Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
When should pregnancies that extended beyond term be induced?*

Abstract Objective: To compare maternal and neonatal outcomes associated with a policy for induction of labor at ≥ 41 versus at ≥42 weeks'. Study design: Retrospective cohort study of a 2 years’ period before and after policy change from induction of labor at ≥ 42 gestational weeks’ versus ≥41 gestational weeks. Results: During the 41-policy period (N = 968), the induction rate was higher, 60% versus 40% (p < 0.0001) while the cesarean delivery (CD) rate was lower, 15% versus 19.4% (p = 0.0135). Moreover, among women that were induced, the rate of CD was lower during the 41-policy period, 19% versus 27% (p = 0.0067). No significant differences in maternal or neonatal outcomes were noted. There was one case of intrauterine fetal death at 41 + 4 weeks during the 42-policy period. Conclusion: As a policy for induction of labor at ≥ 41 reduces the rate of CD without any adverse maternal or neonatal outcomes, such a policy seems to be superior to a policy for induction at ≥ 42 weeks.
Current Developments and Challenges in the Recycling of Key Components of (Hybrid) Electric Vehicles

The introduction of electromobility causes major challenges as new components and materials enter vehicle recycling. This paper discusses the current developments in the recycling of traction batteries, electric motors, and power electronics, which constitute the key components of (hybrid) electric vehicles. Both technical and ecological aspects are addressed. Beside base metals, all components contain metals that are considered critical by the EU (European Union), e.g., rare earth elements, cobalt, antimony, and palladium. As electromobility is a new trend, no recycling routes have been established at an industrial scale for these components. The implementation is complicated by small return flows and a great variety of vehicle concepts as well as components. Furthermore, drastic changes regarding design and material compositions can be expected over the next decades. Due to hazards and high weights, there is a strong research emphasis on battery recycling. Most pilot-scale or semi-industrial processes focus on the recovery of cobalt, nickel, and copper due to their high value. Electric motors and power electronics can be fed into established recycling routes if they are extracted from the vehicle before shredding. However, these processes are not capable of recovering some minor metals such as rare earth elements and antimony.
Computer simulation of liquid crystals

A review is presented of molecular and mesoscopic computer simulations of liquid crystalline systems. Molecular simulation approaches applied to such systems are described, and the key findings for bulk phase behaviour are reported. Following this, recently developed lattice Boltzmann approaches to the mesoscale modelling of nemato-dynamics are reviewed. This paper concludes with a discussion of possible areas for future development in this field.
Evaluation instrument for e-government websites

An instrument for evaluating the quality of government websites is described. It takes the form of a questionnaire resident within spreadsheet or database software so that an automatically determined evaluation may be indicated following input of data. The 106 questions included are derived from previous research regarding significant components of successful websites, along with interviews with developers of portals at different levels of Australian government. The instrument may be easily tailored to accommodate varying requirements at different levels of government, and used as a basis for extended internal evaluation of their own websites by agencies. The instrument also embodies explanations of the survey questions that are asked, along with advice on how to determine sought-after information from sites.
THE EFFECT OF FINASTERIDE ON THE RISK OF ACUTE URINARY RETENTION AND THE NEED FOR SURGICAL TREATMENT AMONG MEN WITH BENIGN PROSTATIC HYPERPLASIA

J OHN D. M C C ONNELL , M.D., R EGINALD B RUSKEWITZ , M.D., P ATRICK W ALSH , M.D., G ERALD A NDRIOLE , M.D., M ICHAEL L IEBER , M.D., H. L OGAN H OLTGREWE , M.D., P ETER A LBERTSEN , M.D., C LAUS G. R OEHRBORN , M.D., J. C URTIS N ICKEL , M.D., D ANIEL Z. W ANG , P H . D. , A LICE M. T AYLOR , M.S., AND J OANNE W ALDSTREICHER , M.D., FOR THE F INASTERIDE L ONG -T ERM E FFICACY AND S AFETY S TUDY G ROUP *
Kynurenine 3-Monooxygenase: An Influential Mediator of Neuropathology

Mounting evidence demonstrates that kynurenine metabolism may play an important pathogenic role in the development of multiple neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders. The kynurenine pathway consists of two functionally distinct branches that generate both neuroactive and oxidatively reactive metabolites. In the brain, the rate-limiting enzyme for one of these branches, kynurenine 3-monooxygenase (KMO), is predominantly expressed in microglia and has emerged as a pivotal point of metabolic regulation. KMO substrate and expression levels are upregulated by pro-inflammatory cytokines and altered by functional genetic mutations. Increased KMO metabolism results in the formation of metabolites that activate glutamate receptors and elevate oxidative stress, while recent evidence has revealed neurodevelopmental consequences of reduced KMO activity. Together, the evidence suggests that KMO is positioned at a critical metabolic junction to influence the development or trajectory of a myriad of neurological diseases. Understanding the mechanism(s) by which alterations in KMO activity are able to impair neuronal function, and viability will enhance our knowledge of related disease pathology and provide insight into novel therapeutic opportunities. This review will discuss the influence of KMO on brain kynurenine metabolism and the current understanding of molecular mechanisms by which altered KMO activity may contribute to neurodevelopment, neurodegenerative, and neuropsychiatric diseases.
Artificial insemination with fresh semen in beagle bitches.

The intravaginal artificial insemination was carried out in bitches with fresh semen and the number of sperms and the quantity of semen required for conception was examined. Bitches were inseminated with 1 ml (group 1) or 3 ml (group 2) of semen. Each group was divided into 4 subgroups (A-D) inseminated with semen containing 2.0, 1.0, 0.5 or 0.25×108 viable sperms, respectively. The conception rates in groups A, B, C and D were 7/8 (89%), 5/15 (33%), 6/13 (46%) and 0/8 (0%), respectively, and in naturally mated group, 18/19 (95%). Groups B, C and D were significantly different in the rate of conception from the control and group A. No significant difference was observed among groups in the number of puppies born. In case of intravaginal artificial insemination with fresh semen in bitches, semen should contain 2.0×108 sperms/ml to obtain a similar rate of conception and number of offspring as in naturally breeding bitches.
Retinal nerve fiber layer thickness in normal Indian pediatric population measured with optical coherence tomography

Purpose: To measure the peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness in normal Indian pediatric population. Subjects and Methods: 120 normal Indian children ages 5-17 years presenting to the Pediatric Clinic were included in this observational cross-sectional study. RNFL thickness was measured with stratus optical coherence tomography (OCT). Children with strabismus or amblyopia, with neurological, metabolic, vascular, or other disorders and those with abnormal optic discs were excluded. One eye of each subject was randomly selected for statistical analysis. The effect of age, refraction and gender on RNFL thickness was investigated statistically. Result: OCT measurements were obtained in 120 of 130 (92.3%) subjects. Mean age was 10.8 ± 3.24 years (range 5-17). Average RNFL thickness was (± SD) 106.11 ± 9.5 μm (range 82.26-146.25). The RNFL was thickest inferiorly (134.10 ± 16.16 μm) and superiorly (133.44 ± 15.50 μm), thinner nasally (84.26 ± 16.43 μm), and thinnest temporally (70.72 ± 14.80 μm). In univariate regression analysis, age had no statistical significant effect on RNFL thickness (P =0.7249) and refraction had a significant effect on RNFL thickness (P =0.0008). Conclusion: OCT can be used to measure RNFL thickness in children. Refraction had an effect on RNFL thickness. In normal children, variation in RNFL thickness is large. The normative data provided by this study may assist in identifying changes in RNFL thickness in Indian children.
Effects of CYP2C19 Loss-of-Function Variants on the Eradication of H. pylori Infection in Patients Treated with Proton Pump Inhibitor-Based Triple Therapy Regimens: A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Clinical Trials

Background There are inconsistent conclusions about whether CYP2C19 variants could affect H. pylori eradication rate in patients treated with the proton pump inhibitor (PPI)-based therapy. We therefore performed a meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials (RCTs) to re-evaluate the impact of CYP2C19 variants on PPI-based triple therapy for the above indication. Methods All relevant RCTs in the PubMed, Cochrane Library, EMBASE, Web of Science and two Chinese databases (up to February 2013) were systematically searched, and a pooled analysis was performed with the odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) by the STATA software. Results Sixteen RCT datasets derived from 3680 patients were included. There was no significant heterogeneity across the data available in this meta-analysis. There were significant differences in that rate between homozygous (HomEMs) and heterozygous (HetEMs) extensive metabolizers (OR 0.724; 95% CI 0.594–0.881), between HomEMs and poor metabolizers (PM) (OR 0.507; 95%CI 0.379–0.679), or between HetEMs and PMs (OR 0.688; 95%CI 0.515–0.920), regardless of the PPI being taken. Furthermore, sub-analysis of individual PPIs was carried out to explore the difference across all the PPIs used. A significantly low rate was seen in HomEMs vs. HetEMs taking either omeprazole (OR 0.329; 95%CI 0.195–0.553) or lansoprazole (OR 0.692; 95%CI 0.485–0.988), and also in HomEMs vs. PMs for omeprazole (OR 0.232; 95%CI 0.105–0.515) or lansoprazole (OR 0.441; 95%CI 0.252–0.771). However, there was no significant difference between HetEMs and PMs taking either one. No significant differences were observed for rabeprazole or esomeprazole across the CYP2C19 genotypes of interest. Conclusions Carriage of CYP2C19 loss-of-function variants is associated with increased H. pylori eradication rate in patients taking PPI-based triple therapies when omeprazole or lansoprazole is chosen. However, there is no a class effect after use of rabeprazole or esomeprazole.
Array Configuration Design of One-Dimensional Mirrored Interferometric Aperture Synthesis

Mirrored interferometric aperture synthesis (IAS) (MIAS) is a novel interferometry which has the potential to reduce system complexity compared with that of conventional IAS. Array configuration design plays a major role in imaging. As the concept of MIAS was proposed just a few years ago, the problem of array configuration design has not been solved yet. In this letter, the principles of array configuration design of 1-D MIAS are proposed, and the corresponding optimization model is established and refined. The optimal array configurations are presented through simulated annealing method and show that 1-D MIAS can achieve almost twice as much of spatial resolution as 1-D IAS with the same array size.
Powerful designs for genetic association studies that consider twins and sibling pairs with discordant genotypes

Genetic association studies are becoming commonplace due to the availability of cost‐effective yet sophisticated DNA sequencing and genotyping resources and technologies. In addition, technologies designed to identify molecular and subclinical phenotypes that reflect disease pathogenesis are continually being developed and refined (consider, e.g., imaging technologies, microarray‐based gene expression and proteomic platforms, histological analyses of excised tissues, etc.). Unfortunately, the large‐scale use of many of these molecular and subclinical phenotyping technologies in genetic association studies is difficult logistically and is currently cost‐prohibitive. In this paper, we consider efficient designs for testing the association between particular genetic variations and expensive, yet appropriate, subclinical phenotypes of relevance to a disease that take advantage of twins or sibling pairs discordant for genotypes at the locus (or loci) being tested. We demonstrate that including genotypically discordant twins or siblings in an association study can result in a substantial increase in power over designs that use monozygotic twins or only unrelated individuals. We ultimately argue that, from a practical standpoint, sampling from existing family or twin‐based cohorts in which: (1) follow‐up studies of a genetic association are warranted in order to assess the in vivo significance of an association with respect to more refined pathological phenotypes; and/or (2) large‐scale, genome‐wide linkage and association studies have been pursued that have focused on clinical endpoints for which the study subjects have consented to more elaborate follow‐up studies, is a powerful way to test associations. Genet. Epidemiol. 2007. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
The Reduction of T 7 Phage Adsorption in Escherichia coli B 23 Cells Treated with SubLethal Levels of Kanamycin

The production of capsular material has been implicated as a bacterial defence mechanism against certain antibiotics and against phage adsorption. The capsule acts to block the phage from binding to its receptor on the bacterial cell which effectively inhibits phage adsorption. Previously, it has been shown that exposing Escherichia coli B23 cells to sub-inhibitory levels of the antibiotic kanamycin results in an increase in extracellular polysaccharide production, possibly in the form of a capsule. In the current study, this phenomenon was investigated using T7 phage adsorption as a model to assess the presence of a capsule. Phage adsorption assays were performed on both E. coli B23 cells treated with sub-lethal levels of kanamycin for 1 hour and untreated cells. T7 phage adsorption was shown to be diminished in E. coli treated with antibiotic, as compared to those which had not been treated with antibiotic. This decrease in phage adsorption to the antibiotic treated cells suggests that the induced extracellular polysaccharide produced by these cells is part of the capsule. Thus, this work provides further insight into the likely nature of the induced-extracellular polysaccharide produced by these cells following antibiotic treatment.
Modified Constraint-Induced Movement Therapy as a Home-Based Intervention for Children With Cerebral Palsy

Purpose: This study was designed to investigate the benefit to upper limb function of a home-based version of pediatric constraint-induced movement therapy, which was delivered across 2 months. Methods: Nine children (mean age: 6 years, 9 months) with hemiplegic cerebral palsy participated in this A1-B-C-A2 design, where A1 and A2 were nonintervention phases. In phases B and C, participants wore a splint on the unaffected hand. In phase C, motivating feedback through a computer game was added. Results: The Melbourne Assessment of Unilateral Upper Limb Function and the Quality of Upper Extremity Skills Test scores were significantly higher at the end of phases B (P = .037 and P = .006, respectively) and C (P = .001 and P = .001, respectively). Melbourne scores remained higher at the end of phase A2 (P = .001). Conclusions: A nonintensive form of home-based constraint-induced movement therapy was found to be effective. Improvements were larger after the second month of intervention.
Causal Model Selection Tests in Systems Genetics

We develop a novel hypothesis testing framework for causal inference among pairs of phenotypes in the context of segregating populations. Our model selection test extends Vuong’s test to the case of three misspecified models, to handle the full range of possible causal relationships among a pair of traits, namely, causal, reactive or independent models. The ability to properly address misspecified models for systems genetics is key since in general any two phenotypes may be part of a complex network that is grossly oversimplified by the pairwise models. We evaluate and compare our test against the BIC model selection criterium and to another causality inference test in simulation studies using data generated from simple and complex networks and from models affected by measurement error. While our causal model selection test is less powered than alternative approaches when one of the competing models is correctly specified, it makes mistakes at much lower rates than the other approaches under model misspecification and in the presence of measurement error. Finally, we apply and compare these three approaches using a mice intercross data set.
Detrital Zircon Record of a Mesozoic Collisional Forearc Basin in South Central Alaska: The Tectonic Transition From an Oceanic to Continental Arc

The collision of oceanic arcs with continental margins is an important mechanism for the growth of continents. Ancient forearc basin strata in collisional orogens provide a record of the upper crustal response to this tectonic process. In south central Alaska, Mesozoic forearc basin strata are exposed in a complete crustal section. U‐Pb detrital zircon geochronology from the forearc basin strata was analyzed within a ~107 Ma stratigraphic framework. The Jurassic strata contain unimodal detrital zircon populations that become progressively younger upsection and range from 175 to 151 Ma. These strata are derived from the active oceanic Talkeetna arc. The Cretaceous strata were deposited above multiple unconformities that collectively represent as much as ~30 Ma of nondeposition and/or erosion in the forearc basin. Erosion in the forearc basin and a general absence of detrital zircon ages between 140 and 120 Ma are interpreted as a hiatus of magmatism triggered by collision of the oceanic arc with the former continental margin. The Cretaceous strata have two main detrital zircon populations: a Cretaceous population ranging from 90 to 68 Ma that becomes progressively younger upsection and a Jurassic population with a broad range of peak ages from 194 to 144 Ma. The Cretaceous population marks the establishment of an active Cretaceous continental arc following the collisional event, and the older population reflects continued erosion of the remnant Jurassic oceanic arc plutons. Our results show that detrital zircon geochronology provides a powerful approach for delineating stages of forearc basin collision and the erosion of multiple magmatic arcs.
Frenetic: a network programming language

Modern networks provide a variety of interrelated services including routing, traffic monitoring, load balancing, and access control. Unfortunately, the languages used to program today's networks lack modern features - they are usually defined at the low level of abstraction supplied by the underlying hardware and they fail to provide even rudimentary support for modular programming. As a result, network programs tend to be complicated, error-prone, and difficult to maintain. This paper presents Frenetic, a high-level language for programming distributed collections of network switches. Frenetic provides a declarative query language for classifying and aggregating network traffic as well as a functional reactive combinator library for describing high-level packet-forwarding policies. Unlike prior work in this domain, these constructs are - by design - fully compositional, which facilitates modular reasoning and enables code reuse. This important property is enabled by Frenetic's novel run-time system which manages all of the details related to installing, uninstalling, and querying low-level packet-processing rules on physical switches. Overall, this paper makes three main contributions: (1) We analyze the state-of-the art in languages for programming networks and identify the key limitations; (2) We present a language design that addresses these limitations, using a series of examples to motivate and validate our choices; (3) We describe an implementation of the language and evaluate its performance on several benchmarks.
A Meta-Analysis and Systematic Review of the Efficacy of Twice Daily PPIs versus Once Daily for Treatment of Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease

Background To investigate whether PPIs BID is superior to QD for treatment of GERD in a short time. Methods We searched PubMed, Cochrane Library, Scopus, EMBASE, Ovid, EBSCO, and Web of Science databases (from 1998 to May 2016) to select RCTs, which compared the efficacy of PPIs BID versus QD for GERD. The primary outcomes were symptom relief or esophageal mucosal healing at weeks 4 and 8. The M-H method with fixed-effect or random-effect model was used to calculate RR and 95% CIs. Results Seven RCTs were enrolled. The esophageal healing rates were higher in PPIs BID group (P = 0.01), and rabeprazole 20 mg BID can achieve better mucosal healing than 20 mg QD after 8 weeks (P < 0.05). However, no significant differences were observed in heartburn relief (P = 0.27), sustained symptom relief rates at week 4 (P = 0.05), 24 h pH monitoring after treatment (P = 0.11), endoscopic response at week 4 (P = 0.22), and adverse events (P = 0.18). Conclusion PPIs BID more effectively improve endoscopic healing rate at week 8 than PPIs QD. But there are no significant differences in symptom relief, 24 h pH monitoring, sustained symptom relief, and endoscopic response at week 4.
A Trypanosoma cruzi Small Surface Molecule Provides the First Immunological Evidence that Chagas' Disease Is Due to a Single Parasite Lineage

Chagas' disease is a major health and economic problem caused by the protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi. Multiple independently evolving clones define a complex parasite population that can be arranged into two broad genetic lineages termed T. cruzi I and II. These lineages have different evolutionary origin and display distinct ecological and biological traits. Here we describe a novel molecule termed TSSA for trypomastigote small surface antigen that provides the first immunological marker allowing discrimination between lineages. TSSA is a surface, glycosylphosphatidyl inositol (GPI)-anchored mucin-like protein, highly antigenic during the infection. TSSA sequences from different parasite isolates reveal a population dimorphism that perfectly matches with the two T. cruzi lineages. Interestingly, this dimorphism is restricted to the central region of the molecule, which comprises the immunodominant B cell epitopes. This sequence variability has a major impact on TSSA antigenicity, leading to no immunological cross-reactivity between both isoforms for antibodies present either in immunization or infection sera. Furthermore, the absolute seroprevalence for TSSA in confirmed Chagasic patients is restricted to T. cruzi II isoform, strongly suggesting that human infections are due to this particular subgroup. Even though association of T. cruzi II with Chagas' disease has been proposed based on molecular markers, this is the first immunological evidence supporting this hypothesis. The implications of these results for the future research on Chagas' disease could be envisaged.