Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Morphological description of great cardiac vein in pigs compared to human hearts

Introduction In spite of its importance as an experimental model, the information on the great cardiac vein in pigs is sparse. Objective To determine the morphologic characteristics of the great cardiac vein and its tributaries in pigs. Methods 120 hearts extracted from pigs destined to the slaughterhouse with stunning method were studied. This descriptive cross-over study evaluated continuous variables with T test and discrete variables with Pearson χ square test. A level of significance P<0.05 was used. The great cardiac vein and its tributaries were perfused with polyester resin (85% Palatal and 15% Styrene) and then subjected to potassium hydroxide infusion to release the subepicardial fat. Calibers were measured, and trajectories and relations with adjacent arterial structures were evaluated. Results The origin of the great cardiac vein was observed at the heart apex in 91 (76%) hearts. The arterio-venous trigone was present in 117 (97.5%) specimens, corresponding to the open expression in its lower segment and to the closed expression in the upper segment in the majority of the cases (65%). The caliber of the great cardiac vein at the upper segment of the paraconal interventricular sulcus was 3.73±0.79 mm. An anastomosis between the great cardiac vein and the middle cardiac vein was found in 59 (49%) specimens. Conclusion The morphological and biometric characteristics of the great cardiac vein and its tributaries had not been reported in prior studies, and due to their similitude with those of the human heart, allows us to propose the pig model for procedural and hemodynamic applications.
Iron Deficiency Anemia as a Risk Factor for Osteoporosis: A nationwide Population-Based Study

The cause-effect relationship between iron deficiency anemia (IDA) and osteoporosis has not been established in the general population. Thus, the current longitudinal study determined the role of IDA as a risk factor for osteoporosis by analyzing a large nationwide population-based sample. In a sample of 1,000,000 randomly sampled individuals from the 1998-2012 Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database, patients with IDA (case group [n=35,751]) and individuals without IDA (control group [n=178,755]) were compared. Patients who were <20 years of age and who had pre-existing osteoporosis prior to the diagnosis of IDA were excluded. Each patient with IDA was ageand gender-matched to 5 individuals without IDA. The diagnoses of IDA and osteoporosis (coded using ICD-9CM) were further confirmed with blood test results and X-ray bone densitometry to ensure the accuracy of the diagnoses. Osteoporosis occurred more often among patients with IDA compared to individuals without IDA (2.27% vs. 1.32%, p<0.001). Cox proportional hazard analysis revealed that the risk for osteoporosis was significantly higher in the case than the control group (hazard ratio [HR]=1.74; 95% CI=1.61-1.88) and remained similar after adjustment for covariates (adjusted HR=1.81; 95% CI=1.67-1.97). Compared with individuals without IDA, the risk for osteoporosis was even higher for patients with IDA who received intravenous ferrum therapy (adjusted HR=2.21; 95% CI=1.85-2.63). In contrast, the risk for osteoporosis was reduced for patients with IDA who received a blood transfusion (adjusted HR=1.47; 95% CI=1.20-1.80). As a predictor, prior IDA is a significant and independent risk factor for development of osteoporosis. In contrast to blood transfusion treatment, the use of intravenous ferrum may further increase the risk for future osteoporosis.
Constrained Energy-Aware AP Placement with Rate Adaptation in WLAN Mesh Networks

It is anticipated that future wireless networks will make use of more renewable energy sources, e.g., solar, wind, and hydro, etc., in order to sustain the ever-growing traffic demands, while mitigating the effects of increased energy consumption. The most critical issue of developing a sustainable communications network is how to cost-effectively deploy access points (APs) with sustainable energy supplies and allocate network resources to meet the quality of service (QoS) requirements of users. In this paper, the traditional AP placement problem is revisited with sustainable power supplies. First, a constrained AP placement optimization problem is formulated. The objective is to determine the optimal placement of APs on a set of candidate locations such that the number of APs is minimized, subject to the constraints that QoS requirements of users can be fulfilled with the harvested energy. To further improve the sustainable network performance, joint power control and rate adaptation at APs is considered, based on different user demands and charging capabilities of the APs. After that, an efficient heuristic algorithm with polynomial time complexity is proposed. Extensive simulation results show that the proposed algorithm approaches the optimal solution under a variety of network settings with significantly reduced time complexity.
Experience with the systemic treatment of severe forms of psoriasis.

INTRODUCTION Severe forms of psoriasis are indicated for systemic treatment with conventional and biological preparations. The former includes methotrexate, cyclosporin, acitretin and narrow-band ultraviolet B phototherapy but toxicity may limit the dose and duration of treatment. Currently used less toxic biological preparations include inhibitors of TNF-alpha (etanercept, adalimumab, infliximab) and the monoclonal antibody against IL 12/23 ustekinumab. We present our own more than five-year experience with the systemic treatment of severe forms of psoriasis using these preparations. METHODS A total of 66 patients treated with systemic therapy (except for phototherapy) were divided into groups based on treatment. Therapeutic doses were administered according to the recommendations of the manufacturer and dermatological societies. Standard PASI and BSA indexes were used to evaluate clinical condition at weeks 0, 12 and 24. RESULTS Differences in PASI score reduction and BSA index between patient groups treated with different preparations were statistically significant at monitored intervals. At week 12, PASI score was reduced by 75% or more in a significantly greater number of patients treated with infliximab + methotrexate than those treated with acitretin. At week 24, identical comparison showed a significantly greater number of patients treated with etanercept or adalimumab than those receiving methotrexate. For BSA index reduction by 50% or more, no statistically significant differences were found between patient groups during the follow-up period. CONCLUSION Systemic therapy provides a significant benefit to patients with severe psoriasis. Biological preparations are more effective than conventional medications which are often limited by severe side-effects and generally less tolerated than biological treatments.
Particle Value Functions

The policy gradients of the expected return objective can react slowly to rare rewards. Yet, in some cases agents may wish to emphasize the low or high returns regardless of their probability. Borrowing from the economics and control literature, we review the risk-sensitive value function that arises from an exponential utility and illustrate its effects on an example. This risk-sensitive value function is not always applicable to reinforcement learning problems, so we introduce the particle value function defined by a particle filter over the distributions of an agent's experience, which bounds the risk-sensitive one. We illustrate the benefit of the policy gradients of this objective in Cliffworld.
The Retention and Fracture Resistance of Two All-ceramic Post and Core Systems in Anterior Endodontically Treated Teeth

Background : In anterior endodontically treated teeth a better esthetic can be achieved by using all-ceramic post -core restorations instead of metal post systems. Maximum retention and fracture resistance of the post are the criteria upon which selection of a post system is based. The aim of this study was to evaluate the fracture resistance and retention of two all-ceramic post and core systems including IPS Empress 2 post-core system and IPS Empress 2 core connected to Zirconium Cosmopost, and comparing these features among the two groups Material and methods : Eighty extracted maxillary central incisors and canines were divided into two groups of 40 including IPS Empress 2 and zirconium Cosmopost. To evaluate retention, shear force was applied to the cement at the crosshead speed of 0.5 mm/min; force was applied until the post was detached from the canal. To measure the fracture resistance, the samples were loaded at 45-degrees to the horizon at the crosshead speed of 5 mm/min until fracture occurred. Result : The mean fracture strength and standard deviation of zirconium Cosmopost and IPS Empress 2 were 302.10 N (69.922), 151.63 N (48.661), respectively. The difference between groups was significant statistically (P<0.001). The zirconium Cosmoposts had lower retention than IPS Empress2 dowel-core, but the difference between groups was insignificant (p =0.134). Conclusion : Within the limitations of the study, it could be concluded that zirconium Cosmopost system may be a candidate for the restoration of anterior endodontically treated teeth, as the high fracture toughness and propitious esthetic feature.
Predictive Mutation Testing

Test suites play a key role in ensuring software quality. A good test suite may detect more faults than a poor-quality one. Mutation testing is a powerful methodology for evaluating the fault-detection ability of test suites. In mutation testing, a large number of mutants may be generated and need to be executed against the test suite under evaluation to check how many mutants the test suite is able to detect, as well as the kind of mutants that the current test suite fails to detect. Consequently, although highly effective, mutation testing is widely recognized to be also computationally expensive, inhibiting wider uptake. To alleviate this efficiency concern, we propose Predictive Mutation Testing (PMT): the first approach to predicting mutation testing results without executing mutants. In particular, PMT constructs a classification model, based on a series of features related to mutants and tests, and uses the model to predict whether a mutant would be killed or remain alive without executing it. PMT has been evaluated on 163 real-world projects under two application scenarios (cross-version and cross-project). The experimental results demonstrate that PMT improves the efficiency of mutation testing by up to 151.4X while incurring only a small accuracy loss. It achieves above 0.80 AUC values for the majority of projects, indicating a good tradeoff between the efficiency and effectiveness of predictive mutation testing. Also, PMT is shown to perform well on different tools and tests, be robust in the presence of imbalanced data, and have high predictability (over 60 percent confidence) when predicting the execution results of the majority of mutants.
Longer term safety of dipeptidyl peptidase‐4 inhibitors in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus: systematic review and meta‐analysis

Dipeptidyl peptidase‐4 (DPP‐4) inhibitors are oral antidiabetic agents that hold the potential of slowing the progress of type 2 diabetes mellitus. Their long‐term safety is still a subject of debate. A systematic review of randomized, controlled trials was undertaken to comprehensively profile the safety of chronic treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus with DPP‐4 inhibitors. We searched data sources including MEDLINE, CENTRAL, publishers' and manufacturers' databases. Eligible trials were double‐blind, randomized, placebo or active‐controlled trials with ≥18 weeks duration in patients with type 2 diabetes reporting safety outcomes. Meta‐analysis was performed separately for trials in which the control group received placebo (44 studies), another gliptin (3 studies) and any other antidiabetic drug (20 studies). Risk ratios with 95% confidence intervals were computed using a Mantel‐Haenszel fixed‐effect model for general safety outcomes, hypoglycaemia and adverse events by system organ class. Of 307 publications retrieved, 67 randomized, controlled trials met the eligibility criteria and were included in this review (4 alogliptin, 8 linagliptin, 8 saxagliptin, 20 sitagliptin, and 27 vildagliptin trials). Adverse events with gliptin treatment were at placebo level (relative risk (RR) 1.02 [0.99, 1.04]). No increased risk of infections was detectable (RR 0.98 [0.93, 1.05] compared to placebo and 1.02 [0.97, 1.07] compared to other antidiabetic drugs). Asthenia (RR 1.57 [1.09, 2.27]) as well as cardiac (RR 1.37 [1.00, 1.89]) and vascular disorders (RR 1.74 [1.05, 2.86] for linagliptin) emerged as adverse events associated with DPP‐4 inhibitor treatment. The risk of hypoglycaemia was low with DPP‐4 inhibitor treatment (RR 0.92 [0.74, 1.15] compared to placebo, RR 0.20 [0.17, 0.24] compared to sulphonylureas) in the absence of sulphonylurea or insulin co‐therapy, but significantly elevated for combination therapy of sulphonylurea or insulin with sitagliptin or linagliptin (RR 1.86 [1.46, 2.37] compared to placebo). A large body of data supports the long‐term safety of gliptin treatment and refutes an increased risk of infections. Further research is needed to clarify a possible link to asthenia, cardiac and vascular events. For combination therapy with insulin or insulin secretagogues, a careful choice of the agent used may limit the risk of hypoglycaemia.
Managing emotions in medical school: Students' contacts with the living and the dead.

Professionals are not supposed to feel desire or disgust for their clients, and they presumably begin to learn "affective neutrality" in professional school. Medical students learn to manage the inappropriate feelings they have in situations of clinical contact with the human body, but two years of participant observation revealed that the subject of "emotion management" is taboo. Yet the culture of medicine that informs teaching also includes a hidden curriculum of unspoken rules and resources for dealing with unwanted emotions. Students draw on aspects of their training to manage their emotions. Their emotion management strategies include transforming the patient or the procedure into an analytic object or event, accentuating the comfortable feelings that come from learning and practicing "real medicine," empathizing with patients or blaming them, joking, and avoiding sensitive contact. By relying upon these strategies, students reproduce the perspective of modern Western medicine and the kind of doctor-patient relationship it implies.
GENDER REPRESENTATION IN MALAYSIAN SECONDARY SCHOOL ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEXTBOOKS

This study was conducted to describe the representation of gender in Forms 1, 2, 3, and 4 English language textbooks in Malaysian secondary schools. Gender-biased materials have been reported to affect the motivation of students who go through the textbooks (Treichler and Frank, 1989). Computer analysis tools and manual analysis were used to perform content and linguistic analyses. These methods in addition to discourse analysis of the text books aided the researchers to disclose the predictable patterns of sexism in the textbooks in order to identify the existence and extent of stereotypes. The results clearly indicate there is an absolute gender bias with males outnumbering females. Further, certain nouns referring to males precede those referring to females; however, males almost exclusively turn out to represent negative characters.
Application of Carbon Nanotubes Modified Coatings for the Determination of Amphetamines by In-Tube Solid-Phase Microextraction and Capillary Liquid Chromatography

In this study, polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)-coated capillary columns (TRB-5 and TRB-35), both unmodified and functionalized with single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) or multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), have been tested and compared for the extraction of amphetamine (AMP), methamphetamine (MET) and ephedrine (EPE) by in-tube solid-phase microextraction (IT-SPME). Prior to their extraction, the analytes were derivatized with the fluorogenic reagent 9-fluorenylmethyl chloroformate (FMOC). For separation and detection capillary chromatography with fluorimetric detection has been used. The presence of carbon nanotubes in the extractive coatings enhanced the extraction efficiencies and also significantly improved the chromatographic profiles, thus resulting in a reliable option for the analysis of these drugs. As an example of application, a new method is proposed for the analysis of the tested amphetamines in oral fluid using a TRB-35 capillary column functionalized with MWCNTs. The proposed conditions provided suitable selectivity and reproducibility (CV ≤ 6%, n = 3) at low µg/mL levels, and limits of detection of 0.5–0.8 µg/mL.
Molecular Monitoring of the Fecal Microbiota of Healthy Human Subjects during Administration of Lactulose and Saccharomyces boulardii

ABSTRACT Diet is a major factor in maintaining a healthy human gastrointestinal tract, and this has triggered the development of functional foods containing a probiotic and/or prebiotic component intended to improve the host's health via modulation of the intestinal microbiota. In this study, a long-term placebo-controlled crossover feeding study in which each subject received several treatments was performed to monitor the effect of a prebiotic substrate (i.e., lactulose), a probiotic organism (i.e., Saccharomyces boulardii), and their synbiotic combination on the fecal microbiota of three groups of 10 healthy human subjects differing in prebiotic dose and/or intake of placebo versus synbiotic. For this purpose, denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) analysis of 16S rRNA gene amplicons was used to detect possible changes in the overall bacterial composition using the universal V3 primer and to detect possible changes at the subpopulation level using group-specific primers targeting the Bacteroides fragilis subgroup, the genus Bifidobacterium, the Clostridium lituseburense group (cluster XI), and the Clostridium coccoides-Eubacterium rectale group (cluster XIVa). Although these populations remained fairly stable based on DGGE profiling, one pronounced change was observed in the universal fingerprint profiles after lactulose ingestion. Band position analysis and band sequencing revealed that a band appearing or intensifying following lactulose administration could be assigned to the species Bifidobacterium adolescentis. Subsequent analysis with real-time PCR (RT-PCR) indicated a statistically significant increase (P < 0.05) in total bifidobacteria in one of the three subject groups after lactulose administration, whereas a similar but nonsignificant trend was observed in the other two groups. Combined RT-PCR results from two subject groups indicated a borderline significant increase (P = 0.074) of B. adolescentis following lactulose intake. The probiotic yeast S. boulardii did not display any detectable universal changes in the DGGE profiles, nor did it influence the bifidobacterial levels. This study highlighted the capacity of an integrated approach consisting of DGGE analysis and RT-PCR to monitor and quantify pronounced changes in the fecal microbiota of healthy subjects upon functional food administration.
Alveolar Reconstruction in Cleft Patients: Decreased Morbidity and Improved Outcomes with Supplemental Demineralized Bone Matrix and Cancellous Allograft

Background: The safety and efficacy of supplemental allograft combined with iliac crest autograft as a treatment for cleft alveolus defects is poorly characterized. The authors report the safety and efficacy of supplemental demineralized bone matrix and cancellous allograft with iliac crest bone autograft in cleft alveolar bone defects. Methods: A retrospective review of one institution's experience with cleft alveolar bone defects treated with traditional open iliac crest bone graft alone (group 1) or minimal access iliac crest bone graft plus demineralized bone matrix and cancellous allograft (group 2) was performed. All patients (n = 36) were treated with alveolar fistula repair with primary closure. Results: Twenty-two patients [17 unilateral and five bilateral clefts (n = 27)] were treated in group 1 and 14 [six unilateral clefts and eight bilateral clefts (n = 22)] in group 2. The average operative time per alveolus was 147 minutes in group 1 and 111 minutes in group 2. Average engraftment (Enemark Scale) was 1.96 in group 1 and 1.20 in group 2. In group 1, canine eruption was complete in 71.4 percent, partial in 21.4 percent, and unerupted in 3.5 percent; in group 2, canine eruption was complete in 22 percent, partial in 55 percent, and unerupted in 18 percent. Bone graft extrusion occurred in six patients in group 1. There were no wound infections or deaths. Conclusions: The addition of supplemental demineralized bone matrix and cancellous allograft in cleft alveolar defects is safe and effective. The authors' allograft supplemental surgical technique is associated with low morbidity, shorter operative times, and higher rates of bone graft survival. CLINICAL QUESTION/LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Therapeutic, III.
New insights into the noise reduction Wiener filter

The problem of noise reduction has attracted a considerable amount of research attention over the past several decades. Among the numerous techniques that were developed, the optimal Wiener filter can be considered as one of the most fundamental noise reduction approaches, which has been delineated in different forms and adopted in various applications. Although it is not a secret that the Wiener filter may cause some detrimental effects to the speech signal (appreciable or even significant degradation in quality or intelligibility), few efforts have been reported to show the inherent relationship between noise reduction and speech distortion. By defining a speech-distortion index to measure the degree to which the speech signal is deformed and two noise-reduction factors to quantify the amount of noise being attenuated, this paper studies the quantitative performance behavior of the Wiener filter in the context of noise reduction. We show that in the single-channel case the a posteriori signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) (defined after the Wiener filter) is greater than or equal to the a priori SNR (defined before the Wiener filter), indicating that the Wiener filter is always able to achieve noise reduction. However, the amount of noise reduction is in general proportional to the amount of speech degradation. This may seem discouraging as we always expect an algorithm to have maximal noise reduction without much speech distortion. Fortunately, we show that speech distortion can be better managed in three different ways. If we have some a priori knowledge (such as the linear prediction coefficients) of the clean speech signal, this a priori knowledge can be exploited to achieve noise reduction while maintaining a low level of speech distortion. When no a priori knowledge is available, we can still achieve a better control of noise reduction and speech distortion by properly manipulating the Wiener filter, resulting in a suboptimal Wiener filter. In case that we have multiple microphone sensors, the multiple observations of the speech signal can be used to reduce noise with less or even no speech distortion