Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Thyroid in pregnancy: From physiology to screening

Abstract Thyroid hormones are crucial for the growth and maturation of many target tissues, especially the brain and skeleton. During critical periods in the first trimester of pregnancy, maternal thyroxine is essential for fetal development as it supplies thyroid hormone-dependent tissues. The ontogeny of mature thyroid function involves organogenesis, and maturation of the hypothalamus, pituitary and the thyroid gland; and it is almost complete by the 12th–14th gestational week. In case of maternal hypothyroidism, substitution with levothyroxine must be started in early pregnancy. After the 14th gestational week, fetal brain development may already be irreversibly affected by lack of thyroid hormones. The prevalence of manifest hypothyroidism in pregnancy is about 0.3–0.5%. The prevalence of subclinical hypothyroidism varies between 4 and 17%, strongly depending on the definition of the upper TSH cutoff limit. Hyperthyroidism occurs in 0.1–1% of all pregnancies. Positivity for antibodies against thyroid peroxidase (TPOAb) is common in women of childbearing age with an incidence rate of 5.1–12.4%. TPOAb-positivity may be regarded as a manifestation of a general autoimmune state which may alter the fertilization and implantation processes or cause early missed abortions. Women positive for TPOAb are at a significant risk of developing hypothyroidism during pregnancy and postpartum. Laboratory diagnosis of thyroid dysfunction during pregnancy is based upon serum TSH concentration. TSH in pregnancy is physiologically lower than the non-pregnant population. Results of multiple international studies point toward creation of trimester-specific reference intervals for TSH in pregnancy. Screening for hypothyroidism in pregnancy is controversial and its implementation varies from country to country. Currently, the case-finding approach of screening high-risk women is preferred in most countries to universal screening. However, numerous studies have shown that one-third to one-half of women with thyroid disorders escape the case-finding approach. Moreover, the universal screening has been shown to be more cost-effective. Screening for thyroid disorders in pregnancy should include assessment of both TSH and TPOAb, regardless of the screening approach. This review summarizes the current knowledge on physiology of thyroid hormones in pregnancy, causes of maternal thyroid dysfunction and its effects on pregnancy course and fetal development. We discuss the question of case-finding versus universal screening strategies and we display an overview of the analytical methods and their reference intervals in the assessment of thyroid function and thyroid autoimmunity in pregnancy. Finally, we present our results supporting the implementation of universal screening.
No association between HPV infection and the neoplastic progression of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma: Result from a cross‐sectional study in a high‐risk region of China

Esophageal cancer is a leading cause of cancer death, especially in developing countries. In high‐risk regions, squamous cell carcinoma is the most common type of esophageal cancer, and its etiology remains poorly understood. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the association between human papillomavirus (HPV) infection and esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) and related precursor lesions in a high‐risk area of China. We conducted a cross‐sectional study among adult inhabitants of Linxian, China. All subjects were interviewed about potential risk factors, had the length of their esophagus sampled by a balloon cytology examination and underwent endoscopy with mucosal iodine staining and biopsy of all unstained lesions. A multivalent HPV hybridization probe, Digene Hybrid Capture II (Gaithersburg, MD), which recognizes high‐risk types 16, 18, 31, 33, 35, 39, 45, 51, 52, 56, 58, 59 and 68, was used to determine the HPV infection status of the cytologic specimens, and the endoscopic biopsies were used to classify each subject's esophageal disease. 740 subjects completed the cytologic and endoscopic exams, and 702 had adequate cytologic and biopsy specimens. Using a cutpoint of ≥3.0 pg/ml of HPV DNA to define a positive test, HPV positivity was identified in 13% (61/475) of subjects without squamous dysplasia, 8% (8/102) with mild dysplasia, 7% (6/83) with moderate dysplasia, 16% (6/38) with severe dysplasia and zero (0/4) with invasive ESCC. Changing the cutpoint defining a positive test did not change the association of HPV infection and dysplasia grade. In this high‐risk population, infection of esophageal cells with high‐risk HPV types occurs in 13% of asymptomatic adults with no evidence of squamous dysplasia and a similar proportion of individuals with mild, moderate or severe dysplasia. This suggests that HPV infection is not a major risk factor for ESCC in this high‐risk Chinese population. Further studies are warranted to determine if infection with this agent is associated with neoplastic progression in a subset of cases. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Vote Trading and the Voting Paradox: A Proof of Logical Equivalence

Riker and Brams have demonstrated the paradox of vote trading (“… that rational trades by all members [may] make everyone worse off”). In so doing the authors indicate the existence of an apparent disequilibrium when vote trading occurs. I extend this latter point and prove that the preference conditions required for vote trading are the same as those which produce the cyclical majority; the conditions for vote trading and the cyclical majority are logically equivalent. The conclusion briefly indicates the impact of this finding with respect to the work of a number of other authors and gives some idea of the restrictions which would be required to eliminate vote trading among rational legislators.
Radon content of groundwater as an earthquake precursor: Evaluation of worldwide data and physical basis

The properties of a worldwide data set of 91 radon (^(222)Rn) anomalies (the frequency of occurrence, the precursor time interval, and the distribution of peak amplitudes) are correlated with earthquake data such as the respective magnitude and epicentral distance. These anomalies were reported as precursors to earthquakes in the United States, USSR, China, Japan, and Iceland. Although the data set is incomplete and limited by experimental deficiencies, several consistent patterns emerge. Radon anomalies from different tectonic regions show similar patterns. The radon anomalies occur at greater epicentral distances for earthquakes of the larger magnitude. Anomalies preceding large earthquakes (M ≥ 6) are frequently observed at a distance of 100 to 500 km. These distances are larger than several times the rupture dimensions of the future earthquakes. The time from the onset of an anomaly to the time of the earthquake (the precursor time) increases with magnitude but decreases with distance between epicenter and radon station. In addition, radon anomalies are observed more frequently prior to large earthquakes than prior to small ones, indicating that the preparation zone increases in size as magnitude increases. The peak amplitude does not scale with magnitude but forms a consistent pattern with epicentral distance in that the larger the earthquake magnitude, the farther away the largest amplitudes tend to occur. The preparation zone of the earthquake where the anomalies occur forms an almost continuous annulus that expands with time away from the future rupture zone. The outer radius of this annulus scales with the earthquake magnitude. Model calculations indicate that strain fields of at most 10^(−6) to 10^(−8) strain caused the radon anomalies. If these strains are divided by the appropriate precursor time, minimum strain rates from 10^(−7) day^(−1) to 10^(−10) day^(−1) are obtained. Such small strains and strain rates suggest that in most cases neither mechanical crack growth induced by dilatancy nor mechanical coupling between pore pressure and the rock matrix caused the anomalies. Large changes in the orientation of the local strain field, however, could occur and affect the local stress intensity factor. Since changes in the stress intensity factor can result in stress corrosion, the occurrence of radon anomalies is attributed to slow crack growth controlled by stress corrosion in a rock matrix saturated by groundwater.
Solid pseudopapillary neoplasm of the pancreas: CT imaging features and radiologic-pathologic correlation.

PURPOSE We aimed to evaluate the imaging features of solid pseudopapillary neoplasm (SPN) of the pancreas with an emphasis on radiologic-pathologic correlation. METHODS Ten patients (all female; mean age, 32 years) with histologic or cytologic diagnosis of SPN encountered between January 2007 and December 2013 were included in this study. Preoperative computed tomography (CT) images were reviewed for location, attenuation, enhancement pattern, margin, shape, size, morphology, presence of capsule and calcification. CT appearances were correlated with histopathologic findings. RESULTS Tumors in the distal pancreatic body and tail had a tendency to be larger (mean size 12.6 cm vs. 4.0 cm). Six of the nine tumors that were resected had a fibrous pseudocapsule at histology, five of which could be identified on CT scan. Eight lesions had mixed hypoenhancing solid components and cystic areas corresponding to tumor necrosis and hemorrhage. The two smallest lesions were purely solid and nonencapsulated. Varied patterns of calcification were seen in four tumors. Three of the four pancreatic tail tumors invaded the spleen. At a median follow-up of 53 months, there was no evidence of recurrence in the nine patients who underwent surgical resection of the tumor. CONCLUSION A mixed solid and cystic pancreatic mass in a young woman is suggestive of SPN. However, smaller lesions may be completely solid. Splenic invasion can occur in pancreatic tail SPNs; however, in this series it did not adversely affect the long-term outcome.
Isolating Attitudinal and Normative Influences in Behavioral Intentions Models

Behavioral intentions often have been used as a surrogate for actual behavior in choice models and to reflect the impact of marketing variables. The Fishbein behavioral intentions model posits two determinants of behavioral intentions: a personal or attitudinal component and a social influence or normative component. The authors use an experimental methodology to examine aspects of this model's construct validity. Certain operational problems are identified and related to underlying conceptual difficulties in separating these two components.
How has the prevalence of cigarette smoking changed among Australian adults? Trends in smoking prevalence between 1980 and 2001

Objective: To examine trends in the prevalence of cigarette smoking between 1980 and 2001 among several different sociodemographic groups within the Australian population. Method: National cross sectional surveys conducted by face to face interview every 3 years from 1980. Respondents were classified into five age groups and the occupation of respondents in the workforce were classified into one of upper or lower white collar or upper or lower blue collar. Main outcome measure: Prevalence of smoking at least weekly. Results: The prevalence of smoking in 2001 was lower than that found in 1980 and this was true for all sociodemographic groups. Among adults smoking prevalence decreased from 35% in 1980 to 23% in 2001. The differential in smoking prevalence between men and women decreased between 1980 and 2001. Although smoking was more common among younger Australians (<24 years) than older Australians throughout the study, the differential between age groups reduced. For all years except 1980, the proportion of smokers among upper white collar workers was significantly lower than in all other occupation groups. Conclusion: There had been a continual decline in the prevalence of smoking among the Australian population since 1980. This decline had occurred across both sexes and in all age and occupation groups. Much of the decline in smoking prevalence between 1998 and 2001 was among blue collar worker group.
Exclusion of Natural Autoantibody-Producing B Cells from IgG Memory B Cell Compartment during T Cell-Dependent Immune Responses1

In healthy individuals, a substantial proportion of circulating Abs exhibit polyreactivity and self-reactivity. These Abs are referred to as natural autoantibodies (NAAs). As part of the innate immunity, NAAs play an important role in eliminating pathogens. However, inherent to their poly/autoreactivity is the potential for NAAs to differentiate to high-affinity autoantibodies during an immune response. We recently generated site-directed transgenic mice that express a prototypic NAA, ppc1-5, which binds a variety of self- and non-self-Ags including DNA and phosphocholine. We have shown previously that B cells expressing the ppc1-5 NAA are positively selected during their primary development. In this study, we demonstrate that following immunization with the T-dependent Ag, phosphocholine conjugated to keyhole limpet hemocyanin, ppc1-5 NAA B cells mounted a quick IgM Ab response and entered germinal centers, but they failed to differentiate to IgG-producing cells during late primary and memory responses. Hybridomas and cDNA clones derived from the immunized mice included many IgM NAA-producing cells, but IgG NAA clones were extremely rare. Instead, many of the IgG B cells replaced their IgH transgene with an endogenous VH gene and produced non-autoreactive Abs. These results indicate that although NAA B cells are positively selected in the preimmune repertoire and can participate in early IgM Ab response, they are subjected to regulatory mechanisms that prevent them from developing to high-affinity IgG autoantibody production. This would explain, at least in part, why NAAs do not cause autoimmunity in most individuals.
Cleaved Forms of the Urokinase Plasminogen Activator Receptor in Plasma Have Diagnostic Potential and Predict Postoperative Survival in Patients with Ovarian Cancer

Purpose: To evaluate the plasma level of different forms of soluble urokinase plasminogen activator receptor (suPAR) as discriminators between malignant, borderline, and benign ovarian tumors and as prognostic markers in patients with ovarian cancer. Experimental Design: The different suPAR forms were measured in preoperative plasma samples obtained from 335 patients with adnexal lesions using three different time-resolved fluoresence assays (TR-FIA): TR-FIA 1 measuring intact suPAR, suPAR(I-III), TR-FIA 2 measuring the total amount of suPAR(I-III) and the cleaved form, suPAR(II-III), and TR-FIA 3 measuring the liberated uPAR(I). Tumors were classified as benign (n = 211), borderline (possibly malignant; n = 30), and well (n = 19), moderately (n = 15), and poorly (n = 60) differentiated malignant. Results: All uPAR forms as well as CA125 were statistically significant in univariate analysis discriminating between benign, borderline, and invasive tumors. Restricting the analysis of invasive tumors to early stage (I and II) showed similar results. A combination of CA125 and suPAR(I-III) + suPAR(II-III) discriminated between malignant (all stages) and benign tumors [AUC, 0.94; 95% confidence interval (95% CI), 0.90-0.98] as well as borderline and benign tumors (AUC, 0.78; 95% CI, 0.67-0.89). All suPAR forms were markers for poor prognosis in univariate analyses, and high preoperative plasma level of uPAR(I) is an independent predictor of poor prognosis (hazard ratio, 1.84; 95% CI, 1.15-2.95; P = 0.011) in multivariate analyses including age and CA125. Conclusions: High concentration of plasma uPAR(I) is an independent preoperative marker of poor prognosis in patients with ovarian cancer. The combination of plasma suPAR(I-III) + suPAR(II-III) and CA125 discriminates between malignant and benign tumors with an AUC of 0.94.
Association of Nonfinancial Performance Measures with the Financial Performance of a Lodging Chain

A test of nonfinancial measures used as part of a management-incentive program by a U.S.-based, full-service hotel chain found that improvements in the nonfinancial measures were followed shortly by increases in revenue and profit. The two nonfinancial measures are customer satisfaction as measured by guests’ comment card indications of likelihood to return and level of complaints. The lag between the nonfinancial measures and changes in revenue and operating profit was six months in this case. While the test applies directly to that one chain, the lesson is important to the rest of the hotel industry.
Remembering, Familiarity, and Source Monitoring

Two experiments investigated recollective experience in a source monitoring task. Subjects saw an array of objects and performed, watched, or imagined actions involving pairs of objects. In a subsequent recognition test, subjects indicated whether their recognition judgements were made on the basis of conscious recollective experience (“remember” responses), or on some other basis such as familiarity (“know” responses). The proportions of correct “remember” responses for both objects and actions decreased from performed, through watched, to imagined actions, whereas the proportions of correct “know” responses were uninfluenced by the source of the memories. In addition, the relationship between recollective experience and accuracy of source judgement varied across sources. Source accuracy for performed actions was obtained only in “remember” responses, whereas source accuracy for imagined actions was obtained only in “know” responses. Source accuracy for watched actions was obtained in both “remember” and “know” responses. The findings suggest that the types of memory attributes available at retrieval determine the quality of subsequent memory experience, and it is proposed that memories with strongly self-referential attributes (arising from performed actions) powerfully cue recollective experience during retrieval.
Is there evidence to support the inclusion of viscosupplementation in the treatment paradigm for patients with hip osteoarthritis?

OBJECTIVE Viscosupplementation with hyaluronic acid (HA) or its derivatives for the symptomatic relief of osteoarthritis (OA) of the hip joint has never been studied in placebo-controlled, double-blinded trials and conflicting results have been obtained from the published open trials. The aim of this study was to review the literature on viscosupplementation as a symptomatic treatment of hip OA. METHODS DATA SOURCES Clinical trials in Medline (1966-2005) and Cochrane Controlled Trials Register using the key words: hip osteoarthritis AND hyaluronic acid or HA preparation trade name. All trials aimed to assess intra-articular hyaluronic acid injection for the treatment of hip OA were analyzed. In the absence of placebo-controlled trials, and because of the very wide variety of the study designs it was not possible to apply strictly the conventional rules of meta-analysis. RESULTS Nine studies, including a total of 287 patients, were identified. Eight studies were uncontrolled-open trials. One was a randomized double blind study comparing two HA preparations. Five open-label prospective studies, including a total of 141 patients with symptomatic hip OA, assessed the safety and efficacy of 1 to 3 x 2mL intra-articular (IA) injections of hylan G-F 20 under fluoroscopic or ultrasound guidance. The overall success rate was about 50% at 3 to 12 month follow-up. In 31 subjects with symptomatic hip OA who received 1 x 3mL IA injection of non animal stabilized hyaluronic acid (NASHA) under fluoroscopy, pain and disability were reduced by 59% and 47% respectively at month 3. Six to 11 months after treatment the results remained satisfactory (42% and 39%). Hyaluronan injections, performed 3 to 5 times at weekly intervals in 44 patients, were effective in controlling pain in 68% of the patients over the 6 month follow-up period. In contrast, 1 to 3 ultrasound guided IA injections of HA preparations with 0.5-0.75 or 1.0 million MW induced only a very weak benefit in 28 patients. In all studies IA injections of HA were safe and well tolerated. Transient pain at the injection site and mild increase in hip pain for a few days was more frequent with NASHA. In the only double blind controlled trial no difference between hyaluronan and hylan was found regarding both efficacy and safety. CONCLUSION To date, in the absence of placebo-controlled studies, the efficacy of IA injections of HA or its derivatives in the symptomatic treatment of hip OA cannot be determined conclusively. Nevertheless the published data suggest that viscosupplementation may be effective. Double-blind, controlled studies are required to confirm these data, before viscosupplementation should be included into the treatment paradigm for patients with hip osteoarthritis.
Arabic Text to Arabic Sign Language Translation System for the Deaf and Hearing-Impaired Community

This paper describes a machine translation system that offers many deaf and hearing-impaired people the chance to access published information in Arabic by translating text into their first language, Arabic Sign Language (ArSL). The system was created under the close guidance of a team that included three deaf native signers and one ArSL interpreter. We discuss problems inherent in the design and development of such translation systems and review previous ArSL machine translation systems, which all too often demonstrate a lack of collaboration between engineers and the deaf community. We describe and explain in detail both the adapted translation approach chosen for the proposed system and the ArSL corpus that we collected for this purpose. The corpus has 203 signed sentences (with 710 distinct signs) with content restricted to the domain of instructional language as typically used in deaf education. Evaluation shows that the system produces translated sign sentences outputs with an average word error rate of 46.7% and an average position error rate of 29.4% using leave-one-out cross validation. The most frequent source of errors is missing signs in the corpus; this could be addressed in future by collecting more corpus material.
Adolescent alienation: Examining the relevance of contextual domains and psychological components.

This theoretical framework defines and examines whether adolescent alienation is a multidimensional construct comprised of "psychological components" and "contextual domains". It was hypothesized that alienation is comprised of four "psychological components" which are: (a) being alone, not spending time with others, being abandoned and isolated, (b) being a target, the occurrence of being made fun of and teased by others, (c) not fitting-in, being disliked, seen as different, or uninteresting by others, and (d) being cut-off, the occurrence of being ignored, rejected, or excluded by others. It was also hypothesized that alienation is experienced in four "contextual domains" which are people at school, friends, boyfriend/girlfriend, and family. It was examined whether both "psychological components" and "contextual domains" are relevant and the extents to which "psychological components" are specified within "contextual domains" or visa versa.