Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Spontaner Pneumothorax bei der Katze: zwei Fallberichte und Literaturübersicht

Zusammenfassung Der spontane Pneumothorax (SP) ist eine nicht traumatisch bedingte Ansammlung von Luft im Interpleuralspalt. Neben einer Literaturübersicht werden in diesem Artikel zwei Fallberichte von Katzen mit SP präsentiert. Eine Katze wies einen SP aufgrund eines primären Adenokarzinoms der Lunge auf. Die zweite Katze hatte neben einem primären pulmonalen Adenokarzinom felines Asthma. Der erste Patient wurde mit einem Thoraxdrainagesystem versorgt. Bei der zweiten Katze erfolgten eine Thoraxdrainage sowie eine Lobektomie des rech ten kranialen und mittleren Lungenlappens. Beide Tiere verstarben unter der Behandlung. In der Literaturübersicht wird auf die Ätiologie eines SP bei Katzen eingegangen und das klinische Bild, das diagnostische Vorgehen, die Therapie sowie die Pro gnose beschrieben. Ins gesamt werden 64 Fälle von Katzen mit SP von neun verschiedenen Artikeln diskutiert. Nach dem Wissen der Autoren existieren bisher keine Beschreibungen des primären spontanen Pneumothorax bei Katzen. Lediglich bei 16% der Fälle mit SP wurde eine chirurgische Versorgung durchgeführt. Die Literaturübersicht zeigte, dass Katzen mit SP je nach zugrundeliegender Lungen erkrankung eine vorsichtige Kurzzeitprognose aufweisen. So konnten 39 von 64 (60%) dieser Patienten entlassen werden.
The effects of clown intervention on worries and emotional responses in children undergoing surgery

This study investigated whether clown intervention could reduce preoperative worries and the affective responses of children undergoing minor surgery. Parental anxiety was also tested. Child’s age, previous hospitalization, and temperament were tested as predictors of the child’s responses during this preoperative phase. Seventy children were assigned to one of two groups: children accompanied by their parents and a pair of clowns or, those accompanied by the parents but without the clowns. The results emphasized the relevance of clown intervention on the reduction of preoperative worries and emotional responses, not only in children but also in their parents.
Analysing public preferences for cancer screening programmes.

Economic evaluations generally fail to incorporate elements of intangible costs and benefits, such as anxiety and discomfort associated with the screening test and diagnostic test, as well as the magnitude of utility associated with a reduction in the risk of dying from cancer. In the present analysis, 750 respondents were interviewed and asked to rank, according to priority, a number of alternative screening programme set-ups. Focus was on colorectal cancer screening and breast cancer screening. The alternative programmes varied with respect to number of tests performed, risk reduction obtained, probability of a false positive outcome and extent of co-payment. Stated preferences were analysed using discrete ranking modelling and the relative weighting of the programme attributes identified. Applying discrete choice methods to elicit preferences within this area of health care seems justified by the face validity of the results. The signs of the coefficients are in accordance with a priori hypotheses. This paper suggests that large-scale surveys focusing on individuals' preferences for cancer screening programmes may contribute significantly to the quality of economic evaluations within this field of health care.
Fabrication of Two Flow Phantoms for Doppler Ultrasound Imaging

Flow phantoms are widely used in studies associated with Doppler ultrasound measurements, acting as an effective experimental validation system in cardiovascular-related research and in new algorithm/instrumentation development. The development of materials that match the acoustic and mechanical properties of the vascular system is of great interest while designing flow phantoms. Although recipes that meet the flow phantom standard defined by the International Electrotechnical Commission 61685 are already available in the literature, the standard procedure for material preparations and phantom fabrications has not been well established. In this paper, two types of flow phantoms, with and without blood vessel mimic, are described in detail in terms of the material preparation and phantom fabrication. The phantom materials chosen for the two phantoms are from published phantom studies, and their physical properties have been investigated previously. Both the flow phantoms have been scanned by ultrasound scanners and images from different modes are presented. These phantoms may be used in the validation and characterization of Doppler ultrasound measurements in blood vessels with a diameter above 1 mm.
Impaired Immune Response in Severe Human Lower Tract Respiratory Infection by Respiratory Syncytial Virus

Background: Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a major cause of acute lower respiratory infection in infants. The immune response plays a leading role in the severity of the disease. We hypothesized that severe RSV disease is associated with an impaired immune response characterized by low circulating T lymphocytes and plasma cytokine concentrations. Methods: We evaluate the in vivo immune responses of previously healthy infants with their first proven RSV-acute lower respiratory infection that required hospitalization. According to the clinical severity, defined by using a strict scoring system, the in vivo immune response was compared through the analysis of plasma cytokine values and the phenotyping of peripheral blood lymphocyte and natural killer (NK) cells. Results: Absolute blood cell counts of CD4+, CD8+, and CD19+ lymphocytes and NK cells were lower in subjects with RSV than in control infants. Lowest cell counts were observed in more severe RSV-infected infants. Significant low values were obtained in CD8+ lymphocytes (P = 0.03) and nonactive NK cells, that express CD94 antigen (P = 0.046). In contrast, activated NK cells that do not express CD94 molecules were significantly higher in RSV infected infants than in healthy controls (% of cells: P = 0.004). The interferon-&ggr; and tumor necrosis factor-&agr; values in RSV infected patients were lower than in controls subjects. Interleukin-17 cytokine was not detected in healthy infants and the largest concentration was found in moderately ill patients as compared with severe cases (P = 0.033). RSV infection showed significantly higher interleukin-8 chemokine than in control infants (P = 0.024). Conclusion: We propose that severe RSV infection in very young infants is associated with poor blood proinflammatory cytokine production, low counts of CD8+ T cells and with a greater activity of a group of NK cells, that are independent of the major histocompatibility complex class Ib recognition system.
L‐tyrosine and L‐dihydroxyphenylalanine as hormone‐like regulators of melanocyte functions

There is evidence that L‐tyrosine and L‐dihydroxyphenylalanine (L‐DOPA), besides serving as substrates and intermediates of melanogenesis, are also bioregulatory agents acting not only as inducers and positive regulators of melanogenesis but also as regulators of other cellular functions. These can be mediated through action on specific receptors or through non‐receptor‐mediated mechanisms. The substrate induced (L‐tyrosine and/or L‐DOPA) melanogenic pathway would autoregulate itself as well as regulate the melanocyte functions through the activity of its structural or regulatory proteins and through intermediates of melanogenesis and melanin itself. Dissection of regulatory and autoregulatory elements of this process may elucidate how substrate‐induced autoregulatory pathways have evolved from prokaryotic or simple eukaryotic organisms to complex systems in vertebrates. This could substantiate an older theory proposing that receptors for amino acid‐derived hormones arose from the receptors for those amino acids, and that nuclear receptors evolved from primitive intracellular receptors binding nutritional factors or metabolic intermediates.
Social and occupational factors associated with psychological wellbeing among occupational groups affected by disaster: a systematic review

Abstract Background: The psychological impact of disasters has been well-documented; less attention has been paid to factors affecting the wellbeing of those exposed to disasters as occupational groups. Aims: To conduct a systematic literature review identifying social and occupational factors affecting the wellbeing of disaster-exposed employees; to use these factors to identify recommendations for potential interventions. Method: Four electronic literature databases were searched; reference lists of relevant papers were hand-searched. Results: A total of 18 005 papers were found, 571 full texts were read and 36 included in the review. The psychological impact of disasters on employees was associated with pre-disaster factors (experience/training; income; life events/health; job satisfaction), peri-disaster factors (exposure; peri-traumatic experiences; perceptions of safety; injury), social factors (organisational support; social support generally) and post-disaster factors (impact on life). Conclusions: It is important to build a resilient workforce outside of a crisis. Pre-disaster training in recognising signs of distress, understanding vulnerability factors such as those described above, which may put certain employees at greater risk of distress and how to support colleagues may be useful. Further research into the effectiveness of post-disaster interventions is needed.
Characterization of the antigenic structure of herpes simplex virus type 1 glycoprotein C through DNA sequence analysis of monoclonal antibody-resistant mutants

Earlier studies of a group of monoclonal antibody-resistant (mar) mutants of herpes simplex virus type 1 glycoprotein C (gC) operationally defined two distinct antigenic sites on this molecule, each consisting of numerous overlapping epitopes. In this report, we further define epitopes of gC by sequence analysis of the mar mutant gC genes. In 18 mar mutants studied, the mar phenotype was associated with a single nucleotide substitution and a single predicted amino acid change. The mutations were localized to two regions within the coding sequence of the external domain of gC and correlated with the two previously defined antigenic sites. The predicted amino acid substitutions of site I mutants resided between residues Gln-307 and Pro-373, whereas those of site II mutants occurred between amino acids Arg-129 and Glu-247. Of the 12 site II mutations, 9 induced amino acid substitutions within an arginine-rich segment of 8 amino acids extending from residues 143 to 151. The clustering of the majority of substituted residues suggests that they contribute to the structure of the affected sites. Moreover, the patterns of substitutions which affected recognition by antibodies with similar epitope specificities provided evidence that epitope structures are physically linked and overlap within antigenic sites. Of the nine epitopes defined on the basis of mutations, three were located within site I and six were located within site II. Substituted residues affecting the site I epitopes did not overlap substituted residues of site II, supporting our earlier conclusion that sites I and II reside in spatially distinct antigenic domains. A computer analysis of the distribution of charged residues and the predicted secondary structural features of wild-type gC revealed that the two antigenic sites reside within the most hydrophilic regions of the molecule and that the antigenic residues are likely to be organized as beta sheets which loop out from the surface of the molecule. Together, these data and our previous studies support the conclusion that the mar mutations identified by sequence analysis very likely occur within or near the epitope structures themselves. Thus, two highly antigenic regions of gC have now been physically and genetically mapped to well-defined domains of the protein molecule.
Annual cost of care for Crohn's disease: a payor perspective

OBJECTIVE:The aim of this study was to estimate the annual cost of care of patients with Crohn's disease according to treatment setting.METHODS:Using a 1994 integrated claims database, patients with a Crohn's-related medical claim (ICD-9 code 555) from 10/01/94 to 09/30/95 were included in this analysis. These patients were stratified into three mutually exclusive disease severity groups: group 1, required hospitalization for Crohn's; group 2, required chronic glucocorticoid or immunosuppressive drug therapy for >6 months; group 3, all remaining patients. Direct charges (based on reimbursement) and utilization of resources were reported for each group.RESULTS:Six-hundred-seven patients were analyzed: 117(19%) in group 1, 31(5%) in group 2, and 459(76%) in group 3. Average age of all patients was 48 years and 43% of these patients were men. Average annual charges for all patients totaled $12,417. Group 1 patients experienced the highest mean charges ($37,135), whereas patients in groups 2 and 3 incurred $10,033 and $6,277. Approximately 25% of patients accounted for 80% of the total charges.CONCLUSIONS:Crohn's disease is associated with high cost. Although a minority of Crohn's patients required hospitalization, they tended to have higher utilization and were responsible for a majority of total expenditures. New therapies have the potential to reduce overall cost of care, if they prevent Crohn's-related hospitalizations.
Hybrid Tracking using Dempster-Shafer Data Fusion in Real-Time Augmented Reality Applications for Man-Made Environments

In this report, we present a real-time hybrid tracking system for augmented reality applications in urban environments. In our framework, the augmented model aligns itself on the building planar surfaces by using several vision based tracking information, such as corner points, vanishing points and homography between images. In addition to the vision based alignment, the method uses the inner sensor data of the mobile phone as a feedback. We estimate the search space of the feature locations for the next frames using the history of previous states with the help of gyroscope and accelerometer data and as well as the vision tracking information. We combine these data by using a probabilistic approach defined by Dempster-Shafer. The different stages of the approach are demonstrated on various examples of building images.
Effects of social media on diffusion of responsibility in crowdfunding

One of the growing industries in today’s world is the crowdfunding industry. Crowdfunding can be considered as a collaborative social media. Since the early stages of its development, crowdfunding has made use of social media as a way of attracting more people to fund projects. Therefore, there have been many studies on the effect of social media on crowdfunding campaigns and how these campaigns can benefit from using features provided by social media websites. One of the unique characteristics of crowdfunding is a trait called “Diffusion of Responsibility”. This happens when there is a decrease in a person’s tendency of helping others in presence of other people. What we want to do in this study is to see how much diffusion of responsibility actually exists and whether it can be affected by the features unique to the social media websites. In this study we are particularly interested in examining the effects of Facebook on the diffusion of responsibility effect observed in crowdfunding. Previous research on the diffusion of responsibility effect shows that potential backers may be demotivated to fund a project when it has reached a high level of funding. There is, however, a lack of research on whether tiestrength between the backers may moderate the diffusion of responsibility effect. To study this, we designed an interface to examine how the level of existing support may interact with the strength of relationships to impact people's attention to a project and their decision to fund. Results will have important implication to campaign strategies in crowdfunding.
Wide-voltage SOI-BiCDMOS technology for high-temperature automotive applications

This paper describes a new wide-voltage SOI-BiCDMOS technology for high-temperature automotive applications. This technology is capable of integrating 35V, 60V, and 80V Nch and Pch LDMOS, 35V BJT, and 6V CMOS devices on a single chip. The devices are completely isolated dielectrically using both deep trench isolation (DTI) and a buried oxide (BOX) layer in a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafer for stable operation at high temperatures up to 175°C. The devices were developed using a 0. 35μm process. In particular, the LDMOS devices have achieved competitive levels of low Ron∗ A and good SOA.
Modulation of cognition-specific cortical activity by gonadal steroids: a positron-emission tomography study in women.

There is considerable evidence from animal studies that gonadal steroid hormones modulate neuronal activity and affect behavior. To study this in humans directly, we used H215O positron-emission tomography to measure regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in young women during three pharmacologically controlled hormonal conditions spanning 4-5 months: ovarian suppression induced by the gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist leuprolide acetate (Lupron), Lupron plus estradiol replacement, and Lupron plus progesterone replacement. Estradiol and progesterone were administered in a double-blind cross-over design. On each occasion positron-emission tomography scans were performed during (i) the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, a neuropsychological test that physiologically activates prefrontal cortex (PFC) and an associated cortical network including inferior parietal lobule and posterior inferolateral temporal gyrus, and (ii) a no-delay matching-to-sample sensorimotor control task. During treatment with Lupron alone (i.e., with virtual absence of gonadal steroid hormones), there was marked attenuation of the typical Wisconsin Card Sorting Test activation pattern even though task performance did not change. Most strikingly, there was no rCBF increase in PFC. When either progesterone or estrogen was added to the Lupron regimen, there was normalization of the rCBF activation pattern with augmentation of the parietal and temporal foci and return of the dorsolateral PFC activation. These data directly demonstrate that the hormonal milieu modulates cognition-related neural activity in humans.
The correlations between alteration of p16 gene and clinicopathological factors and prognosis in squamous cell carcinomas of the buccal mucosa.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate relationships between the alteration of p16 gene and the clinical status and prognosis of the patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the buccal mucosa. METHODS Thirty buccal cancers were included in the analysis. Deletion analysis was performed by PCR. Point mutation analysis was used by PCR-SSCP and direct sequencing. Methylation-specific PCR methods were adopted for the evaluation of p16 methylation. The correlation between alteration of p16 gene and clinicopathological factors buccal cancer was evaluated by Fisher's exact test. Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression were used to investigate the relationship between p16 alteration and survival time. RESULTS The frequency of p16 alteration was 63.3% in buccal carcinomas. P16 deletion was associated significantly with tumor size (P = 0.01). P16 point mutation was associated significantly with differentiation (P = 0.006). P16 methylation was associated significantly with nodes metastasis (P = 0.027). The overall survival rate of 30 buccal carcinomas was 53.3%. The Log-rank test (P = 0.021) and univariate Cox regression analysis (P = 0.030) revealed that p16 methylation was significantly associated with the overall survival rate. Multivariate analysis showed that p16 deletion, p16 mutation, and p16 methylation were not statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS The alterations of p16 gene may play a major role in malignancy and development and metastases of buccal carcinoma and may be an excellent marker of aggressive clinical behavior. P16 methylation has a prognostic value in buccal carcinoma but not an independent prognosis factor. P16 point mutation and p16 deletion have not prognostic significance in buccal carcinoma.
A polymorphism in the tumor necrosis factor-alpha gene promoter region may predispose to a poor prognosis in COPD.

STUDY OBJECTIVES To determine whether the adenine (A)-guanine (G) substitution polymorphism at position - 308 on the tumor necrosis factor-alpha gene confers susceptibility to COPD or to the development of a more severe form of disease. DESIGN A cross-sectional study was undertaken to compare the frequency of the A allele in a group of 106 patients with COPD with that in a control population (n = 99). Patients were followed up prospectively for a period of 2 years. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING Participants included 106 COPD patients recruited from a respiratory outpatient clinic and 99 control subjects recruited from patients admitted for cardiac catheterization. MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS DNA was extracted from venous blood, and each subject was genotyped for the polymorphism by polymerase chain reaction amplification and restriction digestion using Nco1. There was no increased frequency of the A allele in patients compared to control subjects. AA homozygous patients had less reversible airflow obstruction (p<0.05) and a significantly greater mortality (both all-cause and respiratory deaths) on follow-up (p<0.001), despite a shorter cigarette smoking history. CONCLUSIONS This study suggests that homozygosity for this A allele predisposes to more severe airflow obstruction and a worse prognosis in COPD.
CS 5 Pilus Biosynthesis Genes from Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli O 115 : H 40

We have sequenced the entire region of DNA required for the biosynthesis of CS5 pili from enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli O115:H40 downstream of the major subunit gene, designated csfA (for coli surface factor five A). Five more open reading frames (ORFs) (csfB, csfC, csfE, csfF, and csfD) which are transcribed in the same direction as the major subunit and are flanked by a number of insertion sequence regions have been identified. T7 polymerase-mediated overexpression of the cloned csf ORFs confirmed protein sizes based on the DNA sequences that encode them. The expression of only the csf region in E. coli K-12 resulted in the hemagglutination of human erythrocytes and the cell surface expression of CS5 pili, suggesting that the cluster contains all necessary information for CS5 pilus biogenesis and function.
Miniature Loop Heat Pipe With Flat Evaporator for Cooling Computer CPU

This paper presents an experimental investigation on a copper miniature loop heat pipe (mLHP) with a flat disk shaped evaporator, 30mm in diameter and 10-mm thick, designed for thermal control of computer microprocessors. Tests were conducted with water as the heat transfer fluid. The device was capable of transferring a heat load of 70W through a distance up to 150mm using 2-mm diameter transport lines. For a range of power applied to the evaporator, the system demonstrated very reliable startup and was able to achieve steady state without any symptoms of wick dry-out. Unlike cylindrical evaporators, flat evaporators are easy to attach to the heat source without need of any cylinder-to-plane reducer material at the interface and thus offer very low thermal resistance to the heat acquisition process. In the horizontal configuration, under air cooling, the minimum value for the mLHP thermal resistance is 0.17degC/W with the corresponding evaporator thermal resistance of 0.06degC/W. It is concluded from the outcomes of the current study that a mLHP with flat evaporator geometry can be effectively used for the thermal control of electronic equipment including notebooks with limited space and high heat flux chipsets. The results also confirm the superior heat transfer characteristics of the copper-water configuration in mLHPs