Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Integrated Community Case Management of Fever in Children under Five Using Rapid Diagnostic Tests and Respiratory Rate Counting: A Multi-Country Cluster Randomized Trial

Evidence on the impact of using diagnostic tests in community case management of febrile children is limited. This effectiveness trial conducted in Burkina Faso, Ghana, and Uganda, compared a diagnostic and treatment package for malaria and pneumonia with presumptive treatment with anti-malarial drugs; artemisinin combination therapy (ACT). We enrolled 4,216 febrile children between 4 and 59 months of age in 2009–2010. Compliance with the malaria rapid diagnostic test (RDT) results was high in the intervention arm across the three countries, with only 4.9% (17 of 344) of RDT-negative children prescribed an ACT. Antibiotic overuse was more common: 0.9% (4 of 446) in Uganda, 38.5% (114 of 296) in Burkina Faso, and 44.6% (197 of 442) in Ghana. Fever clearance was high in both intervention and control arms at both Day 3 (97.8% versus 96.9%, P = 0.17) and Day 7 (99.2% versus 98.8%, P = 0.17). The use of diagnostic tests limits overuse of ACTs. Its impact on antibiotic overuse and on fever clearance is uncertain.
Joint Regression Analysis of Survival and Quality‐Adjusted Survival

Summary. In this paper, a semiparametric bivariate linear regression model for survival and quality‐adjusted survival is investigated. Even with a parametric specification for the joint distribution, maximum likelihood is not applicable because of induced informative censoring. We propose inference procedures based on estimating functions. The estimators are consistent and asymptotically normal. Hypothesis tests and confidence intervals may be constructed with easy‐to‐implement resampling techniques. Simultaneous regression modeling of survival and quality‐adjusted survival has not been studied formally. Our methodology gives parameter estimates that are highly interpretable in the context of a cost‐effectiveness analysis. The usefulness of the proposal is illustrated with a breast cancer dataset.
Changes in the Demographics and Prognoses of Patients with Resected Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: A 20-Year Experience at a Single Institution in Korea

The demographics and prognosis of non-small cell lung cancer patients have changed during the last few decades. We conducted this study to assess the change in demographics and prognosis in resected non-small cell lung cancer patients during a 20-yr single-institution study in Korea. We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 2,076 non-small cell lung cancer patients who underwent pulmonary resection between 1990 and 2009. Their clinical characteristics and survival were analyzed over a five-year period. With time, the proportions of female, adenocarcinoma, stage IA, and lobectomy patients increased, whereas the proportions of male, squamous cell carcinoma, stage IIIA, and pneumonectomy patients decreased. These demographic changes caused improved prognosis. The five-year survival rate of all patients was 53.9%. The five-year survival rate increased from 31.9% in 1990-1994, to 43.6% in 1995-1999, 51.3% in 2000-2004, and 69.7% in 2005-2009 (P < 0.001). In conclusion, among patients with resected non-small cell lung cancer, the proportions of female, adenocarcinoma, stage IA, and lobectomy patients have increased, and the five-year survival rate has gradually improved during the last 20 yr in Korea.
Direct Evidence for a Polar Spot on SV Camelopardalis

We have used spectrophotometric data from the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) to eclipse-map the primary component of the RS CVn binary SV Cam over nine HST orbits. We find from these observations and the Hipparcos parallax that the surface flux in the eclipsed low-latitude region of the primary is about 30% lower than that computed from a PHOENIX model atmosphere at the effective temperature that best fits the spectral energy distribution of the eclipsed flux. This can only be accounted for if about a third of the primary's surface is covered with unresolved dark starspots. Extending this to the full surface of the primary, we find that, even taking into account this spot-filling factor, there is an additional flux deficit on the primary star. This can only be explained if there is a large polar spot on the primary star extending from the pole to latitude 48° ± 6°.
Minimal mechanisms for vegetation patterns in semiarid regions

The minimal ecological requirements for the fomation of regular vegetation patterns in semiarid systems have been recently questioned. Against the general belief that a combination of facilitative and competitive interactions is necessary, recent theoretical studies suggest that, under broad conditions, non-local competition among plants alone may induce patterns. In this paper, we review results along this line, presenting a series of models that yield spatial patterns when finite-range competition is the only driving force. A preliminary derivation of this type of model from a more detailed one that considers water–biomass dynamics is also presented.
Mortality among people who inject drugs: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE To systematically review cohort studies of mortality among people who inject drugs, examine mortality rates and causes of death in this group, and identify participant- and study-level variables associated with a higher risk of death. METHODS Tailored search strings were used to search EMBASE, Medline and PsycINFO. The grey literature was identified through online grey literature databases. Experts were consulted to obtain additional studies and data. Random effects meta-analyses were performed to estimate pooled crude mortality rates (CMRs) and standardized mortality ratios (SMRs). FINDINGS Sixty-seven cohorts of people who inject drugs were identified, 14 of them from low- and middle-income countries. The pooled CMR was 2.35 deaths per 100 person-years (95% confidence interval, CI: 2.12-2.58). SMRs were reported for 32 cohorts; the pooled SMR was 14.68 (95% CI: 13.01-16.35). Comparison of CMRs and the calculation of CMR ratios revealed mortality to be higher in low- and middle-income country cohorts, males and people who injected drugs that were positive for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). It was also higher during off-treatment periods. Drug overdose and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) were the primary causes of death across cohorts. CONCLUSION Compared with the general population, people who inject drugs have an elevated risk of death, although mortality rates vary across different settings. Any comprehensive approach to improving health outcomes in this group must include efforts to reduce HIV infection as well as other causes of death, particularly drug overdose.
Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Schizosaccharomyces pombe contain a homologue to the 54-kD subunit of the signal recognition particle that in S. cerevisiae is essential for growth

We have isolated and sequenced genes from Saccharomyces cerevisiae (SRP54SC) and Schizosaccharomyces pombe (SRP54sp) encoding proteins homologous to both the 54-kD protein subunit (SRP54mam) of the mammalian signal recognition particle (SRP) and the product of a gene of unknown function in Escherichia coli, ffh (Romisch, K., J. Webb, J. Herz, S. Prehn, R. Frank, M. Vingron, and B. Dobberstein. 1989. Nature (Lond.). 340:478-482; Bernstein H. D. , M. A. Poritz, K. Strub, P. J. Hoben, S. Brenner, P. Walter. 1989. Nature (Lond.). 340:482-486). To accomplish this we took advantage of short stretches of conserved sequence between ffh and SRP54mam and used the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to amplify fragments of the homologous yeast genes. The DNA sequences predict proteins for SRP54sc and SRP54sp that are 47% and 52% identical to SRP54mam, respectively. Like SRP54mam and ffh, both predicted yeast proteins contain a GTP binding consensus sequence in their NH2-terminal half (G-domain), and methionine-rich sequences in their COOH-terminal half (M-domain). In contrast to SRP54mam and ffh the yeast proteins contain additional Met-rich sequences inserted at the COOH-terminal portion of the M-domain. SRP54sp contains a 480- nucleotide intron located 78 nucleotides from the 5' end of the open reading frame. Although the function of the yeast homologues is unknown, gene disruption experiments in S. cerevisiae show that the gene is essential for growth. The identification of SRP54sc and SRP54sp provides the first evidence for SRP related proteins in yeast.
A Hardware-Efficient H.264/AVC Motion-Estimation Design for High-Definition Video

Motion estimation (ME) in high-definition H.264 video coding presents a significant design challenge for memory bandwidth, latency, and cost because of its large search range and various modes. To conquer this problem, this paper presents a low-latency and hardware-efficient ME design with three design techniques. The first technique on integer-pel ME (IME) adopts parallel instead of serial multiresolution search so that we can process 1080 p @ 60 fps videos with plusmn128 search range within just 256 cycles, 5.95-KB buffers, and 213.7 K gates. The second technique on fractional-pel ME (FME) uses a single-iteration six-point search to reduce the cycle count by half with similar gate count and negligible quality loss. The third technique applies a mode-filtering approach to further reduce the bandwidth and cycles and share the buffer of IME and FME. The final ME implementation with 0.13-mum process can support processing of 1080 p @ 60 fps with just 128.8 MHz, 282.6 K gates, and 8.54-KB buffer, which saves 60% gate count, and 68.9% SRAM buffers when compared with the previous design.
Ischemia‐induced apoptosis in primary cultures of astrocytes

Astrocytes participate in a wide variety of important physiological processes and pathological insults, including ischemia. Information on the mechanism of astroglial injury and death during ischemic insult, however, is scarce. In this study, we investigated the mode of astrocytic cell death using an in vitro ischemic model. Cultured astrocytes exhibited several distinct morphological and biochemical features of apoptosis under ischemia. At 4 h of ischemia, Annexin V staining demonstrated an early commitment of some astrocytes to apoptosis. Condensed nuclei became visible from 4 h and the number increased with ischemic incubation time. Electron microscopy showed compacted and segregated chromatin along the edges of nuclear membranes. The number of TUNEL‐positive nuclei and the degree of DNA laddering increased with ischemic incubation. Caspase‐3, but not caspase‐1, activity was increased in ischemia‐injured astrocytes. Swollen mitochondria and vacuoles found in some cells with chromatin condensation indicated that these apoptotic‐like cells might die of necrosis. The results imply that astrocytes are capable of undergoing apoptosis without the presence of other cell types, such as neurons. Ischemia can induce apoptosis in astrocytes contributing to the pathogenesis of ischemic injury in the CNS. GLIA 35:121–130, 2001. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Replacing urine protein electrophoresis with serum free light chain analysis as a first-line test for detecting plasma cell disorders offers increased diagnostic accuracy and potential health benefit to patients.

OBJECTIVES To determine the most clinically effective diagnostic testing strategy for plasma cell disorders in the clinical laboratory. METHODS Serum and urine samples from 2,799 patients with suspected plasma cell dyscrasias were tested by alternative diagnostic testing strategies consisting of serum protein electrophoresis (SPE) with either urine protein electrophoresis (UPE) or serum free light chain (sFLC) analysis. RESULTS The combination of sFLC analysis and SPE had the greatest sensitivity (100%), detecting abnormalities in all 124 patients diagnosed with plasma cell disorders. Routine sFLC testing would have had much potential health benefit for two patients in the study population. First, a patient who had a markedly abnormal sFLC result was diagnosed with light chain deposition disease by renal biopsy, but no abnormality was detected by SPE or UPE. Second, a patient diagnosed with multiple plasmacytomas following biopsy of a lung tumor had a grossly abnormal sFLC result but an equivocal weak-positive SPE result, and no urine sample was received by the laboratory for the patient. CONCLUSIONS Our study suggests that the combination of SPE and sFLC analysis is the most clinically effective first-line diagnostic testing strategy for detecting plasma cell disorders in the clinical laboratory.
Giving words new life: generalization of word retraining outcomes in semantic dementia.

BACKGROUND Anomia is a common and debilitating symptom for many dementia sufferers, but is particularly marked in patients with the semantic variant of primary progressive aphasia, semantic dementia (SD). Recent studies have demonstrated that through cognitive training these patients can re-learn the names of objects, but it remains unclear whether this translates to improved use of these relearned words in contexts other than picture naming. METHODS Five SD patients completed a 2-month, online word training program and were assessed pre- and post-intervention on picture naming and spoken word-picture-matching plus two novel ecological tasks: video description and responses to verbal requests. RESULTS All participants showed clear gains in naming the trained pictures (p < 0.001). Importantly, improvements were also observed for four out of the five patients on the video description task. Milder patients also demonstrated improved comprehension of verbal instructions. Severe SD patients showed improvements on matching trained words to pictures. As expected, improvements were not found for untrained items. CONCLUSION There was clear evidence of generalization especially in patients with milder semantic impairments. Future studies should investigate the utility of this training in other forms of dementia.
Karyotypic findings in chronic myeloid leukemia cases undergoing treatment

BACKGROUND: Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is a clonal myeloproliferative expansion of primitive hematopoietic progenitor cells. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In the present study, CML samples were collected from various hospitals in Amritsar, Jalandhar and Ludhiana. RESULTS: Chromosomal alterations seen in peripheral blood lymphocytes of these treated and untreated cases of CML were satellite associations, double minutes, random loss, gain of C group chromosomes and presence of marker chromosome. No aberrations were observed in control samples. Karyotypic abnormalities have also been noted in the Ph-negative cells of some patients in disease remission. CONCLUSION: This is a novel phenomenon whose prognostic implications require thorough and systematic evaluation.
The investigation of selected properties of the porous moulded parts from talc-filled PP composites

The investigation of the influence of chemical blowing agent addition and talc filler on structure and selected properties (weight, thickness, mechanical properties, surface state – gloss and colour – and thermal conductivity) of moulded parts from PP was the aim of this work. Microscopic investigations were made using mould with cavities of variable height. Addition of blowing agents to polymer material permits reducing of the injection cycle to the injection phase and cooling. Investigations showed that talc addition permits to obtain fine-cellular structure in moulded parts with blowing agent. It is possible, because talc can act as a nucleating agent, which has been shown in literature. As a result, moulded parts with blowing agent and talc had low weight, good mechanical properties compared to solid, unfilled parts. Main disadvantage of using blowing agent and talc is worsening of gloss and colour changing.
Influence of Carbon Nanotube Aspect Ratio on Glass Transition Temperature of Polymers: A Molecular Dynamics Simulation Study

Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations on three single walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) reinforced epoxy resin composites were conducted to study the influence of SWCNT type on the glass transition temperature (Tg) of the composites. The composite matrix is cross-linked epoxy resin based on the epoxy monomers bisphenol A diglycidyl ether (DGEBA) cured by diaminodiphenylmethane (DDM). MD simulations of NPT (constant number of particles, constant pressure and constant temperature) dynamics were carried out to obtain density as a function of temperature for each composite system. The Tg was determined as the temperature corresponding to the discontinuity of plot slopes of the density vs the temperature. In order to understand the motion of polymer chain segments above and below the Tg, various energy components and the MSD at various temperatures of the composites were investigated and their roles played in the glass transition process were analyzed. The results show that the Tg of the composites increases with increasing aspect ratio of the embedded SWCNT
Neurohistologic and Ultrastructural Lesions in Cattle Experimentally Intoxicated with the Plant Prosopis juliflora

Intoxication by pods of Prosopis juliflora (mesquite beans) causes an impairment of cranial nerve function in cattle and goats. In goats, vacuolation of neurons in the trigeminal motor nuclei has been reported. To study the lesions in cattle caused by consumption of P. juliflora pods and dry ground pods, eight 6- to 12-month-old male cattle were divided into 4 groups: group 1 was fed a ration containing 50% of pods; groups 2 and 3 received a ration containing 50 and 75% of dry ground pods, respectively; group 4 was the control. After 200 days, all cattle were killed and sampled for histologic evaluation. Samples of the trigeminal motor nucleus were examined by electron microscopy. All cattle from groups 1, 2, and 3 showed clinical signs resulting from impaired function of cranial nerves V, IX, X, and XII, starting 45-75 days after consumption of the plant. The main histologic lesions were vacuolation and loss of neurons in trigeminal motor nuclei and other motor cranial nerve nuclei with Wallerian-like degeneration in the cranial nerves. Mild denervation atrophy was observed in the masseter and other masticatory muscles. On electron microscopy, neurons of the trigeminal nuclei had markedly swollen mitochondria, with the mitochondrial cristae displaced peripherally, disoriented and disintegrating. Intoxication by P. juliflora seems to have a novel pathogenesis, characterized by a selective, primary, chronic, and progressive injury to mitochondria of neurons of the trigeminal and other cranial nerve nuclei. Cranial nerve degeneration and denervation atrophy of the muscles occurs as a consequence of the neuronal lesion.
Competence and Performance Grammar in Incremental Processing

The goal of this paper is to explore some consequences of the dichotomy between competence and performance from the point of view of incrementality. We introduce a TAG-based formalism that encodes a strong notion of incrementality directly into the operations of the formal system. A left-associative operation is used to build a lexicon of extended elementary trees. Extended elementary trees allow derivations in which a single fully connected structure is mantained through the course of a left-to-right word-by-word derivation. In the paper, we describe the consequences of this view for semantic interpretation, and we also evaluate some of the computational consequences of enlarging the lexicon in this way.
Effective behavioral treatment of focal hand dystonia in musicians alters somatosensory cortical organization

New perspectives in neurorehabilitation suggest that behavioral treatments of movement disorders may modify the functional organization of central somatosensory neural networks. On the basis of the assumption that use-dependent reorganization in these networks contributes to the fundamental abnormalities seen in focal dystonia, we treated 10 affected musicians and measured the concomitant somatosensory changes by using whole-head magnetoencephalography. We found that effective treatment, using the method of sensory motor retuning, leads to alterations in the functional organization of the somatosensory cortex. Specifically, before treatment, somatosensory relationships of the individual fingers differ between the affected and unaffected hands, whereas after treatment, finger representations contralateral to the dystonic side become more similar to the less-affected side. Further, somatosensory finger representations are ordered more according to homuncular principles after treatment. In addition, the observed physiologic changes correlated with behavioral data. These results confirm that plastic changes in parallel with emergent neurological dysfunction may be reversed by context-specific, intensive training-based remediation.
Provisional chapter Current State of the Art in Treatment of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is the most common mental health problem among people exposed to traumatic events. Since its introduction into the psychiatric classification system in the 1980s various treatments have been tested for PTSD. Meta-analyses based on randomized controlled trials (RCTs) concluded that trauma-focused psychotherapies are most effective treatments for PTSD [1-3]. The most widely used trauma-focused psychotherapies are exposure treatment, cognitive therapy, cognitive behavioural treatment (CBT) involving a combination of exposure and cognitive interventions, and Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR). In this chapter we briefly review these treatments in terms of their theoretical background, application, efficacy, tolerability, and length of delivery.
Rearrangement, Majorization and Stochastic Scheduling

Rearrangement inequalities, such as the classical Hardy-Littlewood-Polya inequality and the more general Day's inequality, and related majorization results are often useful in solving scheduling problems. Among other things, they are essential for pairwise interchange arguments. Motivated by solving stochastic scheduling problems, we develop stochastic versions of Day's Inequality, over both unrestricted and restricted (specifically, one-cycle) permutations. These lead to a general and unified approach, which we apply to solve the stochastic versions of several classical deterministic scheduling problems. In most cases, the approach leads to new or stronger results; in other cases it recovers known results with new insight. The approach is built upon recent developments in stochastic majorization and multivariate characterization of stochastic order relations.