Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Combined liver and kidney transplantation

Purpose of reviewSince the implementation of the model for end-stage liver disease scoring system for organ allocation in orthotopic liver transplantation in 2002, the number of combined liver and kidney transplantations (CLKTs) that have been performed in the USA has increased significantly. To standardize the evaluation and selection of CLKT candidates, consensus conferences were held in March 2006 and September 2007. In this article, we review the studies on CLKT, especially concentrating on studies published in 2008 and 2009, to assess the impact of the model for end-stage liver disease system and two consensus conferences. Recent findingsThe hepatorenal syndrome, usually a reversible cause of renal failure, has to be differentiated from other causes of chronic kidney disease that are potentially nonreversible and mandate CLKT. Despite published guidelines, it still remains difficult to clearly delineate appropriate candidates for CLKT, especially when the cause of renal disease remains controversial. Performing renal biopsies might help in decision-making. Chronic kidney disease patients with glomerular filtration rate less than 30 ml/min, hepatorenal syndrome patients with requirement of renal replacement therapy more than 8–12 weeks, and patients with renal biopsy findings of more than 30% fibrosis and glomerulosclerosis would get benefit receiving CLKT. SummaryIn this era of organ shortage, with tens of thousands of patients listed for kidney transplantation, it is paramount that the organs should be scrupulously allocated to those in real need. However, patients with advanced renal disease should not receive orthotopic liver transplantation alone, which significantly decreases their survival.
Conception, mise en oeuvre et évaluation de systèmes de communication multi-échelles

La communication non mediatisee prend generalement plusieurs formes, et la transition d’une situation a l’autre est fluide et continue. A l’inverse, les outils de communication existants permettent rarement d'ajuster progressivement le flux d'information echange. Cette these propose donc de concevoir des systemes de communication multi-echelles qui offrent des services a differents degres d’engagement et permettent la transition fluide entre ces services. Cette approche est illustree par le systeme de communication video, Pele-Mele, qui utilise des techniques de vision par ordinateur, des filtres spatiaux et temporels et un affichage focus+context des images pour permettre differents niveaux d’engagement. Nous avons ensuite conduit une etude longitudinale de l’usage de Pele-Mele, ainsi qu’une etude experimentale pour evaluer un aspect du systeme. L’usage a long terme de ce systeme a notamment montre l’importance de fournir des mecanismes graduels de gestion de l’attention pour permettre des transitions fluides entre communications d’arriere plan et de premier plan. Ces resultats nous ont amene a evaluer de maniere experimentale l’effet de la frequence des images sur l’allocation d’attention dans une situation de double tâche. L’etude du systeme nous a egalement amene a proposer une technique originale pour visualiser de maniere interactive l'ensemble des clips enregistres par le systeme et, au-dela, des ensembles de donnees temporelles dispersees. Ce travail se conclue sur une generalisation des aspects formels de cette technique a d'autres types de transformation et d’autres domaines, comme la communication et la cartographie.
Evolution of cellular immune responses to hepatitis C virus during antiretroviral therapy and its clinical implications

Combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) has dramatically decreased the progression to acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) and thus the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-related mortality in HIV-infected patients. Consequently, hepatitis C virus (HCV) has emerged as a leading cause of death in HIV/HCV co-infected patients. Pre-existing HIV infection increases the rate of chronicity in acute HCV infection1 and is associated with higher HCV viraemia.2 Most importantly, HIV/HCV co-infected patients show more rapid progression to cirrhosis and its complications.3 This particular observation is still incompletely understood and seems to contradict the assumptions that HCV by itself is not cytopathic, that the level of viraemia does not correlate with the risk of fibrosis and cirrhosis in HIV-negative patients and that liver inflammation is immune mediated. The clinical outcome of acute hepatitis C in HIV-negative patients is associated with a strong and maintained HCV-specific CD4+ T-cell response against both structural and non-structural proteins,4 which is typically weak in patients with chronic hepatitis C. The role of HCV-specific CD4+ T-cell responses in treatment-induced viral clearance has been examined in several studies, yielding divergent results: while some studies found a moderate but significant increase in the HCV-specific CD4+ T-cell response during antiviral treatment with a peak late in the course of …
Modelado y control robusto de un Vehículo Aéreo no Tripulado Quadrotor, en ambientes cerrados

En este trabajo de investigacion se presenta los procedimientos de modelado y diseno de controladores de los Vehiculos Aereos no Tripulados, especificamente Quadrotores. Las tecnicas de control clasico no son aplicadas, por lo tanto, la contribucion de esta investigacion es la metodologia para el diseno de un controlador robusto no lineal para el control del subsistema de orientacion del quadrotor. El subsistema de elevacion esta disenado con un controlador PID clasico.
Nifedipine and telmisartan for the treatment of hypertension: the TALENT study

A combination of two drugs as initial treatment in patients with a high or very high cardiovascular risk profile is recommended. Nifedipine extended release (GITS) is a calcium-channel antagonist known to be metabolically neutral, to mildly slow the development of atherosclerosis in hypertensive subjects and to significantly decrease cardiovascular risk in diabetic patients. Telmisartan is highly selective for the angiotensin receptor 1, it gives a greater improvement in glycemic and lipid control compared with irbesartan, and it proved its superiority in improving insulin sensitivity compared with eprosartan. The TALENT study was aimed to determine whether combining low-dose nifedipine GITS at and telmisartan reduced ambulatory and clinic blood pressure more than the two components in monotherapy in hypertensive patients at high cardiovascular risk. The study shows that combination treatment with nifedipine GITS and telmisartan provides a greater and earlier blood pressure reduction than the combination components in monotherapy.
Impact of cognitive impairment on the phenomenology of geriatric depression.

OBJECTIVE Dementia and depressive syndromes demonstrate substantial symptom overlap. As a result, it is challenging to differentiate depression symptoms from nonspecific symptoms of an underlying dementia syndrome. The author addressed the impact of cognitive impairment on the phenomenology of depression symptoms by determining whether more impaired patients were more likely to endorse certain self-report depressive symptoms independent of their underlying level of depression severity. METHODS Author used data from 576 geriatric rehabilitation inpatients for MIMIC model analyses examining the impact of cognitive impairment on both depression severity and endorsement of symptom clusters. Depressive symptoms were measured with the Geriatric Depression Scale, and cognitive impairment was measured with the Mattis Dementia Rating Scale total score. RESULTS The reliability (internal consistency) of self-reported depressive symptoms did not change as a function of cognitive impairment. More severe cognitive impairment was associated with greater depression severity but was also associated with two depression symptom clusters after controlling for underlying levels of depression severity. Patients who were more impaired endorsed greater social withdrawal and less psychomotor agitation, independent of their underlying depression severity. Level of cognitive impairment alone did not affect the endorsement of depressed mood and positive affect. CONCLUSIONS Certain symptoms on depression inventories may be endorsed at a greater level by cognitively impaired patients, independent of their level of underlying depression severity. These symptoms may be nonspecific features of the underlying dementia syndrome and may not be specific to depressive episodes, but instead may represent other syndromes, such as apathy.
Human Umbilical Cord Blood Cell Grafts for Brain Ischemia

Irreversible and permanent damage develop immediately adjacent to the region of reduced cerebral blood perfusion in stroke patients. Currently, the proven thrombolytic treatment for stroke, tissue plasminogen activator, is only effective when administered within 3 h after stroke. These disease characteristics should be taken under consideration in developing any therapeutic intervention designed to widen the narrow therapeutic range, especially cell-based therapy. Over the past several years, our group and others have characterized the therapeutic potential of human umbilical cord blood cells for stroke and other neurological disorders using in vitro and vivo models focusing on the cells' ability to differentiate into nonhematopoietic cells including neural lineage, as well as their ability to produce several neurotrophic factors and modulate immune and inflammatory reaction. Rather than the conventional cell replacement mechanism, we advance alternative pathways of graft-mediated brain repair involving neurotrophic effects resulting from release of various growth factors that afford cell survival, angiogenesis, and anti-inflammation. Eventually, these multiple protective and restorative effects from umbilical cord blood cell grafts may be interdependent and act in harmony in promoting therapeutic benefits for stroke.
The development and evaluation of an educational intervention for primary care promoting person-centred responses to dementia

Background Early diagnosis of dementia within primary care is important to allow access to support. However, dementia remains under-detected in general practice. Aim This work aimed to develop and evaluate an educational intervention for primary care promoting person-centred responses to people experiencing cognitive decline. Method A prototype educational intervention was pilot tested and refined; the final version of the educational intervention was then evaluated in four volunteer practices. A questionnaire was administered pre- and post-training to 94 practice staff to assess knowledge and attitudes to dementia. The responses of general practitioners (who make diagnostic, referral and treatment decisions) were compared with those from other staff who do not have such roles. Findings Post-training, there were statistically significant improvements in understanding of person-centred care for people with dementia; attitudes to early diagnosis; awareness of non-cognitive dementia symptoms; and awareness of the role that non-clinical staff may have in recognising dementia. Conclusions A dementia education intervention for primary care which fosters person-centred attitudes can involve all members of a primary care team. Further research is needed to ascertain if improvements in knowledge and attitudes translate into improved practice.
Fast acquisition of quantitative T2 maps

A rapid new technique called T2 fast acquisition relaxation mapping (T2 FARM) was developed to allow T2 maps to be reconstructed directly from k‐space data acquired in 3 sec. A single acquisition measured two sets of k‐space data, the first with T1 and T2 weighting independent of phase encode position, and the second with T2 weighting varying with phase encode position. These data were processed using an iterative least squares algorithm to produce a quantitative T2 map from the k‐space data. T2 values of phantoms and an egg were determined from T2 FARM maps and spectroscopic Carr‐Purcell‐Meiboom‐Gill (CPMG) measurements, demonstrating the validity of the new technique. Magn Reson Med 41:202‐212, 1999. © 1999 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Production de pétrole : étude dynamique et contrôle des écoulements à bouchons

Le slugging (ou ecoulement a bouchons) est un regime d'ecoulement polyphasique indesirable apparaissant sur les systemes de production de petrole. Dans ce manuscrit, nous etudions la dynamique de ce phenomene intermittent dans le but de le supprimer par actionnement automatique de la vanne de sortie. Nous proposons des solutions de controle applicables dans une vaste gamme de situations industrielles. Apres une analyse quantitative des proprietes physiques du slugging, nous proposons un modele a parametres distribues d'ecoulement diphasique (gaz-liquide) reproduisant ce phenomene. Le modele prend la forme d'un systeme hyperbolique de lois de conservation, pour lequel nous proposons un schema de resolution numerique. De plus, nous procedons a une analyse de stabilite via la construction d'une fonction de Lyapunov de controle stricte pour le probleme aux deux bouts avec condition initiale. Ensuite, nous presentons un modele de dimension finie capable de reproduire les oscillations de pression et de debit qui caracterisent le slugging. Apres une analyse des proprietes dynamiques de ce systeme, nous decrivons comment calibrer les parametres du modele afin que son comportement corresponde a celui d'un systeme donne. Enfin, nous proposons des lois de controle sous la forme de boucles de retroaction, basees sur l'analyse du modele reduit, dans deux situations industrielles distinctes : selon qu'un capteur de pression de fond est disponible ou non. Les performances de ces solutions sont comparees avec les methodes correspondant a l'etat de l'art dans chaque situation. La conclusion de cette etude est qu'il n'est pas systematiquement necessaire de disposer d'un capteur de pression de fond pour stabiliser l'ecoulement. Quand un tel capteur est disponible, la loi de controle que nous proposons possede de meilleures proprietes de stabilisation que les methodes communement utilisees dans l'industrie, ce qui, lors du passage a l'echelle, devrait se traduire par une augmentation de la production de petrole.
Binding of leukotriene C4 to rat lung fibroblasts and stimulation of collagen synthesis in vitro.

Arachidonate metabolites are potent biological mediators affecting multiple cellular functions. Although prostaglandins of the E series, which are products of the cyclooxygenase pathway, have been known as inhibitors or down-regulators of fibroblast proliferation and collagen synthesis, the more recently discovered products of the 5-lipoxygenase pathway have not been as extensively investigated with regard to fibroblast function. In this study, a sulfidopeptide product of the lipoxygenase pathway, leukotriene C4 (LTC4), was examined for its ability to modulate rat lung fibroblast collagen synthesis and proliferation in vitro. The data revealed the ability of LTC4 and to a lesser extent leukotriene D4 (LTD4) to stimulate collagen synthesis in a dose-dependent (10(-11)-10(-8) M) manner without affecting cellular proliferation as determined by radiolabeled thymidine incorporation; 1 nM LTC4 caused an 85% (p less than 0.02) increase above untreated controls in [3H]proline incorporation into collagenous protein in the media, which was blocked by the putative leukotriene receptor antagonist FPL55712 (10 microM) and inhibited by cycloheximide and actinomycin D. This LTC4 stimulatory effect was slightly more specific for collagen synthesis vs noncollagenous protein synthesis but was not accompanied with any change in the collagen type composition. Binding of [3H]LTC4 to these cells was specific, reversible, and saturable, with a Kd of 1.8 +/- 0.95 nM. Under equilibrium conditions, there was an estimated 2.39 X 10(4) receptors per cell. This binding was also inhibited by 10 microM FPL55712. Competitive binding studies show specificity of this binding for LTC4 relative to LTD4 and FPL55712. Furthermore, no significant conversion of LTC4 to LTD4 or leukotriene E4 was noted during the binding studies. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Neurologic soft signs in obsessive-compulsive disorder.

To the Editor. — Hollander and coworkers 1 reported some illuminating findings of increased neurologic soft signs in medication-free patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). They noted that these findings were preliminary and that further study of patients with OCD as well as comparisons with other groups of psychiatric patients were warranted. We recently evaluated 39 patients with OCD and comparison groups of patients with non-OCD anxiety disorders (n = 10) and seasonal affective disorder (SAD) (n = 13), as well as 43 healthy volunteers. Traditionally, patients are studied for soft signs in a medication-free state; however, we felt that it might be interesting to also look at the effect of medication on soft signs. Thus, the 39 patients with OCD included 14 who were medication free, 13 who were receiving clomipramine (75 to 250 mg/d), and 12 who were receiving fluoxetine (40 to 80 mg/d) for a minimum of 8 weeks. The healthy
Supply chain information governance: toward a conceptual framework

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to propose a scalable conceptual framework for governance of supply chain (SC) information flows by re-contextualizing the organizational concept of information governance as an SC concept. Design/methodology/approach This study leverages the strategy-structure-process-performance (SSPP) theory base to explain how effective SC information governance relates to improved internal SC performance. Via an in-depth literature review followed by conceptual theory building, the key features of organizational-level information governance are cast into a theoretical framework. Findings This study presents the theoretical framework that explains how SC information governance should contribute to improved internal SC performance. The proposed framework provides a theoretical basis for future research on SC information governance and would become a useful first step to extend the concept of SC information governance at the SC level. Practical implications SC managers should be aware that information governance mechanisms, rather than the management of basic, information flow-directed processes, to yield the best performance outcomes. Because of the numerous touch points information has in complex SCs, managing the quality of SC information through broader, higher-level governance standards is more important than maximizing connectivity and information flows, and information governance structures/policies across organizations should be designed accordingly. Originality/value This study theoretically links SC information governance and internal SC performance via information quality. It also advances the understanding of SC information flow by challenging the implicit but flawed assumption that uniformity of information quality within the supply chain to create the best outcomes.
Gendered and generational tensions in increased land commercialisation: Rural livelihood diversification, changing land use, and food security in Ghana's Brong‐Ahafo region

Many smallholder farmers in Jaman North District, Brong‐Ahafo Region, Ghana are shifting from food crop production to increased cultivation of cashew, an export cash crop. This paper examines gendered and generational tensions in increased commercialisation of land, livelihood diversification, and household food security in the context of globalisation and environmental change. Using qualitative, participatory research with 60 middle‐generation men and women, young people and key stakeholders, the research found that community members valued the additional income stream. Young people and women, however, were apprehensive about the long‐term consequences for food security of allocating so much land to cashew plantations. Young, middle, and older generations were concerned about their weak bargaining position in negotiating fair prices with export companies and intermediaries. Greater integration into the global economy exposed rural actors to multiple risks and inequalities, such as the uneven effects of economic globalisation, rises in food prices, hunger and food insecurity, growing competition for land, youth outmigration and climate change. The shift towards cashew cultivation appears to be exacerbating gender and generational inequalities in access to land and food insecurity and leading to exploitation within the global agri‐food supply chain among already vulnerable rural communities in the global South. With stronger farmer associations and cooperatives, however, cashew farmers stand the chance of benefitting from greater integration into the global economy, through strengthened bargaining positions. Greater understanding is needed about the complex interactions between sustainable food systems, changing land use and gender and generational inequalities in rural spaces.
Immunity to challenge in volunteers vaccinated with an inactivated current or earlier strain of influenza A(H3N2)

SUMMARY Volunteers were inoculated with vaccine made from the 30c mutant, A/Port Chalmers/73 or B/Hong/8/73. Preliminary experiments showed that the 30c strain was antigenically quite close to A/HK/8/68. Volunteers given 30c developed haemagglutination inhibiting antibodies against the ‘current’ 1973 serotypes (as well as to the vaccine virus) but the titres were less than those after the A/PC/73 vaccine. Volunteers were then challenged with a live attenuated virus, WRL 105, with A/Finland/4/74 antigens, by intranasal inoculation. The rates of infection were 43% after B/Hong Kong/8/73, 20% after 30c and 5% after A/PC/73. This indicated that the 30c gave some protection but the vaccine prepared from the current strain gave more.
Survey on knowledge and attitudes related to the relation between tobacco, alcohol abuse and cancer in the northern state of Sudan.

BACKGROUND The aim of this study was to determine the epidemiology of tobacco smoking, toombak dipping and alcohol consumption as risk factors for cancer in the adult population of the northern state of Sudan. MATERIALS AND METHODS A cross-sectional survey from March to April 2010, covering 963 adults, was performed. RESULT Only 207 had responded, and the male female prevalence was 20.8% and 0.73%. Out of 207 respondents, 29.5% had smoked tobacco in their lifetime, 38% were toombak dippers, while 14% were consumers of alcoholic beverages. CONCLUSIONS The prevalence of toombak dipping was higher than tobacco smoking among the adult population in the northern state of Sudan. Female participation in tobacco and alcohol related studies was found to suffer from major obstacles since these habits are considered as social stigma. Appreciation of the full impact of smoking on population health will definitely make a major contribution to improvement of the poor public health situation in Sudan.