Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of sclerosing injections in patients with chronic low back pain.

OBJECTIVE To determine the clinical efficacy of sclerosing injections in patients with chronic low back pain. METHODS Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of three, once weekly injections of dextrose-glycerine-phenol with lignocaine vs saline plus lignocaine in patients with mechanical back pain of more than 6 months' duration. All patient assessments were performed blind by an experienced physiotherapist. The injections to the ligaments of the L4-5 and L5-S1 lumbar motion segments were given by an orthopaedic physician experienced in the technique, blinded to the nature of the injection solution according to a standard protocol. Demographic and clinical data, the short-form McGill Pain Questionnaire, the modified Somatic Pain Questionnaire, the Zung Depression Inventory, Oswestry Disability Scale and the modified Schober method of measuring spinal flexion were undertaken at 0, 1, 3 and 6 months. RESULTS Seventy-four patients [mean (S.D.) age 45(11) yr, female:male ratio 1:1, median pain duration >10 yr] were recruited and there were no drop-outs over the study period. There were no statistically significant differences in patient characteristics between the placebo and treatment groups at baseline or for any measure at follow-up. CONCLUSIONS Three, weekly sclerosant injections alone may not be effective treatment in many patients with undifferentiated chronic back pain. Patient selection and combination with other treatment modalities may be factors in determining treatment success.
Modelling the human components of complex systems

Complex systems are specified, designed, built and tested by humans, all of whom are immersed in a cultural environment that colours their emotions, cognition, decisions and behaviours. This paper presents a brief overview of culture, its sources, its measurement and its effects on the performance of complex systems. This paper also describes a series of culture and personality modelling tools that the authors have developed for the purpose of assessing the match of individuals and teams to missions or tasks, based on their cultural backgrounds and/or personality traits.
Interventional Revascularization of Coronary Artery Lesions in Diabetic Patients; In-hospital and One Year Follow up

Background Diabetes mellitus is a life threatening disease accompanied by several micro- and macro vascular complications. Several modalities are available for interventional revascularization of coronary artery lesions, but their efficacy in diabetic patients is studied only in few patients. Materials and Method This study evaluated major in- hospital complications and clinical outcome after one year in 200 consecutive patients who underwent percutaneous Coronary Intervention from 2007 to 2009. Results Our findings showed comparable single and 2 vessel stenting, regarding major adverse cardiovascular event in diabetic and nondiabetic patients. In connection with long term and in hospital outcome, no statistically significant difference was found between one and two vessel stenting when drug eluting stent was used in diabetic patients. Conclusion The use of drug eluting stent in single or two vessel disease of diabetic patients is technically satisfactory and clinically safe and can substitute for coronary artery bypass grafting.
The mycotoxin, deoxynivalenol, delays gastric emptying through serotonin-3 receptors in rodents.

The effects of the trichotecene mycotoxin, deoxynivalenol, on gastric emptying and intestinal propulsion in mice and rats and gastrointestinal myoelectrical activity in rats were investigated. Gastric emptying and intestinal transit were evaluated after gavage with a milk meal containing a marker (51CrO4Na2) and radio-activity was counted in the stomach and 10 segments of the small intestine. The myoelectrical activity of the antrum, duodenum and jejunum was assessed by implanting electrodes for long-term electromyographic recordings. Deoxynivalenol given orally (50-1000 micrograms/kg) but not i.c. v. (5 micrograms/kg) 10 min before the test meal inhibited gastric emptying in a dose-related manner. Intestinal propulsion was reduced for the highest dose (1000 micrograms/kg) only. The inhibition of gastric emptying induced by deoxynivalenol was antagonized by ondansetron and granisetron given s.c. (50 micrograms/kg) but not by ondansetron i.c. v. (10 micrograms/kg). Metoclopramide, domperidone (1 mg/kg s.c.), methysergide, ritanserin and cisapride (2 mg/kg s.c.) did not modify the deoxynivalenol-induced inhibition of gastric emptying. In rats, gavage with a 2.5-ml milk meal increased the frequency of antral spike bursts from 1.9 +/- 0.9/min in the fasted state to 4.7 +/- 0.4/min and disrupted intestinal migrating motor complexes for 84.9 +/- 10.8 min. Oral administration of deoxynivalenol (50-100 micrograms/kg) 10 min before the meal did not modify the frequency of antral spike bursts but induced migrating motor complexes on the small intestine after the meal. This effect was reversed by ondansetron (10 micrograms/kg s.c.). It was concluded that, in rodents, deoxynivalenol inhibits gastric emptying by inducing intestinal migrating motor complexes through a peripheral action at the serotonin-3 receptors.
Design and the Social Sciences : Making Connections

Preface. Acknowledgements. From User-Centred to Participatory Design Approaches. Human Factors for Pleasure Seekers. Communications Artifacts: The Design of Objects and the Object of Design. People-Centred Design: Complexities and Uncertainties. Social Sciences and Design Innovation. Design Language: Confluence of Behavioural, Social and Cultural Factors. Design Moves: Approximating a Desired Future with Users. Emotion and Urban Experience: Implications for Design. An Interdisciplinary Approach in the Development of Design Knowledge and its Application: The Case of Wayfinding Research and Design. Preventing Drug Interactions in Older Adults: A Collaborative Study. Fieldnotes from 'Home': Anthropology and Design on Exhibition. Research and Design Collaboration: A Case Study. The Technical and the Social in Engineering Education. Making Connections: Design and the Social Sciences. Appearance, Form, and the Retrieval of Prior Knowledge. The Influence of Affect on Cognitive Processes. Gendered Spaces of Domesticity. Social Science as a Design Profession: New Visions and Relationships. Two Weddings and Still no Funeral: Sociology, Design and the Interprofessional Project. The Working Groups. Conclusions: Design and the Social Sciences, a Reconnaissance. Notes on Contributors. Index.
Classifying Instantaneous Cognitive States from fMRI Data

We consider the problem of detecting the instantaneous cognitive state of a human subject based on their observed functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) data. Whereas fMRI has been widely used to determine average activation in different brain regions, our problem of automatically decoding instantaneous cognitive states has received little attention. This problem is relevant to diagnosing cognitive processes in neurologically normal and abnormal subjects. We describe a machine learning approach to this problem, and report on its successful use for discriminating cognitive states such as observing a picture versus reading a sentence, and reading a word about people versus reading a word about buildings.
Low power flip-flop with clock gating on master and slave latches

I Conclusion: In this Letter, we have shown that the method proposed in [2] could be used even in the case where non-neglectible values of feedback delay are encountered. A very interesting conclusion is that an optimal gain margin may be reached with a nonzero value, i.e. a physical delay value. Furthermore, this delay (higher than one sampling period) allows for dynamic element matching techniques in the case of multibit modulators. Q
Decreased Soil Nitrification Rate with Addition of Biochar to the Acid Soils

This study aimed to investigate the effects of mixed biochar on the nitrification rate in acidic soils. A 15N tracer experiment with (15NH4)2SO4 was conducted to determine the nitrification rates of four acidic agricultural soils with pH 4.03–6.02 in Yunnan Province, Southern China. The accumulation of 15N-NO3− and nitrification rates decreased with the addition of biochar at the end of incubation, suggesting that biochar could be a nitrification inhibitor in acidic fertilized soil. Nitrification rates in soil with pH 4.03 were evidently lower than those in soil with pH 4.81–6.02 with or without biochar. Decreased nitrification rates were detected in the acidic soils with biochar. Soil pH controlled nitrification more than biochar in certain strongly acidic soils.
System Building Cost vs. Output Quality in Data-to-Text Generation

Data-to-text generation systems tend to be knowledge-based and manually built, which limits their reusability and makes them time and cost-intensive to create and maintain. Methods for automating (part of) the system building process exist, but do such methods risk a loss in output quality? In this paper, we investigate the cost/quality trade-off in generation system building. We compare four new data-to-text systems which were created by predominantly automatic techniques against six existing systems for the same domain which were created by predominantly manual techniques. We evaluate the ten systems using intrinsic automatic metrics and human quality ratings. We find that increasing the degree to which system building is automated does not necessarily result in a reduction in output quality. We find furthermore that standard automatic evaluation metrics underestimate the quality of handcrafted systems and over-estimate the quality of automatically created systems.
Perceived harmonic structure of chords in three related musical keys.

Harvard UniversityThis study investigated the perceived harmonic relationships between the chordsthat belong to three closely related musical keys: a major key, the major keybuilt on its dominant, and the relative minor key. Multidimensional scaling andhierarchical clustering techniques applied to judgments of two-chord progressionsshowed a central core consisting of those chords that play primary harmonicfunctions in the three keys. Th& separation of chords unique to the keys and themultiple functions of chords shared by the different keys were simultaneouslyrepresented. A regular pattern of asymmetries was also found that suggests ahierarchy among different types of chords. In addition, there was a preferencefor sequences ending on chords central to the prevailing tonality. Comparisonwith earlier results on single tones points to differences between melodic andharmonic organization.
Religiosity and solidarity : dimensions and relationships disentangled and tested

Religions stress the importance of solidarity and brotherhood of man. However, believers do not necessarily conform to these moral standards. Specific kinds of religiosity may relate to specific kinds of solidarity to specific targets. Moreover, the motives religious people have for their prosocial behaviour may not be altruistic. This book examines to what extent different aspects of religiosity are related to different kinds and targets of solidarity. Cross-national comparisons of surveys in several European countries are used to explore the relationships between religiosity on the one hand and on the other hand willingness to donate to charity as well as volunteering for religious and non-religious organisations. The relationships between religiosity and informal, direct helping behaviours to different people are studied with a national Dutch survey. Motives for prosocial behaviour are investigated with a combination of survey and experimental techniques
Metastatic Breast Carcinoma Presenting as a Sigmoid Stricture: Report of a Case and Review of the Literature

Metastatic spread of breast carcinoma to the colon and rectum is rare. We report the case of a patient treated for lobular breast carcinoma presenting 17 years later with metastatic breast cancer of the colon. A 63-year-old lady with a past history of right-sided invasive lobular carcinoma of the breast presented with persistent diarrhoea. Colonoscopy with biopsies revealed a benign-looking stricture at the rectosigmoid junction. A CT scan of the abdomen and pelvis revealed a benign-looking stricture in keeping with a probable diverticular stricture. A Hartmann procedure was performed and histology revealed a metastatic lobular carcinoma with oestrogen and progesterone receptor-positive status. Treatment was commenced with letrozole and the patient remains well under clinical surveillance. In a patient with a history of breast carcinoma who presents with gastrointestinal symptoms the possibility of gastrointestinal tract spread should always be considered. Endoscopic diagnosis may be misleading with pathological diagnosis only being made following surgical resection. A history of breast carcinoma must be declared to the histopathologist following surgical resection so that an accurate diagnosis is made and appropriate treatment is commenced.
ZAP‐70 Genotype Disrupts the Relationship Between Microbiota and Host, Leading to Spondyloarthritis and Ileitis in SKG Mice

The spondyloarthritides share genetic susceptibility, interleukin‐23 (IL‐23) dependence, and the involvement of microbiota. The aim of the current study was to elucidate how host genetics influence gut microbiota and the relationship between microbiota and organ inflammation in spondyloarthritides.
Test-Enhanced Learning in a Middle School Science Classroom: The Effects of Quiz Frequency and Placement.

Typically, teachers use tests to evaluate students’ knowledge acquisition. In a novel experimental study, we examined whether low-stakes testing (quizzing) can be used to foster students’ learning of course content in 8th grade science classes. Students received multiple-choice quizzes (with feedback); in the quizzes, some target content that would be included on the class summative assessments was tested, and some of the target content was not tested. In Experiment 1, three quizzes on the content were spaced across the coverage of a unit. Quizzing produced significant learning benefits, with between 13% and 25% gains in performance on summative unit examinations. In Experiments 2a and 2b, we manipulated the placement of the quizzing, with students being quizzed on some content prior to the lecture, quizzed on some immediately after the lecture, and quizzed on some as a review prior to the unit exam. Review quizzing produced the greatest increases in exam performance, and these increases were only slightly augmented when the items had appeared on previous quizzes. The benefits of quizzing (relative to not quizzing) persisted on cumulative semester and end-of-year exams. We suggest that the present effects reflect benefits accruing to retrieval practice, benefits that are well established in the basic literature.
Novel Acoustic Feedback Cancellation Approaches in Hearing Aid Applications Using Probe Noise and Probe Noise Enhancement

Adaptive filters are widely used in acoustic feedback cancellation systems and have evolved to be state-of-the-art. One major challenge remaining is that the adaptive filter estimates are biased due to the nonzero correlation between the loudspeaker signals and the signals entering the audio system. In many cases, this bias problem causes the cancellation system to fail. The traditional probe noise approach, where a noise signal is added to the loudspeaker signal can, in theory, prevent the bias. However, in practice, the probe noise level must often be so high that the noise is clearly audible and annoying; this makes the traditional probe noise approach less useful in practical applications. In this work, we explain theoretically the decreased convergence rate when using low-level probe noise in the traditional approach, before we propose and study analytically two new probe noise approaches utilizing a combination of specifically designed probe noise signals and probe noise enhancement. Despite using low-level and inaudible probe noise signals, both approaches significantly improve the convergence behavior of the cancellation system compared to the traditional probe noise approach. This makes the proposed approaches much more attractive in practical applications. We demonstrate this through a simulation experiment with audio signals in a hearing aid acoustic feedback cancellation system, where the convergence rate is improved by as much as a factor of 10.
Comparative evaluation of face sequence matching for content-based video access

The paper presents a comparative evaluation of matching methods of face sequences obtained from actual videos. Face information is quite important in videos, especially in news programs, dramas, and movies. Accurate face sequence matching enables many multimedia applications including content-based face retrieval, automated face annotation, video authoring, etc. However, face sequences in videos are subject to variation in lighting condition, pose, facial expression, etc., which cause difficulty in face matching. In order to cope with this problem, several face sequence matching methods are proposed by extending face still image matching, traditional pattern recognition, and recent pattern recognition techniques. They are expected to be applicable to face sequences extracted from actual videos. The performance of these methods is evaluated as the accuracy of face sequence annotation using the methods. The accuracy is evaluated using a considerable amount of actual drama videos. The evaluation results reveal merits and demerits of these methods, and indicate future research directions of face matching for videos.
Salvaged single-unit cord blood transplantation for 26 patients with hematologic malignancies not in remission

Treatments for patients with hematologic malignancies not in remission are limited, but a few clinical studies have investigated the effects of salvaged unrelated cord blood transplantation (CBT). We retrospectively studied 19 patients with acute leukemia, 5 with myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS with refractory anemia with excess blasts [RAEB]), and 2 with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma who received 1 CBT unit ≤2 loci human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-mismatched after undergoing myeloablative conditioning regimens between July 2005 and July 2014. All of them were in non-remission before transplantation. The infused total nucleated cell (TNC) dose was 4.07 (range 2.76-6.02)×107/kg and that of CD34+ stem cells was 2.08 (range 0.99-8.65)×105/kg. All patients were engrafted with neutrophils that exceeded 0.5×109/L on median day +17 (range 14-37 days) and had platelet counts of >20×109/L on median day +35 (range 17-70 days). Sixteen patients (61.5%) experienced pre-engraftment syndrome (PES), and six (23.1%) patients progressed to acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). The cumulative incidence rates of II-IV acute GVHD and chronic GVHD were 50% and 26.9%, respectively. After a median follow-up of 27 months (range 5-74), 14 patients survived and 3 relapsed. The estimated 2-year overall survival (OS), disease-free survival (DFS), and non-relapse mortality (NRM) rates were 50.5%, 40.3%, and 35.2%, respectively. Salvaged CBT might be a promising modality for treating hematologic malignancies, even in patients with a high leukemia burden.
LIMITS OF TOXIC AND TERATOGENIC TOLERANCE OF DIMETHYL SULFOXIDE

One of the organic substances developed by modern synthesis most remarkable for its physicochemical properties is dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO). The biological and pharmacological importance of this substance, however, dates only from the time when the cellulose and the petroleum-chemical industries were able to prepare it in large quantities of satisfactory purity. Initial studies of the toxicity of DMSO were published in 1955* and verified in 1961 by Ashwood-Smith2 and, in 1963, by Brown3 and R o s e n k r a n t ~ . ~ Our own research, begun in 1962, using DMSO obtained from the Soci6t6 des P6troles d'Aquitaine-Lacq (France), was reported before the Acad6mie des Sciences de Paris in 1964.5 Since then, much work has been published on the toxicity of DMSO without, however, the authors providing all the necessary details as to the methods and techniques used (dilution of DMSO used, breed of animals employed, duration of trials, etc.). In 1962 we initiated an attempt to study the teratogenic action of DMSO (and its higher homologue, diethylsulfoxide [ DESO]) using the chick embryo (Rhode Island Red and, in fewer numbers, the White Leghorn). Our preliminary conclusions were published in 1965.6 At the same time, the teratogenic action of DMSO was tested on mammals with a low dose and then tested again a t a later time with higher doses and for a longer period of administration. These preliminary studies have now been completed for the mouse, rat and rabbit. Recently another worker, V. H. Ferm,' has reported that DMSO is teratogenic in the hamster when administered in high doses.
Nonsmooth μ synthesis

We revisit robust complex- and mixed-μ synthesis problems based on upper bounds and show that they can be recast as specially structured controller design programs. The proposed reformulations suggest a streamlined handling of μ synthesis problems using recently developed (local) nonsmooth optimization methods where both scalings or multipliers and a controller of given structure are obtained simultaneously. A first cut of the nonsmooth code for structured H∞ synthesis is made available through the MATLAB R2010b Prerelease, Robust Control Toolbox Version 3.5 developed by The MathWorks, Inc.
Evolutionary neural networks: a robust approach to software reliability problems

In this empirical study, from a large data set of software metrics for program modules, thirty distinct partitions into training and validation sets are automatically generated with approximately equal distributions of fault prone and not fault prone modules. Thirty classification models are built for each of the two approaches considered-discriminant analysis and the evolutionary neural network (ENN) approach-and their performances on corresponding data sets are compared. The lower error proportions for ENNs on fault prone, not fault prone, and overall classification were found to be statistically significant. The robustness of ENNs follows from their superior performance on the range of data configurations used. It is suggested that ENNs can be effective in other software reliability problem domains, where they have been largely ignored.
Quantitative Characterization of Semantic Gaps for Learning Complexity Estimation and Inference Model Selection

In this paper, a novel data-driven algorithm is developed for achieving quantitative characterization of the semantic gaps directly in the visual feature space, where the visual feature space is the common space for concept classifier training and automatic concept detection. By supporting quantitative characterization of the semantic gaps, more effective inference models can automatically be selected for concept classifier training by: (1) identifying the image concepts with small semantic gaps (i.e., the isolated image concepts with high inner-concept visual consistency) and training their one-against-all SVM concept classifiers independently; (2) determining the image concepts with large semantic gaps (i.e., the visually-related image concepts with low inner-concept visual consistency) and training their inter-related SVM concept classifiers jointly; and (3) using more image instances to achieve more reliable training of the concept classifiers for the image concepts with large semantic gaps. Our experimental results on NUS-WIDE and ImageNet image sets have obtained very promising results.