Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The application of clinical variables and models to predict pulmonary embolism in cancer patients: a comprehensive single cancer center experience

Introduction Prompt diagnosis and treatment of pulmonary embolism (PE) can help reduce its associated morbidity and mortality. Computed tomography chest angiography (CTA) scanning is the most widely used diagnostic modality. In noncancer patients, only 10% of such studies are positive for PE. Clinical variables, individual or in combination, that can predict test positivity are highly needed. Materials and methods All CTAs requested to confirm or exclude a diagnosis of PE in a single comprehensive cancer center were reviewed. In addition to the Wells score, other clinical variables known to increase the risk of PE were analyzed. Results A total of 778 adult cancer patients were treated at King Hussein Cancer Center (Amman, Jordan) and were included in this study; the majority of patients (64.2%) had stage 4 disease. Overall, 129 (16.6%) patients had positive scans for PE, while alternative diagnoses were made in 308 (39.6%) patients. Cancer stage and anticancer treatment had no impact on positive PE rates. However, Wells criteria classified patients into three risk groups with PE rates of 10.2%, 16.1%, and 62.5% among the patients with low, moderate, and high risk, respectively (P < 0.0001). Duration of cancer diagnosis (<12 months versus >12 months) had a significant impact on positive PE studies (22.0% versus 12.4%, respectively, P = 0.007). Conclusion The rate of positive PE studies in cancer patients is higher than previously reported in noncancer patients. Positivity for PE was higher during the first 12 months of cancer diagnosis and in those with high probability score according to the Wells criteria. Factors like primary tumor stage and anticancer therapy had no significant impact on PE-positive studies.
Higher urinary IgM excretion in type 2 diabetic nephropathy compared to type 1 diabetic nephropathy.

BACKGROUND Proteinuria, due to impairment of the charge- and/or size selectivity of the glomerular capillary wall (GCW) is the earliest clinical evidence of diabetic nephropathy (DN). To study the pathophysiological differences between patients with DN in type 1 diabetes mellitus (type 1 DN) and type 2 diabetes mellitus (type 2 DN), we compared the patterns of urinary proteins of different size and charge in the two entities of diabetic kidney disease. METHODS Urine concentrations of albumin, IgG2, IgG4 and IgM were assessed in 22 (15 males and 7 females) patients with type 1 DN, and in 20 (18 males and 2 females) patients with type 2 DN. Comparisons with one control group of 13 (12 males and one female) patients with nephrosclerosis due to systemic hypertension and a second control group of 16 (14 males and 2 females) healthy controls were made. RESULTS The urine excretion of IgG2 and IgM and the ratio of IgG2 to IgG4 (IgG2/IgG4), were significantly higher in type 2 DN compared to type 1 DN (P < 0.01). Patients with type 2 DN and patients with nephrosclerosis had significantly higher urine excretion of IgG and IgM compared to the age-matched healthy subjects (P < 0.001). The IgG2/IgG4 ratio was higher in type 2 DN compared to nephrosclerosis and healthy controls (P < 0.01). CONCLUSION The increased urine excretion of IgG and IgM that accompanies albuminuria in type 2 DN suggests that the dominant pathophysiological mechanism of proteinuria in type 2 DN might be an alteration of the size selective properties of the glomerular capillary wall, including the occurrence of non-discriminatory "shunt pathways. " The charge selective properties of the glomerular capillary wall seem to be intact in type 2 DN, as indicated by the high IgG2/IgG4 ratio. The mechanisms of proteinuria in type 1 DN seem to be merely a consequence of an impaired charge selectivity of the glomerular capillary wall.
A Cost-Effective Statistical Method to Correct for Differential Genotype Misclassification When Performing Case-Control Genetic Association

Background/Aims: There is a growing interest regarding the effect of differential misclassification on power and type I error rate in genome-wide association studies. We present an extension of a previously published test statistic: the likelihood ratio test allowing for errors (LRTAE). This test uses double-sample information on a subset of individuals to increase power for genetic association in the presence of nondifferential misclassification. Methods:We extend the original LRTAE by allowing for differential genotype misclassification between case and control populations. We label this new statistic as LRTDAME . We test the performance of this statistic with data simulated under differential misclassification specifications and two different types of genetic models: null and power. For simulations using the null model, we specify that there is no difference between case and control genotype frequencies before the introduction of errors. For simulations under power, we consider three modes of inheritance: dominant, multiplicative, and recessive. Results: We show that the LRTDAME , with p values computed using permutation, maintains a correct type I error rate under the null model after the introduction of differential genotyping errors. Also, we find that as little as 10 to 15% of double-sampled genotype data is needed to achieve this effect. Aside from a few situations (particularly recessive mode of inheritance simulations) the LRTDAME version that calculates p values through permutation requires 15 to 20% double sampling to maintain an 80% power for a 0.05 significance level and approximately 20% double sampling for a 0.01 significance level.
Exploring the forgetting mechanisms in working memory: Evidence from a reasoning span test

In working memory (WM) span tests participants have to maintain to-be-remembered information while processing other, potentially distracting, information. Previous studies have shown that WM span scores are greater when span lists start with a long processing task and end with a short processing task than when these processing tasks are presented in the reverse order (e.g., Towse, Hitch, & Hutton, 2000). In Experiment 1, we obtained a similar stimulus order effect in a reasoning span test, using reasoning sentences that were equated for length in terms of the number of constituent words, but which differed in processing complexity; span scores were greater when lists began with a complex sentence and ended with a simple sentence than when this stimulus order was reversed. In Experiment 2, the stimulus order effect was not found when processing duration was held constant while sentence complexity was varied using a computer-paced moving window presentation paradigm. These results suggest that duration-based constraints can affect degree of forgetting independently of the load generated during processing phases in WM span performance and therefore imply that time-related forgetting can occur in WM span tests, particularly when the difficulty of the processing component blocks active maintenance of to-be-remembered material.
Economic Choices Reveal Probability Distortion in Macaque Monkeys

Economic choices are largely determined by two principal elements, reward value (utility) and probability. Although nonlinear utility functions have been acknowledged for centuries, nonlinear probability weighting (probability distortion) was only recently recognized as a ubiquitous aspect of real-world choice behavior. Even when outcome probabilities are known and acknowledged, human decision makers often overweight low probability outcomes and underweight high probability outcomes. Whereas recent studies measured utility functions and their corresponding neural correlates in monkeys, it is not known whether monkeys distort probability in a manner similar to humans. Therefore, we investigated economic choices in macaque monkeys for evidence of probability distortion. We trained two monkeys to predict reward from probabilistic gambles with constant outcome values (0.5 ml or nothing). The probability of winning was conveyed using explicit visual cues (sector stimuli). Choices between the gambles revealed that the monkeys used the explicit probability information to make meaningful decisions. Using these cues, we measured probability distortion from choices between the gambles and safe rewards. Parametric modeling of the choices revealed classic probability weighting functions with inverted-S shape. Therefore, the animals overweighted low probability rewards and underweighted high probability rewards. Empirical investigation of the behavior verified that the choices were best explained by a combination of nonlinear value and nonlinear probability distortion. Together, these results suggest that probability distortion may reflect evolutionarily preserved neuronal processing.
Bipolar plasma enucleation of the prostate vs open prostatectomy in large benign prostatic hyperplasia cases – a medium‐term, prospective, randomized comparison

1 Autorino R, Khalifeh A, Laydner H et al. Repeat robot-assisted partial nephrectomy (RAPN): feasibility and early outcomes. BJU Int 2013; 111: 767–72 2 Aboumarzouk OM, Stein RJ, Eyraud R et al. Robotic versus laparoscopic partial nephrectomy: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Eur Urol 2012; 62: 1023–33 3 Liu NW, Khurana K, Sudarshan S et al. Repeat partial nephrectomy on the solitary kidney: surgical, functional and oncological outcomes. J Urol 2010; 183: 1719–24 4 Jain S, Yates JK, Munver R. Robot-assisted laparoscopic partial nephrectomy for recurrent renal-cell carcinoma in patients previously treated with nephron-sparing surgery. J Endourol 2013; 27: 309–12 5 Mottrie A, Borghesi M, Ficarra V. Is traditional laparoscopy the real competitor of robot-assisted partial nephrectomy? Eur Urol 2012; 62: 1034–6. doi: 10.1016/j.eururo. 2012.07. 039. Epub 2012 Jul 25
A Review of Advance Care Planning Programs in Long-Term Care Homes: Are They Dementia Friendly?

Background. Persons living with dementia in the long-term care home (LTCH) setting have a number of unique needs, including those related to planning for their futures. It is therefore important to understand the advance care planning (ACP) programs that have been developed and their impact in order for LTCH settings to select a program that best suits residents' needs. Methods. Four electronic databases were searched from 1990 to 2013, for studies that evaluated the impact of advance care planning programs implemented in the LTCH setting. Studies were critically reviewed according to rigour, impact, and the consideration of the values of residents with dementia and their family members according to the Dementia Policy Lens Toolkit. Results and Conclusion. Six ACP programs were included in the review, five of which could be considered more “dementia friendly. ” The programs indicated a variety of positive impacts in the planning and provision of end-of-life care for residents and their family members, most notably, increased ACP discussion and documentation. In moving forward, it will be important to evaluate the incorporation of residents with dementia's values when designing or implementing ACP interventions in the LTCH settings.
Improved Neuroprotection with Hypothermia Delayed by 6 Hours Following Cerebral Hypoxia-Ischemia in the 14-Day-Old Rat

Since hypothermia may be a potential treatment for perinatal cerebral hypoxic-ischemic injury, we used an established neonatal model of hypoxia-ischemia to determine the time after injury at which cooling had the best protective effect. Fourteen-day-old Wistar rats were subjected to right carotid artery ligation and hypoxia (8% O2 for 90 min). Immediately at the end of hypoxia (defined as 0h), animals were either maintained at normal body temperature until sacrifice (normothermia) or subjected to hypothermia. In a preliminary study, the effects of a reduction in temperature and the duration of such cooling were investigated; animals were cooled (until brain temperature reached 33°C or 30°C) for 2, 4, or 6 h commencing immediately after hypoxia. In a second study, animals were cooled (brain temperature 30°C) for 6 h commencing at either 0, 2, 4, or 6 h after the end of hypoxia. Sham-operated animals were used as controls. Twenty-four hours after hypoxia-ischemia, cerebral energy metabolism was measured by phosphorus magnetic resonance spectroscopy, and at 5 d cerebral infarction was measured by planimetry. In normothermic animals the ratio of phosphocreatine/inorganic phosphate (PCr/Pi) had fallen markedly 24 h following hypoxia-ischemia. In contrast, animals cooled between 6 and 12 h displayed high PCr/Pi ratios similar to those in control animals. Similarly, after 5 d, infarct area was significantly reduced only in animals cooled between 6 and12 h after injury. These results indicate that cooling between 6 and 12 h after hypoxia-ischemia is more effective in reducing cerebral injury than other cooling regimes and suggest that the physiologic events during this period are critical for understanding cerebral infarction.
Design and loss analysis of a medium-voltage DC-DC converter intended for offshore wind farms

In the last decade, many projects of offshore wind farms have been planned and conducted to compliant each government policy. To increase the energy yield, attention has been paid to the replacement from AC collection grid to DC collection grid. At the moment, many applications such as electric vehicles and DC power supplies have adopted an isolated DC-DC converter with low-loss magnetic material. However, the low-loss magnetic material has the limitation of the size and shape. Therefore, such magnetic material cannot be used directly for high-power application. This paper discusses suitable designs for a 10 MW 1 kV/±25 kV DC-DC converter, focusing on the use of low-loss magnetic materials. The discussion deals with system structure, circuit topology, phase number, semiconductor devices, and transformer structure. The loss analysis conducted by computer simulation and theoretical analysis verifies that the medium-voltage DC-DC converter can achieve the efficiency of 98.5% with the submodule-based structure, the three-phase dual-active bridge topology, the hybrid pair of 5th- and 6th-generation IGBTs, the shell-type transformer, the nanocrystalline core, and the switching frequency of 1.5 kHz.
Robust QBF Encodings for Sequential Circuits with Applications to Verification, Debug, and Test

Formal CAD tools operate on mathematical models describing the sequential behavior of a VLSI design. With the growing size and state-space of modern digital hardware designs, the conciseness of this mathematical model is of paramount importance in extending the scalability of those tools, provided that the compression does not come at the cost of reduced performance. Quantified Boolean Formula satisfiability (QBF) is a powerful generalization of Boolean satisfiability (SAT). It also belongs to the same complexity class as many CAD problems dealing with sequential circuits, which makes it a natural candidate for encoding such problems. This work proposes a succinct QBF encoding for modeling sequential circuit behavior. The encoding is parametrized and further compression is achieved using time-frame windowing. Comprehensive hardware constructions are used to illustrate the proposed encodings. Three notable CAD problems, namely bounded model checking, design debugging and sequential test pattern generation, are encoded as QBF instances to demonstrate the robustness and practicality of the proposed approach. Extensive experiments on OpenCore circuits show memory reductions in the order of 90 percent and demonstrate competitive runtimes compared to state-of-the-art SAT techniques. Furthermore, the number of solved instances is increased by 16 percent. Admittedly, this work encourages further research in the use of QBF in CAD for VLSI.
Prevalence of significant carotid artery stenosis in Iranian patients with peripheral arterial disease

Background: Generalized screening for carotid artery stenosis with carotid duplex ultrasonography in patients with peripheral arterial disease is controversial. Objectives: The aim of the present study was to determine the prevalence of significant internal carotid artery (ICA) stenosis in a group of Iranian patients with peripheral arterial disease. Methods: We prospectively screened 120 patients with a known diagnosis of peripheral vascular disease for carotid artery stenosis. Based on the angiographic assessment of abdominal aorta and arteries of the lower extremities, patients with stenosis greater than 70% in the lower extremity arteries were included. A group of healthy individuals aged ≥50 years was recruited as a control. Risk factors for atherosclerosis including smoking, diabetes mellitus, hyperlipidemia, ischemic heart disease, and cerebrovascular disease were recorded. Common carotid arteries (CCAs) and the origins of the internal and external arteries were scanned with B-mode ultrasonogaphy. Significant ICA stenosis, >70% ICA stenosis but less than near occlusion of the ICA, was diagnosed when the ICA/CCA peak systolic velocity ratio was ≥3.5. Results: Ninety-five patients, with a mean age of 58.52 ± 11.04 years, were studied. Twenty-five patients had a history of smoking, six patients had a history of coronary artery disease, six patients had hypertension, and ten patients had diabetes mellitus. Significant ICA stenosis was present in four patients (4.2%) with peripheral arterial disease in one healthy individual (1%) of the control group (P > 0.05). In terms of the risk factors for atherosclerosis, no statistically significant relationship was found between individual atherosclerotic risk factors and significant ICA stenosis (P > 0.05). Conclusion: The prevalence of significant ICA stenosis in Iranian patients with peripheral arterial disease is low. In addition, there is no relationship between individual atherosclerotic risk factors and significant ICA stenosis.
Multicentricity in papillary thyroid carcinoma: analysis of predictive factors.

OBJECTIVES Multicentricity has been cited as a rationale for total thyroidectomy in patients with papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) confined to one lobe. The purpose of this study was to examine the incidence of multicentricity of PTC in a cohort of 165 patients with PTC confined to one lobe and to examine clinical and pathologic features that may help predict for the presence of contralateral disease. DESIGN Retrospective review. SETTING Tertiary care hospital. METHOD A retrospective review of 165 patients with PTC confined to one lobe treated at the Toronto General Hospital from 1992 to 1997 was performed. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE The predictive factors affecting the presence of multicentricity of PTC were analyzed. RESULTS The incidence of PTC present in the contralateral lobe was 56.3%. We were unable to find any correlation of multicentricity with age, sex, tumour size, extrathyroidal spread, thyroiditis, or tall cell variant of PTC. There were trends toward higher incidence of contralateral disease in those patients with a prior history of irradiation and those with lymphatic metastases, but these trends did not reach statistical significance. CONCLUSIONS The incidence of contralateral disease in papillary thyroid cancer treated at the Toronto Hospital was 56.3%. There was a higher incidence of contralaterality in those patients with a previous history of irradiation and in those with lymphatogenous metastases, but this did not reach statistical significance.
Early melanoma diagnosis with mobile imaging

We research a mobile imaging system for early diagnosis of melanoma. Different from previous work, we focus on smartphone-captured images, and propose a detection system that runs entirely on the smartphone. Smartphone-captured images taken under loosely-controlled conditions introduce new challenges for melanoma detection, while processing performed on the smartphone is subject to computation and memory constraints. To address these challenges, we propose to localize the skin lesion by combining fast skin detection and fusion of two fast segmentation results. We propose new features to capture color variation and border irregularity which are useful for smartphone-captured images. We also propose a new feature selection criterion to select a small set of good features used in the final lightweight system. Our evaluation confirms the effectiveness of proposed algorithms and features. In addition, we present our system prototype which computes selected visual features from a user-captured skin lesion image, and analyzes them to estimate the likelihood of malignance, all on an off-the-shelf smartphone.
Adipose tissue metabolism and its role in adaptations to undernutrition in ruminants

Changes in the amount and metabolism of adipose tissue (AT) occur in underfed ruminants, and are amplified during lactation, or in fat animals. The fat depot of the tail of some ovine breeds seems to play a particular role in adaptation to undernutrition; this role could be linked to its smaller adipocytes and high sensitivity to the lipolytic effect of catecholamines. Glucocorticoids and growth hormone probably interact to induce teleophoretic changes in the AT responses to adenosine and catecholamines during lactation. Fat mobilization in dry ewes is related both to body fatness and to energy balance. The in vivo β-adrenergic lipolytic potential is primarily related to energy balance, whereas basal postprandial plasma non-esterified fatty acids (NEFA) are related to body fatness, and preprandial plasma NEFA is the best predictor of the actual body lipid loss. Several mechanisms seem to be aimed at avoiding excessive fat mobilization and/or insuring a return to the body fatness homeostatic set point. As well as providing the underfed animal with fatty acids as oxidative fuels, AT acts as an endocrine gland. The yield of leptin by ruminant AT is positively related to body fatness, decreased by underfeeding, β-adrenergic stimulation and short day length, and increased by insulin and glucocorticoids. This finding suggests that the leptin chronic (or acute) decrease in lean (or underfed respectively) ruminants is, as in rodents, a signal for endocrine, metabolic and behavioural adaptations aimed at restoring homeostasis.
Delay Spread and its Effect on Bandwidth in Gaussian Parallel Relay Networks

We consider a Gaussian parallel relay network where multiple wireless relays forward cooperatively so that a destination receives a superposition of signals propagated through multiple distinct relay paths. Previous research often assumes that the relayed signals arrive synchronously in the receiver. This is not feasible in practical wireless networks, because spatial separation causes different propagation delays for the signal components and the destination observes a multipath channel. We model the effect of signal delays by introducing spatial separation to the network geometry and present trade-off analysis between diversity, signal bandwidth, relay density, and the number of relays for both narrowband and wideband reception at the destination