Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The importance of positive bacterial cultures of specimens obtained during clean orthopaedic operations.

Microbiological cultures of specimens of tissue and of fluids from the wound in forty patients who had had consecutive clean, elective orthopaedic operations (excluding total joint replacements) and had not received antibiotics preoperatively were analyzed. Of the forty patients, twenty-three (58 per cent) had a positive culture on at least one of the media that were used and seventeen (43 per cent) had negative cultures. Of the forty specimens that were obtained from swabbing of the wound, eight (20 per cent) were positive on culture, compared with twenty (50 per cent) that were obtained from biopsy of tissue. Of these twenty-eight positive cultures, thirteen (46 per cent) were on routine blood-agar plates and fifteen (54 per cent), in broth only. Of the thirty-three bacterial organisms that were identified in the twenty-eight positive cultures of the wound, nineteen (58 per cent) were coagulase-negative Staphylococcus; eight (24 per cent), Propionibacterium acnes; two (6 per cent), Peptostreptococcus; and four (12 per cent), miscellaneous organisms. In all of the positive cultures on the blood-agar plates, except in those showing Propionibacterium acnes, there were five colonies or fewer. One patient had a clinical infection with Staphylococcus aureus that developed later, but the initial cultures of the wound had been positive for Staphylococcus epidermidis only. None of the bacteria that grew on culture were Staphylococcus aureus or the less common pathogenic gram-negative bacteria, such as Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas, or Klebsiella. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
[Six billion people: how the continents were populated--yesterday, today, and tomorrow].

World population growth from settlement of the continents to future population size is broadly traced in this work. Population growth has accelerated greatly in the past two centuries and especially since 1950. The first billion was reached only in 1850, while the fifth billion, in 1986, required only 11 years. Past population growth was slow, irregular, and variable from continent to continent. Population estimates for prehistory have a margin of error of around 50%. Modern man first appeared in Africa or possibly the Middle East around 100,000 BC. The three great centers of population in China, India, and the Middle East and Mediterranean area developed during the Neolithic Revolution and have maintained their importance. At least 500,000 years ago, humans began using fire and clothing to escape the limits of their biotype and geographic area of origin. The peopling of the continents was not achieved by massive displacement of surplus population, but by movement of small groups into empty space where they proliferated. World population was an estimated 460-510 million in 1500, with probably 135 million in China, 95 million in India, and 80 million in Europe. The balance between fertility and mortality postulated by transition theory has not occurred in Europe. World population is projected to increase from 2.5 billion to 6 billion between 1950 and 2000, with 61% in Asia, 12% in Africa, 9% in Latin America, and 5% in Europe. The world rate of population growth is still about 1.4% annually. The demographic explosion will have been a transitory episode in human history, but revolutionary in its impact.
Treating Attachment Injured Couples With Emotionally Focused Therapy: A Case Study Approach

Abstract This paper compared the attachment injury resolution process in two distressed couples undergoing ten sessions of Emotional Focused Therapy (EFT), a short-term empirically validated treatment for relational distress. An attachment injury is a newly coined clinical construct that denotes a specific type of betrayal within the couple's relationship. The incident is so potent that it calls into question assumptions about the safety of the relationship. The task analytic method was used to examine the pathways of change as related to attachment injury of each couple. Several outcome and process measures were employed in order to differentiate the therapeutic process between the resolved versus non—resolved couple. Results indicated that the couple who resolved their identified attachment injury at the outset of therapy adhered to the attachment injury resolution model, while the non—resolved couple showed marked deviations from the expected pathways of change. Findings suggest that the resolved couple tended to show more differentiation of interactional positions and greater levels of experiencing throughout the therapeutic process in relation to the non—resolved couple. It is recommended that further research is necessary to examine the clinical utility of the attachment injury resolution model in the context of a larger number of case studies.
Ca2+-Dependent Interaction of S100A1 with F1-ATPase Leads to an Increased ATP Content in Cardiomyocytes

ABSTRACT S100A1, a Ca2+-sensing protein of the EF-hand family that is expressed predominantly in cardiac muscle, plays a pivotal role in cardiac contractility in vitro and in vivo. It has recently been demonstrated that by restoring Ca2+ homeostasis, S100A1 was able to rescue contractile dysfunction in failing rat hearts. Myocardial contractility is regulated not only by Ca2+ homeostasis but also by energy metabolism, in particular the production of ATP. Here, we report a novel interaction of S100A1 with mitochondrial F1-ATPase, which affects F1-ATPase activity and cellular ATP production. In particular, cardiomyocytes that overexpress S100A1 exhibited a higher ATP content than control cells, whereas knockdown of S100A1 expression decreased ATP levels. In pull-down experiments, we identified the α- and β-chain of F1-ATPase to interact with S100A1 in a Ca2+-dependent manner. The interaction was confirmed by colocalization studies of S100A1 and F1-ATPase and the analysis of the S100A1-F1-ATPase complex by gel filtration chromatography. The functional impact of this association is highlighted by an S100A1-mediated increase of F1-ATPase activity. Consistently, ATP synthase activity is reduced in cardiomyocytes from S100A1 knockout mice. Our data indicate that S100A1 might play a key role in cardiac energy metabolism.
Effect of Local Anesthetic Concentration on Capillary Blood Flow in Human Skin

Objectives. The objective of this study was to evaluate and compare the effect of lidocaine, mepivacaine, and bupivacaine on capillary blood flow in humans over therapeutic and subtherapeutic concentrations. Methods. The effect of each treatment in eight unmedicated male volunteers was measured in a randomized, controlled, double-blind comparison. Each participant received subcutaneous injections (total, 14), at separate sites on the abdomen, consisting of 0.2 ml lidocaine (0.05%, 0.5%, 1%, and 2%), mepivacaine (0.05%, 0.5%, 1%, and 2%), bupivacaine (0.025%, 0.25%, 0.5%, and 0.75%), saline, or saline with epinephrine (5 μg/ml), and at an additional site a needle stick was performed and no injection made. Cutaneous blood flow was measured with a laser Doppler capillary perfusion monitor before and for 60 minutes after these interventions. Results. The maximum increase in cutaneous blood flow was 277 ± 141% to 511 ± 136% (mean ± SE) after lidocaine, 124 ± 110% to 316 ± 155% after mepivacaine, and 242 ± 193% to 725 ± 198% after bupivacaine. The increase in blood flow depended on local anesthetic concentration: low concentrations induced minimal changes, whereas higher concentrations caused great increases in cutaneous blood flow. Injection of saline or needle stick alone increased cutaneous blood flow 285 ± 237% and 260 ± 121%, respectively. Conclusions. Our findings indicate that the trauma of needle stick or saline injection produces a significant increase in cutaneous capillary blood flow. Injection of clinically useful concentrations of bupivacaine and lidocaine produced even greater increases in capillary blood flow, indicating a vasodilatory effect. Injection of the lowest concentrations of lidocaine and bupivacaine caused flow to increase to a magnitude similar to that after injection of saline. In contrast, clinically useful concentrations of mepivacaine do not increase capillary blood flow to a greater extent than saline, and lower concentrations tend to blunt the increase in blood flow, indicating a mild vasoconstrictor effect.
A cloud computing framework for cascading failure simulation and analysis of large-scale transmission systems

In practical industry applications, computing complexity is frequently the primary concern of transmission system cascading failure simulation (CFS), because of high-order contingency combinations and probabilistic time-sequenced events caused by the impacts of uncertainty. In this paper, a cloud computing framework based on Hadoop/MapReduce integrated with BPA software is presented for performing high-efficiency parallel CFS and analysis. The most significant functions for CFS, including automatic action logic identification, pre-defined fault set scanning, fault chain searching, and system severity evaluation, were also carefully designed to contribute to the analysis procedure as precisely as possible for both quasi-steady and dynamic analyses. The complete architecture is implemented using Java. Two benchmark cases and one real transmission system numeric test verifies the feasibility of the proposed technology.
Production of Exopolysaccharide by Lactobacillus rhamnosus R and Analysis of Its Enzymatic Degradation during Prolonged Fermentation

ABSTRACT The potential of Lactobacillus rhamnosus R for producing exopolysaccharide (EPS) when grown on basal minimum medium supplemented with glucose or lactose was investigated. EPS production by L. rhamnosus R is partially growth associated and about 500 mg of EPS per liter was synthesized with both sugars. The product yield coefficient (YEPS/S) was 3.15 (0.0315 g of EPS [g of lactose]−1) and 2.88 (0.0288 g of EPS [g of glucose]−1). It was clearly shown that the amount of EPS produced declined upon prolonged fermentation. Degradation of EPS in fermentation processes was also assessed by measuring its molecular weights and viscosities. As these reductions might have a negative effect on the yield and viscosifying properties of EPS, it was essential to examine possible causes related to this breakdown. The decrease in viscosities and molecular weights of EPS withdrawn at different cultivation times permitted us to suspect the presence of a depolymerizing enzyme in the fermentation medium. Our study on enzymatic production profiles showed a large spectrum of glycohydrolases (α-d-glucosidase, β-d-glucosidase, α-d-galactosidase, β-d-galactosidase, β-d-glucuronidase, and some traces of α-l-rhamnosidase). These enzymes were localized, two of them (α-d-glucosidase and β-d-glucuronidase) were partially purified and characterized. When incubated with EPS, these enzymes were capable of lowering the viscosity of the polymer as well as liberating some reducing sugars. Upon prolonged incubation (27 h), the loss of viscosity was increased up to 33%.
CT volume measurement for prognostic evaluation of unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma after TACE.

AIM To analyze the value of computed tomography (CT) volume measurements for evaluation of the survival rate of unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients after transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE). METHODS One hundred and sixty-six unresectable HCC patients after TACE were involved in this retrospective study. Hepatic CT scan was performed for all patients before and 4 wk to 2 mo after TACE to define the morphologic features of HCC including its largest diameter, volume, product of the greatest axial dimension, tumor to liver volume ratio (TTLVR), and tumor shrinkage ratio. Clinical variables used in the study included gender, age, pattern of tumor growth, number of lesions, Child-Pugh classification of liver function, repeated TACE times, pre- or post-treatment alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) level, portal vein cancerous thrombus, tumor metastasis, degree of lipiodol retention within the tumor, and percutaneous ethanol injection. The correlation between survival time and clinical variables of patients or lesions was analyzed by combining morphologic features with the corresponding clinical and general data as input. A Cox proportional hazard model was used to analyze prognostic factors. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to calculate the cumulative survival time. Influence of the parameters on prognosis was analyzed by the log-rank test. RESULTS The overall 6, 12, 24, 36 and 60 mo cumulative survival rates were 78.92%, 49.85%, 23.82%, 15.60% and 8.92%, respectively. The median survival time was 12 mo. Univariate and multivariate analysis showed that only 4 parameters were the independent prognostic factors including TTLVR (chi(2) = 14.328, P < 0.001), portal vein cancerous thrombus (chi(2) = 5.643, P = 0.018), repeated TACE times (chi(2) = 8.746, P = 0.003), and post-treatment serum AFP level (chi(2) = 5.416, P = 0.020). When the TTLVR value was less than 70%, the survival time was inversely correlated with the TTLVR value. CONCLUSION CT volume measurement technique can predict the prognosis of unresectable HCC patients after TACE.
Mycophenolate Mofetil and Sirolimus Combination in Renal Transplantation

Mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) and sirolimus (SRL) are potent non‐nephrotoxic xenobiotic immunosuppressants. Their complementary properties may provide the rationale for their combination in induction and maintenance regimens. MMF, a reversible inhibitor of inosin monophosphate dehydrogenase (IMPDH) acts as an antiproliferative drug; and SRL, an mTOR (mammalian target of rapamycin) inhibitor, inhibits cell proliferation driven by growth factors. Early experiences with the use of the SRL, MMF and steroid combination yielded insufficient prophylaxis of acute rejection. However, the introduction of induction therapy with mono‐ or polyclonal antilymphocyte antibodies to the SRL‐MMF and steroid combination brings an efficient acute rejection prophylaxis, while improving renal function and/or reducing of chronic allograft nephropathy (CAN). However, adverse events related to the use of this drug combination (mainly haematological and surgery‐related) result in a high rate of discontinuations in some trials, which may hamper the potential benefits of this calcineurin‐inhibitor (CNI)‐free strategy. Also, currently under investigation is whether in long‐term immunosuppression, in MMF‐treated patients, CNIs can be replaced by SRL to avoid and/or halt progression of chronic nephropathy and to improve graft survival. However, some authors reported a high proportion of patients with oral ulcers and proteinuria after switching to SRL.
Delivering on social accountability: Canada's Northern Ontario School of Medicine

Background: The Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM) opened in 2005 with a social accountability mandate to contribute to improving the health of the people and communities of Northern Ontario. NOSM recruits students from Northern Ontario or similar backgrounds and provides Distributed Community Engaged Learning in over 90 clinical and community settings located in the region, a vast underserved rural part of Canada. This paper presents outcomes for graduates of NOSM’s undergraduate and postgraduate medical education programs with emphasis on NOSM's social accountability mandate. Methods: NOSM and the Centre for Rural and Northern Health Research (CRaNHR) used mixed methods that include administrative data from NOSM and external sources, as well as surveys and interviews of students, graduates and other informants. Results: 92% of all NOSM students come from Northern Ontario with substantial inclusion of Indigenous (7%) and Francophone (22%) students. 62% of NOSM graduates have chosen family practice (predominantly rural) training. 94% of the doctors who completed undergraduate and postgraduate education with NOSM are practising in Northern Ontario. The socio-economic impact of NOSM included: new economic activity, more than double the School's budget; enhanced retention and recruitment for the universities and hospitals/health services; and a sense of empowerment among community participants attributable in large part to NOSM. Discussion: There are signs that NOSM is successful in graduating doctors who have the skills and the commitment to practice in rural/remote communities and that NOSM is having a largely positive socio-economic impact on Northern Ontario.
The biology and pathology of vitamin D control in bone

Vitamin D is a steroid pro‐hormone, whose active metabolite binds the vitamin D receptor (VDR) which, in turn, binds to DNA sequences on target genes as a heterodimer with the retinoid‐X receptor, resulting in regulation of gene expression. The vitamin D pro‐hormone can be synthesized in the skin, in response to ultraviolet radiation; however, dietary sources have become increasingly important as a result of cultural changes over the past few centuries. Based on its initial discovery as an anti‐rachitic factor, studies of the role of vitamin D and its receptor have largely focused on the skeleton. Investigations into the pathophysiologic basis and therapeutic responses of skeletal disorders associated with impaired vitamin D action have led to the identification of the molecular pathways involved in hormone activation and regulation of gene expression by the liganded VDR. These studies have also demonstrated that the skeletal actions of the VDR and its ligand are largely redundant if normal mineral ion homeostasis can be maintained by other means. However, investigations in animal models with tissue‐specific ablation of the VDR or the enzyme required for hormone activation have demonstrated novel actions in skeletal tissues. The active vitamin D metabolite has been shown to have both paracrine and endocrine actions in other tissues as well. J. Cell. Biochem. 111: 7–13, 2010. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Making Charity Effectiveness Transparent: Building a Stakeholder‐Focussed Framework of Reporting

Effectiveness in achieving mission is fundamental to evaluating charity performance, and is of central concern to stakeholders who fund, regulate and otherwise engage with such organisations. Exploring the meaning of transparency in the context of stakeholder engagement, and utilising previous research and authoritative sector discussion, this paper develops a novel framework of transparent, stakeholder-focused effectiveness reporting. It is contended that such reporting can assist the charity sector in discharging accountability, gaining legitimacy, and in sharpening mission-centred managerial decision making. Then applying this to UK charities’ publicly-available communications, it highlights significant challenges and weaknesses in current effectiveness reporting.
Radome Diagnostics—Source Reconstruction of Phase Objects With an Equivalent Currents Approach

Radome diagnostics are acquired in the design process, the delivery control, and in performance verification of repaired and newly developed radomes. A measured near or far field may indicate deviations, e.g., increased side-lobe levels, but the origins of the flaws are not revealed. In this paper, radome diagnostics is performed by visualizing the equivalent surface currents on the 3-D radome body, illuminated from the inside. Three different far-field measurement series at 10 GHz are employed. The measured far field is related to the equivalent surface currents on the radome surface by using a surface integral representation. In addition, a surface integral equation is employed to ensure that the sources are located inside the radome. Phase shifts, insertion phase delays (IPD), caused by patches of dielectric tape attached to the radome surface, are localized. Specifically, patches of various edge sizes (0.5-2.0 free-space wavelengths), and with the smallest thickness corresponding to a phase shift of a couple of degrees are imaged.
Neuropsychological profile in early-onset schizophrenia-spectrum disorders: measured with the MATRICS battery.

OBJECTIVE Neurocognitive impairments have been documented in adolescents with early-onset schizophrenia (EOS). There is still inconsistency regarding an average profile, which could be due to the fact that each study uses different tests. The purpose of this study was to examine whether the "Measurement and Treatment Research to Improve Cognition in Schizophrenia" (MATRICS) battery is useful in detecting differences between the patient group and the healthy controls, and to describe the neuropsychological pattern in the EOS group. METHOD Neuropsychological functioning was examined in 31 adolescents with schizophrenia spectrum disorders and 67 healthy controls, using the MATRICS battery. RESULTS There were significant differences between the patients and the controls on every domain except for social cognition. Patients showed a generalized neurocognitive deficit of 0.8-1.8 SDs compared with controls, with verbal learning, working memory, and visual learning being the most affected areas. CONCLUSIONS The MATRICS battery is sensitive in detecting differences between patients and controls in the adolescent population. However, we question the use of Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test in this age group. Results document a significant generalized deficit in adolescents with EOS.
A multifunctional desaturase involved in the biosynthesis of the processionary moth sex pheromone

The sex pheromone of the female processionary moth, Thaumetopoea pityocampa, is a unique C16 enyne acetate that is biosynthesized from palmitic acid. Three consecutive desaturation reactions transform this saturated precursor into the triunsaturated fatty acyl intermediate: formation of (Z)-11-hexadecenoic acid, acetylenation to 11-hexadecynoic acid, and final Δ13 desaturation to (Z)-13-hexadecen-11-ynoic acid. By using degenerate primers common to all reported insect desaturases, a single cDNA sequence was isolated from total RNA of T. pityocampa female pheromone glands. The full-length transcript of this putative desaturase was expressed in elo1Δ/ole1Δ yeast mutants (both elongase 1 and Δ9 desaturase-deficient) for functional assays. The construct fully rescued the Δole1 yeast phenotype, confirming its desaturase activity. Analysis of the unsaturated products from transformed yeast extracts demonstrated that the cloned enzyme showed Δ11 desaturase, Δ11 acetylenase, and Δ13 desaturase activities. Therefore, this single desaturase may account for the three desaturation steps involved in the sex pheromone biosynthetic pathway of the processionary moth.
Feeding aggregation of the tick Rhipicephalus appendiculatus (Ixodidae): benefits and costs in the contest with host responses

Gregariousness can be advantageous in interspecific competition while intraspecific competition may favour solitude. We examined feeding behaviour of the ixodid tick, Rhipicephalus appendiculatus, in the context of interspecific (tick–host) and intraspecific (tick–tick) competition. Such competition is mediated through host rejection responses to tick infestation to which ticks respond by secreting immunodulatory saliva. We observed that group feeding adults increased their blood-feeding rate, reducing the time to mating and repletion, compared with individual feeding of paired adults. The benefits of feeding aggregation indicate direct reciprocity between ticks, most likely resulting from the shared activities of their bioactive saliva. However, fast-feeding ticks appeared to impair blood-feeding success of slow-feeding females during group feeding. This may be explained by the faster feeders exacerbating host responses on detachment that are then directed against the slower feeders. As female fecundity is generally proportional to the size of the bloodmeal, there will be a selection pressure to feed gregariously. Greater understanding of the benefits and costs of feeding aggregation may help to improve tick control strategies.