Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Divergent effects of obesity on fragility fractures

Obesity was commonly thought to be advantageous for maintaining healthy bones due to the higher bone mineral density observed in overweight individuals. However, several recent studies have challenged the widespread belief that obesity is protective against fracture and have suggested that obesity is a risk factor for certain fractures. The effect of obesity on fracture risk is site-dependent, the risk being increased for some fractures (humerus, ankle, upper arm) and decreased for others (hip, pelvis, wrist). Moreover, the relationship between obesity and fracture may also vary by sex, age, and ethnicity. Risk factors for fracture in obese individuals appear to be similar to those in nonobese populations, although patterns of falling are particularly important in the obese. Research is needed to determine if and how visceral fat and metabolic complications of obesity (type 2 diabetes mellitus, insulin resistance, chronic inflammation, etc) are causally associated with bone status and fragility fracture risk. Vitamin D deficiency and hypogonadism may also influence fracture risk in obese individuals. Fracture algorithms such as FRAX® might be expected to underestimate fracture probability. Studies specifically designed to evaluate the antifracture efficacy of different drugs in obese patients are not available; however, literature data may suggest that in obese patients higher doses of the bisphosphonates might be required in order to maintain efficacy against nonvertebral fractures. Therefore, the search for better methods for the identification of fragility fracture risk in the growing population of adult and elderly subjects with obesity might be considered a clinical priority which could improve the prevention of fracture in obese individuals.
Accurate Modeling of Thermal Resistance for On-Wafer SiGe HBTs Using Average Thermal Conductivity

An accurate analytic model is proposed for estimating the junction temperature and thermal resistance in silicon–germanium heterojunction bipolar transistors (SiGe HBTs) including the back-end-of-line (BEOL) metal layers. The model uses an average value of thermal conductivity in order to include the temperature dependence of thermal resistance. The parameters corresponding to the thermal conductivity and the BEOL thermal resistance used in the model are extracted following a recently reported methodology. The proposed model is scalable in nature and verification with experimental data shows an excellent accuracy across different emitter geometries of SiGe HBTs fabricated in STMicroelectronics B9MW technology. Compact model simulations show that the proposed model simulates around 23% faster compared with an existing state-of-the-art iterative method.
Characterization of and risk factors for the acute-phase response after zoledronic acid.

CONTEXT Intravenous aminobisphosphonates often cause an acute-phase response (APR), but the precise components of this, its frequency, and the risk factors for its development have not been systematically studied. OBJECTIVE The objective of the study was to characterize the APR and determine its frequency and the risk factors for its development. DESIGN The study was an analysis of adverse events from a large randomized trial. SETTING This was a multicenter international trial. PATIENTS Patients included 7765 postmenopausal women with osteoporosis. INTERVENTION Zoledronic acid 5 mg annually or placebo was the intervention. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE Adverse events occurring within 3 d of zoledronic acid infusion were measured. RESULTS More than 30 adverse events were significantly more common in the zoledronic acid group and were regarded collectively as constituting an APR. These were clustered into five groups: fever; musculoskeletal (pain and joint swelling); gastrointestinal (abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhea); eye inflammation; and general (including fatigue, nasopharyngitis, edema). A total of 42.4% of the zoledronic acid group had an APR after the first infusion, compared with 11.7% of the placebo group. All APR components had their peak onset within 1 d, the median duration of the APR was 3 d, and severity was rated as mild or moderate in 90%. Stepwise regression showed that APR was more common in non-Japanese Asians, younger subjects, and nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drug users and was less common in smokers, patients with diabetes, previous users of oral bisphosphonates, and Latin Americans (P < 0.05 for all). CONCLUSION This analysis identifies new components of the APR and provides the first assessment of risk factors for it. Despite its frequency, APR rarely resulted in treatment discontinuation in this study.
An investigation of ACE as a risk factor for dementia and cognitive decline in the general population

Dementia is the most common neurodegenerative condition affecting older people. It is estimated that around 550 000 subjects aged 65 years and over in England and Wales suffer from dementia of mild or greater severity.1 Prevalence increases exponentially with age, from around 1% of 65 year olds to approximately 30% of people aged 85 years and older.2 Most cases (60-70%) of incident dementia have clinical diagnoses of Alzheimer's disease, while 15-20% are accounted for by vascular dementia (VaD). 3 However, Alzheimer-type and vascular pathology frequently occur in the same person, the neuropathological features associated with AD and VaD are present in many cognitively intact people, and some demented subjects do not have the neuropathological hallmarks of AD or VaD.4 Alzheimer's disease risk is unequivocally associated with polymorphisms in the apolipoprotein E ( APOE ) gene. However, APOE accounts for around half of the genetic risk for AD. Recent data suggest that the angiotensin-I converting enzyme or ACE gene (chromosome 17q23) may also be involved in genetic susceptibility to AD.6,7 ACE (OMIM *1061805) is a dipeptidyl carboxypeptidase that plays an important role in blood pressure regulation and electrolyte balance by hydrolysing angiotensin-I into angiotensin-II, a potent vasopressor and aldosterone stimulating peptide, and inactivating bradykinin, a potent vasodilator. An insertion (I)/deletion (D) polymorphism situated in intron 16 of the gene accounts for 50% of the interperson variability of plasma ACE concentration, and its links with myocardial infarction and other ischaemic heart disease and longevity have been studied extensively.5 There are few published studies on the association between the ACE I/D polymorphism and AD risk: Kehoe et al 6 reported increased risk for AD among I allele carriers; however, this result was not uniformly replicated in subsequent studies. Results from our pooled analysis suggest a slightly increased risk …
Identification of a Novel Macrophage Phenotype That Develops in Response to Atherogenic Phospholipids via Nrf2

Rationale: Macrophages change their phenotype and biological functions depending on the microenvironment. In atherosclerosis, oxidative tissue damage accompanies chronic inflammation; however, macrophage phenotypic changes in response to oxidatively modified molecules are not known. Objective: To examine macrophage phenotypic changes in response to oxidized phospholipids that are present in atherosclerotic lesions. Methods and Results: We show that oxidized phospholipid-treated murine macrophages develop into a novel phenotype (Mox) that is strikingly different from the conventional M1 and M2 macrophage phenotypes. Compared to M1 and M2, Mox macrophages show a different gene expression pattern, as well as decreased phagocytotic and chemotactic capacity. Treatment with oxidized phospholipids induces both M1 and M2 macrophages to switch to the Mox phenotype. Whole-genome expression array analysis and subsequent gene ontology clustering revealed that the Mox phenotype was characterized by abundant overrepresentation of Nrf2-mediated expression of redox-regulatory genes. In macrophages isolated from Nrf2−/− mice, oxidized phospholipid-induced gene expression and regulation of redox status were compromised. Moreover, we found that Mox macrophages comprise 30% of all macrophages in advanced atherosclerotic lesions of low-density lipoprotein receptor knockout (LDLR−/−) mice. Conclusions: Together, we identify Nrf2 as a key regulator in the formation of a novel macrophage phenotype (Mox) that develops in response to oxidative tissue damage. The unique biological properties of Mox macrophages suggest this phenotype may play an important role in atherosclerotic lesion development as well as in other settings of chronic inflammation.
Controlling Tiny Multi-Scale Robots for Nerve Repair

We designed and evaluated multiagent control for microscopic robots ("nanorobots") aiding the surgical repair of damaged nerve cells. This repair operates on both nerves as a whole, at scales of hundreds of microns, and individual nerve cell axons, at scales of about a micron. We match the robots to these sizes using a combination of microelectomechanical (MEMS) machines for the larger operations and nanorobots for operations on individual cells. Muitiagent control allows accurate and rapid repair with such robots, with only modest computational and communication requirements for the nanorobots, a significant benefit due to their physical limitations. Our simulations, using physical parameters dictated by nerve biology and plausible nanorobotic capabilities, show how specific control choices lead to trade-offs in clinical outcome. Beyond the specific example of nerve repair treated here, multi-scale robots could aid a variety of medical and biological tasks involving both the large scale of organs or tissues and the microscopic scale of individual cells.
Outcomes After Coronary Stent Implantation in Patients With Metal Allergy

Background— Clinical outcomes after stent placement in patients with a history of metal allergy remain incompletely understood. We performed a single-center retrospective study to evaluate such outcomes. Methods and Results— Twenty-nine allergic patients who underwent coronary stent implantation were compared with a nonallergic group (n=250) matched for demographics and a propensity score for allergy to metal. Hypersensitivity to nickel was reported in 26 of 29 and chromium in 9 of 29. Patch testing performed in 11 of 29 patients was positive in all. Comparing allergy versus control subjects, there were no differences in number of segments treated (1.4±0.7 versus 1.5±0.7), stents placed (1.7±1.1 versus 1.6±0.9), and frequency of drug-eluting stent usage (52% versus 60%). In-hospital death (0% versus 0%), myocardial infarction (MI, 4% versus 3%, P=0.27), and 30-day death (3% versus 0%, P=0.53) and MI (3% versus 4%, P=0.71) were statistically similar. There were no differences in 4-year death (12% versus 13%), target lesion revascularization (TLR, 13 versus 17%, P=0.54), or death/MI/TLR (24% versus 34%, P=0.20). Clinically driven repeat angiography in 12 of 29 allergy patients revealed binary restenosis rates of 27% in bare metal stents and 0% in drug-eluting stents, with mean diameter in-stent restenosis of 36% and 8%, respectively. There was no change in circulating eosinophil and lymphocyte counts after stenting in the allergy group (0.19–0.20, P=0.67, and 1.90–1.79, P=0.59, respectively). Conclusions— A history of metal allergy was not associated with adverse early or late outcomes in this single-center study.
Managing Organizational Crises in the Light of Political Unrest : The "Gulf Agency Company" Egypt Case

Background: The field of crisis management has been researched extensively in the last two decades, with a focus on man-made organizational crises in large corporations (Mitroff et al., 2001; Pearson et al., 1993; Weick, 1988). Crises, as phenomena, are very complex events with a low probability of occurrence (Pearson et al., 1998), which subsume multiple layers in their construction causes and manifestation. In the recent years, the number of crises has increased dramatically, with either natural, technological or human causes and each of us can name at least a few dozen examples. Crises are no longer an aberrant, rare, random, or peripheral feature of today’s society. They are built into the very fabric and fiber of modern societies" (Mitroff et al., 2001, p.5). Aim: The purpose of the present research paper is to enhance the understanding of the importance of crisis management for organizations, where the crisis can be triggered by a political unrest situation. Our empirical study will address the issues of how the Gulf Agency Company Egypt team identified, responded and learned from the organizational crisis they were faced with, due to protests against the formal regime of Hosni Mubarak, in the beginning of 2011. Methodology: The goal of our research paper is firstly using existing theory and previous knowledge which will serve as the bricks of our academic construction. Further on, the GAC Egypt case study will be the principal empirical tool that will support and prove or contrast the theoretical roots. In this way, we plan to make use of already existing theory, while in return bringing our own contribution by our results and empirical findings. Completion and results: Our results entail that there are numerous gaps between what the literature on crisis management presents and the organizational procedures in GAC Egypt. In this respect, our findings lead us to notice the absence of an official crisis management plan, minimal perception of credible early signals, weak top management support correlated with a high degree of employee empowerment, as well as the learning outcomes for the organization.
SISO linear system control via saturating actuator: L2 tracking performance in the presence of arbitrary-shaped inputs

Most studies on linear system control in the presence of actuator saturation have focused on closed-loop asymptotic stabilisation. Available tracking results are generally limited to constraint-compatible inputs (references, disturbances) with known exogenous input models. The problem of output-reference tracking in the presence of arbitrary-shaped not necessarily constraint-compatible inputs has yet to be investigated. In this study, we show that an tracking performance is achievable for SISO linear systems using a given class of saturated controllers. Accordingly, the tracking error energy (resp. power) is bounded by the energy (resp. power) of a well-defined mismatch input depending on the disturbance and reference compatibility. In the disturbance-free case, this entails perfect asymptotic tracking of arbitrary-shaped constraint-compatible reference signals. Otherwise, the average tracking quality is proportional to the mismatch input power. In the case of periodic inputs (constraint-compatible or not), all system signals are shown to be periodic with the same period as the inputs.
Dissociating speech perception and comprehension at reduced levels of awareness

We used functional MRI and the anesthetic agent propofol to assess the relationship among neural responses to speech, successful comprehension, and conscious awareness. Volunteers were scanned while listening to sentences containing ambiguous words, matched sentences without ambiguous words, and signal-correlated noise (SCN). During three scanning sessions, participants were nonsedated (awake), lightly sedated (a slowed response to conversation), and deeply sedated (no conversational response, rousable by loud command). Bilateral temporal-lobe responses for sentences compared with signal-correlated noise were observed at all three levels of sedation, although prefrontal and premotor responses to speech were absent at the deepest level of sedation. Additional inferior frontal and posterior temporal responses to ambiguous sentences provide a neural correlate of semantic processes critical for comprehending sentences containing ambiguous words. However, this additional response was absent during light sedation, suggesting a marked impairment of sentence comprehension. A significant decline in postscan recognition memory for sentences also suggests that sedation impaired encoding of sentences into memory, with left inferior frontal and temporal lobe responses during light sedation predicting subsequent recognition memory. These findings suggest a graded degradation of cognitive function in response to sedation such that “higher-level” semantic and mnemonic processes can be impaired at relatively low levels of sedation, whereas perceptual processing of speech remains resilient even during deep sedation. These results have important implications for understanding the relationship between speech comprehension and awareness in the healthy brain in patients receiving sedation and in patients with disorders of consciousness.
Tackling the Bi-criteria Facet of Multiple Traveling Salesman Problem with Ant Colony Systems

The single-depot multiple TSP (SD-MTSP) is a simple extension of the standard TSP, in which more than one salesman is allowed to visit the set of interconnected cities, such that each city is visited exactly once (by a single salesman) and the total cost of the traveled subtours is minimized. Although Ant Colony Systems (ACSs) are a natural choice for shortest-path problems, with TSP at its core, the application of ACS on this straightforward extension is not properly explored. The reasons may lie in the bi-criteria nature of the problem (shortest cost versus balanced subtours) and the lack of dedicated benchmarks exposing optimal solutions. This paper attempts at proposing and evaluating from a bi-criteria perspective several multi-objective ACSs to tackle SD-MTSP when two objectives need to be simultaneously optimized: minimizing the total cost of traveled subtours while achieving balanced subtours. Experiments are conducted towards investigating the efficiency of the algorithms in a multi-objective setting.
SNP/RD Typing of Mycobacterium tuberculosis Beijing Strains Reveals Local and Worldwide Disseminated Clonal Complexes

The Beijing strain is one of the most successful genotypes of Mycobacterium tuberculosis worldwide and appears to be highly homogenous according to existing genotyping methods. To type Beijing strains reliably we developed a robust typing scheme using single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and regions of difference (RDs) derived from whole-genome sequencing data of eight Beijing strains. SNP/RD typing of 259 M. tuberculosis isolates originating from 45 countries worldwide discriminated 27 clonal complexes within the Beijing genotype family. A total of 16 Beijing clonal complexes contained more than one isolate of known origin, of which two clonal complexes were strongly associated with South African origin. The remaining 14 clonal complexes encompassed isolates from different countries. Even highly resolved clonal complexes comprised isolates from distinct geographical sites. Our results suggest that Beijing strains spread globally on multiple occasions and that the tuberculosis epidemic caused by the Beijing genotype is at least partially driven by modern migration patterns. The SNPs and RDs presented in this study will facilitate future molecular epidemiological and phylogenetic studies on Beijing strains.
Exploring the design space of graphical passwords on smartphones

Smartphones have emerged as a likely application area for graphical passwords, because they are easier to input on touchscreens than text passwords. Extensive research on graphical passwords and the capabilities of modern smartphones result in a complex design space for graphical password schemes on smartphones. We analyze and describe this design space in detail. In the process, we identify and highlight interrelations between usability and security characteristics, available design features, and smartphone capabilities. We further show the expressiveness and utility of the design space in the development of graphical passwords schemes by implementing five different existing graphical password schemes on one smartphone platform. We performed usability and shoulder surfing experiments with the implemented schemes to validate identified relations in the design space. From our results, we derive a number of helpful insights and guidelines for the design of graphical passwords.
An Empirical Assessment of Service Quality and its Relationship with Customer Loyalty Evidence from the Telecom Sector of Pakistan

An attempt has been made to address the service quality gaps in the telecom sector of Pakistan as well as interrelations of service quality attributes with customer loyalty. Based on applicability and suitability in different industries, SERVQUAL scale has been used in this study to measure the current service level of telecom companies operating in Pakistan and areas where gaps exist in their service quality. Convenient sampling has been used and data collected through questionnaire with sample size of 146 respondents from Bahauddin Zikariya University, Multan, which then analyzed by SPSS 16. Results showed that gaps exist between customer perceptions and their expectations. Major gap exist in network dimension followed by responsiveness and reliability. A correlation analysis was carried out showing positive significant relationships between service quality attributes and customer loyalty. Managerial implications and future research directions are discussed.
The vegetative state

Preface 1. A syndrome in search of a name 2. Diagnosis 3. Epidemiology - frequency and causes 4. Pathology of the brain damage 5. Prognosis for recovery and survival 6. Attitudes to the permanent vegetative state 7. Medical management 8. Ethical issues 9. Legal issues in the USA 10. Legal issues in Britain 11. Legal issues in other countries 12. Details of some landmark cases Index.
Epistemic logics for sceptical agents

In this article, we introduce an epistemic modal operator modelling knowledge over distributive non-associative full Lambek calculus with a negation. Our approach is based on the relational semantics for substructural logics: we interpret the elements of a relational frame as information states consisting of collections of data. The principal epistemic relation between the states is the one of being a reliable source of information, on the basis of which we explicate the notion of knowledge as information confirmed by a reliable source. From this point of view it is natural to define the epistemic operator formally as the backward-looking diamond modality. The framework is a generalization and extension of the system of relevant epistemic logic proposed by Majer and Peliš (2009, college Publications, 123–135) and developed by Bílková et al. (2010, college Publications, 22–38). The system is modular in the sense that the axiomatization of the epistemic operator is sound and complete with respect to a wide class of background logics, which makes the system potentially applicable to a wide class of epistemic contexts. Our system admits a weak form of logical omniscience (the monotonicity rule), but avoids stronger ones (a necessitation rule and a K-axiom) as well as some closure properties discussed in normal epistemic logics (like positive and negative introspection). For these properties we provide characteristic frame conditions, so that they can be present in the system if they are considered to be appropriate for some specific epistemic context. We also prove decidability of the weakest epistemic logic we consider, using a filtration method. Finally, we outline further extensions of our framework to a multiagent