Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Arthroscopically pertinent anatomy of the anterolateral and posteromedial bundles of the posterior cruciate ligament.

BACKGROUND The clock-face method to identify the femoral posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) attachment has poor accuracy and reproducibility. Measurements of clinically relevant anatomic structures would provide more useful surgical guidance. The purpose of the present study was to describe the attachments of the anterolateral and posteromedial bundles of the PCL relative to relevant landmarks to assist with arthroscopic anatomic PCL reconstructions. METHODS Dissections were performed on twenty nonpaired fresh-frozen cadaveric knees. RESULTS The distal articular cartilage margin of the intercondylar notch had a consistent shape conforming to the attachments of the anterolateral and posteromedial bundles. The mean distance (and standard deviation) between the femoral centers of the anterolateral and posteromedial bundles was 12.1 ± 1.3 mm. The distal margins of the anterolateral and posteromedial bundles were a mean of 1.5 ± 0.8 mm and 5.8 ± 1.7 mm proximal to the notch articular cartilage, respectively. On the tibia, the lateral plateau articular cartilage, the medial meniscus attachment, and an osseous ridge ("bundle ridge") separating the anterolateral and posteromedial bundles were important arthroscopic landmarks. The mean distance between the tibial centers of the anterolateral and posteromedial bundles was 8.9 ± 1.2 mm. CONCLUSIONS The pertinent landmarks identified during arthroscopic PCL reconstruction consistently marked the borders of the attachments of the anterolateral and posteromedial bundles. To guide femoral tunnel placement, the centers of both bundles should be triangulated relative to the reported landmarks. Furthermore, the distal edge of the femoral anterolateral bundle should be placed adjacent to the articular cartilage, whereas the posteromedial bundle should be centered, on average, 8.6 mm proximal to the cartilage margin, just distal to the medial intercondylar ridge. On the tibia, the PCL tunnel should be placed just anterosuperior to the bundle ridge, with use of the lateral articular cartilage and medial meniscus attachment to guide placement. CLINICAL RELEVANCE The results of the present study can assist with more anatomic tunnel placement during single and double-bundle PCL reconstructions. The results also suggest that two reconstruction tunnels are needed to reconstruct the broad femoral attachment, whereas one reconstruction tunnel should be investigated further for the compact tibial attachment.
Patellar cartilage lesions: comparison of magnetic resonance imaging and T2 relaxation-time mapping

Purpose: To evaluate the detection and the size of focal patellar cartilage lesions in T2 mapping as compared to standard clinical magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at 1.5T. Material and Methods: Fifty-five consecutive clinical patients referred to knee MRI were imaged both with a standard knee MRI protocol (proton-density-weighted sagittal and axial series, T2-weighted sagittal and coronal series, and T1-weighted coronal series) and with an axial multislice multi-echo spin-echo measurement to determine the T2 relaxation time of the patellar cartilage. MR images and T2 maps of patellar cartilage were evaluated for focal lesions. The lesions were evaluated for lesion width (mm), lesion depth (1/3, 2/3, or 3/3 of cartilage thickness), and T2 value (20–40 ms, 40–60 ms, or 60–80 ms) based on visual evaluation. Results: Altogether, 36 focal patellar cartilage lesions were detected from 20 human subjects (11 male, nine female, mean age 40±15 years). Twenty-eight lesions were detected both on MRI and T2 maps, while eight lesions were only visible on T2 maps. Cartilage lesions were significantly wider (P = 0.001) and thicker (P<0.001) on T2 maps as compared to standard knee MRI. Most lesions [27] had moderately (T2 40–60 ms) increased T2 values, while two lesions had slightly (T2 20–40 ms) and seven lesions remarkably (T2 60–80 ms) increased T2 relaxation times. Conclusion: T2 mapping of articular cartilage is feasible in the clinical setting and may reveal early cartilage lesions not visible with standard clinical MRI.
Perception of the relationship between TMD and orthodontic treatment among orthodontists

INTRODUCTION: The consensus about the relationship between TMD and orthodontic treatment has gone from a cause and effect association between TMD and orthodontic treatment to the idea that there is no reliable evidence supporting this statement. OBJECTIVE: To assess the beliefs, despite scientific evidence, of Brazilian orthodontists about the relationship between TMD and orthodontic treatment with regards to treatment, prevention and etiology of TMD. METHODS: A survey about the relationship between TMD and orthodontic treatment was prepared and sent to Brazilian orthodontists by e-mail and social networks. Answers were treated by means of descriptive statistics and strong associations between variables were assessed by qui-square test. RESULTS: The majority of orthodontists believe that orthodontic treatment not only is not the best treatment option for TMD, but also is not able to prevent TMD. Nevertheless, the majority of orthodontists believe that orthodontic treatment can cause TMD symptoms. CONCLUSION: This study suggests that orthodontists' beliefs about the relationship between orthodontic treatment and TMD are in accordance with scientific evidence only when referring to treatment and prevention of TMD. The majority of orthodontists believe that, despite scientific evidence, orthodontic treatment can cause TMD.
Modification of Ductility Exhaustion-Type Creep-Fatigue Life Prediction Method Based on Re-Definition of Creep Damage and Application to High-Chromium Steels

Prediction of failure life under creep-fatigue condition is of practical importance for sound design and operation of high-temperature plants. Stress-based time-fraction approach often overpredicts failure life because of difference of deformation under monotonic creep and creep-fatigue loading. Strain-based life prediction procedure called ductility exhaustion method has been developed to overcome shortcoming of simpler stress-based approach. However, overly conservative prediction is obtained for some materials by the conventional way of creep damage counting in the ductility exhaustion method. A new method which includes alternative ways of creep damage calculation and modeling creep-fatigue interaction, was developed in this study. This method was applied to a number of creep-fatigue tests conducted for modified 9Cr-1Mo steel (P91) and HCM12A (P122). Excellent agreement was obtained between predicted and experimental lives.
Fold-Hopf bifurcation Analysis for a Coupled FitzHugh-Nagumo Neural System with Time Delay

A FitzHugh–Nagumo (FHN) model with delayed coupling is considered. For a critical case when the corresponding characteristic equation has a single zero root and a pair of purely imaginary roots, a complete bifurcation analysis is presented by employing the center manifold reduction and the normal form method. The Fold–Hopf bifurcation diagrams are provided to illustrate the correctness of our theoretical analysis. Whether almost periodic motion and bursting behavior occur in the FHN neural system with delayed coupling depends on the time delay in the signal transmission between the neurons.
TEACHING MATHEMATICS AT FACULTIES OF ENGINEERING IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA VIEWED THROUGH TEACHING AND SOLVING EXTREMAL PROBLEMS - A CASE STUDY

This paper analyses the situation in teaching mathematics at faculties of engineering in Bosnia and Herzegovina based on research conducted using a test comprising ten extremal problems administered to second-year students enrolled in the four most popular engineering study programs. The aim of the research was to review the local mathematics teacher training and refine the traditional methodology of teaching mathematics, as well as to analyse teaching the subject to students of engineering, especially their understanding and mastering topics such as differential calculus, more specifically the derivative of functions of one or more variables, and its application in solving extremal problems and developing students’ ability to apply the acquired knowledge in learning physics and specific engineering subjects. The obtained results were used to make recommendations as to how to improve the teaching of mathematics at local universities.
Hormone Replacement Therapy and Lung Cancer Risk

Purpose: To date, there are few published data regarding the use of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and lung cancer risk. Therefore, we analyzed data regarding HRT use from a large case-control study designed to study genetic susceptibility to lung cancer to determine whether HRT affected risk of lung cancer. Experimental Design: In a secondary analysis, we compared self-reported HRT use among 499 women with lung cancer and 519 healthy age-matched controls. Results: HRT use was associated with an overall reduced risk of 34% [odds ratio (OR), 0.66; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.51–0.89] of lung cancer, after adjusting for age, ethnicity, smoking status, education, body mass index, and menopausal status. The use of estrogen replacement therapy alone was associated with a 35% reduction in lung cancer risk (OR, 0.65; 95% CI, 0.47–0.89) and the use of combination therapy (estrogen and progestin) was associated with a 39% reduction in lung cancer risk (OR, 0.61; 95% CI, 0.40–0.92). HRT use was also associated with a statistically significantly reduced risk of lung cancer in current smokers (OR, 0.59; 95% CI, 0.38–0.92), but the risk estimates were not statistically significant in never (OR, 0.72; 95% CI, 0.37–1.40) or former smokers (OR, 0.73; 95% CI, 0.46–1.15). In addition, as the cigarette pack-years increased among ever smokers, the protective effect diminished, so that light smokers appeared to benefit the most from HRT use. Decreased lung cancer risks were also evident when the data were stratified by age, ethnicity, and body mass index. The joint effects of HRT use and mutagen sensitivity suggest that HRT use modifies lung cancer risk for genetically susceptible women. HRT use was also associated with a lower risk of death and improved survival compared with the women not taking HRT. To provide a possible biological mechanism to explain our findings, we compared plasma levels of insulin-like growth factor I in users and nonusers, and demonstrated that HRT use was associated with statistically significantly lower insulin-like growth factor I levels for both cases and controls compared with non-HRT users. Conclusions: These data suggest an association of HRT use with a decrease in lung cancer risk. However, there are several limitations to this secondary analysis, requiring that the data be viewed with caution, and confirmation is required in well-designed hypothesis driven studies. The biological role of HRT in lung cancer remains understudied, and only extensive research can yield new insights into the mechanisms underlying a protective effect of HRT for lung cancer.
DNA methylation controls the timing of astrogliogenesis through regulation of JAK-STAT signaling

DNA methylation is a major epigenetic factor that has been postulated to regulate cell lineage differentiation. We report here that conditional gene deletion of the maintenance DNA methyltransferase I (Dnmt1) in neural progenitor cells (NPCs) results in DNA hypomethylation and precocious astroglial differentiation. The developmentally regulated demethylation of astrocyte marker genes as well as genes encoding the crucial components of the gliogenic JAK-STAT pathway is accelerated in Dnmt1–/– NPCs. Through a chromatin remodeling process, demethylation of genes in the JAK-STAT pathway leads to an enhanced activation of STATs, which in turn triggers astrocyte differentiation. Our study suggests that during the neurogenic period, DNA methylation inhibits not only astroglial marker genes but also genes that are essential for JAK-STAT signaling. Thus, demethylation of these two groups of genes and subsequent elevation of STAT activity are key mechanisms that control the timing and magnitude of astroglial differentiation.
Catheter ablation of drug refractory electrical storm in patients with ischemic cardiomyopathy: A single center experience

Objective: Electrical storm (ES) is a life-threatening pathology that requires immediate and effective treatment due to increased morbidity and mortality. Catheter ablation (CA) is an effective therapeutic option, particularly in patients with drug resistant ventricular arrhythmia episodes. These procedures should only be performed in highly specialized and experienced centers. Here we aimed to assess safety and efficacy of CA in a relatively large cohort with ES in our tertiary center hospital. Methods: A total of 44 patients (90.9% male; mean age: 59.7±10.3 years) with ischemic cardiomyopathy undergoing CA for drug-refractory ES were prospectively evaluated. Procedures were performed using non-contact and electro-anatomic mapping systems. Long-term follow-up analysis addressed the predictors of ES recurrence and cardiac mortality. Results: Acute success rates for clinical and non-clinical VTs were 90.8% and 55.5%, respectively. A mean follow-up at 28±11 months revealed cardiac mortality in 8 (18%) patients, 39 (88.6%) patients were free from the ES, and 24 (55%) patients remained free from both ES and paroxysmal VT episodes. In multivariate regression analysis, recurrence of ES (OR=3.11, 95% CI: 1.65-4.62, p=0.001), LVEF, and serum creatinine were found as independent predictors of cardiac mortality. In addition, substrate based ablation, implantation of ICD for secondary prophylaxis, LVEF, and serum creatinine were good predictors of ES recurrence. Conclusion: Catheter ablation for ventricular arrhythmias in the course of ES in patients with ischemic cardiomyopathy is safe with an acceptable success rate. (Anatol J Cardiol 2016; 16: 159-64)
Obstacles to Colorectal Cancer Screening in Chinese: A Study Based on the Health Belief Model

BACKGROUND:Colorectal cancer (CRC) has emerged as the second most common cancer in Asia. This study uses the Health Belief Model (HBM) to examine the factors associated with the uptake of CRC testing.METHODS:A population-based telephone survey in which 1,004 randomly selected Chinese residents of Hong Kong aged between 30 and 65 yr were interviewed in 2006. Instruments were developed to measure the variables pertinent to the HBM, including perceived susceptibility, severity, benefit, barriers, and cues to action. The relationships of these predictors with CRC testing were examined using bivariate and multiple logistic regression analyses.RESULTS:Ten percent of the respondents had undertaken a CRC screening test. In the multiple logistic regression analyses, knowledge factors that were positively associated with CRC testing included knowledge of CRC symptoms (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 3.33, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.21–9.11) and knowledge of CRC risk factors (aOR 2.61, 95% CI 1.16–5.88). Five of the variables pertaining to the HBM were significant correlates of CRC testing—perceived severity of CRC (aOR 0.28, 95% CI 0.13–0.65), perceived health and psychological barriers to CRC testing (aOR 0.42, 95% CI 0.21–0.84, 95% CI 0.21–0.85), perceived access barriers to CRC testing (aOR 0.22, 95% CI 0.05–0.85), physician's recommendation (indicator of cues to action) (aOR 23.50, 95% CI 10.66–51.80), and having health insurance (indicator of cues to action) (aOR 2.06, 95% CI 1.01–4.19). CONCLUSIONS:CRC testing compliance among this Asian population is low. Knowledge of CRC symptoms and risk factors are low. Perceived health, psychological, and access barriers to CRC testing are high. The physician's recommendation and having health insurance coverage significantly increase testing, but physicians mainly recommend patients with a family history of CRC for testing, and only around one-third of the population has health insurance.
Detecting the medically compromised patient in dentistry by means of the medical risk-related history. A survey of 29,424 dental patients in The Netherlands.

BACKGROUND This study focuses on the detection of medically compromised dental patients in the Netherlands by means of a validated patient-administered medical risk-related history (MRRH). Due to social changes and scientific innovations in the past decade, more medically compromised patients will be needing special dental treatment. METHODS The medical problems of 29,424 dental patients (age 18 years and over) from 50 dental practices in the Netherlands were registered by means of the MRRH. The patients were classified according to the ASA risk-score system, which was modified for dental treatment. An inventory of the number and nature of medical problems and the modified ASA risk score was drawn up in relation to dental treatment and age. RESULTS The average age of the patients was 37.1 +/- 13.5 years. According to the current guidelines, dental treatment must be modified if the patient has an ASA score of III or IV. A relatively high percentage of patients ages 65-74 (23.9%) and 75 or over (34.9%) did have an ASA score of III or IV. Furthermore, the medical problems were classified into 10 categories, and the relationship to age was examined. The conditions that increased with age were hypertension and cardiovascular, neurological, endocrinological, infectious, and blood diseases. CONCLUSIONS For the dental practice, these results mean that the MRRH can play an important role in adapting dental treatment to the specific needs of patients. This is especially important in the case of elderly patients.
Distributed asynchronous modulation classification based on hybrid maximum likelihood approach

In this paper, we consider the problem of automatic modulation classification (AMC) with multiple sensors. A distributed hybrid maximum likelihood (HML) based algorithm in the presence of unknown time offset, phase offset and channel gain is presented. The proposed distributed algorithm that employs the generalized expectation maximization (GEM) algorithm is robust to initialization of unknown parameters, computationally efficient and require much less communication overhead compared to performing GEM in a centralized setting. Simulation and experimental results depict the efficacy of the proposed algorithm.
Serial Diffusion MRI to Monitor and Model Treatment Response of the Targeted Nanotherapy CRLX101

Purpose: Targeted nanotherapies are being developed to improve tumor drug delivery and enhance therapeutic response. Techniques that can predict response will facilitate clinical translation and may help define optimal treatment strategies. We evaluated the efficacy of diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging to monitor early response to CRLX101 (a cyclodextrin-based polymer particle containing the DNA topoisomerase I inhibitor camptothecin) nanotherapy (formerly IT-101), and explored its potential as a therapeutic response predictor using a mechanistic model of tumor cell proliferation. Experimental Design: Diffusion MRI was serially conducted following CRLX101 administration in a mouse lymphoma model. Apparent diffusion coefficients (ADCs) extracted from the data were used as treatment response biomarkers. Animals treated with irinotecan (CPT-11) and saline were imaged for comparison. ADC data were also input into a mathematical model of tumor growth. Histological analysis using cleaved-caspase 3, terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase–mediated dUTP nick end labeling, Ki-67, and hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) were conducted on tumor samples for correlation with imaging results. Results: CRLX101-treated tumors at day 2, 4, and 7 posttreatment exhibited changes in mean ADC = 16 ± 9%, 24 ± 10%, 49 ± 17%, and size (TV) = −5 ± 3%, −30 ± 4%, and −45 ± 13%, respectively. Both parameters were statistically greater than controls [p(ADC) ≤ 0.02, and p(TV) ≤ 0.01 at day 4 and 7], and noticeably greater than CPT-11–treated tumors (ADC = 5 ± 5%, 14 ± 7%, and 18 ± 6%; TV = −15 ± 5%, −22 ± 13%, and −26 ± 8%). Model-derived parameters for cell proliferation obtained using ADC data distinguished CRLX101-treated tumors from controls (P = 0.02). Conclusions: Temporal changes in ADC specified early CRLX101 treatment response and could be used to model image-derived cell proliferation rates following treatment. Comparisons of targeted and nontargeted treatments highlight the utility of noninvasive imaging and modeling to evaluate, monitor, and predict responses to targeted nanotherapeutics. Clin Cancer Res; 19(9); 2518–27. ©2013 AACR.
DNN acoustic models for dysarthric speech

In this paper, we investigate various training methods for building deep neural network (DNN) based acoustic models for dysarthric speech data. Methods like multitask learning, knowledge distillation and model adaptation, which overcome data sparsity and model over-fitting problems are employed to study the merits of each method. In Knowledge distillation framework, some privilege information in addition to featurelabels pairs available only during training, is exploited to help the model learn better without using such previleged information during testing [1]; knowledge from one model can be distilled to another and thereby guiding it in learning better [2]. In this work, a DNN acoustic model trained using data pooled from Dysarthric speech data and parallel un-impaired data is used as the intelligent teacher while the student DNN model is trained using only Dysarthric speech. The target label for training the student model is a combination of hard aligned labels and those obtained from forward-pass through the teacher model. In addition to this technique, other knowledge sharing techniques like multitask learning were explored for Dysarthric speech data and have found to show a relative improvement of 11% over the corresponding baseline models.
Preanalytical factors that influence the Abbott TDx Fetal Lung Maturity II assay.

BACKGROUND The TDx Fetal Lung Maturity II (FLM II) assay uses amniotic fluid to assess lung maturity of the unborn infant. We investigated common preanalytical factors that influence FLM results, including centrifugation, sample storage, and contamination by whole blood. METHODS We tested 18 specimens after centrifugation and after resuspension by vortex-mixing. We also analyzed 23 specimens stored at -20 degrees C for up to 448 days and then thawed (duplicate measurements), 20 specimens stored at 4 degrees C, and 24 specimens stored at room temperature. In addition, we evaluated the effects of whole blood diluted into 19 different specimens. RESULTS Centrifugation significantly decreased FLM II results from baseline (P <0.0001), and resuspension returned results to baseline values (P = 0.286). Storage at -20 degrees C produced highly variable results that demonstrated a nonsignificant negative trend associated with storage time. Specimens were stable for 24 h when stored at 4 degrees C and 16 h at room temperature. Blood contamination produced significantly positive differences in results only in specimens with baseline values < or =39 mg/g with a 5.8 mg/g increase in FLM II for every 0.1 x 10(12)/L increase in the erythrocyte count (slope = 58.4). CONCLUSIONS Resuspension of centrifuged specimens produces clinically valid FLM II results. Results from specimens stored at -20 degrees C can be highly variable and decrease over time. Results from specimens stored at 4 degrees C and at room temperature are stable for 24 and 16 h, respectively. Blood contamination up to 0.03 x 10(12) erythrocytes/L is acceptable for FLM II analysis.