Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Key considerations around the risks and consequences of hypoglycaemia in people with type 2 diabetes

Hypoglycaemia and its consequences represent a significant risk for many people who have type 2 diabetes, and hypoglycaemia is currently under‐recognised and commonly avoidable. Current clinical guidelines recommend the targeting of tight glycaemic control and this strategy may also be associated with an increased risk of hypoglycaemia. Hypoglycaemia impacts on morbidity, mortality and quality of life of people with type 2 diabetes, and improved recognition of the symptoms of hypoglycaemia will allow effective treatment and reduce the risk of progression to more severe episodes. A common cause of hypoglycaemia in people with type 2 diabetes is glucose‐lowering medication, in particular, those which raise insulin independently of ambient glucose concentration such as sulphonylureas and exogenous insulin. The recently published National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence guideline recommends the use of Dipeptidyl peptidase‐4 inhibitors or thiazolidinediones (glitazones) as alternative second‐line therapy instead of a sulphonylurea in those patients who are at significant risk of hypoglycaemia and its consequences.
Improved glycemic control with no weight increase in patients with type 2 diabetes after once-daily treatment with the long-acting glucagon-like peptide 1 analog liraglutide (NN2211): a 12-week, double-blind, randomized, controlled trial.

OBJECTIVE Liraglutide is a long-acting glucagon-like peptide 1 analog designed for once daily injection. This study assessed the efficacy and safety of liraglutide after 12 weeks of treatment in type 2 diabetic patients. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS A double-blind, randomized, parallel-group, placebo-controlled trial with an open-label comparator arm was conducted among 193 outpatients with type 2 diabetes. The mean age was 56.6 years and the mean HbA(1c) was 7.6% across the treatment groups. Patients were randomly assigned to one of five fixed-dosage groups of liraglutide (0.045, 0.225, 0.45, 0.60, or 0.75 mg), placebo, or open-label sulfonylurea (glimepiride, 1-4 mg). The primary end point was HbA(1c) after 12 weeks; secondary end points were fasting serum glucose, fasting C-peptide, fasting glucagon, fasting insulin, beta-cell function, body weight, adverse events, and hypoglycemic episodes. RESULTS A total of 190 patients were included in the intention-to-treat (ITT) analysis. HbA(1c) decreased in all but the lowest liraglutide dosage group. In the 0.75-mg liraglutide group, HbA(1c) decreased by 0.75 percentage points (P < 0.0001) and fasting glucose decreased by 1.8 mmol/l (P = 0.0003) compared with placebo. Improvement in glycemic control was evident after 1 week. Body weight decreased by 1.2 kg in the 0.45-mg liraglutide group (P = 0.0184) compared with placebo. The proinsulin-to-insulin ratio decreased in the 0.75-mg liraglutide group (-0.18; P = 0.0244) compared with placebo. Patients treated with glimepiride had decreased HbA(1c) and fasting glucose, but slightly increased body weight. No safety issues were raised for liraglutide; observed adverse events were mild and transient. CONCLUSIONS A once-daily dose of liraglutide provides efficacious glycemic control and is not associated with weight gain. Adverse events with the drug are mild and transient, and the risk of hypoglycemia is negligible.
Finding minimal triangulations of convex 3-polytopes is NP-hard

A triangulation of a d-dimensional convex polytope is a set of d-simplices whose union is the polytope and any two simplices in it intersect in a common (possibly empty) face. The size of a triangulation is the number of its full-dimensional simplices. We discuss the problem of finding a minimal-size triangulation of a convex d-polytope. This optimization problem arises, in Computer Algebra and Mathematical Programming, and it is related to the problem of characterizing the f-vectors of triangulations of balls and polytopes (see [1, 3, 4, 5] for references). The interest on the computational complexity of this question goes back at least to the survey [3]. There it was asked whether there is a polynomial time algorithm to compute a minimal triangulation of a 3-dimensional convex polytope (open Problem 12 in section 3.2 of [3]). We provide evidence that such algorithm is impossible:
Noisy-parallel and comparable corpora filtering methodology for the extraction of bi-lingual equivalent data at sentence level

Text alignment and text quality are critical to the accuracy of Machine Trans- lation (MT) systems, some NLP tools, and any other text processing tasks requiring bilingual data. This research proposes a language-independent bi- sentence filtering approach based on Polish (not a position-sensitive language) to English experiments. This cleaning approach was developed on the TED Talks corpus and also initially tested on the Wikipedia comparable corpus, but it can be used for any text domain or language pair. The proposed approach implements various heuristics for sentence comparison. Some of the heuristics leverage synonyms as well as semantic and structural analysis of text as additio- nal information. Minimization of data loss has been? ensured. An improvement in MT system scores with text processed using this tool is discussed.
Family-Based Crisis Intervention With Suicidal Adolescents: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Objective In current practice, treatment as usual (TAU) for suicidal adolescents includes evaluation, with little or no intervention provided in the emergency department (ED), and disposition, usually to an inpatient psychiatry unit. The family-based crisis intervention (FBCI) is an emergency psychiatry intervention designed to sufficiently stabilize suicidal adolescents within a single ED visit so that they may return home safely with their families. The objective of this article is to report efficacy outcomes related to FBCI for suicidal adolescents and their families. Methods A total of 142 suicidal adolescents (age, 13–18 years) and their families presenting for psychiatric evaluation to a large pediatric ED were randomized to receive FBCI or TAU. Patients and caregivers completed self-report measures of suicidality, family empowerment, and satisfaction with care provided at pretest, posttest, and 3 follow-up time points over a 1-month period. Results Patients randomized to FBCI were significantly more likely to be discharged home with outpatient follow-up care compared with their TAU counterparts (P < 0.001). Families randomized to the FBCI condition reported significantly higher levels of family empowerment and client satisfaction with care at posttest compared with their TAU counterparts. Gains were maintained over the follow-up period. No completed suicides were reported during the study period in either condition. Conclusions Family-based crisis intervention is a model of care for suicidal adolescents that may be a viable alternative to traditional ED care that involves inpatient psychiatric hospitalization.
Propolis Is an Efficient Fungicide and Inhibitor of Biofilm Production by Vaginal Candida albicans

Vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC) is one of the most common genital infections in women. The therapeutic arsenal remains restricted, and some alternatives to VVC treatment are being studied. The present study evaluated the influence of a propolis extractive solution (PES) on biofilm production by Candida albicans isolated from patients with VVC. Susceptibility testing was used to verify the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of PES, with fluconazole and nystatin as controls. The biofilm formation of 29 vaginal isolates of C. albicans and a reference strain that were exposed to PES was evaluated using crystal violet staining. Colony-forming units were evaluated, proteins and carbohydrates of the matrix biofilm were quantified, and scanning electron microscopy was performed. The MIC of PES ranged from 68.35 to 546.87 μg/mL of total phenol content in gallic acid. A concentration of 546.87 μg/mL was able to cause the death of 75.8% of the isolates. PES inhibited biofilm formation by C. albicans from VVC. Besides antifungal activity, PES appears to present important antibiofilm activity on abiotic surfaces, indicating that it may have an additional beneficial effect in the treatment of VVC.
Human Immunodeficiency Virus Can Affect the Semiology of Osteoarticular Infections

Objective: To compare the epidemiological, the clinical and the paraclinical profile of osteoarticular infections in HIV-positive patients and in HIV-negative patients. Patients and Methods: patients with Osteoarticular infections recognized on the basis of radioclinical and epidemiological arguments were included in this study. The comparison that was based on the existence or was not of HIV infection focused on various clinical and biological components. Of these 15,800 rheumatic patients admitted in 18 years, 461 have suffered from Osteoarticular infection (2.9%). The 461 patient objects of this study were divided into 235 cases of infectious arthritis including 38 cases of co-infection with HIV and 225 cases of infectious spondylodiscitis including 21 cases of HIV co-infection. Results: There were 246 women (53.4%) and 215 men (46.4%) with a sex ratio of 1.1. The mean age was 37.7 ± 13.6 years. The data comparison of HIV-negative patients and HIV-positive patients had not shown statistically significant difference in the infectious spondylodiscitis group and in the group of infectious arthritis patients. Only fever was statistically significant in both groups and weight loss in the group of infectious arthritis (p < 0.001). Conclusion: HIV seems not to particularly influence the semiological profile of Osteoarticular infections in Lome.
X Chromosome-linked Inhibitor of Apoptosis Regulates Cell Death Induction by Proapoptotic Receptor Agonists

Proapoptotic receptor agonists cause cellular demise through the activation of the extrinsic and intrinsic apoptotic pathways. Inhibitor of apoptosis (IAP) proteins block apoptosis induced by diverse stimuli. Here, we demonstrate that IAP antagonists in combination with Fas ligand (FasL) or the death receptor 5 (DR5) agonist antibody synergistically stimulate death in cancer cells and inhibit tumor growth. Single-agent activity of IAP antagonists relies on tumor necrosis factor-α signaling. By contrast, blockade of tumor necrosis factor-α does not affect the synergistic activity of IAP antagonists with FasL or DR5 agonist antibody. In most cancer cells, proapoptotic receptor agonist-induced cell death depends on amplifying the apoptotic signal via caspase-8-mediated activation of Bid and subsequent activation of the caspase-9-dependent mitochondrial apoptotic pathway. In the investigated cancer cell lines, induction of apoptosis by FasL or DR5 agonist antibody can be inhibited by knockdown of Bid. However, knockdown of X chromosome-linked IAP (XIAP) or antagonism of XIAP allows FasL or DR5 agonist antibody to induce activation of effector caspases efficiently without the need for mitochondrial amplification of the apoptotic signal and thus rescues the effect of Bid knockdown in these cells.
BF-1 Interferes with Transforming Growth Factor β Signaling by Associating with Smad Partners

ABSTRACT The winged-helix (WH) BF-1 gene, which encodes brain factor 1 (BF-1) (also known as foxg1), is essential for the proliferation of the progenitor cells of the cerebral cortex. Here we show that BF-1-deficient telencephalic progenitor cells are more apt to leave the cell cycle in response to transforming growth factor β (TGF-β) and activin. We found that ectopic expression of BF-1 in vitro inhibits TGF-β mediated growth inhibition and transcriptional activation. Surprisingly, we found that the ability of BF-1 to function as a TGF-β antagonist does not require its DNA binding activity. Therefore, we investigated whether BF-1 can inhibit Smad-dependent transcriptional responses by interacting with Smads or Smad binding partners. We found that BF-1 does not interact with Smads. Because the identities of the Smad partners mediating growth inhibition by TGF-β are not clearly established, we examined a model reporter system which is known to be activated by activin and TGF-β through Smads and the WH factor FAST-2. We demonstrate that BF-1 associates with FAST-2. This interaction is dependent on the same region of protein which mediates its ability to interfere with the antiproliferative activity of TGF-β and with TGF-β-dependent transcriptional activation. Furthermore, the interaction of FAST-2 with BF-1 is mediated by the same domain which is required for FAST-2 to interact with Smad2. We propose a model in which BF-1 interferes with transcriptional responses to TGF-β by interacting with FAST-2 or with other DNA binding proteins which function as Smad2 partners and which have a common mode of interaction with Smad2.
High‐resolution isotropic 3D diffusion tensor imaging of the human brain

High‐resolution cardiac‐gated 3D diffusion tensor imaging (3D‐DTI) is demonstrated in vivo for several areas of the human brain. Anatomical mapping of subcortical white matter (WM), as well as definition and identification of major WM bundles from the brainstem were performed in humans for the first time using this technique. Improved intrinsic signal‐to‐noise ratio (SNR) and relatively reduced sensitivity to physiological motion (e.g., brain pulsations) with respect to cardiac‐gated multislice acquisition are demonstrated. The advantages and weaknesses of this approach are discussed. Magn Reson Med 47:837–843, 2002. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
A State-Space Analysis for Reconstruction of Goal-Directed Movements Using Neural Signals

Abstract The execution of reaching movements involves the coordinated activity of multiple brain regions that relate variously to the desired target and a path of arm states to achieve that target. These arm states may represent positions, velocities, torques, or other quantities. Estimation has been previously applied to neural activity in reconstructing the target separately from the path. However, the target and path are not independent. Because arm movements are limited by finite muscle contractility, knowledge of the target constrains the path of states that leads to the target. In this letter, we derive and illustrate a state equation to capture this basic dependency between target and path. The solution is described for discrete-time linear systems and gaussian increments with known target arrival time. The resulting analysis enables the use of estimation to study how brain regions that relate variously to target and path together specify a trajectory. The corresponding reconstruction procedure may also be useful in brain-driven prosthetic devices to generate control signals for goal-directed movements.
Variational Information Maximisation for Intrinsically Motivated Reinforcement Learning

The mutual information is a core statistical quantity that has applications in all areas of machine learning, whether this is in training of density models over multiple data modalities, in maximising the efficiency of noisy transmission channels, or when learning behaviour policies for exploration by artificial agents. Most learning algorithms that involve optimisation of the mutual information rely on the Blahut-Arimoto algorithm --- an enumerative algorithm with exponential complexity that is not suitable for modern machine learning applications. This paper provides a new approach for scalable optimisation of the mutual information by merging techniques from variational inference and deep learning. We develop our approach by focusing on the problem of intrinsically-motivated learning, where the mutual information forms the definition of a well-known internal drive known as empowerment. Using a variational lower bound on the mutual information, combined with convolutional networks for handling visual input streams, we develop a stochastic optimisation algorithm that allows for scalable information maximisation and empowerment-based reasoning directly from pixels to actions.
luxR Homolog avhR in Agrobacterium vitis Affects the Development of a Grape-Specific Necrosis and a Tobacco Hypersensitive Response

ABSTRACT The luxR homolog aviR in Agrobacterium vitis strain F2/5 was recently shown to be associated with induction of a hypersensitive response (HR) on tobacco and necrosis on grape plants, indicating that the responses are regulated by quorum sensing. We now report a second luxR homolog, avhR, whose disruption (mutant M1320) results in HR-negative and reduced grape necrosis phenotypes. The deduced AvhR protein has characteristic autoinducer binding and DNA binding domains and is unique among reported functional LuxR homologs in having substitutions at highly conserved Asp70, Trp57, and Trp85 residues, which are predicted to play important roles in autoinducer binding in TraR. M1320 was fully complemented with cloned avhR. The same array of N-acylhomoserine lactones (AHL) from F2/5, M1320, and complemented M1320 were observed; however, the signal strength from extracts of 6-day-old M1320 cultures was stronger than that of F2/5. Cultures of F2/5 amended with AHL extracts from overnight and 6-day cultures of F2/5 and M1320 were not affected in ability to cause HR or necrosis. A region of about 14 kb flanking avhR was sequenced and compared with homologous regions of A. tumefaciens C58 and Sinorhizobium meliloti Rm1021 genomes. Gene order and homology are conserved between the species. A site-directed mutation in a putative gene that resides downstream of avhR and that has homology to genes belonging to the ATP-binding cassette transporter family did not affect HR or necrosis phenotypes. It was determined that avhR and aviR are expressed independently and that neither regulates the expression of a clpA homolog in F2/5.
Marjolin’s ulcer: a challenging complication of non-healing wounds

Marjolin’s ulcer is an uncommon malignant condition related to non-healing wounds, more often of burn injuries. Our aim is increase the suspicion index of primary care workers about the risk of squamous cell carcinoma in skin chronic ulcers or scar tissue, mainly in extremities. We report a Marjolin’s ulcer associated with traumatic chronic ulcer in the leg of a 73-year-old white female. Histological diagnosis was poorly differentiated squamous cell carcinoma. The tumor evolved unsuspected on the border of the ulcer in a region of venous insufficiency and lymph edema. In the majority of cases, Marjolin’s ulcer represents a highly aggressive squamous cell carcinoma. Adequate managing of risk factors constitutes the best tool for prevention of this malignancy, diagnosis is challenging, and it can be overlooked or under reported. As late diagnosis favors poor outcome, even single case reports might enhance the suspicion of primary care workers about this preventable condition.
Adolescent reproduction: the case of Chile and its policy implications

Adolescent fertility and maternity are a source of concern in the Latin American and Caribbean region, because they imply situations of adversity, have not gone down as in other age groups, and are more frequent among poor teenagers. Analysis of the micro-data from the last three censuses in Chile also shows: i) a generalized tendency for adolescent maternity to be out of wedlock; ii) the protective effect of staying in school, which comes into play after passing an educational threshold which is rising with time; iii) the leading role played by the parents of the households where most adolescent mothers live, and iv) the need for specific programmes and integral actions to reduce adolescent maternity, since although access to information and sexual health and reproduction services avoids pregnancies, it is not enough when there is a lack of alternatives to maternity or there are cultural and psychological obstacles to the proper use of contraceptive methods.
Enterprise resource-planning systems adoption in Bahrain: motives, benefits, and barriers

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to provide better understanding of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems adoption, as well as non‐adoption practices in a less developed country setting, namely Bahrain.Design/methodology/approach – A survey method was employed to elicit opinions from IT executives from two types of companies: those which adopted ERP systems and those which so far have not.Findings – The study highlighted the benefits, motives and barriers of implementing such systems. Moreover, for those which have not experienced these practices before, it investigated the reasons behind not implementing these systems, executives' attitudes, and future intentions towards these systems. Implications and insights for businesses, ERP systems' vendors, educators, and researchers have been discussed based on the results of the survey.Originality/value – This study extends research efforts concerning the adoption of ERP systems to include strategic and decision‐making aspects of evaluation, which ha.
Initiation of human regular U-500 insulin use is associated with improved glycemic control: a real-world US cohort study

Aim Describe the characteristics of patients initiating human regular U-500 insulin (U-500R) and their subsequent glycemic control in a real-world setting. Methods US Humedica electronic health record system data (July 2007–September 2011) were used to identify patients with diabetes aged ≥18 years with ≥1 records for U-500R prescriptions, 6 months of preindex data, 12 months following first use of U-500R, and at least one glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) value in both preindex and postindex periods. Paired t tests were used to measure the change in HbA1c from preindex to postindex periods (last or most recent values) and hypoglycemia. Results Among patients initiating U-500R (N=445), 96.9% had type 2 diabetes with mean age 57 years and mean body mass index 40.4 kg/m2. Postindex prescriptions were written for U-500R alone (47.0%, group A) and concomitant U-500R/U-100 insulins (53.0%, group B). Concomitant oral antihyperglycemic agents (AHAs) and non-insulin injectable AHAs were used by 43.4% and 14.6% of patients, respectively. Following initiation of U-500R, mean HbA1c improved 0.68% in all patients (p<0.0001 compared with baseline), but the decrease in HbA1c did not differ significantly between groups (A: 0.78%; B: 0.60%). Overall, hypoglycemic events, largely captured in the outpatient setting, increased in incidence from 6.7% to 11.9% (p≤0.0001) and from 0.23 to 0.39 events/patient/year, an increase of 0.16 (p=0.003), from preindex to postindex. Conclusions This real-world outcomes analysis demonstrates that U-500R initiation is associated with a clinically meaningful improvement in glycemic control over the subsequent 12-month period with modest increase in incidence and rate of hypoglycemia.
State of Coral Reef Ecosystems of the Flower Garden Banks , Stetson Bank , and Other Banks in the Northwestern Gulf of Mexico

INTRODUCTION AND SETTING The East and West Flower Garden Banks (EFGB and WFGB) were designated as the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary (FGBNMS) through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in January 1992. The two banks are prominent geological features located near the outer edge of the continental shelf in the northwestern Gulf of Mexico, approximately 192 km southeast of Galveston, Texas (Figure 8.1). These features, created by the uplift of underlying salt domes of Jurassic origin, rise from surrounding water depths of over 100 m to within 17 m of the surface. The northernmost thriving coral reef communities in North America cap the shallow portions of the EFGB and WFGB. They are relatively isolated from other coral reefs of the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico, located over 690 km from the nearest reefs of the Campeche Bank off Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, and over 1,200 km from the coral reefs of the Florida Keys. The area of the EFGB (27 54.5’ N, 93 36.0’ W) comprises about 65.8 km2 of which about 1.02 km2 is coral reef. Located 19.3 km to the west, the WFGB (27 52.5’ N, 93 49.0’ W) comprises about 77.2 km2 of which about 0.4 km2 is coral reef (Gardner et al., 1998).