Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Commentary on Novel Polydioxanone Multifilament Scaffold Device for Tissue Regeneration

The article “Novel scaffold device threaded by multi– PDO-filaments for tissue regeneration,” authored by Kim and colleagues, documents their experience with a novel stent-shaped scaffold for collagen synthesis and tissue remodeling for aged skin. As per the authors, the purpose of this article is to explore tissue regeneration profiles after implantation of a stentshaped hollow scaffold in rats and mini-pigs. This purpose was indeed met. Not only does this article raise awareness of a new novel device for collagen stimulation, but it also stimulates several additional questions and considerations that warrant further discussion.
The social cost of unemployment in Spain: who are the losers?

The social cost of unemployment is an evaluation protocol proposed by Gorjon, de la Rica & Villar (2018) that integrates into a single indicator three different dimensions of this phenomenon: incidence (the conventional unemployment rate), severity (depending on the unemployment duration and the lost income) and hysteresis (the probability of remaining unemployed). This indicator corresponds to the aggregate disutility of unemployed workers and can thus be regarded as a measure of the social welfare loss due to unemployment. We apply here this evaluation protocol to the Spanish labour market, using the official register of unemployed workers compiled by the Public Employment Service, focusing on the differences among the types of unemployed workers that can be defined according to gender, age, level of studies, unemployment duration, and type of compensation received. Then we identify the population subgroups that suffer most the impact of unemployment.
Stress echocardiography in clinical practice: a United Kingdom National Health Service Survey on behalf of the British Society of Echocardiography.

AIMS Stress echocardiography (SE) is one of the leading modalities for the assessment of coronary artery disease and dynamic valvular heart disease. A wide range of different techniques have been established. There are no data which identify how current techniques have been integrated into clinical practice. METHODS AND RESULTS An electronic questionnaire was devised to identify SE practice in five core areas: service demographics, indications, methods, reporting, and adverse events. The questionnaire was sent to 198 National Health Service hospitals. Eighty-five (71%) out of the 120 departments who perform SE responded. Each unit performed a median of 400 SE (inter-quartile range 175-600). Thirty-two (37.6%) operators performed <100 SE per year. Exercise, dobutamine, dipyridamole, adenosine, and pacing SE were available in 57 (67.1%), 85 (100%), 6 (7.1%), 11 (12.9%), and 34 (40%) units, respectively. Eighty-one (95.3%) units performed SE for the evaluation of low-flow, low-gradient aortic stenosis. Thirty-four (40%) and 32 (37.6%) performed SE for the evaluation of asymptomatic severe aortic stenosis and symptomatic moderate mitral regurgitation, respectively. Eighty-three (97.6%) administered contrast agents during SE. Additional analysis of perfusion and strain was performed in 9 (10.5%) and 13 (15.3%) units, respectively. CONCLUSION SE has been incorporated into the majority of UK hospitals. A substantial proportion of operators perform less than the recommended number of procedures per year. The use of exercise SE, vasodilator SE, and SE for the evaluation of VHD are under-utilized. Penetration of new techniques is variable, contrast for left ventricular opacification has been almost universally adopted, while myocardial perfusion and mechanics are used much less.
Ethanol actions on multiple ion channels: which are important?

BACKGROUND This review is based on a plenary lecture presented at the 1999 meeting of the Research Society on Alcoholism. It provides an overview of the search for sites of action for ethanol in the brain. Initial studies were directed at interaction of ethanol with membrane lipids, but during the past decade, emphasis has been shifted to protein sites, particularly those on ion channels. Molecular biological techniques have provided the opportunity to study isolated channels in cellular expression systems and also provide the opportunity to manipulate these channels in mutant mice. CONCLUSIONS There is now compelling evidence that multiple ion channels are affected by ethanol and growing support for the idea that ethanol interacts directly with specific sites on ion channels. The key, and unanswered, question is which of these channels are responsible for alcohol-induced behaviors such as intoxication, tolerance, dependence, or craving. Mutant mice will likely give (some) answers to these questions during the next decade.
Measuring food poverty in Ireland: The importance of including exclusion

Food poverty is multi-faceted. While it is certainly about having enough, nutritious food, it is also about the cultural acceptability of diet and the ability to participate in customary activities associated with food. Within the Irish Survey of Income and Living Conditions (SILC), there are deprivation indicators that make it possible to monitor many aspects of food poverty – nutritional adequacy, absolute deprivation, cultural acceptability and social inclusion. However, within the composite official food poverty indicator, only nutritional deficiency, absolute and cultural deprivation are included. Those households experiencing only social exclusion vis-a-vis food are classified as non-food poor households. This paper analyses this group of households using Irish Survey of Income and Living Conditions data for 2015. These households – households who are not officially classified as food poor, but who cannot afford to entertain family or friends with food and/or drink once a month – are much more likely than non-food poor households to be experiencing multiple deprivations, to be unable to afford many household amenities, and, if employed, to be employed in jobs often associated with the working poor.
Prediction of antiepileptic drug efficacy: the use of intracerebral microdialysis to monitor biophase concentrations

Biophase concentrations of antiepileptic drugs can differ significantly from pharmacokinetics in plasma. A crucial determinant in the disposition of antiepileptic drugs to the brain is represented by the blood-brain barrier. There is growing evidence that this barrier can alter the availability of antiepileptic drugs at the target site. The permeability of the blood-brain barrier becomes particularly relevant in epileptic conditions and in drug refractory situations. In vivo, intracerebral microdialysis is a valuable technique to determine biophase drug concentrations as it enables investigation of antiepileptic drug transport and distribution in the brain as a function of time. The present review illustrates that intracerebral microdialysis is an indispensable tool for the assessment of the pharmacokinetics of antiepileptic drugs. In addition, we demonstrate how microdialysis data can be used in conjunction with mechanism-based pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic modeling for dose selection and optimization of the therapeutic regimen for novel compounds.
Assessments in der Handtherapie: wie wählen wir gute für die Praxis und/oder die Forschung aus?

L’objectif de la rééducation de la main est de permettre aux patients d’utiliser leur membre supérieur de manière optimale dans leur vie quotidienne. Diverses évaluations sont disponibles afin de contrôler les progrès du traitement. Elles sont conçues pour fournir des preuves convaincantes de l’état du patient ainsi que pour planifier, documenter et vérifier des traitements efficaces. Quels sont donc les bons instruments permettant d’évaluer l’efficacité des traitements? Des critères de qualité tels que la validité, la fiabilité, la praticabilité, l’accent mis sur l’intervention, la compatibilité avec la CIF et l’illustration de la qualité de vie et de la satisfaction servent de base au choix d’outils d’évaluation pertinents en rééducation de la main.
Identification of podocin (NPHS2) gene mutations in African Americans with nondiabetic end-stage renal disease.

BACKGROUND Podocin, encoded by NPHS2 and mapped to 1q25.2, is an integral membrane protein exclusively expressed in glomerular podocytes. Mutations in the NPHS2 gene cause autosomal-recessive nephrotic syndrome and have been associated with proteinuria in several populations. Evidence for linkage of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) to chromosome 1q25-31 in the region of NPHS2 has been identified in a genome-wide scan in African American (AA) siblings. METHODS To investigate the potential role of this gene in ESRD, we sequenced all coding regions and approximately 2 kb of upstream promoter sequence of NPHS2 in 96 unrelated AA nondiabetic ESRD cases and 96 healthy population-based AA controls, and assessed several single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) for association in a larger case-control sample. RESULTS Fifty-five variants were identified with minor allele frequencies ranging from <1% to 44%. Twenty-three polymorphisms were located in the promoter region, 11 were exonic, 13 were intronic, and 8 were in the 5' and 3'- untranslated regions. Two novel nonsynonymous coding SNPs were identified (A44E and A61V). An insertion polymorphism in intron 3, IVS3+9insA, was detected in 6 ESRD patients and in no controls. This variant, and 4 other common SNPs, were evaluated in a larger sample of 288 AA ESRD cases and 278 AA controls. The overall minor allele frequencies for the insertion allele were 0.018 in cases and 0.002 in controls. Significant evidence of association of IVS3+9insA was observed (P= 0.012), and the haplotype containing the insertion allele in cases was also associated. CONCLUSION These results suggest that uncommon variants of the NPHS2 gene may play a role in the development of nondiabetic ESRD in AAs.
Risk factors for complex regional pain syndrome in patients with traumatic extremity injury.

BACKGROUND It is not clear why complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) develops in some patients but not in others, despite similar initiating events. The aim of this study was to investigate risk factors for CRPS in cases who had suffered traumatic upper extremity injury. METHODS One hundred sixty-five patients who had suffered a mechanical traumatic injury isolated to their hand or forearm were included in this study. Age, gender, body mass index, tissue types injured, and side of affected forearm/hand were investigated as possible risk factors for CRPS. RESULTS CRPS was diagnosed in 84 patients. Female/male ratio was higher in patients with CRPS versus those without. The mean age was higher in patients with CRPS. The affected forearm/hand was the dominant side in 62.9% of patients without CRPS and in 64.2% of patients with CRPS. CRPS incidence was higher in patients with motor nerve injury and in patients with sensory nerve injury. A logistic regression showed that risk for CRPS was higher in patients with motor nerve injury and in females. CONCLUSION This study indicates that motor nerve injury and female gender are risk factors for CRPS. The prevention measures should be focused mainly on females and patients with motor nerve injury in order to reduce the risk of CRPS.
VERDI: A versatile readout ASIC for radiation detectors

In this work we present the circuit VERDI (VErsatile Readout for Detector Integration), an integrated circuit developed for the readout of different families of radiation detectors, from nitrogen-cooled Ge and Si(Li) detectors, to silicon drift detectors (SDDs), scintillation detectors, photomultipliers tubes and others. The circuit may represent a suitable solution when a compact integration between a multi-element detector and the front-end readout is needed to realize a compact and low-power detection module. The circuit includes 8 channels, each one composed by a charge preamplifier, a shaping amplifier, a gain stage, a baseline holder and a peak stretcher. An on-chip selector provides at the output of each channel the waveform of a specific stage, including an RC integrator for external digital processing of the signal. Alternatively, the 8 channels may be multiplexed on a single output. Different settings, like gain, shaping time, preamplifier compensation and others, may be externally programmed by SPI accordingly to the specific detector in use. Only the input JFET, feedback capacitor and reset device are left external to the ASIC, and must be chosen specifically for each detector. The results of preliminary experimental characterization of the circuit when used with different detectors are presented in this work.
Institutional change in the European Parliament: balancing legislative ethics and parliamentary independence

ABSTRACT Research on legislative ethics has shown how scandals often trigger ethics reform; yet, the content of the reform often differs from that of the scandal. Why is this the case? And if scandals don't explain legislative ethics reform outcomes, then what does? If not this kind of external shock, then what factor(s) shape legislative reform outcomes? These questions provide the point of departure for a case study of the European Parliament's 2011 ethics reform. Drawing from the legislative ethics literature and from recent theories of institutional change, the article examines the impact of the scandal that initiated the reform, the interests and strategies of reform agents who wanted a quick reform process that would not undermine the EP's independence; and the institutional order in which those actors were embedded. It argues that an institutional logics perspective offers a convincing and comprehensive account of EP ethics reform, and suggests a new analytical framework that might be used by researchers in future research on legislative ethics.
Factors associated with surgical and radiation therapy for early stage breast cancer in older women.

BACKGROUND In addition to demographic and health care-related characteristics, the age and physiologic status of women at the time of breast cancer diagnosis have been reported to influence receipt of standard treatments. Previous studies of the influence of age and comorbidity have not examined whether other patient-, region-, or health care-related characteristics altered the association of age and comorbidity with type of treatment received. PURPOSE This study examined factors associated with receipt of breast-conserving surgery and radiation therapy, both of which are recommended treatments for breast cancer, among a cohort of 18,704 women aged 65 years or more who had breast cancer diagnosed during the period from 1985 through 1989. METHODS A data file linking Medicare claims records to data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program of the U.S. National Cancer Institute was utilized. Logistic regression analysis was used to examine associations between patient, region, and hospital characteristics and the receipt of specific treatments. The likelihood test was used to assess the significance of observed associations (expressed as odds ratios [ORs]). Because of multiple comparisons, only those ORs with two-sided P values <. 01 were considered statistically significant. RESULTS The frequency of breast-conserving surgery was highest (54%) among women aged 80 years or more, who had two or more comorbid conditions and stage I disease. However, in general, the receipt of radiation therapy among women undergoing breast-conserving surgery declined markedly with age, irrespective of comorbidity status and disease stage. Between the ages of 65-69 years and 80 years or older, radiation therapy declined from 77% to 24% among women with no comorbid conditions and from 50% to 12% among women with two or more comorbid conditions. In regression models that included hospital, region, and patient characteristics as variables, age and comorbidity remained independently associated with the receipt of radiation therapy (OR = 0.12 and 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.10-0.14 for women aged 80 years or more compared with women 65-69 years of age and OR of 0.33 [95% CI = 0.24-0.46] for women with two or more comorbid conditions versus no comorbid conditions). CONCLUSIONS After adjustment for multiple clinical and nonclinical factors influencing treatment, chronologic age remains an important independent factor associated with the receipt of radiation therapy after breast-conserving surgery among women aged 65 years or more who were diagnosed with early stage breast cancer. IMPLICATIONS Future studies should determine whether these differences in treatment patterns among older women result in increased morbidity (e.g., from recurrence), shortened disease-free or overall survival, or decreased quality of life.
Bacterial colonization of the respiratory tract following tracheal intubation—Effect of gravity: An experimental study*

ObjectiveTo explore the role of the horizontal orientation of endotracheal tube and neck on bacterial colonization of the respiratory tract in anesthetized sheep on mechanical ventilation, without use of antibiotics. DesignProspective animal study. SettingNational Institutes of Health research laboratory. SubjectsAnesthetized, paralyzed, and ventilated sheep. InterventionsSheep were randomized into five groups and managed as follows: Group IS contained sheep that were not intubated and were immediately killed. Group HU4 contained six sheep that were mechanically ventilated for 4 hrs, with head and endotracheal tube elevated 30 degrees from horizontal. Group HU72 contained seven sheep that were prone, mechanically ventilated for 72 hrs, and managed the same as group HU4. Groups G and Gf each contained seven sheep that were prone on a lateral body rotation device, mechanically ventilated for 72 hrs, with neck and endotracheal tube horizontal. Group Gf received nasogastric enteral feeding. Measurements and Main ResultsAt the end of the study, sheep were examined postmortem, and a total of 11 tissue samples were taken from the trachea, the five lobar bronchi, and the five lobar parenchyma, for qualitative and quantitative culture. Group HU72 had significant decrease in Pao2/Fio2 and heavy bacterial colonization in all sheep. Groups G and Gf retained excellent lung function; lung bacterial colonization was no different from the IS group. ConclusionsThe horizontal orientation of the endotracheal tube and neck, through lateral body rotation, showed no altered airway colonization and maintained excellent gas exchange and lung function in our animal model.
Impaired Neuronal Plasticity in Transgenic Mice Expressing Human Apolipoprotein E4 Compared to E3 in a Model of Entorhinal Cortex Lesion

The apolipoprotein E (APOE) epsilon 4 allele is a major risk factor for late-onset familial and sporadic Alzheimer's disease (AD) and is associated with a poor outcome after brain injury. Each apoE isoform is suggested to have differential effects on neuronal repair mechanisms within the CNS. In the present study, APOE genotype influence on the immediate response to injury and subsequent repair process was examined in a line of transgenic APOE mice possessing human APOE gene insertions (epsilon 3 and epsilon 4). Quantification of synaptophysin and GAP-43 immunoreactivity was used to measure the extent of degeneration and regeneration after entorhinal cortex lesion (ECL). Progressive neurodegenerative decline occurred in the ipsilateral dentate gyrus until day 28 post-ECL which was more severe in APOE epsilon 3 mice compared to APOE epsilon 4 mice. By day 90 post-ECL compensatory sprouting and reactive synaptogenesis had taken place in the dentate gyrus of APOE epsilon 3 mice such that GAP-43 and synaptophysin immunoreactivity had returned to prelesion levels. In contrast, APOE epsilon 4 mice displayed significant deficits in synaptophysin and GAP-43 immunostaining compared to the APOE epsilon 3 mice (P < 0.05). Expansion of the inner molecular layer (IML) was used as a measure of the sprouting index from the commissural-associational pathway and by day 90 post-ECL the IML width in APOE epsilon 3 mice had increased by 45% but only 20% in APOE epsilon 4 mice (P < 0.0001). ApoE immunoreactivity was increased within the neuropil and glia to the same extent in APOE epsilon 3 and APOE epsilon 4 mice post-ECL. There was no significant difference in the deposition and clearance of degeneration products between APOE epsilon 3 and epsilon 4 mice post-ECL. These results indicate that neuronal plasticity is impaired in transgenic mice possessing human APOE epsilon 4 alleles compared to APOE epsilon 3. These isoform-specific differences in plasticity may relate to the severity of AD and poor, long-term recovery after head injury in APOE epsilon 4 individuals.
Le dépistage néonatal de la surdité

La surdite profonde est une pathologie frequente : elle touche 1 a 3 nouveaux-nes sur 1000. Elle represente une des maladies congenitales les plus importantes et constitue un veritable probleme de sante publique. Cependant elle ne beneficie toujours pas d'un depistage systematique dans toutes les maternites. La legislation impose un examen de l'audition au cours de la premiere semaine de vie et le code de deontologie des sages-femmes a ete recemment modifie dans le but de confier le depistage des troubles neurosensoriels du nouveau-ne a la sage-femme: le cadre legislatif est etabli, la sage-femme est responsable du depistage de la surdite lors du sejour en maternite. Mais qu'en est il sur le terrain ? Comment les sages-femmes apprehendent elles ce depistage systematique de la surdite? L'impact du diagnostic precoce est-il apprecie a sa juste valeur? Ainsi le travail s'est effectue dans les differentes maternites de Moselle afin de faire le point sur le depistage et ses difficultes a se mettre en place aupres des professionnelles. A l'heure actuelle, les specialistes sont sans equivoque : le depistage precoce est indispensable, L'âge moyen du diagnostic des surdites profondes est encore beaucoup trop tardif: 24 mois ! La precocite du depistage conditionne les resultats obtenus grâce a une prise en charge de qualite et pluridisciplinaire: ORL, orthophonistes, psychologues, soutien des parents. Les moyens de depistage et la prise en charge des enfants sourds existent et sont quasiment operationnels : aux sages-femmes de prendre leur responsabilite !
Comments on Downlink Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access: Relative Gain Subject to Near Sum-Rate Optimality

Non-orthogonal access techniques have recently gained renewed interest in the context of next generation wireless networks. As the relative gain, with respect to traditionally employed orthogonal-access techniques depends on many factors, it is of interest to obtain insights by considering the simplest scenario, the two-user downlink (broadcast) channel where all nodes are equipped with a single antenna. Further, we focus on rate pairs that are in the vicinity of sum-rate optimalilty with respect to the capacity region of the broadcast channel. A simple and explicit characterization of the relative gain of non-orthogonal transmission with respect to orthogonal transmission is obtained under these conditions as an immediate consequence of the capacity regions of the two.