (IL)-18. Kidney transplant recipients were investigated between January 2011 and February 2013. Depression was assessed using the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI, BDI-II). We investigated the relationship between 1-year posttransplantation depression and all-cause mortality, acute kidney injury, and serum creatinine 1, 3, and 12 months after transplantation. Furthermore, the association of depression with IL-18 biomarker was recorded 1 year after transplantation. A total of 74 patients (age: 37.06 ± 16.2 years; 59.5% male) were enrolled in this study 1 year after transplantation. Nineteen (25.6%), 2 (2.7%), and 1 (1.3%) of them experienced mild, moderate, and severe depression, respectively. IL-18 biomarker (independent variable) was significantly associated with depression 1 year after transplantation. Our data suggested that IL-18 level increased significantly in renal transplant patients with depression.
A STRONG EMISSION LINE NEAR 24.8 Å IN THE X-RAY BINARY SYSTEM MAXI J0556−332: GRAVITATIONAL REDSHIFT OR UNUSUAL DONOR?

We report the discovery of a strong emission line near 24.8 Å (0.5 keV) in the newly discovered X-ray binary system MAXI J0556−332 with the reflection grating spectrometer (RGS) on board the XMM-Newton observatory. The X-ray light curve morphology during these observations is complex and shows occasional dipping behavior. Here we present time- and rate-selected spectra from the RGS and show that this strong emission line is unambiguously present in all the XMM observations. The measured line center is consistent with the Lyα transition of N vii in the rest frame. While the spectra contain imprints of absorption lines and edges, there appear to be no other significantly prominent narrow line due to the source itself, thus making the identification of the 24.8 Å line uncertain. We discuss possible physical scenarios, including a gravitationally redshifted O viii Lyα line originating at the surface of a neutron star or an unusual donor with an extremely high N/O abundance (>57) relative to solar that may have produced this comparatively strong emission line.
Systemic Complement Activation in Deceased Donors Is Associated With Acute Rejection After Renal Transplantation in the Recipient

Background. Acute rejection after renal transplantation has been shown to be negatively associated with long-term graft survival. Identifying donor factors that are associated with acute rejection in the recipient could help to a better understanding of the relevant underlying processes that lead to graft injury. Complement activation has been shown to be an important mediator of renal transplant related injury. In this study, we analyzed the effect of systemic complement activation in deceased donors before transplantation of their kidneys on posttransplant outcome in the recipient. Methods. Plasma from 232 deceased brain-dead and deceased cardiac-dead donors were analyzed for the complement activation markers C5b-9, C4d, Bb, and complement component mannan binding lectin by ELISA. The association of these parameters with posttransplant outcome in recipients was analyzed in a multivariate regression model. Results. It was found that C5b-9 level in donor plasma is associated with biopsy-proven acute rejection in the recipient during the first year after renal transplantation (P=0.035). Both in deceased brain-dead and deceased cardiac-dead donors increased complement activation was found. Conclusions. In conclusion, we found C5b-9 in the donor to be associated with acute rejection of renal transplants in the recipient. Whether targeting complement activation in the donor may ameliorate acute rejection in the recipient needs to be studied.
Tumor angiogenesis inhibition by prostaglandin synthetase inhibitors.

The release of prostaglandins from tumor cells seems to play an important role in tumor angiogenesis, in which platelet-derived factors may be also included. Administration of prostaglandin synthetase inhibitors reduces the growth of both experimental and human malignant tumors. One explanation may be reduced tumor vascularization, as observed in microangiographic studies of experimental transplantable tumors. A similar effect was observed after induced thrombocytopenia. A number of angiogenesis stimulating factors have been isolated from tumors during recent years. Factors released from host cells in the tumor area (e.g., mast cells, macrophages) with similar properties may also contribute to tumor vascularization. This seems to make stimulation of tumor angiogenesis to a rather complicated cascade of events, about which more must be learned before efficient inhibition of tumor vascularization can be attained. The target cell for angiogenesis stimulation, the endothelial cell, seems increasingly important as an object for future studies.
A Case of Carbamazepine-induced Severe Cholestatic Hepatitis: Case Report and Review of Literature

Carbamazepine (CBZ) is one of the widely prescribed drugs in the field of neuropsychiatry. We report a case of a 27-year-old female patient presenting with severe cholestatic hepatitis presenting after the initiation of CBZ. We establish the probability of drug-induced liver injury using Council for International Organizations of Medical Sciences/Roussel Uclaf Causality Assessment Method causality assessment scale, and the patient had high probability with a score of 9. We briefly review the literature in this field discussing the scope of the problem, etiopathogenesis, clinical manifestation, course, and management.
Superoxide dismutase promotes ATP and GTP restoration of rat small intestine during postischaemic reperfusion.

The small intestine of rats was prepared according to a procedure which is taken for preservation and transplantation in clinical practice. The blood supply of the rat intestine was completely interrupted for 30 min in situ. During this period the lumen of the intestine was rinsed with Ringer-lactate solution. This ischaemic period was followed by 10 min of reperfusion. As a result a decrease in ATP, and GTP concentrations, and of the total adenine nucleotide content during the preservation period occurred. In animals pretreated with superoxide dismutase (i.v. application; superoxide dismutase preparation from human erythrocytes) an accelerated restoration of nucleotide concentrations during the reperfusion period was observed. From the beneficial effect of superoxide dismutase it can be concluded, that there is a considerable formation of active species of oxygen which disturb the energy generation by the mitochondrial respiratory chain during ischaemia/re-oxygenation.