Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Detailed Exploration of Face-related Processing in Congenital Prosopagnosia: 1. Behavioral Findings

We show that five individuals with congenital prosopagnosia (CP) are impaired at face recognition and discrimination and do not exhibit the normal superiority for upright over inverted faces despite intact visual acuity, low-level vision and intelligence, and in the absence of any obvious neural concomitant. Interestingly, the deficit is not limited to faces: The CP individuals were also impaired at discriminating common objects and novel objects although to a lesser extent than discriminating faces. The perceptual deficit may be attributable to a more fundamental visual processing disorder; the CP individuals exhibited difficulty in deriving global configurations from simple visual stimuli, even with extended exposure duration and considerable perceptual support in the image. Deriving a global configuration from local components is more critical for faces than for other objects, perhaps accounting for the exaggerated deficit in face processing. These findings elucidate the psychological mechanisms underlying CP and support the link between configural and face processing.
Kernel-based skyline cardinality estimation

The skyline of a d-dimensional dataset consists of all points not dominated by others. The incorporation of the skyline operator into practical database systems necessitates an efficient and effective cardinality estimation module. However, existing theoretical work on this problem is limited to the case where all d dimensions are independent of each other, which rarely holds for real datasets. The state of the art Log Sampling (LS) technique simply applies theoretical results for independent dimensions to non-independent data anyway, sometimes leading to large estimation errors. To solve this problem, we propose a novel Kernel-Based (KB) approach that approximates the skyline cardinality with nonparametric methods. Extensive experiments with various real datasets demonstrate that KB achieves high accuracy, even in cases where LS fails. At the same time, despite its numerical nature, the efficiency of KB is comparable to that of LS. Furthermore, we extend both LS and KB to the k-dominant skyline, which is commonly used instead of the conventional skyline for high-dimensional data.
Patterns of Opioid Prescription and Use After Cesarean Delivery.

OBJECTIVE To define the amount of opioid analgesics prescribed and consumed after discharge after cesarean delivery. METHODS We conducted a survey at six academic medical centers in the United States from September 2014 to March 2016. Women who had undergone a cesarean delivery were contacted by phone 2 weeks after discharge and participated in a structured interview about the opioid prescription they received on discharge and their oral opioid intake while at home. RESULTS A total of 720 women were enrolled; of these, 615 (85.4%) filled an opioid prescription. The median number of dispensed opioid tablets was 40 (interquartile range 30-40), the median number consumed was 20 (interquartile range 8-30), and leftover was 15 (interquartile range 3-26). Of those with leftover opioids, 95.3% had not disposed of the excess medication at the time of the interview. There was an association between a larger number of tablets dispensed and the number consumed independent of patient characteristics. The amount of opioids dispensed did not correlate with patient satisfaction, pain control, or the need to refill the opioid prescription. CONCLUSION The amount of opioid prescribed after cesarean delivery generally exceeds the amount consumed by a significant margin, leading to substantial amounts of leftover opioid medication. Lower opioid prescription correlates with lower consumption without a concomitant increase in pain scores or satisfaction.
Review of docetaxel in the treatment of gastric cancer

Gastric cancer is a global health problem accounting for 800,000 cancer related deaths annually. Often diagnosed at an advanced stage, the treatment of gastric cancer with chemotherapy is directed towards palliating cancer related symptoms with only modest improvements in survival. In addition, no regimen has emerged as a globally accepted standard. New therapeutic options are desperately needed for the treatment of gastric cancer. Docetaxel given in combination has recently emerged as a new option for patients with advanced gastric cancer. This review focuses on the treatment of advanced gastric cancer utilizing docetaxel-based therapy and the novel additions of biotherapy to the existing cytotoxic platforms. In addition, the current investigations of docetaxel for the treatment of potentially curable gastric cancer will be discussed.
Epidemiology of HPV infection and current status of cervical cancer prevention in Greece: final results of the LYSISTRATA cross-sectional study

The objective of this study was to assess the overall prevalence of the human papilloma virus (HPV) infection and distribution of high-risk HPV (hrHPV) types in Greece and evaluate the participation of women in primary and secondary cervical cancer prevention. This was a prospective, cross-sectional study carried out between October 2005 and January 2011 in Greece; 5379 women filled out the study questionnaire anonymously. 5107 women underwent cervical HPV-DNA testing, either by Hybrid Capture 2, followed by restriction fragment length polymorphism-PCR, or by the Abbott Real-Time High-Risk HPV test. Overall, 5.8% (295/5107) of women were positive for hrHPV infection. The most common hrHPV type was HPV-16 (24.8% among infected women; 1.4% overall), followed by HPV types 31, 35, 53, 18, 51, 56, 58, 52, 39, 66, 45, 33, 59, and 68. In respect to primary prevention of cervical cancer, acceptance of anti-HPV vaccination appeared to decrease over time (from 85–89.9% annually during 2005–2008 to 64.4–60.5% during 2009–2010, P<0.001). In respect to secondary prevention, only 30.3% of women had regular (annually for more than 5 years) Pap smears; regular gynecologic examinations, Papanicolaou testing, and knowledge of HPV were all associated with various demographic parameters (age, education, place of residence, occupation, and income). The prevalence of hrHPV infection in Greece is similar to that in other European countries; the most common type is HPV-16. The initially relatively high acceptance of HPV vaccination decreased after licensing of the vaccine. Demographic parameters appear to influence participation in cervical cancer screening.
Boundedness of Multidimensional Filters Over a Prescribed Frequency Domain

Signal processing often requires the magnitude of a filter simultaneously upper and lower bounded on some specified frequency domains. In this paper, on the basis of the structure of the span of a multivariate matrix polynomial, a sufficient condition is derived for the boundedness of a multidimensional multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) infinite-impulse-response (IIR) filter over a cuboid frequency domain. This condition is expressed through a linear matrix inequality (LMI) and can be proved to be less conservative than a condition derived from an upper bound of matrix structured singular value. Moreover, using parameter dependent LMIs and the linear fractional transformation structure of the filter, two necessary and sufficient conditions are also obtained for this boundedness verification problem, which are again expressed by LMIs. Furthermore, LMI based conditions are derived for filter output matrix and direct transmission matrix, which are applicable to filter design. Numerical examples are included to illustrate the efficiency and characteristics of the derived theoretical results.
Internal consistency and item-total correlation of patient-reported outcome instruments and hemophilia joint health score v2.1 in US adult people with hemophilia: results from the Pain, Functional Impairment, and Quality of life (P-FiQ) study

Background The Pain, Functional Impairment, and Quality of Life study was an observational, cross-sectional assessment of the impact of pain on functional impairment and quality of life in adult people with hemophilia (PWH) of any severity in the USA who experience joint pain and/or bleeding. Objective To assess internal consistency (IC) and item-total correlation (ITC) of assessment tools used in the Pain, Functional Impairment, and Quality of Life study. Methods Participants completed 5 patient-reported outcome instruments (EQ-5D-5L with visual analog scale, Brief Pain Inventory v2 Short Form [BPI], International Physical Activity Questionnaire [IPAQ], Short Form 36 Health Survey v2 [SF-36v2], and Hemophilia Activities List [HAL]) and underwent an optional physiotherapist-administered musculoskeletal exam (Hemophilia Joint Health Score v2.1) during routine visits. Reliability assessment included IC and ITC of each instrument. Results A total of 381 adult PWH (median age, 34 years) were enrolled. Participants were predominantly white/non-Hispanic (69.2%); 75% had congenital hemophilia A, and 70.5% had severe hemophilia. A total of 310 subjects reported bleeding within the past 6 months (mean [SD] number of bleeds, 7.1 [13.00]). IC was generally high across the instruments employed (Cronbach’s alpha 0.79–0.98) with the exception of HAL use of transportation (0.58) and IPAQ total physical activity (0.51). ITC was high (Pearson’s product-moment correlation coefficient >0.20) for all items except the “vigorous intensity activities” item of IPAQ, which was applicable to less than one-third of participants. The ITCs were generally highest in domains/scores that measured the functional consequences of hemophilic arthropathy on mobility and pain. Conclusion The demonstrated reliability (IC/ITC) of the patient-reported outcome instruments and Hemophilia Joint Health Score v2.1 support a role for these instruments in evaluating adult PWH in US clinical and research settings.
Real stock trading using soft computing models

The main focus of this study is to compare different performances of soft computing paradigms for predicting the direction of individuals stocks. Three different artificial intelligence techniques were used to predict the direction of both Microsoft and Intel stock prices over a period of thirteen years. We explore the performance of artificial neural networks trained using backpropagation and conjugate gradient algorithm and a Mamdani and Takagi Sugeno fuzzy inference system learned using neural learning and genetic algorithm. Once all the different models were built the last part of the experiment was to determine how much profit can be made using these methods versus a simple buy and hold technique.
Salinity does not alter the effectiveness of menthol as an anesthetic and sedative during the handling and transport of juvenile fat snook ( Centropomus parallelus )

The effectiveness of menthol as anesthetic and sedative for fat snook (Centropomus parallelus) was tested at different salinities. In the first experiment, the fish were exposed to different concentrations of menthol (25, 37 and 50 mg L–1) in water at different salinities (0, 17 and 36 ppt). In the second experiment, the fish were transported for 10 hours in water with menthol at concentrations of 0, 3.7 and 7.4 mg L–1 under different salinities. Na+ and K+ ions from fish body and water were analyzed after transport. The optimal concentrations of menthol for a short handling period and surgical induction was 37 and 50 mg L–1, respectively, and these values were independent of salinity. After transport, neither mortality nor significant changes in ammonia or dissolved oxygen were observed between treatments at the different salinities. The nitrite levels were lower in freshwater than in brackish and saltwater, but did not change with mentol. The total body levels of Na+ increased with the salinity increase. Menthol is an effective anesthetic for handling of juvenile fat snook at different salinities. Menthol did not influence the measured water parameters and body ions, and it is not necessary for the transport of fat snook.
Geographic Dissection of the Twitter Network

Geography plays an important role in shaping societal interactions in the offline world. However, as more and more social interactions occur online via social net- working sites like Twitter and Facebook, users can in- teract with others unconstrained by their geolocations, raising the question: does offline geography still matter in online social networks? In this paper, we attempt to address this question by dissecting the Twitter so- cial network based on users’ geolocations and investi- gating how users’ geolocation impacts their participa- tion in Twitter, including their connections to others and the information they exchange with them. Our in-depth analysis reveals that geography continues to have a sig- nificant impact on user interactions in the Twitter social network. The influence of geography could be poten- tially explained by the shared national, linguistic, and cultural backgrounds of users from the same geographic neighborhood.
Metabolic Control by Inflammation and Immunity Fat in flames : influence of cytokines and pattern recognition receptors on adipocyte lipolysis

Grant RW, Stephens JM. Fat in flames: influence of cytokines and pattern recognition receptors on adipocyte lipolysis. Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab 309: E205–E213, 2015. First published June 9, 2015; doi:10.1152/ajpendo.00053. 2015. — Adipose tissue has the largest capacity to store energy in the body and provides energy through the release of free fatty acids during times of energy need. Different types of immune cells are recruited to adipose tissue under various physiological conditions, indicating that these cells contribute to the regulation of adipose tissue. One major pathway influenced by a number of immune cells is the release of free fatty acids through lipolysis during both physiological (e.g., cold stress) and pathophysiological processes (e.g., obesity, type 2 diabetes). Adipose tissue expansion during obesity leads to immune cell infiltration and adipose tissue remodeling, a homeostatic process that promotes inflammation in adipose tissue. The release of proinflammatory cytokines stimulates lipolysis and causes insulin resistance, leading to adipose tissue dysfunction and systemic disruptions of metabolism. This review focuses on the interactions of cytokines and other inflammatory molecules that regulate adipose tissue lipolysis during physiological and pathophysiological states.
Magnetic resonance imaging compared with hormonal effects and histopathology of estrogen-induced pituitary lesions in the rat.

Estrogen-induced pituitary lesions in rats were studied in time-sequence experiments using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), hormone determinations and light microscopy. The main purpose of the study was to evaluate the usefulness of MRI in comparison with conventional biochemical and histopathological methods for detecting the pituitary lesions as early as possible and to follow their development. Measurements were made at 15 time points, ranging from 1 h to 272 days after s.c. implantation of the estrogen pellet. High-resolution T1 weighted sagittal images with 2 mm slice thickness were made with a 2 Tesla 30 cm small-bore MRI system. Radioimmunoassay (RIA) was used to determine the different pituitary hormones. Conventional histopathology and immunoperoxidase staining methods were used to characterize the pituitary lesions and visualize the hormone-producing pituitary cells respectively. The first histopathological pituitary changes (enlarged acidophilic cells with increased number of vacuoles) were seen at day 2 after initiation of the estrogen treatment, while at day 4 the first immunohistochemical changes (increased number of prolactin-positive cells) were encountered. Significantly increased prolactin levels in blood plasma occurred from day 9 onwards. Also at day 9, changes of the pituitary gland were first visible on MR images, showing rounding of the anterior edge of the gland. Gradual enlargement of the pituitary caused by hyperplasia of hypertrophic prolactin-positive cells could be followed by MRI, and later on pituitary tumors were recognized, their images being heterogeneous due to great differences in signal intensity ranging from hypo- or iso- to hyperintense. Signal intensities of hemorrhagic tumor areas varies widely due to variation in the blood flow maintained in these areas. In was concluded that MRI is a powerful tool for detecting enlargement and tumors of the pituitary gland in rats. This method allows the development of such lesions to be followed in one and the same animal, thereby reducing the need of interim kills and thus the number of animals to be used.
Visual field progression in glaucoma: estimating the overall significance of deterioration with permutation analyses of pointwise linear regression (PoPLR).

PURPOSE To establish a method for estimating the overall statistical significance of visual field deterioration from an individual patient's data, and to compare its performance to pointwise linear regression. METHODS The Truncated Product Method was used to calculate a statistic S that combines evidence of deterioration from individual test locations in the visual field. The overall statistical significance (P value) of visual field deterioration was inferred by comparing S with its permutation distribution, derived from repeated reordering of the visual field series. Permutation of pointwise linear regression (PoPLR) and pointwise linear regression were evaluated in data from patients with glaucoma (944 eyes, median mean deviation -2.9 dB, interquartile range: -6.3, -1.2 dB) followed for more than 4 years (median 10 examinations over 8 years). False-positive rates were estimated from randomly reordered series of this dataset, and hit rates (proportion of eyes with significant deterioration) were estimated from the original series. RESULTS The false-positive rates of PoPLR were indistinguishable from the corresponding nominal significance levels and were independent of baseline visual field damage and length of follow-up. At P < 0.05, the hit rates of PoPLR were 12, 29, and 42%, at the fifth, eighth, and final examinations, respectively, and at matching specificities they were consistently higher than those of pointwise linear regression. CONCLUSIONS In contrast to population-based progression analyses, PoPLR provides a continuous estimate of statistical significance for visual field deterioration individualized to a particular patient's data. This allows close control over specificity, essential for monitoring patients in clinical practice and in clinical trials.
Model of Quench Development Inside HTS Coils Including Quench-to-Critical Current Ratio Evaluation

It is well known that the thermal quench current densities <i>j</i><sub>q</sub> in high-temperature superconducting (HTS) coils can considerably differ from the “critical” short sample current densities <i>j</i><sub>c</sub>(<i>T</i>, <i>B</i>) based on a definite voltage level, for instance 1 μV/cm. The ratio j<sub>q</sub>/j<sub>c</sub> (lift-factor) can be higher or lower than one depending on coil parameters. The reasons are smooth voltage-current curves and large temperature margins compared to low-temperature superconducting devices. Several approaches for the description of the quench development in HTS devices are known. However, they are either not suitable for windings with nonuniform magnetic field distribution or were developed for a particular HTS magnet in the limited range of its working parameters. In this paper, we analyzed the simple steady state model of an infinitely long solenoid with nonuniform radial distribution of magnetic field and temperature. It allows to evaluate the main thermal and electrical parameters of HTS coils in <i>j</i> <; <i>j</i><sub>q</sub> region as a function of the tape critical properties, <i>n</i>-value of the <i>j</i> - <i>E</i> curve, cooling conditions, and radial thermal conductivity in a broad range of their values.
Measuring the kinetic power of active galactic nuclei in the radio mode

We have studied the relationship among nuclear radio and X-ray power, Bondi rate and the kinetic luminosity of sub-Eddington active galactic nucleus (AGN) jets, as estimated from the pdV work done to inflate the cavities and bubbles observed in the hot X-ray-emitting atmospheres of their host galaxies and clusters. Besides the recently discovered correlation between jet kinetic and Bondi power, we show that a clear correlation exists also between Eddington-scaled kinetic power and bolometric luminosity, given by log(L kin /L Edd ) = (0.49 ± 0.07) log(L bol /L Edd )-(0.78±0.36). The measured slope suggests that these objects are in a radiatively inefficient accretion mode, and have been used to put stringent constraints on the properties of the accretion flow. Interestingly, we found no statistically significant correlations between Bondi power and bolometric AGN luminosity, apart from that induced by their common dependence on L kin , thus confirming the idea that most of the accretion power emerges from these systems in kinetic form. We have then analysed the relation between kinetic power and radio core luminosity. Combining the measures of jet power with estimators of the unbeamed radio flux of the jet cores as, for example, the so-called Fundamental Plane of active black holes, we are able to determine, in a statistical sense, both the probability distribution of the mean jet Lorentz factor, which peaks at Γ m ∼7, and the intrinsic relationship between kinetic and radio core luminosity (and thus the jet radiative efficiency), which we estimate as log L kin = (0.81 ± 0.11) log L R + 11.9 +4.1 -4.4 , in good agreement with theoretical predictions of synchrotron jet models. With the aid of these findings, quantitative assessments of kinetic feedback from supermassive black holes in the radio mode (i.e. at low dimensionless accretion rates) will be possible based on accurate determinations of the central engine properties alone, such as mass, radio core and/or X-ray luminosity. As an example, we suggest that Sgr A* may follow the same correlations of radio-mode AGN, based on its observed radiative output as well as on estimates of the accretion rate both at the Bondi radius and in the inner flow. If this is the case, the supermassive black hole in the Galactic Centre is the source of ∼5 x 10 38 erg s -1 of mechanical power, equivalent to about 1.5 supemovae every 10 5 yr.
Transapical Approach for Apical Myectomy and Relief of Midventricular Obstruction in Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy

Abstract Background: Apical and midventricular hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) are rare variants of HCM, in which the hypertrophy is located mainly at the midventricular to apical levels. Heart transplantation was the only possible surgical solution for many of these patients; however, transapical myectomy represents another good alternative. We present our surgical technique of apical ventriculotomy for apical and midventricular myectomy. Technique: A 6‐cm incision is made at the apex of the heart lateral to the left anterior descending coronary artery. The apical ventriculotomy provides excellent exposure of the midventricle for midventricular myectomy. The apical approach also allows access to the left ventricle for apical myectomy to enlarge the chamber. During apical myectomy, particular care is necessary to avoid injury to papillary muscles, which are often displaced with apical HCM. Secure closure of the ventriculotomy can be achieved with a double layer of suture reinforced with felt, and no complications of false aneurysm have been observed. Conclusions: The transapical approach provides excellent exposure of the apex and midventricle, and the technique is useful when myectomy is aimed at eliminating the ventricular obstruction and/or enlarging the left ventricular cavity size in patients with apical hypertrophy. (J Card Surg 2012;27:443‐448)