Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Predictors of Short- and Long-Term Mortality in Males and Females with Hip Fracture - A Prospective Observational Cohort Study

Background Hip fracture is associated with increased mortality. Our aim was to study potential risk factors, including osteoporosis, associated with short- and long-term mortality in a prospectively recruited cohort of fragility hip fracture patients. Methodology/Principal Findings Fragility hip fracture patients aged >50 years admitted to a county hospital in Southern Norway in 2004 and 2005 were consecutively identified and invited for assessment. Patients with high energy or pathological fractures, patients with confusion, serious infections or who were non-residents in the catchment area were excluded. As part of a clinical routine, data were collected using questionnaires. Standardized bone density measurements of lumbar spine and hip were performed. Potential predictors of hip fracture mortality were tested using univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis. A total of 432 hip fracture patients (129 males and 303 females) were prospectively identified. Among them 296 (85 males and 211 females) patients [mean age 80.7 (SD 9.1)] were assessed at the Osteoporosis center. Variables independently associated with short-term mortality (after 1 year) were in females older age [Odds Ratio (OR) 6.95] and in males older age (OR 5.74) and pulmonary disease (OR 3.20), whereas no associations were observed with mortality for 3 months after the fragility hip fracture. Variables independently associated with 5 years mortality in males was osteoporosis (OR 3.91) and older age (OR 6.95), and in females was dementia (OR 4.16) and older age (OR 2.80). Conclusion Apart from known predictors as age and comorbidity osteoporosis in our study was identified as a potential independent predictor of long-term hip fracture mortality in males. This is of particular importance as treatment with bisphosphonates after hip fracture has been shown to reduce hip fracture mortality and may be a clinical target to reduce the burden of the disease. Further studies however are needed to confirm the validity of this finding.
LDA-Based Clustering Algorithm and Its Application to an Unsupervised Feature Extraction

Research has shown fuzzy c-means (FCM) clustering to be a powerful tool to partition samples into different categories. However, the objective function of FCM is based only on the sum of distances of samples to their cluster centers, which is equal to the trace of the within-cluster scatter matrix. In this study, we propose a clustering algorithm based on both within- and between-cluster scatter matrices, extended from linear discriminant analysis (LDA), and its application to an unsupervised feature extraction (FE). Our proposed methods comprise between- and within-cluster scatter matrices modified from the between- and within-class scatter matrices of LDA. The scatter matrices of LDA are special cases of our proposed unsupervised scatter matrices. The results of experiments on both synthetic and real data show that the proposed clustering algorithm can generate similar or better clustering results than 11 popular clustering algorithms: K-means, K-medoid, FCM, the Gustafson-Kessel, Gath-Geva, possibilistic c-means (PCM), fuzzy PCM, possibilistic FCM, fuzzy compactness and separation, a fuzzy clustering algorithm based on a fuzzy treatment of finite mixtures of multivariate Student's t distributions algorithms, and a fuzzy mixture of the Student's t factor analyzers model. The results also show that the proposed FE outperforms principal component analysis and independent component analysis.
Refashioning Futures: Criticism after Postcoloniality

Introduction: Criticism after Postcoloniality3Pt. 1Rationalities21Ch. 1Colonial Governmentality23Ch. 2Religion in Colonial Civil Society53Ch. 3The Government of Freedom70Pt. 2Histories91Ch. 4Dehistoricizing History93Ch. 5"An Obscure Miracle of Connection"106Pt. 3Futures129Ch. 6The Aftermaths of Sovereignty131Ch. 7Community, Number and the Ethos of Democracy158Ch. 8Fanonian Futures? 190Coda: After Bandung: From the Politics of Colonial Representation to a Theory of Postcolonial Politics221Acknowledgements225Index227
Therapeutic Potential of Olfactory Ensheathing Cells and Mesenchymal Stem Cells in Spinal Cord Injuries

Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a devastating neurological condition that affects individuals worldwide, significantly reducing quality of life, for both patients and their families. In recent years there has been a growing interest in cell therapy potential in the context of spinal cord injuries. The present review aims to discuss and compare the restorative approaches based on the current knowledge, available spinal cord restorative cell therapies, and use of selected cell types. However, treatment options for spinal cord injury are limited, but rehabilitation and experimental technologies have been found to help maintain or improve remaining nerve function in some cases. Mesenchymal stem cells as well as olfactory ensheathing cells seem to show therapeutic impact on damaged spinal cord and might be useful in neuroregeneration. Recent research in animal models and first human trials give patients with spinal cord injuries hope for recovery.
Phylogenetic Relationships of Five Asian Schilbid Genera Including Clupisoma (Siluriformes: Schilbeidae)

The phylogenetic relationships of Asian schilbid catfishes of the genera Clupisoma, Ailia, Horabagrus, Laides and Pseudeutropius are poorly understood, especially those of Clupisoma. Herein, we reconstruct the phylogeny of 38 species of catfishes belonging to 28 genera and 14 families using the concatenated mitochondrial genes COI, cytb, and 16S rRNA, as well as the nuclear genes RAG1 and RAG2. The resulting phylogenetic trees consistently place Clupisoma as the sister taxon of Laides, and the five representative Asian schilbid genera form two monophyletic groups with the relationships (Ailia (Laides, Clupisoma)) and (Horabagrus, Pseudeutropius). The so-called “Big Asia” lineage relates distantly to African schilbids. Independent analyses of the mitochondrial and nuclear DNA data yield differing trees for the two Asian schilbid groups. Analyses of the mitochondrial gene data support a sister-group relationship for (Ailia (Laides, Clupisoma)) and the Sisoroidea and a sister-taxon association of (Horabagrus, Pseudeutropius) and the Bagridae. In contrast, analyses of the combined nuclear data indicate (Ailia (Laides, Clupisoma)) to be the sister group to (Horabagrus, Pseudeutropius). Our results indicate that the Horabagridae, recognized by some authors as consisting of Horabagrus, Pseudeutropius and Clupisoma does not include the latter genus. We formally erect a new family, Ailiidae fam. nov. for a monophyletic Asian group comprised of the genera Ailia, Laides and Clupisoma.
Infant media exposure and toddler development.

OBJECTIVE To determine whether duration and content of media exposure in 6-month-old infants are associated with development at age 14 months. DESIGN Longitudinal analysis of 259 mother-infant dyads participating in a long-term study related to early child development, from November 23, 2005, through January 14, 2008. SETTING An urban public hospital. PARTICIPANTS Mothers with low socioeconomic status and their infants. MAIN EXPOSURE Duration and content of media exposure at age 6 months. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Cognitive and language development at age 14 months. RESULTS Of 259 infants, 249 (96.1%) were exposed to media at age 6 months, with mean (SD) total exposure of 152.7 (124.5) min/d. In unadjusted and adjusted analyses, duration of media exposure at age 6 months was associated with lower cognitive development at age 14 months (unadjusted: r = -0.17, P < .01; adjusted: β = -0.15, P = .02) and lower language development (r = -0.16, P < .01; β = -0.16, P < .01). Of 3 types of content assessed, only 1 (older child/adult-oriented) was associated with lower cognitive and language development at age 14 months. No significant associations were seen with exposure to young child-oriented educational or noneducational content. CONCLUSIONS This study is the first, to our knowledge, to have longitudinally assessed associations between media exposure in infancy and subsequent developmental outcomes in children from families with low socioeconomic status in the United States. Findings provide strong evidence in support of the American Academy of Pediatrics recommendations of no media exposure prior to age 2 years, although further research is needed.
Fast convergence of learning requires plasticity between inferior olive and deep cerebellar nuclei in a manipulation task: a closed-loop robotic simulation

The cerebellum is known to play a critical role in learning relevant patterns of activity for adaptive motor control, but the underlying network mechanisms are only partly understood. The classical long-term synaptic plasticity between parallel fibers (PFs) and Purkinje cells (PCs), which is driven by the inferior olive (IO), can only account for limited aspects of learning. Recently, the role of additional forms of plasticity in the granular layer, molecular layer and deep cerebellar nuclei (DCN) has been considered. In particular, learning at DCN synapses allows for generalization, but convergence to a stable state requires hundreds of repetitions. In this paper we have explored the putative role of the IO-DCN connection by endowing it with adaptable weights and exploring its implications in a closed-loop robotic manipulation task. Our results show that IO-DCN plasticity accelerates convergence of learning by up to two orders of magnitude without conflicting with the generalization properties conferred by DCN plasticity. Thus, this model suggests that multiple distributed learning mechanisms provide a key for explaining the complex properties of procedural learning and open up new experimental questions for synaptic plasticity in the cerebellar network.
Feature reduction for neural network based text categorization

In a text categorization model using an artificial neural network as the text classifier scalability is poor if the neural network is trained using the raw feature space since textural data has a very high-dimension feature space. We proposed and compared four dimensionality reduction techniques to reduce the feature space into an input space of much lower dimension for the neural network classifier. To test the effectiveness of the proposed model, experiments were conducted using a subset of the Reuters-22173 test collection for text categorization. The results showed that the proposed model was able to achieve high categorization effectiveness as measured by precision and recall. Among the four dimensionality reduction techniques proposed, principal component analysis was found to be the most effective in reducing the dimensionality of the feature space.
BRAF, p53 and SOX2 in anaplastic thyroid carcinoma: evidence for multistep carcinogenesis

Aims: The aim of this study was to genotype a series of papillary thyroid carcinomas (PTCs) and anaplastic thyroid carcinomas (ATCs) for BRAF mutation, and to evaluate p53 and SOX2 expression as factors implicated in tumour progression. Methods: The study included 17 PTCs and 14 ATCs. Analysis of the exon 15 of BRAF was based on direct sequencing. Immunohistochemistry was used to evaluate p53 and SOX2 expression. Results: V600E (c.1799T>A) mutation was observed in 53% (9/17) of PTCs. Two cases of ATCs (2/14; 14%), both with PTC component, harboured BRAF mutation: the classical V600E mutation and an undocumented duplication of codon 599 (c.1795_1797dup; p.Thr599dup). These mutations were present in ATC as well as PTC tumour cells. Overexpression of p53 and SOX2 was depicted respectively in 64% (9/14) and 29% (4/14) of ATCs, and absent in PTCs. Conclusion: We confirm that V600E mutation is a frequent and specific event in PTC. BRAF-mutated ATCs are associated with a PTC component displaying the same mutation. We describe a new mutation of BRAF, T599dup, in a case of ATC with tall cell PTC component. Moreover, progression from PTC to ATC could be favoured by further TP53 mutation and SOX2 expression.
Efficient design of triplet based Spike-Timing Dependent Plasticity

Spike-Timing Dependent Plasticity (STDP) is believed to play an important role in learning and the formation of computational function in the brain. The classical model of STDP which considers the timing between pairs of pre-synaptic and post-synaptic spikes (p-STDP) is incapable of reproducing synaptic weight changes similar to those seen in biological experiments which investigate the effect of either higher order spike trains (e.g. triplet and quadruplet of spikes) [1]-[3], or, simultaneous effect of the rate and timing of spike pairs [4] on synaptic plasticity. In this paper, we firstly investigate synaptic weight changes using a p-STDP circuit [5] and show how it fails to reproduce the mentioned complex biological experiments. We then present a new STDP VLSI circuit which acts based on the timing among triplets of spikes (t-STDP) that is able to reproduce all the mentioned experimental results. We believe that our new STDP VLSI circuit improves upon previous circuits, whose learning capacity exceeds current designs due to its capability of mimicking the outcomes of biological experiments more closely; thus plays a significant role in future VLSI implementation of neuromorphic systems.
LOW NOISE CONSTANT-INPUT LIMIT CYCLE-FREE SECOND ORDER DIGITAL FILTERS

In this paper, a constant-input limit cycle-free second-order digital filter section that appeared in the literature in 1986 is revisited. It is studied how its relative output roundoff-noise variance depends on a free parameter used in the network synthesis. Details on the synthesis procedure and an output noise analysis for that structure are here addressed. A graphical study is presented, and, as the final conclusion, it is pointed out that the relative output roundoff noise variance is minimized, for that structure, in some cases.
Functional ionotropic glutamate receptors on peripheral axons and myelin

Introduction: Neurotransmitter‐dependent signaling is traditionally restricted to axon terminals. However, receptors are present on myelinating glia, suggesting that chemical transmission may also occur along axons. Methods: Confocal microscopy and Ca2+‐imaging using an axonally expressed FRET‐based reporter was used to measure Ca2+ changes and morphological alterations in myelin in response to stimulation of glutamate receptors. Results: Activation of α‐amino‐3‐hydroxy‐5‐methyl‐4‐isoxazolepropionic acid (AMPA) or N‐methyl‐D‐aspartate (NMDA) receptors induced a Ca2+ increase in axon cylinders. However, only the latter caused structural alterations in axons, despite similar Ca2+ increases. Myelin morphology was significantly altered by NMDA receptor activation, but not by AMPA receptors. Cu2+ ions influenced the NMDA receptor‐dependent response, suggesting that this metal modulates axonal receptors. Glutamate increased ribosomal signal in Schwann cell cytoplasm. Conclusions: Axon cylinders and myelin of peripheral nervous system axons respond to glutamate, with a consequence being an increase in Schwann cell ribosomes. This may have implications for nerve pathology and regeneration. Muscle Nerve 54: 451–459, 2016
Insatisfação com o peso corporal

Objectivos: Determinar a proporcao de frequentadores da USF Horizonte (Matosinhos) insatisfeitos com o peso, e o risco relativo de insatisfacao; avaliar a satisfacao nas classes de indice de massa corporal (IMC) e a percepcao sobre o peso; determinar a prevalencia das classes de IMC e a proporcao de aconselhamento para modificacao de peso pelo MF. Metodologia: Estudo descritivo com componente analitico, em 400 individuos adultos frequentadores da USF Horizonte, seleccionados por conveniencia. Questionario aplicado pelo medico, com avaliacao antropometrica. Analise efectuada: taxa de resposta, descricao da amostra; teste de c2; regressao logistica. Resultados: Taxa de resposta: 96,8%. Muito insatisfeitos 14%, insatisfeitos 3,7%, indiferentes 10%, satisfeitos 33,3%, muito satisfeitos 5,8%. Mulheres mais insatisfeitas que homens. Risco relativo de insatisfacao aumentado na mulher, idades jovens, niveis de escolaridade mais elevados e IMC > 30 Kg/m2. Baixo peso 4,3%, peso normal 29%, excesso peso 42,3%, obesidade 24,6%. 47,1% individuos com baixo peso, 42,6% com excesso de peso e 13,3% com obesidade satisfeitos. 62,8% dos individuos caracterizaram correctamente o peso. 43,2% dos que consideraram ter peso adequado apresentavam excesso de peso, e 7,2% obesidade. 33% aconselhados a modificar o peso (32% dos com excesso de peso e 62,2% dos com obesidade). Discussao/Conclusoes: Metade da amostra estava insatisfeita com o peso. Mulheres manifestaram mais insatisfacao. Elevada percentagem de individuos satisfeitos com IMC anormal. Mais de metade da amostra apresentou excesso de peso ou obesidade. Elevada caracterizacao correcta do peso. Aconselhamento em obesos superior a estudos anteriores. O nao aconselhamento e discutido pela autora. E necessario identificar os utentes em risco de insatisfacao actuando na prevencao e tratamento dos comportamentos associados. O aconselhamento sobre o peso nos utentes com IMC anormal deve ser abordado. Serao desejaveis programas de educacao para a saude que redefinam os ideais de beleza, esclarecendo quanto ao peso desejavel.
Coordination Between Arm and Leg Movements During Locomotion

Abstract To evaluate the contrasting dynamical and biomechanical interpretations of the 2:1 frequency coordination between arm and leg movements that occurs at low walking velocities and the 1:1 frequency coordination that occurs at higher walking velocities, the authors conducted an experiment in which they quantified the effect of walking velocity on the stability of the frequency and phase coordination between the individual limb movements. Spectral analyses revealed the presence of 2:1 frequency coordination as a consistent feature of the data in only 3 out of 8 participants at walking velocities ranging from 1.0 to 2.0 km/h, in spite of the fact that the eigenfrequencies of the arms were rather similar across participants. The degree of interlimb coupling, as indexed by weighted coherence and variability of relative phase, was lower for the arm movements and for ipsilateral and diagonal combinations of arm and leg movements than for the leg movements. Furthermore, the coupling between all pairs of limb movements was found to increase with walking velocity, whereas no clear signs were observed that the switches from 2:1 to 1:1 frequency coordination and vice versa were preceded by loss of stability. Therefore, neither a purely biomechanical nor a purely dynamical model is optimally suited to explain these results. Instead, an integrative model involving elements of both approaches seems to be required.
Analytic Framework for the Effective Rate of MISO Fading Channels

The delay constraints imposed by future wireless applications require a suitable metric for assessing their impact on the overall system performance. Since the classical Shannon's ergodic capacity fails to do so, the so-called effective rate was recently established as a rigorous alternative. While prior relevant works have improved our knowledge on the effective rate characterization of communication systems, an analytical framework encompassing several fading models of interest is not yet available. In this paper, we pursue a detailed effective rate analysis of Nakagami-m, Rician and generalized-K multiple-input single-output (MISO) fading channels by deriving new, analytical expressions for their exact effective rate. Moreover, we consider the asymptotically low and high signal-to-noise regimes, for which tractable, closed-form effective rate expressions are presented. These results enable us to draw useful conclusions about the impact of system parameters on the effective rate of different MISO fading channels. All the theoretical expressions are validated via Monte-Carlo simulations.
Toll-like Receptor 4 and Hepatic Fibrogenesis

Inflammation is strongly associated with chronic hepatic injury and the ensuing wound-healing process. Recent evidence from mouse models and human studies implicates Toll-like receptors (TLRs) as important regulators of the inflammatory response and a functional link between inflammation and fibrosis in the chronically injured liver. Here, we review mechanisms by which TLR4 and TLR4 ligands from the intestinal microbiota contribute to hepatic injury, inflammation, hepatic stellate cell activation, and fibrosis.
Conflict-free parallel memory access scheme for FFT processors

In this paper, a parallel access scheme for constant geometry FFT algorithms is proposed, which allows conflict-free access of operands distributed over parallel memory modules. The scheme is a linear transformation and the address generation is performed with the aid of bit-wise XOR operations. Different FFT lengths can be supported with the aid of a simple address rotation unit. The scheme is general supporting several radices in FFT computations and different numbers of parallel memory modules. The scheme allows parallel butterfly computations independent of the FFT length.
Neuronal Synapse Formation Induced by Microglia and Interleukin 10

Recently, it was found that microglia regulated synaptic remodeling of the developing brain, but their mechanisms have not been well understood. In this study, the action of microglia on neuronal synapse formation was investigated, and the primary target of microglial processes was discovered. When the developing microglia were applied to cultured hippocampal neurons without direct contact, the numbers of dendritic spines and excitatory and inhibitory synapses significantly increased. In order to find out the main factor for synaptic formation, the effects of cytokines released from microglia were examined. When recombinant proteins of cytokines were applied to neuronal culture media, interleukin 10 increased the numbers of dendritic spines in addition to excitatory and inhibitory synapses. Interestingly, without external stimuli, the amount of interleukin 10 released from the intact microglia appeared to be sufficient for the induction of synaptic formation. The neutralizing antibodies of interleukin 10 receptors attenuated the induction of the synaptic formation by microglia. The expression of interleukin 10 receptor was newly found in the hippocampal neurons of early developmental stage. When interleukin 10 receptors on the hippocampal neurons were knocked down with specific shRNA, the induction of synaptic formation by microglia and interleukin 10 disappeared. Pretreatment with lipopolysaccharide inhibited microglia from inducing synaptic formation, and interleukin 1β antagonized the induction of synaptic formation by interleukin 10. In conclusion, the developing microglia regulated synaptic functions and neuronal development through the interactions of the interleukin 10 released from the microglia with interleukin 10 receptors expressed on the hippocampal neurons.