Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Impact of new prostheses on the oral health related quality of life of edentulous patients.

OBJECTIVE A study was conducted to evaluate the impact of the placement of complete dentures by using the Global Oral Health Assessment Index (GOHAI). BACKGROUND Oral health quality of life indicators can be used to evaluate the effects of dental treatments. MATERIAL AND METHODS The 26 participants were treated in a French University Clinic during 2002. They were randomly divided into two groups. Each group received new prostheses, but evaluation of the quality of life was made at different periods [baseline, denture placement (group 1), 6 and 12 weeks (group 2) after placement]. A questionnaire was used to collect information on patient's satisfaction with the previous and new prostheses. Nonparametric tests were used to test the relationships between patients' satisfaction or baseline data and GOHAI variations with time as well as to compare mean values of GOHAI within each group. RESULTS At baseline, the impact of oral health problems was apparent; the mean GOHAI-Add score was 45.8 (10.2). Six weeks after placement of the new denture, there was no difference in GOHAI scores compared with the initial assessment. An improvement in GOHAI score was observed 12 weeks after the participants received their new dentures (p < 0.05). Change in GOHAI-Add scores was negatively correlated with the initial GOHAI-Add score. Patients who preferred the new prosthesis enjoyed a positive change in GOHAI scores (p < 0.001). There was a relationship between participants' satisfaction with the new dentures and change in GOHAI scores (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION The GOHAI can be used to evaluate needs for and effect of the making of new complete dentures.
Teaching of Linear Programming: Variation Across Disciplines and Countries

An online questionnaire was used to investigate how linear programming is taught across disciplines countries. The questionnaire was sent to 311 lecturers in Australia, New Zealand, UK and USA. Lecturers also completed an "approaches to teaching" questionnaire and some of their students completed an "approaches to studying" inventory. The study found that mathematically intensive topics such as interior-point method and revised simplex method were taught primarily in USA. Also, lecturers in "pure" disciplines such as mathematics tended to use less software than lecturers in more applied disciplines but taught more solution methods. The sensitivity analysis topic featured more strongly in applied disciplines such as business and engineering. Whilst there appeared to be no differences in "approaches to teaching" between the disciplines, students in the "soft" disciplines such as business appeared to have a more strategic approach than students in the "hard" disciplines such as mathematics and engineering. The study suggests using qualitative methods for further research to collect richer data.
Patients’ safety: is there a systemic release of gentamicin by gentamicin-coated tibia nails in clinical use?

Introduction Osteitis is one of the most serious complications in orthopedic surgery. Expert Tibia Nail (ETN) PROtect™ coated with a biodegradable layer of gentamicin-laden polymer was developed for prophylaxis of osteomyelitis. In systemic administration, gentamicin has only a small therapeutic index and serious side effects; it is potentially nephrotoxic as well as ototoxic. It is not yet known if relevant gentamicin concentrations are released into the systemic circulation after implantation of gentamicin-coated nails. In order to evaluate the patients’ risks profiles and increase patient safety, we measured gentamicin levels in pre- and postoperative serum samples of patients undergoing implantation of ETN PROtect. Methods Twenty-five patients who received ETN PROtect between March 2012 and August 2014 were included in this study. Collection of blood samples occurred before the operation, at weeks 1–4, 3 and 6 months, and up to 1 year after the implantation. Measurement of gentamicin levels in serum samples was performed at the central laboratory of Heidelberg University Hospital. Additionally, laboratory parameters, C-reactive protein, leukocyte number, urea and creatinine concentrations were analyzed in routine controls before and after operating and assessed for systemic side effects. Results Over the course of this prospective observational study, we were able to determine that gentamicin-coated nails do not release gentamicin into the systemic circulation above the lowest detectable level of 0.2 mg/dL. There were slight increases in the mean inflammation and renal retention markers, but no gentamicin-associated side effects could be linked to implantation. Furthermore, no allergic reactions could be detected during our study. Conclusion Our findings suggest that there is no relevant release of gentamicin into the systemic circulation causing a systemic effect, and serious side effects due to gentamicin-coated tibia nails should not be feared. Postoperative monitoring of renal function does not seem necessary because of the implantation of ETN PROtect.
Huperzine a alleviates synaptic deficits and modulates amyloidogenic and nonamyloidogenic pathways in APPswe/PS1dE9 transgenic mice

Huperzine A (HupA) is a potent acetylcholinesterase inhibitor (AChEI) used in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Recently, HupA was shown to be active in modulating the nonamyloidogenic metabolism of β‐amyloid precursor protein (APP) in APP‐transfected human embryonic kidney cell line (HEK293swe). However, in vivo research concerning the mechanism of HupA in APP transgenic mice has not yet been fully elucidated. The present study indicates that the loss of dendritic spine density and synaptotagmin levels in the brain of APPswe/presenilin‐1 (PS1) transgenic mice was significantly ameliorated by chronic HupA treatment and provides evidence that this neuroprotection was associated with reduced amyloid plaque burden and oligomeric β‐amyloid (Aβ) levels in the cortex and hippocampus of APPswe/PS1dE9 transgenic mice. Our findings further demonstrate that the amelioration effect of HupA on Aβ deposits may be mediated, at least in part, by regulation of the compromised expression of a disintegrin and metalloprotease 10 (ADAM10) and excessive membrane trafficking of β‐site APP cleavage enzyme 1 (BACE1) in these transgenic mice. In addition, extracellular signal‐regulated kinases 1/2 (Erk1/2) phosphorylation may also be partially involved in the effect of HupA on APP processing. In conclusion, our work for the first time demonstrates the neuroprotective effect of HupA on synaptic deficits in APPswe/PS1dE9 transgenic mice and further clarifies the potential pharmacological targets for this protective effect, in which modulation of nonamyloidogenic and amyloidogenic APP processing pathways may be both involved. These findings may provide adequate evidence for the clinical and experimental benefits gained from HupA treatment. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
THE STAGED CRIME SCENE

Staging is a conscious criminal action on the part of an offender to thwart an investigation. The term "staging" should not be used to describe the actions of surviving family members who cover or redress a loved one, who is found nude or has died in an embarrassing situation. These activities are certainly understandable considering the shock experienced by a relative who encounters the sudden and violent death of a loved one. In my experience investigating suspicious deaths I have often times had a "gut" feeling that something was amiss. (Actually, that "gut" feeling is your subconscious reaction to the presentation, which should alert you to the possibility that, things are not always what they appear to be, consistent with equivocal death investigations).
Web‐Based Multisource Reference Checking: An Investigation of Psychometric Integrity and Applied Benefits

Reference checking is a near‐universal practice within personnel selection systems, and legal pressures to gather job‐relevant and structured feedback from references is mounting. Despite this state of affairs, reference checking is a woefully under‐researched method for obtaining psychometrically sound and behaviorally informative data that predict task, team, and leadership behavior at work. From studies of job candidates in applied settings, this article reports on the reliability, validity, and compliance of multisource reference feedback gathered using a web‐based methodology. Acceptable levels of internal consistency, inter‐rater reliability, and test–retest reliability of the reference‐checking instrument were realized. Results of survival analyses found support for prediction of involuntary, but not voluntary turnover. No practically significant differences were found in overall mean scores across demographic subgroups. Finally, the web‐based reference‐checking system evinced high degrees of efficiencies across a range of metrics (e.g., reference response time, reference response rate, candidate response time).
with Down Syndrome Decreased Naive T Cell Numbers in Children Decreased Thymic Output Accounts for

DataSupplementary00.DC1. html http://www.jimmunol. org/content/suppl/2011/02/23/jimmunol.10017Subscriptionshttp://www.jimmunol. org/subscriptions Information about subscribing to The Journal of Immunology is online atPermissionshttp://www.aai. org/ji/copyright.html Submit copyright permission requests atEmail Alertshttp://www.jimmunol. org/etoc/subscriptions.shtml/ Receive free email-alerts when new articles cite this article. Sign up at
Marker tracking and HMD calibration for a video-based augmented reality conferencing system

We describe an augmented reality conferencing system which uses the overlay of virtual images on the real world. Remote collaborators are represented on virtual monitors which can be freely positioned about a user in space. Users can collaboratively view and interact with virtual objects using a shared virtual whiteboard. This is possible through precise virtual image registration using fast and accurate computer vision techniques and head mounted display (HMD) calibration. We propose a method for tracking fiducial markers and a calibration method for optical see-through HMD based on the marker tracking.
MRI measures of neurodegeneration as biomarkers of Alzheimer's disease

s and Poster Presentations Risacher SL, Yoder KK, West JD, WuDunn D, MaGee TR, McDonald BC, Hutchins GD, Zheng QH, Saykin AJ. Relationship of visual contrast sensitivity to amyloid deposition assessed by [11C] PiB PET. Accepted for poster presentation at the Human Amyloid Imaging Conference, January 12-13, 2012. Wang H, Nie F, Huang H, Risacher SL, Ding C, Saykin AJ, Shen L, and the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI). Sparse multi-task regression and feature selection to identify brain imaging predictors for memory performance. Accepted for poster presentation at the International Conference on Computer Vision, November 6-13, 2011. Nho K, Shen L, Kim S, Swaminathan S, Risacher SL, Saykin AJ, and the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI). The effect of reference panels and software tools on genotype imputation. Presented at the 2011 American Medical Informatics Association Annual Symposium, October 22-25,
Precomputation schemes for QoS routing

Precomputation-based methods have recently been proposed as an instrument to facilitate scalability, improve response time, and reduce computation load on network elements. The key idea is to effectively reduce the time needed to handle an event by performing a certain amount of computations in advance, i.e., prior to the event's arrival. Such computations are performed as background processes, thus enabling to promptly provide a solution upon a request, through a simple, fast procedure.In this paper, we investigate precomputation methods in the context of Quality-of-Service (QoS) routing. Precomputation is highly desirable for QoS routing schemes due to the high computation complexity of selecting QoS paths on the one hand, and the need to promptly provide a satisfactory path upon a request on the other hand. We consider two major settings of QoS routing. The first is the case where the QoS constraint is of the "bottleneck" type, e.g., a bandwidth requirement, and network optimization is sought through hop minimization. The second is the more general setting of "additive" QoS constraints (e.g., delay) and general link costs.This paper mainly focuses on the first setting. First, we show that, by exploiting the typical hierarchical structure of large-scale networks, one can achieve a substantial improvement in terms of computational complexity. Next, we consider networks with topology aggregation. We indicate that precomputation is a necessary element for any QoS routing scheme and establish a precomputation scheme appropriate for such settings. Finally, we consider the case of additive QoS constraints (e.g., delay) and general link costs. As the routing problem becomes NP-hard, we focus on ε-optimal approximations and derive a precomputation scheme that offers a major improvement over the standard approach.
Dynamic trafficking of STAT5 depends on an unconventional nuclear localization signal

Summary Signal transducer and activator of transcription 5 (STAT5) is crucial for physiological processes that include hematopoiesis, liver metabolism and mammary gland development. However, aberrant continual activity of STAT5 has been causally linked to human leukemias and solid tumor formation. As a regulated transcription factor, precise cellular localization of STAT5 is essential. Conventional nuclear localization signals consist of short stretches of basic amino acids. In this study, we provide evidence that STAT5 nuclear import is dependent on an unconventional nuclear localization signal that functions within the conformation of an extensive coiled-coil domain. Both in vitro binding and in vivo functional assays reveal that STAT5 nuclear import is mediated by the importin-&agr;3/&bgr;1 system independently of STAT5 activation by tyrosine phosphorylation. The integrity of the coiled-coil domain is essential for STAT5 transcriptional induction of the &bgr;-casein gene following prolactin stimulation as well as its ability to synergize with the glucocorticoid receptor. The glucocorticoid receptor accumulates in the nucleus in response to prolactin and this nuclear import is dependent on STAT5 nuclear import. STAT5 continually shuttles in and out of the nucleus and live cell imaging demonstrates that STAT5 nuclear export is mediated by both chromosome region maintenance 1 (Crm1)-dependent and Crm1-independent pathways. A Crm1-dependent nuclear export signal was identified within the STAT5 N-terminus. These findings provide insight into the fundamental mechanisms that regulate STAT5 nuclear trafficking and cooperation with the glucocorticoid receptor and provide a basis for clinical intervention of STAT5 function in disease.
Naltrexone depot for treatment of alcohol dependence: a multicenter, randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial.

BACKGROUND Studies of the efficacy of naltrexone for alcohol dependence have yielded variable findings, which may be due, in part, to variation in compliance with oral naltrexone. Efforts to improve naltrexone compliance have included the development of injectable, long-acting depot formulations. METHODS We conducted a multicenter trial in 315 subjects who were randomly assigned to receive an intramuscular injection of a depot formulation containing naltrexone (n = 158) or a placebo formulation (n = 157) monthly for 3 months. All patients received five sessions of manual-guided motivational enhancement therapy during the 12 weeks of the study. The outcomes of interest were based on self-reported alcohol use and gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase level. Missing data or data from subjects who discontinued the study were conservatively treated as heavy-drinking days. RESULTS Groups were comparable on pretreatment demographic and clinical measures. The medication was well tolerated; 73.7% of subjects received all injections. The time to the first heavy-drinking day, the percentage of subjects with no heavy drinking throughout the study, and gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase levels favored the naltrexone depot, although the effects did not reach statistical significance. There was a significant advantage for naltrexone depot treatment on the time to the first drinking day. Naltrexone depot subjects also had significantly fewer drinking days during treatment and a significantly greater abstinence rate than the placebo group (18% vs. 10%). CONCLUSIONS This is the first multicenter study of a depot formulation of naltrexone for the treatment of alcohol dependence. Using a conservative intent-to-treat analysis, the study showed an advantage for the active medication. Further research with this formulation is warranted.
Fundamental principles of cortical computation: unsupervised learning with prediction, compression and feedback

There has been great progress in understanding of anatomical and functional microcircuitry of the primate cortex. However, the fundamental principles of cortical computation - the principles that allow the visual cortex to bind retinal spikes into representations of objects, scenes and scenarios - have so far remained elusive. In an attempt to come closer to understanding the fundamental principles of cortical computation, here we present a functional, phenomenological model of the primate visual cortex. The core part of the model describes four hierarchical cortical areas with feedforward, lateral, and recurrent connections. The three main principles implemented in the model are information compression, unsupervised learning by prediction, and use of lateral and top-down context. We show that the model reproduces key aspects of the primate ventral stream of visual processing including Simple and Complex cells in V1, increasingly complicated feature encoding, and increased separability of object representations in higher cortical areas. The model learns representations of the visual environment that allow for accurate classification and state-of-the-art visual tracking performance on novel objects.
Preventing stroke in atrial fibrillation patients – clinical utility of oral anticoagulants

Atrial fibrillation is the most common of the cardiac arrhythmias and is associated with high risk of stroke and systemic thromboembolism. Prevention of these complications is therefore a major component of clinical management in patients with this rhythm disorder. The choice of antithrombotic therapy in any given patient depends on his or her risk profile and needs to be carefully balanced against the risk of bleeding. In this review we discuss the pathophysiology of thrombogenesis in atrial fibrillation, risk factors for systemic thromboembolism in atrial fibrillation, patient risk stratification modules both for systemic thromboembolism and the risk of bleeding, current antithrombotic therapy strategies, clinicoepidemiological evidence that led to their evolvement, the challenges that plague them, recent developments in the field and how they could possibly affect our future clinical decision making.
The cis and trans effects of the risk variants of coronary artery disease in the Chr 9 p 21 region

Background: Recent genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have shown that single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the Chr9p21 region are associated with coronary artery disease (CAD). Most of the SNPs identified in this region are non-coding SNPs, suggesting that they may influence gene expression by cis or trans mechanisms to affect disease susceptibility. Since all cells from an individual have the same DNA sequence variations, levels of gene expression in immortalized cell lines can reflect the functional effects of DNA sequence variations that influence or regulate gene expression. The objective of this study is to evaluate the functional consequences of the risk variants in the Chr9p21 region on gene expression. Methods: We examined the association between the variants in the Chr9p21 region and the transcript-level mRNA expression of the adjacent genes (cis) as well as all other genes across the whole genome (trans) from transformed beta-lymphocytes in 801 non-Hispanic white participants from The Genetic Epidemiology Network of Arteriopathy (GENOA) study. Results: We found that the CAD risk variants in the Chr9p21 region were significantly associated with the mRNA expression of the ANRIL transcript ENST00000428597 (p = 8.58e-06). Importantly, a few distant transcripts were also found to be associated with the variants in this region, including the well-known CAD risk gene ABCA1 (p = 1.01e-05). Gene enrichment testing suggests that retinol metabolism, N-Glycan biosynthesis, and TGF signaling pathways may be involved. Conclusion: These results suggest that the effect of risk variants in the Chr9p21 region on susceptibility to CAD is likely to be mediated through both cis and trans mechanisms.
Profile of HIV-Infected Hispanics with Pancytopenia

Pancytopenia is seen in late HIV infection; it is associated with medical complications and with decreased survival. We determined the prevalence of pancytopenia at baseline in a cohort of HIV-positive Hispanics living in Puerto Rico, and compared their socio-demographic, immunological and clinical characteristics. A total of 1202 patients enrolled between 2000 and 2010 were included. They were grouped according to pancytopenia status, defined by having: platelets <150,000 μL, white cell count <4000 μL, and hemoglobin <12 g/dL (women) or <13 g/dL (men). Differences were evaluated using Student’s t-test, Chi-square test and Kaplan-Meier method. The prevalence of pancytopenia was 8.7%. Patients with pancytopenia had lower BMI and lower CD4 count, as well as higher HIV viral load and higher proportions of unemployment, clinical AIDS and antiretroviral treatment (ART) use (p < 0.05). One-year mortality rate was significantly higher in patients with pancytopenia (18.1% vs. 5.1%, p < 0.001). When stratifying for ART this association persisted for patients who did not receive ART (41.4% vs. 5.2%, p < 0.001), but it was not seen in patients who received treatment (9.2% vs. 5.6%, p = 0.196). Pancytopenia was associated with elements of advanced stages of HIV. ART could reduce the mortality of HIV-patients with pancytopenia to levels comparable to patients without the disorders.
The Curse of Knowledge in Economic Settings: An Experimental Analysis

In economic analyses of asymmetric information, better-informed agents are assumed capable of reproducing the judgments of less-informed agents. We discuss a systematic violation of this assumption that we call the "curse of knowledge. " Better-informed agents are unable to ignore private information even when it is in their interest to do so; more information is not always better. Comparing judgments made in individual-level and market experiments, we find that market forces reduce the curse by approximately 50 percent but do not eliminate it. Implications for bargaining, strategic behavior by firms, principal-agent problems, and choice under uncertainty are discussed.