Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Theory and health behavior: are we making progress?

In this issue we have two articles and two commentaries addressing the topics of theory development and theory use in our field. These are informative, thoughtful pieces on a topic of major importance to health education and health promotion. The article by Noar and Zimmerman (2005) posits that our use of theory and theory testing as now conducted are problematic from the point of view of advancing our theoretical understanding of health behavior. They propose additional theory comparison research as a means out of this. In a largely sympathetic commentary Weinstein and Rothman (2005) expand on Noar and Zimmerman’s observation. They argue that weaknesses in research designs and problems in how researchers approach the research enterprise contribute importantly to our lack of substantial progress. While not disputing the main thrust of the Noar and Zimmerman article, Nigg and Jordan (2005) argue that factors external to the research enterprise itself, such as funding priorities and peer review practices, among others, may be contributing to the current state of affairs as well. Together, these three articles urge more careful and critical approaches to advancing theory development in our field. In a fourth article, Trifiletti and colleagues (2005) offer an informative review of the use of behavioral and social science theories in the field of unintentional injury prevention research. They report use of a limited number of theories in this area and very little theory testing per se. Their identification of various ways in which theory has been used is a useful way to assess the potential multiple linkages between theory and public health efforts. Clearly their review is a call for greater collaborative theory based research in this emerging public health field. HER is committed to continuing a dialogue on theory, its development and its role in health education and health promotion. We welcome comments on these specific articles, as well as additional articles on this topic.
Methylphenidate reduces mental fatigue and improves processing speed in persons suffered a traumatic brain injury

Abstract Objective: Post-traumatic brain injury symptoms, such as mental fatigue, have considerable negative impacts on quality-of-life. In the present study the effects of methylphenidate in two different dosages were assessed with regard to mental fatigue, pain and cognitive functions in persons who had suffered a traumatic brain injury. Methods: Fifty-one subjects were included and 44 completed the study. The treatment continued for 12 weeks, including three treatment periods with no medication for 4 weeks, administration of low dose methylphenidate (up to 5 mg × 3) for 4 weeks and normal dose methylphenidate (up to 20 mg × 3) for a further 4 weeks. The patients were randomized into three groups where all groups were given all treatments. Results: Significantly reduced mental fatigue, assessed with the Mental Fatigue Scale (MFS) and increased information processing speed (coding, WAIS-III), were detected. The SF-36 vitality and social functioning scales were also improved significantly. Pain was not reduced by methylphenidate. The positive effects of treatment were dose-dependent, with the most prominent effects being at 60 mg methylphenidate/day spread over three doses. Observed side-effects were increased blood pressure and increased heart rate. Conclusions: Methylphenidate was generally well-tolerated and it improved long-lasting mental fatigue and processing speed after traumatic brain injury.
Current trends in congenital syphilis

In many parts of the world particularly sub-Saharan Africa, congenital syphilis is a significant public health problem. Though it is rare in most affluent countries there has been a slight resurgence recently in several European countries. The diagnosis of suspected cases and management of congenital syphilis may be confusing and the potential for severe disability is high when cases are missed. The cornerstone of congenital syphilis control is antenatal screening and treatment of mothers with penicillin and in affluent countries it should be strengthened among those at high risk. In developing countries antenatal care screening needs to be strengthened by implementing point-of-care decentralised screening and treatment, also alternative novel approaches to control congenital syphilis should be looked at and utilized. International health agencies and political parties should take steps urgently to support focused approaches to tackling the problem of continuing congenital syphilis.
Newer antiarrhythmic agents for maintaining sinus rhythm in atrial fibrillation: simplicity or complexity?

The morbidity and mortality associated with atrial fibrillation (AF), the most frequent cardiac arrhythmia, remain substantial. The efficacy and safety of current antiarrhythmic drugs continue to be less than optimal. The development of newer antiarrhythmic drugs has recently been made possible through a greater understanding of the pathophysiology of AF and knowledge of atrial electrophysiology relative to the properties of the congeners of known antiarrhythmic agents. Highly specific atrially acting drugs are currently being explored, their major merit concerning safety. In contrast, their role may be somewhat limited in view of the electrophysiological complexity of AF as an arrhythmia. The data suggest that complex antiarrhythmic agents with a multiplicity of actions may be preferable, although currently there are few data on the precise effectiveness of atrial-specific agents in maintaining sinus rhythm in AF. It is of interest that combining antiarrhythmic and non-antiarrhythmic agents, such as anti-inflammatory or antioxidant drugs, may increase the effectiveness of antifibrillatory actions in patients with AF, although these data have been obtained in uncontrolled, small or retrospective studies. Thus, at present, it is not certain whether it is preferable to target single antiarrhythmic drugs with antiadrenergic properties or to combine ‘purely’ antiarrhythmic drugs with other drugs devoid of anti-adrenergic effects. Controlled clinical trials are required to precisely define the effectiveness of single agents vs. various combinations of agents in maintaining sinus rhythm in patients with AF.
INVESTIGATION OF THERAPY IMPROVEMENT USING REAL-TIME PHOTOACOUSTIC IMAGING GUIDED HIGH INTENSITY FOCUSED ULTRASOUND

There are a lot of risks in cancer treatment by invasive surgery, such as bleeding, wound infection, and long recovery time, etc. Therefore, there is great need for minimally- or non-invasive treatment. High intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) is a rapidly growing and truly non-invasive technology. It has been widely used in therapeutic applications, such as rapid tissue heating and tissue ablation. With proper imaging guidance, HIFU treatment can be performed totally noninvasively. Currently, ultrasound imaging-guided HIFU has been extensively studied. However, ultrasound imaging guidance is less precise because of the relatively low imaging contrast, sensitivity, and specificity for noninvasive detection. In this study, we employed photoacoustic imaging (PAI) technique, which has been developed a novel promising imaging technique for early cancer detection, to guide HIFU treatment. The goal of this study is to investigate the feasibility of PAI to guide, monitor in real time and enhance the HIFU therapy. In this dissertation, as the first step, the integrated PAI and HIFU system had been shown to have the feasibility to guide HIFU both ex vivo and in vivo. Then, the system was improved and developed to a real-time PAI-guided HIFU system. It is demonstrated that the sensitivity of PA detection for HIFU lesion is very high and the saturation of PA signals can be used as the indicator for tissue coagulation. During the temperature measurement using this system, laser-enhanced HIFU heating was found. Thus, we further investigated the laser enhanced technique in both HIFU heating and pulsed HIFU thrombolysis. In the HIFU therapy, laser light was employed to illuminate the sample concurrently with HIFU radiation. The resulting cavitation was detected with a passive cavitation detector. We demonstrated that concurrent light illumination during HIFU has the potential to significantly enhance HIFU by reducing cavitation threshold.
Genotipos frecuentemente asociados a trombofilias

La enfermedad tromboembolica venosa es una entidad patologica importante debido a la morbilidad que causa, por sus complicaciones y por su alta incidencia en el mundo, la cual puede variar desde 1:100 en adultos mayores hasta 1:100.000 en ninos. Existen multiples factores de riesgo tanto geneticos como ambientales asociados a la enfermedad; los mas ampliamente estudiados por su incidencia en la poblacion mundial son el factor V de Leiden, la mutacion G20210A en el factor II (protrombina) y las mutaciones en la metilen-tetrahidrofolato reductasa C677T y A1298C, que hasta hace poco se consideraban factores de riesgo. En la presente revision se presenta de forma concisa que es y como se produce un trombo a partir de la enfermedad tromboembolica, cuales son las principales entidades nosologicas que involucra la enfermedad y los genotipos mas frecuentemente asociados a la misma. Se enfatiza en las alteraciones geneticas epidemiologicamente mas importantes y se muestran brevemente los estudios realizados en Colombia.
EFLM WG-Preanalytical phase opinion paper: local validation of blood collection tubes in clinical laboratories

Abstract The selection or procurement of blood collection devices in healthcare facilities is often an underestimated issue. This is probably due to different factors including the lack of knowledge of policymakers, hospital administrators and even laboratory managers about the importance of preanalytical quality and phlebotomy process, as well as to the absence of reliable guidelines or recommendations on how to precisely assess the quality of blood collection devices around the globe. With the awareness that a gap remains between manufacturers’ and local validation of blood collection devices, the Working Group for Preanalytical Phase (WG-PRE) of the European Federation of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (EFLM) has drafted a consensus document aimed to provide a set of essential requisites, technical criteria (e.g. presence of physical defects, malfunctioning, safety problems) and clinical issues for supporting laboratory professionals in organization blood collection tubes tenders and validating new devices before local routine implementation. The laboratory professionals should also make sure that the tenders accurately and strictly define the responsibilities for validation experiments and the potential consequences in the case the validation outcome shows that tubes due not fulfill the expectations.
Effect of eNOS polymorphisms on salbutamol evoked endothelium dependent vasodilation in South Indian healthy subjects

Background: The model of pulse plethysmograph using inhalational salbutamol 400 mcg is studied well to assess endothelium dependent vasodilation. Endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) gene polymorphism may influence the response to salbutamol in healthy subjects. Aim: To find the effect of polymorphisms 894G>T and -786T>C of eNOS gene on endothelium dependent vasodilation in healthy subjects. Materials and Methods: One hundred and two south Indian healthy subjects of either sex, aged between 18 to 35 years were recruited for the study. The digital volume pulse (DVP)was measured by pulse plethysmograph before and after salbutamol 400mcg inhalation. Three predose and five postdose recordings of DVP were measured. The average change in the DVP parameters namely reflection index (RI) and stiffness index (SI) were determined. The eNOS894G>T and -786T>C gene polymorphism were genotyped using polymerase chain reaction followed by restriction fragment length polymorphism. The percentage changes in RI and SI from predose baseline recordings were calculated and compared between the genotype groups. Results: The genotype and allele frequency of study subjects were in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. The changes in DVP parameters were not significantly different between the genotype groups. Conclusion: eNOS polymorphism do not affect salbutamol evoked endothelium dependent vasodilation in the model of pulse plethysmograph in healthy subjects.
Capacity of the Catalan and Spanish versions of the Bilingual Aphasia Test to distinguish between healthy aging, mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease

This study analysed the capacity of the Catalan and Spanish versions of the Bilingual Aphasia Test (BAT) to distinguish between normal and pathological aging. Both versions of the test were administered to 45 bilingual subjects: 15 healthy aging subjects, 15 patients with mild cognitive impairment and 15 patients with Alzheimer's disease. To explore which combination of subtests was best suited to differentiate the three study groups, stepwise discriminant analyses were performed using each version of the Bilingual Aphasia Test separately and together. The percentages of properly classified subjects were as follows: 93.3% when the Spanish version was administered, 88.9% when the Catalan version was administered and 95.6% when both versions were used. The subtests that best classified the subjects were of the lexical-semantic type but also related to metalinguistic capacity and language organisation skills. The performance of each group in Catalan and Spanish was more similar than different.
Magnetic resonance angiography and computed tomography angiography for peripheral arterial disease

•. Non-invasive imaging, with either MR angiography (MRA) or CT angiography (CTA), is now the first choice technique having supplanted invasive diagnostic arteriography for the initial evaluation of peripheral arterial disease in many situations. •. For both CTA and MRA the interpretation of source images at a workstation is essential along with more advanced visualisation tools. •. CTA is particularly useful for assessment of abdominal aneurysm morphology and in the emergency setting. •. Accurate assessment of stenoses may be difficult with CTA in the presence of calcified plaque, particularly in smaller vessels. •. Gadolinium contrast-enhanced MRA has the most evidence for lower limb arterial assessment, particularly in critical ischaemia. •. Optimal MRA of the tibial arteries is best performed with a dedicated station including time-resolved techniques, especially in critical ischaemia. •. MRA blood pool techniques can further improve visualisation and afford the opportunity for concomitant veno.
Steven's Johnson syndrome with toxic epidermal necrolysis due to thalidomide in a case of multiple myeloma

Thalidomide developed in 1954 for morning sickness had proven to be a teratogen and hence was withdrawn from market. Resurgence of thalidomide began as an immunomodulator when it was shown to be effective in the management of multiple myeloma and many conditions like erythema nodosum leprosum, graft versus host disease, recurrent aphthous ulcers etc. We report a case of Stevens Johnson syndrome-toxic epidermal necrolysis developing in an elderly male who was prescribed thalidomide after being diagnosed with multiple myeloma.
DEVELOPMENT OF NOVEL VACCINE CANDIDATES FOR MEASLES

Despite the availability of live attenuated measles virus vaccines, a large number of measles-associated deaths occur among infants in developing countries during the “window of susceptibility” (age 4-9 months). During this period declining maternal antibody titers are no longer protective against wild-type measles virus (MV) and impede successful immunization with the live attenuated vaccines. Therefore, the development of a safe vaccine that would induce protective immunity in the presence of maternally derived MVspecific antibodies in young infants and would close the “window of susceptibility” is desirable. Since adenoviruses have been shown as suitable vaccine candidates capable of eliciting potent protection against mucosal infectious diseases, the ability of an adenovirusvectored anti-measles vaccine to elicit robust immune responses against MV was assessed in this study. Mice immunized intramuscularly or intranasally with a combination of human adenovirus serotype 5 (Ad5) recombinants expressing MV hemagglutinin (H) and fusion (F) glycoproteins developed MV-specific neutralizing antibody titers similar for both routes of immunization. However, intramuscular immunization of mice with Ad5 recombinants resulted in induction of a predominant T helper type (Th1) immune response, whereas intranasal immunization induced a balanced Th1/Th2 immune response. Furthermore, intranasal immunization resulted in increased titers of MV-specific immunoglobulin A (IgA) in lungs in comparison to intramuscularly immunized animals. The ability of the Ad5 recombinants to induce protective immune responses in cotton rats by different routes of administration was also evaluated. Cotton rats that received a single
Performance of children on the Turkish Nonword Repetition Test: Effect of word similarity, word length, and scoring

Abstract This study aims to report the preliminary results of the development of the Turkish Nonword Repetition Test and to contribute to the clinical accuracy of the test by comparing the performance of children with specific language impairment with that of language-level matched and age-matched typically developing children on a nonword repetition (NWR) test developed for Turkish. To determine the effect of word similarity and word length, the Turkish Nonword Repetition Test is composed of language-like and language-unlike items. To determine the effect of scoring, the performances of children were scored as correct/incorrect for a whole word, for only the consonants, and for only the vowels. The findings suggest that the test is a reliable tool to differentiate Turkish-speaking children with SLI from typically developing children.
Incidence of Candida albicans in diabetic patients with a dental prosthesis in Northeast Mexico

Diabetes is an important health problem with a high morbidity and mortality. There are infections that are common in patients with diabetes and others that have greater severity and complications. A study was carried out to determine if there is a higher incidence of Candida albicans in patients with diabetes who use total and partial dental prostheses in comparison with patients without diabetes. Samples were obtained from 43 patients seven days after receiving a total or partial dental prosthesis. Afterwards, samples from the dentures were cultured in CHROMagar to determine the presence of Candida. The frequency of different types of Candida was analyzed and it was found that no significant difference exists between patients with diabetes and those without diabetes with regard to the presence of C. albicans. Key words: Candida albicans, dental prosthesis, diabetes mellitus, CHROMagar.
The effect of age and vocal task on cepstral/spectral measures of vocal function in adult males

Abstract This study investigated the effect of aging on cepstral/spectral acoustic measures calculated from clinical stimuli (vowels and sentences from the Consensus Auditory Perceptual Evaluation of Voice). Thirty younger adult males (20–49 years of age) and thirty older males (50–79 years of age) produced sustained vowels and read a connected speech stimulus which were applied to cepstral/spectral acoustic analyses to derive the multiparametric measure of Cepstral/Spectral Index of Dysphonia (CSID). Results indicated that older males exhibited significantly greater CSID measures than younger males in connected speech (p = 0.001; d = 0.98), but not the vowel. Linear regression revealed a moderate correlation between age and CSID in connected speech. These results further inform our understanding of how aging influences voice production in varied contexts and how commonly utilised clinical voice tasks subjected to cepstral/spectral acoustic analyses might differentially inform our knowledge of underlying vocal physiology.
On the attribution of probabilities to the causes of disease

Leigh et al. (1996, Asbestos related lung cancer: apportionment of causation and damages to asbestos and tobacco smoke. Sourcebook of Asbestos Diseases, vol. 13, pp. 141-166) considered the problem of apportionment of causation to exposure to asbestos and to tobacco smoke in persons with asbestos-related lung cancer. The ultimate goal was to use these apportionments to determine the proportions of the total compensation for a lung cancer patient to be paid by the defendants responsible for asbestos and tobacco. The apportionment of causation amounted to a quantity being assigned as the 'probability' of causing the disease for each of the exposures, assuming that at least one of the exposures was implicated in the onset of disease. This causation probability for an exposure was the attributable fraction for that exposure as a proportion of the sum of the attributable fractions for all exposures. While the apportionment of causation in this way seemingly makes reasonable sense, it is nonetheless arbitrary and the apportionments have no natural interpretation as probabilities. Further, such apportionments are demonstrably incorrect, as we shall see. Intuitively, the causation probability for an exposure is its incidence rate as a proportion of the sum of the incidence rates for all exposures and in this paper we present a model which leads to causation probabilities precisely in this form.
From aardvark to ziggurat: A new tool for assessing children's use of rare vocabulary

Abstract This study introduces a resource for examining children’s use of low-frequency vocabulary and describes preliminary evidence of its validity. Using a corpus of >1400 transcripts from school-aged children, we derived a concordance of all words spoken by the children and generated a list of 2079 uncommon words we have called WERVE, the Wordlist for Expressive Rare Vocabulary Evaluation. Preliminary validity evidence for WERVE was examined through correlation analyses with WERVE results and other common language measures in a test sample of 112 children age 7 and 8 years. In addition, we replicated the correlation analyses using a sample of 38 eight-year-old children. WERVE results correlated strongly with established language sample measures and to a lesser but frequently significant degree with standardized test results. Results also showed developmental change from age 7 to age 8. Correlations ranged from medium to large. These results suggest that WERVE may be a useful tool for language sample researchers to explore.