Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effectiveness of Thrombolysis with Intravenous Alteplase for Acute Ischemic Stroke in Older Adults

To the Editor: Thrombolysis with intravenous alteplase is widely accepted as an effective treatment for individuals with acute ischemic stroke, but few individuals aged 80 and older are treated with alteplase. The risk:benefit ratio of thrombolysis might be less favorable with older age because of a higher risk of adverse events and lower efficacy. Outcomes in older adults treated with alteplase has been studied mostly in comparison with younger individuals, but to reach a firm conclusion concerning the appropriateness of treating older adults with thrombolysis, one should also contrast treatment with no treatment. Individuals aged 80 and older with stroke have a higher casefatality rate, longer hospitalization, and are less likely to be discharged home than younger individuals. The results of a recent collaborative project suggest that individuals aged 80 and older derive similar benefit from treatment with intravenous alteplase as younger individuals. The aim of the present study was to assess the effectiveness of thrombolysis in relation to age in an unselected prospective observational cohort, in which all individuals with an ischemic stroke admitted within 4 hours of symptom onset were registered.
1-11C-Methyl-4-Piperidinyl-N-Butyrate Radiation Dosimetry in Humans by Dynamic Organ-Specific Evaluation

Deficits of cholinergic neurotransmission contribute to various neurologic and psychiatric conditions. The neurotransmitter acetylcholine is hydrolyzed in the synaptic clefts by 2 enzymes, acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and butyrylcholinesterase (BuChE). 1-[11C]-Methyl-4-piperidinyl-N-butyrate (11C-MP4B) is a radioligand for the assessment study of BuChE activity in human brain with PET. In the present study the radiation-absorbed doses of the 11C-MP4B were estimated in humans according to the guidelines of the International Commission on Radiological Protection. Two different data acquisition protocols—dynamic organ-specific evaluation (DOSE) and whole-body scanning—were compared. Both methods are widely used for evaluation of radiation burden of 11C-labeled PET tracers. Methods: Fixed-bed PET on the upper neck, thorax, abdomen, or pelvic region was performed on 7 healthy subjects after injection of 707 ± 34 MBq (mean ± SD) of 11C-MP4B. Brain input was derived from our previous studies on 18 healthy control subjects and 10 patients with Alzheimer's disease. Regions of interest were drawn on transverse images of all visible organs. Radiation dose estimates were calculated from organ residence times using the MIRDOSE3 software. Urine samples were collected after imaging to estimate tracer extraction. To compare the estimates for absorbed doses between the whole-body scan approach and the DOSE method, we simulated whole-body data acquisition methods used in 11C dosimetry studies with our fixed-bed data. Results: The organs with the highest radiation-absorbed doses were the liver, urinary bladder, kidneys (renal cortex), upper large intestine, trabecular bone, salivary glands, and heart wall. Up to 60% of the injected dose was excreted via the urinary pathway, and the clearance was relatively rapid, as 30% of the radioactivity was excreted within 60 min after injection. With a 2-h voiding interval the effective dose was 4.2 μSv/MBq. Conclusion: 11C-MP4B causes less radiation burden than previously studied 11C-labeled PET tracers. No intolerably high absorbed doses were observed in critical organs. With 740 MBq of injected radioactivity, the radiation burden is equivalent to 3.11 mSv. This would allow multiple PET examinations per year to be performed on the same subject. The DOSE method and the simulated whole-body imaging approach produced similar results.
Measuring gaze overlap on videos between multiple observers

For gaze-based training in surgery to be meaningful, the similarity between a trainee's gaze and an expert's gaze during performance of surgical tasks must be assessed. As it is difficult to record two people's gaze simultaneously, we produced task videos made by experts, and measured the amount of overlap between the gaze path of the expert surgeon and third-party observers while watching the videos. For this investigation, we developed a new, simple method for displaying and summarizing the proportion of time during which two observers' points of gaze on a common stimulus were separated by no more than a specified visual angle. In a study of single-observer self-review and multiple-observer initial view of a laparoscopic training task, we predicted that self-review would produce the highest overlap. We found relatively low overlap between watchers and the task performer; even operators with detailed task knowledge produce low overlap when watching their own videos. Conversely, there was a high overlap among all watchers. Results indicate that it may be insufficient to improve trainees' eye-hand coordination by just watching a video. Gaze training will need to be integrated with other teaching methods to be effective.
Quantifying Spatiotemporal Variations of Soil Moisture Control on Surface Energy Balance and Near-Surface Air Temperature

AbstractSoil moisture plays a crucial role for the energy partitioning at Earth’s surface. Changing fractions of latent and sensible heat fluxes caused by soil moisture variations can affect both near-surface air temperature and precipitation. In this study, a simple framework for the dependence of evaporative fraction (the ratio of latent heat flux over net radiation) on soil moisture is used to analyze spatial and temporal variations of land–atmosphere coupling and its effect on near-surface air temperature. Using three different data sources (two reanalysis datasets and one combination of different datasets), three key parameters for the relation between soil moisture and evaporative fraction are estimated: 1) the frequency of occurrence of different soil moisture regimes, 2) the sensitivity of evaporative fraction to soil moisture in the transitional soil moisture regime, and 3) the critical soil moisture value that separates soil moisture- and energy-limited evapotranspiration regimes. The results sh.
Multicenter Validation of the cppB Gene as a PCR Target for Detection of Neisseria gonorrhoeae

ABSTRACT The cppB gene is often used as a target for detection of Neisseria gonorrhoeae by PCR. Using a coded panel of 500 DNA samples, we determined that the cppB gene is missing in 5.8% of N. gonorrhoeae strains, and therefore we consider the cppB gene to be an unsuitable target.
Oral health and its influence on cognitive behavioral therapy in patients fulfilling the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-IV criteria for intra-oral injection phobia

Abstract Objective. To describe self-perceived and clinically assessed oral health and oral treatment needs among intra-oral injection-phobic patients (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-IV) and to explore whether these factors have an impact on the outcome of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). Material and methods. Fifty-five patients (43 women, mean age 32.5 years, range 18–62 years) were treated with short-duration CBT. Dental anxiety (Dental Anxiety Scale and Dental Fear Survey) and self-perceived oral health were assessed by means of questionnaires. Three dentists assessed oral health by means of clinical examination and radiographs. Treatment outcome was measured by ability to receive an intra-oral injection by a general dentist within a 1-year follow-up (FU) period or ability to complete a behavioral avoidance test (BAT) at FU, and changes in dental anxiety and positive and negative thoughts from pretreatment to FU. Results. Forty percent of patients ranged their oral health as “good” or “very good”. Mean decayed teeth (DT) was 2.2 (range 0–15). The total number of teeth in need of treatment, periodontal treatment, endodontic treatment and extractions ranged from 0 to 15, 0 to 19, 0 to 4 and 0 to 5, respectively. Self-rated oral health correlated significantly with clinical oral health. The outcome of CBT in terms of being able to receive a dental injection during FU was not influenced by oral health status. However, correlation analyses indicated that patients with the poorest oral health had the greatest increase in positive thoughts and the greatest decrease in negative thoughts from pretreatment to FU. Conclusions. The oral health of intra-oral injection-phobic patients varies substantially, but is comparable to that of the normal population. Coping with a dental injection after CBT is not influenced by oral health and treatment needs.
Cerebral Hemodynamic Changes in Stroke During Sleep-Disordered Breathing

Background and Purpose— Sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) negatively impacts stroke outcome. Near-infrared spectroscopy showed the acute cerebral hemodynamic effects of SDB. Methods— Eleven patients (7 men, age 61±13 years) with acute/subacute middle cerebral artery stroke (National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score 10±7) and SDB (apnea–hypopnea index 32±28/hour) were assessed with nocturnal polysomnography and bilateral near-infrared spectroscopy recording. Cerebral oxygenation and hemoglobin concentration changes during obstructive and central apneas were analyzed. Results— During SDB, near-infrared spectroscopy showed asymmetrical patterns of cerebral oxygenation and hemoglobin concentrations with changes significantly larger on the unaffected compared with the affected hemisphere. Brain tissue hypoxia was more severe during obstructive compared with central apneas. Conclusions— Profound cerebral deoxygenation effects of SDB occurred in acute/subacute stroke. These changes may contribute to poor outcome, arising in the possibility of a potential benefit of SDB treatment in stroke management.
Evaluation of liquefaction potential of marine sandy soil with piles considering nonlinear seismic soil–pile interaction; A simple predictive model

Abstract An elastoplastic, dynamic, finite-difference method was applied to study the effects of nonlinear seismic soil–pile interaction on the liquefaction potential of marine sand with piles. The developed model was well validated using the centrifuge test. The results showed that acceleration, bending moment, and excess pore water pressure complied well with centrifuge test results. The effect of different affecting parameters on liquefaction potential was investigated using parametric study. Using a sensitivity analysis, the pile embedment parameter was shown to be the most influential parameter. Finally, applying the evolutionary polynomial regression technique, a new model for predicting the liquefaction potential was presented.
The Program Sustainability Assessment Tool: A New Instrument for Public Health Programs

Introduction Public health programs can deliver benefits only if they are able to sustain programs, policies, and activities over time. Although numerous sustainability frameworks and models have been developed, there are almost no assessment tools that have demonstrated reliability or validity or have been widely disseminated. We present the Program Sustainability Assessment Tool (PSAT), a new and reliable instrument for assessing the capacity for program sustainability of various public health and other programs. Methods A measurement development study was conducted to assess the reliability of the PSAT. Program managers and staff (n = 592) representing 252 public health programs used the PSAT to rate the sustainability of their program. State and community-level programs participated, representing 4 types of chronic disease programs: tobacco control, diabetes, obesity prevention, and oral health. Results The final version of the PSAT contains 40 items, spread across 8 sustainability domains, with 5 items per domain. Confirmatory factor analysis shows good fit of the data with the 8 sustainability domains. The subscales have excellent internal consistency; the average Cronbach’s α is 0.88, ranging from 0.79 to 0.92. Preliminary validation analyses suggest that PSAT scores are related to important program and organizational characteristics. Conclusion The PSAT is a new and reliable assessment instrument that can be used to measure a public health program’s capacity for sustainability. The tool is designed to be used by researchers, evaluators, program managers, and staff for large and small public health programs.
EGTA and motoneuronal after‐potentials.

1. Intracellular iontophoretic injections of EGTA (5‐‐20 nA) into cat spinal motoneurones consistently greatly reduce the amplitude of the delayed after hyperpolarization (a.h.p.) that follows the spike. 2. This effect is accompanied by a large reduction (on average by 3/4) in the marked increase in input conductance normally associated with the a.h. p. 3. There is also a consistent, though less regular, tendency for the resting input conductance to decrease (on average by 1/5), as well as some depolarization. 4. Recovery of the a.h. p., the associated conductance increase and the resting conductance is ver slow. It is sometimes accelerated by injections of citrate and Cl‐, or CA2+. 5. Other hyperpolarizing phenomena, such as recurrent or othodromically‐evoked i.p.s.p.s, are not depressed by injections of EGTA. 6. When depolarization is minimal EGTA injections that markedly depress the a.h. p. do not affect the rate of rise or fall of the spike. If, as a result of depolarization, an early a.h. p. is visible, it is patently insensitive to EGTA. 7. The post‐spike depolarizing after‐potential (delayed depolarization) is not obviously affected by EGTA, apart from the usual diminution seen during depolarization. 8. Since the main action of EGTA is to bind free Ca2+, the marked depression of the a.h. p. indicates that the sharp increase in K conductance which generates the a.h. p. is probably caused by a influx of Ca2+ accompanying the action potential. It is suggested that this inward Ca2+ current may be manifested in the depolarizing after‐potential.
Forest complexity modelling and mapping with remote sensing and topographic data: a comparison of three methods

The concept of forest complexity has been recently adopted to represent the multiple horizontal and vertical forest structure and composition attributes that support ecological functions in a single measure or index. The index variables are often selected based on known associations with types of habitat and biodiversity potential. In modelling and mapping of forest complexity using geospatial data, three multivariate methods have been evaluated in previous studies: (i) defining an additive complexity index by manual a priori selection and combination of a set of field variables followed by regression-based modelling of the index against geospatial data; (ii) as the previous method, but where a complexity index is defined a priori using principal components analysis (PCA) of the field data; and (iii) direct modelling of a set of field variables against a set of geospatial variables using techniques such as redundancy analysis (RDA). The objective of this study was to compare these methods through an assessment of model quality and their relative merits and limitations in implementation. In the rural municipality of Chelsea, Quebec, 70 field plots were established, and 24 forest structure and composition variables were measured that had between-variable correlations of less than 0.8. Spectral and spatial Quickbird imagery information and topographic data were used to derive complexity models using the three methods. The manual additive index and the RDA-derived index had similar validation errors relative to their index means (24.3% and 22.3%, respectively). However, the RDA index was based on the full set of 24 field variables, which had a total structure-composition variance greater than the manual additive index comprised of a subset of 10 of those variables. Thus, the RDA index was deemed to more comprehensively represent forest structure and composition than the additive index. RDA also produced outputs that were richer in information content, showing associations between individual variables and plots, as well as forest–environmental gradients. The PCA method was useful for evaluating environmental gradients in the field data, but dimensionality was too high to provide a single useful complexity index for modelling with geospatial data. The additive and RDA index models were used to produce maps of predicted forest complexity to aid in biodiversity survey planning and habitat conservation efforts within the municipality.
On Full Jacobian Decomposition of the Augmented Lagrangian Method for Separable Convex Programming

The augmented Lagrangian method (ALM) is a benchmark for solving a convex minimization model with linear constraints. We consider the special case where the objective is the sum of $m$ functions without coupled variables. For solving this separable convex minimization model, it is usually required to decompose the ALM subproblem at each iteration into $m$ smaller subproblems, each of which only involves one function in the original objective. Easier subproblems capable of taking full advantage of the functions' properties individually could thus be generated. In this paper, we focus on the case where full Jacobian decomposition is applied to ALM subproblems, i.e., all the decomposed ALM subproblems are eligible for parallel computation at each iteration. For the first time, we show, by an example, that the ALM with full Jacobian decomposition could be divergent. To guarantee the convergence, we suggest combining a relaxation step and the output of the ALM with full Jacobian decomposition. A novel analysis.
Modeling Pneumatic Muscle Actuators: Artificial Intelligence Approach

Robot human interaction requires use of safe, compliant and light weight actuators. Conventional linear motors and pneumatic cylinders are normally used to actuate robots to assist and augment human motions. Lately it has been realized that these actuators are not suitable and safe for applications involving human actor. Their large weight, size and stiffer design raise concerns. Pneumatic muscle actuators (PMA) on the other hand are very light weight, compact and have inherent compliance which make them potential candidate for applications involving robot human interaction. Taking on the advantages, these actuators are now being experimented for a variety of medical and rehabilitation applications. However they are not very popular due to their highly nonlinear and time dependent behavior which poses control problems. In this paper, an attempt is being made to accurately predict the uncertain and ambiguous characteristics of PMA using Artificial Intelligence (AI). Conventional tools such as analytical and numerical methods can only model a nonlinear system which is time independent. Time varying nonlinear system characteristics can be best modeled using artificial intelligence-based regression models. In this research, Artificial Neural Network (ANN), Mamdani Fuzzy Inference System (FIS) and Takagi-Sugeno (TS)-based fuzzy system are developed after carefully analyzing the time series data obtained from a real system. To achieve higher accuracy from these models, their parameters are tuned. Parameters of ANN are tuned using back propagation algorithm whereas fuzzy parameters are tuned using three different methods, namely, gradient descent method (GD), genetic algorithms (GA) and Modified Genetic Algorithm (MGA). It was found that the TS fuzzy inference system tuned by MGA provides better accuracy and can also model the time dependent behavior of PMA. The proposed TS fuzzy system is found to perform better in terms of accuracy and maximum deviation when compared to the previous approaches in the literature.
On Person Authentication by Fusing Visual and Thermal Face Biometrics

Recognition algorithms that use data obtained by imaging faces in the thermal spectrum are promising in achieving invariance to extreme illumination changes that are often present in practice. In this paper we analyze the performance of a recently proposed face recognition algorithm that combines visual and thermal modalities by decision level fusion. We examine (i) the effects of the proposed data preprocessing in each domain, (ii) the contribution to improved recognition of different types of features, (iii) the importance of prescription glasses detection, in the context of both 1-to-N and 1-to-1 matching (recognition vs. verification performance). Finally, we discuss the significance of our results and, in particular, identify a number of limitations of the current state-of-the-art and propose promising directions for future research.
On a Natural Dynamics for Linear Programming

In this paper we study dynamics inspired by Physarum polycephalum (a slime mold) for solving linear programs [NTY00, IJNT11, JZ12]. These dynamics are arrived at by a local and mechanistic interpretation of the inner workings of the slime mold and a global optimization perspective has been lacking even in the simplest of instances. Our first result is an interpretation of the dynamics as an optimization process. We show that Physarum dynamics can be seen as a steepest-descent type algorithm on a certain Riemannian manifold. Moreover, we prove that the trajectories of Physarum are in fact paths of optimizers to a parametrized family of convex programs, in which the objective is a linear cost function regularized by an entropy barrier. Subsequently, we rigorously establish several important properties of solution curves of Physarum. We prove global existence of such solutions and show that they have limits, being optimal solutions of the underlying LP. Finally, we show that the discretization of the Physarum dynamics is efficient for a class of linear programs, which include unimodular constraint matrices. Thus, together, our results shed some light on how nature might be solving instances of perhaps the most complex problem in P: linear programming.
THE EPIDEMIOLOGY OF OSTEOPOROSIS

SUMMARY Osteoporosis is a skeletal disorder characterised by low bone mass and an increased susceptibility to fracture. The last two decades have seen an increase in our understanding of the epidemiology of fractures at the three most frequent sites (the hip, wrist and vertebral body). These new insights have led to the delineation of preventive strategies against these fractures for both the general population, and those individuals at highest risk. This review covers these descriptive epidemiological characteristics, as well as approaches to prevention.
Therapeutic equivalence in survival for hepatic arterial chemoembolization and yttrium 90 microsphere treatments in unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma

Intrahepatic arterial yttrium 90 (90Y) microspheres have been proposed as a less toxic, less invasive therapeutic option to transhepatic arterial chemoembolization (TACE) for patients with surgically unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). TACE has demonstrated the ability to prolong survival. However, long‐term survival remains uncertain.
TRPC5 Channel Is the Mediator of Neurotrophin-3 in Regulating Dendritic Growth via CaMKIIα in Rat Hippocampal Neurons

Neurotrophin-3 (NT-3) plays numerous important roles in the CNS and the elevation of intracellular Ca2+ ([Ca2+]i) is critical for these functions of NT-3. However, the mechanism by which NT-3 induces [Ca2+]i elevation remains largely unknown. Here, we found that transient receptor potential canonical (TRPC) 5 protein and TrkC, the NT-3 receptor, exhibited a similar temporal expression in rat hippocampus and cellular colocalization in hippocampal neurons. Stimulation of the neurons by NT-3 induced a nonselective cation conductance and PLCγ-dependent [Ca2+]i elevation, which were both blocked when TRPC5, but not TRPC6 channels, were inhibited. Moreover, the Ca2+ influx through TRPC5 induced by NT-3 inhibited the neuronal dendritic growth through activation of calmodulin-dependent kinase (CaMK) IIα. In contrast, the Ca2+ influx through TRPC6 induced by NT-4 promoted the dendritic growth. Thus, TRPC5 acts as a novel and specific mediator for NT-3 to regulate dendrite development through CaMKIIα.