Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Induced sputum or gastric lavage for community-based diagnosis of childhood pulmonary tuberculosis?

Objectives: To compare the diagnostic yield of Mycobacterium tuberculosis from induced sputum (IS) and gastric lavage (GL) among children in a community setting. Methods: Specimen-collection methods for bacteriological confirmation of pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) were compared during a tuberculosis vaccine trial near Cape Town, South Africa (2001–2006). Children with a tuberculosis contact or compatible symptoms were investigated for suspected PTB. Diagnostic yields from 764 paired IS and GL specimens were compared in 191 culture-confirmed cases. Measurements and main results: The crude yield of M tuberculosis was 10.4%, n = 108 by IS (5.8%) and n = 127 by GL (6.8%), from a total of 194 cases, of which three had incomplete IS/GL specimen pairs. Agreement between IS and GL was poor (κ = 0.31). The comparative yield of a single IS sample (38%) was equivalent to a single GL sample (42%), with a difference in yield of −4% (95% CI −15% to +7%). The combined yield of same-day IS and GL specimens (67%) was equivalent to two consecutive GL specimens (66%), with a difference in yield of 1% (95% CI −9% to 11%), but significantly greater than two consecutive IS specimens (55%), with a difference in yield of 12% (95% CI 2% to 21%). The adjusted odds of a M tuberculosis culture were increased by a positive tuberculin skin test or chest radiograph compatible with PTB. Conclusions: In this community setting, the diagnostic yield of a single IS sample was equivalent to that of a single GL sample. The optimal diagnostic yield may be obtained from paired IS and GL specimens taken on a single day or two GL specimens taken on consecutive days.
Abstract 238: miR-222 is Necessary for Exercise-induced Cardiac Growth and Protects Against Pathological Cardiac Remodeling

Exercise induces cardiac growth, protects against adverse remodeling, and may also induce a regenerative response. Since microRNAs (miRNA) play important roles in cardiovascular disease, we investigated their role in the cardiac exercise response. We used the TaqMan rodent miRNA array to profile cardiac miRNA expressed at three weeks in two exercise models (swimming, running) compared to sedentary controls. Sixteen concordantly regulated miRNAs were identified and validated in both models, and examined for functional effects in neonatal rat ventricular cardiomyocytes (CMs). miR-222 was upregulated ~two-fold in both models and increased CM size (22%, p To examine miR-222’s role in vivo, LNA-antimiR-222 was injected via tail vein or subcutaneously and shown to reduce cardiac miR-222 levels to 1.5% (p Conclusion: Cardiac miR-222 is upregulated by exercise, necessary for exercise-induced cardiac growth, and protects against pathological cardiac remodeling after IRI.
Nursing workload in UK tertiary neonatal units

Background: Neonatal intensive care requires adequate numbers of trained neonatal nurses to provide safe, effective care, but existing research into the relationship between nurse numbers and the care needs of babies is over 10 years old. Since then, the preterm population and treatment practices have changed considerably. Aims: To validate the dependency categories of the British Association of Perinatal Medicine (BAPM, 2001) and to revalidate the Northern Region categories (NR, 1993) in relation to contemporary nursing workload. Setting: Three tertiary neonatal intensive care services in England. Methods: Nursing activity around each baby was captured every 10 min by direct observations by trained observers. Time spent on each nursing activity was related to the baby’s dependency category and the nurse’s grade. Results: Both scales detected differences between categories. Discrimination between individual categories was improved when nasal continuous positive airway pressure (nCPAP) was distinguished from ventilation and combined with BAPM2/NRA. On this revised four-point scale, babies in BAPM1/NRA occupied nursing time for a median of 56 min per hour (IQR 48–70), those on nCPAP or in BAPM2/NRB for 36 min, (27–42), those in BAPM3/NRC for 20–22 min (15–33) and those in BAPM4/NRD for 31–32 min (24–36). The NR scale was easier to apply and had greater interobserver agreement (98.5%) than the BAPM scale (93%). All categories attracted more time compared to 1993. Conclusions: Both scales predict average nursing workload. A revised categorisation which separates nCPAP from ventilation is more robust and practical. Nursing time attracted in all categories has increased since 1993.
Transfection of p27Kip1 Threonine Residue 187 Mutant Type Gene, Which Is Not Influenced by Ubiquitin-Mediated Degradation, Induces Cell Cycle Arrest in Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma Cells

Objective: It is well known that reduction of the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p27Kip1 protein correlates with the malignant behavior of various cancers including oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). The loss of p27Kip1 protein is suggested to be due to the enhancement of its posttranslational degradation. In the present study, to evaluate the effects of p27Kip1 transfection on the cell cycle, we transfected OSCC cell lines with a high activity of p27Kip1 degradation with p27Kip1 threonine 187-to-alanine (T187A) mutant gene, which is not influenced by ubiquitin-mediated degradation, as well as with wild type gene. Methods: We transfected p27Kip1 T187A mutant and wild type gene into OSCC cell lines (HSC2 and HSC3) by using an ecdysone-inducible gene expression system. Results: After treatment with ponasterone A, we could find an induction of both p27Kip1 wild type and T187A mutant protein. Both wild type and T187A mutant protein induced by 5 µM ponasterone A inhibited cell growth and increased cell number at the G1 phase. After treatment with 1 µM ponasterone A, ectopic p27Kip1 protein was degraded in wild type clones, but not in T187A mutant clones. Moreover, transfection of the T187A mutant gene was more effective in inhibiting cell growth even by induction of a small amount of protein. Conclusion: We suggest that the transfection of the p27Kip1 T187A mutant gene can be a modality of cancer gene therapy for OSCC.
Prenatal benzoate treatment in urea cycle defects

Objective: In patients with severe urea cycle defects (UCD) metabolic decompensation with hyperammonaemia typically occurs during the first days of life resulting in severe neurological damage or death. Benzoate can eliminate nitrogen independent of the urea cycle. Usually, benzoate is started soon after birth, but prenatal administration might improve metabolic stability. Design: Two fetuses with a prenatal diagnosis of UCD (female: citrullinaemia; male: ornithine transcarbamylase deficiency) were loaded with benzoate prenatally via the placenta by infusing their mothers with benzoate. Benzoate concentrations were measured in umbilical cord blood and the blood of the mothers and their newborns. Results: Therapeutic concentrations of benzoate were found in umbilical cord blood and in the children’s blood. Thus, benzoate transfer across the placenta was demonstrated. Plasma ammonia and glutamine levels in the postnatal period were within the normal range. Conclusions: Benzoate infusion of the mother shortly before birth is safe and results in therapeutic levels of benzoate in umbilical cord blood.
Faster-than-at-speed execution of functional programs: An experimental analysis

Burn-In (BI) test is usually applied in manufacturing process to screen out chip early life failures, especially for safety critical applications. Unfortunately, this test method has elevated costs for companies. In recent days, Faster-than-at-Speed-Test (FAST) has become a useful technique to discover small delay defects. At the same time, overclocking methods to enhance system performances have been studied, which focus on temperature management to preserve system functionalities. In this paper, a FAST technique is approached with the aim of intentionally provoking a thermal overheating in the microprocessor by mean of the execution of functional test programs, partly regardless of system behavior preservation. The goal is to introduce an internal stress stronger than current procedures used during BI in order to speed up early detection of latent faults. The method illustrates how to avoid blocking configurations due to timing constraints violation and leads to a significant increase of the switching activity. Experimental results on a MIPS architecture show that, by using the described technique, the processor is not falling into an unpredictable state even at frequencies up to about 20 times higher than the nominal one and the switching activity is increasing up to 300% per nanoseconds.
Tumour necrosis factor (−308A) polymorphism in very preterm infants with bronchopulmonary dysplasia: a meta-analysis

Background: Excessive release of tumour necrosis factor (TNF) may contribute to the pathogenesis of bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) in very preterm infants. It has been proposed that the risk of developing BPD may be associated with host genetic factors that regulate TNF production. The most commonly studied variant is the guanine to adenine transition at position −308 nucleotides relative to the transcription start site (TNF −308A). However, studies that have examined the association between TNF (−308A) and BPD have reported conflicting findings and have been generally underpowered to exclude plausible genotypic risks. Aim: To systematically review evidence for the association of TNF (−308A) with BPD. Methods: Systematic review and meta-analysis of genetic association studies. Results: Six cohort studies in which a total of 804 preterm infants participated were identified. The studies were generally of fair methodological quality. None of the individual studies or a fixed-effects meta-analysis of the six studies found a significant association of TNF (−308A) genotype with the development of BPD: pooled relative risk 1.03 (95% CI 0.85 to 1.25). Conclusions: These data suggest that the TNF (−308A) polymorphism is not strongly associated with the risk of developing BPD in very preterm infants. The 95% confidence interval is consistent with an association no stronger than a relative increase in risk of 25%. Future research efforts to define genetic predisposition to BPD should focus on alternative candidate genes.
Gender differences and reliability of selected physical performance tests in young women and men

Although push-ups and sit-ups are among the most commonly used body-weight exercises to improve and assess strength and fitness, there is a lack of reproducible test protocols in the scientific literature. The aim of this study was to evaluate the test–retest reliability of sit-ups and push-ups and to determine performance differences in muscular endurance (maximal number of repetitions) and power (timed, maximal number of repetitions in 30 s) in young women and men. Thirty-eight women and 25 men, 18–35 years of age, participated in the study. Thirteen women participants performed two test sessions of each test using a test–retest design. A high reliability was noted for both the sit-up and the push-ups tests (intraclass correlation values ranged from 0.92 to 0.95). There were no significant differences between the men and the women in the mean number of sit-ups (42 and 41 repetitions respectively for endurance and 16 and 14 repetitions respectively for power), whereas the men performed significantly more push-ups than the women (39 and 17 repetitions respectively for endurance and 29 and 13 repetitions respectively for power). In conclusion, sit-ups and push-ups are tests with high reliability, which are easy to perform and may therefore be recommended for clinical use to evaluate muscular endurance and power in young men and women. Moreover, the fact that men performed twice as many push-ups as women indicates that, when designing training programme for women, attention should be turned towards strengthening exercises of the upper body.
INTENSIVE CARE UNIT AREAWIDE STUDY

Multnomah Foundation for Medical Care Portland, Oregon The increase of intensive care beds has been estimated at 4% per year. Almost every hospital with more than 200 beds now has an Intensive Care Unit (ICU). , Wagner et.al. report two factors for the increased demand of intensive care beds new surgical procedures requiring postoperative intensive care and the increased technical capabilities now available in most hospitals. , In addition to treatment, attention has also been focused on monitoring or closely observing functions of ICUs. , Study findings reported in national literature have indicated that a surprising percentage of patients admitted to intensive care units are stable and receive only observation or minimal amounts of active treatment. ,-, This study attempts to assess the severity and level of services provided patients in intensive care units in Multnomah County, Portland, Oregon. Two criteria sets widely used in intensive care medicine were used to classify patients based on severity of illness and level of services provided. Seventeen physiologic measures weighted from 0-4 were used to reflect the severity of illness or ‘how sick‘ the patient was. See table 1 . These measures are part of the Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE) classification system. This scoring system assumes that if a physiologic measurement is important in determining the severity of illness, it will be taken. Conversely, if a physiologic measurement is not important to the care of the patient it will either not be taken or the results will be normal. , The sum of the assigned weights for all measurements recorded is the patient’s total physiology score. The higher the score, the more sick the patient. The Therapeutic Intervention Scoring System (TISS) was used to measure the consumption of ICU services by each patient. Each intervention is measured if provided at any time during the ICU stay. The TISS elements measured in this study are those active treatment interventions best provided in an ICU. See table 2. These criteria sets have been detailed in the literature. ,
Performance measurements for the Microsoft Kinect skeleton

The Microsoft Kinect for Xbox 360 (“Kinect”) provides a convenient and inexpensive depth sensor and, with the Microsoft software development kit, a skeleton tracker (Figure 2). These have great potential to be useful as virtual environment (VE) control interfaces for avatars or for viewpoint control. In order to determine its suitability for our applications, we devised and conducted tests to measure standard performance specifications for tracking systems. We evaluated the noise, accuracy, resolution, and latency of the skeleton tracking software. We also measured the range in which the person being tracked must be in order to achieve these values.
Lack of hospital beds causes emergency departments to miss targets

More than a third of accident and emergency departments in hospitals in England said they were not reaching the government's target of dealing with patients within four hours. The main reason for this finding, from a survey published this week, was a shortage of available hospital beds, making it difficult for patients to be admitted. Only 49% of the nearly 500 members of the British Association of Emergency Medicine—all consultants and middle grade doctors—responding to the survey reported that their departments met the emergency access target for 98% of all patients to be seen, treated, admitted, or discharged within four hours. Although only 49% considered that their department actually met the emergency access target, 67% said that the figures reported by their department indicated that …
Deciphering layered meaning in gestures

Signs produced by gestures (such as in American Sign Language) can have a basic meaning coupled with additional meanings that are layered over the basic meaning of the sign. These layered meanings are conveyed by temporal and spatial modification of the basic form of the gesture movement. The work reported in this paper seeks to recognize temporal and spatial modifiers of hand movement and integrates them with recognition of the basic meaning of the sign. To this end, a Bayesian network framework is explored with a simulated vocabulary of 4 basic signs which give rise to 14 different combinations of basic meanings and layered meanings. Recognition accuracies of up to 88.2% were obtained.
Can living in virtual environments alter reality?

Technology has made some of the once unimaginable a reality. The invention of the computer has inspired some of the most useful inventions that we heavily rely on today. Computers were first given tasks to solve complex calculations and usually consisted of a simple command line interface. Overtime people started to see the potential that computers can have on our personal lives which lead to the more user friendly, graphical user interface (GUI). The GUI was one of many interfaces that came from this growth in technology and the use of computers for personal reasons. Having access to personal computers brought forth many possibilities and applications. Today, staying connected is one of the most influential and heavily used applications of the personal computer. People rely on social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook to keep ties with one another when far away or even close by. Research has shown that there are some negative side effects of this constant cyber connectivity in regards to our social lives and interactions. A more recent invention has received some popularity as the possibility for social interaction within it is currently being explored. This invention is known as virtual reality (VR). I am interested in researching how VR could affect people if used similar to social networking platforms we already use and how it could influence society and possibly change our social interactions. We live so much in a cyber world that we have even invented an acronym (IRL) to decipher between online/cyber life and real life. Throughout this paper I will refer to real life by using the newly invented acronym, IRL.
A retrospective observational study comparing rescue medication use in children on combined versus separate long-acting β-agonists and corticosteroids

Background Data on the efficacy and safety of long-acting β2-agonists (LABA) in children are limited, and current guidelines recommend that LABA always be used with inhaled corticosteroids (ICS). Objective To compare asthma control, assessed by rescue medications use, in children prescribed LABA and ICS as a fixed-dose combination (LABA/ICS) or concurrently via separate inhalers (LABA+ICS). Methods Retrospective observational study of asthma medication prescribed to children aged 0–18 years registered with 40 primary care practices for the years 2002–6. Asthma control, reflected by requirement for oral corticosteroids (OCS) and/or six or more short-acting β2-agonist (SABA) canisters per year, was assessed for children prescribed LABA/ICS or LABA+ICS. Results 10 454 (8%) of all registered children received at least one prescription for asthma medication over the study period. Prescribing of LABA/ICS increased significantly, with a concomitant decrease in prescribing of LABA+ICS. Use of OCS increased by 60%, with the lowest use in children prescribed only SABA and highest use in those prescribed LABA. Children prescribed LABA/ICS were significantly less likely than those prescribed LABA+ICS to require OCS rescue therapy and or >6 SABA inhalers a year (OR 1.6; 95% CI 1.1 to 2.2; p=0.04 and OR 1.7; 95% CI 1.1 to 2.5; p=0.005, respectively, for the years 2005–6). Conclusions The results of this retrospective observational study suggest that children prescribed fixed-dose LABA-and-ICS combination devices achieve better asthma control, as reflected in reduced requirements for SABA and reduced courses of OCS than equivalent doses in separate devices.
Mechanism of integrating force and vibrotactile cues for 3D user interaction within virtual environments

Proper integration of sensory cues facilitates 3D user interaction within virtual environments (VEs). Studies showed that the integration of visual and haptic cues follows maximum likelihood estimation (MLE). Little effort focuses however on the mechanism of integrating force and vibrotactile cues. We thus investigated MLE's suitability for integrating these cues. Within a VE, human users undertook 3D interaction of navigating a flying drone along a high-voltage transmission line for inspection. The users received individual force or vibrotactile cues, and their combinations in collocated and dislocated settings. The users' task performance including completion time and accuracy was assessed under each individual cue and setting. The presence of the vibrotactile cue promoted a better performance than the force cue alone. This agreed with the applicability of tactile cues for sensing 3D surfaces, herein setting a baseline for using MLE. The task performance under the collocated setting indicated a degree of combining the individual cues. In contrast, the performance under the dislocated setting was alike under the individual vibrotactile cue. These observations imply a possible role of MLE in integrating force and vibrotactile cues for 3D user interaction within VEs.
‘This House believes that we have gone too far in granting young people the responsibility for making decisions about their own healthcare’: record of a debate held in the Ethics and Law session of the RCPCH Annual Meeting, York 2009

The age at which children should be allowed to make decisions about their healthcare, and have those decisions honoured, remains controversial. Although some children under 16 years have similar levels of competency to adults, the extent to which they may use this to veto treatments is questionable. It is comparatively rare for young people to debate these issues themselves and have their comments recorded. This paper reports a debate held at the 2009 Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) Annual Meeting in York, in which members of the RCPCH Youth Advisory Panel presented arguments for and against the motion that ‘This House believes that we have gone too far in granting young people the responsibility for making decisions about their own healthcare’. The debate continues to have relevance and topicality and the young people involved marshalled many of the arguments that have been used in a wider context. Developing the latter produced much debate among the young people themselves and resulted in a series of sophisticated, informed and persuasive contributions that facilitated discussion by professionals and parents in the debate itself. A vote was held before and after the debate and, while the vote was overwhelming in the rejection of the motion on both occasions, a number of individuals changed their views or abstained on the second vote, suggesting that there are more discussions to be had. All those present acknowledged a need for greater dialogue and—irrespective of whether their views should be determinative in all situations—a greater involvement of children and young people in informed healthcare decision-making. The age at which children should be allowed to make significant and wide reaching decisions about their healthcare, and have those decisions honoured, remains controversial. In 1986 the Gillick judgement granted children under the age of 16 the right to …