Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Implant Vertical Fractures Provoked by Laboratory Procedures: A Finite Element Analysis Inspired from Clinical Cases

Purpose:To investigate the causes for internal implant fractures, which is suggested to be one of the reasons for marginal bone loss. Materials and Methods:From a 14-year database of 6051 implants, 10 single implant vertical fractures were identified and the abutments were all castable abutments. The abutments presented contamination and irregularities at the internal connecting areas. The hypothesis was that perfect fit was disturbed by laboratory polishing procedures, and finite element analysis (FEA) using overcorrected and undercorrected castable abutment models were created and tested against a perfect fit model. Results:The results from the FEA presented that both overcorrected and undercorrected models presented nonuniform excessive plastic strain distribution in the neck portion of the implants where clinically an implant fracture was noted. Conclusions:The results suggested that laboratory procedures could induce plastic strain of the implant-abutment complex, which increases the risk of fracture.
Diabetes complications and risk factors in an Australian population. How well are they managed?

BACKGROUND This study aimed to explore the relationship between complications and risk factors in the type 2 diabetes population, and to assess the level of assistance people with diabetes receive in controlling their risk factors. METHODS Participants were recruited from representative population surveys of South Australians aged over 18 years. Participants were asked a series of questions about their risk factors and the advice and assistance they received from their general practitioner (GP) in modifying their risk factors. Additionally, participants were clinically tested for a number of macro and microvascular complications. RESULTS South Australians with type 2 diabetes have a high prevalence of risk factors, with the majority being overweight or obese, doing no vigorous exercise and having high blood pressure. They also have a high prevalence of complications, with 53% having at least one macrovascular complication and 66% having at least one microvascular complication. Additionally, participants reported high levels of GP advice and assistance on the risk factors where pharmacological controls were available, but low levels of assistance where non-pharmacological interventions were needed to control the risk factor. CONCLUSIONS The prevalence of diabetes risk factors and complications among South Australians with type 2 diabetes is a cause for concern, as is the lack of assistance offered by GPs to modify risk factors. Multi-disciplinary approaches to the control of risk factors and patient self-management and education are critical to the progression and success of diabetes care.
Death and Seeking Alternative Therapy Largely Accounted for Lost to Follow-up of Patients on ART in Northwest Ethiopia: A Community Tracking Survey

Background Antiretroviral treatment programs in sub-Saharan African countries are highly affected by LTF. Tracking patients lost to follow-up and understanding their status is essential to maintain program quality and to develop targeted interventions to prevent LTF. We aimed to determine the outcome and factors associated with LTF. Method A lost to follow-up community tracking survey was conducted to determine the reasons, outcomes and factors associated with LTF at the University of Gondar Hospital, northwest Ethiopia. All patients were tracked at home to ascertain outcome status for lost to follow-up (death and non-death losses). Result Out of the 551 patients LTF, 486 (88.20%) were successfully tracked. Death was the most common reason accounted for 233 (47.94%) of the lost to follow-up. Reasons for non-deaths losses include: stopped antiretroviral treatment due to different reasons, 135(53.36%), and relocation to another antiretroviral treatment program by self- transfer, 118(46.64%). The rate of mortality in the first six months was 72.12 per 100 person-years (95% CI: 61.80–84.24) but this sharply decreased after 12 months to 7.92 per 100 person-years (95% CI: 4.44–14.41). Baseline clinical characteristics were strongly associated with mortality. Conclusion Death accounts for about half of the loss to follow up. Most deaths occur in the first six months of loss. Seeking alternative therapy is another major reason for loss to follow up. Early tracking mechanisms are necessary to prevent death.
An evolutionary algorithm with a multilevel pairing strategy for single and multiobjective optimization

This paper presents an evolutionary algorithm that incorporates a multilevel pairing strategy to solve single and multiobjective optimization problems. The algorithm is based on nondominance of solutions separately in the objective and the constraint space and uses cooperative mating strategies between solutions. Since the methodology is based on nondominance separately in the objective and the constraint space, scaling and aggregation affecting conventional penalty function methods for constraint handling does not arise. The proposed cooperative and intelligent pairing strategies result in mating between solutions that are good in objectives with those that are good in constraint satisfaction, thus helping to speed up convergence. The diversification mechanism in the algorithm is based on niching that results in a wide spread of solutions in the parametric space. Three constrained multiobjective design examples and a single objective optimization problem with continuous and mixed variables are used to illustrate the performance of the proposed algorithm.
Effects of sleep deprivation on cortical excitability in patients affected by juvenile myoclonic epilepsy: a combined transcranial magnetic stimulation and EEG study

Objective: To investigate the effect of sleep deprivation on corticospinal excitability in patients affected by juvenile myoclonic epilepsy (JME) using different transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) parameters. Methods: Ten patients with JME and 10 normal subjects underwent partial sleep deprivation. Motor threshold (MT), motor evoked potential amplitude (MEP), and silent period (SP) were recorded from the thenar eminence (TE) muscles. Short latency intracortical inhibition (SICI) and short latency intracortical facilitation (SICF) were studied using paired magnetic stimulation. TMS was performed before and after sleep deprivation; EEG and TMS were performed simultaneously. Results: In patients with JME, sleep deprivation induced a significant decrease in SICI and an increase in SICF, which was associated with increased paroxysmal activity. A significant decrease in the MT was observed. No significant changes in any TMS parameters were noted in normal subjects after sleep deprivation. The F wave was unchanged by sleep deprivation in both control subjects and in patients with JME. Conclusions: In patients with JME, sleep deprivation produces increases in corticospinal excitability in motor areas as measured by different TMS parameters.
Modeling Pulsed Laser Melting of Embedded Nanoparticles

A model of pulsed laser melting of embedded nanoparticles is introduced. Pulsed laser melting (PLM) is commonly used to achieve a fast quench rate in nanoparticles; this model enables a better understanding of the influence of PLM on the size distribution of nanoparticles, which is crucial for studying or using their size-dependent properties. The model includes laser absorption according to the Mie theory, a full heat transport model, and rate equations for nucleation, growth, coarsening, and melting and freezing of nanoparticles embedded in a transparent matrix. The effects of varying the laser parameters and sample properties are studied, as well as combining PLM and rapid thermal annealing (RTA) processing steps on the same sample. A general theory for achieving narrow size distributions of nanoparticles is presented, and widths as narrow as 12% are achieved using PLM and RTA.
Serum levels of eosinophil cationic protein and eosinophils in asthmatic children during a course of prednisolone therapy

Eosinophils play an important role in the inflammatory events of allergic asthma. Serum eosinophil cationic protein (ECP) is a marker of disease activity and of treatment efficacy in bronchial asthma. To understand the role of ECP concentrations in disease activity of acute asthma, we determined changes in serum concentrations of ECP elaborated by activated eosinophil before and after prednisolone therapy. Circulating levels of ECP in 15 normal control subjects, and in sera of 20 asthmatic children who were allergic to house dust mites, were measured during an acute exacerbation and when the children were in stable condition, using commercially available assay kits.
Thrombolytic Therapy in Pulmonary Embolism

Pulmonary embolism has frequently been chosen for trials of thrombolytic therapy, not only because of its importance to public health, but also because the effects of therapy on the embolus can be readily appreciated by the use of pulmonary angiography, hemodynamics, and lung scans. Moreover, this lesion is theoretically the most attractive potential indication for thrombolytic agents, because its pathophysiologic effects are attributable to right heart strain rather than less reversible tissue necrosis, and because the emboli are usually in previously healthy vessels with ready access to a systemically administered lytic agent. The disadvantages of studying this lesion are its high sudden death rate, which leaves only less severe cases for study, and the demonstration that spontaneous fibrinolytic activity itself may result in the clearing of the pulmonary arterial tree. 2, 3 Clinical trials have been carried out with both streptokinase and uroki-
Testicular toxicity of candidate fuel additive 1,6-dimethoxyhexane: comparison with several similar aliphatic ethers.

Previous studies of the toxicity of candidate fuel additives identified severe testicular toxicity in animals exposed to 1,6-dimethoxyhexane (DMH). A series of studies were conducted to characterize the effects of DMH on spermatogenesis and to compare the effects of DMH with responses to structural similar aliphatic ethers. In the first study, sexually mature male rats were administered a single dose (600 mg/kg) of DMH, and subsets of animals were sampled at intervals post exposure (PE). Both testis and thymus weight declined steadily after DMH exposure, both being significantly lower than control by 7 days PE. Treatment with DMH led, at 24 to 48 h PE, to an increase in dying primary spermatocytes in seminiferous tubule stages I-IV and stages XII-XIV, but not intervening stages. The affected cohort of germ cells was seen progressing through the developmental sequence of spermatogenesis as numbers of dying cells returned to control levels by 7 days PE, coincident with a significant decline in the proportion of round spermatids among germ cells as determined by flow cytometry. Resolution of round spermatids to control levels by day 21 PE coincided with a reduction in condensed spermatids (homogenization-resistant spermatid nuclei) and was followed at 28 days PE by a significant reduction in cauda epididymal sperm counts. Further studies of repeated exposures to DMH (200 mg.kg(-1). day(-1), 5 days per week for 4 weeks) confirmed the significant testis toxicity of this material. In contrast, similar treatment with any of a variety of structurally similar aliphatic ethers had little or no impact on testis function. Methoxyacetic acid, previously shown to cause rapid death of some meiotic germ cell stages, was found at high concentrations in the urine of DMH-treated rats but not in rats treated with other ethers, suggesting that DMH exerts its testis toxicity via metabolism to this substance. These results demonstrate that DMH selectively deletes germ cells from the testis At the very early or very late pachytene, diplotene, or M-phase spermatocyte stages, possibly through conversion to MAA.
Joint transceiver design for secure communication with power transfer

In the simultaneous wireless information and power transfer (SWIPT) system, the security becomes a major concern. This is because the energy harvesting (EH) operates with much higher received power than conventional information decoding (ID), which leads the environment vulnerable to eavesdropping. In this work, we propose a joint transceiver design to maximize physical-layer security while guaranteeing the required minimum of the harvested energy. The system under consideration consists of a transmitter (Tx), a receiver (Rx), a cooperative jammer (CJ) and a passive eavesdropper (Eve). The Rx is assumed to be energy-constrained in terms of the operation time or the limited power of a battery, where an EH Rx and an ID Rx are co-located. Based on an employment of the CJ, we jointly optimize the beam-forming vector for the CJ and the limited-resource allocation for the Rx to achieve the system objective. For the structure of the co-located EH and ID Rx, two schemes are investigated such as time switching (TS) and power splitting (PS) whose limited resources are the operation time and power, respectively. The algorithmic solutions are proposed for both TS and PS schemes based on rank-relaxation and Minorization-Maximization (MM) approach. Finally, the numerical results show that the secrecy rate in the SWIPT system can be improved by using the proposed algorithm while guaranteeing the requirement of the harvested energy.
Validity of Laparoscopic Staging to Avoid Adjuvant Chemoradiation following Radical Surgery in Patients with Early Cervical Cancer

Purpose: To determine the rate of unavoidable adjuvant chemoradiation (RCTX) due to histologic results after radical surgery in patients with early cervical cancer. Patients and Methods: Between May 2004 and July 2011, 448 consecutive patients diagnosed with invasive cervical cancer stage IA1 L1 to IIA underwent laparoscopic staging at the Department of Gynecology and Gynecologic Oncology at Charité Berlin. Only in patients without lymph node metastases (n = 394) on frozen section, radical operation was continued either by laparoscopic radical hysterectomy (n = 228) or by radical vaginal trachelectomy (n = 166). The decision for adjuvant RCTX was reached among the members of an interdisciplinary tumor board according to the presence of risk factors. The mean age of patients was 39 years. Squamous cell cancer was found in 62.5%, adenocarcinoma in 32.7%, adenosquamous cancer in 3.8% and others in 1% of patients. Adjuvant treatment was indicated if at least one category 1 risk factor (pN1, R1 or RX, parametrial involvement) and/or any combination of category 2 risk factors (lymphovascular space involvement (LVSI), hemovascular space involvement, grading 3, young age, deep stromal invasion, large tumor size) were present. Results: In 39 of 394 patients (9.9%), adjuvant RCTX was recommended due to category 1 risk factors (n = 25/6.4%) and category 2 risk factors (n = 14/3.5%). Tumor-involved (R0) or unclear resection margins (RX) were present in 4 (1%) and 1 (0.3%), parametrial involvement in 12 (3%) and positive lymph nodes in 11 (2.8%) patients, respectively. Hemovascular involvement was found in 14 (3.5%), LVSI in 113 (28.7%) and grading 3 in 122 (31%) patients, respectively. Conclusion: Laparoscopic staging is a reliable tool to keep the rate of tri-modal (surgery + chemotherapy + radiotherapy) treatments in patients with cervical cancer stage I and IIA after radical surgery at 10%. This percentage should be used as benchmark for the quality of interdisciplinary treatment of patients diagnosed with cervical cancer.
Postprandial hypotension is associated with asymptomatic cerebrovascular damage in essential hypertensive patients.

offelucidate the relationship between postprandial hypotension (PPH) and asymptomatic cerebrovascular damage, we evaluated changes in blood pressure after a meal by 24-hour blood pressure monitoring in 70 hospitalized essential hypertensive patients aged >/=50 years. They received a diet containing standard nutritional ingredients with 120 mmol (7 g) NaCl and were free from medication for at least 1 week. PPH was defined as the mean reduction of systolic blood pressure during 2 hours after a meal. Patients were divided into three groups according to mean values of PPH after 3 meals: PPH-1 (n=16, 5 mm Hg</=PPH<10 mm Hg), PPH-2 (n=18, PPH>/=10 mm Hg), and normal (n=36, PPH<5 mm Hg). As asymptomatic cerebrovascular damage, lacunae and leukoaraiosis were evaluated by magnetic resonance imaging. PPH did not correlate with daytime or nighttime blood pressure or the nondipper phenomenon; however, PPH was significantly related to asymptomatic cerebrovascular damage. The prevalence of lacunae in the normal, PPH-1, and PPH-2 groups was 44%, 69%, and 83%, respectively (chi2=8.22, P<0.05). The number of lacunae in the normal, PPH-1, and PPH-2 groups was 1.0+/-1.3, 1.3+/-1.2, and 1. 9+/-1.4, respectively (F[2,67]=3.2, P<0.05). The prevalence of advanced leukoaraiosis in the normal, PPH-1, and PPH-2 groups was 44%, 50%, and 83%, respectively (chi2=7.63, P<0.05). Severity score of leukoaraiosis in the normal, PPH-1, and PPH-2 groups was 1.5+/-0. 7, 1.7+/-0.8, and 2.1+/-0.7, respectively (F[2,67]=4.3, P<0.05). These findings indicate that elderly hypertensive patients with marked PPH should be considered to have advanced cerebrovascular damage even in the absence of abnormal neurological findings.
Available bandwidth-based association in IEEE 802.11 Wireless LANs

The performance of an IEEE 802.11 station heavily depends on the selection of an AP (Access Point) that the station is associated with to access the Internet. The conventional approach to the AP selection is based on the received signal strength called RSSI (Received Signal Strength Indication) from APs within the transmission range. This approach however, might yield unbalanced traffic load among APs as the station chooses an AP only based on the signal strength, instead of considering the AP load and the level of contention on medium access. Accordingly, the station that is associated with the highest-RSSI AP might suffer from poor network performance. In this paper, we propose a new association metric, EVA (Estimated aVailable bAndwidth) with which a station can find the AP that provides the maximum achievable throughput among scanned APs. EVA is designed to estimate the available bandwidth on a channel with respect to a station that is to join a WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network). A station equipped with EVA observes a channel state in a per-slot basis, and yet does not request any external information from nearby APs or neighbor stations. Our estimation mechanism is non-intrusive, fully distributed, and independent of the infrastructure. Through simulation study, we evaluate the accuracy of the estimation and show that EVA-based association yields enhanced throughput performance compared with the legacy scheme.
Applicability of laparoscopic adrenalectomy in a prospective study in 150 consecutive patients.

HYPOTHESIS Within a decade, laparascopic adrenalectomy has become the new "gold standard" for the surgical treatment of most adrenal lesions. Designed as a single-center project focused on patients with adrenal lesions, this study should provide an indication of the number of patients requiring surgery who can safely undergo laparoscopy, after consideration of such selection criteria as tumor size and benign or malignant lesion status at magnetic resonance imaging. Furthermore, the access-related complications were analyzed. DESIGN According to a prospective protocol, 150 consecutive patients selected for adrenal surgery were assigned to transperitoneal endoscopic or open adrenalectomy. SETTING University hospital section of endocrine surgery. RESULTS One hundred two patients (68%) were selected for a laparoscopic approach that had to be converted to open surgery in 5 patients (5%). Two malignant cortisol-secreting lesions were operated on laparoscopically because of their small size and benign appearance at magnetic resonance imaging. During histological examination, 14 (29%) of 48 patients assigned to transperitoneal open adrenalectomy had lesions deemed malignant (16 [11%] of 150 patients). The laparoscopic group had significantly fewer complications (9%) than did the open group (21%; P =.04). CONCLUSIONS By applying defined selection criteria for the treatment of adrenal lesions, transperitoneal endoscopic adrenalectomy can be a safe procedure and may be performed in at least two thirds of patients. The choice of endoscopic or open approach in larger tumors should depend on the results of preoperative imaging studies and the endocrine surgeon's experience in endoscopic adrenal surgery.
High Frequency and Diversity of Antimicrobial Activities Produced by Nasal Staphylococcus Strains against Bacterial Competitors

The human nasal microbiota is highly variable and dynamic often enclosing major pathogens such as Staphylococcus aureus. The potential roles of bacteriocins or other mechanisms allowing certain bacterial clones to prevail in this nutrient-poor habitat have hardly been studied. Of 89 nasal Staphylococcus isolates, unexpectedly, the vast majority (84%) was found to produce antimicrobial substances in particular under habitat-specific stress conditions, such as iron limitation or exposure to hydrogen peroxide. Activity spectra were generally narrow but highly variable with activities against certain nasal members of the Actinobacteria, Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, or several groups of bacteria. Staphylococcus species and many other Firmicutes were insusceptible to most of the compounds. A representative bacteriocin was identified as a nukacin-related peptide whose inactivation reduced the capacity of the producer Staphylococcus epidermidis IVK45 to limit growth of other nasal bacteria. Of note, the bacteriocin genes were found on mobile genetic elements exhibiting signs of extensive horizontal gene transfer and rearrangements. Thus, continuously evolving bacteriocins appear to govern bacterial competition in the human nose and specific bacteriocins may become important agents for eradication of notorious opportunistic pathogens from human microbiota.
Automatic accentedness evaluation of non-native speech using phonetic and sub-phonetic posterior probabilities

Automatic evaluation of non-native speech accentedness has potential implications for not only language learning and accent identification systems but also for speaker and speech recognition systems. From the perspective of speech production, the two primary factors influencing the accentedness are the phonetic and prosodic structure. In this paper, we propose an approach for automatic accentedness evaluation based on comparison of instances of native and non-native speakers at the acoustic-phonetic level. Specifically, the proposed approach measures accentedness by comparing phone class conditional probability sequences corresponding to the instances of native and non-native speakers, respectively. We evaluate the proposed approach on the EMIME bilingual and EMIME Mandarin bilingual corpora, which contains English speech from native English speakers and various non-native English speakers, namely Finnish, German and Mandarin. We also investigate the influence of the granularity of the phonetic unit representation on the performance of the proposed accentedness measure. Our results indicate that the accentedness ratings by the proposed approach correlate consistently with the human ratings of accentedness. In addition, our studies show that the granularity of the phonetic unit representation that yields the best correlation with the human accentedness ratings varies with respect to the native language of the non-native speakers.