Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effect of Brace to Osteoporotic Vertebral Fracture: a Meta-Analysis

Brace is one of the most commonly used interventions to manage osteoporotic vertebral fracture. However, its authentic effectiveness remains unclear. The aim of this study was to investigate the efficacy of brace in patients with osteoporotic vertebral fractures. We conducted a literature review and meta-analysis following the guideline and handbook of the Cochrane collaboration. Ten published articles were included in this study and data from 4 randomized controlled trials were analyzed. Low quality evidence proved using Spinomed brace could bring large and significant beneficial effect to patients with sub-acute osteoporotic vertebral fractures. Very low quality evidence proved no significant difference between Spinomed orthosis, rigid brace and soft brace when they were used in patients with acute fractures. Therefore, it might be applicable to recommend middle term use of Spinomed orthosis to patients with subacute fracture. In addition, this study emphasized the need for high quality randomized controlled trials.
Remapping in the ipsilesional motor cortex after VR-based training: A pilot fMRI study

In a single case longitudinal study, a 70 year old female subject who has had a subcortical stroke 8 years prior, was tested three times in fMRI using an interactive MRI-compatible VR environment. The subject performed sequential finger movements with her right (unaffected) hand. Her hand motion (recorded with the data glove) animated either the ipsilateral (corresponding) or contralateral (mirrored) virtual hand model. In a visual feedback control condition, the virtual hand models were replaced with ellipsoids. In between the second and third session, the patient participated in an intensive, two-week long VR-based training of her affected upper extremity. When comparing activation in the mirrored versus the non-mirrored virtual visual feedback condition, no significant activation was noted in motor or premotor areas in the baseline 1 or baseline 2 sessions. However, increased activation in the ipsilesional motor cortex occurred as a result of training, despite the absence of active involvement of the ipsilesional motor cortex in this condition. The left motor cortex was also recruited in this condition (though weaker) despite the subtracted out ellipsoid condition (in which subjects also moved their hand). Thus, the contralateral (mirrored) visual feedback may have had a facilitory effect bilaterally. These findings might have some important implications for the development of novel therapies in the acute phase, when paresis and the potential for neural remapping are greatest.
In the Mood for Being Influential on Twitter

Researchers have widely studied how information diffuses in Twitter and have often done so by modeling the social-networking site as a communication graph in which tweets spread depending on its nodes' graph properties (e.g., degree, centrality). The resulting models are tractable but make a crucial assumption: that the human being behind an account is a node and that, consequently, human expression in Twitter can be modeled as a set of abstract nodes communicating with each other. We set out to test whether Twitter users can be reduced to look-alike nodes or, instead, whether they show individual differences that impact their popularity and influence. One aspect that may differentiate users is their character and personality. The problem is that personality is difficult to observe and quantify on Twitter. It has been shown, however, that personality is linked to what is unobtrusively observable in tweets: the use of language. We thus carry out a study of tweets - more specifically, we compare five different categories of user (one of which is influencer) and look at their language use. We find that popular and influential users linguistically structure their tweets in specific ways, and that influential users tend to be individuals who express negative sentiment in part of their tweets. These findings suggest that the popularity and influence of a Twitter account cannot be simply traced back to the graph properties of the network within which it is embedded, but also depends on the personality and emotions of the human being behind it.
Representation and shape estimation of Odin, a parallel under-actuated modular robot

To understand the capabilities and behavior of a robot it is important to have knowledge about its physical structure and how its actuators control its shape. In this paper we analyze the kinematics and develop a general representation of a configuration of the heterogeneous modular robot Odin. The basics of estimating the shape of the Odin robot is presented, which leads the way for further research on the Odin robot and similar robots. We present an example of how to represent and estimate the shape of a tetrahedron configuration with various types of modules. We conclude that this representation can be used to find the physical constraints of the Odin robot and estimate the shape of a configuration.
Divergent selection for shape of growth curve in Japanese quail. 2. Embryonic development and growth

1. Embryonic growth and development were analysed using meat type lines of Japanese quail, HG and LG, divergently selected for shape of the growth curve. A total of 1020 embryos of generations 9, 10 or 13 were used for analysis. 2. Considerable inter-line differences were observed in the rate of embryonic development. When compared to HG, LG embryos appeared to be developmentally accelerated during the first 42 h of incubation (larger blastoderm diameter, more somites and higher frequency of more advanced Hamburger–Hamilton stages) as well as at the end of the prenatal period (more embryos with the yolk sac inside the body cavity, shorter incubation period). This corresponded with the trend in postnatal development. 3. Embryonic growth of both lines exhibited an exponential trend. However, considerable inter-line differences were noted in the rate of embryonic growth. Initial growth retardation compensated subsequently by a higher growth rate of HG vs LG quail, characterised the lines after hatching. The same growth pattern repeated three times during the prenatal period (between d 0 and 3, 3 and 8, and 8 and 16). 4. The repeated occurrence of transient decreases in growth rate of the developmentally delayed HG line could be associated with a delayed onset of genetically determined physiological functions mediating utilisation of nutrient supply. 5. Hence, different shapes of growth curves in two genotypes with similar growth potential reveal inter-line differences in physiological age persisting during the whole ontogenesis.
Impact of Chronic Kidney Disease on Risk of Incident Atrial Fibrillation and Subsequent Survival in Medicare Patients

Background Atrial fibrillation (AF) and chronic kidney disease (CKD) are prevalent in the elderly and are independently associated with increased risk of death. We evaluated risk of incident AF with advancing CKD and examined the mortality rate associated with CKD after incident AF in elderly patients. Methods and Results This retrospective cohort study used the Medicare 5% database. Point-prevalent Medicare enrollees on December 31, 2006, without preexistent AF or end-stage renal disease were followed up for incident AF through 2008. CKD and AF were identified from International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification diagnosis codes. Associations between CKD stage and incident AF and subsequent risk of death were examined in a Cox proportional-hazards model. Unadjusted survival after incident AF was estimated by the Kaplan-Meier method. CKD was present in 55 962 patients (5.1% of the cohort). Of these, 4952 (8.8%) had CKD stages 1 and 2; 19 795 (35.3%), stages 3 to 5; and 31 215 (55.7%), unknown stage. The hazard ratio for incident AF in CKD stages 3 to 5 was 1.13 (95% confidence interval 1.09 to 1.18). Other stages were not independently associated with incident AF. Survival after incident AF decreased progressively as CKD stage increased (P<0.0001). The 1-year mortality rate for CKD stages 3 to 5 with incident AF was 35.6%. Adjusted hazard ratios for death after incident AF were 1.14 (95% confidence interval 1.00 to 1.30) for CKD stages 1 and 2, 1.27 (95% confidence interval 1.20 to 1.35) for CKD stages 3 to 5, and 1.29 (95% confidence interval 1.23 to 1.36) for unknown stage. Conclusions Advanced CKD is associated with increased risk of incident AF. In Medicare patients with incident AF, mortality rates are higher for those with advanced CKD than for those without CKD. (J Am Heart Assoc. 2012;1:e002097 doi: 10.1161/JAHA.112.002097.)
How feather colour reflects its carotenoid content

Summary 1. Many birds sequester carotenoid pigments in colourful patches of feathers to advertise or compete for mates. Because carotenoids can be scarce in nature and serve valuable physiological functions, only the highest-quality individuals are thought to acquire or allocate more pigments for use in sexual displays. 2. A critical but rarely tested assumption of carotenoid-based signals is that the colour of pigmented feather patches directly reveals the total amount of carotenoids contained within them. 3. We studied the relationship between carotenoid-based coloration (hue, chroma and brightness) and the pigment content of tail feathers in wild-caught and captive male greenfinches ( Carduelis chloris [Linnaeus]). Greenfinches incorporate two main carotenoids - canary xanthophylls A and B - into feathers to develop yellow patches of colour in their tail. 4. Variation in feather carotenoid content explained 32‐51% of variation in chroma and hue of the yellow parts of tail feathers, while feather brightness was not significantly related to carotenoid concentration. Hence, chroma and hue appear good candidates to indicate feather carotenoid content. 5. Birds with the most colourful feathers deposited significantly more of both canary xanthophylls into plumage. Thus, there does not appear to be a specific biochemical strategy for becoming colourful in greenfinches; males instead follow the general decision rule to deposit as many xanthophylls as possible into feathers to become yellow.
Effect of First Aid Education on First Aid Knowledge and Skills of Commercial Drivers in South West Nigeria

Abstract Background Prompt prehospital care is essential for improving outcomes of road crash victims; however, this service is sub-optimal in developing countries because Emergency Medical Services (EMS) are not readily available. Training of lay responders in first aid has been suggested as a means of filling this gap in settings with inadequate EMS. This study was conducted to determine the effect of first aid training on the first aid knowledge and skills of commercial drivers. Methods A before-and-after study was conducted among 128 commercial drivers (62 intervention and 66 controls) selected by multi-stage sampling. Drivers’ first aid knowledge and skills were assessed at baseline, immediate, and three months post-intervention. The intervention involved a 2-day training session in first aid. Repeated measures ANOVA was used to test for differences in respondents’ pre- and post-intervention scores over the three assessment points. Results Mean first aid knowledge scores for intervention drivers were 48.9% (SD=12.0), 57.8% (SD=11.2), and 59.2% (SD=9.0) at baseline, immediate, and three months post-intervention. Corresponding scores for the controls were 48.3% (SD=12.8), 39.2% (SD=15.3), and 46.8% (SD=15.3). Mean first aid skill scores for intervention drivers were 17.5% (SD=3.8), 80.7% (SD=8.3), and 72.3% (SD=16.8). Scores for control drivers were 16.5% (SD=4.5), 16.3% (SD=4.7), and 20.4% (SD=9.1), respectively. Repeated measures ANOVA showed significant differences in first aid knowledge and skills scores over the three phases. Independent t-test revealed significant differences in scores between the intervention and control groups post-intervention. Conclusion The training led to significant improvement in first aid knowledge and skills of intervention drivers. This confirms that lay responders can be trained in provision of first aid. The slight drop in skills scores, which occurred three months post-intervention, highlights the need for periodic refresher trainings to be conducted for the drivers in order to maintain the knowledge and skills acquired. OlumideAO, AsuzuMC, KaleOO. Effect of first aid education on first aid knowledge and skills of commercial drivers in South West Nigeria. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2015;30(6):579–585.
Diagenetic, metamorphic, and hydrogeologic consequences of hydrothermal circulation in subducting crust

Glenn Spinelli1, Ikuko Wada2, Kelin Wang3, Jiangheng He3, Robert Harris4, and Michael Underwood1 1Department of Earth & Environmental Science, New Mexico Tech, 801 Leroy Place, Socorro, New Mexico 87801, USA 2Department of Earth Sciences, University of Minnesota, 116 Church Street SE, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA 3Pacific Geoscience Centre, Geological Survey of Canada, Sidney, British Columbia V8L 4B2, Canada 4College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences (CEOAS), Oregon State University, 104 CEOAS Administration Building, Corvallis, Oregon 97331-5503, USA GEOSPHERE
Indirect comparison analysis of efficacy and safety between olanzapine and aripiprazole for schizophrenia.

AIMS Indirect comparison (IC) and direct comparison (DC) between aripiprazole and olanzapine for schizophrenia were conducted to compare their efficacy and safety. The objective was to determine the usability of IC and consistency of results delivered by the two comparisons. Factors that might influence the inconsistency of results were also investigated. METHODS ICs and DCs were conducted using the change from baseline of the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) total score as an efficacy endpoint and the dropout rate was selected as a safety endpoint. Placebo and risperidone were used as common comparators for ICs. RESULTS A literature search identified 20 articles. The efficacy analysis gave results on the mean difference in PANSS change (95% CI) of -5.72 (-10.22, -1.22) in ICs using placebo as a common comparator and -7.41 (-15.96, 1.14) in DCs. When using risperidone as a common comparator, it was -9.15 (-20.12, 1.82). In rate ratio analysis of the all cause dropout rate, the IC result was 1.17 (0.83, 1.65) using placebo as a common comparator and 1.56 (0.57, 4.26) using risperidone as a common comparator. Both analyses gave consistent results between ICs and DCs. A slightly lower estimated value was observed in ICs using placebo. CONCLUSIONS This study demonstrated that ICs between olanzapine and aripiprazole can deliver results consistent with those of DCs. It is also suggested that the selection of a common comparator is important when control group bias is suspected in the data set.
Acute kidney injury in an infectious disease intensive care unit - an assessment of prognostic factors.

BACKGROUND Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a common complication in many infectious diseases. There are few studies to investigate risk factors for death in infectious diseases-associated AKI. METHODS This is a retrospective study including all patients with acute kidney injury (AKI) admitted to an infectious diseases intensive care unit (ICU) in Brazil between October 2003 and September 2006. RESULTS A total of 722 patients were admitted to the infectious disease ICU in the study period. AKI occurred in 147 cases (17.7%). The mean age was 45 +/- 5.6 years, and 77% were male. The mean length of hospital stay was 11.5 +/- 10.3 days. The main causes of ICU hospitalization were acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS)-related diseases (28 .6%), pneumonia 13%), leptospirosis (11.6%), meningitis (8.2%), disseminated histoplasmosis (6.8%) and tetanus (5.4%). The main cause of AKI was sepsis (41.5%). Patients were classified according to RIFLE as "Risk" (5.6%), "Injury" (21.7%) and "Failure" (72.7%). Patients in "Failure" showed a higher mortality (p = 0.007). Multivariate analysis showed that dependent risk factors for death were oliguria (OR = 5.59, P = 0.002), metabolic acidosis (OR = 5.13, P = 0.01), sepsis (OR = 4.79, P = 0.001), hypovolaemia (OR = 4.11, P = 0.01), use of vasoactive drugs (OR = 3.34, P = 0.02), use of mechanical ventilation (OR = 2.94, P = 0.03) and high APACHE II score (OR = 1.14, P = 0.001). CONCLUSION There are important risk factors for death among critically ill patients with infectious diseases associated with AKI.
Genomic prediction for feed efficiency: a validation of accuracy and its impact on methane emissions of dairy cows

H.N. Phuong, T. Wang, G.J. Nieuwhof, W.J. Wales & J.E. Pryce Agriculture Victoria, AgriBio, Centre for AgriBioscience, Bundoora, Victoria 3083, Australia phuong.ho@ecodev.vic. gov.au (Corresponding Author) 2 School of Applied Systems Biology, La Trobe University, Bundoora, VIC 3083, Australia Agriculture Victoria, Ellinbank Centre, Ellinbank, VIC 3820, Australia DataGene, AgriBio, Centre for AgriBioscience, Bundoora, Victoria 3083, Australia
Synoviocyte-Derived CXCL12 Is Displayed on Endothelium and Induces Angiogenesis in Rheumatoid Arthritis 1

CXCL12 (stromal cell-derived factor-1) is a potent CXC chemokine that is constitutively expressed by stromal resident cells. Although it is considered a homeostatic rather than an inflammatory chemokine, CXCL12 has been immunodetected in different inflammatory diseases, but also in normal tissues, ant its potential functions and regulation in inflammation are not well known. In this study, we examined the cellular sources of CXCL12 gene expression and the mechanism and effects of its interactions with endothelial cells in rheumatoid arthritis synovium. We show that CXCL12 mRNA was not overexpressed nor induced in cultured rheumatoid synoviocytes, but it specifically accumulated in the rheumatoid hyperplastic lining layer and endothelium. CXCL12 gene expression was restricted to fibroblast-like synoviocytes, whereas endothelial cells did not express CXCL12 mRNA, but displayed the protein on heparitinase-sensitive factors. CXCL12 colocalized with the angiogenesis marker αvβ3 integrin in rheumatoid endothelium and induced angiogenesis in s.c. Matrigel plugs in mice. The angiogenic activity of rheumatoid synovial fluid in vivo was abrogated by specific immunodepletion of CXCL12. Our results indicate that synoviocyte-derived CXCL12 accumulates and it is immobilized on heparan sulfate molecules of endothelial cells, where it can promote angiogenesis and inflammatory cell infiltration, supporting a multifaceted function for this chemokine in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis.
Lack of tolerable treatment options for patients with schizophrenia

Purpose Atypical antipsychotics (AAs), an effective treatment for schizophrenia, have a range of pharmacologic properties leading to differences in tolerability as well as heterogeneity in treatment response. Individual patient characteristics must be considered when making treatment choices, especially from an adverse event (AE) or tolerability perspective. Despite the availability of numerous AAs, after appraising patient characteristics at the time of treatment selection, physicians may quickly run out of tolerable treatment options. Patients and methods AE risk factors, defined as having either a prior history of an AE or a risk factor for that AE, were determined for Medicaid-insured and Commercially insured patients using database analysis. Patients receiving AA treatment between January 1, 2010 and December 31, 2012 defined the index date of first observed AA prescription during this period. Nine AAs were evaluated for association with AE risk factors as informed by drug prescribing information from the different manufacturers and published meta-analyses. The proportion of patients with pre-index AE risk factors prescribed an AA associated with that risk factor was then determined. Results A high proportion of patients (>80%) were prescribed an AA associated with extrapyramidal symptoms or akathisia despite experiencing extrapyramidal symptoms or akathisia prior to AA treatment initiation. Similar trends were observed among patients with diabetes (>60%) and obesity (>40%). From the nine treatment options available, the number of optimal choices for individual patient segments were limited based on their prior history, including those with cardiometabolic and cardiovascular comorbidities (four); experiencing prolactin elevation-related problems (seven); needing to avoid excessive sedation (four); or at risk of extrapyramidal symptoms or akathisia (two). Options were then further restricted among patients in more than one segment when multiple pre-index AE risk factors were combined. Conclusion When combining patient risk profile with antipsychotic AE profile, physicians may quickly run out of tolerable treatment options for individual patients, despite the availability of many AAs, suggesting a need for additional treatment options with better tolerability and without compromising efficacy.
The Value of Arterial Spin-Labeled Perfusion Imaging in Acute Ischemic Stroke: Comparison With Dynamic Susceptibility Contrast-Enhanced MRI

Background and Purpose— The purpose of this study was to evaluate the potential clinical value of arterial spin-labeled (ASL) perfusion MRI in acute ischemic stroke (AIS) through comparison with dynamic susceptibility contrast (DSC) enhanced perfusion MRI. Methods— Pseudocontinuous ASL with 3-dimensional background-suppressed gradient and spin echo readout was applied with DSC perfusion MRI on 26 patients with AIS. ASL cerebral blood flow and multiparametric DSC perfusion maps were rated for image quality and lesion severity/conspicuity. Mean ASL cerebral blood flow and DSC perfusion values were obtained in main vascular territories. Kendall coefficient of concordance was calculated to evaluate the reliability of ratings. Spearman correlation coefficients were calculated to compare ratings and quantitative perfusion values between ASL and DSC perfusion maps. Results— ASL cerebral blood flow and DSC perfusion maps provided largely consistent results in delineating hypoperfused brain regions in AIS. Hyperemic lesions, which also appeared frequently in the AIS cases studied, were more conspicuous on ASL cerebral blood flow than on DSC cerebral blood flow, mean transit time and time to the maximum of the tissue residual function maps. Conclusions— As a rapid, noninvasive, and quantitative technique, ASL has clinical use in detecting blood flow abnormalities in patients with AIS.
Impact of Vehicles as Obstacles in Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks

A thorough understanding of the communications channel between vehicles is essential for realistic modeling of Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks (VANETs) and the development of related technology and applications. The impact of vehicles as obstacles on vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication has been largely neglected in VANET research, especially in simulations. Useful models accounting for vehicles as obstacles must satisfy a number of requirements, most notably accurate positioning, realistic mobility patterns, realistic propagation characteristics, and manageable complexity. We present a model that satisfies all of these requirements. Vehicles are modeled as physical obstacles affecting the V2V communication. The proposed model accounts for vehicles as three-dimensional obstacles and takes into account their impact on the LOS obstruction, received signal power, and the packet reception rate. We utilize two real world highway datasets collected via stereoscopic aerial photography to test our proposed model, and we confirm the importance of modeling the effects of obstructing vehicles through experimental measurements. Our results show considerable obstruction of LOS due to vehicles. By obstructing the LOS, vehicles induce significant attenuation and packet loss. The algorithm behind the proposed model allows for computationally efficient implementation in VANET simulators. It is also shown that by modeling the vehicles as obstacles, significant realism can be added to existing simulators with clear implications on the design of upper layer protocols.