Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Magnetic resonance imaging of the fifth metatarsophalangeal joint compared with conventional radiography in patients with early rheumatoid arthritis

Objective. To evaluate if magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is superior to conventional radiography for detection of erosions in the fifth metatarsophalangeal (MTP5) joint. Methods. Within one year from the onset of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) (baseline), one and three years thereafter MRI and conventional radiographs of the MTP5 joint were performed in 23 patients. Results. MRI revealed erosions in 10 patients at baseline, in 15 after one year and in 15 patients after 3 years. On conventional radiography, there were erosions in 10 patients at baseline, 16 after one year as well as after 3 years. The agreement between the two imaging methods was fair to good at baseline and after one and three years (kappa 0,65, 0,51 and 0,51 respectively). The number of patients with clinical evidence of synovitis decreased considerably over time although the number of patients with MRI‐synovitis was unchanged and the number of patients with erosions increased. Conclusions. MRI was not superior to conventional radiography in detecting erosions in MTP5 joints in patients with early RA. Most erosions developed during the first year of observation. Synovitis on MRI may be a marker of future development of erosions in the MTP5 joint.
“Quality of Life” as Perceived by Sex Offenders on Early Release in a Halfway House

Abstract A major function of the helping professions is to promote quality of life (QOL) for all people. Since this concept is commonly embodied in ethics codes within the various human services, it can be easy for professionals to assume that clients share the same perceptions of our function. However, when working with offenders, this assumption, along with the QOL concept, may have unique ramifications to the therapeutic process. The purpose of this study was to explore QOL perceptions of offenders and subsequent therapeutic implications. Participants were 23 sex offenders who were released from jail or prison to attend treatment at a community correctional center. Qualitative and quantitative methods were used to assess offenders' QOL perceptions, and findings are discussed in relation to efforts to improve offender rehabilitation.
Cardiopulmonary effects of permissive hypercapnia in the management of adult respiratory distress syndrome.

BACKGROUND Despite numerous advances, the mortality from adult respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) remains high. Traditional ventilator management in ARDS has been to maintain normal PaCO2 by positive pressure ventilation (PPV). However, high levels of PPV may worsen the lung injury by alveolar overdistension. Permissive hypercapnia (PHC) has been proposed as an alternative method of ventilation, but hypercapnia may affect the hemodynamics of a hyperdynamic, critically ill patient. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of PHC on ventilator requirement, arterial oxygenation, and hemodynamic performance in patients with severe ARDS. METHODS Ten men and 5 women with established ARDS (mean Murray lung injury score 3.42 +/- 0.1) were prospectively studied using an established protocol when the static pulmonary plateau pressure (Pplat) exceeded 40 cm H2O. The initial tidal volume (V(t)) was decreased to achieve a Pplat < 40 cm H2O or to a lower limit of 5 cc/kg. Arterial blood gas and hemodynamic data were obtained serially. RESULTS The V(t) was reduced from 9.9 +/- 0.5 mL/kg to 7.7 +/- 0.5 mL/kg at 24 hours, p < 0.05. This reduction of V(t) produced a decrease in minute ventilation (Ve: 18.0 +/- 1.6 to 11.9 +/- 0.7 L/min, p < 0.05), peak airway pressure (PAP: 55 +/- 2 vs 45 +/- 3 cm H2O, p < 0.05), and Pplat (Pplat 45.4 +/- 1.5 vs. 36.7 +/- 1.9) at 24 hours. The PaCO2 rose from 37.9 +/- 1.3 to 56.7 +/- 3.0 mm Hg (p < 0.05), and the pH decreased from 7.41 +/- 0 to 7.31 +/- 0 (p < 0.05) at 24 hours. There were no significant changes in mean airway pressure, static compliance, arterial oxygenation, pulmonary vascular resistance, systemic vascular resistance, cardiac index, or systemic oxygen delivery and consumption. CONCLUSIONS Permissive hypercapnia by V(t) reduction: (1) decreased Ve, PAP, and Pplat without a change in mean airway pressure, static compliance or arterial oxygenation; (2) caused a mild partially compensated acidosis; and (3) does not adversely affect pulmonary vascular resistance, systemic vascular resistance, cardiac index, or systemic oxygen delivery and consumption.
Conceptual Change in Childhood

Are children fundamentally different kinds of thinkers than adults? Or are the cognitive differences between young children and adults merely a matter of accumulation of knowledge? In this book, Susan Carey develops an alternative to these two ways of thinking about childhood cognition, putting forth the idea of conceptual change and its relation to the development of knowledge systems.Conceptual Change in Childhood is a case study of children's acquisition of biological knowledge between ages 4-10. Drawing on evidence from a variety of sources, Carey analyzes the ways that knowledge is restructured during this development, comparing them to the ways that knowledge is restructured by an adult learner, and to the ways that conceptual frameworks have shifted in the history of science. Susan Carey is Professor of Psychology at MIT.
Poisedness and Propagation: Organizational Emergence and the Transformation of Civic Order in 19th-Century New York City

The emergence of novelty, especially of new categories of people and organizations, is undertheorized in the social sciences. Some social worlds are more hospitable to novel introductions or exogenous perturbations than others. Explaining this relative "poisedness" is essential to understanding when and why new organizational forms appear, persist, and expand, both cognitively and geographically. We offer a comparative analysis of two cases of emergence in 19th-century New York City that examines the conditions under which a new organizational form - a research-intensive botanical garden - developed and took root. We show that social worlds are highly poised when environmental, intellectual, and civic factors have reinforcing consequences. Poisedness is amplified when the social character of the individuals produced by specific historical milieux attunes these innovators to the larger social and material processes that favor the creation of new modes of organization. Although our analysis of poisedness is fixed on a specific time and place, New York City over the course of the 19th century, our arguments about the emergence of new organizational forms apply readily to other settings and time periods.
MYTHS AND MISSED OPPORTUNITIES

Young people's use of online communication has increasingly become a concern for policy-makers, professionals, and parents. Sharing personal information and grooming or sexual solicitation by online predators have been prominent on the list of dangers. However, little research exists to support fears. This paper reviews the data we do have and shows that, far from being a major problem, the risks from online communication are small-scale and largely focused upon particular groups within the population. Furthermore, they are often misrepresented by safety campaigns and largely within the competencies of young people to manage. It goes on to argue that the over-zealous risk discourse may prevent many benefits of online communication being experienced by young people. Furthermore, the potential for using communication tools as policy vehicles has been largely ignored. The paper concludes by suggesting how risk discourses can be refined to more accurately reflect reality and also how professionals can harness the potential of online communication to benefit young people's lives.
Approaches to Improve Epidemiological Studies of Diabetic Neuropathy: Insights from the Rochester Diabetic Neuropathy Study

The quality of the epidemiological data on diabetic neuropathies remains poor for a variety of reasons. They include variability in 1) ascertainment of diabetes, 2 the clinical varieties of diabetic patients studied, 3) characterization of neurological dysfunction, 4) abnormal limits for neurological examinations and tests, 5) minimal criteria for neuropathy, 6) correct attribution of nondiabetic neurological disease, 7) correct attribution of type of neuropathy, 8) estimating neuropathy from use of multiple tests, and 9) estimating severity of polyneuropathy. We have tried to remedy these shortcomings in the Rochester Diabetic Neuropathy Study (RDNS). It was not possible to adequately characterize and quantitate diabetic polyneuropathies using only one or two clinical or test abnormalities. To estimate severity of diabetic polyneuropathy, the results of the neurological examination and abnormalities of nerve conduction, quantitative sensory tests, and quantitative autonomie tests were combined into a composite score. One begins by scoring a standard test of neurological deficits (impairments) of the lower limbs (NIS[LL]) and adds to this transformed numbers for percentile abnormality of seven good functional tests. This NIS(LL)+7 tests score appears to provide a much more comprehensive and stable numeric score by which to diagnose and grade severity of diabetic polyneuropathy than does the use of individual clinical or test results. This test score should be useful as a measure of change in diabetic polyneuropathy for purposes of medical practice, epidemiology studies, and controlled clinical trials. The staging approach that we introduced previously continues to provide an important measure of overall severity of diabetic polyneuropathy, taking into account both symptoms and impairments.
Most-probable-number procedures for enumerating ruminal bacteria, including the simultaneous estimation of total and cellulolytic numbers in one medium

Based on results from eight experiments, no overall difference was found between roll tube and three- and five-tube most-probable-number (MPN) methods for estimating total numbers of ruminal bacteria. However, standard errors for the replicate means within an experiment were higher with the MPN procedures. Visual growth and pH were the criteria used for scoring the MPN tubes. Total numbers were significantly higher in MPN medium containing 40% ruminal fluid, as compared with a complete medium without ruminal fluid. By using a broth medium containing ball-milled cellulose and soluble carbohydrates as energy sources, it was possible to estimate both total and cellulolytic ruminal bacterial numbers in the same MPN series. Disappearance of cellulose and decrease in pH were used to determine growth. Values did not differ from those obtained in separate MPN assays. By using this method, diurnal changes in total and cellulolytic bacterial numbers were estimated in sheep fed forage or a concentrate-type diet.
Novel Nitric Oxide Synthase–Dependent Mechanism of Vasorelaxation in Small Arteries From Hypertensive Rats

To determine the mechanism(s) involved in vasorelaxation of small arteries from hypertensive rats, normotensive (NORM), angiotensin II-infused (ANG), high-salt (HS), ANG high-salt (ANG/HS), placebo, and deoxycorticosterone acetate-salt rats were studied. Third-order mesenteric arteries from ANG or ANG/HS displayed decreased sensitivity to acetylcholine (ACh)-induced vasorelaxation compared with NORM or HS, respectively. Maximal relaxations were comparable between groups. Blockade of Ca2+-activated K+ channels had no effect on ANG versus blunting relaxation in NORM (log EC50: −6.8±0.1 versus −7.2±0.1 mol/L). NO synthase (NOS) inhibition abolished ACh-mediated relaxation in small arteries from ANG, ANG/HS, and deoxycorticosterone acetate-salt versus blunting relaxation in NORM, HS, and placebo (% maximal relaxation: ANG: 2.7±1.8; ANG/HS: 7.2±3.2; NORM: 91±3.1; HS: 82.1±13.3; deoxycorticosterone acetate-salt: 35.2±17.7; placebo: 79.3±10.3), indicating that NOS is the primary vasorelaxation pathway in these arteries from hypertensive rats. We hypothesized that NO/cGMP signaling and NOS-dependent H2O2 maintains vasorelaxation in small arteries from ANG. ACh increased NOS-dependent cGMP production, indicating that NO/cGMP signaling is present in small arteries from ANG (55.7±6.9 versus 30.5±5.1 pmol/mg), and ACh stimulated NOS-dependent H2O2 production (ACh: 2.8±0.2 &mgr;mol/mg; N&ohgr;-nitro-l-arginine methyl ester hydrochloride+ACh: 1.8±0.1 &mgr;mol/mg) in small arteries from ANG. H2O2 induced vasorelaxation and catalase blunted ACh-mediated vasorelaxation. In conclusion, Ca2+-activated K+ channel–mediated relaxation is dysfunctional in small mesenteric arteries from hypertensive rats, and the NOS pathway compensates to maintain vasorelaxation in these arteries through NOS-mediated cGMP and H2O2 production.
Tax Policy and Entrepreneurial Entry

Many models of tax-policy evaluation abstract from decisions about entrepreneurship, such as entry, saving, and investment. Given recent emphasis on the significance of business ownership in explaining aggregate wealth accumulation and its distribution (see e.g., Gentry and Hubbard, 1999; Vincenzo Quadrini, 1999), such omissions are likely to be significant. In addition, entrepreneurs’ decisions may account for much of the responsiveness of taxable income to changes in marginal tax rates. We focus on impacts of tax rates and, in particular, tax progressivity on the decision to become an “entrepreneur. ” While recent research has examined effects of marginal tax rates on investment decisions of entrepreneurial households (Robert Carroll et al., 1997), analysis of effects of taxation on entry is less often pursued. While a proportional tax with a full loss offset will not affect the entry decision for a risk-neutral individual, a progressive schedule with imperfect loss offsets can discourage entry. We find substantial evidence for this effect on entrepreneurship using variation in tax schedules faced by households in the Panel Study on Income Dynamics (PSID) over the period from 1979 to 1992. While progressive taxation could in principle encourage entry via insurance for risk-averse entrepreneurs through the tax system or through offering greater incentive to avoid taxes on self-employment income, we find no evidence to support such channels. Our empirical results imply a significant increase in entrepreneurial entry when tax rates are less progressive; whether such encouragement is efficient (that is, stimulating the most talented entrepreneurs) is a topic for future research. I. Tax Policy and Entrepreneurial Selection
Fast Probabilistic Algorithms for Verification of Polynomial Identities

The s tar thng success o f the Rabm-S t ra s sen -So lovay p n m a h t y algori thm, together wi th the intr iguing foundat tonal posstbthty that axtoms of randomness may constttute a useful fundamenta l source o f m a t h e m a u c a l truth independent of the standard axmmaUc structure of mathemaUcs, suggests a wgorous search for probabdisuc algonthms In dlustratmn of this observaUon, vanous fast probabdlsttc algonthms, with probability of correctness guaranteed a prion, are presented for testing polynomial ldentmes and propemes of systems of polynomials. Ancdlary fast algorithms for calculating resultants and Sturm sequences are given. Probabilistlc calculatton in real anthmetlc, prewously considered by Davis, is justified ngorously, but only in a special case. Theorems of elementary geometry can be proved much more efficiently by the techmques presented than by any known arttficml-mtelhgence approach
Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme Inhibitors for Intermittent Claudication Associated With Peripheral Arterial Disease

Objective: To review published literature regarding the effectiveness of angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors for managing intermittent claudication (IC) associated with peripheral arterial disease (PAD). Data Sources: A search of MEDLINE/PubMed (1966-July 2013) using the MeSH terms intermittent claudication and angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors was conducted. Limits included articles written in English with human participants. Additional data were identified through bibliographic reviews. Study Selection and Data Extraction: All English-language articles identified from the data sources were evaluated. Clinical trials and meta-analyses were included if they evaluated the efficacy of ACE inhibitors for improving functional capacity of patients with PAD with IC. In all, 9 clinical trials and 1 meta-analysis were identified and included for review. ACE inhibitors evaluated in the studies were captopril, lisinopril, perindopril, quinapril, and ramipril. Data Synthesis: Current medications approved for treating the symptoms and improving function in PAD with IC have limited efficacy. It has been suggested that ACE inhibitors may be effective in PAD with IC. Though data evaluating ACE inhibitors as a class in this patient population are conflicting, results of the largest and longest trial reported that ramipril increases maximum walking time and pain-free walking time and improves quality of life in patients with PAD with IC. Conclusions: ACE inhibitors may provide some relief of IC symptoms when used in patients with PAD. The greatest functional benefit has been seen with ramipril; it is unknown whether other agents in the class would show similar results. Well-controlled and designed studies with sufficient power and using diverse patient populations are needed.
Small Gold Nanorods: Recent Advances in Synthesis, Biological Imaging, and Cancer Therapy

Over the past few decades, the synthetic development of ultra-small nanoparticles has become an important strategy in nano-medicine, where smaller-sized nanoparticles are known to be more easily excreted from the body, greatly reducing the risk caused by introducing nano-theranostic agents. Gold nanorods are one of the most important nano-theranostic agents because of their special optical and electronic properties. However, the large size (diameter > 6 nm) of most obtained gold nanorods limits their clinical application. In recent years, more and more researchers have begun to investigate the synthesis and application of small gold nanorods (diameter < 6 nm), which exhibit similar optical and electronic properties as larger gold nanorods. In this review, we summarize the recent advances of synthesis of the small gold nanorods and their application for near-infrared light-mediated bio-imaging and cancer therapy.
Compact high-temperature cell for Brillouin scattering measurements

A compact ceramic high-temperature cell for Brillouin spectroscopy was designed and tested. The cell can be mounted onto a three- or four-circle goniometer and allows collection of the full set of elastic constants of minerals to temperatures in excess of 1500 K from samples with dimensions of 100×100×20 µm or smaller. As a test of the instrument the single-crystal elastic constants of MgO were measured to 1510(10) K, and are found to be in excellent agreement with earlier independent results. The high-temperature cell should be useful for other types of spectroscopic measurements, and is especially useful in situations where spectral properties vary with the scattering geometry.
Kaehler-Ricci Flow, Morse Theory, and Vacuum Structure Deformation of N=1 Supersymmetry in Four Dimensions

We address some aspects of four dimensional chiral N=1 supersymmetric theories on which the scalar manifold is described by K\"ahler geometry and can further be viewed as K\"ahler-Ricci soliton generating a one-parameter family of K\"ahler geometries. All couplings and solutions, namely the BPS domain walls and their supersymmetric Lorentz invariant vacua turn out to be evolved with respect to the flow parameter related to the soliton. Two models are discussed, namely N=1 theory on K\"ahler-Einstein manifold and U(n) symmetric K\"ahler-Ricci soliton with positive definite metric. In the first case we find that the evolution of the soliton causes topological change and correspondingly, modifies the Morse index of the nondegenerate vacua realized in the parity transformation of the Hessian matrix of the scalar potential after hitting singularity, which is natural in the global theory and for nondegenerate Minkowskian vacua of the local theory. However, such situation is not trivial in anti de Sitter (AdS) vacua. In an explicit model, we find that this geometric (K\"ahler-Ricci) flow can also change the index of the vacuum before and after singularity. Finally in the second case, since around the origin the metric is diffeomorphic to $ {\mathrm{\lC P}}^{n -1}$, we have to consider it in the asymptotic region. Our analysis shows that no index modification of vacua is present in both global and local theories.
Statistical Appendix to Modelling Dose-Response in Amblyopia : towards a child specific treatment plan

The Monitored Occlusion Treatment of Amblyopia Study (MOTAS) (Stewart et al. (2004)) was the first clinical study aimed at determining the dose-response relationship of occlusion therapy and exhibited several advantages over previous studies. Most importantly, the effects of refraction were differentiated from those of occlusion and concordance (compliance) with treatment was measured objectively. The study is described in more detail in section 2. The aim of this paper is to study more fully the dose-response relationship of occlusion, and to understand how this relationship is modified by patient characteristics. Previous analyses of these data (Stewart et al. (2004)) have been largely expository and exploratory. For example, in Stewart et al. (2004), the total dose vs. total improvement relationship was computed using semiparametric regression and bootstrap methods over the whole patient cohort. In this paper, we study the dose-response relationship longitudinally and on an interval-by-interval basis, modelling the effect of covariates using linear mixed regression models, in order to gain a quantitative understanding of the therapeutic benefits of occlusion therapy. In the next section, we give more details of the MOTAS study design and outline the strategy behind out analyses in section 2·3. In section 3 we describe a linear mixed model analysis accounting for the repeated measures nature of the data. An interval-by-interval analysis follows; the results are presented in section 4·1. Bayesian modelling and inference can be found in 5. A Bayesian analysis of dosing strategies is shown in section 5·3.
The Relationship between Hexaco Personality Traits and Cyberbullying Perpetrators and Victims

There is an increasing problem in high schools across America with the threat of cyberbullying from both a perpetration and victimization standpoint. Cyberbullying is a problem for many youth because of the inability to escape the use of technology and the incapability of escaping the online community. This non-experimental predictive correlational study examined personality traits, using the HEXACO personality structure model, to predict the susceptibility of freshman high school students either being perpetrators or victims of cyberbullying. There were a total of 256 participants who took the Cyberbullying and Online Aggression survey along with the HEXACO personality model survey. This study took place at a large rural high school in Upstate South Carolina and all participants were 9 graders between the ages of 14 and 15 years old. Results showed a statistical significant relationship between Honesty-Humility and Conscientiousness and cyberbullying perpetration. There was also a statistical significant relationship found between Emotionality, Extraversion, and Conscientiousness and cyberbullying victimization. This study has contributed to the literature in the area of cyberbullying perpetration and victimization by identifying specific HEXACO personality traits as predictors. A future study that examines gender, race, and socioeconomic status with regards to personality is recommended to see if those variables could have a statistical significant relationship with cyberbullying perpetration or victimization.