Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Evolution of cerebral microbleeds after cranial irradiation in medulloblastoma patients

Objective: To characterize the temporal and spatial pattern of cerebral microbleeds (CMBs) after cranial irradiation in patients with medulloblastoma. Methods: We retrospectively identified patients with medulloblastoma treated with craniospinal irradiation at the Massachusetts General Hospital between 1999 and 2015. Longitudinal MRI including T2*-weighted gradient-recalled echo (GRE) sequences were reviewed, and the prevalence, spatial pattern, and risk factors associated with CMBs were characterized. Results: We identified a total of 27 patients; 5 patients were children (median age 6.3 years) and 22 patients were adults (median age 28.8 years). CMBs were found in 67% (18/27) of patients, who were followed for a median of 4.1 years. Patients with CMBs had longer GRE follow-up time compared to those without CMBs (4.9 vs 1.7 years, p = 0.035). The median latency of the appearance of CMBs was 2.79 years (interquartile range 1.76–4.26). The prevalence of CMBs increased with each year from time of radiation therapy, and the cumulative prevalence was highest in patients age <20 years (100% cumulative prevalence, vs 59% in adult patients treated at age ≥20 years). CMBs were mostly found in lobar distribution and predominately in bilateral occipital lobes. Patients using antithrombotic medications developed CMBs at a significantly higher rate (p = 0.041). Conclusions: Our data demonstrate a high prevalence of CMBs following cranial irradiation, progressively increasing with each year from time of radiation therapy.
Identifying the clonal origin of synchronous multifocal tumors in the hepatobiliary and pancreatic system using multi-omic platforms

Synchronous multifocal tumors often pose a diagnostic challenge for oncologists. The purpose of this study was to determine the clonal origin and metastatic relationship of synchronous multifocal tumors in the hepatobiliary and pancreatic system using multi-omic platforms. DNA samples were extracted from three masses harvested from a 50-year-old Han Chinese male patient who suffered from synchronous multifocal tumors in the pancreatic tail, upper biliary duct, and omentum at the time of diagnosis. The clonal origin of these samples was tested using two platforms: next-generation sequencing (NGS) of 390 key genes harboring cancer-relevant actionable mutations and whole-genome copy number variation (CNV) chip analysis. The NGS approach revealed high mutational concordance, and the gene CNV profiles were similar between lesions. Whole-genome CNVs for the three samples were further investigated using an Affymetrix chip. Using matched CNV chip data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), we developed a computational model that generated tissue-specific CNV signatures for hepatocellular carcinoma, pancreatic carcinoma, and cholangiocarcinoma to accurately identify the origin of the tumor samples. After adding the patient's CNV chip data to the model, all three samples were clustered into the pancreatic cancer branch. Both our NGS and CNV chip analyses suggested that clinically diagnosed synchronous pancreatic cancer and cholangiocarcinoma originated from the same cell population in the pancreas in our patient. This study highlights the use of genomic tools to infer the origin of synchronous multifocal tumors, which could help to improve the accuracy of cancer diagnosis.
Study of mechanical properties and computer simulation of composite materials reinforced by metal

In the article, two methods for testing of composite materials reinforced by sheet metal were presented. The first method is based on computer simulation of stresses in the investigated objects. It was carried out in the graphical programme NX. The second method consists in measuring deformations using strain gauge bridges and comparative analysis was carried out. The obtained results show that both methods were applied correctly and the error reaches a few percent.
Efficacy and safety of anticoagulant therapy in three specific populations with sepsis: a meta‐analysis of randomized controlled trials

Essentials Most anticoagulant therapy has failed to demonstrate a survival benefit in the overall sepsis population. We conducted separate meta‐analyses of anticoagulant therapy in three different populations. Survival benefit was observed only in the septic disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) population. Further randomized controlled trials should focus on specific populations with septic DIC.
Malnutrition at the Time of Surgery Affects Negatively the Clinical Outcome of Critically Ill Patients with Gastrointestinal Cancer

Introduction: Malnutrition is a frequent concomitant of surgical illness, especially in gastrointestinal cancer surgery. The aim of the study was to assess the prevalence of malnutrition in the GI cancer patients and its relation with clinical outcome. We also examined associations between the energy balance and clinical outcomes in these patients. Methods: Prospective study on 694 surgical patients treated in the ICU of the UHC of Tirana. Patients were divided into well-nourished and malnourished groups according to their nutritional status. Multiple regression analysis was used to analyze the effect of malnutrition and cumulated energy balance on clinical outcome. Results: The prevalence of pre-operative malnutrition was 65.3% for all surgical patients and 84.9% for gastrointestinal cancer patients. Malnutrition, as analyzed by a multivariate logistic regression model, is an independent risk factor for higher complications, infections, and mortality, longer stay in the ventilator and ICU. Also this model showed that cumulated energy balance correlated with infections, and mortality and was independently associated with the length ventilator and ICU stay. Conclusion: This study shows that malnutrition is a significant problem in surgical patients, especially in patients with gastrointestinal cancer. Malnutrition and cumulated energy deficit in gastro-intestinal surgery patients with malignancy is an independent risk factor on increased post-operative morbidity and mortality.
The Relationships Between Doctor-Patient Affectionate Communication and Patient Perceptions and Outcomes

ABSTRACT The current article combines the literature on doctor-patient communication and affectionate communication. Using Affection Exchange Theory (AET), the study predicts that the need for affection and the benefits of affectionate communication translate to the doctor-patient setting, proposing a series of relationships from both perceived doctor affectionate communication and affection deprivation to several patient outcome variables (patient perception of the doctor, patient communication with the doctor, and patient satisfaction/adherence). The results strongly supported the predictions for both affectionate communication and affection deprivation, with affectionate communication positively relating to most outcome measures and affection deprivation negatively relating to most outcome measures. Affection deprivation served as a moderator for the relationship between provider competence and patient satisfaction, although affectionate communication moderated the relationship between provider competence and patient adherence. Implications and possible directions for future research are discussed.
A study of CNN outside of training conditions

Convolution neural networks (CNN) are the main development in face recognition in recent years. However, their description capacities have been somewhat understudied. In this paper, we show that training CNN only with color images is enough to properly describe depth and near infrared face images by assessing the performance of three publicly available CNN models on these other modalities. Furthermore, we find that, despite displaying results comparable to the human performance on LFW, not all CNN behave like humans recognizing faces in other scenarios.
Laser induced spin precession in highly anisotropic granular L1 0 FePt

The dynamic magnetic properties of a highly anisotropic, granular L10 FePt thin film in magnetic fields up to 7 T are investigated using time-resolved magneto-optical Kerr effect measurements. We find that ultrashort laser pulses induce coherent spin precession in the granular FePt sample. Frequencies of spin precession up to over 400 GHz are observed, which are strongly field and temperature dependent. The high frequencies can be ascribed to the high value of the magnetocrystalline anisotropy constant Ku leading to large anisotropy fields Ha of up to 10.7 T at 170 K. A Gilbert damping parameter of α ∼ 0.1 was derived from the lifetimes of the oscillations.
Time from cardiac catheterization to cardiac surgery: a risk factor for acute kidney injury?.

OBJECTIVES Acute kidney injury can occur after cardiac catheterization and cardiac surgery. The negative effects of the contrast media and cardiopulmonary bypass on renal function may be additive when performed in close succession. The results in the literature are, however, conflicting. METHODS Preoperative, operative, perioperative and postoperative variables of 573 consecutive adult patients who underwent cardiac surgery on cardiopulmonary bypass were collected prospectively. Acute kidney injury (AKI) was defined according to the Acute Kidney Injury Network criteria based on changes in serum creatinine level within 48 h of surgery. RESULTS Acute kidney injury was detected in 233 patients (41%). In a multivariate analysis, older age (P = 0.01), longer cardiopulmonary bypass time (P = 0.003), lower preoperative haematocrit level (P = 0.02) and higher body mass index (P = 0.001) were found to be independently associated with development of acute kidney injury. Analysis of the time from cardiac catheterization to surgery by logistic regression modelling did not show any significant change in the risk of acute kidney injury. Risk related to time from catheterization to surgery was not increased even in the patients with elevated preprocedural creatinine levels (>106 μmol l(-1); P = 0.23), left ventricular dysfunction (ejection fraction <40%; P = 0.19) and older age (≥70 years; P = 0.86). CONCLUSIONS The time from cardiac catheterization to cardiac surgery is not a risk factor for the development of postoperative acute kidney injury even in patients with other risk factors. Surgical intervention should not be delayed in emergency or urgent cases. The optimization of renal function seems to be the correct strategy in clinically stable patients with risk factors for acute kidney injury.
Constitutive model for AZ31 magnesium alloy based on isothermal compression test

Abstract Isothermal compression tests at temperatures ranging from 523 to 723 K and strain rates from 0·01 to 10 s−1 were performed on AZ31 magnesium alloy to reveal the deformation characteristics. The flow stress–strain curves show that the flow stress reaches a peak value and then decreases to steady values, which characterise a dynamic flow softening. The measured flow stress was modified by friction and temperature correction, which reflect the friction corrected flow stresses are lower than the measured ones and the effect of temperature rise on flow stress is obvious at high strain rate (≧1 s−1). The corrected flow curves were employed to develop the constitutive model. The influence of strain was also incorporated in the constitutive equation by considering the effects of strain on material constants, which were identified using sixth order polynomial. The flow stress predicted by the constitutive model shows good agreement with the corrected stress, which confirmed that the proposed model is effective and accurate for the flow stress of AZ31 magnesium alloy.
Multilane Photonic Spectral Processor Integrated in a Spatial and Planar Optical Circuit for a Space-Division Multiplexing Network

We developed a multilane photonic spectral processor array integrated with a spatial and planar optical circuit platform. This device enables individual control of the optical power in the spatial and wavelength domains by controlling the phase pattern on liquid crystal on a silicon spatial light modulator and the heater electricity of a waveguide-based variable attenuator. We constructed a prototype device including an array of seven spectral processors. We transmitted 100-Gbps DP-QPSK signals over seven spans with a small optical-signal-to-noise ratio penalty of 0.05 dB, which suggests that the device can work in actual networks. As an application, we demonstrated gain equalizing of a multicore erbium-doped fiber amplifier (MC-EDFA). The device equalized the gain spectra of the MC-EDFA to an accuracy of ±0.8 dB over 30 nm.
Infants born preterm, stress, and neurodevelopment in the neonatal intensive care unit: might music have an impact?

The neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) provides life‐saving medical care for an increasing number of newborn infants each year. NICU care, while lifesaving, does have attendant consequences which can include repeated activation of the stress response and reduced maternal interaction, with possible negative long‐term impacts on brain development. Here we present a neuroscientific framework for considering the impact of music on neurodevelopment in the NICU of infants born preterm and evaluate current literature on the use of music with this population to determine what is most reliably known of the physiological effects of music interventions.
Prevalence and reliability of treatment-based classification for subgrouping patients with low back pain

Abstract Objectives: To observe the distribution of patients who presented with low back pain (LBP) and to determine the between therapists’ interrater reliability of assessments in a private outpatient setting using treatment-based classification (TBC) subgroups. Methods: An observational and methodological study was conducted. Four hundred and twenty-nine patients (231 male; 198 female) presenting LBP symptoms and referred to conservative treatment were assessed by 13 physical therapists who conducted a 60-min examination process utilizing TBC subgroups. Interrater reliability analyses from six raters were assessed using Fleiss’ kappa and previously recorded data (n = 30). Results: In this study, 65.74% of patients were classified in only one subgroup, the most prevalent being stabilization (21.91%), followed by extension (15.38%), traction (11.89%), flexion (10.96%), manipulation (5.13%), and lateral shift (0.47%). Approximately 20.98% of patients were classified in two subgroups, where the most frequent overlaps were flexion + stabilization (7.46%), extension + stabilization (6.06%), flexion + traction (4.20%), extension + manipulation (1.86%), and 13.29% of patients were not classified in any TBC subgroup. Analysis of interrater reliability showed a kappa value of 0.62 and an overall agreement of 66% between raters. Discussion: LBP is a heterogeneous clinical condition and several classification methods are proposed in the attempt to observe better outcomes for patients. Eighty-five percent of patients assessed were able to be classified when using the TBC assessment and reliability analysis showed a substantial agreement between raters. Level of Evidence: 2c.
Autoantibodies and decreased expression of the transcription factor ELF‐3 together with increased chemokine pathways support an autoimmune phenotype and altered differentiation in lichen planus located in oral mucosa

Background The pathogenesis of oral lichen planus (OLP), a chronic inflammatory disease, is not fully understood. It is known that OLP has autoimmune features, and it is suggested to be an autoimmune disease. ELF‐3 is involved in differentiation of keratinocytes and deregulated in different tumours and inflammatory diseases. CXCR‐3 and its ligands CXCL‐10 and CXCL‐11 are increased in autoimmune diseases and linked to Th‐1 immune response.
Visual Loss Following Spine Surgery: What Have We Seen Within the Scoliosis Research Society Morbidity and Mortality Database?

Study Design. A retrospective review of the Scoliosis Research Society (SRS) morbidity and mortality (M&M) database. Objective. The aim of this study was to investigate visual related complications in spinal deformity patients undergoing spine surgery. Summary of Background Data. The SRS compiles surgeon-reported complications into an M&M database, tracking postoperative complications including visual loss, neurological deficits, infections, and death. Limited literature exists on postoperative visual complications, a rare but devastating complication following spine surgery. Methods. We utilized the SRS M&M database to determine demographics, perioperative risk factors, and prognosis for visual related complications in spinal deformity patients undergoing corrective spine surgery from 2009 to 2012. Results. A total of 167,972 spinal deformity patients from 2009 to 2012 were identified with a visual acuity complication (VAC) rate of 0.01%, or 12.5 per 100,000 patients. VAC rates for patients with kyphosis were significantly higher than patients with scoliosis (0.049% vs. 0.010%, P = 0.002) and spondylolisthesis (0.049% vs. 0.005%, P = 0.001). Postoperative visual loss rates significantly decreased from 2010 to 2012 (0.022% vs. 0.004%, P = 0.029). Twenty-one patients identified with VACs had a mean age of 34.8 ± 24.3 years. Two (9.5%) patients had preoperative vision changes, two (9.5%) were diabetic, two (9.5%) had vascular disease, one (4.8%) had a history of thromboembolic disease, and five (23.8%) had hypertension. Extent of VAC was bilateral-partial in four (19.0%), bilateral-total in five (23.8%), unilateral-partial in eight (38.1%), and unilateral-total in three (14.3%) patients. Four (19.0%) patients developed anterior ischemic optic neuropathy, four (19.0%) had posterior ischemic optic neuropathy (PION), five (23.8%) had central retinal artery occlusion, and five (23.8%) developed cortical blindness (CB). Greater than 50% of the VACs occurred on, or before, the first postoperative day. Ten (47.6%) patients recovered complete vision and four (19.0%) improved. All patients with CB and 50% with posterior ischemic optic neuropathy experienced complete resolution. Conclusion. VACs occur in approximately 12.5 per 100,000 deformity patients, with a rate five times higher in patients with kyphosis. More than 50% of these complications occur within 24 hours postoperatively. Nearly half of these complications resolve completely, and another 19% improve postoperatively. Level of Evidence: 4
Plasma hepcidin in early-stage breast cancer patients: no relationship with interleukin-6, erythropoietin and erythroferrone

Objective: Hepcidin-25 production is stimulated by systemic inflammation, and it interferes with iron utilization, leading to anemia. This study aimed to investigate the relationships between the plasma levels of hepcidin, interleukin-6 (IL-6), erythropoietin (EPO) and erythroferrone (ERFE) in patients with benign breast disease or cancer. Methods: Plasma samples from a cohort of 131 patients (47 with benign breast disease and 84 with breast cancer) were subjected to the evaluation of hepcidin, IL-6, EPO and ERFE using SELDI-TOF-MS or immunoassays. Results: An elevated hepcidin was observed in malignant breast tumors compared to benign ones. No correlation was observed between hepcidin and IL-6, EPO or ERFE. Conclusion: Since the study included a cohort of patients (87%) with breast cancers smaller than 2 cm, these results may support our previous evidence about the potential role of hepcidin in breast cancer disease.
Politics, sharing and emotion in microblogs

In political contexts, it is known that people act as “motivated reasoners”, i.e., information is evaluated first for emotional affect, and this emotional reaction influences later deliberative reasoning steps. As social media becomes a more and more prevalent way of receiving political information, it becomes important to understand more completely the interaction between information, emotion, social community, and information-sharing behavior. In this paper, we describe a high-precision classifier for politically-oriented tweets, and an accurate classifier of a Twitter user's political affiliation. Coupled with existing sentiment-analysis tools for microblogs, these methods enable us to systematically study the interaction of emotion and sharing in a large corpus of politically-oriented microblog messages, collected from just before the 2012 US presidential election. In particular, we seek to understand how information sharing is influenced by the political affiliation of the sender and receiver of a message, and the sentiment associated with the message.
BOTDA Sensing Employing a Modified Brillouin Fiber Laser Probe Source

A theoretical and experimental study has been carried out on a tunable dual pump-probe optical source for distributed Brillouin optical time-domain analysis (BOTDA). The developed source exploits a modified Brillouin ring laser technology and is capable of a tuning range of ∼200 MHz without using phase-locked loop or optical sideband generation techniques, and exhibits a linewidth smaller than 2.5 MHz and ∼0.5 mW power. In BOTDA experiments, the proposed source has demonstrated to be an efficient solution enabling distributed sensing over 10 km single mode fiber with a spatial resolution of ∼4 m, and a strain and temperature resolutions of ∼10 <italic>μ</italic>ϵ and ∼0.5 °C respectively.
Exercise and internet-based cognitive–behavioural therapy for depression: multicentre randomised controlled trial with 12-month follow-up

Background Evidence-based treatment of depression continues to grow, but successful treatment and maintenance of treatment response remains limited. Aims To compare the effectiveness of exercise, internet-based cognitive–behavioural therapy (ICBT) and usual care for depression. Method A multicentre, three-group parallel, randomised controlled trial was conducted with assessment at 3 months (post-treatment) and 12 months (primary end-point). Outcome assessors were masked to group allocation. Computer-generated allocation was performed externally in blocks of 36 and the ratio of participants per group was 1:1:1. In total, 945 adults with mild to moderate depression aged 18–71 years were recruited from primary healthcare centres located throughout Sweden. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three 12-week interventions: supervised group exercise, clinician-supported ICBT or usual care by a physician. The primary outcome was depression severity assessed by the Montgomery–Åsberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS). Results The response rate at 12-month follow-up was 84%. Depression severity reduced significantly in all three treatment groups in a quadratic trend over time. Mean differences in MADRS score at 12 months were 12.1 (ICBT), 11.4 (exercise) and 9.7 (usual care). At the primary end-point the group × time interaction was significant for both exercise and ICBT. Effect sizes for both interventions were small to moderate. Conclusions The long-term treatment effects reported here suggest that prescribed exercise and clinician-supported ICBT should be considered for the treatment of mild to moderate depression in adults.