Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Efficacy of Propranolol in Wound Healing for Hospitalized Burn Patients

Burn patients have the highest metabolic rate among critically ill or injured patients. Because propranolol decreases energy expenditure and muscle protein catabolism, in this study, we hypothesized that propranolol would improve healing process and decrease wound-healing time. This study was a double-blind randomized clinical trial; a total of 79 burn patients who referred to this center from January 2006 to January 2007 fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Thirty-seven patients were randomly placed in propranolol group and 42 in control group. The propranolol group received propranolol orally with the dose of 1 mg/kg/d and maximum dose of 1.98 mg/kg/d given in six divided doses. This dose was adjusted to decrease the resting heart rate by 20% from each patient’s baseline value. The control group received placebo. The most common cause of burn in both groups was flame followed by flash. Patients with superficial burns in the propranolol group needed less time to heal for acceptable wound healing in superficial burns (16.13 ± 7.40 days vs 21.52 ± 7.94 days; P = .004). We also found that patients with deep burn injury needed less time to be ready for skin graft (28.23 ± 8.43 days vs 33.46 ± 9.17 days; P = .007) when compared to that of the control group. The use of propranolol decreased the size of the burn wound that finally needed skin graft. Patients in the propranolol group with an average burn size of 31.42% TBSA finally needed 13.75% of TBSA skin graft compared with that of control patients with an average burn size of 33.61% TBSA who needed 18.72% of TBSA skin graft, and patients in the control group with an average burn size of 33.61% TBSA finally needed 18.72% of TBSA skin graft (P = .006). Patients in the propranolol group had a shorter hospital stay period than the control group (30.95 ± 8.44 days vs 24.41 ± 8.11 days; P = .05). Administration of propranolol, improved burn wound healing, and decreased healing time and hospital stay period. The use of propranolol decreased the surface area of wounds that needed to be skin grafted.
Inflammatory Caspases in Innate Immunity and Inflammation

Caspases are best known for their role in apoptosis. More recently, they have gained prominence as critical mediators of innate immune responses. The so-called ‘inflammatory caspases’ include human caspase-1, -4, -5 and -12 and murine caspase-1, -11 and -12. Of these, caspase-1 is best characterized and serves as the prototype for our understanding of the processing, activation and function of inflammatory caspases. Like their apoptotic counterparts, inflammatory caspases are produced as inactive zymogens and require activation to become proteolytically active. Caspase-1 is activated within the inflammasome, a large cytosolic protein complex that is induced by a growing number of endogenous, microbial, chemical or environmental stimuli. The importance of caspase-1 in initiating innate immune responses is demonstrated by its role in cleaving pro-IL-1β and pro-IL-18 to their biologically active forms. New functions have also been implicated, as these proteases and the mechanisms underlying their activation and regulation emerge as important mediators of human health and disease.
The Measles Vaccination Narrative in Twitter: A Quantitative Analysis

Background The emergence of social media is providing an alternative avenue for information exchange and opinion formation on health-related issues. Collective discourse in such media leads to the formation of a complex narrative, conveying public views and perceptions. Objective This paper presents a study of Twitter narrative regarding vaccination in the aftermath of the 2015 measles outbreak, both in terms of its cyber and physical characteristics. We aimed to contribute to the analysis of the data, as well as presenting a quantitative interdisciplinary approach to analyze such open-source data in the context of health narratives. Methods We collected 669,136 tweets referring to vaccination from February 1 to March 9, 2015. These tweets were analyzed to identify key terms, connections among such terms, retweet patterns, the structure of the narrative, and connections to the geographical space. Results The data analysis captures the anatomy of the themes and relations that make up the discussion about vaccination in Twitter. The results highlight the higher impact of stories contributed by news organizations compared to direct tweets by health organizations in communicating health-related information. They also capture the structure of the antivaccination narrative and its terms of reference. Analysis also revealed the relationship between community engagement in Twitter and state policies regarding child vaccination. Residents of Vermont and Oregon, the two states with the highest rates of non-medical exemption from school-entry vaccines nationwide, are leading the social media discussion in terms of participation. Conclusions The interdisciplinary study of health-related debates in social media across the cyber-physical debate nexus leads to a greater understanding of public concerns, views, and responses to health-related issues. Further coalescing such capabilities shows promise towards advancing health communication, thus supporting the design of more effective strategies that take into account the complex and evolving public views of health issues.
Analyzing Design Strategies for Narrative Visualization

In the past few years, telling stories with data (narrative visualization) has been receiving progressive attention, due to many benefits of its use. Seminal works in the field mapped the main characteristics involved in designing this kind of visualization. However, through analyzing a set of related academic studies and comparing them with such seminal works, we identified unexplored characteristics. The main contribution of this paper is an extension of the original narrative design space proposals, identifying what main design strategies adopted in academia and research opportunities are, regarding design and interaction of the narrative visualization spectrum.
The Ti-Epiplating System as an Alternative for Ear Prostheses in Burned Patients

Burned ear reconstruction remains one of the most difficult areas of plastic surgery, and the aesthetic results are not always acceptable. In this study, the authors describe the results of the prosthetic rehabilitation of patients needing burned ear total reconstruction with a plate-like system (Titanium Epiplating System, Medicon, Tuttlingen, Germany) treated in their hospital between 2006 and 2009. The goals of this study were to report on the use of bone anchor implants with a plate-like system for total ear reconstruction in burned patients, to analyze treatment outcomes, and to discuss important clinical variables encountered during treatment, as well as to determine criteria for success in the implants and prostheses. Two case reports are presented, and treatment outcomes have been analyzed. In both patients, implants became anchored, and neither demonstrated failure during the study period. The cosmetic results and patient acceptance were very satisfactory, with no postoperative complications. The plate-like system for the treatment of auricle burns is an acceptable technique that complements traditional reconstructive procedures.
Malaria, malnutrition, and birthweight: A meta-analysis using individual participant data

Background Four studies previously indicated that the effect of malaria infection during pregnancy on the risk of low birthweight (LBW; <2,500 g) may depend upon maternal nutritional status. We investigated this dependence further using a large, diverse study population. Methods and findings We evaluated the interaction between maternal malaria infection and maternal anthropometric status on the risk of LBW using pooled data from 14,633 pregnancies from 13 studies (6 cohort studies and 7 randomized controlled trials) conducted in Africa and the Western Pacific from 1996–2015. Studies were identified by the Maternal Malaria and Malnutrition (M3) initiative using a convenience sampling approach and were eligible for pooling given adequate ethical approval and availability of essential variables. Study-specific adjusted effect estimates were calculated using inverse probability of treatment-weighted linear and log-binomial regression models and pooled using a random-effects model. The adjusted risk of delivering a baby with LBW was 8.8% among women with malaria infection at antenatal enrollment compared to 7.7% among uninfected women (adjusted risk ratio [aRR] 1.14 [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.91, 1.42]; N = 13,613), 10.5% among women with malaria infection at delivery compared to 7.9% among uninfected women (aRR 1.32 [95% CI: 1.08, 1.62]; N = 11,826), and 15.3% among women with low mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC <23 cm) at enrollment compared to 9.5% among women with MUAC ≥ 23 cm (aRR 1.60 [95% CI: 1.36, 1.87]; N = 9,008). The risk of delivering a baby with LBW was 17.8% among women with both malaria infection and low MUAC at enrollment compared to 8.4% among uninfected women with MUAC ≥ 23 cm (joint aRR 2.13 [95% CI: 1.21, 3.73]; N = 8,152). There was no evidence of synergism (i.e., excess risk due to interaction) between malaria infection and MUAC on the multiplicative (p = 0.5) or additive scale (p = 0.9). Results were similar using body mass index (BMI) as an anthropometric indicator of nutritional status. Meta-regression results indicated that there may be multiplicative interaction between malaria infection at enrollment and low MUAC within studies conducted in Africa; however, this finding was not consistent on the additive scale, when accounting for multiple comparisons, or when using other definitions of malaria and malnutrition. The major limitations of the study included availability of only 2 cross-sectional measurements of malaria and the limited availability of ultrasound-based pregnancy dating to assess impacts on preterm birth and fetal growth in all studies. Conclusions Pregnant women with malnutrition and malaria infection are at increased risk of LBW compared to women with only 1 risk factor or none, but malaria and malnutrition do not act synergistically.
Review of ultrasound image guidance in external beam radiotherapy: I. Treatment planning and inter-fraction motion management

In modern radiotherapy, verification of the treatment to ensure the target receives the prescribed dose and normal tissues are optimally spared has become essential. Several forms of image guidance are available for this purpose. The most commonly used forms of image guidance are based on kilovolt or megavolt x-ray imaging. Image guidance can also be performed with non-harmful ultrasound (US) waves. This increasingly used technique has the potential to offer both anatomical and functional information. This review presents an overview of the historical and current use of two-dimensional and three-dimensional US imaging for treatment verification in radiotherapy. The US technology and the implementation in the radiotherapy workflow are described. The use of US guidance in the treatment planning process is discussed. The role of US technology in inter-fraction motion monitoring and management is explained, and clinical studies of applications in areas such as the pelvis, abdomen and breast are reviewed. A companion review paper (O’Shea et al Phys. Med. Biol. submitted) will extensively discuss the use of US imaging for intra-fraction motion quantification and novel applications of US technology to RT.
Pre-operative Neutrophils/Lymphocyte Ratio in Rectal Cancer Patients with Preoperative Chemoradiotherapy

Background: Several studies have reported that an elevation in neutrophils/lymphocyte ratio (NLR) is correlated with poor survival in patients with colorectal cancer, but in rectal cancer (RC), it has been reported only in a few studies. It is necessary to separate colon cancer and rectal cancer to clarify the prognostic significance of NLR, especially in patients who received chemoradiotherapy. Methods: It is a comparative, observational retrospective study of a cohort of 175 patients. We grouped the patients into two based on their NLR (0-3 vs. > 3) to correlate with disease-specific survival (DSS) and pathologic complete response (pCR). Results: The average NLR was 2.65 + 1.32 (range 0.58-6.89), and 144 (82.3%) patients had an NLR of 0-3. The median follow-up was 33.53 months. There were no differences in pCR between the two groups. The 5-year DSS was 78.8%. NLR did not correlate with survival. Mesorectal quality, pT3-4 tumors, lymph node metastasis, lymphovascular invasion, perineural invasion, positive margins and recurrence were statistically significant predictors of increased mortality in univariate analysis. In multivariate analysis, only overall recurrence correlated with poor survival. The analysis of the association of NLR with outcomes with different cut points (2.0, 2.5, 4 and 5) did not show differences in DSS and pCR. Conclusion: In our cohort, the NLR did not serve as a prognostic marker in patients with locally advanced rectal cancer and who received chemoradiotherapy and did not correlate with pCR as well.
Two sides of the safety coin?: How patient engagement and safety climate jointly affect error occurrence in hospital units

Background: Safety climate (SC) and more recently patient engagement (PE) have been identified as potential determinants of patient safety, but conceptual and empirical studies combining both are lacking. Purposes: On the basis of extant theories and concepts in safety research, this study investigates the effect of PE in conjunction with SC on perceived error occurrence (pEO) in hospitals, controlling for various staff-, patient-, and hospital-related variables as well as the amount of stress and (lack of) organizational support experienced by staff. Besides the main effects of PE and SC on error occurrence, their interaction is examined, too. Methodology/Approach: In 66 hospital units, 4,345 patients assessed the degree of PE, and 811 staff assessed SC and pEO. PE was measured with a new instrument, capturing its core elements according to a recent literature review: Information Provision (both active and passive) and Activation and Collaboration. SC and pEO were measured with validated German-language questionnaires. Besides standard regression and correlational analyses, partial least squares analysis was employed to model the main and interaction effects of PE and SC on pEO, also controlling for stress and (lack of) support perceived by staff, various staff and patient attributes, and potential single-source bias. Findings: Both PE and SC are associated with lower pEO, to a similar extent. The joint effect of these predictors suggests a substitution rather than mutually reinforcing interaction. Accounting for control variables and/or potential single-source bias slightly attenuates some effects without altering the results. Practice Implications: Ignoring PE potentially amounts to forgoing a potential source of additional safety. On the other hand, despite the abovementioned substitution effect and conjectures of SC being inert, PE should not be considered as a replacement for SC.
Design of a smart support system architecture focusing on the user activity

This work presents a system able to support the user on their daily livings using an activity and intention recognition method. The system is designed to be focused on the applicability, working in real time. The recognition method uses the concept of activity frame, which is defined as a set of sequenced environmental observations containing meaningful information (such as objects' locations, sensors' activation, etc) related to the recognition of activities and tasks accomplished in one location. Analysing the specific frame, it is possible to relate, trough a set of conditions, the observed states to a specific activity or intention. By analysing the frequency of those activities and intentions occurrences, it is possible to identify unusual behaviour and guide an smart interactive device, such as robot, to support the user. Those two elements can be used not only to provide a better understanding of the activity in the range of the temporal constrains, but also to deliver more support options and references to the robotic element.
Associations between birth weight, obesity, fat mass and lean mass in Korean adolescents: the Fifth Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey

Objective Previous studies on the relationship between birth weight and obesity in adolescents have mostly been conducted within Western populations and have yielded inconsistent results. We aimed to investigate the association between birth weight, obesity, fat mass and lean mass in Korean adolescents using the fifth Korea National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey (KNHANES V). Methods The study population consisted of a total of 1304 (693 men and 611 women) participants aged between 12 and 18 years. Adjusted ORs and 95% CIs were calculated by multivariable logistic regression analyses to determine the association between birth weight and being overweight or obese. Furthermore, adjusted mean values for body mass index (BMI), fat mass index (FMI) and lean mass index (LMI) according to birth weight were calculated by multiple linear regression analyses. Results Individuals within the highest 25th percentile in birth weight were more likely to be overweight (adjusted OR (aOR) 1.75, 95% CI 1.11 to 2.76) compared with adolescents within the 25th and 75th percentile in birth weight. Female adolescents who were in the highest 25th percentile in birth weight were more likely to be obese (aOR 2.13, 95% CI 1.03 to 4.41) compared with those within the 25th and 75th percentile in birth weight. Increasing FMI, but not LMI was associated with increasing birth weight (P for trend: 0.03). This tendency remained only in female population in sex-stratified analysis (P for trend: 0.03). Conclusions High birth weight may lead to obesity and increased fat mass, but not lean mass. Adolescents born with high birth weight may benefit from close weight monitoring and early intervention against obesity.
Tag-Enhanced Tree-Structured Neural Networks for Implicit Discourse Relation Classification

Identifying implicit discourse relations between text spans is a challenging task because it requires understanding the meaning of the text. To tackle this task, recent studies have tried several deep learning methods but few of them exploited the syntactic information. In this work, we explore the idea of incorporating syntactic parse tree into neural networks. Specifically, we employ the Tree-LSTM model and Tree-GRU model, which is based on the tree structure, to encode the arguments in a relation. And we further leverage the constituent tags to control the semantic composition process in these tree-structured neural networks. Experimental results show that our method achieves state-of-the-art performance on PDTB corpus.
Dental Aesthetics: A Study Comparing Patients’ Own Opinions with Those of Dentists

Objective: A beautiful smile is perceived as important but the components that contribute to the patient’s concept of a beautiful smile have not been fully investigated. Hence this study aimed to compare the views of patients on their own dental aesthetics with those of a group of dentists. It also assessed the patients’ willingness to undergo aesthetic treatment. Methods: Fifty patients, who ranged in age from 24 to 76 years, completed self-assessment questionnaires. Photographs were taken of these patients, which were subsequently assessed by six dentists using a questionnaire with visual analogue scale to assess each parameter. Results: Significant differences (p < 0.05) were found between the opinions of the dentists and the patients. Older patients were generally more satisfied with their smile than the dentists. Eighty-six percent of the patients were willing to undergo aesthetic treatment, although factors such as the complexity of treatment, time involved, discomfort and financial costs, deterred many. The cost of treatment was the main deterrent. The younger patients were least likely to be put off treatment. Conclusion: Patients’ views of their own smile differed from the dentists’ opinion. Those who were the least satisfied and were most likely to undergo aesthetic treatment were in the younger age groups. Satisfaction increased with age and older patients were less likely to seek the aesthetic treatment.
Grey and White Matter Alterations in Juvenile Myoclonic Epilepsy: A Comprehensive Review

Juvenile myoclonic epilepsy (JME) has been classified as a syndrome of idiopathic generalized epilepsy and is characterized by a strong genetic basis, age-specific onset of seizures, specific types of seizures, generalized spike-wave discharges on electroencephalography, and a lack of focal abnormality on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Recently, a wide range of advanced neuroimaging techniques have been utilized to elucidate the neuroanatomical substrates and pathophysiological mechanisms underlying JME. Specifically, a number of quantitative MRI studies have reported focal or regional abnormalities of the subcortical and cortical grey matter, particularly the thalamus and frontal cortex, in JME patients. In addition, diffusion tensor imaging studies have pointed to disrupted microstructural integrity of the corpus callosum and multiple frontal white matter tracts as well as thalamofrontal dysconnectivity in JME patients. Converging evidence from neuroimaging studies strongly suggests that JME is a predominantly thalamofrontal network epilepsy, challenging the traditional concept of JME as a generalized epilepsy. There is also limited evidence indicating extrafrontal and extrathalamic involvement in JME. This systematic review outlines the main findings from currently available MRI studies focusing on grey and white matter alterations, and discusses their contributions to the etiology and pathophysiology of JME. The clinical utility, advantages, and drawbacks of each imaging modality are briefly described as well.
Impact of etiology of chronic liver disease on hepatocellular carcinoma biomarkers.

BACKGROUND The role of serum biomarkers in the surveillance of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is controversial. OBJECTIVE We assessed the diagnostic performances of alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) and protein-induced by vitamin-K-absence/antagonist-II (PIVKA-II) in 388 cirrhotic patients with chronic liver disease (CLD). METHODS Biomarkers were quantified by automated chemiluminescent-enzyme-immunoassays (Fujirebio, Tokyo, Japan) at HCC diagnosis in 258 patients (204 males; median age 66.9 years) and in 130 cirrhotics without HCC (104 males; median-age 60.6 years). CLD etiology in HCC/non-HCC was CHB in 48/35, CHC in 126/56 and Non-Viral in 84/39. RESULTS Overall AUROC values for AFP and PIVKA-II were 0.698 (95%CI = 0.642-0.753, P< 0.001) and 0.780 (95%CI = 0.730-0.831, P< 0.001). AFP/PIVKA-II AUROC (95%CI) were: 0.822 (0.728-0.915)/0.833 (0.739-0.926) in CHB, 0.648 (0.560-0.736)/0.732 (0.650-0.814) in CHC; 0.640 (0.540-0.740)/0.806 (0.722-0.889) in Non-Viral-CLD. AFP/PIVKA-II diagnostic accuracy was 40.5-59.8%/62.7-73.5% and combining both markers 78.2% for CHB, 77% for Non-Viral-CLD and 75% for CHC. AFP correlated with ALT in HCC patients with CHC (ρ= 0.463/P< 0.001) and Non-Viral CLD (ρ= 0.359/P= 0.047), but not in CHB (treated with antivirals). PIVKA-II correlated with tumour size independently of CLD-etiology (P< 0.001) and AFP in CHB patients only (P= 0.007). CONCLUSION The diagnostic performance of AFP and PIVKA-II is significantly influenced by the etiology and activity of CLD; their combination provides a better diagnostic accuracy.