Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effects of pregabalin and gabapentin on postoperative pain and opioid consumption after laparoscopic cholecystectomy

Background Gabapentin and pregabalin are antiepileptic drugs that are also used for chronic pain treatment. This study evaluated the effects of pregabalin and gabapentin on postoperative pain in patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Methods A total of 108 candidates for elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy were randomly assigned to gabapentin (n = 36), pregabalin (n = 36), and placebo (n = 36) groups. Patients received 800 mg of gabapentin or 150 mg of pregabalin orally one hour before surgery. Postoperative analgesia was administered by pethidine via patient-controlled analgesia. The amount of opioid consumed, number of nausea events, vomiting, and pain scores at 2, 6, 12, and 24 hours after surgery were recorded. Results The gabapentin and pregabalin groups had significantly lower pain intensity than the placebo group, and pain intensity in the pregabalin group decreased more compared to the gabapentin group. The mean amount of pethidine consumption in the placebo group was significantly higher than in the gabapentin and pregabalin groups. Conclusions A single dose of gabapentin or pregabalin decreased postoperative pain and nausea, as well as vomiting and opioid consumption after laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Moreover, the findings revealed that pregabalin was superior to gabapentin for reducing postoperative pain.
Modulations for Voltage Source Rectification and Voltage Source Inversion Based on General Direct Space Vector Modulation Approach of AC-AC Matrix Converter Theory

This paper proposes two arbitrary zero-placement (discontinuous) PWM strategies for DC-AC three-phase voltage source-inversion and three-phase AC-DC voltage-source rectification respectively. They are based on the general space vector modulation approach derived from matrix converter theory. The two PWM strategies are sharing the same algorithm in calculating space vector duty-cycles. Both the two PWM strategies were verified by simulated implementation in a new converter based on matrix converter theory and z-source inverter concepts for a case study of ISA 42 V PowerNet
Circadian clocks, epigenetics, and cancer

Purpose of review The interplay between circadian rhythm and cancer has been suggested for more than a decade based on the observations that shift work and cancer incidence are linked. Accumulating evidence implicates the circadian clock in cancer survival and proliferation pathways. At the molecular level, multiple control mechanisms have been proposed to link circadian transcription and cell-cycle control to tumorigenesis. Recent findings The circadian gating of the cell cycle and subsequent control of cell proliferation is an area of active investigation. Moreover, the circadian clock is a transcriptional system that is intricately regulated at the epigenetic level. Interestingly, the epigenetic landscape at the level of histone modifications, DNA methylation, and small regulatory RNAs are differentially controlled in cancer cells. This concept raises the possibility that epigenetic control is a common thread linking the clock with cancer, though little scientific evidence is known to date. Summary This review focuses on the link between circadian clock and cancer, and speculates on the possible connections at the epigenetic level that could further link the circadian clock to tumor initiation or progression.
Dynamic interaction of NtMAP65-1a with microtubules in vivo

Plant microtubules are intrinsically more dynamic than those from animals. We know little about the dynamics of the interaction of plant microtubule-associated proteins (MAPs) with microtubules. Here, we have used tobacco and Arabidopsis MAPs with relative molecular mass 65 kDa (NtMAP65-1a and AtMAP65-1), to study their interaction with microtubules in vivo. Using fluorescence recovery after photobleaching we report that the turnover of both NtMAP65-1a and AtMAP65-1 bound to microtubules is four- to fivefold faster than microtubule treadmilling (13 seconds compared with 56 seconds, respectively) and that the replacement of NtMAP65-1a on microtubules is by random association rather than by translocation along microtubules. MAP65 will only bind polymerised microtubules and not its component tubulin dimers. The turnover of NtMAP65-1a and AtMAP65-1 on microtubules is similar in the interphase cortical array, the preprophase band and the phragmoplast, strongly suggesting that their role in these arrays is the same. NtMAP65-1a and AtMAP65-1 are not observed to bind microtubules in the metaphase spindle and their rate of recovery is consistent with their cytoplasmic localisation. In addition, the dramatic reappearance of NtMAP65-1a on microtubules at the spindle midzone in anaphase B suggests that NtMAP65-1a is controlled post-translationally. We conclude that the dynamic properties of these MAPs in vivo taken together with the fact that they have been shown not to effect microtubule polymerisation in vitro, makes them ideally suited to a role in crossbridging microtubules that need to retain spatial organisation in rapidly reorganising microtubule arrays.
Teacher Professional Development to use Tablets in Resource Constrained Schools : A Case Study of Cofimvaba schools , Eastern Cape Province , South Africa

Over a period of three years, 360 teachers at 26 resource constrained schools in Cofimvaba, which lies in the Nciba district of the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, have received training on how to integrate mobile tablets in their classrooms to support teaching and learning. The training modules combined the use of teaching strategies and fun with practical hands-on exercises which can be used in any type of subject for any grade when training teachers. Teachers embarked on a learning path attached to badges to reward their efforts and evidence of how they have applied their training in their classrooms. The purpose of this paper is to share this novel approach to teacher training in a unique context where schools are deprived of resources but still managed to successfully integrate mobile tablets in their classroom practices. These practices have changed the way teachers teach from standing with a textbook and chalk in front of a class sitting in rows, to standing with a tablet and learners are engaged in group work and using the tablets as a resource in a disconnected environment. The success of these training modules lies in the application of an approach of teach with and not to, earn as you learn and not just give technology, respect and humility, flexibility, innovation, creativity and co-creation.
ASDIN Original Investigation: Successful Treatment of the Chronically Thrombosed Dialysis Access Graft: Resuscitation of Dead Grafts

The most common contributing cause of thrombosis of an arteriovenous graft (AVG) in the hemodialysis patient is the presence of venous stenosis. In the face of a recovery of renal function either spontaneously or as a result of renal transplantation, an AVG commonly thromboses. In cases in which the AVG was recently placed, it is unlikely to have had a significant anatomic lesion at the time function was lost. Even though the access that has been left untreated has become a “dead” AVG, it offers an opportunity for “resuscitation. ” Thirteen cases that met the specific criteria of being placed only a short period of time prior to thrombosis (3 weeks to 6 months), thrombosing after a return of renal function and having been left untreated (3 months to 8 years) were attempted over a 12 year period. The technique applied was modified from the one routinely used based on the presumption that very little or no thrombus was present. The effort was met with success in 8 of the 13 patients. After being opened, the AVG appeared to follow the same patency pattern as other AVGs. It appears that attempting restoration of function of an AVG meeting these criteria may be indicated. Limited experience using this approach in AVGs that do not meet these specific criteria has uniformly met with failure.
Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and Exports: A Growth Nexus Revisited

Developing countries in Asia mostly rely on FDI to acquire capital funds and advance techniques of production and business management. After adopting the liberalization policies in 1990? s, the inflow of FDI in Pakistan has increased many folds and likewise the export is also growing continuously. This paper explores the impact of foreign direct investment on Pakistan? s overall exports relation with FDI for the period 1971-2009. The Augmented Dickey Fuller Test (ADF), Dickey Fuller-GLS and Philip Perron tests are being applied to check the stationarity of the variables. The results depict significant association of foreign direct investment with over all exports in the long run. However world? income is insignificantly linked with exports in the short run. The long run results are opposite to that of earlier work (Anwar, 1985). The possible justifications for difference in results are different methodologies used and the difference in time period. Real effective exchange rate, economic growth and relative prices show considerable association with export performance in the long run. The short run behavior show different results. Policy makers of Pakistan may focus on raising exports and apply policy tools through using channel of FDI by raising FDI in the long run. However, in the short run FDI may not be an effective tool.
Determinants of serum copper, zinc and selenium in healthy subjects

Background: We have investigated the association between serum copper, zinc and selenium concentrations, dietary intake, and demographic characteristics, including individual coronary risk factors, in healthy subjects. Methods: Serum copper, zinc and selenium were measured by atomic absorption spectrometry in 189 healthy subjects. Serum glutathione peroxidase and caeruloplasmin were also determined for each subject. A previously validated food frequency questionnaire was used to estimate the dietary trace element intake. Results: Male subjects had significantly lower serum copper (P<0.001) and caeruloplasmin (P<0.001), and higher serum zinc (P<0.05) and zinc:copper ratio (P<0.001) than female subjects. Significant differences were observed in serum copper and caeruloplasmin concentrations (P<0.01) with age. Weak but significant associations between dietary trace elements and their serum concentrations were observed for zinc (r=0.18, P=0.02), copper (r=0.17, P=0.03) and selenium (r=0.19, P=0.02). Obese subjects had significantly lower serum concentrations of zinc (P<0.05). In multifactorial analysis, dietary zinc (P<0.05), serum high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C) (P<0.05), diastolic blood pressure (P<0.05) and age (P=0.05) emerged as major predictors of serum zinc concentrations. The corresponding predictors for serum copper were C-reactive protein (CRP) (P<0.001), serum HDL-C (P<0.001), gender (P=0.01), physical activity levels (P<0.05) and dietary copper (P<0.05). Serum selenium concentrations were predicted by serum total cholesterol (P<0.01), serum CRP concentrations (P<0.05) and dietary selenium (P<0.03). Conclusion: Serum copper, zinc and selenium concentrations are influenced by physiological conditions such as age, diet and gender. Their serum concentrations are also associated with coronary risk factors, including body mass index, levels of physical activity, serum HDL-C and CRP.
Perspectives on HIV/hepatitis C virus co-infection, illicit drug use and mental illness

In the United States, 150 000–300 000 individuals are infected with both HIV-1 and hepatitis C virus (HCV), representing 15–30% of all HIV-infected and 5–10% of all HCV-infected individuals [1,2]. Whereas hepatitis C was once a relatively minor medical problem in HIV/ HCV-co-infected patients, with highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) there has been a marked decline in most opportunistic illnesses, and HCV infection has emerged as an important cause of morbidity and mortality [3–5]. The principal impact of chronic hepatitis C is advanced liver disease, including cirrhosis, end-stage liver disease, hepatocellular carcinoma, and in some patients, death. In regions where HAART is widely available, HCV-related liver disease has emerged as a leading cause of hospitalization and death [4,6]. Consequently, national and international guidelines recommend universal screening of all HIV-infected patients for chronic hepatitis C, and consideration of treatment with pegylated IFN-a and ribavirin [7,8]. However, the practical implementation of such recommendations in HIV-infected individuals is complicated by significant medical, psychiatric and social conditions, which confound efforts to treat hepatitis C and HIV as well as efforts to study the independent impact of HCV infection on individuals infected with HIV. The objective of this overview is to discuss the complex interrelationship of HIV/HCV co-infection, illicit drug use, and mental illness, and its impact on the delivery of medical care for both infections.
Dimmable AC LED Driver With Efficiency Improved Based on Switched LED Module

In this paper, one AC light-emitting diode (LED) driver with high power factor (PF) and low total harmonic distortion (THD) is adopted, which is added with the proposed switched LED module and is controlled based on the field-programmable gate array (FPGA). By doing so, the efficiency of such an AC LED driver can be improved significantly. This switched LED module is constructed by several LED strings, which have individual series-connected MOSFET switches. As the switch of the switched LED module is turned on, the corresponding LED string is short-circuited and hence is not conducted, whereas as the switch of the switched LED module is turned off, the corresponding LED string is conducted due to the redundant input voltage across this LED string. Therefore, the redundant input voltage across between the collector and emitter of the BJT current source can be reduced, that is, the unwanted power dissipation in the BJT current source can be decreased, so as to upgrade the efficiency of the overall system.
Analysis of Customer Satisfaction in a Selected Bank: Signal-To-Noise Ratio Approach

This paper presents an investigation about the level of customer satisfaction at the selected bank in Indonesia on basis five dimensions of service quality. They are reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy, and tangible. It is noteworthy for banks to provide the high quality of service but a few of a certain bank experiencing matters on service performance which is more and more declining. Thus, some improvements should be done on each attribute that has not achieved a quality target. Taguchi Signal-to-Noise Ratio approach is applied to assess service quality performance referring to the Ordered Categorical Data obtained from the paper-based survey with distributing questionnaire containing 21 attributes. The results of this study show that there are some attributes of dimensions respectively not satisfying the quality standard of the bank. They are Rel3 attribute: customer expectationbased service) of reliability dimension, Res1: understanding needs and wants of the customers of responsiveness dimension, A1 attribute: provide a clear explanation of bank’s product to customer of assurance dimension, E1 attribute: polite and friendly staff of empathy dimension, and T1 attribute: modern looking equipment of tangible dimension. 
A comprehensive approach to sexual violence prevention.

Sexual violence is a widespread problem that is associated with negative health outcomes throughout life.1 Recent national data reveal that, among women reporting a history of rape, 40% were first raped before 18 years of age and 38% between 18 and 24 years of age.1 The college years may be a particularly vulnerable time for women, given the increase in partying and alcohol use. One study showed that 20% of undergraduate women were victims of sexual violence since beginning college.2 Nevertheless, sexual violence is a preventable public health problem. In this issue of the Journal, Senn et al.3 report .
On Downlink Resource Allocation for SWIPT in Small Cells in a Two-Tier HetNet

We study the downlink resource allocation problem for simultaneous wireless information and power transfer (SWIPT) in small cells underlaying a macrocell in a two-tier heterogeneous network. For SWIPT, we consider both time-switching and power-splitting approaches. We determine downlink transmit power of small cell base stations along with time-switching/power-splitting variables for SWIPT to jointly optimize energy harvesting rate and achievable throughput of small cell users while ensuring minimum throughput of macrocell user. In the time-switching approach, the resource allocation problem is formulated as a mixed-integer non-linear programming (MINLP) problem. The formulated MINLP problem is solved by relaxing the binary integer constraint and then identifying the condition at which the obtained solution satisfies that constraint. In both the time-switching and power-splitting approaches, in the presence of non-negligible co-tier interference, the formulated problem is solved sub-optimally by iteratively maximizing the minorant of the non-convex objective function. A special case with negligible co-tier interference is considered in the time-switching approach and the optimal solution is obtained by using convex optimization techniques. Numerical results demonstrate significant gain in energy harvesting rate when macrocell users have flexible interference tolerance levels in time-switching approach, highlight the improvement in energy harvesting rate in the presence of co-tier interference signal, and reveal interesting trade-off in achievable throughput and energy harvesting rate.
Predicting attrition for women at West Point : is it a function of adopting the male dominant culture?

Predicting attrition 2 This study examined 40 selected items from the Student Information Form that had been identified as representing cultural differences between men and women at the United States Military Academy. A principal components analysis of the data collected from 3005 male and 314 female cadets yielded 7 factors for men and 6 factors for women suitable for interpretation. As hypothesized, men and women were found to have similar cultual values, attitudes and experiences based on their similar factor structures. Next, item responses from 58 women attriters were compared to responses from the nonattriters. Using all the factors identified for the women, a discriminant function analysis to predict attrition resulted in the correct classification of 70% of the women. This exploratory approach is unique in that it is an attempt to predict and understand attrition of women from West Point through comparison to a norm of success based on women. Recommendations are made to focus future research on experiences and attitudes towards sexual harrassment at West Point along with measures of cultural ideation to better understand the dynamics which
Neural Cell Adhesion Molecule-associated Polysialic Acid Inhibits NR2B-containing N-Methyl-d-aspartate Receptors and Prevents Glutamate-induced Cell Death*

The neural cell adhesion molecule (NCAM) and its associated glycan polysialic acid play important roles in the development of thenervoussystemandN-methyl-d-aspartate(NMDA)receptor-dependent synaptic plasticity in the adult. Here, we investigated the influence of polysialic acid on NMDA receptor activity. We found that glutamate-elicited NMDA receptor currents in cultured hippocampal neurons were reduced by ≈30% with the application of polysialic acid or polysialylated NCAM but not by the sialic acid monomer, chondroitin sulfate, or non-polysialylated NCAM. Polysialic acid inhibited NMDA receptor currents elicited by 3 μm glutamate but not by 30 μm glutamate, suggesting that polysialic acid acts as a competitive antagonist, possibly at the glutamate binding site. The polysialic acid induced effects were mimicked and fully occluded by the NR2B subunit specific antagonist, ifenprodil. Recordings from single synaptosomal NMDA receptors reconstituted in lipid bilayers revealed that polysialic acid reduced open probability but not the conductance of NR2B-containing NMDA receptors in a polysialic acid and glutamate concentration-dependent manner. The activity of single NR2B-lacking synaptosomal NMDA receptors was not affected by polysialic acid. Application of polysialic acid to hippocampal cultures reduced excitotoxic cell death induced by low micromolar concentration of glutamate via activation of NR2B-containing NMDA receptors, whereas enzymatic removal of polysialic acid resulted in increased cell death that occluded glutamate-induced excitotoxicity. These observations indicate that the cell adhesion molecule-associated glycan polysialic acid is able to prevent excitotoxicity via inhibition of NR2B subunit-containing NMDA receptors.
In vivo effect of brain‐derived neurotrophic factor on the survival of developing dorsal root ganglion cells.

Implantation of silastic membranes between neural tube and somites at somitic levels 20‐24 in 30‐somite‐stage chick embryos results in separation of early migrated neural crest cells of the dorsal root ganglion (DRG) anlage from the neural tube and their death within a few hours [Kalcheim and Le Douarin, (1986) Dev. Biol., 116, 451‐460]. The in vivo effects of brain‐derived neutrotrophic factor (BNDF) on survival of HNK‐1 immunoreactive DRG cells separated from the tube were examined by implantation of laminin‐treated silastic membranes (controls) or BDNF/laminin‐treated membranes. In the presence of BDNF/laminin‐treated membranes, 20/25 grafted embryos fixed 10 h after implantation, contained many rescued cells on the operated side. In contrast, only a few rescued cells on the operated side. In contrast, only a few rescued cells were observed in sections on the operated in 2/11 embryos implanted with laminin‐treated silastic membranes, and no rescued cells at all could be detected in embryos implanted with NGF/laminin‐treated (seven embryos) or untreated silastic membranes (12 embryos). The data presented support the hypothesis that early survival and differentiation of neural crest‐derived sensory cells depend on central nervous system‐derived factor(s). Moreover, this is the first evidence for the in vivo activity of BDNF on survival of developing DRG cells.