Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Orofacial functions and oral health associated with Treacher Collins syndrome

Abstract Objective. The aim of this study was to describe orofacial features and functions and oral health associated with Treacher Collins syndrome (TCS) in relation to the variable phenotypic expression of the condition. Materials and methods. The Nordic Orofacial Test-Screening (NOT-S), MHC Questionnaire, MHC Observation chart and clinical examinations of nasal and pharyngeal conditions and chewing and swallowing function were used to assess 19 individuals aged 5–74 years (median 34 years). TCS severity scores were calculated by a clinical geneticist. Results. Orofacial features characterizing the study group were altered profile, increased mandibular angle, narrow hypopharynx and facial asymmetry. Basic orofacial functions such as breathing, eating, facial expression and speech were affected in all subjects demonstrating orofacial dysfunction in at least two NOT-S domains (median NOT-S total score 4/12, range 2–7). Significant correlation was found between the TCS severity scores reflecting phenotypic expression and the NOT-S total scores reflecting orofacial function. Self-reported experience of dry oral mucosa was common. Overall, dental health was good with few carious lesions diagnosed, but considerable need for orthodontic treatment was documented. Conclusions. Altered orofacial features and functions in TCS are common and often persist into late adolescence and adulthood. The functional level was correlated with the phenotypic variability of the condition. The standard of oral health was satisfactory. The findings indicated that individuals with TCS are likely to require lifelong health services related to their oral condition.
Dynamic and volumetric variables of fluid responsiveness fail during immediate postresuscitation period*

Objective:Fluid therapy after resuscitation from cardiac arrest is challenging since both hypovolemia and fluid overload may cause circulatory failure. Therefore, prediction of fluid responsiveness is a major issue in optimizing hemodynamic therapy. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the performance of stroke volume variation, pulse pressure variation, variation of Doppler-derived velocity time integral, and global end-diastolic volume index to predict fluid responsiveness in the postcardiac arrest period. Design:Prospective animal study. Setting:University-affiliated research laboratory. Subjects:Twenty anesthetized and ventilated Goettinger minipigs. Intervention:Animals were equipped with a central venous catheter, a thermistor-tipped arterial catheter, and a transesophageal echo probe. Electrically induced cardiac arrest of 8 mins was followed by cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Hemodynamic measurements were performed before and after a two-step fluid bolus at baseline and both 1 and 4 hrs after return of spontaneous circulation. Fluid responsiveness was defined by an increase in stroke volume of at least 15%. Performance of variables was analyzed using receiver operator characteristics analysis. Measurement and Main Results:Variables reliably indicated fluid responsiveness at baseline. Fifteen animals were successfully resuscitated. Left ventricular ejection fraction was significantly reduced 1 hr after return of spontaneous circulation (52.6% ± 6.4%; p < .01) compared with baseline (69.9% ± 5.3%). One hour after return of spontaneous circulation, fluid responsiveness could not be predicted by any variable. In contrast, pulse pressure variation, variation of the velocity time integral, and global end-diastolic volume index, but not stroke volume variation, were able to predict fluid responsiveness 4 hrs after return of spontaneous circulation, since area under the curve was 0.85 (p < .01), 0.94 (p < .01), 0.77 (p = .02), and 0.68 (p = .12), respectively. Conclusions:Prediction of fluid responsiveness failed 1 hr after successful cardiopulmonary resuscitation from cardiac arrest. Four hours after return of spontaneous circulation, however, the variables pulse pressure variation, variation of the velocity time integral, and global end-diastolic volume index, but not stroke volume variation, enabled prediction of fluid responsiveness and may, therefore, be considered for subsequent hemodynamic optimization after successful cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
Towards Privacy-Preserving Storage and Retrieval in Multiple Clouds

Cloud computing is growing exponentially, whereby there are now hundreds of cloud service providers (CSPs) of various sizes. While the cloud consumers may enjoy cheaper data storage and computation offered in this multi-cloud environment, they are also in face of more complicated reliability issues and privacy preservation problems of their outsourced data. Though searchable encryption allows users to encrypt their stored data while preserving some search capabilities, few efforts have sought to consider the reliability of the searchable encrypted data outsourced to the clouds. In this paper, we propose a privacy-preserving STorage and REtrieval (STRE) mechanism that not only ensures security and privacy but also provides reliability guarantees for the outsourced searchable encrypted data. The STRE mechanism enables the cloud users to distribute and search their encrypted data across multiple independent clouds managed by different CSPs, and is robust even when a certain number of CSPs crash. Besides the reliability, STRE also offers the benefit of partially hidden search pattern. We evaluate the STRE mechanism on Amazon EC2 using a real world dataset and the results demonstrate both effectiveness and efficiency of our approach.
TFM classification and staging of oral submucous fibrosis: A new proposal.

Dr Rai states that the burning sensation has only been included in the F1 category when it is present in both early and advanced cases, and therefore suggests including it in all the stages. There is evidence in the literature that the burning sensation is a specific parameter of onset of OSMF.2, 3 However, its significance as an indicator of severity of fibrosis is not well established since advanced fibrosis and the associate trismus restrict dietary intake and patients may avoid any food which causes burning mucosa. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Can Family Planning Service Statistics Be Used to Track Population-Level Outcomes?

Estimates of the modern contraceptive prevalence rate (mCPR), a population-level indicator, that are derived directly from family planning service statistics lack sufficient accuracy to serve as stand-alone substitutes for survey-based estimates. However, data on contraceptive commodities distributed to clients, family planning service visits, and current users tend to track trends in mCPR fairly accurately and, when combined with survey data in new tools, can be used to approximate the annual mCPR in the absence of annual surveys. Estimates of the modern contraceptive prevalence rate (mCPR), a population-level indicator, that are derived directly from family planning service statistics lack sufficient accuracy to serve as stand-alone substitutes for survey-based estimates. However, data on contraceptive commodities distributed to clients, family planning service visits, and current users tend to track trends in mCPR fairly accurately and, when combined with survey data in new tools, can be used to approximate the annual mCPR in the absence of annual surveys. The need for annual family planning program tracking data under the Family Planning 2020 (FP2020) initiative has contributed to renewed interest in family planning service statistics as a potential data source for annual estimates of the modern contraceptive prevalence rate (mCPR). We sought to assess (1) how well a set of commonly recorded data elements in routine service statistics systems could, with some fairly simple adjustments, track key population-level outcome indicators, and (2) whether some data elements performed better than others. We used data from 22 countries in Africa and Asia to analyze 3 data elements collected from service statistics: (1) number of contraceptive commodities distributed to clients, (2) number of family planning service visits, and (3) number of current contraceptive users. Data quality was assessed via analysis of mean square errors, using the United Nations Population Division World Contraceptive Use annual mCPR estimates as the “gold standard. ” We also examined the magnitude of several components of measurement error: (1) variance, (2) level bias, and (3) slope (or trend) bias. Our results indicate modest levels of tracking error for data on commodities to clients (7%) and service visits (10%), and somewhat higher error rates for data on current users (19%). Variance and slope bias were relatively small for all data elements. Level bias was by far the largest contributor to tracking error. Paired comparisons of data elements in countries that collected at least 2 of the 3 data elements indicated a modest advantage of data on commodities to clients. None of the data elements considered was sufficiently accurate to be used to produce reliable stand-alone annual estimates of mCPR. However, the relatively low levels of variance and slope bias indicate that trends calculated from these 3 data elements can be productively used in conjunction with the Family Planning Estimation Tool (FPET) currently used to produce annual mCPR tracking estimates for FP2020.
Characterizing Speech Intelligibility in Noise After Wide Dynamic Range Compression

Objectives: The effects of nonlinear signal processing on speech intelligibility in noise are difficult to evaluate. Often, the effects are examined by comparing speech intelligibility scores with and without processing measured at fixed signal to noise ratios (SNRs) or by comparing the adaptive measured speech reception thresholds corresponding to 50% intelligibility (SRT50) with and without processing. These outcome measures might not be optimal. Measuring at fixed SNRs can be affected by ceiling or floor effects, because the range of relevant SNRs is not know in advance. The SRT50 is less time consuming, has a fixed performance level (i.e., 50% correct), but the SRT50 could give a limited view, because we hypothesize that the effect of most nonlinear signal processing algorithms at the SRT50 cannot be generalized to other points of the psychometric function. Design: In this article, we tested the value of estimating the entire psychometric function. We studied the effect of wide dynamic range compression (WDRC) on speech intelligibility in stationary, and interrupted speech-shaped noise in normal-hearing subjects, using a fast method-based local linear fitting approach and by two adaptive procedures. Results: The measured performance differences for conditions with and without WDRC for the psychometric functions in stationary noise and interrupted speech-shaped noise show that the effects of WDRC on speech intelligibility are SNR dependent. Conclusions: We conclude that favorable and unfavorable effects of WDRC on speech intelligibility can be missed if the results are presented in terms of SRT50 values only.
Therapeutic Potential of Oridonin and Its Analogs: From Anticancer and Antiinflammation to Neuroprotection

Oridonin, a diterpenoid natural product commonly used in East Asian herbal medicine, is garnering increased attention in the biomedical community due to its extensive biological activities that include antitumor, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, hepatic fibrosis prevention, and neurological effects. Over the past decade, significant progress has been made in structure activity relationship and mechanism of action studies of oridonin for the treatment of cancer and other diseases. This review provides a brief summary on oridonin and its analogs in cancer drug discovery and antiinflammation and highlights its emerging therapeutic potential in neuroprotection applications.
Zinc as a possible preventive and therapeutic agent in pancreatic, prostate, and breast cancer

Zinc is a vital nutrient for human health. Over 300 biological functions in the human body rely on zinc. Even though zinc is incredibly important for our physiology and pathology, our current understanding of zinc, as it relates to tumor cell biology, leaves much to be desired. As with other natural, nonpatentable, and inexpensive agents, zinc remains a subject of explorative research for scientific interest rather than being promoted for practical use. To date, more than 5000 studies with the keywords ‘zinc’ and ‘cancer’ have been indexed in the Web of Knowledge portal. Although the numbers of papers have increased 2.5-fold during the last decade, these vast research data have not generated a single recommendation for the incorporation of zinc use in cancer prevention and treatment. In this review, we intend to analyze the current available research data and epidemiological and clinical evidence on the role of zinc in human cancer prevention and treatment. We focus on the cancers – prostate, breast, and pancreatic – for which the most basic and epidemiological studies with zinc have been carried out. The pancreas, and prostate and mammary glands are secretory tissues that have unusual zinc requirements; they tightly regulate zinc metabolism through integration of zinc import, sequestration, and export mechanisms. This suggests to us that zinc could play an important role in the physiology and pathology of these organs. The objective of this review was to stimulate more interest in the research field, focusing on the role of zinc as a possible preventive and therapeutic agent and the accelerated application of this inexpensive and easily accessible nutrient in clinical oncology.
A proof-of-concept pilot randomized comparative trial of brief Internet-based compassionate mind training and cognitive-behavioral therapy for perinatal and intending to become pregnant women.

OBJECTIVE Depression is a prevalent and costly mental health problem that affects women as well as their larger communities, with substantial impacts on mother and infant during childbearing years. Face-to-face care has not adequately addressed this global concern due to difficulties in scaling these resources. Internet interventions, which can provide psychological tools to those lacking adequate access, show promise in filling this void. METHOD We conducted a 2-condition proof-of-concept pilot randomized trial comparing brief Internet-based cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) and brief Internet-based compassionate mind training (CMT) for women who are currently pregnant, became pregnant within the last year, and intend to become pregnant in the future. RESULTS We found that, although CMT and CBT demonstrated near equivalence in improving affect, self-reassurance, self-criticism, and self-compassion, CMT showed superiority to CBT in reducing depression and anxiety symptoms. CONCLUSION These findings provide a compelling initial argument for the use of CMT as an avenue for addressing problems associated with negative affect. Implications, limitations, and future directions along this line of research will also be discussed.
Scalable mining for classification rules in relational databases

Classification is a key function of many business intelligence toolkits and a fundamental building block in data mining. Immense data may be needed to train a classifier for good accuracy. The state-of-art classifiers need an in-memory data structure of size O(N), where N is the size of the training data, to achieve efficiency. For large data sets, such a data structure will not fit in the internal memory. The best previously known classifier does a quadratic number of I/Os for large N. We propose a novel classification algorithm (classifier) called MIND (MINing in Databases). MIND can be phrased in such a way that its implementation is very easy using the extended relational calculus SQL, and this in turn allows the classifier to be built into a relational database system directly. MIND is truly scalable with respect to I/O efficiency, which is important since scalability is a key requirement for any data mining algorithm. We built a prototype of MIND in the relational database manager DB2 and benchmarked its performance. We describe the working prototype and report the measured performance with respect to the previous method of choice. MIND scales not only with the size of the datasets but also with the number of processors on an IBM SP2 computer system. Even on uniprocessors, MIND scales well beyond the dataset sizes previously published for classifiers. We also give some insights that may have an impact on the evolution of the extended relational calculus SQL.
Exploring indonesian young females online social networks (OSNs) addictions: a case study of mass communication female undergraduate students

In this paper, we explore the Indonesian young females' addictions to the use of Online Social Networks (OSNs). The study is based on phenomenal conditions where Online Social Networks have become a popular trend among Indonesian young generation, particularly young females. Indonesian young females have extravagantly used Online Social Networks as a platform for sharing information, demonstrate self-identity, and sustaining relationship. This condition also occurs in university context, where female students are often found busy working with Online Social Networks through their mobile phone. Based on those reasons, this study seeks to indicate factors indicate that Indonesian young females are so addicted to Online Social Networks usages. In addition, this recent study also figures out kinds of information regularly shared on Online Social Networks (OSNs) profiles. To obtain the findings, this study involved fifteen young female students from Mass Communication major as the respondents of the study. The data were gathered through semi-structured questionnaire distributed to the fifteen female students of Mass Communication. The results reveal that four major factors were leading these young females become addicted to Online Social Networks as Line, WhatsApp, and Facebook. Those factors were number of OSN groups joined, time-spent using OSNs, number of friends in OSNs, and medias for accessing OSNs. Furthermore, the findings also declare that pictures, videos, and real names were top listed information shared by online through the social networks. By the end of the study, it is suggested that educators and parents should highly concern on the negative implications of young females' addictive behavior. For further research this study recommends to conduct a similar study to different gender as male students in order to investigate their major causes of addiction to Online Social Networks.
Hybridization and emergence of virulence in opportunistic human yeast pathogens

Hybridization between different species can result in the emergence of new lineages and adaptive phenotypes. Occasionally, hybridization in fungal organisms can drive the appearance of opportunistic lifestyles or shifts to new hosts, resulting in the emergence of novel pathogens. In recent years, an increasing number of studies have documented the existence of hybrids in diverse yeast clades, including some comprising human pathogens. Comparative and population genomics studies performed on these clades are enabling us to understand what roles hybridization may play in the evolution and emergence of a virulence potential towards humans. Here we survey recent genomic studies on several yeast pathogenic clades where hybrids have been identified, and discuss the broader implications of hybridization in the evolution and emergence of pathogenic lineages. © 2017 The Authors. Yeast published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Full molecular trajectories of RNA polymerase at single base-pair resolution

Significance Optical tweezers enable scientists to follow the dynamics of molecular motors at high resolution. The ability to discern a motor’s discrete steps reveals important insights on its operation. Some motors operate at the scale of angstroms, rendering the observation of their steps extremely challenging. In some cases, such small steps have been observed sporadically; however, the full molecular trajectories of steps and intervals between steps remain elusive due to instrumental noise. Here, we eliminate the main source of noise of most high-resolution dual-trap optical tweezers and developed both a single-molecule assay and a self-learning algorithm to uncover the full trajectories of such a motor: RNA polymerase. Using this method, a whole new set of experiments becomes possible. In recent years, highly stable optical tweezers systems have enabled the characterization of the dynamics of molecular motors at very high resolution. However, the motion of many motors with angstrom-scale dynamics cannot be consistently resolved due to poor signal-to-noise ratio. Using an acousto-optic deflector to generate a “time-shared” dual-optical trap, we decreased low-frequency noise by more than one order of magnitude compared with conventional dual-trap optical tweezers. Using this instrument, we implemented a protocol that synthesizes single base-pair trajectories, which are used to test a Large State Space Hidden Markov Model algorithm to recover their individual steps. We then used this algorithm on real transcription data obtained in the same instrument to fully uncover the molecular trajectories of Escherichia coli RNA polymerase. We applied this procedure to reveal the effect of pyrophosphate on the distribution of dwell times between consecutive polymerase steps.
Comparison of health care expenditures among insured users and nonusers of complementary and alternative medicine in Washington State: a cost minimization analysis.

OBJECTIVES The purpose of this analysis was to compare health care expenditures between insured patients with back pain, fibromyalgia syndrome, or menopause symptoms who used complementary and alternative medical (CAM) providers for some of their care to a matched group of patients who did not use any CAM care. Insurance coverage was equivalent for both conventional and CAM providers. DESIGN Insurance claims data for 2000-2003 from Washington State, which mandates coverage of CAM providers, were analyzed. CAM-using patients were matched to CAM-nonusing patients based on age group, gender, index medical condition, overall disease burden, and prior-year expenditures. RESULTS Both unadjusted tests and linear regression models indicated that CAM users had lower average expenditures than nonusers. (Unadjusted: $3,797 versus $4,153, p = 0.0001; beta from linear regression -$367 for CAM users.) CAM users had higher outpatient expenditures that which were offset by lower inpatient and imaging expenditures. The largest difference was seen in the patients with the heaviest disease burdens among whom CAM users averaged $1,420 less than nonusers, p < 0.0001, which more than offset slightly higher average expenditures of $158 among CAM users with lower disease burdens. CONCLUSIONS This analysis indicates that among insured patients with back pain, fibromyalgia, and menopause symptoms, after minimizing selection bias by matching patients who use CAM providers to those who do not, those who use CAM will have lower insurance expenditures than those who do not use CAM.