Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A 10-Year Retrospective Review of 758 DIEP Flaps for Breast Reconstruction

This study examined 758 deep inferior epigastric perforator flaps for breast reconstruction, with respect to risk factors and associated complications. Risk factors that demonstrated significant association with any breast or abdominal complication included smoking (p = 0.0000), postreconstruction radiotherapy (p = 0.0000), and hypertension (p = 0.0370). Ninety-eight flaps (12.9 percent) developed fat necrosis. Associated risk factors were smoking (p = 0.0226) and postreconstruction radiotherapy (p = 0.0000). Interestingly, as the number of perforators increased, so did the incidence of fat necrosis. There were only 19 cases (2.5 percent) of partial flap loss and four cases (0.5 percent) of total flap loss. Patients with 45 flaps (5.9 percent) were returned to the operating room before the second-stage procedure. Patients with 29 flaps (3.8 percent) were returned to the operating room because of venous congestion. Venous congestion and any complication were observed to be statistically unrelated to the number of venous anastomoses. Overall, postoperative abdominal hernia or bulge occurred after only five reconstructions (0.7 percent). Complication rates in this large series were comparable to those in retrospective reviews of pedicle and free transverse rectus abdominis musculocutaneous flaps. Previous studies of the free transverse rectus abdominis musculocutaneous flap described breast complication rates ranging from 8 to 13 percent and abdominal complication rates ranging from 0 to 82 percent. It was noted that, with experience in microsurgical techniques and perforator selection, the deep inferior epigastric perforator flap offers distinct advantages to patients, in terms of decreased donor-site morbidity and shorter recovery periods. Mastery of this flap provides reconstructive surgeons with more extensive options for the treatment of postmastectomy patients.
Interactive Audio-haptic Map Explorer on a Tactile Display

In this article, we propose and evaluate a novel audio-haptic map system to improve map accessibility forthevisuallyimpairedwhilereadingcitymapsandmakingpre-journeyroutes.Thesystememploys atouch-sensitivepin-matrixdisplayandrepresentsvariousmapelementsthroughapre-deﬁnedset oftactilemapsymbolsconsistingofraisedandloweredpins.Theinteractiveuserinterfaceallows users to not only acquire auditory and Braille geographic information by touching the involved map elements, but also prepare pre-journey routes by exploring large-scale areas through panning and zooming. Furthermore, the positive results of the evaluation conducted with 10 blind users indicate that blind users are able to use the proposed map system to read street maps and make pre-journey routes in unknown areas, with acquired conﬁgurational knowledge and route knowledge. Two-thirds of participants prefer swell-paper maps with only two zoom levels.
EVALUATION OF EMPIRICAL AND THEORETICAL MODELS TO DETERMINE ASPHALT MIXTURE STIFFNESSES AT LOW TEMPERATURES (WITH DISCUSSION)

The objectives of this research were: (1) To illustrate the relationship between binder and mixture stiffness measured at low temperatures in the log-log domain and to discuss the factors which influence this relationship; (2) To review selected empirical and theoretical binder-to-mixture stiffness relationships, including the one used in SHRP Superpave(tm), and to compare the low-temperature mixture creep stiffnesses predicted by these models to those obtained with the indirect tensile test at low temperatures (ITLT); (3) To assess the suitability of existing binder-to-mixture stiffness models, and if necessary, to develop alternate models or modeling techniques that will lead to accurate thermal cracking performance predictions.
Cultural Shift or Linguistic Drift? Comparing Two Computational Measures of Semantic Change

Words shift in meaning for many reasons, including cultural factors like new technologies and regular linguistic processes like subjectification. Understanding the evolution of language and culture requires disentangling these underlying causes. Here we show how two different distributional measures can be used to detect two different types of semantic change. The first measure, which has been used in many previous works, analyzes global shifts in a word's distributional semantics; it is sensitive to changes due to regular processes of linguistic drift, such as the semantic generalization of promise ("I promise." "It promised to be exciting."). The second measure, which we develop here, focuses on local changes to a word's nearest semantic neighbors; it is more sensitive to cultural shifts, such as the change in the meaning of cell ("prison cell" "cell phone"). Comparing measurements made by these two methods allows researchers to determine whether changes are more cultural or linguistic in nature, a distinction that is essential for work in the digital humanities and historical linguistics.
MMP‐mediated collagen breakdown induced by activated protein C in equine cartilage is reduced by corticosteroids

The plasma serine protease activated protein C (APC) is synthesized by human chondrocytes at sites of pathological cartilage fibrillation. APC levels are increased in osteoarthritis (OA) synovial fluid, and in vitro APC has been shown to synergize with interleukin‐1β (IL‐1) to promote degradation from ovine cartilage. A model of equine cartilage degradation was established and used to explore corticosteroid activities. Intraarticular corticosteroids are a commonly prescribed treatment for joint disease, however their role in disease modification remains unclear. APC synergized with IL‐1 or tumor necrosis factor‐α (TNFα), promoting significant collagen degradation from equine cartilage explants within 4 days, but did not augment glycoaminoglycan (GAG) release. APC activated pro‐matrix metalloproteinases (MMP)‐2 but not pro‐MMP‐9, as assessed by gelatin zymography. APC did not directly activate pro‐MMP‐13. Dexamethasone, triamcinolone, and methylprednisolone acetate (MPA) were evaluated at concentrations between 10− 5M and 10−10M. High concentrations significantly increased GAG release from IL‐1+APC–treated explants. With the exception of MPA at 10−10M, all concentrations of corticosteroids caused significant decreases in IL‐1+APC‐driven hydroxyproline loss. Treatment with corticosteroids suppressed expression of MMP‐1, ‐3, and ‐13 mRNA. The collagenolysis associated with IL‐1+APC synergy, and the inhibition of this effect by corticosteroids may involve gelatinase activation and downregulation of MMP expression, respectively. © 2009 Orthopaedic Research Society. Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Orthop Res 28:370–378, 2010
Transfer Entropy on Rank Vectors

Transfer entropy (TE) is a popular measure of information flow found to perform consistently well in different settings. Symbolic transfer entropy (STE) is defined similarly to TE but on the ranks of the components of the reconstructed vectors rather than the reconstructed vectors themselves. First, we correct STE by forming the ranks for the future samples of the response system with regard to the current reconstructed vector. We give the grounds for this modified version of STE, which we call Transfer Entropy on Rank Vectors (TERV). Then we propose to use more than one step ahead in the formation of the future of the response in order to capture the information flow from the driving system over a longer time horizon. To assess the performance of STE, TE and TERV in detecting correctly the information flow we use receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves formed by the measure values in the two coupling directions computed on a number of realizations of known weakly coupled systems. We also consider different settings of state space reconstruction, time series length and observational noise. The results show that TERV indeed improves STE and in some cases performs better than TE, particularly in the presence of noise, but overall TE gives more consistent results. The use of multiple steps ahead improves the accuracy of TE and TERV.
DYNAMIC AND ELECTROMYOGRAPHICAL ANALYSIS IN VARIANTS OF PUSH‐UP EXERCISE

The purpose of the study was to record dynamic and muscular modifications during push-up exercise variants (EV). Eight healthy men performed 6 EV of push-ups: normal, abducted, adducted, posterior, anterior, and on knees. Ground-reaction forces were recorded with a force plate while surface muscular activity with electrodes on triceps and pectoralis major. Significant differences (p < 0.05) existed for most vertical force variables but not for anteroposterior force and time variables. The initial load relative to body weight was 66.4% at the normal position, while only 52.9% at the on-knees EV. Muscle activity was less during the on-knees EV for both muscles. At the posterior EV, pectoralis major was activated higher than normal; however, triceps were activated lower than normal. Dynamic behavior and muscle activity were significantly altered between push-up EV. Instructions for push-up exercises should be followed carefully because dynamic and muscular challenge is altered when hands are differently positioned.
Imitative learning in male Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica) using the two-action method.

The study of imitative learning in animals has suffered from the presence of a number of confounding motivational and attentional factors (e.g., social facilitation and stimulus enhancement). The two-action method avoids these problems by exposing observers to demonstrators performing a response (e.g., operating a treadle) using 1 of 2 distinctive topographies (e.g., by pecking or by stepping). Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica) observers exposed to conspecific demonstrators showed a high correlation between the topography of the response they observed and the response they performed. These data provide strong evidence for the existence of true imitative learning in an active, precocious bird under conditions that control for alternative accounts.
Waist-to-height ratio and cardiometabolic risk factors in adolescence: findings from a prospective birth cohort

In adults, associations between body mass index (BMI), waist‐to‐height ratio (WHtR) and cardiometabolic outcomes are similar. In children and adolescents, results from cross‐sectional studies examining the associations between BMI z scores, WHtR and cardiometabolic outcomes are conflicting and there is a paucity of prospective data.
Pre- and Postvaccination Clonal Compositions of Invasive Pneumococcal Serotypes for Isolates Collected in the United States in 1999, 2001, and 2002

ABSTRACT Monitoring of serotypes and their clonal associations is critical as pneumococci adapt to the selective pressures exerted by the pneumococcal seven-valent conjugate vaccine (PCV7). We genotyped 1,476 invasive isolates from the Active Bacterial Core surveillance (705 [89.8%] of the isolates were obtained from children <5 years of age, and 771 [18.4%] of the isolates were obtained from individuals >5 years of age) in 2001 and 2002 (after the introduction of PCV7). The data were compared to the results for 1,168 invasive isolates (855 [83.9%] of the isolates were from children <5 years of age) collected in 1999. Among children <5 years of age, the incidence of invasive disease due to non-PCV7 serogroups together with serogroup 19A increased (P < 0.001). Eighty-three clonal sets, representing 177 multilocus sequence types (STs), were compiled from the 3-year isolate set. Among the non-PCV7 serogroups, newly emerging clones were uncommon; and a significant expansion of already established clones occurred for serotypes 3 (ST180), 7F (ST191), 15BCF (ST199), 19A (ST199), 22F (ST433), 33F (ST662), and 38 (ST393). However, additional minor clonal types within serotypes 1, 6A, 6B, 7C, 9N, 10A, 12F, 14, 15B/C, 17F, 19A, 19F, 20, 22F, and 33F that were absent in 1999 were found during 2001 and 2002. Although 23 clonal sets exhibited multiple serotypes, for most serotypes there were either no changes or modest changes in clonal compositions since the introduction of PCV7. The only example of an identical ST shared between non-PCV7 and PCV7 or PCV7-related serotypes was ST199; however, ST199 was prevalent within serotypes 15B/C and 19A before and after PCV7 introduction. Continued genotypic surveillance is warranted, since certain clones not targeted by PCV7 are expanding, and their emergence as significant pathogens could occur with maintained vaccine pressure.
Magnesium absorption from distal part of swine digestive tract under isotonic and isoionic conditions from both sides of the epithelium

The effect of low magnesium concentrations in composed isotonic and isoionic Tyrode’s solution on its absorption from the distal part of the swine digestive tract was investigated in vitro on bags made of survived epithelia of the swine caecum and proximal colon. The epithelial side of either epithelium was always turned into the bags that were filled with Tyrode’s solution containing 0.5, 1.0 or 2.5 mmol/L magnesium. Tyrode’s solutions were always situated outside the bags, i.e., from submucosal side of the epithelium. At the beginning of the experiment and after 30, 60, 120 and 180 minutes of the experiment samples were taken from the solution outside the bags and analyzed spectrophotometrically for magnesium concentration. The excess of magnesium contents in the solution obtained in each experimental interval represents “the net flux” of magnesium in the direction of absorption. According to the results of the experiment, magnesium may be absorbed from both caecum and proximal colon epithelia against the concentration gradient, as well as under isotonic and isoionic conditions from both sides of the epithelium. The intensity of magnesium absorption depended on its concentration in the contents, on the epithelium used, and on the time of sampling. Results indicate the distal part of the swine digestive tract as the important part for magnesium absorption, especially under low concentrations in the contents. Under these experimental conditions the passive transport of magnesium played the major part.
Tracking the evolution of 3D gene organization demonstrates its connection to phenotypic divergence

Abstract It has recently been shown that the organization of genes in eukaryotic genomes, and specifically in 3D, is strongly related to gene expression and function and partially conserved between organisms. However, previous studies of 3D genomic organization analyzed each organism independently from others. Here, we propose an approach for unified inter-organismal analysis of gene organization based on a network representation of Hi-C data. We define and detect four classes of spatially co-evolving orthologous modules (SCOMs), i.e. gene families that co-evolve in their 3D organization, based on patterns of divergence and conservation of distances. We demonstrate our methodology on Hi-C data from Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Schizosaccharomyces pombe, and identify, among others, modules relating to RNA splicing machinery and chromatin silencing by small RNA which are central to S. pombe's lifestyle. Our results emphasize the importance of 3D genomic organization in eukaryotes and suggest that the evolutionary mechanisms that shape gene organization affect the organism fitness and phenotypes. The proposed algorithms can be utilized in future studies of genome evolution and comparative analysis of spatial genomic organization in different tissues, conditions and single cells.
Ultrafast Time‐Resolved Measurements of Hybrid Solar Cells

The early time charge carrier dynamics in quantum dot‐sensitized and organo‐metal halide perovskite solar cells are presented in this chapter. Using transient spectroscopy techniques, i.e., absorption, photoluminescence, and photoconductivity, we probed the generation mechanism, charge injection, mobility, and recombination of charges in the time scales of subpicosecond (ps) to a nanosecond. In few ps, electron injection from quantum dot to n ‐type metal oxide (MO) is complete while hole injection to p ‐type MO required hundreds of ps. The injection process is dictated by the band alignment, density of states of MO and the charge transfer state at the interface. For organo‐metal halide perovskite material, there is a distribution of exciton binding energy brought about by the nonuniformity in the quality of the sample. As a result, varying amount of exciton and highly mobile charges may be generated depending on the morphology of the film. In the sample presented here, we found that 30% of photo‐generated charges are excitons, which then dissociates within 2–3 ps. The rest of the photons are instantane‐ ously converted into highly mobile charges ( µ e = 12.5 cm 2 V ‐1 s ‐1 and µ h = 7.5 cm 2 V ‐1 s ‐1 ), and at the appropriate excitation fluence, the photoconductivity remains constant up to 1 ns. The time scale and mechanism of charge injection from perovskite into organic electrodes are also presented.
Semi-Blind Channel Estimation Using Superimposed Training Sequences with Constant Magnitude in Dual Domain for OFDM Systems

A superimposed training scheme is proposed for channel estimation in OFDM systems. The generalized chirp-like (GCL) sequence is adopted since it has a constant magnitude in both the time domain and the frequency domain. Although the derived channel estimator has a slightly worse performance since the unknown data contributes extra noise, the effective data throughput is substantially increased. In addition, the proposed scheme is shown to have a much better peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) because the added GCL sequence has a constant magnitude in the time domain
Feasibility and Efficacy of a Self-Management Intervention for Insomnia in Stable Heart Failure.

BACKGROUND Chronic insomnia is common among patients with heart failure (HF) and may contribute to fatigue and poor function. However, to date there have been no randomized controlled trials focused on treatment of insomnia or daytime symptoms in this population. OBJECTIVES The purpose of this study was to examine the preliminary efficacy, feasibility, and acceptability of a self-management intervention (cognitive behavioral therapy [CBT-I]) for insomnia among patients with stable HF. METHODS We conducted a pilot randomized controlled trial (RCT) in which patients with stable Class I-III HF (n = 25/52.1% women; mean age = 59 ± 14.8 years) were randomized in groups to CBT-I (n = 29) or an attention control condition (HF self-management with sleep hygiene; n = 19). Participants completed 2 weeks of wrist actigraphy, the insomnia severity index, and measures of fatigue, depression, sleepiness, and functional performance at baseline and follow-up. We computed the size of the effects on the dependent variables and used MANOVA to evaluate the effects of CBT-I on insomnia and fatigue. RESULTS CBT-I was feasible and acceptable and had a statistically significant effect on insomnia and fatigue, while controlling for the effects of comorbidity and age. CONCLUSIONS CBT-I has short-term efficacy as a treatment for chronic insomnia among patients with stable HF. Future studies are needed to address its sustained effects.
Just a preference: racialised language in the sex-seeking profiles of gay and bisexual men

Racialised language is a salient and contested aspect of contemporary sexual cultures, particularly in the online domain. This paper explores the ways in which gay men in Australia employ race-related language when using online sex/dating websites. Using inductive content analysis, descriptive categories were developed to identify recurrent patterns in the racialised language employed by website users. A coding framework was then constructed to identify the ‘subject’ (self, other or concept) of each piece of race-related content, its ‘purpose’ (marketing, negative or positive discrimination, commentary) and the ‘position’ adopted (defensive, normalised or critical). Descriptive and comparative analyses revealed differences in the ways in which members of racial groups employed racialised language online. These differences are reviewed in relation to broader discourses on Whiteness and race in Australia, as well as recent community-produced anti-racism campaigns.
Capturing Semantic Similarity for Entity Linking with Convolutional Neural Networks

A key challenge in entity linking is making effective use of contextual information to disambiguate mentions that might refer to different entities in different contexts. We present a model that uses convolutional neural networks to capture semantic correspondence between a mention's context and a proposed target entity. These convolutional networks operate at multiple granularities to exploit various kinds of topic information, and their rich parameterization gives them the capacity to learn which n-grams characterize different topics. We combine these networks with a sparse linear model to achieve state-of-the-art performance on multiple entity linking datasets, outperforming the prior systems of Durrett and Klein (2014) and Nguyen et al. (2014).
Recombinant human erythropoietin and the anemia of multiple myeloma

The anemia of multiple myeloma (MM) is multifactorial, including physical replacement of normal hemopoiesis by tumor cells, renal failure and cytokines which contribute to the blunted erythropoietin (EPO) response observed in anemias of chronic disease. Recombinant EPO has been evaluated in anemic patients with stable multiple myeloma (≤10g% hemoglobin). Responses (≥2g% hemoglobin increase) were observed in 78% of 41 patients in two separate studies. Responses were associated with an increase in bone marrow erythropoietic cell compartment and reticulocy tosis. Evaluation of potential parameters affecting response identified prolonged cyto‐toxic therapy for >12 months, especially with alkylating agents and pre‐treatment EPO levels >100 U/L, both of which seemed to decrease the likelihood of EPO response. EPO is a safe and effective treatment for the anemia associated with MM.
A Thioredoxin Family Protein of the Apicoplast Periphery Identifies Abundant Candidate Transport Vesicles in Toxoplasma gondii

ABSTRACT Toxoplasma gondii, which causes toxoplasmic encephalitis and birth defects, contains an essential chloroplast-related organelle to which proteins are trafficked via the secretory system. This organelle, the apicoplast, is bounded by multiple membranes. In this report we identify a novel apicoplast-associated thioredoxin family protein, ATrx1, which is predominantly soluble or peripherally associated with membranes, and which localizes primarily to the outer compartments of the organelle. As such, it represents the first protein to be identified as residing in the apicoplast intermembrane spaces. ATrx1 lacks the apicoplast targeting sequences typical of luminal proteins. However, sequences near the N terminus are required for proper targeting of ATrx1, which is proteolytically processed from a larger precursor to multiple smaller forms. This protein reveals a population of vesicles, hitherto unrecognized as being highly abundant in the cell, which may serve to transport proteins to the apicoplast.
Using Parse Features for Preposition Selection and Error Detection

We evaluate the effect of adding parse features to a leading model of preposition usage. Results show a significant improvement in the preposition selection task on native speaker text and a modest increment in precision and recall in an ESL error detection task. Analysis of the parser output indicates that it is robust enough in the face of noisy non-native writing to extract useful information.
Colonization factors associated with enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli isolated in Thailand

Eighty-six percent (72 of 84) of heat-labile and heat-stable, none of 141 heat-labile, and 24% (27 of 111) heat-stable enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli isolates from Thailand aggregated in less than 1 M (NH4)2SO4, hemagglutinated human group A and bovine erythrocytes in 1% D-mannose, and possessed either colonization factor I or colonization factor II. No other colonization factors were identified by these two methods.