Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Slipped Capital Femoral Epiphysis in Patients With Down Syndrome

The authors report their experience with eight patients (11 hips) with Down syndrome who sustained a slipped capital femoral epiphysis (SCFE). Six patients were diagnosed with hypothyroidism. All patients were greater than the 85th percentile for body mass index. Initial treatment was by in situ pinning in all hips. Six of the 11 slips progressed, 2 had collapse consistent with avascular necrosis, and 1 developed collapse secondary to joint sepsis and osteomyelitis. Additional surgery was necessary on seven hips. Four of eight hips followed until maturity had substantial femoral head deformity. Three of these patients had a noticeable limp and pain. Treatment of SCFE in patients with Down syndrome is difficult and the prognosis is guarded. These patients should be screened for hypothyroidism.
Human pancreatic tumors grown in mice release tissue factor‐positive microvesicles that increase venous clot size

Essentials Tumor‐bearing mice have larger venous clots than controls. Human tissue factor is present in clots in tumor‐bearing mice. Inhibition of human tissue factor reduces clot size in tumor‐bearing mice. This new mouse model may be useful to study mechanisms of cancer‐associated thrombosis.
Pharmaceutical Strategic Purchasing: a Key to Improve Access to Medicines

Pharmaceuticals are often considered as the most significant cost driver of health care expenditures and at the same time have a major impact on patients' curative processes and outcomes. Other pieces of evidence emphasize that drugs are the input for the production of good health. They are considered as the most important and expensive element in the healthy supply chain and are more associated with the management and economics rather than other factors. So, the availability of the relevant, effective, and payable drugs at the time of need and their rapid diffusion at affordable prices are important indicators of the utilization of health services. They can be considered as the most visible determinant of quality and the major driver source of the phenomenal increase in longevity of the human race over the past decades. World Health Organization data implies that most of the spending on pharmaceuticals in developing countries is privately financed (between 45 and 90 percent of all drug expenditures) and a large part of household health care expenditures is spent on pharmaceuticals. As some evidences indicate, despite the growth of the pharmaceutical production and distribution industry, and achieving the self-sufficiency boundaries in the country, patients' out of pocket for drugs are around 65% which can seriously restrict their ability to pay for useful drugs. Literature shows that increased access to drugs depends on effective and collective resource allocation, an efficient purchasing system, rational selection and use of medicines, adequate and sustainable financing, affordable prices, and reliable health and supply systems. Among these factors, employing an efficient purchasing system is known as a strategic purchasing, opposed to a passive purchasing, with the allocation of an obvious budget or payment of a predetermined bill; such a system is applied in many developing countries right now. In recent years, demand for strategic purchasing has increased which has resulted in a shift towards centralized purchasing organizations and an increase in long term contracts over spot buying. The strategic options to improve drug access entail measures stimulating optimal functioning of the market through incentives, regulations, and information in a context of strategic purchasing. These strategies may largely be classified into demand side interventions, supply side interventions, pricing, and incentives. In other words, there are five questions which should be answered before any strategic purchasing: 1-For whom should it be bought? Specifying the groups that have a greater need for medicines and allocating available …
Do Independent Directors Cause Improvements in Firm Transparency?

Although recent research documents a positive relation between corporate transparency and the proportion of independent directors, the direction of causality is unclear. We examine a regulatory shock that substantially increased board independence for some firms, and find that information asymmetry, and to some extent management disclosure and financial intermediation, changed at firms affected by this shock. We also examine whether these effects vary as a function of management entrenchment, information processing costs, and required changes to audit committee independence. Our results suggest that firms can alter their corporate transparency to suit the informational demands of a particular board structure.
Expertise, Visual Search, and Information Pick-up in Squash

The visual search characteristics of expert and novice squash players were compared in two experiments. In the first experiment subjects were required to predict the forthcoming direction and force of an opponent's stroke from a film display. This film display was designed to simulate the normal display available to the defending player in squash and involved the use of variable temporal cut-offs to force the subjects to use advance cues in their prediction. Systematic differences in the information pick-up of the experts and novices were observed on the film task but these differences were achieved with only relatively minor between-group variations in visual search strategy. In the second experiment, set in the natural field setting, no expert—novice differences in either fixation distribution, order, or duration were observed on a comparable prediction task. This provided further support for the conclusion that the limiting factor in the perceptual performance of the novices is not an inappropriate search strategy but rather an inability to make full use of the information available from fixated display features. Some practical implications of these findings for the squash coach and player are considered.
Stellar Kinematics in the Complicated Inner Spheroid of M31: Discovery of Substructure along the Southeastern Minor Axis and Its Relationship to the Giant Southern Stream

We present the discovery of a kinematically cold stellar population along the southeastern minor axis of the Andromeda galaxy (M31) that is likely the forward continuation of M31's giant southern stream. This discovery was made during an on-going spectroscopic survey of M31 red giant branch (RGB) stars using the DEIMOS instrument on the Keck II 10 m telescope. Stellar kinematics are investigated in eight fields located 9-30 kpc from M31's center (in projection). A likelihood method based on photometric and spectroscopic diagnostics is used to isolate confirmed M31 RGB stars from foreground Milky Way dwarf stars: for the first time, this is done without using radial velocity as a selection criterion, allowing an unbiased study of M31's stellar kinematics. The radial velocity distribution of the 1013 M31 RGB stars contains two components. The broad (hot) component (σ = 129 km s-1) presumably represents M31's virialized spheroid. A significant fraction (19%) of the population is in a narrow (cold) component centered near M31's systemic velocity, with a velocity dispersion that decreases with increasing radial distance, from σ = 55.5 km s-1 at Rproj = 12 kpc to σ = 10.6 km s-1 (9.5 km s-1 after accounting for measurement error) at Rproj = 18 kpc. The spatial and velocity distribution of the cold component matches that of the "Southeast shelf" predicted by the Fardal et al. orbital model of the progenitor of M31's giant southern stream. The metallicity distribution of the cold component matches that of the giant southern stream but is about 0.2 dex more metal rich than that of the hot spheroidal component. We discuss the implications of our discovery on the interpretation of the intermediate-age spheroid population found in this region in recent ultradeep HST imaging studies.
Exercise interventions for cognitive function in adults older than 50: a systematic review with meta-analysis

Background Physical exercise is seen as a promising intervention to prevent or delay cognitive decline in individuals aged 50 years and older, yet the evidence from reviews is not conclusive. Objectives To determine if physical exercise is effective in improving cognitive function in this population. Design Systematic review with multilevel meta-analysis. Data sources Electronic databases Medline (PubMed), EMBASE (Scopus), PsychINFO and CENTRAL (Cochrane) from inception to November 2016. Eligibility criteria Randomised controlled trials of physical exercise interventions in community-dwelling adults older than 50 years, with an outcome measure of cognitive function. Results The search returned 12 820 records, of which 39 studies were included in the systematic review. Analysis of 333 dependent effect sizes from 36 studies showed that physical exercise improved cognitive function (0.29; 95% CI 0.17 to 0.41; p<0.01). Interventions of aerobic exercise, resistance training, multicomponent training and tai chi, all had significant point estimates. When exercise prescription was examined, a duration of 45–60 min per session and at least moderate intensity, were associated with benefits to cognition. The results of the meta-analysis were consistent and independent of the cognitive domain tested or the cognitive status of the participants. Conclusions Physical exercise improved cognitive function in the over 50s, regardless of the cognitive status of participants. To improve cognitive function, this meta-analysis provides clinicians with evidence to recommend that patients obtain both aerobic and resistance exercise of at least moderate intensity on as many days of the week as feasible, in line with current exercise guidelines.
A Molecular Epidemiology Case Control Study on Pleural Malignant Mesothelioma

Pleural malignant mesothelioma is an uncommon neoplasm usually associated with asbestos exposure. The increasing incidence of malignant mesothelioma cases involving individuals with low levels of asbestos exposure suggests a complex carcinogenetic process with the involvement of other cofactors. Cytogenetic studies revealed the complexity of the genetic changes involved in this neoplasm reflecting the accumulation of genomic damage. One of the most used methodologies for assessing genomic damage is the cytokinesis-blocked micronucleus test applied in peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL). This approach allows the detection of chromosomal alterations expressed in binucleated cells after nuclear division in vitro. This marker could provide a tool for assessing genetically determined constitutional differences in chromosomal instability. A biomonitoring study was carried out to evaluate the micronuclei frequency in PBLs of patients with pleural malignant mesothelioma with respect to lung cancer, healthy, and risk controls as a marker of cancer susceptibility in correlation with the presence of SV40. A significant increased micronuclei frequency was observed in patients with malignant mesothelioma in comparison with all the other groups, the mean micronuclei frequency was double in patients with malignant mesothelioma compared with healthy controls, risk controls, and patients with lung adenocarcinoma (median 11.4 binucleated cells with micronuclei/1,000 binucleated cells versus 6.2, 6.1, and 5.1, respectively). Our data indicate that human T lymphocyte samples carry DNA sequences coding for SV40 large T antigen at low prevalence, both in cancer cases and controls. Evidence of cytogenetic damage revealed as micronuclei frequency in mesothelioma cancer patients could be related to exogenous and endogenous cofactors besides asbestos exposure.
Robust Secrecy Beamforming With Energy-Harvesting Eavesdroppers

This letter considers simultaneous wireless information and power transfer (SWIPT) in multiple-input-single-output downlink systems in which a multiantenna transmitter sends a secret message to a single-antenna information receiver (IR) with multiple single-antenna energy receivers (ERs). We aim to maximize the harvested energy by the ERs while maintaining the signal-to-interference-and-noise ratio (SINR) threshold at the IR and keeping the message secure from possible eavesdropping by the ERs by suppressing their SINRs. Both scenarios of perfect and imperfect channel state information at the transmitter are studied. Using semidefinite relaxation techniques, we show that there always exists a rank-one optimal solution for the IR, i.e., transmit beamforming is optimal for the IR.
Why did IL-12/IL-23 antibody therapy fail in multiple sclerosis?

Evaluation of: Segal BM, Constantinescu CS, Raychaudhuri A et al. Repeated subcutaneous injections of IL12/23 p40 neutralising antibody, ustekinumab, in patients with relapsing–remitting multiple sclerosis: a Phase II, double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized, dose-ranging study. Lancet Neurol. 7, 796–804 (2008). IL-12 and IL-23 are two cytokines that appear to play a key role in the pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis. Blocking these cytokines via a neutralizing antibody caused dramatic improvements in animal models of the disease, and Phase I trials found the antibody to be safe in humans. The paper under review is a Phase II clinical trial of ustekinumab, an anti-IL-12/23p40 antibody for treatment of multiple sclerosis. Investigators found no clinical or radiologic improvement in any treatment group compared with placebo controls. We consider the known mechanisms of action for IL-12/23 in multiple sclerosis and suggest that ustekinumab’s lack of efficacy was partially due to the study’s inclusion of patients with advanced disease. Studies of the antibody in a more limited subset of patients (those with very early disease) might show a treatment effect.
LSI meets TREC: A Status Report

Describes the Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) approach, an extension of the vector retrieval method (e.g., Salton & McGill, 1983) and the use of singular-value decomposition (SUP) applied to the TREC collection. The existing LSI/SVD software was used for analyzing the training and test collectioans, and for query processing and retrieval
A 24GHz low-power CMOS receiver design

A 24 GHz low-power CMOS RF receivers for indoor wireless application is developed in this paper. This paper presents a novel approach to integrate the RF front-end circuits, and realizes the manufacture of SoC (System on a Chip) design. The proposed RF IC includes a low-noise amplifier (LNA), a down-conversion mixer, a voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) and a variable gain amplifier (VGA). For the demands of a low- power design, the LNA and VCO were designed with current- reused technology for lowering the dc power consumption, and the current-bleeding approach was adopted in mixer design for boosting its conversion gain, respectively. The proposed 24 GHz CMOS RF receiver achieves the overall conversion gain of 23.4 dB with noise figure of 5.4 dB, and the total power consumption is only 31.65 mW. Compared to the other papers published over the past few years, this paper exhibits a better potential in low-power design than other receivers applied in the same frequency band.
Design Science in Information Systems Research

Two paradigms characterize much of the research in the Information Systems discipline: behavioral science and design science. The behavioral-science paradigm seeks to develop and verify theories that explain or predict human or organizational behavior. The design-science paradigm seeks to extend the boundaries of human and organizational capabilities by creating new and innovative artifacts. Both paradigms are foundational to the IS discipline, positioned as it is at the confluence of people, organizations, and technology. Our objective is to describe the performance of design-science research in Information Systems via a concise conceptual framework and clear guidelines for understanding, executing, and evaluating the research. In the design-science paradigm, knowledge and understanding of a problem domain and its solution are achieved in the building and application of the designed artifact. Three recent exemplars in the research literature are used to demonstrate the application of these guidelines. We conclude with an analysis of the challenges of performing high-quality design-science research in the context of the broader IS community.
Ductal variant of prostate adenocarcinoma harbor Xenotropic murine leukemia virus related virus (XMRV) infection: a novel finding in subtype of prostate cancer.

OBJECTIVE Xenotropic murine leukemia virus related virus (XMRV), is the first gammaretrovirus identified a decade ago, in human tissue bearing adenocarcinoma of prostate, followed by several researches documenting little or no prevalence of XMRV in prostate cancer samples. However, the status of XMRV within subtype of prostate adenocarcinoma has not been investigated yet. In this study, we investigated the relationship between XMRV and broad spectrum morphological entities of prostate adenocarcinoma, including acinar, ductal and other rare subtypes. MATERIAL AND METHODS The prevalence of XMRV DNA in different histological subtypes of prostate adenocarcinoma was examined after characterizing the tumors into groups, using formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue samples from newly diagnosed prostate adenocarcinomas and archival prostate cancer tissue from our XMRV case control analysis. Broad-spectrum XMRV DNA amplification was performed by end-point polymerase chain reaction, using commercially available primer set. RESULTS The study included 100 patients with prostate cancer. XMRV DNA was detected in 4 of 8 (50%) ductal adenocarcinomas, exhibiting papillary and cribriform histological features. XMRV DNA was not detected in any other variant of adenocarcinoma including acinar (0/91) and mucinous carcinomas (0/1). Majority of XMRV positive cases were biologically aggressive and present cancer at an early age upon diagnosis. CONCLUSION Ductal adenocarcinomas demonstrate a significant association of XMRV DNA while other histological variants of prostate adenocarcinoma seem unrelated to XMRV infection.
Concerning contact resistance prediction based on time sequence and distribution character

We take statistics on experimental data, including static contact resistance, bounce time and the max contact resistance of relay's matching contacts in the dynamic closing process. A conclusion is drawn that the contact resistance is not in obedience to the normal distribution function. The further analysis makes clear that the contact reliability on contacts has correlation with the eigenvalues of diagnostic parameters and the figure of their distribution density curves. The reason for these is discussed preliminarily. On the ground of the above work, we develop the contact resistance prediction model based on time sequence and distribution character.
Macrophage Inducible C-Type Lectin As a Multifunctional Player in Immunity

The macrophage-inducible C-type lectin (Mincle) is an innate immune receptor on myeloid cells sensing diverse entities including pathogens and damaged cells. Mincle was first described as a receptor for the mycobacterial cell wall glycolipid, trehalose-6,6′-dimycolate, or cord factor, and the mammalian necrotic cell-derived alarmin histone deacetylase complex unit Sin3-associated protein 130. Upon engagement by its ligands, Mincle induces secretion of innate cytokines and other immune mediators modulating inflammation and immunity. Since its discovery more than 25 years ago, the understanding of Mincle’s immune function has made significant advances in recent years. In addition to mediating immune responses to infectious agents, Mincle has been linked to promote tumor progression, autoimmunity, and sterile inflammation; however, further studies are required to completely unravel the complex role of Mincle in these distinct host responses. In this review, we discuss recent findings on Mincle’s biology with an emphasis on its diverse functions in immunity.
New pharmacological strategies in rheumatic diseases

Targeting the pathogenic pathway of chronic inflammation represents an unmet challenge for controlling disease activity, preventing functional disability, and maintaining an adequate quality of life in patients with rheumatic diseases. Abatacept, a novel molecule that inhibits co-stimulation signal, induces an inhibitory effect on the T-cells. This will further interfere with the activity of several cell lines, leading to the normalization of the immune response. In the latest years, abatacept has been extensively investigated in studies of rheumatoid arthritis for which it was recently approved as a second line biologic treatment in Romania. This review presents the clinical efficacy of abatacept in several rheumatic diseases and highlights the safety profile of this biological agent. Abbreviations: ACR = American College of Rheumatology, ADR = Adverse drug reaction, APC = antigen presenting cell, ApS = psoriatic arthritis, CRP = C reactive protein, CTLA-4 = Cytotoxic T-Cell Lymphocyte Antigen-4, DAS = Disease activity score, DMARDs = Disease modifying antirheumatic drugs, EMA = European Medicine Agency, EULAR = European League Against Rheumatism, FDA = Food and Drugs Administration, HBV = Hepatitis B virus, JIA = Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis, LDA = low disease activity (LDA), MRI = magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), MTX = methotrexate, RA = rheumatoid arthritis, RCT = randomized controlled trial, SS = Sjogren’s syndrome, TCR = T cell receptor
Factors influencing plasma nevirapine levels: a study in HIV-infected children on generic antiretroviral treatment in India.

BACKGROUND Nevirapine is an important component of paediatric combination HIV therapy. Adequate drug exposure is necessary in order to achieve long-lasting viral suppression. OBJECTIVES To study the influence of age, drug dose and formulation type, nutritional status and CYP2B6 516G>T polymorphism on blood concentrations of nevirapine in children treated with generic antiretroviral drugs. METHODS A multicentre study was conducted at four sites in India. HIV-infected children receiving generic nevirapine-based fixed-dose combinations were recruited. Trough and 2 h nevirapine plasma concentrations were determined by HPLC. Characterization of the CYP2B6 gene polymorphism was performed using direct sequencing. Clinical and nutritional status was recorded. Groups were compared using the Mann-Whitney U-test and multivariable logistic regression analysis was performed to identify factors contributing to low drug levels. RESULTS Ninety-four children of median age 78 months were studied; 60% were undernourished or stunted. Stunted children had a significantly lower 2 h nevirapine concentration compared with non-stunted children (P < 0.05); there were no significant differences in trough concentrations between different nutritional groups. Nevirapine levels were significantly higher in children with TT compared with GG and GT CYP2B6 genotypes (P < 0.01). Children ≤ 3 years had a 3.2 (95% confidence interval 1.07-9.45) times higher risk of having sub-therapeutic nevirapine concentrations. CONCLUSIONS Nevirapine blood concentrations are affected by many factors, most notably age ≤ 3 years; a combination of young age, stunting and CYP2B6 GG or GT genotype could potentially result in sub-therapeutic nevirapine concentrations. Dosing recommendations for children should be reviewed in the light of these findings.