Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The calcium‐channel blocker controversy: historical perspective and important lessons for future pharmacotherapies. An international society of pharmacoepidemiology ‘hot topic’

Reports of adverse events in association with calcium‐channel blockers led to heated controversy over the safety and efficacy of these drugs, as well as to panic among the general public. At the 1998 International Conference of Pharmacoepidemiology, four experts were asked to summarize, and draw lessons from, the controversy's development. We conducted our own review in order to provide a broader historical perspective on the subject and to present the discussants' views within the framework of additional published opinions. Several years after the controversy's onset, many uncertainties still remain about the merits of CCBs. Yet the media scare generated by a few studies might have been prevented had investigators placed greater emphasis, particularly in their reports to the media, on the limitations of their observational and meta‐analytic designs. These studies, however, did call attention to the persistent use of CCBs for off‐label indications, and the imperative to improve clinician prescribing practices. Moreover, they showed the pitfalls of reliance on surrogate endpoints, stressing the need for data on major clinical outcomes—with funding a responsibility of the pharmaceutical industry—before approving drugs destined for widespread, long‐term use. Attention to these lessons will do us well as we evaluate emerging pharmacotherapies. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Cyanoacrylate microbial sealants for skin preparation prior to surgery.

BACKGROUND Surgical site infections (i.e. incisions that become infected) are a continuing concern in health care. Microbial sealant is a liquid that can be applied to the skin immediately before surgery and is thought to help reduce the incidence of surgical site infections (SSIs) by sealing in the skin flora, thus preventing contamination and infection of the surgical site. OBJECTIVES To assess the effects of the preoperative application of microbial sealants (compared with no microbial sealant) on rates of SSI in people undergoing clean surgery. SEARCH METHODS For this first update we searched the following electronic databases in July 2013: the Cochrane Wounds Group Specialised Register, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), Ovid MEDLINE, Ovid MEDLINE - In-Process & Other Non-Indexed Citations, Ovid EMBASE and EBSCO CINAHL. SELECTION CRITERIA Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) were eligible for inclusion if they involved people undergoing clean surgery (i.e. surgery that does not involve the breathing system, gut, genital or urinary tract or any part of the body with an existing infection) in an operating theatre and compared the use of preoperative microbial sealants with no microbial sealant. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS All review authors independently extracted data on the characteristics, risk of bias and outcomes of the eligible trials. MAIN RESULTS Three trials (524 participants undergoing clean surgery) met the inclusion criteria. The trials all compared cyanoacrylate microbial sealant with no sealant, and, when pooled, we found there were fewer SSIs with the use of microbial sealant (10/261 participants) than with the control comparison (29/274 participants). The difference between the two groups was statistically significant (risk ratio (RR) 0.36, 95% CI 0.18 to 0.72) but given the number of participants and quality of the studies, they should be treated with caution. There were some adverse events in one study, but these were not judged to be a result of the use of microbial sealant. AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS In this first update there is still insufficient evidence available to determine whether the use of microbial sealants reduces the risk of surgical site infection or not. Further rigorous, adequately-powered RCTs are required to investigate this properly.
Receiver design for multicarrier CDMA using frequency-domain oversampling

Based on the frequency-domain oversampling and minimum mean-square error (MMSE) principles, we propose three linear single-user detectors for downlink multicarrier codedivision multiple-access (MC-CDMA) systems. We begin with an optimal linear MMSE detector, which is computationally demanding. To reduce the complexity, a two-stage MMSE detector and a diagonal one-stage MMSE detector are developed subsequently. Simulation results show that the proposed detectors can efficiently suppress the multiple access interference (MAI) caused by frequency-selective fading, near-far effect, frequency offset, and nonlinear power amplification.
Inhibitory effects of theophylline, terbutaline, and hydrocortisone on leukotriene B4 and C4 generation by human leukocytes in vitro

Leukotriene B4 (LTB4) and leukotriene C4 (LTC4) are considered to be important mediators in the pathophysiology of asthma. Theophylline, terbutaline, and hydrocortisone are drugs commonly used in the treatment of asthma. In the present study we have investigated the in vitro inhibitory effects of theophylline, terbutaline, and hydrocortisone on LTB4 and LTC4 generation from human leukocytes. After preincubation in the presence of these drugs, the cells were stimulated with the calcium ionophore A 23187 and the supernatants were analyzed for their LTB, and LTC, content using reverse‐phase high‐performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Total leukotriene (LT) production (the combined amounts of LTB4 and LTC4) was dose‐dependently inhibited by pretreatment with theophylline, terbutaline or hydrocortisone. Therapeutic levels of hydrocortisone (5 × 10−6 M) plus theophylline (5 × 10−5 M) inhibited LTB4 and LTC4 production in an additive way, as did the combination of hydrocortisone plus terbutaline (5 × 10−8 M). A statistically significant effect of diminished LTB, generation was obtained after preincubation with therapeutic levels of theophylline plus terbutaline, but no such effect was seen for LTC4 levels. The in vitro inhibitory effects on LTB4 and LTC4 generation from human leukocytes by theophylline, terbutaline, and hydrocortisone, as well as the additive effect of hydrocortisone plus theophylline or terbutaline, add to our understanding of the therapeutic effects of these drugs in the treatment of bronchopulmonary obstruction.Pediatr Pulmonol. 1994;18:129–134. © 1994 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Plant Retromer, Localized to the Prevacuolar Compartment and Microvesicles in Arabidopsis, May Interact with Vacuolar Sorting Receptors[W]

Receptors for acid hydrolases destined for the lytic compartment in yeast and mammalian cells are retrieved from intermediate, endosomal organelles with the help of a pentameric protein complex called the retromer. We cloned the Arabidopsis thaliana homologs of the three yeast proteins (Vps35, Vps29, and Vps26) constituting the larger subunit of retromer and prepared antisera against them. With these antibodies, we demonstrated the presence of a retromer-like protein complex in salt extracts prepared from Arabidopsis microsomes. This complex is associated with membranes that coequilibrate with prevacuolar compartment markers and with high-density sedimenting membranes. Immunogold negative staining identified these membranes as 90-nm-diameter coated microvesicles. Confocal laser scanning immunofluorescence studies performed on tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) BY-2 cells revealed high degrees of colabeling between all three retromer antisera and the prevacuolar compartment (PVC) markers PEP12 and vacuolar sorting receptor VSRAt-1. The presence of plant retromer at the surface of multivesicular bodies was also demonstrated by immunogold labeling of sections obtained from high-pressure frozen/freeze-substituted specimens. Treatment of BY-2 cells with wortmannin led to swelling of the PVC and a separation of the VPS35 and VSR signals. Preliminary data suggesting that retromer interacts with the cytosolic domain of a VSR were obtained by immunoprecipitation experiments performed on detergent-solubilized microsomes with Vps35 antibodies.
Licensing of DNA replication by a multi‐protein complex of MCM/P1 proteins in Xenopus eggs

In eukaryotes, chromosomal DNA is licensed for a single round of replication in each cell cycle. Xenopus MCM3 protein has been implicated in the licensing of replication in egg extract. We have cloned cDNAs encoding five immunologically distinct proteins associated with Xenopus MCM3 as members of the MCM/P1 family. Six Xenopus MCM proteins formed a physical complex in the egg extract, bound to unreplicated chromatin before the formation of nuclei, and apparently displaced from replicated chromatin. The requirement of six XMCM proteins for the replication activity of the egg extract before nuclear formation suggests that their re‐association with replicated chromatin at the end of the mitotic cell cycle is a key step for the licensing of replication.
A low cost reconfigurable sensor network for coastal monitoring

Sensor networks have experienced a fast development and extended their fields of application since their appearance for military uses. The monitoring of physical parameters in natural habitats is a typical application for assessing the risks of worsening the ecosystem. Among natural environments with scientific interest, there are the coastlines in front of cities whose industrial activities impact on them, such as San Jorge Gulf, Chubut, Argentina. For that, a low cost wireless sensor network is being developed in order to deploy nodes over the coastline for measuring physical parameters, providing a large coverage area of study. In this paper the node architecture based on reconfigurable mixed signals array called PSoC® (Programmable System on Chip) from Cypress® is presented. The use of these devices allow, on the one hand, to easily interface with sensors and communication devices by using a single chip and, on the other hand, to reprogram the hardware while the system is running allowing to perform different functions or being able to improve their performance in a remote way.
Reliability of the modified Foot Posture Index.

BACKGROUND The Foot Posture Index (FPI) has been advocated as a simple and convenient tool to assess static foot posture in a clinical setting. Although published studies have indicated that the FPI has good intrarater reliability and moderate interrater reliability, these studies were conducted on a previous version of the tool that used eight criteria to score a patient's foot posture. The revised tool has only six criteria (FPI-6). The purpose, therefore, of this study was to investigate the intrarater and interrater reliability of the revised version of the FPI. METHODS Three different raters used the FPI-6 to twice evaluate 92 feet from 46 individuals. RESULTS Intrarater reliability was high but interrater reliability was only moderate. In addition, using the raw score generated by the FPI-6 to classify feet into one of five categories did not improve agreement between raters. CONCLUSIONS The FPI-6 should be used with extreme caution and may actually have limited value, especially from a research perspective.
311 nm UVB phototherapy—an effective treatment for psoriasis

Fifty two psoriatic patients were treated with a new experimental fluorescent lamp (Philips TL‐01) emitting a narrow band at 311 ± 2 nm (UVB) which had the advantage of a reduction in burning and carcinogenic wavelengths when compared with conventional broad band UVB therapy. Results of the ‘311’ treated group when compared with broad band UVB therapy revealed a similar percentage of patients achieving a satisfactory response with fewer burning episodes and an increase in duration of remission.
Results of the third wave of the survey on wage-setting in Belgium

The article presents the main results for Belgium of the 2014 survey on firms’ wage- and price-setting practices in the period 2010-2013, within the framework of the Wage Dynamics Network (WDN),an ESC B research project network. The results are generally in line with known characteristics of the labour market in Belgium and provide interesting insight into firms’ perception of that market and on their reactions during the crisis. Firms indicated that customers’ ability to pay and the level of demand had the strongest negative effect on their activity in the 2010-2013 period. Although credit constraint was not mentioned as a preponderant source of negative effects, it is still a significant factor, especially for some smaller firms. Even though the survey reveals relatively wide autonomy in price-setting, it is in practice limited by the strong effect of competition. Firms therefore have to use various adjustment channels. The survey confirms that the use of temporary lay-offs was also an important tool that explained the relative resilience of employment in Belgium. Moreover, firms highlight high taxes and high wages as major obstacles to hiring, together with uncertainties about economic conditions. A large proportion of firms – though not the majority – seem to share the perception that the labour market has become less flexible, which is intriguing as it cannot be directly related to labour market reform or institutional changes. In contrast to most other European countries, a specific feature of wage formation in Belgium is that, notwithstanding the wage moderation policy, there have been almost no wage cuts, and this is confirmed by the survey.
NPHS2 Mutations: A Closer Look to Latin American Countries

Nephrotic syndrome is one of the most common kidney pathologies in childhood, being characterized by proteinuria, edema, and hypoalbuminemia. In clinical practice, it is divided into two categories based on the response to steroid therapy: steroid-sensitive and steroid resistant. Inherited impairments of proteins located in the glomerular filtration barrier have been identified as important causes of nephrotic syndrome, with one of these being podocin, coded by NPHS2 gene. NPHS2 mutations are the most frequent genetic cause of steroid resistant nephrotic syndrome. The aim of this review is to update the list of NPHS2 mutations reported between June 2013 and February 2017, with a closer look to mutations occurring in Latin American countries.
Echinocandin Susceptibility Testing of Candida spp. Using EUCAST EDef 7.1 and CLSI M27-A3 Standard Procedures: Analysis of the Influence of Bovine Serum Albumin Supplementation, Storage Time, and Drug Lots

ABSTRACT The MICs of echinocandins against Candida isolates with fks mutations are higher than those for wild-type (WT) isolates. However, the MIC ranges for susceptible and mutant populations overlap or are poorly separated. It was recently reported that a greater separation could be achieved in the presence of serum. To more fully explore this possibility, we compared the performances of the reference microdilution methods by using standard and bovine serum albumin (BSA)-supplemented growth medium. Anidulafungin, caspofungin, and micafungin MICs were determined according to EUCAST and CLSI methods and with 50% BSA in the medium for 93 clinical isolates, including Candida albicans (20/10 [number of isolates/number of mutants]), C. glabrata (19/10), C. dubliniensis (2/1), C. krusei (16/3), C. parapsilosis (19), and C. tropicalis (19/4) isolates. Stability of the plates was tested after storage at −80°C for 2 and 6 months, and the performance of two different lots of caspofungin was investigated. The addition of BSA to the medium resulted in higher MICs (1 to 9 2-fold dilution steps) for all isolates and compounds. The increases were greatest for anidulafungin and micafungin and, among WT isolates, for C. parapsilosis. The number of very major errors (VMEs) was reduced (24% [20/84 isolates] versus ≤7% [6/84 isolates]) using BSA-supplemented EUCAST medium but not using BSA-supplemented CLSI medium (6% versus 9%). MIC results were unchanged after 6 months of storage of test plates. The two lots of caspofungin yielded identical results. Addition of BSA to the EUCAST medium increases the ability to differentiate between WT isolates and isolates harboring resistance mutations.
Low-latency smart grid asset monitoring for load control of energy-efficient buildings

In the smart grid, demand-side is tightly coupled with the condition of the smart grid assets such as the transformers in a substation, capacitor banks, relays, etc. A fault occurring in any of those assets or an incident causing power quality degradation within a distribution system may trigger load control actions in energy-efficient buildings. In case of such critical conditions, load control actions need to be activated in a timely manner. Therefore, the status of the smart grid assets needs to be monitored in near real-time. Recently, Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) have emerged as promising monitoring tools in many fields including military, health and critical infrastructures. However, transmitting delay-critical data in the smart grid via WSNs needs data prioritization and delay-responsiveness. In this paper, we evaluate the performance of two schemes, namely the delay-responsive, cross layer (DRX) data transmission scheme, and the fair and delay-aware cross layer (FDRX) data transmission scheme in various smart grid environments. We consider an outdoor substation, an underground transformer vault and an indoor power room. We show that DRX has lower end-to-end delay than FDRX. On the other hand, delivery ratio of both DRX and FDRX degrades in the outdoor substation when compared to the underground transformer vault. Furthermore, DRX and FDRX are able to satisfy the tight delay requirements of the smart grid.
Early Full Range of Shoulder and Elbow Motion is Possible After Minimally Invasive Plate Osteosynthesis for Humeral Shaft Fractures

Objectives: To measure the speed of full shoulder and elbow range of motion recovery following minimally invasive plate osteosynthesis (MIPO) for humeral shaft fractures. Setting: University Hospital. Patients: From March 2005 to July 2007, 14 consecutive patients with closed humeral shaft fractures underwent surgery by a single surgeon. Intervention: The MIPO technique involved proximal delto-bicipital incision and distal brachialis-splitting incision. A narrow locking 4.5/5.0-mm compression plate was applied percutaneously on the anterior surface of the humerus. Main Outcome Measurements: The intervals between operation date and the day when range of motion recovered to normal in the shoulder and elbow joint. Results: Median time to normal motion recovery was 19 days in the shoulder, and 60 days in the elbow. Conclusions: MIPO is a promising option for humeral shaft fractures because of the early recovery of motion in adjacent joints. Elbow function requires longer recovery time than the shoulder, and this may be due to the distal approach.
Rat prefrontal response and prestimulation local field potential power in vivo

To determine whether spontaneous local field potential (LFP) activities in the rat medial prefrontal cortex influence the responses evoked by hippocampal stimulation, we investigated the relationship between the evoked responses and the LFP powers immediately before the stimulation using anesthetized rats. We demonstrated that the degrees of evoked response showed significant inverse correlations with the prefrontal LFP powers in a specific frequency band (including the &ggr; band) immediately before the stimulation. The results indicate that the specific frequency band activities in the prefrontal LFPs may be involved in prefrontal responsiveness. Spontaneous LFP activities may have a role in information processing in the hippocampus–prefrontal cortex pathway.
Effect of in vitro incubation on spontaneous acrosome reaction in fresh and cryopreserved human spermatozoa.

OBJECTIVES Capacitation and acrosome reaction are prerequisites for fertilization. However, in vitro capacitation is not necessary for an agonist-induced acrosome reaction. We studied whether in vitro capacitation is important in spontaneous acrosome reaction and analyzed how capacitation before cryopreservation influences the acrosomal status of thawed spermatozoa. METHODS Semen specimens from normal donors (n = 15) were processed by the swim-up technique and divided into two aliquots. One aliquot was capacitated (capacitation induced) for three hours by incubation in a modified-BWW medium with 3% HSA at 37 degrees C under 5% carbon dioxide. The other aliquot did not receive any treatment. Both aliquots were analyzed by CASA to assess the capacitation status of the spermatozoa and then cryopreserved. Spontaneous acrosome reaction was assessed by FITC-PNA lectin before and after cryopreservation. Sperm viability was measured using Hoechst-33258 stain. RESULTS Before freezing, the frequency of spontaneous acrosome reaction was higher in the capacitation-induced sperm preparation (median, 20.5% [interquartile range, 17.2-37.8]) than in swim-up-induced specimens (median, 10.6% [range, 4.8-23.2]; P <.001). The percentage of viable cells showing acrosome reaction increased after cryopreservation in both swim-up-induced specimens (median, 241.4% [interquartile range, 37.1-678.6]; P <.001) and capacitation-induced specimens (median, 48.2% [range, 6.1-63.3]; P = 0.002). Although this increase was higher in the swim-up-induced specimens (P = 0.002), frequency of postthaw spontaneous acrosome reaction was similar in both groups (P = 0.18). CONCLUSIONS We conclude that sperm capacitation significantly optimizes the acrosome reaction. However, a small proportion of normal spermatozoa do not require capacitation to undergo spontaneous acrosome reaction in vitro. After cryopreservation, the percentage of spermatozoa that had intact acrosomes was similar in both groups, despite the fact that one aliquot underwent prefreeze capacitation. These findings suggest that the acrosome reaction may involve complex mechanism(s) rather than a physiological change induced by capacitation.
Quantitative evaluation of the axonal degeneration of central motor neurons in chronic cerebral stroke with diffusion tensor imaging

Background Conventional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can only show the degeneration-induced morphological changes but fail to quantitatively reveal the degree and extent of the axonal damage of nerve fibers. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) has the ability to detect the diffusion of water molecules and thus suitable to the study of axonal degeneration of central motor neurons. Purpose To illustrate and quantitatively evaluate the axonal degeneration of central motor neurons in patients with chronic cerebral stroke. Material and Methods DTI and conventional MRI were carried out with 10 normal control subjects and 25 patients who suffered from chronic cerebral stroke in the region supplied by middle cerebral artery and had varying degrees of limb movement disorders (the mean time of onset was 2.5 months), to measure the fractional anisotropy (FA), volume ratio (VR), apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC), tensor eigenvalues (λ1, λ2, and λ3), and signal intensity (SI) on T2-weighted images, of the central motor fibers (pyramidal tract) in the plane of cerebral peduncle. Results from the ipsilateral side were compared with those from the contralateral side in the same patient and with those from normal control. Results The axonal degeneration of central motor neurons manifests in DTI as the decline of FA of the pyramidal tract and the reduction and distortion of the high signal area. While all the FA, VR, ADC, and λ1 in the ipsilateral side reduce on DTI, λ3 increases; the T2-weighted signals exhibit no significant differences among groups. Conclusion The changes and diffusions of water molecule associated with the axonal degeneration of central motor neurons after chronic cerebral stroke can be detected by DTI, which can directly quantitatively reflect the degree and extent of axonal degeneration of central motor neurons and can compensate the shortcomings of conventional MRI and diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI).