Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Weighted LASSO for Sparse Recovery With Statistical Prior Support Information

Compressive sensing is used to recover a sparse signal from linear measurements. Without any prior support information (PSI), least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) is a useful method for sparse recovery. In some settings, a statistical prior about the support of the sparse signal may be provided. It is critical to optimally incorporate such statistical PSI to enhance the recovery performance. We propose a weighted LASSO algorithm to fully exploit the statistical PSI and optimize the recovery performance. In the proposed algorithm, we exploit the most general statistical PSI model, a multilevel PSI, and incorporate it into the LASSO using a weighted $l_{1}$ norm penalty function. An optimal weight policy is proposed to minimize the asymptotic normalized squared error (aNSE). We also derive the closed-form accurate expression for the minimum aNSE and characterize the minimum number of measurements required to achieve stable recovery. Based on this, we discuss the impact of PSI quality on the aNSE performance of the proposed algorithm. Both theoretical analysis and simulations show the performance advantages of our proposed solution over various baselines.
Web-Based Intervention for Physical Activity and Fruit and Vegetable Intake Among Chinese University Students: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Background Ample evidence demonstrates that university students are at high risk for sedentary behaviors and inadequate fruit and vegetable intake (FVI). Internet-based interventions for multiple health behavior appear to be promising in changing such unhealthy habits. Limited randomized controlled trials have tested this assumption among Chinese university students. Objective Our objective was to test the efficacy of an 8-week Web-based intervention compared with a control group condition to improve physical activity (PA) and FVI in Chinese university students. The intervention content was based on the health action process approach, and developed on the basis of previous evidence from the Western hemisphere. We evaluated self-reported data including PA and FVI, stages of change for PA and FVI, and motivational (risk perception, outcome expectancies, self-efficacy), volitional (action planning, coping planning, social support), and distal (intention, habit) indicators for PA and FVI, as well as perceived mental health outcomes (quality of life, depression). Methods In a randomized controlled trial, we recruited 566 university students from one university in the central region of China during their general physical education class. After random allocation and exclusion of unsuitable participants, we assigned 493 students to 1 of 2 groups: (1) intervention group: first 4 weeks on PA and subsequent 4 weeks on FVI, (2) control group. We conducted 3 Web-based assessments: at the beginning of the intervention (T1, n=493), at the end of the 8-week intervention (T2, n=337), and at a 1-month follow-up after the intervention (T3, n=142). The entire study was conducted throughout the fall semester of 2015. Results Significant time ⨯ group interactions revealed superior intervention effects on FVI; motivational, volitional, and distal indicators of FVI; and PA behavior changes, with an effect size (η2) ranging from . 08 to . 20. In addition, the overall intervention effects were significant for stage progression to the action group from T1 to T2 in PA (χ21=11.75, P=.001) and FVI (χ21=15.64, P=.03). Furthermore, the intervention effect was seen in the improvement of quality of life (F3,492=1.23, η2=.03, P=.02). Conclusions This study provides evidence for the efficacy of a Web-based multiple health behavior intervention among Chinese university students tested with different outcome variables. Future research should address the high dropout rate and optimize the most effective components of this intervention. Trial Registration Clinicaltrials.gov NCT01909349; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01909349 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/6pHV1A0G1)
Western herbal medicine consultations for common menstrual problems; practitioner experiences and perceptions of treatment

To explore the prevalence with which Australian Western herbalists treat menstrual problems and their related treatment, experiences, perceptions, and interreferral practices with other health practitioners. Members of the Practitioner Research and Collaboration Initiative practice‐based research network identifying as Western Herbalists (WHs) completed a specifically developed, online questionnaire. Western Herbalists regularly treat menstrual problems, perceiving high, though differential, levels of effectiveness. For menstrual problems, WHs predominantly prescribe individualised formulas including core herbs, such as Vitex agnus‐castus, and problem‐specific herbs. Estimated clients' weekly cost (median = $25.00) and treatment duration (median = 4–6 months) covering this Western herbal medicine treatment appears relatively low. Urban‐based women are more likely than those rurally based to have used conventional treatment for their menstrual problems before consulting WHs (p = .001). Only 19% of WHs indicated direct contact by conventional medical practitioners regarding treatment of clients' menstrual problems despite 42% indicating clients' conventional practitioners recommended consultation with WH. Western herbal medicine may be a substantially prevalent, cost‐effective treatment option amongst women with menstrual problems. A detailed examination of the behaviour of women with menstrual problems who seek and use Western herbal medicine warrants attention to ensure this healthcare option is safe, effective, and appropriately co‐ordinated within women's wider healthcare use.
2D and 3D strain for detection of subclinical anthracycline cardiotoxicity in breast cancer patients: a balance with feasibility

Aims 2D echocardiography is limited for identifying chemotherapy-related cardiotoxicity. This study compared standard echo, 2D, and 3D speckle tracking echocardiography (STE) for detection of subclinical anthracycline (ANT) cardiotoxicity in breast cancer patients. Methods and results One-hundred consecutive breast cancer patients free of cardiac symptoms were treated by multiple protocols including ANT and cyclophosphamide and/or 5-fluorouracil for 3-4 cycles. Both before and after treatment, patients underwent standard echo, 2D STE-derived left ventricular (LV) global longitudinal strain (GLS), 3D volumetric echo and 3D STE with measurements of GLS, global circumferential strain (GCS), global area strain (GAS), and global radial strain (GRS). The follow-up period from the beginning of cancer therapy was 129 ± 18 days. All patients completed the chemotherapy cycles, without experiencing symptoms/signs of heart failure. 2D ejection fraction (EF) was not significantly changed after treatment, whereas E/e' ratio was higher than baseline (from 6.9 ± 2.2 to 7.3 ± 2.1, P = 0.006). 2D GLS was reduced after treatment (from -22.2 ± 2.3% to - 20.1 ± 6.6%, P = 0.004). 3D derived LV end-systolic volume was increased (P < 0.01) and 3D EF (from 62.4 ± 6.5% to 60.3 ± 7.3%, P < 0.01), 3D GLS (P < 0.001) GRS (P < 0.002), GCS, and GAS (both P < 0.0001) were reduced after ANT. Post-ANT 2D GLS was feasible in 90%, 3D EF in 66%, and 3D STE in 60% of patients. Conclusions Our study demonstrates potential superiority but also suboptimal feasibility of 3D EF and 3D strain in diagnosing subclinical ANT cardiotoxicity in breast cancer patients. 2D GLS is superior to standard echo and presents a good feasibility. E/e' ratio also offers advantages in revealing cardiotoxicity.
In vitro comparison of conventional hyperthermia and modulated electro-hyperthermia

Radiofrequency-induced hyperthermia (HT) treatments for cancer include conventional capacitive coupling hyperthermia (cCHT) and modulated electro-hyperthermia (mEHT). In this study, we directly compared these methods with regard to in vitro cytotoxicity and mechanisms of action under isothermal conditions. Hepatoma (HepG2) cells were exposed to HT treatment (42°C for 30 min) using mEHT, cCHT or a water bath. mEHT produced a much higher apoptosis rate (43.1% ± 5.8%) than cCHT (10.0% ± 0.6%), the water bath (8.4% ± 1.7%) or a 37°C control (6.6% ± 1.1%). The apoptosis-inducing effect of mEHT at 42°C was similar to that achieved with a water bath at 46°C. mEHT also increased expression of caspase-3, 8 and 9. All three hyperthermia methods increased intracellular heat shock protein 70 (Hsp70) levels, but only mEHT greatly increased the release of Hsp70 from cells. Calreticulin and E-cadherin levels in the cell membrane also increased after mEHT treatment, but not after cCHT or water bath. These results suggest that mEHT selectively deposits energy on the cell membrane and may be a useful treatment modality that targets cancer cell membranes.
Increasing Complexity in Rule-Based Clinical Decision Support: The Symptom Assessment and Management Intervention

Background Management of uncontrolled symptoms is an important component of quality cancer care. Clinical guidelines are available for optimal symptom management, but are not often integrated into the front lines of care. The use of clinical decision support (CDS) at the point-of-care is an innovative way to incorporate guideline-based symptom management into routine cancer care. Objective The objective of this study was to develop and evaluate a rule-based CDS system to enable management of multiple symptoms in lung cancer patients at the point-of-care. Methods This study was conducted in three phases involving a formative evaluation, a system evaluation, and a contextual evaluation of clinical use. In Phase 1, we conducted iterative usability testing of user interface prototypes with patients and health care providers (HCPs) in two thoracic oncology clinics. In Phase 2, we programmed complex algorithms derived from clinical practice guidelines into a rules engine that used Web services to communicate with the end-user application. Unit testing of algorithms was conducted using a stack-traversal tree-spanning methodology to identify all possible permutations of pathways through each algorithm, to validate accuracy. In Phase 3, we evaluated clinical use of the system among patients and HCPs in the two clinics via observations, structured interviews, and questionnaires. Results In Phase 1, 13 patients and 5 HCPs engaged in two rounds of formative testing, and suggested improvements leading to revisions until overall usability scores met a priori benchmarks. In Phase 2, symptom management algorithms contained between 29 and 1425 decision nodes, resulting in 19 to 3194 unique pathways per algorithm. Unit testing required 240 person-hours, and integration testing required 40 person-hours. In Phase 3, both patients and HCPs found the system usable and acceptable, and offered suggestions for improvements. Conclusions A rule-based CDS system for complex symptom management was systematically developed and tested. The complexity of the algorithms required extensive development and innovative testing. The Web service-based approach allowed remote access to CDS knowledge, and could enable scaling and sharing of this knowledge to accelerate availability, and reduce duplication of effort. Patients and HCPs found the system to be usable and useful.
Native-language benefit for understanding speech-in-noise: The contribution of semantics*

Bilinguals are better able to perceive speech-in-noise in their native compared to their non-native language. This benefit is thought to be due to greater use of higher-level, linguistic context in the native language. Previous studies showing this have used sentences and do not allow us to determine which level of language contributes to this context benefit. Here, we used a new paradigm that isolates the semantic level of speech, in both languages of bilinguals. Results revealed that in the native language, a semantically related target word facilitates the perception of a previously presented degraded prime word relative to when a semantically unrelated target follows the prime, suggesting a specific contribution of semantics to the native language context benefit. We also found the reverse in the non-native language, where there was a disadvantage of semantic context on word recognition, suggesting that such top–down, contextual information results in semantic interference in one's second language.
Lazy Theta*: Any-Angle Path Planning and Path Length Analysis in 3D

Grids with blocked and unblocked cells are often used to represent continuous 2D and 3D environments in robotics and video games. The shortest paths formed by the edges of 8-neighbor 2D grids can be up to 8% longer than the shortest paths in the continuous environment. Theta* typically finds much shorter paths than that by propagating information along graph edges (to achieve short runtimes) without constraining paths to be formed by graph edges (to find short "any-angle" paths). We show in this paper that the shortest paths formed by the edges of 26-neighbor 3D grids can be 13% longer than the shortest paths in the continuous environment, which highlights the need for smart path planning algorithms in 3D. Theta* can be applied to 3D grids in a straight-forward manner, but it performs a line-of-sight check for each unexpanded visible neighbor of each expanded vertex and thus it performs many more line-of-sight checks per expanded vertex on a 26-neighbor 3D grid than on an 8-neighbor 2D grid. We therefore introduce Lazy Theta*, a variant of Theta* which uses lazy evaluation to perform only one line-of-sight check per expanded vertex (but with slightly more expanded vertices). We show experimentally that Lazy Theta* finds paths faster than Theta* on 26-neighbor 3D grids, with one order of magnitude fewer line-of-sight checks and without an increase in path length.
Evaluation and management of esophageal manifestations in systemic sclerosis

Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a multisystemic autoimmune connective tissue disorder; in the gastrointestinal tract, the esophagus is the most commonly affected organ. Symptoms of esophageal disease are due to gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and esophageal motor dysfunction. Since the development of high-resolution manometry (HRM), this method has been preferred for the study of SSc patients with esophageal involvement. Using HRM, classic scleroderma esophagus, defined as absent or ineffective peristalsis of the distal esophagus in combination with a hypotensive lower esophageal sphincter, was found in as many as 55% of SSc patients. Endoscopy is the appropriate test for evaluating dysphagia and identifying evidence and possible complications of GERD. In the therapeutic area, treatment ranges from general supportive measures to the administration of drugs such as proton pump inhibitors and/or prokinetics. However, as many SSc patients do not respond to existing therapies, there is an urgent need for new therapeutic modalities. Buspirone, a 5-hydroxytryptamine 1A receptor agonist, could be a putative therapeutic option, as it was found to exert a significant beneficial effect in SSc patients with esophageal involvement. This review summarizes our knowledge concerning the evaluation and management of esophageal manifestations in SSc patients, including emerging therapeutic modalities.
Mobile Phone–Supported Physiotherapy for Frozen Shoulder: Feasibility Assessment Based on a Usability Study

Background Patients with frozen shoulder show limited shoulder mobility often accompanied by pain. Common treatment methods include physiotherapy, pain medication, administration of corticosteroids, and surgical capsulotomy. Frozen shoulder often lasts from months to years and mostly affects persons in the age group of 40 to 70 years. It severely reduces the quality of life and the ability to work. Objective The objective of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of a mobile health (mHealth) intervention that supports patients affected by “stage two” frozen shoulder. Patients were supported with app-based exercise instructions and tools to monitor their training compliance and progress. These training compliance and progress data supplement the patients’ oral reports to the physiotherapists and physicians and can assist them in therapy adjustment. Methods In order to assess the feasibility of the mHealth intervention, a pilot study of a newly developed app for frozen shoulder patients was conducted with 5 patients for 3 weeks. The main function of the app was the instruction for exercising at home. Standardized questionnaires on usability such as System Usability Scale (SUS) and USE (Usefulness, Satisfaction, and Ease of use), and Technology Acceptance Model-2 (TAM-2) were completed by the study participants at the end of the study. Additionally, a nonstandardized questionnaire was completed by all patients. The correctness of the exercises as conducted by the patients was assessed by a physiotherapist at the end of the study. The mobility of the shoulder and pain in shoulder movement was assessed by a physiotherapist at the start and the end of the study. Results The pilot study was successfully conducted, and the app was evaluated by the patients after 3 weeks. The results of the standardized questionnaires showed high acceptance (TAM-2) and high usability (SUS) of the developed app. The overall usability of the system as assessed by the SUS questionnaire was very good (an average score of 88 out of 100). The average score of the TAM-2 questionnaire on the intention to further use the app was 4.2 out of 5, which indicated that most patients would use the app if further available. The results of the USE questionnaires highlighted that the patients learned how to use the app easily (an average score of 4.2 out of 5) and were satisfied with the app (an average score of 4.7 out of 5). The frequency of app usage and training was very high based on patient reports and verified by analysis of the usage data. The patients conducted the exercises almost flawlessly. Conclusions Our results indicate the feasibility of the mHealth intervention, as the app was easy to use and frequently used by the patients. The app supported the patients’ physiotherapy by providing clear exercising instructions.
On the suitability of North Brazil Current transport estimates for monitoring basin‐scale AMOC changes

The North Brazil Current (NBC) constitutes a bottleneck for the mean northward return flow of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) in the tropical South Atlantic. Previous studies suggested a link between interannual to multidecadal NBC and AMOC transport variability and proposed to use NBC observations as an index for the AMOC. Here we use a set of hindcast, sensitivity, and perturbation experiments performed within a hierarchy of ocean general circulation models to show that decadal to multidecadal buoyancy‐forced changes in the basin‐scale AMOC transport indeed manifest themselves in the NBC. The relation is, however, masked by a strong interannual to decadal wind‐driven gyre variability of the NBC. While questioning the NBC transport as a “direct” index for the AMOC, the results support its potential merit for an AMOC monitoring system, provided that the wind‐driven circulation variability is properly accounted for.
Multiple signaling systems target a core set of transition metal homeostasis genes using similar binding motifs

Bacterial response to metals can require complex regulation. We report an overlapping regulation for copper and zinc resistance genes in the denitrifying bacterium, Pseudomonas stutzeri RCH2, by three two‐component regulatory proteins CopR1, CopR2 and CzcR. We conducted genome‐wide evaluations to identify gene targets of two paralogous regulators, CopR1 and CopR2, annotated for copper signaling, and compared the results with the gene targets for CzcR, implicated in zinc signaling. We discovered that the CopRs and CzcR have largely common targets, and crossregulate a core set of P. stutzeri copper and zinc responsive genes. We established that this crossregulation is enabled by a conserved binding motif in the upstream regulatory regions of the target genes. The crossregulation is physiologically relevant as these regulators synergistically and antagonistically target multicopper oxidases, metal efflux and sequestration systems. CopR1 and CopR2 upregulate two cop operons encoding copper tolerance genes, while all three regulators downregulate a putative copper chaperone, Psest_1595. CzcR also upregulated the oprD gene and the CzcIABC Zn2+ efflux system, while CopR1 and CopR2 downregulated these genes. Our study suggests that crossregulation of copper and zinc homeostasis can be advantageous, and in P. stutzeri this is enabled by shared binding motifs for multiple response regulators.
Overuse of prophylactic antibiotics for elective caesarean delivery in Medani Hospital, Sudan

Background : Antibiotics for prophylaxis are widely used to reduce the risk of post-caesarean delivery infection. The dosage regimens are often inappropriate and may result in the appearance of drug-resistant organisms, which will increase the cost. Objectives: A cross-sectional study was conducted to investigate the prescribing patterns of prophylactic antibiotics for elective caesarean delivery (CD) at Medani Hospital, Sudan. Method : The medical records of women who underwent elective CD from April 2015 to June 2015 were reviewed retrospectively. Results : The main reasons for CD among these women (n=202) were repeat CD, breech and antepartum haemorrhage. The mean (±SD) age of the women was 28.7 (±6.2) years. Ceftizoxime was the most commonly prescribed antibiotic, prescribed for 63.9% of women. It was used alone in 12.4% of cases, and in combination with gentamicin and metronidazole in 49.5% of cases. Cefuroxime was used in combination with gentamicin and metronidazole in 26.7% of women, and in combination with metronidazole only in 9.4% of women, making the overall percentage 36.1%. Antibiotics were administered for 5 days in 32.7% of cases. 91.1% of women received antibiotic prophylaxis after clamping of the cord. All women received oral antibiotic prophylaxis on discharge for five to seven days. Oral cefuroxime in combination with metronidazole was the most preferred regime (77.2 %). Conclusions : The current study shows overuse of antibiotics for elective CD. Injectable ceftizoxime in combination with gentamicin and metronidazole after cord clamping was the most commonly prescribed regime.