Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Surgical treatment compared with eccentric training for patellar tendinopathy (Jumper's Knee). A randomized, controlled trial.

BACKGROUND Although the surgical treatment of patellar tendinopathy (jumper's knee) is a common procedure, there have been no randomized, controlled trials comparing this treatment with forms of nonoperative treatment. The purpose of the present study was to compare the outcome of open patellar tenotomy with that of eccentric strength training in patients with patellar tendinopathy. METHODS Thirty-five patients (forty knees) who had been referred for the treatment of grade-IIIB patellar tendinopathy were randomized to surgical treatment (twenty knees) or eccentric strength training (twenty knees). The eccentric training group performed squats on a 25 degrees decline board as a home exercise program (with three sets of fifteen repetitions being performed twice daily) for a twelve-week intervention period. In the surgical treatment group, the abnormal tissue was removed by means of a wedge-shaped full-thickness excision, followed by a structured rehabilitation program with gradual progression to eccentric training. The primary outcome measure was the VISA (Victorian Institute of Sport Assessment) score (possible range, 0 to 100), which was calculated on the basis of answers to a symptom-based questionnaire that was developed specifically for patellar tendinopathy. The patients were evaluated after three, six, and twelve months of follow-up. RESULTS There was no difference between the groups with regard to the VISA score during the twelve-month follow-up period, but both groups had improvement (p < 0.001). The mean combined VISA score for the two groups increased from 30 (95% confidence interval, 25 to 35) before the start of treatment to 49 (95% confidence interval, 42 to 55) at three months, 58 (95% confidence interval, 51 to 65) at six months, and 70 (95% confidence interval, 62 to 78) at twelve months. In the surgical treatment group, five knees had no symptoms, twelve had improvement but were still symptomatic, two were unchanged, and one was worse after twelve months (p = 0.49 compared with the eccentric training group). In the eccentric training group, five knees did not respond to treatment and underwent secondary surgery after three to six months. Of the remaining fifteen knees in the eccentric training group, seven had no symptoms and eight had improvement but were still symptomatic after twelve months. CONCLUSIONS No advantage was demonstrated for surgical treatment compared with eccentric strength training. Eccentric training should be tried for twelve weeks before open tenotomy is considered for the treatment of patellar tendinopathy.
Epidermal growth factor family in rhesus monkey uterus during the menstrual cycle and early pregnancy

This study examines immunohistochemically the presence of EGF, TGFα, HB‐EGF, AR, and EGFR, members of the EGF family in the monkey uterus during the menstrual cycle and early pregnancy. EGF, TGFα, HB‐EGF, AR, and EGFR were mainly localized in glandular and luminal epithelium. TGFα, HB‐EGF, and AR staining were stronger in the glandular epithelium closer to the myometrium than in that closer to the luminal epithelium. The level of EGF, TGFα, HB‐EGF, AR, and EGFR staining was low on days 1 and 6, and began to increase on day 9 of the menstrual cycle. A high level of EGF, and EGFR staining was maintained on days 16, 20, and 25 of the menstrual cycle. The highest levels of TGFα, AR, and HB‐EGF staining were seen on days 16 and 20 of the menstrual cycle. In early pregnancy, a low level of EGF, TGFα, HB‐EGF, AR, and EGFR staining appeared on days 1 and 2 of pregnancy, and then gradually increased from day 3 of pregnancy. The highest levels of EGF, TGFα, HB‐EGF, and EGFR were detected on days 9, and 11 of pregnancy. Our data suggest that the EGF family may play a role in monkey implantation. Mol. Reprod. Dev. 55:164–174, 2000. © 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Cardiometabolic and Skeletal Risk Factors in Black Men with Prostate Cancer Starting Androgen Deprivation Therapy

Background: Androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) for prostate cancer (PCa) is associated with multiple metabolic complications, previously predominantly evaluated in the white population. Methods: A chart-based retrospective review was conducted on black patients with PCa, considered for ADT, from September 2007 to July 2010. Baseline data were collected on body mass index (BMI), vitamin-D status, bone mineral density (BMD), dyslipidemia and diabetes. Overweight and obesity were classified as BMI ≥ 25 and BMI ≥ 30, respectively. Vitamin-D sufficiency was defined as levels ≥30 ng/mL, insufficiency as <30 ng/mL and deficiency as ≤20 ng/mL. Osteopenia was defined as T scores between −1 to −2.5 and osteoporosis when T scores ≤−2.5. Results: Of the initial cohort of 130 black men, 111 (85.4%) patients underwent ADT. At baseline, average BMI was 28.1 ± 5.9 with 43.3% of men being overweight and 30.8% obese. More than one-third of the patients had pre-existing dyslipidemia while 28.8% were diabetics. 50% were vitamin-D deficient while 41% had low bone mass. Conclusions: Black men with PCa presenting for consideration of ADT have a high prevalence of existing metabolic risk factors. Close monitoring of this patient population is needed during ADT to prevent and treat metabolic complications.
Scikit-learn: Machine Learning in Python

Scikit-learn is a Python module integrating a wide range of state-of-the-art machine learning algorithms for medium-scale supervised and unsupervised problems. This package focuses on bringing machine learning to non-specialists using a general-purpose high-level language. Emphasis is put on ease of use, performance, documentation, and API consistency. It has minimal dependencies and is distributed under the simplified BSD license, encouraging its use in both academic and commercial settings. Source code, binaries, and documentation can be downloaded from http://scikit-learn.sourceforge. net.
Transients, Settlers, and Refugees: Asians in Britain

This book offers a real contribution to the study of British race relations. It is based on a case study of Asians in Blackburn. However, in a chapter analysing ethnic settlement in British cities from 1971 to 1981 the author produces a typology of settlement which is original and which explains why a case study of Blackburn is significant. Readership: academics and graduates taking courses in race relations, local government and urban social geography; professionals engaged in these fields.
Mechanisms of Tactile Information Transmission through Whisker Vibrations

In their natural environment, rodents use their whiskers to locate and distinguish between objects of different textures and shapes. They do so by moving their whiskers actively as well as passively, through body and head movements. To determine the mechanisms by which surface coarseness is translated into neuronal discharges through passive whisker movements, we monitored head movements of awake behaving rats while approaching objects. We then replayed these movements in anesthetized rats, monitored the whiskers' movements across various surfaces, and concurrently recorded the activity of first-order sensory neurons. We found that whiskers, being the first stage of sensory information translation, shape transduction by amplifying small-amplitude high-frequency signals. Thus, surface coarseness is transmitted through high-velocity micromotions. Consistent with this, we find that during surface contact, discrete high-velocity movements, or stick-slip events, evoke first-order neuronal discharge. Transient ringing in whiskers, which primarily represents resonance vibrations, follows these events, but seldom causes neurons to discharge. These sensory transformations are influenced by the whiskers' biomechanical properties. To determine the resemblance of these tactile transformations during passive whisker movements and active whisking, we induced artificial whisking across various surface textures. We found that the processes by which tactile information becomes available to the animal are similar for these different modes of behavior. Together, these findings indicate that the temporal bandpass properties for spike generation in first-order neurons are matched by the biomechanical characteristics of whiskers, which translate surface coarseness into high-frequency whisker micromotions. These properties enable rodents to acquire tactile information through passive and active movements of their whiskers.
Examining the full potential of the extended school

This paper describes a project aimed at helping children and their families achieve their potential. It is based in an area of high social disadvantage. The authors explain how parenting classes held at a community college (a comprehensive school with provision for adult education), have led to the development of a suite of courses leading to qualification and employment. Most of the participants have been women. Even participants with a history of low educational attainment have achieved success and all have gained qualifications to enable them to gain employment working with children. A description is given of how the Progression Route of courses has the potential to build the community and provide access to higher education. The data from a pilot evaluation, based on interviews with 12 adult participants who are at different stages of the Progression Route, are used to examine the extent to which engagement has led to employment. The data show why, in spite of lack of experience as learners, they become engaged and how they overcome barriers. The effect engagement in the courses has had on their families and communities is also examined. It is suggested that a project of this kind can play an important part in improving the employability of parents in an area of high social disadvantage and that it can have a powerful, positive effect on the quality of the home as a learning environment. It is argued that the project could have the capacity to address some of the root causes of academic underachievement and disaffected behaviour in children and the social exclusion of some families. The evaluation of the original parenting programme, completed as a PhD research project in June 2004, has provided early indication that this is indeed the case. It goes without saying that the project will also bring to children and families all the material benefits associated with employment and improved economic well‐being. Currently, government policy on the role of the extended school tends to focus on its potential in facilitating inter‐agency collaboration and meeting children’s welfare needs. The article concludes by suggesting that government policy urgently needs to recognise the huge additional potential of the community college (arguably the most developed form of extended school) in improving the quality of learning environment that children experience at home, through providing learning and training opportunities for their parents that are appropriate and accessible in every sense.
Cyclin D1 genotype, response to biochemoprevention, and progression rate to upper aerodigestive tract cancer.

BACKGROUND Altered cyclin D1 expression in advanced preinvasive lesions of the upper aerodigestive tract (UADT) is associated with an increased risk of developing cancer and histologic progression during and after combination biochemopreventive therapy (13-cis-retinoic acid, alpha-interferon, and alpha-tocopherol). Both alleles of the adenine (A)/guanine (G) cyclin D1 polymorphism located at nucleotide 870 encode two alternatively spliced transcripts, but the A allele preferentially encodes a protein with an extended half-life. We investigated whether the cyclin D1 genotype at nucleotide 870 was associated with baseline levels of cyclin D1 protein, post-treatment modulation of cyclin D1 protein levels, histologic response to treatment, and the outcome for subjects with preinvasive UADT lesions after biochemopreventive therapy. METHODS UADT tissue biopsy samples were obtained before and 6 and 12 months after biochemopreventive treatment from 31 individuals with advanced preinvasive UADT lesions. Tissues were examined for cyclin D1 genotype (by DNA single-strand conformation polymorphism analysis), for cyclin D1 protein expression (by immunohistochemistry), and for cyclin D1 gene copy number (by fluorescence in situ hybridization). Associations of cyclin D1 genotype with histologic response to therapy and time to progression to a higher degree of dysplasia or invasive cancer were investigated. All statistical tests were two-sided. RESULTS The A allele was associated with increased baseline cyclin D1 expression in the parabasal epithelial layer (16 of 18 AA/AG subjects versus four of nine GG subjects; P =.02), decreased histologic response to biochemopreventive treatment (six of 21 AA/AG subjects versus four of 10 GG subjects; P =.70), decreased favorable modulation of cyclin D1 expression by the treatment (seven of 18 AA/AG subjects versus eight of nine GG subjects; P =.02), and shorter progression-free survival (P =.05). CONCLUSIONS The cyclin D1 A allele was associated with a diminished modulation of normal physiologic and treatment-induced decreased expression of cyclin D1, a decreased likelihood of response to biochemopreventive intervention, and an increased rate of progression to cancer development, findings that require validation in a larger cohort.
The representation of orientation in vision

Abstract For veridical detection of object orientation any system that can itself vary in orientation must allocate orientation appropriately between itself and objects in space. A model for such allocation is presented; it is an extension of a similar model that has been proposed for the representation of motion in space (Swanston, Wade, & Day, 1987). The orientation of objects is registered and represented within frames of reference that are defined by the orientation of the receptors themselves, by the relative orientations within the visual field, by the integration of information from the two eyes, and by the orientation of the head with respect to gravity. These four levels are referred to as retinocentric, patterncentric, egocentric and geocentric, respectively. Evidence for the operation of mechanisms at these four levels is assessed. While knowledge concerning retinocentric orientation is abundant at the neurophysiological level, assigning any aspects of visual orientation to these processes is m.
What Lies Ahead for Factor Analysis?

papers given in July, 1955, at the International Colloquium on Factor Analysis, held in Paris. In these three papers, there appears to be such a strong convergence of thinking as to suggest the hypothesis that here is a direction in which the future of factor analysis may lie. Two of these papers were by outstanding disciples of Spearman and Thurstone, respectively: A. H. ElKoussy and J. P. Guilford. A paper of my own is the third of the trio. (Although not privileged to study personally with either Spearman or Thurstone, I consider myself a disciple of both.) Stated briefly, the convergence has been toward a psychological design for a theory of mental abilities. The design is not unlike that which R. A. Fisher has called &dquo;factorial&dquo; in his design of experiments. Extension of Fisher’s concepts to the case of commonfactor analysis (where the word &dquo;factor&dquo; has a different meaning from that in Fisher’s context) poses new problems of statistical inference, but it also shows an immediate and unambiguous interpretation of Thurstone’s concept of simple structure. It also shows how
From the Inside Out: Efforts by Homeless Women to Disrupt Cycles of Crime and Violence

The premise that childhood victimization is a risk factor for crime and violence in adulthood finds general support, though few agree that there is a direct causal relationship. Mediating factors and intervening variables are often studied. Rarely investigated, however, are the complex and difficult dynamics experienced by those enmeshed in these “cycles of violence. ” In this study we explore the struggles of homeless women to disrupt patterns of violence in their lives. Using in-depth qualitative interviews, we illustrate how these women learn and understand that they are caught up in cycles of crime and violence and, to varying degrees, have made active efforts to disrupt them. However, we find that they have very few tools or resources with which this could be accomplished, which ultimately thwarts potentially successful efforts for lasting change while foregrounding deficiencies in systemic support.
The effects of short term lipid infusion on plasma and hepatic bile lipids in humans

BACKGROUND Patients on parenteral nutrition have an increased incidence of gall bladder sludge and gallstone disease, thought to be related to bile stasis. Intravenous lipid emulsions, especially those containing medium chain triglycerides, have also been shown to have a lithogenic effect on the composition of bile in the gall bladder. AIMS To determine whether lipid infusion influences hepatic bile composition in patients with an indwelling T tube following cholecystectomy and choledochotomy. METHODS In eight patients undergoing the above surgical procedure, the time at which effects of the interrupted enterohepatic circulation were minimal was determined. Twenty two cholesterol gallstone patients with bile fistula were then randomised to receive an infusion of a lipid emulsion containing either long chain triglycerides or a mixture of long and medium chain triglycerides. RESULTS Lipid infusion resulted in a significant increase in plasma levels of triglycerides and phospholipids. Both lipid emulsions caused an increase in hepatic biliary cholesterol level and cholesterol saturation index, but this effect was more pronounced with medium chain triglycerides. The fatty acid composition of biliary phospholipids showed a significant enrichment of linoleic acid by both lipid infusions. CONCLUSIONS Infusion of triglycerides causes lithogenic changes in hepatic bile composition in humans, the lithogenic effect of infusion of medium chain triglycerides being more pronounced than that of long chain triglycerides. This effect, coupled with gall bladder stasis, may be responsible for the increased risk of biliary sludge and gallstone formation in patients on long term lipid infusion.
Diagnostic Relevance of Pressure-Controlled Discography

Discogenic pain is a leading cause of chronic low back pain. The authors investigated the efficacy of pressure-controlled discography to determine its role in clinical decision-making for the management of patients with discogenic pain. Pressure-controlled discography was performed in 21 patients (51 discs) with pain-provocation, followed by post-discography computerized tomography scans. Pain response was classified as positive response and negative response, and measured with visual analog scale scores. Discographic findings were graded by the modified Dallas discogram scale. Elastance, pain provocation on intradiscal pressure, pressure and volume of initial pain response, and pain response intensity were statistically analyzed. Elastance showed significant differences between Grade 0 and Grade 4 & 5. Decreased elastance with positive pain response group was a good indicator to imply that disc degeneration presumably is a pain generator. Results of pain response were well correlated with intradiscal pressure but not with the amount of injected volume. Among 31 discs of Grade 4 and 5, 74% showed negative pain response and 26% showed positive response. It was concluded that pressure-controlled discography was useful to diagnose discogenic pain and excellent guide in decision-making for spinal operations.
Kindergarten Children’s Growth Trajectories in Reading and Mathematics

The authors used a large sample of children (N ≈ 7,400) participating in the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study–Kindergarten Cohort (ECLS-K) to estimate kindergarten children’s academic achievement growth trajectories in reading and mathematics. The authors were particularly interested in whether the growth trajectories of children with learning disabilities (LD) or speech language impairments (SLI)—as well as those of other groups of children—were consistent with a cumulative or compensatory developmental cycle. Both LD and SLI children displayed significantly lower levels of kindergarten reading achievement than nondisabled children. However, and over the subsequent 5 years of elementary school, only children with SLI lagged increasingly behind nondisabled peers in their reading skills growth. The authors observed a different pattern for mathematics achievement. Children with LD, but not SLI, lagged increasingly behind nondisabled children in their mathematics skills growth. The authors also observed some consistency in “poor-get-poorer” effects across reading and mathematic achievement for additional population subgroups. Those kindergarten children who were from lower socioeconomic status families, who were African American, and who more frequently displayed learning-related behavior problems initially had lower levels of reading and mathematics achievement and also lagged increasingly behind in their acquisition of these skills over time. Some groups of children, including those with SLI, experience a cumulative rather than a compensatory cycle of achievement growth.
Access to Expertise as a Form of Social Capital: An Examination of Race- and Class-Based Disparities in Network Ties to Experts

Social capital theory suggests that individuals can access resources through their relationships with others. While research in this area typically focuses on the potential benefits of having high-status network alters, the authors emphasize that relationships with experts, in particular, provide access to specialized knowledge. Expertise may be accessed through formal, contractual means. But individuals who have an expert within their network of close family and friends may benefit from more convenient and lower cost expertise. The authors explore the prevalence and nature of expert contacts within individuals' social networks using data from the 1985 and 2004 General Social Surveys. About a quarter of Americans identify an expert among their network contacts. Racial minorities and members of the lower- and working-classes have less access to experts within their personal networks, however, and minorities have become particularly disadvantaged over the past two decades in terms of both overall and informal access to expertise. The authors urge further research to examine the causes of disparities in social network ties to experts and their implications for processes of social stratification.
Reconstrucción grupal de cuentos: una instancia para la producción de narrativa

Este articulo presenta los resultados del estudio de las reconstrucciones grupales de los cuentos leidos en salas de jardin de infantes. Se analizo cualitativamente empleando el metodo comparativo constante, un corpus de 30 situaciones de lectura de cuentos, de las cuales se considero el momento posterior a la lectura en el que se reconstruye el cuento grupalmente. Los resultados permitieron distinguir diferentes tipos de reconstrucciones de los cuentos a traves de la interaccion, de acuerdo a la cantidad y calidad de participacion de la maestra y de los ninos y de informacion del texto recuperada: reconstrucciones incompletas, reconstrucciones descriptivas, reconstrucciones-cuestionario, reconstrucciones-debate (focalizadas en la comprension), reconstrucciones monopolizadas y reconstrucciones completas compartidas. Cada uno de estos tipos, que se describe en funcion de las operaciones cognitivas que demanda de sus participantes, da cuenta de modos diferentes de apoyar la produccion de narrativa oral.