Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Added Value of Vessel Wall Magnetic Resonance Imaging in the Differentiation of Moyamoya Vasculopathies in a Non-Asian Cohort

Background and Purpose— Although studies have evaluated the differential imaging of moyamoya disease and atherosclerosis, none have investigated the added value of vessel wall magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). This study evaluates the added diagnostic value of vessel wall MRI in differentiating moyamoya disease, atherosclerotic-moyamoya syndrome (A-MMS), and vasculitic-MMS (V-MMS) with a multicontrast protocol. Methods— We retrospectively reviewed the carotid artery territories of patients with clinically defined vasculopathies (moyamoya disease, atherosclerosis, and vasculitis) and steno-occlusive intracranial carotid disease. Two neuroradiologists, blinded to clinical data reviewed the luminal imaging of each carotid, evaluating collateral extent and making a presumed diagnosis with diagnostic confidence. After 3 weeks, the 2 readers reviewed the luminal imaging+vessel wall MRI for the presence, pattern and intensity of postcontrast enhancement, T2 signal characteristics, pattern of involvement, and presumed diagnosis and confidence. Results— Ten A-MMS, 3 V-MMS, and 8 moyamoya disease cases with 38 affected carotid segments were included. There was significant improvement in diagnostic accuracy with luminal imaging+vessel wall MRI when compared with luminal imaging (87% versus 32%, P<0.001). The most common vessel wall MRI findings for moyamoya disease were nonenhancing, nonremodeling lesions without T2 heterogeneity; for A-MMS eccentric, remodeling, and T2 heterogeneous lesions with mild/moderate and homogeneous/heterogeneous enhancement; and for V-MMS concentric lesions with homogeneous, moderate enhancement. Inter-reader agreement was moderate to substantial for all vessel wall MRI characteristics (&kgr;=0.46–0.86) and fair for collateral grading (&kgr;=0.35). There was 11% inter-reader agreement for diagnosis on luminal imaging when compared with 82% for luminal imaging+vessel wall MRI (P<0.001). Conclusions— Vessel wall MRI can significantly improve the differentiation of moyamoya vasculopathies when combined with traditional imaging techniques.
SIRveNIB: Selective Internal Radiation Therapy Versus Sorafenib in Asia-Pacific Patients With Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

Purpose Selective internal radiation therapy or radioembolization (RE) shows efficacy in unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) limited to the liver. This study compared the safety and efficacy of RE and sorafenib in patients with locally advanced HCC. Patients and Methods SIRveNIB (selective internal radiation therapy v sorafenib), an open-label, investigator-initiated, phase III trial, compared yttrium-90 (90Y) resin microspheres RE with sorafenib 800 mg/d in patients with locally advanced HCC in a two-tailed study designed for superiority/detriment. Patients were randomly assigned 1:1 and stratified by center and presence of portal vein thrombosis. Primary end point was overall survival (OS). Efficacy analyses were performed in the intention-to-treat population and safety analyses in the treated population. Results A total of 360 patients were randomly assigned (RE, 182; sorafenib, 178) from 11 countries in the Asia-Pacific region. In the RE and sorafenib groups, 28.6% and 9.0%, respectively, failed to receive assigned therapy without significant cross-over to either group. Median OS was 8.8 and 10.0 months with RE and sorafenib, respectively (hazard ratio, 1.1; 95% CI, 0.9 to 1.4; P = .36). A total of 1,468 treatment-emergent adverse events (AEs) were reported (RE, 437; sorafenib, 1,031). Significantly fewer patients in the RE than sorafenib group had grade ≥ 3 AEs (36 of 130 [27.7%]) v 82 of 162 [50.6%]; P < . 001). The most common grade ≥ 3 AEs were ascites (five of 130 [3.8%] v four of 162 [2.5%] patients), abdominal pain (three [2.3%] v two [1.2%] patients), anemia (zero v four [2.5%] patients), and radiation hepatitis (two [1.5%] v zero [0%] patients). Fewer patients in the RE group (27 of 130 [20.8%]) than in the sorafenib group (57 of 162 [35.2%]) had serious AEs. Conclusion In patients with locally advanced HCC, OS did not differ significantly between RE and sorafenib. The improved toxicity profile of RE may inform treatment choice in selected patients.
Developmentally appropriate sexual risk reduction interventions for adolescents: Rationale, review of interventions, and recommendations for research and practice

Background: Despite awareness of the need to design developmentally appropriate sexual risk reduction interventions for adolescents, limited information exists to identify the aspects of intervention design or content that make an intervention developmentally appropriate.Purpose: (a) To clarify the rationale for designing developmentally appropriate interventions, (b) to review randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of adolescent sexual risk reduction interventions, (c) to identify developmentally appropriate strategies, (d) to examine the relationship between developmental appropriateness and sexual risk outcomes, and (e) to provide recommendations for research.Methods: The authors examined studies (n = 24) published before 2003 that evaluated a risk reduction intervention, sampled adolescents, used an RCT study design, and evaluated sexual behavior outcomes.Results: Content analysis indicated that the interventions tested were often tailored to the cognitive level of adolescents, as indicated by the use of exercises on decision making, goal setting and planning, and concrete explanation of abstract concepts. Interventions also addressed the social influences of risky sex such as peer norms and provided communication skills training. Overall, the interventions tested in RCTs were more effective in delaying the onset of sexual activity than in promoting abstinence among sexually active youth. Interventions with booster sessions were effective in reducing sexual risk behavior. The use of process measures, linked with developmental constructs, was rare. However, improvements in sexual communication skills and perceived norms for safer sex were associated with reductions in sexual risk outcomes.Conclusions: Developmental transitions during adolescence influence sexual behavior and should be considered when developing and evaluating risk reduction interventions for youth. Future research should assess process measures of key developmental constructs as well as risk behavior and biological outcomes.
Deep Continuous Clustering

Clustering high-dimensional datasets is hard because interpoint distances become less informative in high-dimensional spaces. We present a clustering algorithm that performs nonlinear dimensionality reduction and clustering jointly. The data is embedded into a lower-dimensional space by a deep autoencoder. The autoencoder is optimized as part of the clustering process. The resulting network produces clustered data. The presented approach does not rely on prior knowledge of the number of ground-truth clusters. Joint nonlinear dimensionality reduction and clustering are formulated as optimization of a global continuous objective. We thus avoid discrete reconfigurations of the objective that characterize prior clustering algorithms. Experiments on datasets from multiple domains demonstrate that the presented algorithm outperforms state-of-the-art clustering schemes, including recent methods that use deep networks.
Inferring the Diets of Extinct Giant Lemurs from Osteological Correlates of Muscle Dimensions

The jaw adductor muscles of extinct mammals are often reconstructed to elucidate paleoecological relationships and to make broad comparisons among taxa. Muscle lever arms, bite load arms, muscle dimensions, and gape are often also reconstructed to better understand feeding. Several different approaches to these and related goals are discussed here. A protocol for reconstructing muscle dimensions and bite force using biomechanically informative skull measurements and osteological proxies of muscle dimensions is described and applied to a case study of subfossil Malagasy lemurs. The results of this case study show that most subfossil lemurs emphasized the masseter and medial pterygoid muscles over the temporalis. This supports the inference that these extinct lemurs depended heavily on tough food like leaves. Exceptions include signals of hard‐object feeding in Archaeolemur that vary between A. majori and A. edwardsi. Reconstructions of soft‐tissue and function are important for understanding past ecological relationships. Even those based on well‐supported osteological proxies from extant analogues have limitations for making precise inferences. Anat Rec, 301:343–362, 2018. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Effect of Gabapentin on Sleep and Event‐Related Oscillations (EROs) in Rats Exposed to Chronic Intermittent Ethanol Vapor and Protracted Withdrawal

BACKGROUND Disturbances in sleep architecture, especially reductions in slow-wave sleep (SWS), are symptoms commonly observed in individuals with alcohol use disorders. Recent clinical trials have demonstrated that the anticonvulsant and analgesic drug gabapentin may have therapeutic value in normalizing sleep quality in recovering alcoholics. However, the brain mechanisms underlying this improvement in sleep following gabapentin treatment remain unknown. METHODS In this study, adult Wistar rats were exposed to 8 weeks of chronic intermittent ethanol [EtOH] vapor (blood EtOH concentrations averaged 128.2 ± 17.4 mg/dl) or control conditions and then withdrawn. Sleep electroencephalograms [EEGs] and event-related oscillations (EROs) were evaluated at baseline prior to EtOH exposure and 24 hours following EtOH withdrawal. Four weeks following EtOH withdrawal the effects of saline and 2 doses of gabapentin (30, 120 mg/kg), on EROs and sleep EEGs, were evaluated. RESULTS As compared to baseline, 24 hours following alcohol withdrawal SWS became fragmented as indexed by a significant increase in the number and a decrease in the duration of SWS episodes. Compared to controls, the EtOH-exposed group had more ERO energy in the beta frequency band in the parietal cortex. Gabapentin induced a dose-dependent decrease in the latency to the first SWS episode, and a reduction in sleep fragmentation. Gabapentin also produced a dose-dependent increase in ERO energy in the control group that was significantly attenuated in the EtOH-exposed group in the theta, and beta frequency bands. CONCLUSIONS Taken together, these studies suggest that gabapentin can reverse some of the alcohol-induced sleep and EEG deficits but does not eliminate all of the enduring brain effects of EtOH exposure.
Effects of a CHANGE intervention to increase exercise maintenance following cardiac events

Background: Despite participation in a cardiac rehabilitation program, there is a downward trajectory of exercise participation during the year following a cardiac event.Purpose: The purpose of this study was to test the effectiveness of CHANGE (Change Habits by Applying New Goals and Experiences), a lifestyle modification program designedto increase exercise maintenance in the year following a cardiac rehabilitation program. The CHANGE intervention consists of 5 small-group cognitive-behavioral change counseling sessions in which participants are taught self-efficacy enhancement, problem-solving skills, and relapse prevention strategies to address exercise maintenance problems.Method: Participants (N = 250) were randomly assigned to the CHANGE intervention (supplemental to usual care) or a usual-care-only group. Exercise was measured using portable wristwatch heart rate monitors worn during exercise for 1 year. Cox proportional hazards regression was used to determine differences in exercise over the study year between the study groups.Results: Participants in the usual-care group were 76% more likely than those in the CHANGE group to stop exercising during the year following a cardiac rehabilitation program (hazard ratio = 1.76, 95% confidence interval = 1.08–2.86, p = .02) when adjusting for the significant covariates race, gender, comorbidity, muscle and joint pain, and baseline motivation. Most participants, however, had less than recommended levels of exercise amount and intensity.Conclusions: Counseling interventions that use contemporary behavior change strategies, such as theCHANGEintervention, can reduce the number of individuals who do not exercise following cardiac events.
Three-Dimensional Field Intensity Shaping: The Scalar Case

Due to the plethora of possible applicative fallouts, in the recent years several efforts have been made to develop three-dimensional (3-D) field intensity shaping methods. While many approaches able to focus a wave-field into a target point are available, few strategies have been instead developed to generate a field having a given intensity spatial distribution. This is probably due to the higher challenging nature of such a problem. In this letter, with reference to scalar fields, we present an innovative 3-D shaping procedure, which casts the problem as the solution of a finite number of convex programming problems. An example of the performance of the proposed procedure in a 3-D inhomogeneous scenario is given to show the capability of ensuring uniform field intensity within a target area while keeping it arbitrarily bounded elsewhere.
Northern and southern hemisphere controls on seasonal sea surface temperatures in the Indian Ocean during the last deglaciation

37 ) are consistently warmer than those derived from Mg/Ca by ~2–3°C except for the Heinrich Event 1. In addition, the initial timing for the deglacial warming of alkenone SST started at ~15.6 ka, which lags behind that of Mg/Ca temperatures by 2.5 kyr. We argue that the discrepancy between the two SST proxies reflects seasonal differences between summer and winter rather than postdepositional processes or sedimentary biases. The U K′ 37 SST record clearly mimics the deglacial SST trend recorded in the North Atlantic region for the earlier part of the termination, indicating that the early deglacial warming trend attributed to local summer temperatures was likely mediated by changes in the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation at the onset of the deglaciation. In contrast, the glacial to interglacialSSTpatternrecordedbyG.ruberMg/Ca probably reflectscoldseasonSSTs.This indicates that the cold season SSTs was likely mediated by climate changes in the southern hemisphere, as it closely tracks the Antarctic timing of deglaciation. Therefore, our study reveals that the tropical southwestern Indian Ocean seasonal SST was closely linked to climate changes occurring in both hemispheres. The austral summer and winter recorded by each proxy is further supported with seasonal SST trends modeled by Atmosphere–ocean General Circulation Models for our core site. Our interpretation that the alkenone and Mg/Ca SSTs are seasonally biased may also explain similar proxy mismatches observed in other tropical regions at the onset of the last termination.
Pose-Robust Face Recognition via Deep Residual Equivariant Mapping

Face recognition achieves exceptional success thanks to the emergence of deep learning. However, many contemporary face recognition models still perform relatively poor in processing profile faces compared to frontal faces. A key reason is that the number of frontal and profile training faces are highly imbalanced - there are extensively more frontal training samples compared to profile ones. In addition, it is intrinsically hard to learn a deep representation that is geometrically invariant to large pose variations. In this study, we hypothesize that there is an inherent mapping between frontal and profile faces, and consequently, their discrepancy in the deep representation space can be bridged by an equivariant mapping. To exploit this mapping, we formulate a novel Deep Residual EquivAriant Mapping (DREAM) block, which is capable of adaptively adding residuals to the input deep representation to transform a profile face representation to a canonical pose that simplifies recognition. The DREAM block consistently enhances the performance of profile face recognition for many strong deep networks, including ResNet models, without deliberately augmenting training data of profile faces. The block is easy to use, light-weight, and can be implemented with a negligible computational overhead1.
Gaze insights into debugging behavior using learner-centred analysis

The presented study tries to tackle an intriguing question of how user-generated data from current technologies can be used to reinforce learners' reflections, improve teaching practices, and close the learning analytics loop. In particular, the aim of the study is to utilize users' gaze to examine the role of a mirroring tool (i.e. Exercise View in Eclipse) in orchestrating basic behavioral regulation of participants engaged in a debugging task. The results demonstrated that students who processed the information presented in the Exercise View and acted upon it, improved their performance and achieved higher level of success than those who failed to do it. The findings shed a light how to capture what constitute relevant data within a particular context using gaze patterns, that could guide collection of essential learner-centred analytics for the purpose of designing usable and modular learning environments based on data-driven approaches.
Barley Straw (Hordeum vulgare) as a Supplementary Raw Material for Eucalyptus camaldulensis and Pinus sylvestris Kraft Pulp in the Paper Industry

The present study shows that barley straw (Hordeum vulgare) can be a supplementary raw material of softwoods and hardwoods such as Pinus sylvestris and Eucalyptus camaldulensis, respectively, for the production of cellulose and paper, reducing an agricultural residue that has no added value. Barley straw has a lower content of cellulose at 36.4% than P. sylvestris and E. camaldulensis, but it contains a lower quantity of lignin, 15.9%. After pulping with soda anthraquinone (AQ), high contents of cellulose (56.5 to 67.5%) and holocellulose (>80%) were attained. Paper sheet properties were able to reach, and even improve upon, those of wood species (Pinus and Eucalyptus) pulped with kraft. Better values of total yield (56.5%), Kappa number (8.9), and ISO brightness (36.4%), were attained for paper sheets from barley straw pulp versus E. camaldulensis and P. sylvestris, respectively, and comparable values for viscosity, tensile, and burst index were obtained.
ANALYSIS OF STRENGTH AND CORROSION RESISTANCE BEHAVIOR OF INHIBITORS IN CONCRETE CONTAINING QUARRY DUST AS FINE AGGREGATE

The demand for natural sand in the construction industry has consecutively increased resulting in the reduction of sources and an increase in price. Thus, an increased need to identify a suitable substitute that is eco- friendly and inexpensive has emerged which boosted the usage of quarry dust as fine aggregate in concrete. Most of the studies on the usage of quarry dust as hundred percent substitutes were carried out to judge the properties of fresh concrete and strength properties. In this paper, an experimental study dealing with the strength and corrosion resistance behavior of various integral type corrosion inhibitors namely triethanolamine, diethanolamine, diethylamine, calcium nitrite and sodium nitrate at the dosage of 1%, 2%, 3% and 4% by weight of cement in concrete containing quarry dust as fine aggregate is carried out. Integral inhibitors are liquids or solids that are batched and mixed with the other concrete ingredients as a preventive measure for new construction or repair work. The influence of these inhibitors was evaluated using various electrochemical techniques such as Rapid Chloride Penetration Test (RCPT), Accelerated corrosion test, A.C. impedance measurement and Gravimetric weight loss measurement. The mechanical properties such as compressive strength, flexural strength, spilt tensile strength and bond strength in addition to water absorption were also studied and the optimum dosage of inhibitors was determined individually. Results herein revealed that replacement of sand by quarry dust increases the strength of the concrete; with addition of inhibitor it offers lower permeability and greater density which enable it to provide better resistance to corrosion and durability in adverse environment.
Acoustic Detection Reveals Fine-Scale Distributions of Myotis lucifugus, Myotis septentrionalis, and Perimyotis subflavus in Eastern Nebraska

Abstract. Before white-nose syndrome arrives in Nebraska, it is important to document the preexposure distributions of cave bats in the state. We examined the distributions of Myotis lucifugus (little brown myotis), Myotis septentrionalis (northern long-eared myotis), and Perimyotis subflavus (tri-colored bat) in eastern Nebraska by setting acoustic detectors for a single night at 105 sites in wooded habitats during summers of 2012 and 2014. We compared 2 methods of determining presence at each site. Results of our analyses are fine-scale distributional maps for these bats and some range extensions from published records. Results for M. septentrionalis and P. subflavus are largely consistent with previous reports. Results for M. lucifugus vary depending on the method of determining presence; however, our preferred method creates a pattern consistent with the known vouchered distribution of this species. The differences between published distributions of these species and distributions based on acoustic detection from our study might result from a lack of extensive netting in many areas of eastern Nebraska, underrepresentation of P. subflavus from mist net surveys in Nebraska, and a recent westward range expansion of P. subflavus and M. septentrionalis in southern Nebraska.
Histopathological Differences Between the Anterior and Posterior Brain Arteries as a Function of Aging

Background and Purpose— We tested the hypothesis that posterior brain arteries differ pathologically from anterior brain arteries and that this difference varies with age. Methods— Brain large arteries from 194 autopsied individuals (mean age 56±17 years, 63% men, 25% nonwhite, 17% with brain infarcts) were analyzed to obtain the areas of arterial layers and lumen as well as the relative content of elastin, collagen, and amyloid. Visual rating was used to determine the prevalence of atheroma, calcification, vasa vasorum, pattern of intima thickening, and internal elastic lamina gaps. We used multilevel models adjusting for age, sex, ethnicity, vascular risk factors, artery type and location, and multiple comparisons. Results— Of 1362 large artery segments, 5% had vasa vasorum, 5% had calcifications, 15% had concentric intimal thickening, and 11% had atheromas. Posterior brain arteries had thinner walls, less elastin, and more concentric intima thickening than anterior brain arteries. Compared to anterior brain arteries, the basilar artery had higher arterial area encircled by the internal elastic lamina, whereas the vertebral arteries had higher prevalence of elastin loss, concentric intima thickening, and nonatherosclerotic stenosis. In younger individuals, vertebral artery calcifications were more likely than calcification in anterior brain arteries, but this difference attenuated with age. Conclusions— Posterior brain arteries differ pathologically from anterior brain arteries in the degree of wall thickening, elastin loss, and concentric intimal thickening.