Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Multireader assessment as an alternative to reference assessment to improve the detection of radiographic progression in a large longitudinal cohort of rheumatoid arthritis (ESPOIR)

Introduction Structural damage progression is a major outcome in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Its evaluation and follow-up in trials should involve radiographic scoring by 1 or 2 readers (reference assessment), which is challenging in large longitudinal cohorts with multiple assessments. Objectives To compare the reproducibility of multireader and reference assessment to improve the feasibility of detecting radiographic progression in a large cohort of patients with early arthritis (ESPOIR). Methods We used 3 sessions to train 12 rheumatologists in radiographic scoring by the van der Heijde-modified Sharp score (SHS). Multireader scoring was based on 10 trained-reader assessments, each reader scoring a random sample of 1/5 of all available radiographs (for double scoring for each X-ray set) for patients included in the ESPOIR cohort with complete radiographic data at M0 and M60. Reference scoring was performed by 2 experienced readers. Scoring was performed blindly to clinical data, with radiographs in chronological order. We compared multireader and reference assessments by intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) for SHS and significant radiographic progression (SRP). Results The intrareader and inter-reader reproducibility for trained assessors increased during the training sessions (ICC 0.79 to 0.94 and 0.76 to 0.92), respectively. For the 524 patients included, agreement between multireader and reference assessment of SHS progression between M0 and M60 and SRP assessment were almost perfect, ICC (0.88 (95% CI 0.82 to 0.93)) and (0.99 (95% CI 0.99 to 0.99)), respectively. Conclusions Multireader assessment of radiographic structural damage progression is comparable to reference assessment and could be used to improve the feasibility of radiographic scoring in large longitudinal cohort with numerous X-ray evaluations.
Association of young maternal age with adverse reproductive outcomes.

BACKGROUND Pregnancy in adolescence is associated with an excess risk of poor outcomes, including low birth weight and prematurity. Whether this association simply reflects the deleterious sociodemographic environment of most pregnant teenagers or whether biologic immaturity is also causally implicated is not known. METHODS To determine whether a young age confers an intrinsic risk of adverse outcomes of pregnancy, we performed stratified analyses of 134,088 white girls and women, 13 to 24 years old, in Utah who delivered singleton, first-born children between 1970 and 1990. Relative risk for subgroups of this study population was examined to eliminate the confounding influence of marital status, educational level, and the adequacy of prenatal care. The adjusted relative risk for the entire study group was calculated as the weighted average of the stratum-specific risks. RESULTS Among white married mothers with educational levels appropriate for their ages who received adequate prenatal care, younger teenage mothers (13 to 17 years of age) had a significantly higher risk (P < 0.001) than mothers who were 20 to 24 years of age of delivering an infant who had low birth weight (relative risk, 1.7; 95 percent confidence interval, 1.5 to 2.0), who was delivered prematurely (relative risk, 1.9; 95 percent confidence interval, 1.7 to 2.1), or who was small for gestational age (relative risk, 1.3; 95 percent confidence interval, 1.2 to 1.4). Older teenage mothers (18 or 19 years of age) also had a significant increase in these risks. Even though sociodemographic variables associated with teenage pregnancy increase the risk of adverse outcomes, the relative risk remained significantly elevated for both younger and older teenage mothers after adjustment for marital status, level of education, and adequacy of prenatal care. CONCLUSIONS In a study of mothers 13 to 24 years old who had the characteristics of most white, middle-class Americans, a younger age conferred an increased risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes that was independent of important confounding sociodemographic factors.
Proximal ischemia is a frequent cause of exercise-induced pain in patients with a normal ankle to brachial index at rest.

BACKGROUND Excluding a vascular origin of exercise-related pain is often difficult in clinical practice. Recent papers have underlined the frequent association of concurrent lumbar spine degenerative disease and peripheral arterial disease. Furthermore, even when suspected, isolated exercise-induced proximal ischemia is difficult to diagnose. Measurement of transcutaneous oxygen pressure (tcpO2) is an interesting and accurate method to differentiate proximal (buttock) from distal (calf) regional blood flow impairment (RBFI) during exercise. OBJECTIVES We searched for isolated proximal-without-distal RBFI as a possible cause of claudication, in patients with borderline (ABI-b: 0.91 - 0.99) or normal (ABI-n: 1.00 to 1.40) ankle to brachial index at rest. STUDY DESIGN Retrospective cohort design study. We analyzed patients referred to our laboratory with symptom limiting claudication and an ankle brachial index within normal limits. SETTING University-based exercise-investigation center. METHODS Over a 12-year period, we identified 463 patients referred to our laboratory that had their lowest resting ABI between 0.90 and 1.40. The tcpO2 on chest, buttocks, and calves were recorded during treadmill walking tests (3.2 km/h, 10% slope) in 220 ABI-b and 243 ABI-n unique consecutive patients complaining of limiting claudication (each patient's ABI was the lowest of the 2 legs). Limiting claudication was defined as the reported inability to walk 1 kilometer without stopping. A DROP index (limb tcpO2-changes minus chest tcpO2-changes from rest) below -15 mmHg was used to indicate a positive result (i.e. exercise-induced RBFI). RESULTS Treadmill exercise showed evidence for proximal or distal RBFI, of at least one side, in 128 out of 220 patients (58.2%) and in 86 out of 243 (35.4%) patients with ABI-b and ABI-n, respectively. Isolated proximal-without-distal RBFI was found in 32 out of the 128 (25.0 %) positive tests in ABI-b and 32 out of the 86 (37.2%) positive tests in ABI-n patients. LIMITATIONS Study limitations include the absence of systematic follow-up of diagnosed patients and absence of systematic search for cardio-respiratory co-morbid conditions. CONCLUSION Isolated proximal-without distal RBFI is found in approximately one out of 7 patients complaining of symptom limiting claudication with a borderline or normal resting ABI. Exercise-tcpO2 may help to discriminate patients with arterial claudication that could benefit from invasive vascular investigations and procedures.
Sensitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for detection of Clostridium botulinum neurotoxins A, B, and E using signal amplification via enzyme-linked coagulation assay

A new immunoassay amplification method has been applied to the measurement of toxins A, B, and E from Clostridium botulinum. The technique is a modified enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) which relies on the detection of sandwich complexes on microtiter plates by a solid-phase coagulation assay known as ELCA, or enzyme-linked coagulation assay. In the method, a coagulation activating enzyme (RVV-XA) isolated from the venom of Russell's viper is conjugated to affinity-purified horse antibodies specific for toxin type A, B, or E. Plates are coated with affinity-purified antibodies, and standard captag (capture-tag) protocols using labeled antibody are employed to bind the toxin from solution. Complexes are detected by adding a modified plasma substrate which contains all the coagulation factors mixed with alkaline phosphatase-labeled fibrinogen and solid-phase fibrinogen; deposition of solid-phase, enzyme-labeled fibrin on the solid phase is then a reflection of formation of toxin-RVV-XA-antibody complexes on the solid phase. Because of the ability to detect RVV-XA by this coagulation assay at concentrations < 0.1 pg/ml, it was possible to measure C. botulinum toxins A, B, and E at mouse bioassay levels (< 10 pg/ml, or < 0.07 pM) for both purified neurotoxin and crude culture filtrates obtained from strains known to produce appropriate single toxins. ELISA-ELCA should be applicable to measurement of toxins in most of the materials (contaminated food, blood, and excreta) for which the comparably sensitive mouse bioassay is currently employed. This method has the potential of broad application to the measurement of low concentrations of any antigen for which appropriate immunochemical reagents are available, in a color test format.
Functional interpretation and modified realizability interpretation of the double-negation shift

In this paper, we investigate the relationship between the functional, resp. the modified realizability, interpretation of finite and infinite variants of the double-negation shift. The aim of these investigations is to compare and gain a better understanding of the existing (bar-recursive) interpretations of the full, infinite double-negation shift. In particular, we obtain a new modified realizability interpretation of the double-negation shift that is derived by extending a corresponding interpretation (derived from a simple proof of) the intuitionistic principle ¬¬P0 ∧ ¬¬P1 → ¬¬(P0 ∧ P1) to the infinite case.
Classifying a Person’s Degree of Accessibility From Natural Body Language During Social Human–Robot Interactions

For social robots to be successfully integrated and accepted within society, they need to be able to interpret human social cues that are displayed through natural modes of communication. In particular, a key challenge in the design of social robots is developing the robot's ability to recognize a person's affective states (emotions, moods, and attitudes) in order to respond appropriately during social human-robot interactions (HRIs). In this paper, we present and discuss social HRI experiments we have conducted to investigate the development of an accessibility-aware social robot able to autonomously determine a person's degree of accessibility (rapport, openness) toward the robot based on the person's natural static body language. In particular, we present two one-on-one HRI experiments to: 1) determine the performance of our automated system in being able to recognize and classify a person's accessibility levels and 2) investigate how people interact with an accessibility-aware robot which determines its own behaviors based on a person's speech and accessibility levels.
The effects of multidisciplinary rehabilitation in patients with early‐to‐middle‐stage Huntington's disease: a pilot study

Despite advances in the understanding of Huntington's disease (HD), treatment remains symptomatic. Multidisciplinary rehabilitation, however, appears to impact disease progression. Here we show the feasibility, safety and efficacy of a 9‐month multidisciplinary rehabilitation programme in a small cohort of patients with early‐to‐middle‐stage HD.
Formulation and nutritional evaluation of weaning food processed from cooking banana, supplemented with cowpea and peanut

The possibility of processing a ready-to-eat nutrient-rich weaning food (WF) for infants within the age group of 0.5–0.9 years from cooking banana fortified with popular and affordable legumes (cowpea and peanut) was investigated with the aid of computer software and available technology in Nigeria. A composite of 47% cowpea, 40% ripe banana, and 13% peanut was processed, analyzed to compare the actual nutrient composition to that predicted by the software and that of two popular commercial WFs produced by Gerber Products Company: rice with banana (RB) and oats with banana (OB). Proximate composition was determined by Association of Official Analytical Chemists (AOAC) methods, in vitro digestibility by the pH drop method, and amino acid was determined using high performance liquid chromatography. Essential amino acid values were comparable to the predicted values. Protein and oil contents had values of 16.89% and 8.38%, 6.9% and 1.10%, and 12.03% and 3.16% for WF, RB, and OB, respectively. Octadecenoic (oleic) acid had the highest value of 3.65% followed by octadecadienoic (linoleic) acid with a value of 2.64% amounting to 76.69% of the total fatty acid. Total sugar content of WF was recorded as 15.96 g/100 g, with fructose having the highest value of 8.07 g/100 g, followed by dextrose with a value of 7.66 g/100 g. In vitro-digestibility was in the order OB>WF>RB. The results show that it is feasible to produce precooked WF which has the potential to meet the nutritional needs of an infant, from local staples using computer-assisted technique and inexpensive technology available in Nigeria.
ANSWERING SYSTEMS : AN INDISPENSABLE REQUIREMENT FOR SEARCHING IN DATABASES

The conventional relational database management systems (RDBMSs) are not flexible enough to support vague retrieval capabilities directly. That means when available data in a relational database do not match a user’s query precisely, the conventional RDBMSs will only return an empty result set to the user. This limits their applicability to domains where only crisp answers are meaningful. For many other application domains in the commercial world nowadays, however, the users also expect not only crisp results returned but also some other results close to the query in a certain sense. This capability of the applications is particularly very important as well for modern information retrieval systems in the digital age. In this paper, we discuss the lack and the need of supporting vague retrieval capabilities in the existing RDBMSs, introduce some previous prominent researches related to this topic in both the conventional RDBMSs and modern information retrieval systems; and eventually, we will present our most recent achievements in this field as well as introducing topics of interest for future researches.
Structure-Significant Representation of Structured Datasets

Numerical simulation of physical phenomena is an accepted way of scientific inquiry. However, the field is still evolving, with a profusion of new solution and grid generation techniques being continuously proposed. Concurrent and retrospective visualization are being used to validate the results. There is a need for representation schemes which allow access of structures in an increasing order of smoothness. We describe our methods on datasets obtained from curvilinear grids. Our target application required visualization of a computational simulation performed on a very remote supercomputer. Since no grid adaptation was performed, it was not deemed necessary to simplify or compress the grid. Inherent to the identification of significant structures is determining the location of the scale coherent structures and assigning saliency values to them. Scale coherent structures are obtained as a result of combining the coefficients of a wavelet transform across scales. The result of this operation is a correlation mask that delineates regions containing significant structures. A spatial subdivision is used to delineate regions of interest. The mask values in these subdivided regions are used as a measure of information content. Later, another wavelet transform is conducted within each subdivided region and the coefficients are sorted based on a perceptual function with bandpass characteristics. This allows for ranking of structures based on the order of significance, giving rise to an adaptive and embedded representation scheme. We demonstrate our methods on two datasets from computational field simulations. We show how our methods allow the ranked access of significant structures. We also compare our adaptive representation scheme with a fixed blocksize scheme.
Heterogeneous fatty acid uptake early after reperfusion in rat hearts

Yamane, Yuriko, Nobumasa Ishide, Yutaka Kagaya, Daiya Takeyama, Nobuyuki Shiba, Masanobu Chida, Tetsuji Nozaki, Toshihiro Takahashi, Tatsuo Ido, and Kunio Shirato. Heterogeneous fatty acid uptake early after reperfusion in rat hearts. Am. J. Physiol. 274 (Heart Circ. Physiol. 43): H923–H929, 1998. —We determined whether spatial distributions of substrate uptake are heterogeneous within the area at risk during reperfusion. Quantitative autoradiography with imaging plates and two long-lived radioisotopes was applied to 15 open-chest, anesthetized rats subjected to 30 min of coronary artery ligation and 30 min of reperfusion. Regions showing increased b-methyl-[1-14C]heptadecanoic acid ([14C]BMHDA) uptake (166 6 17% of that in the nonischemic area) appeared at the lateral borders and subepicardial layer within the area at risk, and 2-deoxy-D-[13H]glucose ([3H]DG) uptake was 103 6 24% in these regions. Regions with decreased [14C]BMHDA uptake (28 6 11%) occupied the midmyocardial layer except at the lateral borders within the area at risk, and [3H]DG uptake was 62 6 18% in these regions. The percentage interregional coefficientsof variation (index of heterogeneity) in [14C]BMHDA uptake, [3H]DG uptake, and blood flow were higher in the area at risk than in the nonischemic area (76 6 23 vs. 21 6 7%, 39 6 10 vs. 21 6 7%, and 49 6 19 vs. 14 6 4%, respectively). Heterogeneous distributions of substrate uptake may explain the conflicting results concerning substrate metabolism during reperfusion.
Effect of Acidic Solution Viscosity on Enamel Erosion

The objective of this in vitro study was to investigate the effects of viscosity changes of different acidic solutions on dental erosion. Bovine enamel samples (n = 240, Ø = 3 mm) were embedded in acrylic resin and were allocated to 30 groups (n = 8). Citric acid (CA) and phosphoric acid (PA) solutions at pH 2.5, 3, and 3.5 were prepared in de-ionized water (titratable acidity to pH 5.5: 31 ± 0.6 mmol OH-/l). The kinetic viscosities of the acidic solutions were adjusted to 1.5, 3, 6, 12, and 24 mm2/sec by the addition of hydroxypropyl cellulose (HPC) at different concentrations. Solutions were pumped over the enamel surface from a reservoir with a drop rate of 1 mL/min. Each specimen was eroded for 10 min at 20°C. Erosion of enamel surfaces was measured by profilometry. Data were analyzed by analyses of variance and logarithmic regression analyses (p < 0.05). Enamel loss was dependent on viscosity, pH, and the kind of acid. The regression analyses showed that higher viscosity caused lower enamel erosion for both acids and all pH levels. Dental erosion is dependent not only on chemical factors of the acid, like pH and acid type, but also on acid viscosity.
Oxidative stress induces degradation of mitochondrial DNA

Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is located in close proximity of the respiratory chains, which are the main cellular source of reactive oxygen species (ROS). ROS can induce oxidative base lesions in mtDNA and are believed to be an important cause of the mtDNA mutations, which accumulate with aging and in diseased states. However, recent studies indicate that cumulative levels of base substitutions in mtDNA can be very low even in old individuals. Considering the reduced complement of DNA repair pathways available in mitochondria and higher susceptibility of mtDNA to oxidative damage than nuclear DNA, it is presently unclear how mitochondria manage to maintain the integrity of their genetic information in the face of the permanent exposure to ROS. Here we show that oxidative stress can lead to the degradation of mtDNA and that single strand breaks and abasic sites prevail over mutagenic base lesions in ROS‐damaged mtDNA. These observations suggest a novel mechanism for the protection of mtDNA against oxidative insults whereby a higher incidence of lesions to the sugarphosphate backbone induces degradation of damaged mtDNA and prevents the accumulation of mutagenic base lesions.
Axonal Injury and Regeneration in the Adult Brain of Drosophila

Drosophila melanogaster is a leading genetic model system in nervous system development and disease research. Using the power of fly genetics in traumatic axonal injury research will significantly speed up the characterization of molecular processes that control axonal regeneration in the CNS. We developed a versatile and physiologically robust preparation for the long-term culture of the whole Drosophila brain. We use this method to develop a novel Drosophila model for CNS axonal injury and regeneration. We first show that, similar to mammalian CNS axons, injured adult wild-type fly CNS axons fail to regenerate, whereas adult-specific enhancement of protein kinase A activity increases the regenerative capacity of lesioned neurons. Combined, these observations suggest conservation of neuronal regeneration mechanisms after injury. We next exploit this model to explore pathways that induce robust regeneration and find that adult-specific activation of c-Jun N-terminal protein kinase signaling is sufficient for de novo CNS axonal regeneration injury, including the growth of new axons past the lesion site and into the normal target area.
Identity Features in Nigerian Students’ Descriptive Writings

The main aim of this paper is to explore the features of identity found in the context of descriptive essays. This study seeks to identify how students in diaspora often create a dominant impression, theme, and idea while revealing their identity. The samples utilized in this study consists of essays written by Nigerian students pursuing different levels of postgraduate courses in Universiti Utara Malaysia, a public university situated at Kedah, Sintok; a northern state in Malaysia. The participants were international students originating from the three Nigerian major ethnic groups, namely; Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba. The findings of this study indicated that the students tend to relate identity in writing within the society and academic contexts. The findings also showed that the students tend to express their identity in writing cognitively, using linguistic and socio-linguistic features based on their logical knowledge and on their level of awareness in ESL writing.
Local tetrahydrobiopterin administration augments cutaneous vasoconstriction in aged humans

Reflex vasoconstriction (VC) is attenuated in aged skin resulting in greater skin blood flow and heat loss during cold exposure. We hypothesized that adrenergic function is compromised due to depletion of tetrahydrobiopterin (BH4), an essential cofactor required for catecholamine synthesis, and therefore local BH4 supplementation would functionally augment reflex and pharmacologically induced VC elicited by gradual whole‐body cooling (skin temperature (Tsk) = 30.5°C) and tyramine infusion, respectively. Four microdialysis (MD) fibres were placed in the forearm skin of 11 young (Y) and 11 older (O) human subjects for infusion of (1) Ringer solution (control), (2) 5 mm BH4, (3) 5 mm BH4+ 10 mm ascorbate, and (4) 5 mm BH4+ adrenoreceptor blockade (5 mm yohimbine + 1 mm propranolol). Laser Doppler flux (LDF) was measured over each MD site and cutaneous vascular conductance was calculated as CVC = LDF/MAP and expressed as per cent change from baseline (%ΔCVCbase). The VC response was lower at the control site in O during cooling (Y: −34 ± 2%ΔCVCbase, O: −17 ± 2%ΔCVCbase; P < 0.001) and tyramine infusion (Y: −33 ± 4%ΔCVCbase, O: −15 ± 3%ΔCVCbase; P < 0.001). BH4 infusion normalized O to Y values during both cooling (Y: −34 ± 4%ΔCVCbase, O: −34 ± 2%ΔCVCbase; P < 0.001) and tyramine (Y: −38 ± 4%ΔCVCbase, O: −35 ± 3%ΔCVCbase; P < 0.001), however, adding adrenoreceptor blockade abolished VC in aged skin indicating that BH4 acts through adrenergic, not cotransmitter, mechanisms. Local BH4 supplementation augments reflex and tyramine‐induced VC in aged skin, suggesting that reduced BH4 bioavailability may contribute to attenuated VC during whole‐body cooling.