Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Upper limb international spasticity study: rationale and protocol for a large, international, multicentre prospective cohort study investigating management and goal attainment following treatment with botulinum toxin A in real-life clinical practice

Objectives This article provides an overview of the Upper Limb International Spasticity (ULIS) programme, which aims to develop a common core dataset for evaluation of real-life practice and outcomes in the treatment of upper-limb spasticity with botulinum toxin A (BoNT-A). Here we present the study protocol for ULIS-II, a large, international cohort study, to describe the rationale and steps to ensure the validity of goal attainment scaling (GAS) as the primary outcome measure. Methods and analysis design An international, multicentre, observational, prospective, before-and-after study, conducted at 84 centres in 22 countries across three continents. Participants 468 adults presenting with poststroke upper limb spasticity in whom a decision had already been made to inject BoNT-A (5–12 consecutive participants recruited per centre). Interventions Physicians were free to choose targeted muscles, BoNT-A preparation, injected doses/technique and timing of follow-up in accordance with their usual practice and the goals for treatment. Primary outcome measure: GAS. Secondary outcomes: Measurements of spasticity, standardised outcome measures and global benefits. Steps to ensure validity included: (1) targeted training of all investigators in the use of GAS; (2) within-study validation of goal statements and (3) establishment of an electronic case report form with an in-built tracking facility for separation of baseline/follow-up data. Analysis Efficacy population: all participants who had (1) BoNT-A injection and (2) subsequent assessment of GAS. Primary efficacy variable: percentage (95% CI) achievement of the primary goal from GAS following one BoNT-A injection cycle. Ethics and dissemination This non-interventional study is conducted in compliance with guidelines for good pharmacoepidemiology practices. Appropriate ethical approvals were obtained according to local regulations. ULIS-II will provide important information regarding treatment and outcomes from BoNT-A in real-life upper limb spasticity management. The results will be published separately. Registration ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT01020500.
Admiration: A Conceptual Review

Admiration is thought to have essential functions for social interaction: it inspires us to learn from excellent models, to become better people, and to praise others and create social bonds. In intergroup relations, admiration for other groups leads to greater intergroup contact, cooperation, and help. Given these implications, it is surprising that admiration has only been researched by a handful of authors. In this article we review the literature, focusing on the definition of admiration, links to related emotions, measurement, antecedents, and associated behaviors. We propose a conceptual model of admiration that highlights admiration’s function for approaching and emulating successful models, thus contributing to social learning at the interpersonal level and to cultural transmission at the group and societal level.
Components and Insecticidal Activity against the Maize Weevils of Zanthoxylum schinifolium Fruits and Leaves

In our screening program for new agrochemicals from Chinese medicinal herbs and wild plants, Zanthoxylum schinifolium essential oils were found to possess strong insecticidal activity against the maize weevil Sitophilus zeamais. The essential oils of Z. schinifolium fruits and leaves were extracted via hydrodistillation and investigated by GC and GC-MS. Estragole (69.52%) was the major compound of the essential oil of fresh fruits, followed by linalool (8.63%) and limonene (4.34%) and 94.33% of the total components were monoterpenoids. The main components of the essential oil of fresh leaves were linalool (12.94%), ar-tumerone (8.95%), limonene (6.45%) and elixene (5.43%) and only 50.62% were monoterpenoids. However, the essential oil from purchased fruits contained linalool (33.42%), limonene (13.66%) and sabinene (5.72%), followed by estragole (4.67%), nerol (4.56%) and 4-terpineol (4.27%). Estragole, linalool and sabinene were separated and purified by silica gel column chromatography and preparative thin layer chromatography, and further identified by means of physicochemical and spectrometric analysis. The essential oil from the fresh fruits (LD50 = 15.93 μg/adult) possessed two times more toxicity to the insects compared with that of fresh leaves (LD50 = 35.31 μg/adult). Estragole, linalool and sabinene exhibited contact activity against S. zeamais with LD50 values of 17.63, 13.90 and 23.98 μg/adult, respectively. The essential oils of Z . schinifolium possessed strong fumigant toxicity against S. zeamais adults with LC50 values of 13.19 mg/L (fresh fruits), 24.04 mg/L (fresh leaves) and 17.63 mg/L (purchased fruits). Estragole, linalool and sabinene also exhibited strong fumigant toxicity against the maize weevils with LC50 values of 14.10, 10.46 and 9.12 mg/L, respectively.
The antioxidant action of Polypodium leucotomos extract and kojic acid: reactions with reactive oxygen species.

Two natural products Polypodium leucotomos extract (PL) and kojic acid (KA) were tested for their ability to scavenge reactive oxygen species (.OH,.O2-, H2O2, 1O2) in phosphate buffer. Hydroxyl radicals were generated by the Fenton reaction, and the rate constants of scavenging were 1.6 x 10(9) M-1 s-1 for KA and 1.0 x 10(9) M-1 s-1 for PL, similar to that of ethanol (1.4 x 10(9) M-1 s-1). With superoxide anions generated by the xanthine/hypoxanthine system, KA and PL (0.2-1.0 mg/ml) inhibited.O2-dependent reduction of nitroblue tetrazolium by up to 30 and 31%, respectively. In the detection of 1O2 by rose bengal irradiation, PL at 1.0 mg/ml quenched singlet oxygen by 43% relative to azide and KA by 36%. The present study demonstrates that PL showed an antioxidant effect, scavenging three of four reactive oxygen species tested here. Unlike KA, PL did not significantly scavenge hydrogen peroxide.
Prolotherapy Injections for Chronic Low Back Pain: A Systematic Review

Study Design. A systematic review of randomized and quasi-randomized controlled trials. Objectives. To determine the efficacy of prolotherapy injections in adults with chronic low back pain. Summary of Background Data. Prolotherapy is an injection-based treatment for chronic low back pain. Proponents of prolotherapy suggest that some back pain stems from weakened or damaged ligaments. Repeatedly injecting them with irritant solutions is thought to strengthen the ligaments and reduce pain and disability. Prolotherapy protocols usually include co-interventions to enhance the effectiveness of the injections. Methods. The authors searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, and Science Citation Index up to January 2004, and the Cochrane Controlled Trials Register 2004, issue 1, and consulted content experts. Both randomized and quasi-randomized controlled trials comparing prolotherapy injections to control injections, either alone or in combination with other treatments, were included. Studies had to include measures of pain and disability before and after the intervention. Two reviewers independently selected the trials and assessed them for methodologic quality. Treatment and control group protocols varied from study to study, making meta-analysis impossible. Results. Four studies, all of high quality and with a total of 344 participants, were included. All trials measured pain and disability levels at 6 months, three measured the proportion of participants reporting a greater than 50% reduction in pain or disability scores from baseline to 6 months. Two studies showed significant differences between the treatment and control groups for those reporting more than 50% reduction in pain or disability. Their results could not be pooled. In one, co-interventions confounded interpretation of results; in the other, there was no significant difference in mean pain and disability scores between the groups. In the third study, there was little or no difference between groups in the number of individuals who reported more than 50% improvement in pain and disability. The fourth study reporting only mean pain and disability scores showed no differences between groups. Conclusions. There is conflicting evidence regarding the efficacy of prolotherapy injections in reducing pain and disability in patients with chronic low back pain. Conclusions are confounded by clinical heterogeneity among studies and by the presence of co-interventions. There was no evidence that prolotherapy injections alone were more effective than control injections alone. However, in the presence of co-interventions, prolotherapy injections were more effective than control injections, more so when both injections and co-interventions were controlled concurrently.
Detecting Outliers in Sensor Networks Using the Geometric Approach

The topic of outlier detection in sensor networks has received significant attention in recent years. Detecting when the measurements of a node become "abnormal'' is interesting, because this event may help detect either a malfunctioning node, or a node that starts observing a local interesting phenomenon (i.e., a fire). In this paper we present a new algorithm for detecting outliers in sensor networks, based on the geometric approach. Unlike prior work. our algorithms perform a distributed monitoring of outlier readings, exhibit 100% accuracy in their monitoring (assuming no message losses), and require the transmission of messages only at a fraction of the epochs, thus allowing nodes to safely refrain from transmitting in many epochs. Our approach is based on transforming common similarity metrics in a way that admits the application of the recently proposed geometric approach. We then propose a general framework and suggest multiple modes of operation, which allow each sensor node to accurately monitor its similarity to other nodes. Our experiments demonstrate that our algorithms can accurately detect outliers at a fraction of the communication cost that a centralized approach would require (even in the case where the central node lies just one hop away from all sensor nodes). Moreover, we demonstrate that these bandwidth savings become even larger as we incorporate further optimizations in our proposed modes of operation.
Identification of a Novel Inhibition Site in Translocase MraY Based upon the Site of Interaction with Lysis Protein E from Bacteriophage ϕX174

Translocase MraY is the site of action of lysis protein E from bacteriophage ϕX174. Previous genetic studies have shown that mutation F288L in transmembrane helix 9 of E. coli MraY confers resistance to protein E. Construction of a helical wheel model for transmembrane helix 9 of MraY and the transmembrane domain of protein E enabled the identification of an Arg‐Trp‐x‐x‐Trp (RWxxW) motif in protein E that might interact with Phe288 of MraY and the neighbouring Glu287. This motif is also found in a number of cationic antimicrobial peptide sequences. Synthetic dipeptides and pentapeptides based on the RWxxW consensus sequence showed inhibition of particulate E. coli MraY activity (IC50 200–600 μM), and demonstrated antimicrobial activity against E. coli (MIC 31–125 μg mL−1). Cationic antimicrobial peptides at a concentration of 100 μg mL−1 containing Arg‐Trp sequences also showed 30–60 % inhibition of E. coli MraY activity. Assay of the synthetic peptide inhibitors against recombinant MraY enzymes from Bacillus subtilis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Micrococcus flavus (all of which lack Phe288) showed reduced levels of enzyme inhibition, and assay against recombinant E. coli MraY F288L and an E287A mutant demonstrated either reduced or no detectable enzyme inhibition, thus indicating that these peptides interact at this site. The MIC of Arg‐Trp‐octyl ester against E. coli was increased eightfold by overexpression of mraY, and was further increased by overexpression of the mraY mutant F288L, also consistent with inhibition at the RWxxW site. As this site is on the exterior face of the cytoplasmic membrane, it constitutes a potential new site for antimicrobial action, and provides a new cellular target for cationic antimicrobial peptides.
The effects of age upon some aspects of lifestyle and implications for studies on circadian rhythmicity.

BACKGROUND Most studies on lifestyle changes in old age have been transverse. We have conducted a longitudinal study. SUBJECTS 112 non-institutionalized subjects were studied in 1984 and again 10 years later (ages in 1984 ranged from 53-82 years). PROTOCOL On each occasion subjects recorded in a diary their times of retiring and rising and of taking meals, during a 'typical week'. They also recorded whether they lived alone or with somebody. ANALYSIS The diaries were scored to establish any effects of age or living alone on the timing and variability of their lifestyle. RESULTS Age was associated with changes in the sleep/wake schedule and mealtimes and a decrease of daily variation in these variables. When these changes were compared in subjects living alone and with somebody, the increase in time spent in bed and the decreases in variability of times of rising and meals were more marked in subjects living with somebody. CONCLUSIONS A deteriorating body clock contributes to some of these changes, but an increasingly inflexible lifestyle will offset some of the effects of this decline in circadian rhythmicity.
Internet Traffic Classification Using Machine Learning

Internet traffic identification and classification is vital to the areas of network management and security monitoring, network planning, and QoS provision. Traditional approaches such as port-based and payload-based identification are becoming increasingly difficult with many new applications (e.g. P2P) using dynamic port numbers, masquerading techniques, and encryption to avoid detection. An alternative approach is to classify traffic by exploiting the distinctive characteristics of flow statistics. We present here a traffic classification scheme based on machine learning (ML). The performance impact of the dataset size, feature selection and ML algorithm selection is demonstrated by experiments. The genetic algorithm based feature selection can dramatically reduce the ML learning and modeling time with less decrease or even a bit increase in classification accuracy. The chosen ML algorithms: TAN, C4.5, NBTree, RandomForest and distance weighted KNN, can reach high classification accuracy. Typically, C4.5 and RandomForest are superior to other ML algorithms in computational complexity. Besides, experiments show that the size of data set would impact on the classification performance, and tuning dataset's size could meet the requirements of specific applications.
DISSECTING THE RED SEQUENCE. I. STAR-FORMATION HISTORIES OF QUIESCENT GALAXIES: THE COLOR–MAGNITUDE VERSUS THE COLOR–σ RELATION

We use a sample of ∼16,000 non-emission-line galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey to investigate the physical parameters underlying the well known color–magnitude and color–σ relations. Galaxies are sorted in terms of velocity dispersions (σ), luminosity (L), and color, and their spectra are stacked to obtain very high S/N mean spectra for stellar population analysis. This allows us to map mean luminosity-weighted ages, [Fe/H], [Mg/H], and [Mg/Fe] in σ–L–color space. Our first result is that there are many different red sequences, with age, [Fe/H], [Mg/H], and [Mg/Fe] showing different amounts of slope and scatter when plotted versus σ, L, or color. These behaviors are explained if the star formation histories of the galaxies populate a two-dimensional parameter space. One parameter is the previously well known increase in age, [Fe/H], [Mg/H], and [Mg/Fe] with σ. In addition to this, we find systematic variations at fixed σ, such that more luminous galaxies are younger, more Fe-rich, but have lower [Mg/Fe] than their fainter counterparts. The main σ trends support a paradigm in which more-massive galaxies form their stars more rapidly and at earlier times than less-massive galaxies. The trends at fixed σ are consistent with scatter in the duration of star formation for galaxies at a given σ. The covariation of stellar population properties and L residuals at fixed σ that we present here has a number of implications: it explains the differing behavior of stellar population indicators when investigated versus σ as compared to L, and it reveals that L is not as efficient as σ for indicating galaxy “size” in stellar population studies.
Interventions for treating pain and disability in adults with complex regional pain syndrome.

BACKGROUND There is currently no strong consensus regarding the optimal management of complex regional pain syndrome although a multitude of interventions have been described and are commonly used. OBJECTIVES To summarise the evidence from Cochrane and non-Cochrane systematic reviews of the effectiveness of any therapeutic intervention used to reduce pain, disability or both in adults with complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS). METHODS We identified Cochrane reviews and non-Cochrane reviews through a systematic search of the following databases: Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects (DARE), Ovid MEDLINE, Ovid EMBASE, CINAHL, LILACS and PEDro. We included non-Cochrane systematic reviews where they contained evidence not covered by identified Cochrane reviews. The methodological quality of reviews was assessed using the AMSTAR tool.We extracted data for the primary outcomes pain, disability and adverse events, and the secondary outcomes of quality of life, emotional well being and participants' ratings of satisfaction or improvement. Only evidence arising from randomised controlled trials was considered. We used the GRADE system to assess the quality of evidence. MAIN RESULTS We included six Cochrane reviews and 13 non-Cochrane systematic reviews. Cochrane reviews demonstrated better methodological quality than non-Cochrane reviews. Trials were typically small and the quality variable.There is moderate quality evidence that intravenous regional blockade with guanethidine is not effective in CRPS and that the procedure appears to be associated with the risk of significant adverse events.There is low quality evidence that bisphosphonates, calcitonin or a daily course of intravenous ketamine may be effective for pain when compared with placebo; graded motor imagery may be effective for pain and function when compared with usual care; and that mirror therapy may be effective for pain in post-stroke CRPS compared with a 'covered mirror' control. This evidence should be interpreted with caution. There is low quality evidence that local anaesthetic sympathetic blockade is not effective. Low quality evidence suggests that physiotherapy or occupational therapy are associated with small positive effects that are unlikely to be clinically important at one year follow up when compared with a social work passive attention control.For a wide range of other interventions, there is either no evidence or very low quality evidence available from which no conclusions should be drawn. AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS There is a critical lack of high quality evidence for the effectiveness of most therapies for CRPS. Until further larger trials are undertaken, formulating an evidence-based approach to managing CRPS will remain difficult.
Visual Fingerprints of the Acoustic Environment: The Use of Acoustic Indices to Characterise Natural Habitats

Acoustic recordings play an increasingly important role in monitoring terrestrial environments. However, due to rapid advances in technology, ecologists are accumulating more audio than they can listen to. Our approach to this big-data challenge is to visualize the content of long-duration audio-recordings by calculating acoustic indices. These are statistics which describe the temporal-spectral distribution of acoustic energy and reflect content of ecological interest. We combine spectral indices to produce false-color spectrogram images. These not only reveal acoustic content but also facilitate navigation. An additional analytic challenge is to find appropriate descriptors to summarize the content of 24-hour recordings, so that it becomes possible to monitor long-term changes in the acoustic environment at a single location and to compare the acoustic environments of different locations. We describe a 24-hour 'acoustic-fingerprint' which shows some preliminary promise.
Tracing Intermediate-Mass Black Holes in the Galactic Centre

Abstract We have developed a new method for post-Newtonian, high-precision integration of stellar systems containing a super-massive black hole (SMBH), splitting the forces on a particle between a dominant central force and perturbations. We used this method to perform fully collisional N-body simulations of inspiralling intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs) in the centre of the Milky Way.
Genotypic and Antimicrobial Characterisation of Propionibacterium acnes Isolates from Surgically Excised Lumbar Disc Herniations

The anaerobic skin commensal Propionibacterium acnes is an underestimated cause of human infections and clinical conditions. Previous studies have suggested a role for the bacterium in lumbar disc herniation and infection. To further investigate this, five biopsy samples were surgically excised from each of 64 patients with lumbar disc herniation. P. acnes and other bacteria were detected by anaerobic culture, followed by biochemical and PCR-based identification. In total, 24/64 (38%) patients had evidence of P. acnes in their excised herniated disc tissue. Using recA and mAb typing methods, 52% of the isolates were type II (50% of culture-positive patients), while type IA strains accounted for 28% of isolates (42% patients). Type III (11% isolates; 21% patients) and type IB strains (9% isolates; 17% patients) were detected less frequently. The MIC values for all isolates were lowest for amoxicillin, ciprofloxacin, erythromycin, rifampicin, tetracycline, and vancomycin (≤1mg/L). The MIC for fusidic acid was 1-2 mg/L. The MIC for trimethoprim and gentamicin was 2 to ≥4 mg/L. The demonstration that type II and III strains, which are not frequently recovered from skin, predominated within our isolate collection (63%) suggests that the role of P. acnes in lumbar disc herniation should not be readily dismissed.
How well can we predict changes ?

Two years ago, we analyzed the architecture of Sagitta 2000/SD, a large business information system being developed on behalf of Dutch Customs. We were in particular interested in assessing the capabilities of the system to accommodate future complex changes. We asked stakeholders to bring forward possible changes to the system, and next investigated how these changes would affect the software architecture. Since then, the system has been implemented and used, and actual modifications have been proposed and realized. We studied all 117 change requests submitted since our initial analysis. The present paper address how well we have been able to predict complex changes during our initial analysis, and how and to what extent the process to elicit and assess the impact of such changes might be improved.