Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Postpartum perineal pain: Effectiveness of local ropivacaine infiltration

MOTS CLÉS Ropivacaïne ; Épisiotomie ; Douleurs périnéales ; Post-partum Résumé But. — Évaluer l’efficacité de l’infiltration de ropivacaïne sur la douleur périnéale après épisiotomie et déchirure périnéale durant les 24 premières heures du post-partum. Matériel et méthodes. — Étude « avant-après », incluant consécutivement 62 patientes ayant une épisiotomie et/ou une déchirure périnéale, sur deux périodes : le groupe ropivacaïne du 14 février 2008 au 27 mars 2008 (n = 31) et le groupe témoin du 27 décembre 2007 au 30 janvier 2008 (n = 31). Dans le groupe ropivacaïne, les patientes ont bénéficié d’une infiltration de 10 ml de ropivacaïne à 7,5 mg/ml au niveau des berges des lésions périnéales. Dans le groupe témoin, aucune injection n’était effectuée. La douleur périnéale du post-partum était ensuite évaluée à l’aide d’une échelle numérique (ENS) à heures heures (H4), huit heures (H8), 12 heures (H12) et 24 heures (H24). La satisfaction des patientes était évaluée sur une ENS de 0 (non satisfaite) à 5 (très satisfaite). Résultats. — Les ENS correspondant aux douleurs périnéales dans le groupe ropivacaïne étaient significativement plus basses que le groupe témoin à H4 (1,9 ± 0,3 versus 3,6 ± 0,5, p = 0,006), H8 (3,3 ± 0,4 versus 5,2 ± 0,4, p = 0,003), H12 (2,8 ± 0,4 versus 5,2 ± 0,4, p = 0,0001) et H24 (2,6 ± 0,4 versus 4,3 ± 0,4, p = 0,006). L’indice de satisfaction était significativement plus élevé dans le groupe ropivacaïne (4,2 ± 0,2 versus 3,5 ± 0,2, p = 0,004). Conclusion. — L’infiltration de ropivacaïne dans les épisiotomies et /ou les déchirures périnéales réduit les douleurs périnéales du post-partum pendant les 24 premières heures. © 2009 Publié par Elsevier Masson SAS.
Optimization of PET Expression Vector for Fusion of Recombinant Protein and Elastin-Like Polypeptide Biopolymer

* Corresponding Author: Maryam Baazm, PhD. Address: Department of Anatomy, School of Medicine, Arak University of Medical Sciences, Arak, Iran. Tel: +98 (916) 6621131 E-mail: dr.baazm@arakmu.ac. ir 1. Department of Biotechnology, School of Medicine, Arak University of Medical Sciences, Arak, Iran. 2. Blood Transfusion Center, Arak, Iran. 3. Department of Management, Yadegar Emam Khomeini Branch, Islamic Azad University, Shahre Rey, Iran. 4. Department of Anatomy, School of Medicine, Arak University of Medical Sciences, Arak, Iran. 5. Cellular and Molecular Research Center, Arak University of Medical Sciences, Arak, Iran. Mohammad Reza Soleyman1 , Mostafa Khalili2 , Ali Reza Soleiman Meiguni3 , *Maryam Baazm4,5
Protective effects of Panax notoginseng saponins in a rat model of severe acute pancreatitis occur through regulation of inflammatory pathway signaling by upregulation of miR-181b

Panax notoginseng saponins are extracted from Chinese ginseng—Panax notoginseng Ledeb—and are known to have therapeutic anti-inflammatory effects. However, the precise mechanism behind their anti-inflammatory effects remains relatively unknown. To better understand how Panax notoginseng saponins exert their therapeutic benefit, we tested them in a rat model of severe acute pancreatitis (SAP). Rats received a tail vein injection of Panax notoginseng saponins and were administered 5% sodium taurocholate 2 h later. Pancreatic tissue was then harvested and levels of miR-181b, FSTL1, TREM1, TLR4, TRAF6, IRAK1, p-Akt, p-p38MAPK, NF-κBp65, and p-IκB-α were determined using Western blot and quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays were used to determine serum levels of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), TREM1, interleukin (IL)-6, ACAM-1, IL-8, and IL-12 and DNA-bound levels of NF-KB65 and TLR4 in pancreatic and ileum tissue. Serum levels of lipase and amylase, pancreatic myeloperoxidase (MPO) activity, and pancreatic water content were also measured. Hematoxylin and eosin staining was used for all histological analyses. Results indicated upregulation of miR-181b, but negligible levels of FSTL1, p-p38MAPK, TLR4, TRAF6, p-Akt, IRAK1, TREM1, p-NF-κBp65, and p-IκB-α, as well as negligible DNA-bound levels of NF-KB65 and TLR4. We also observed lower levels of IL-8, IL-6, ACAM-1, TNF-α, MPO, and IL-12 in the Panax notoginseng saponin–treated group when compared with controls. In addition, Panax notoginseng saponin–treated rats had significantly reduced serum levels of lipase and amylase. Histological analyses confirmed that Panax notoginseng saponin treatment significantly reduced taurocholate-induced pancreatic inflammation. Collectively, our results suggest that Panax notoginseng saponin treatment attenuated acute pancreatitis and pancreatic inflammation by increasing miR-181b signaling. These findings suggest that Panax notoginseng saponins have therapeutic potential in the treatment of taurocholate-induced SAP.
Pathophysiological mechanisms and pharmacological methods of prevention and treatment of bronchopulmonary dysplasia in preterm infants

Introduction. Bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) is a respiratory disease that is characterized by long-term respiratory failure and mainly affects premature infants with low birth weight (LBW), undergoing mechanical ventilation (MV) or requiring long-term oxygen therapy. In Europe, among newborns with birth weight <1500g, the incidence of BPD is around 15%. Objective. The purpose of this review was to analyze the pathophysiological mechanisms involved in the development of BPD in premature newborns and to discuss the current possibilities of pharmacological prevention and treatment of BPD. Description of the state of knowledge. The BPD pathogenesis is multifactorial. Lung damage is the result of barotrauma and volutrauma due to high-performance MV, actions of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and infectious agents. Currently used methods of pharmacological treatment of severe forms of BPD are mainly based on systemic steroid therapy and can not be considered completely effective and free of side effects. Conclusion. Despite the widespread use of proper pharmacotherapy and dynamic development of new methods of respiratory therapy, mortality in BPD is estimated at around 10% – 20%. Infants with BPD are much more exposed to respiratory infections caused by respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), which may result in the development of bronchial hyperresponsiveness and bronchial asthma. Among children with BPD there are significantly higher cognitive and behavioral deficits compared to healthy children, and cerebral palsy is also significantly more common.
Two-Stream Oriented Video Super-Resolution for Action Recognition

We study the video super-resolution (SR) problem not for visual quality, but for facilitating video analytics tasks, e.g. action recognition. The popular action recognition methods based on convolutional networks, exemplified by two-stream networks, are not directly applicable on videos of different spatial resolutions. This can be remedied by performing video SR prior to recognition, which motivates us to improve the SR procedure for recognition accuracy. Tailored for two-stream action recognition networks, we propose two video SR methods for the spatial and temporal streams respectively. On the one hand, we observe that the added details by image SR methods can be either helpful or harmful for recognition, and we propose an optical-flow guided weighted mean-squared-error loss for our spatial-oriented SR (SoSR) network. On the other hand, we observe that existing video SR methods incur temporal discontinuity between frames, which also worsens the recognition accuracy, and we propose a siamese network for our temporal-oriented SR (ToSR) that emphasizes the temporal continuity between consecutive frames. We perform experiments using two state-of-the-art action recognition networks and two well-known datasets--UCF101 and HMDB51. Results demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed SoSR and ToSR in improving recognition accuracy.
Preclinical development of an oral anti-Wolbachia macrolide drug for the treatment of lymphatic filariasis and onchocerciasis

An oral macrolide drug targeting the bacterial endosymbiont, Wolbachia, shows efficacy against filarial nematodes in preclinical animal models. Nematodes go A·WOL New drugs are urgently needed for treating the neglected tropical diseases, onchocerciasis and lymphatic filariasis. As part of the A·WOL consortium, Taylor et al. launched a drug discovery program that identified macrolide antibiotic molecules that were capable of eliminating the bacterial endosymbiont, Wolbachia, which is necessary for the viability and fertility of filarial worms. Two macrolide compounds cleared Wolbachia from filarial nematodes in animal models of lymphatic filariasis and onchocerciasis. The authors showed that the tylosin A analog, A-1574083 (ABBV-4083), had superior efficacy compared to tetracycline antibiotics for clearing Wolbachia in mouse and gerbil models of filarial infection. The safety and pharmacology profiles of A-1574083 have enabled this compound to be moved forward into clinical testing. There is an urgent global need for a safe macrofilaricide drug to accelerate elimination of the neglected tropical diseases onchocerciasis and lymphatic filariasis. From an anti-infective compound library, the macrolide veterinary antibiotic, tylosin A, was identified as a hit against Wolbachia. This bacterial endosymbiont is required for filarial worm viability and fertility and is a validated target for macrofilaricidal drugs. Medicinal chemistry was undertaken to develop tylosin A analogs with improved oral bioavailability. Two analogs, A-1535469 and A-1574083, were selected. Their efficacy was tested against the gold-standard second-generation tetracycline antibiotics, doxycycline and minocycline, in mouse and gerbil infection models of lymphatic filariasis (Brugia malayi and Litomosoides sigmodontis) and onchocerciasis (Onchocerca ochengi). A 1- or 2-week course of oral A-1535469 or A-1574083 provided >90% Wolbachia depletion from nematodes in infected animals, resulting in a block in embryogenesis and depletion of microfilarial worm loads. The two analogs delivered comparative or superior efficacy compared to a 3- to 4-week course of doxycycline or minocycline. A-1574083 (now called ABBV-4083) was selected for further preclinical testing. Cardiovascular studies in dogs and toxicology studies in rats and dogs revealed no adverse effects at doses (50 mg/kg) that achieved plasma concentrations >10-fold above the efficacious concentration. A-1574083 (ABBV-4083) shows potential as an anti-Wolbachia macrolide with an efficacy, pharmacology, and safety profile that is compatible with a short-term oral drug course for treating lymphatic filariasis and onchocerciasis.
Multiple imputation for discrete data: Evaluation of the joint latent normal model

Missing data are ubiquitous in clinical and social research, and multiple imputation (MI) is increasingly the methodology of choice for practitioners. Two principal strategies for imputation have been proposed in the literature: joint modelling multiple imputation (JM‐MI) and full conditional specification multiple imputation (FCS‐MI). While JM‐MI is arguably a preferable approach, because it involves specification of an explicit imputation model, FCS‐MI is pragmatically appealing, because of its flexibility in handling different types of variables. JM‐MI has developed from the multivariate normal model, and latent normal variables have been proposed as a natural way to extend this model to handle categorical variables. In this article, we evaluate the latent normal model through an extensive simulation study and an application on data from the German Breast Cancer Study Group, comparing the results with FCS‐MI. We divide our investigation in four sections, focusing on (i) binary, (ii) categorical, (iii) ordinal, and (iv) count data. Using data simulated from both the latent normal model and the general location model, we find that in all but one extreme general location model setting JM‐MI works very well, and sometimes outperforms FCS‐MI. We conclude the latent normal model, implemented in the R package jomo, can be used with confidence by researchers, both for single and multilevel multiple imputation.
A prospective study of serum metabolites and risk of ischemic stroke

Objective To identify promising blood-based biomarkers and novel etiologic pathways of disease risk, we applied an untargeted serum metabolomics profiling in a community-based prospective study of ischemic stroke (IS). Methods In 3,904 men and women from the Atherosclerosis Risk In Communities study, Cox proportional hazard models were used to estimate the association of incident IS with the standardized level of 245 fasting serum metabolites individually, adjusting for age, sex, race, field center, batch, diabetes, hypertension, current smoking status, body mass index, and estimated glomerular filtration rate. Validation of results was carried out in an independent sample of 114 IS cases and 112 healthy controls. Results Serum levels of 2 long-chain dicarboxylic acids, tetradecanedioate and hexadecanedioate, were strongly correlated (r = 0.88) and were associated with incident IS after adjusting for covariates (hazard ratio [95% confidence interval (CI)] 1.11 [1.06–1.16] and 1.12 [1.07–1.17], respectively; p < 0.0001). Analyses by IS subtypes suggested that these associations were specific to cardioembolic stroke (CES). Associations of tetradecanedioate and hexadecanedioate with IS were independently confirmed (odds ratio [95% CI] 1.76 [1.21; 2.56] and 1.60 [1.11; 2.32], respectively). Conclusion Two serum long-chain dicarboxylic acids, metabolic products of ω-oxidation of fatty acids, were associated with IS and CES independently of known risk factors. Pathways related to intracellular hexadecanedioate synthesis or those involved in its clearance from the circulation may mediate IS risk. These results highlight the potential of metabolomics to discover novel circulating biomarkers for stroke and to unravel novel pathways for IS and its subtypes.
Measuring the Economic Impact of Climate Change on Crop Production in the Dry Zone of Myanmar: A Ricardian Approach

Myanmar is the country with the highest economic vulnerability (EV) to climate change in the Southeast Asian region. The dry zone of Myanmar occupies two-thirds of the agricultural lands and it has higher temperatures than elsewhere in the country. Climate change has severe impacts on agricultural production in this region. Moreover, changes in the precipitation patterns increase the likelihood of crop failures in the short-run and production declines in the long run. Therefore, an assessment of the economic impacts of climate change on crop production in the dry zone of Myanmar is very relevant. This paper examines the interactions between agriculture and climate and assesses the economic impact of climate change while using a Ricardian model. A cross-sectional survey covering three regions in the central dry zone: (Magwe, Mandalay, and Sagaing regions) was conducted, yielding a sample of 425 farmers. A non-linear relationship between climate indicators (temperature and precipitation) and revenue of land was found. The marginal effects were calculated by selecting economic and socio-demographic variables. The estimated marginal impacts suggest that the projected changes in temperature will affect the crop productivity of the region. The results also show that the temperature and rainfall components of global warming are both important. Predictions from three global circulation models all confirm that temperature is predicted to increase in all seasons. A significant marginal impact of increasing temperature on the net revenue of farm households was observed in the region. These findings call for policy makers and development planners to articulate the necessary climate change adaptation measures and mitigation options for reducing the negative impacts of climate change. Improved management and conservation of the available water resources could generate water for irrigation purposes and the dissemination of climate smart agricultural practices could lessen the negative impacts of climate change effects on agriculture in the dry zone of Myanmar.
Inline Reaction Monitoring of Amine-Catalyzed Acetylation of Benzyl Alcohol Using a Microfluidic Stripline Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Setup

We present an in-depth study of the acetylation of benzyl alcohol in the presence of N,N-diisopropylethylamine (DIPEA) by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) monitoring of the reaction from 1.5 s to several minutes. We have adapted the NMR setup to be compatible to microreactor technology, scaling down the typical sample volume of commercial NMR probes (500 μL) to a microfluidic stripline setup with 150 nL detection volume. Inline spectra are obtained to monitor the kinetics and unravel the reaction mechanism of this industrially relevant reaction. The experiments are combined with conventional 2D NMR measurements to identify the reaction products. In addition, we replace DIPEA with triethylamine and pyridine to validate the reaction mechanism for different amine catalysts. In all three acetylation reactions, we find that the acetyl ammonium ion is a key intermediate. The formation of ketene is observed during the first minutes of the reaction when tertiary amines were present. The pyridine-catalyzed reaction proceeds via a different mechanism.
89Zr-DFO-Cetuximab as a Molecular Imaging Agent to Identify Cetuximab Resistance in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma.

Background: Despite the improvement in clinical outcomes for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) as the result of cetuximab, patients may present with or develop resistance that increases tumor recurrence rates and limits clinical efficacy. Therefore, identifying those patients who are or become resistant is essential to tailor the best therapeutic approach. Materials and Methods: Cetuximab was conjugated to p-NCS-Bz-DFO and labeled with 89Zr. The resistance model was developed by treating FaDu cells with cetuximab. Western blotting (WB) and specific binding assays were performed to evaluate epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) expression and 89Zr-DFO-cetuximab uptake in FaDu cetuximab-resistant (FCR) and FaDu cetuximab-sensitive (FCS) cells. Positron emission tomography imaging and biodistribution were conducted in NU/NU nude mice implanted with FCR or FCS cells. Results: Cetuximab was successfully radiolabeled with 89Zr (≥95%). Binding assays performed in FCR and FCS cells showed significantly lower 89Zr-DFO-cetuximab uptake in FCR (p < 0.0001). WB suggests that the resistance mechanism is associated with EGFR downregulation (p = 0.038). This result is in agreement with the low uptake of 89Zr-DFO-cetuximab in FCR cells. Tumor uptake of 89Zr-DFO-cetuximab in FCR was significantly lower than FCS tumors (p = 0.0340). Conclusions: In this work, the authors showed that 89Zr-DFO-cetuximab is suitable for identification of EGFR downregulation in vitro and in vivo. This radiopharmaceutical may be useful for monitoring resistance in HNSCC patients during cetuximab therapy.
Multiple Temporal Scales Assessment in the Hydrological Response of Small Mediterranean-Climate Catchments

Mediterranean-climate catchments are characterized by significant spatial and temporal hydrological variability caused by the interaction of natural as well human-induced abiotic and biotic factors. This study investigates the non-linearity of rainfall-runoff relationship at multiple temporal scales in representative small Mediterranean-climate catchments (i.e., <10 km2) to achieve a better understanding of their hydrological response. The rainfall-runoff relationship was evaluated in 43 catchments at annual and event—203 events in 12 of these 43 catchments—scales. A linear rainfall-runoff relationship was observed at an annual scale, with a higher scatter in pervious (R2: 0.47) than impervious catchments (R2: 0.82). Larger scattering was observed at the event scale, although pervious lithology and agricultural land use promoted significant rainfall-runoff linear relations in winter and spring. These relationships were particularly analysed during five hydrological years in the Es Fangar catchment (3.35 km2; Mallorca, Spain) as a temporal downscaling to assess the intra-annual variability, elucidating whether antecedent wetness conditions played a significant role in runoff generation. The assessment of rainfall-runoff relationships under contrasted lithology, land use and seasonality is a useful approach to improve the hydrological modelling of global change scenarios in small catchments where the linearity and non-linearity of the hydrological response—at multiple temporal scales—can inherently co-exist in Mediterranean-climate catchments.
Who and When to Screen: Multi-Round Active Screening for Recurrent Infectious Diseases Under Uncertainty

Controlling recurrent infectious diseases is a vital yet complicated problem. In this paper, we propose a novel active screening model (ACTS) and algorithms to facilitate active screening for recurrent diseases (no permanent immunity) under infection uncertainty. Our contributions are: (1) A new approach to modeling multi-round network-based screening/contact tracing under uncertainty, which is a common real-life practice in a variety of diseases; (2) Two novel algorithms, Full- and Fast-REMEDY. Full-REMEDY considers the effect of future actions and finds a policy that provides high solution quality, where Fast-REMEDY scales linearly in the size of the network; (3) We evaluate Full- and Fast-REMEDY on several real-world datasets which emulate human contact and find that they control diseases better than the baselines. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work on multi-round active screening with uncertainty for diseases with no permanent immunity.
The effects of curcumin supplementation on high‐sensitivity C‐reactive protein, serum adiponectin, and lipid profile in patients with type 2 diabetes: A randomized, double‐blind, placebo‐controlled trial

Diabetes mellitus is one of the most common and important metabolic diseases in human. Curcumin, which is a natural polyphenol found in turmeric, can be used in treatment of diabetes complications for its antidiabetic, anti‐inflammatory, and antioxidant properties. In this double‐blind randomized clinical trial, 44 patients with Type 2 diabetes randomly assigned to curcumin or placebo group. Patients consumed either 1,500‐mg curcumin or placebo daily for 10 weeks. Anthropometric measurements were measured at baseline and at the end of the study. Serum concentrations of triglyceride (TG), total cholesterol, high‐density lipoprotein cholesterol, low‐density lipoprotein cholesterol, high‐sensitivity C‐reactive protein, and adiponectin were determined after 12‐hr fasting at the beginning and end of study. The mean serum level of TG decreased in curcumin group compared with baseline (109 ± 36 vs. 124 ± 36; p < 0.05). At the end of study, the mean concentration of high‐sensitivity C‐reactive protein decreased in the curcumin group compared to the control (2.9 ± 2.9 vs. 3.4 ± 4.2; p < 0.05). The mean serum concentration of adiponectin increased (64 ± 3 vs. 63 ± 4; p < 0.05) in the treatment group compared with the placebo at the end of the study. The results of the current study indicate that curcumin consumption may reduce diabetes complications through decreasing TG level as well as indicators of inflammation.
A 28‐year study of human parainfluenza in Rio Grande do Sul, Southern Brazil

Human parainfluenza virus (hPIV) is an important pathogen in respiratory infections, however the health burden of hPIV is underestimated. This study describes the infections by hPIV1‐3 in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, from 1990 to 2017, providing data of the frequency and seasonality of cases and associated clinical symptoms.