Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Splenic abscess: outcome and prognostic factors.

OBJECTIVE To determine the spectrum of presentation, treatment outcome and prognostic factors of splenic abscess in a tertiary care hospital. STUDY DESIGN Case-series. PLACE AND DURATION OF STUDY Department of General Surgery, the Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, from July 1988 to July 2007. METHODOLOGY The records of 27 patients with splenic abscess, diagnosed from 1988 to 2007, were retrieved through ICD-10 coding system. The demographic data, physical and radiological findings, treatment modalities, bacteriology reports, morbidity and mortality were collected on a proforma. RESULTS There were 12 males and 15 females with a mean age of 43.52+/-17.49 years. Common symptoms were fever (92.6%), abdominal pain (55.6%) and malaise (29.6%). Majority of patients (89%) had leukocytosis and 63% patients had associated diseases with which they were admitted. The most common pathogenic organism was Staphylococcus species and gram-negative rods. Ultrasound was used as a preliminary diagnostic modality, which was often followed by CT scan. Thirteen patients were treated with intravenous antibiotics, 8 underwent percutaneous drainage and 6 patients required splenectomy with respective survival rates of 84%, 87.5% and 83%. Mortality rate was 14.81% but no statistically significant difference between 3 treatment groups was manifested. There was significant difference between treatment groups regarding the size of the abscess (p=0.01) and hospital stay (p=0.04). Splenectomy was done when abscess size was >10 cm and hospital stay were increased in the radiological drainage group. CONCLUSION Splenic abscess is an uncommon surgical entity. High index of suspicion and liberal use of radiological studies is essential for timely diagnosis. Most of the patients could be cured with non-operative treatment. Splenectomy is a safe procedure for patients with abscess size more than 10 cm and patients not responding to non-operative treatment.
A P-matrix based model for SAW grating waveguides taking into account modes conversion at the reflection

Several models exist for analyzing the wave-guiding effect of a reflective grating. On the one hand, there are models based on scalar waveguide theory. These models consider that a device can be described as being made of several regions having different velocities. On the other hand, an extension of the coupling of modes (COM) model taking into account the transverse dimension has been developed. This paraxial COM model predicts that guidance is possible even when there is no velocity difference between the interior and the exterior of the grating region. Guidance, under such circumstances, is due only to differences in reflectivity between regions. Following from this insight, a new approach has been developed: guided modes and the continuum of radiating modes are first determined. At each period, reflections then are considered as occurring only in the reflective regions, so that the modes are truncated. Thus, at each reflection (and transmission), each mode is converted into a distribution of all modes. Dispersion curves very similar to those shown by other researchers are obtained by this method. They show, in particular, the existence of guided modes even when the wave velocity in all regions is identical. This model can be used to more easily analyze practical devices and exhibits a good agreement with experimental results.
How to Succeed in Crowdfunding: a Long-Term Study in Kickstarter

Crowdfunding platforms have become important sites where people can create projects to seek funds toward turning their ideas into products, and back someone else's projects. As news media have reported successfully funded projects (e.g., Pebble Time, Coolest Cooler), more people have joined crowdfunding platforms and launched projects. But in spite of rapid growth of the number of users and projects, a project success rate at large has been decreasing because of launching projects without enough preparation and experience. Little is known about what reactions project creators made (e.g., giving up or making the failed projects better) when projects failed, and what types of successful projects we can find. To solve these problems, in this manuscript we (i) collect the largest datasets from Kickstarter, consisting of all project profiles, corresponding user profiles, projects' temporal data and users' social media information; (ii) analyze characteristics of successful projects, behaviors of users and understand dynamics of the crowdfunding platform; (iii) propose novel statistical approaches to predict whether a project will be successful and a range of expected pledged money of the project; (iv) develop predictive models and evaluate performance of the models; (v) analyze what reactions project creators had when project failed, and if they did not give up, how they made the failed projects successful; and (vi) cluster successful projects by their evolutional patterns of pledged money toward understanding what efforts project creators should make in order to get more pledged money. Our experimental results show that the predictive models can effectively predict project success and a range of expected pledged money.
Dichloroacetate treatment improves mitochondrial metabolism and reduces brain injury in neonatal mice

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of dichloroacetate (DCA) treatment for brain injury in neonatal mice after hypoxia ischemia (HI) and the possible molecular mechanisms behind this effect. Postnatal day 9 male mouse pups were subjected to unilateral HI, DCA was injected intraperitoneally immediately after HI, and an additional two doses were administered at 24 h intervals. The pups were sacrificed 72 h after HI. Brain injury, as indicated by infarction volume, was reduced by 54.2% from 10.8 ± 1.9 mm3 in the vehicle-only control group to 5.0 ± 1.0 mm3 in the DCA-treated group at 72 h after HI (p = 0.008). DCA treatment also significantly reduced subcortical white matter injury as indicated by myelin basic protein staining (p = 0.018). Apoptotic cell death in the cortex, as indicated by counting the cells that were positive for apoptosis-inducing factor (p = 0.018) and active caspase-3 (p = 0.021), was significantly reduced after DCA treatment. The pyruvate dehydrogenase activity and the amount of acetyl-CoA in mitochondria was significantly higher after DCA treatment and HI (p = 0.039, p = 0.024). In conclusion, DCA treatment reduced neonatal mouse brain injury after HI, and this appears to be related to the elevated activation of pyruvate dehydrogenase and subsequent increase in mitochondrial metabolism as well as reduced apoptotic cell death.
Family Adjustment Measure

We administered the Family Adjustment Measure to 368 parents of children with special needs to identify positive adjustment. We randomly split the sample to conduct exploratory factor analysis (n = 194) and confirmatory factor analysis (n = 174). Results indicated four possible subscales and that explain 51% of the variance.
Initial experience with ketamine-based analgesia in patients undergoing robotic radical cystectomy and diversion.

INTRODUCTION We instituted a ketamine-predominant analgesic regimen in the peri- and postoperative periods to limit the effects of narcotic analgesia on bowel function in patients undergoing radical cystectomy. The primary end points of interest were time to return of bowel function, time to discharge, and efficacy of the analgesic regimen. METHODS We performed a retrospective chart review of patients undergoing robotic-assisted laparoscopic cystectomy (RARC) with urinary diversion by a single surgeon at our institution from January 1, 2011 to June 30, 2012. Patients receiving the opioid-minimizing ketamine protocol were compared to a cohort of patients undergoing RARC with an opioid-predominant analgesic regimen. RESULTS In total, 15 patients (Group A) were included in the ketamine-predominant regimen and 25 patients (Group B) in the opioid-predominant control group. Three patients (19%) in Group A discontinued the protocol due to ketamine side effects. The mean time to bowel movement and length of stay in Group A versus Group B was 3 versus 6 days (p < 0.001), and 4 versus 8 days, respectively (p < 0.001). Group A patients received an average of 13.0 mg of morphine versus 97.5 mg in Group B (p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS Patients who received our ketamine pain control regimen had a shorter time to return of bowel function and length of hospitalization after RARC. Our study has its limitations as a retrospective, single surgeon, single institution study and the non-randomization of patients. Notwithstanding these limitations, this study was not designed to show inferiority of one approach, but instead to show that our protocol is safe and efficacious, warranting further study in a prospective fashion.
Water Production of Comet C/1999 S4 (LINEAR) Observed with the SWAN Instrument

The SWAN (Solar Wind ANisotropies) Lyman-alpha all-sky camera on the SOHO spacecraft observed the hydrogen coma of comet C/1999 S4 (LINEAR) from the end of May through mid-August 2000. A systematic set of water-production rates was obtained for this well-documented event of complete fragmentation of a cometary nucleus. The observations indicate that the lower limit for the sunlit surface area of the nucleus was about 1 square kilometer before the fragmentation and that the amount of water released throughout the observing period was 3.3 × 109 kilograms. Evidence suggests that the activity of the comet was dominated by successive fragmentation. There were four major outbursts, occurring about every 16 days. The 21 July event led to the complete fragmentation and sublimation of what remained of the nucleus, producing the last 3 × 108kilograms of water. A model where the fragment size distribution follows the power law N(R) ∼R − 2.7, where Nand R are the number and radius of fragments, reproduces the observed dissipation. This distribution possibly reflects the internal structure of the nucleus.
Central and peripheral corneal thickness in newborns

Abstract. Central and peripheral corneal thickness was measured in 74 newborn children. The mean central corneal thickness was 0.573 ± 0.052 mm. The mean peripheral thickness was 0.650 ± 0.062 mm. There was no significant difference between right and left eyes, sex, gestational age or type of delivery. The central and peripheral corneal thickness in the first 24 h of life was significantly higher than after 48 to 72 h. The full‐term babies with 2.500 to 3.000 g of birth weight had peripheral corneal thickness higher than the group with 3.501 to 4.000 g.
GATEKEEPER TRAINING FOR SUICIDE PREVENTION IN FIRST NATIONS COMMUNITY MEMBERS: A RANDOMIZED CONTROLLED TRIAL

Gatekeeper training aims to train people to recognize and identify those who are at risk for suicide and assist them in getting care. Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST), a form of gatekeeper training, has been implemented around the world without a controlled evaluation. We hypothesized that participants in 2 days of ASIST gatekeeper training would have increased knowledge and preparedness to help people with suicidal ideation in comparison to participants who received a 2‐day Resilience Retreat that did not focus on suicide awareness and intervention skills (control condition).
Predicting adolescents' willingness to disclose personal information to a commercial website: Testing the applicability of a trust-based model

This study examines the relationship between the level of trust that adolescents place in a specific commercial website and their behavioural intentions to disclose four categories of personal information (identity information, geographical information, profile information and contact information) to the website. Following the integrative model of organisational trust, we hypothesise that respondents’ level of trust in a specific commercial website is determined by three dimensions of trustworthiness: ability, integrity and benevolence. In order to test the proposed model, we conducted a survey among 1042 Flemish adolescents. Analyses indicate that perceived ability and integrity predicted adolescents’ level of trust in the focal website. The respondents’ trust in the website subsequently predicted their willingness to disclose. The influence of the discerned trustworthiness beliefs was fully mediated by the level of trust adolescents had in the specific commercial website. Adolescents’ risk perception about disclosing information to this website also affected their willingness to disclose information. Finally, our analysis identified an individual’s disposition to trust (i.e. trust propensity) as significantly predicting (1) the three trustworthiness beliefs and (2) the willingness to disclose the four discerned categories of personal information. Surprisingly no significant association was found between trust propensity and adolescents’ trust in the specific commercial website.
Effects of a physical activity intervention on measures of physical performance: Results of the lifestyle interventions and independence for Elders Pilot (LIFE-P) study.

BACKGROUND The Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB), which includes walking, balance, and chair stands tests, independently predicts mobility disability and activities of daily living disability. To date, however, there is no definitive evidence from randomized controlled trials that SPPB scores can be improved. Our objective was to assess the effect of a comprehensive physical activity (PA) intervention on the SPPB and other physical performance measures. METHODS A total of 424 sedentary persons at risk for disability (ages 70-89 years) were randomized to a moderate-intensity PA intervention or a successful aging (SA) health education intervention and were followed for an average of 1.2 years. RESULTS The mean baseline SPPB score on a scale of 0-12, with 12 corresponding to highest performance, was 7.5. At 6 and 12 months, the PA versus SA group adjusted SPPB (+/- standard error) scores were 8.7 +/- 0.1 versus 8.0 +/- 0.1, and 8.5 +/- 0.1 versus 7.9 +/- 0.2, respectively (p < .001). The 400-meter walking speed was also significantly improved in the PA group. The PA group had a lower incidence of major mobility disability defined as incapacity to complete a 400-meter walk (hazard ratio = 0.71, 95% confidence interval = 0.44-1.20). CONCLUSIONS A structured PA intervention improved the SPPB score and other measures of physical performance. An intervention that improves the SPPB performance may also offer benefit on more distal health outcomes, such as mobility disability.
Safety of Short-Term Discontinuation of Antiplatelet Therapy in Patients With Drug-Eluting Stents

Background— Antiplatelet therapy is often discontinued in patients with drug-eluting stents who are undergoing surgical procedures. However, discontinuation of antiplatelet therapy is an important risk factor for late stent thrombosis. Our objective was to examine the safety of short-term discontinuation of antiplatelet therapy. Methods and Results— We systematically searched Medline for reported cases of late stent thrombosis and very late stent thrombosis published between January 2001 and July 2008. We restricted our search to Academic Research Consortium–defined definite cases. We identified 161 cases of late stent thrombosis or very late stent thrombosis from 84 articles (79 from case reports, 61 from registries, and 21 from randomized clinical trials). Patients had a mean age of 58.4±13.4 years, and 88% were male. A total of 19 cases occurred in patients who were receiving dual antiplatelet therapy at the time of the event. If patients stopped both antiplatelet agents simultaneously, the median time to event was 7 days. If patients had previously stopped a thienopyridine with no ill effect and subsequently stopped acetylsalicylic acid, the median time to event was also 7 days from the time of acetylsalicylic acid cessation. If the thienopyridine was stopped but acetylsalicylic acid was maintained, the median time to event was 122 days. Among the 48 patients who stopped both agents, 36 cases (75%) occurred within 10 days. Among the 94 patients who discontinued a thienopyridine but continued acetylsalicylic acid, only 6 cases (6%) occurred within 10 days. Conclusion— If acetylsalicylic acid therapy is maintained, short-term discontinuation of a thienopyridine may be relatively safe in patients with drug-eluting stents.
Development of Spatial Temporal GIS Basic System

The temporal data is one of the most important factors for making an analysis of the geographic data, because the entities that compose of geographic data change with temporal factor. So, we have proposed the KIWI+, a simple topology & spatial temporal – open database schema and developed spatial temporal geographic information system, DyMSIS. They are straw-man database schema and software for Asian GIS.
Naïve Learners Show Cross-Domain Transfer after Distributional Learning: The Case of Lexical and Musical Pitch

Experienced listeners of a particular acoustic cue in either speech or music appear to have an advantage when perceiving a similar cue in the other domain (i.e., they exhibit cross-domain transfer). One explanation for cross-domain transfer relates to the acquisition of the foundations of speech and music: if acquiring pitch-based elements in speech or music results in heightened attention to pitch in general, then cross-domain transfer of pitch may be observed, which may explain the cross-domain phenomenon seen among listeners of a tone language and listeners with musical training. Here, we investigate this possibility in naïve adult learners, who were trained to acquire pitch-based elements using a distributional learning paradigm, to provide a proof-of-concept for the explanation. Learners were exposed to a stimulus distribution spanning either a Thai lexical tone minimal pair or a novel musical chord minimal pair. Within each domain, the distribution highlights pitch to facilitate learning of two different sounds (Bimodal distribution) or the distribution minimizes pitch so that the input is inferred to be from a single sound (Unimodal distribution). Learning was assessed before and after exposure to the distribution using discrimination tasks with both Thai tone and musical chord minimal pairs. We hypothesize: (i) distributional learning for learners in both the tone and the chord distributions, that is, pre-to-post improvement in discrimination after exposure to the Bimodal but not the Unimodal distribution; and (ii) for both the tone and chord conditions, learners in the Bimodal conditions but not those in the Unimodal conditions will show cross-domain transfer, as indexed by improvement in discrimination of test items in the domain other than what they were trained on. The results support both hypotheses, suggesting that distributional learning is not only used to acquire the foundations of speech and music, but may also play a role in cross-domain transfer: as a result of learning primitives based on a particular cue, learners show heightened attention to that cue in any auditory signal.
Modified Mediterranean diet and survival: EPIC-elderly prospective cohort study

Abstract Objective To examine whether adherence to the modified Mediterranean diet, in which unsaturates were substituted for monounsaturates, is associated with longer life expectancy among elderly Europeans. Design Multicentre, prospective cohort study. Setting Nine European countries (Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom). Participants 74 607 men and women, aged 60 or more, without coronary heart disease, stroke, or cancer at enrolment and with complete information about dietary intake and potentially confounding variables. Main outcome measures Extent of adherence to a modified Mediterranean diet using a scoring system on a 10 point scale, and death from any cause by time of occurrence, modelled through Cox regression. Results An increase in the modified Mediterranean diet score was associated with lower overall mortality, a two unit increment corresponding to a statistically significant reduction of 8% (95% confidence interval 3% to 12%). No statistically significant evidence of heterogeneity was found among countries in the association of the score with overall mortality even though the association was stronger in Greece and Spain. When dietary exposures were calibrated across countries, the reduction in mortality was 7% (1% to 12%). Conclusion The Mediterranean diet, modified so as to apply across Europe, was associated with increased survival among older people.
Maternal Attitude towards TV Advertising in India

Children are an important market segment and so marketers frame and direct ad messages to them to seek a favourable response. Advertisements are particularly targeted at children as they have considerable influence over family food purchases. Parents are concerned about extensive exposure of children to ads (foods particularly) which affect consumption behaviour of their children. The nature and extent of mediation that parents undertake to protect their children against negative effects of advertising is seen to be influenced by their attitude towards advertising. As mothers are seen to be the primary caregivers to children, the article explores the attitude of mothers towards advertising on TV in general, children advertising and food advertising directed at children in India. The findings of the present article highlight that Indian mothers hold negative attitude towards advertising in general, for ads directed at children and also for food ads on TV. They strongly voice that promotions are directed at children in an unethical manner. Attitude of mothers towards advertising in general and towards food advertising is found to be different for younger versus older children.
Comparison between immunofixation and electrophoresis for the early detection of relapsed multiple myeloma

Introduction: Multiple myeloma (MM) is an incurable progressive hematological neoplasia characterized by heterogeneous evolution and by relapses after therapy. Objective: Compare the effectiveness of serum immunofixation (SIF) and electrophoresis (SPE) techniques in the detection of relapses in MM patients undergoing treatment at the University Hospital of Santa Maria (HUSM). Material and methods: The study was conducted from January 2012 to July 2014 and included 52 patients from HUSM with confirmed diagnosis of MM. The retrospective monitoring based on laboratory analyses indicated that nine of these patients relapsed, in whom it was possible to compare the effectiveness of SIF and SPE techniques for detecting relapses. Results: For the nine patients, SIF always detected MM relapses earlier than SPE, with a precocity ranging from 2.0 to 18.8 months, for an average of 6.6 months. Discussion and conclusion: The results indicated that SIF was more effective than SPE for the early detection of relapses, regardless of the class and type of M component (mono/biclonal). Therefore, the use of SIF allows for better monitoring of MM patients, especially for the detection of relapses, thereby helping in choosing the most appropriate therapy and resulting in increased duration of survival period free of disease.
Multitarget detection and tracking for through-the-wall radars

Through-the-wall radars (TWR) play an important role in various applications such as homeland security, search and rescue, and defense. One main challenge of performing automatic TWR data processing including detection and tracking is the strong reverberation and reflections from the walls. In the work presented here, we propose a practical and effective multiple target detection and tracking system for TWR. While background subtraction and envelope detection are used to reduce the false detected targets, an effective multiple target tracker is employed to further suppress the TWR false tracks. Using an experimental TWR, it is shown here that the proposed TWR data processing unit can effectively reduce false targets and false tracks and produce a good final surveillance picture for tracking human movement behind the walls.