Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Overview of Current and Alternative Therapies for Idiopathic Membranous Nephropathy

Membranous nephropathy is one of the leading causes of nephrotic syndrome in adults, which is characterized by edema, hypoalbuminemia, hyperlipidemia, lipiduria, and proteinuria. Determination of idiopathic membranous nephropathy (IMN) disease progression risk is important for guiding initial therapy, with immunosuppressive therapy being reserved for high‐risk patients. Because IMN may spontaneously remit in approximately 30% of patients, it is important to carefully select which patients should begin immunosuppressive therapy so as to maximize clinical benefit while limiting toxicity. An observation period of at least 6 months with conservative management that includes the use of angiotensin‐converting enzyme inhibitors or angiotensin receptor blockers is recommended. Initial treatment in high‐risk IMN is a 6‐month course of alternating steroids and alkylating agents. Calcineurin inhibitors (CNIs) represent an alternative first‐line therapeutic option for high‐risk patients who refuse treatment with steroid or alkylating agent therapy or for whom these treatments are contraindicated. Additional options are essential for patients with IMN who fail to adequately respond to initial therapies or who cannot use recommended therapies due to contraindications or intolerance, risks associated with repetitive dosing with alkylating agents, or potential exacerbation of impaired renal function with CNIs. While evidence for the use of alternative therapies in IMN is modest at best, our review summarizes the available literature for rituximab, mycophenolate mofetil, adrenocorticotropic hormone, intravenous immunoglobulin, and azathioprine. Rituximab has generally demonstrated beneficial outcomes with limited toxicity. Evidence supports a role for mycophenolate mofetil, although the evidence is of low quality and limited duration. Results from ongoing studies are required before adrenocorticotropic hormone can be recommended as therapy for treatment‐resistant patients. Intravenous immunoglobulin and azathioprine are unlikely to have a role in IMN. With the advent of new tools and biomarkers measuring disease activity combined with new data regarding possible treatment options, the management and prognosis of IMN are likely to improve.
Estimation of genetic parameters for functional longevity in the South African Holstein cattle using a piecewise Weibull proportional hazards model

Non-genetic factors influencing functional longevity and the heritability of the trait were estimated in South African Holsteins using a piecewise Weibull proportional hazards model. Data consisted of records of 161,222 of daughters of 2,051 sires calving between 1995 and 2013. The reference model included fixed time-independent age at first calving and time-dependent interactions involving lactation number, region, season and age of calving, within-herd class of milk production, fat and protein content, class of annual variation in herd size and the random herd-year effect. Random sire and maternal grandsire effects were added to the model to estimate genetic parameters. The within-lactation Weibull baseline hazards were assumed to change at 0, 270, 380 days and at drying date. Within-herd milk production class had the largest contribution to the relative risk of culling. Relative culling risk increased with lower protein and fat per cent production classes and late age at first calving. Cows in large shrinking herds also had high relative risk of culling. The estimate of the sire genetic variance was 0.0472 ± 0.0017 giving a theoretical heritability estimate of 0.11 in the complete absence of censoring. Genetic trends indicated an overall decrease in functional longevity of 0.014 standard deviation from 1995 to 2007. There are opportunities for including the trait in the breeding objective for South African Holstein cattle.
Predictive dynamics in commodity prices

Using a sample of commodity spot price indexes over the period 1947-2010, we examine predictability of commodity returns at the monthly, quarterly, and annual horizons. We establish out-of-sample predictability by means of variables such as bond spreads, growth in money supply and industrial production. Predictability is strongest for raw industrials and metals indexes and weakest for foods and textiles. Some variables, such as the inflation rate, have little or no predictive power at the monthly horizon, but appear to have stronger predictive power over commodity spot prices at the quarterly and annual horizons. Our results suggest that predictability of commodity returns from macroeconomic variables such as inflation, industrial production and money supply is stronger during economic recessions than during expansions. This finding carries over to models for realized commodity volatility, where economic state variables add predictive power to a simple autoregression mostly during recessions.
Matched Comparison of GP and Consultant Rating of Electronic Discharge Summaries

Queensland Health is implementing a state-wide system to electronically generate and distribute discharge summaries. Previously, general practitioners (GPs) have indicated that the quality of the discharge summary does not support clinical handover. While the electronic system will address some issues (e.g. legibility and timeliness), the quality of the discharge summary content is predominantly independent of method of generation. As discharge summaries are usually generated by interns, we proposed that improvement in the quality of the summary may be achieved through education. This project aimed to compare the perceptions of hospital-based consultant educators and recipient GPs regarding discharge summary content and quality. The discharge summary and audit tool were sent to the recipient GP (n= 134) and a hospital consultant (n= 14) for satisfaction rating, using a 5-point Likert scale for questions relating to diagnosis, the listing of clinical management, medication, pathology, investigations, and recommendations to GP. Sampling was performed by selecting up to 10 discharge summaries completed by each first-year intern (n=36) in 2009, during the second, third and fourth rotations at the Townsville Hospital until a total of 403 was reached. Matched responses were compared using the Kappa statistic. The response rate was 93% (n=375) and 63% (n=254) for consultants and GPs respectively. Results from this study demonstrated that GPs were more satisfied with discharge summaries than were consultants. An anomaly occurred in three questions where, despite the majority of GPs rating satisfied or very satisfied, a small but proportionally greater number of GPs were very dissatisfied when compared with consultants. Poor or fair agreement between GPs and consultants was demonstrated in medications, pathology results, investigations and recommendations to GP with GPs rating higher satisfaction in all questions. Lower consultant satisfaction ratings compared with GP ratings suggest that consultants can evaluate discharge summary content to the level required by GPs for clinical handover. Therefore, consultants can appropriately educate interns on discharge summary content for GP needs.
Edge disjoint Hamilton cycles in sparse random graphs of minimum degree at least k

Let G n,m,k denote the space of simple graphs with n vertices, m edges and minimum degree at least k, each graph G being equiprobable. Let G have property A k if G contains (k − 1)/2 edge disjoint Hamilton cycles, and, if k is even, a further edge disjoint matching of size n/2. For k ≥ 3, A k occurs in G n,m,k with probability tending to 1 as n → ∞, when 2m ≥ c k n for some suitable constant c k .
Polycythemia associated with uterine fibroma.

Erythrocytosis has been observed to occur infrequently in association with large uterine fibroids. Study of this case revealed erythrocytosis prior to surgery and a remission was noted after hysterectomy. It has been suggested that large intraabdominal tumors may interfere with normal pulmonary ventilation with resultant hypoxia which acts as a stimulus to erythropoietin production. An attempt to demonstrate elevated erythropoietin levels in this patient's unconcentrated serum and tumor extracts was unsuccessful. The failure to demonstrate increased erythropoietin activity in this case does not preclude the participation of this humoral mechanism.
Similar evolutionary potentials in an obligate ant parasite and its two host species

The spatial structure of host–parasite coevolution is shaped by population structure and genetic diversity of the interacting species. We analysed these population genetic parameters in three related ant species: the parasitic slavemaking ant Protomognathus americanus and its two host species Temnothorax longispinosus and T. curvispinosus. We sampled throughout their range, genotyped ants on six to eight microsatellite loci and an MtDNA sequence and found high levels of genetic variation and strong population structure in all three species. Interestingly, the most abundant species and primary host, T. longispinosus, is characterized by less structure, but lower local genetic diversity. Generally, differences between the species were small, and we conclude that they have similar evolutionary potentials. The coevolutionary interaction between this social parasite and its hosts may therefore be less influenced by divergent evolutionary potentials, but rather by varying selection pressures. We employed different methods to quantify and compare genetic diversity and structure between species and genetic markers. We found that Jost D is well suited for these comparisons, as long as mutation rates between markers and species are similar. If this is not the case, for example, when using MtDNA and microsatellites to study sex‐specific dispersal, model‐based inference should be used instead of descriptive statistics (such as D or GST). Using coalescent‐based methods, we indeed found that males disperse much more than females, but this sex bias in dispersal differed between species. The findings of the different approaches with regard to genetic diversity and structure were in good accordance with each other.
Cell-Type-Specific Modulation of Sensory Responses in Olfactory Bulb Circuits by Serotonergic Projections from the Raphe Nuclei

Serotonergic neurons in the brainstem raphe nuclei densely innervate the olfactory bulb (OB), where they can modulate the initial representation and processing of olfactory information. Serotonergic modulation of sensory responses among defined OB cell types is poorly characterized in vivo. Here, we used cell-type-specific expression of optical reporters to visualize how raphe stimulation alters sensory responses in two classes of GABAergic neurons of the mouse OB glomerular layer, periglomerular (PG) and short axon (SA) cells, as well as mitral/tufted (MT) cells carrying OB output to piriform cortex. In PG and SA cells, brief (1–4 s) raphe stimulation elicited a large increase in the magnitude of responses linked to inhalation of ambient air, as well as modest increases in the magnitude of odorant-evoked responses. Near-identical effects were observed when the optical reporter of glutamatergic transmission iGluSnFR was expressed in PG and SA cells, suggesting enhanced excitatory input to these neurons. In contrast, in MT cells imaged from the dorsal OB, raphe stimulation elicited a strong increase in resting GCaMP fluorescence with only a slight enhancement of inhalation-linked responses to odorant. Finally, optogenetically stimulating raphe serotonergic afferents in the OB had heterogeneous effects on presumptive MT cells recorded extracellularly, with an overall modest increase in resting and odorant-evoked responses during serotonergic afferent stimulation. These results suggest that serotonergic afferents from raphe dynamically modulate olfactory processing through distinct effects on multiple OB targets, and may alter the degree to which OB output is shaped by inhibition during behavior. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Modulation of the circuits that process sensory information can profoundly impact how information about the external world is represented and perceived. This study investigates how the serotonergic system modulates the initial processing of olfactory information by the olfactory bulb, an obligatory relay between sensory neurons and cortex. We find that serotonergic projections from the raphe nuclei to the olfactory bulb dramatically enhance the responses of two classes of inhibitory interneurons to sensory input, that this effect is mediated by increased glutamatergic drive onto these neurons, and that serotonergic afferent activation alters the responses of olfactory bulb output neurons in vivo. These results elucidate pathways by which neuromodulatory systems can dynamically regulate brain circuits during behavior.
Haemostasis in Open Carpal Tunnel Release: Tourniquet vs Local Anaesthetic and Adrenaline

Open carpal tunnel release is one of the commonest performed procedures in hand surgery. We performed a prospective randomised control trial to compare the efficacy and patient satisfaction of the traditional arm tourniquet versus infiltration of adrenaline and local anaesthetic solution to achieve haemostasis during the procedure. Using a combination of objective and subjective measures we concluded that infiltration of local anaesthetic and adrenaline not only provided adequate haemostasis but also provided a significantly more tolerable experience for the patient during the procedure.
Explanations for side effect aversion in preventive medical treatment decisions.

OBJECTIVE Many laypeople demonstrate excessive sensitivity to negative side effects of medical treatments, which may lead them to refuse beneficial therapies. This Internet-based experiment investigated three possible explanations for such "side effect aversion. " One was derived from mental accounting, one examined the mere presence of a side effect, and one focused on computational difficulties. DESIGN Participants (N = 5,379) were presented with a hypothetical cancer preventive treatment situation that was or was not accompanied by one or two small side effects. The side effects were either beneficial or harmful. In all conditions, the net absolute risk reduction associated with the treatment was 15%. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Participants indicated their willingness to accept treatment and their perceptions of the treatment's effects on their overall cancer risk. RESULTS Data were consistent only with the "mere presence" explanation of side effect aversion, the idea that side effects act as a strong negative cue that directly affects treatment appraisal. The number of negative side effects did not influence treatment willingness. CONCLUSION Side effect aversion is a challenge to informed decision making. Specific mechanisms that produce side effect aversion should be identified.
Health behaviours explain part of the differences in self reported health associated with partner/marital status in The Netherlands.

STUDY OBJECTIVE--To describe the differences in health behaviours in disparate marital status groups and to estimate the extent to which these can explain differences in health associated with marital status. DESIGN--Baseline data of a prospective cohort study were used. Directly age standardised percentages of each marital group that engaged in each of the following behaviours--smoking, alcohol consumption, coffee consumption, breakfast, leisure exercise, and body mass index--were computed. Multiple logistic regression models were fitted to estimate the health differences associated with marital status with and without control for differences in health behaviours. SETTING--The population of the city of Eindhoven and surrounding municipalities (mixed urban-rural area) in The Netherlands in March 1991. PARTICIPANTS--There were 16,311 men and women, aged 25-74 years, and of Dutch nationality. MAIN RESULTS--There were differences in relation to marital status for each health behaviour. Married people were more likely to practise positive health behaviours (such as exercise and eating breakfast) and less likely to engage in negative ones (such as smoking or drinking heavily) than the other groups. Control for all six health behaviours could explain an average of 20-36% of the differences in perceived and general health and subjective health complaints. CONCLUSIONS--Differences in health behaviours explained a considerable amount, but not all, of the health differences related to marital status. Longitudinal data are necessary to confirm these findings; to determine whether the differences in health behaviours related to marital status are caused by selection effects or social causation effects; and to learn how social control, social support, and stress inter-relate to reinforce negative or to maintain positive health behaviours.
The cerebellar Golgi cell and spatiotemporal organization of granular layer activity

The cerebellar granular layer has been suggested to perform a complex spatiotemporal reconfiguration of incoming mossy fiber signals. Central to this role is the inhibitory action exerted by Golgi cells over granule cells: Golgi cells inhibit granule cells through both feedforward and feedback inhibitory loops and generate a broad lateral inhibition that extends beyond the afferent synaptic field. This characteristic connectivity has recently been investigated in great detail and been correlated with specific functional properties of these neurons. These include theta-frequency pacemaking, network entrainment into coherent oscillations and phase resetting. Important advances have also been made in terms of determining the membrane and synaptic properties of the neuron, and clarifying the mechanisms of activation by input bursts. Moreover, voltage sensitive dye imaging and multi-electrode array (MEA) recordings, combined with mathematical simulations based on realistic computational models, have improved our understanding of the impact of Golgi cell activity on granular layer circuit computations. These investigations have highlighted the critical role of Golgi cells in: generating dense clusters of granule cell activity organized in center-surround structures, implementing combinatorial operations on multiple mossy fiber inputs, regulating transmission gain, and cut-off frequency, controlling spike timing and burst transmission, and determining the sign, intensity and duration of long-term synaptic plasticity at the mossy fiber-granule cell relay. This review considers recent advances in the field, highlighting the functional implications of Golgi cells for granular layer network computation and indicating new challenges for cerebellar research.
The Sum-Product Theorem: A Foundation for Learning Tractable Models

Inference in expressive probabilistic models is generally intractable, which makes them difficult to learn and limits their applicability. Sum-product networks are a class of deep models where, surprisingly, inference remains tractable even when an arbitrary number of hidden layers are present. In this paper, we generalize this result to a much broader set of learning problems: all those where inference consists of summing a function over a semiring. This includes satisfiability, constraint satisfaction, optimization, integration, and others. In any semiring, for summation to be tractable it suffices that the factors of every product have disjoint scopes. This unifies and extends many previous results in the literature. Enforcing this condition at learning time thus ensures that the learned models are tractable. We illustrate the power and generality of this approach by applying it to a new type of structured prediction problem: learning a nonconvex function that can be globally optimized in polynomial time. We show empirically that this greatly out-performs the standard approach of learning without regard to the cost of optimization.
Heterosis in the freezing tolerance, and sugar and flavonoid contents of crosses between Arabidopsis thaliana accessions of widely varying freezing tolerance

Heterosis is defined as the increased vigour of hybrids in comparison to their parents. We investigated 24 F1 hybrid lines of Arabidopsis thaliana generated by reciprocally crossing either C24 or Col with six other parental accessions (Can, Co, Cvi, Ler, Rsch, Te) that differ widely in their freezing tolerance. The crosses differed in the degree of heterosis for freezing tolerance, both in the non-acclimated state and after a 14 d cold acclimation period. Crosses with C24 showed more heterosis than crosses with Col, and heterosis was stronger in acclimated than in non-acclimated plants. Leaf content of soluble sugars and proline showed more deviation from mid-parent values in crosses involving C24 than in those involving Col, and deviations were larger in acclimated than in non-acclimated plants. There were significant correlations between the content of different sugars and leaf freezing tolerance, as well as between heterosis effects in freezing tolerance and sugar content. Flavonoid content and composition varied between accessions, and between non-acclimated and acclimated plants. In the crosses, large deviations from the mid-parent values in the contents of different flavonols occurred, and there were strikingly strong correlations between both flavonol content and freezing tolerance, and between heterosis effects in freezing tolerance and flavonol content.
Automatic 2D-to-3D image conversion using KNN search

Last few years there are many techniques available that convert 2D image to 3D ones. Methods which make use of human operator have been very useful but they required more time and costly too, known as semiautomatic method. So to remove this drawback developed automatic 2D-to-3D image conversion method which does not required human operator's help and it also reduces complexity. But these methods still have not able to produce good quality image due to poor quality of depth image used for image conversion. The main step of 2D-to-3D image conversion is depth estimation of given 2D image. So here we introduced a novel technique to convert 2D image to 3D stereoscopic image with better depth image. The proposed method is based on estimating depth image of our query 2D image directly from database which contains many 2D images with their depth image by applying nearest neighbor search.
Current account and real exchange rate changes: The impact of trade openness

This article investigates the impact of trade openness on the relationship between current account and real exchange rates, during episodes of sudden stops and of abrupt exchange rate depreciations. Using data for developed and emerging economies for the period 1970{ 2011, we find that more open economies are associated with lower exchange rate depreciations during sudden stops. We also provide evidence that, during abrupt exchange rate depreciation episodes, economies that are more open to trade experience a larger change in current ac- count and trade balance. In other words, our results indicate that improvements in current account and trade balance are accompanied by a smaller exchange rate depreciation in more open economies. These findings are robust to different measures of openness to trade and methodologies of identifying sudden stops and abrupt exchange rate depreciations.