Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Neurologic Evaluations of Patients Exposed to the World Trade Center Disaster

Objective: The aim of this study was to describe the clinical phenotype of a limited group of responders and survivors of the World Trade Center (WTC) disaster who were referred for the evaluation of neuropathic symptoms. Methods: Sixteen patients with WTC exposure were referred to a neurologist for evaluation. All had a neurologic examination. Most had electromyogram and nerve conduction testing/nerve conduction studies as well as appropriate imaging and blood tests. Results: There was a higher probability of a neuropathy diagnosis in WTC-exposed patients than other patients referred for EMG testing. Two WTC-exposed patients had motor neuron disease and not neuropathy. Conclusion: This study provides objective evidence of neuropathy in a relatively high fraction of WTC-exposed patients with neuropathic symptoms. It also emphasizes that the scope of neurologic problems following WTC exposure may include other diagnoses such as motor neuron disease.
The Impact of the Anisotropy of the Media between Parallel Plates on the Casimir Force

Quantum fluctuations of the electromagnetic field give rise to the force between parallel plates: the Casimir force. We theoretically calculate the Casimir force between two parallel isotropic plates when the space between the plates is filled with anisotropic material. Our result shows that the Casimir force, especially in the direction of the force, can be significantly affected by the anisotropy of the intervening material. We also discuss the combined influence of dispersion and anisotropy, and analyze the impact of the external electric filed on the Casimir force by affecting the anisotropy of the intervening material by Kerr electro-optical effect.
Risk Aversion, the Value of Information, and Traffic Equilibrium

Information about traffic conditions has traditionally been conveyed to drivers via radio, variable message signs, and, more recently, the Internet and advanced traveler information systems. This has spurred research on how travelers respond to information, how much they are willing to pay for it, and how much they are likely to benefit from it collectively. In this paper, we analyze the decisions of drivers on whether to acquire information and which routes to take on simple congested road networks. Drivers vary in their degrees of risk aversion with respect to travel time. Four information regimes are considered: no information, free information (publicly available at no cost), costly information (publicly available for a fee), and private information (available free to single individuals). Private information is shown to be individually more valuable than either free or costly information while the benefits from free and costly information cannot be ranked in general. Free or costly information can decrease the expected utility of drivers who are very risk averse; with sufficient risk aversion in the population, the aggregate compensating variation for information can be negative.
Risk factors of in-hospital mortality among patients with upper gastrointestinal bleeding and acute myocardial infarction

Background/Aims: Patients with simultaneous upper gastrointestinal bleeding (UGIB) and acute myocardial infarction (AMI) have higher mortality than patients with either GIB or AMI. We aimed to assess the incidence and risk factors of in-hospital mortality in patients with UGIB and AMI. Patients and Methods: A total of 243 patients with UGIB and AMI were enrolled during 2012–2017. Clinical and laboratory data were collected and analyzed for clinical characteristics and potential risk factors of in-hospital mortality. Results: Among the 243 patients, 60 in-hospital deaths were observed (in-hospital mortality rate of 24.7%). Patients who died were older than the survivors (78.7 ± 6.6 vs. 72.6 ± 10.5 years, P < 0.001). Compared with survivors, patients who died showed increased peak white blood cell (WBC) count (9.74 ± 4.72 vs. 7.60 ± 2.91 × 109/L, P= 0.002), serum creatinine levels [134 (106, 190) vs. 97 (79, 125) mmol/L, P= 0.014], peak blood urine nitrogen levels (16.31 ± 8.48 mmol/L vs. 9.86 ± 6.33 mmol/L, P < 0.001), and peak brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) amounts [13,250 (6071, 30,000) vs. 3598 (728, 12,842) pg/mL, P < 0.001]. Meanwhile, patients who died also displayed lower minimum hemoglobin levels (78.3 ± 21.1 vs. 86.3 ± 22.3 g/L, P= 0.018) and minimum platelet counts (184.3 ± 79.1 vs. 214.6 ± 80.1 × 109/L, P= 0.013). In multivariable logistic analysis, age [OR (95% CI) =1.118 (1.053–1.186), P < 0.001], peak WBC count [OR (95% CI) =1.252 (1.113–1.407), P < 0.001], minimum platelet count [OR (95% CI) = 0.994 (0.989–1.000), P= 0.032], and peak BNP levels [OR (95% CI) =3.880 (1.761–8.550), P= 0.001] were independent predictors of in-hospital mortality. Conclusions: Patients with UGIB and AMI had a high in-hospital mortality, which was independently associated with age, peak WBC count, minimum platelet count, and peak BNP levels.
Evidence-based clinical practice guideline for adult Still’s disease

Abstract Objectives: Using an expert- and data-driven methodology, we have constructed the first clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) for adult Still’s disease (ASD) after complete systematic review (SR) of the literature based upon the Medical Information Network Distribution Service (Minds) procedure. Methods: The CPG committee for ASD organized by the Research Team for Autoimmune Diseases, the Research Program for Intractable Disease of the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare has developed CPG for ASD 2017, according to the procedure proposed by Minds. The CPG development process includes (1) clarification of the purpose of CPG, (2) organization of the steering committee, (3) organization of the CPG committee and secretariat, (4) defining the scope (setting of clinical questions (CQs)), (5) SR, (6) development of recommendations, (7) drafting the CPG, (8) external evaluation and public comments, and (9) release. Because we wanted to construct CPG for ASD to encompass both adult-onset Still’s disease (AOSD) and adult patients with systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis (sJIA), we also included SR data from sJIA in this study. Results: Twenty-six CQs were selected and roughly divided into the following items: (1) clinical findings (CQs 1–4), (2) laboratory findings (CQs 5–8), (3) complications (CQs 9–13), (4) treatment with oral medicine (CQs 14–19), (5) treatment with biological reagents (CQs 20–23), and (6) treatments for sJIA (CQs 25–26). Recommendations and the strength of the recommendations for these CQs were decided by a modified Delphi method. Conclusion: We have developed the first published CPG for ASD including AOSD and sJIA, which includes 26 CQs and recommendations. This guideline will help rheumatologists, non-specialized physicians, other healthcare providers, medical and health-related students, and patients and their family members to understand and treat ASD.
A Pilot Study of Healthy Living Options at 16 Truck Stops Across the United States

Purpose: There is a growing body of evidence that the built environment influences diet and exercise and, as a consequence, community health status. Since long-haul truck drivers spend long periods of time at truck stops, it is important to know if this built environment includes resources that contribute to the emotional and physical well-being of drivers. Setting: The truck stop environment was defined as the truck stop itself, grocery stores, and medical clinics near the truck stop that could be accessed by a large truck or safely on foot. Design: Researchers at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) developed and utilized a checklist to record the availability of resources for personal hygiene and comfort, communication and mental stimulation, health care, safety, physical activity, and nutrition at truck stops. Subjects: The NIOSH checklist was used to collect data at a convenience sample of 16 truck stops throughout the United States along both high-flow and low-flow truck traffic routes. Measures: The checklist was completed by observation within and around the truck stops. Results: No truck stops offered exercise facilities, 94% lacked access to health care, 81% lacked a walking path, 50% lacked fresh fruit, and 37% lacked fresh vegetables in their restaurant or convenience store. Conclusion: The NIOSH found that most truck stops did not provide an overall healthy living environment.
Comparison of Plantar Fasciitis Injected With Platelet-Rich Plasma vs Corticosteroids

Background: Plantar fasciitis is one of the most common causes of heel pain. This prospective study compared the efficacy of local injection of corticosteroids vs platelet-rich plasma (PRP) in the treatment of plantar fasciitis. Methods: Patients were randomly allocated into 2 groups of 40 each (group A and group B). Patients were treated with local corticosteroid injection in group A and autologous PRP injection in group B. Clinical assessment was done prior to the injection and at 1 month, 3 months, and 6 months following the injection, which included visual analog pain scale, subjective rating using the modified Roles and Maudsley score, functional outcome score by the Foot and Ankle Outcome Instrument (FAI) core scale, and the American Orthopaedic Foot & Ankle Society (AOFAS) ankle-hindfoot scale. Radiological assessment was done by measuring the thickness of the plantar fascia using ultrasonography. The mean age, sex, and body mass index of both groups were comparable. Results: Postinjection, there was significant improvement of visual analog score, modified Roles and Maudsley score, FAI core scale, AOFAS ankle-hindfoot score, and plantar fascia thickness in both the groups. However, with the numbers available, no significant difference in improvement could be detected between the above-mentioned variables in the 2 groups. Conclusion: We found that the treatment of plantar fasciitis with steroid or PRP injection was equally effective. Level of Evidence: Level II, prospective randomized comparative series.
Expanding the clinical spectrum of biallelic ZNF335 variants

ZNF335 plays an essential role in neurogenesis and biallelic variants in ZNF335 have been identified as the cause of severe primary autosomal recessive microcephaly in 2 unrelated families. We describe, herein, 2 additional affected individuals with biallelic ZNF335 variants, 1 individual with a homozygous c.1399 T > C, p.(Cys467Arg) variant, and a second individual with compound heterozygous c. 2171_2173delTCT, p.(Phe724del) and c.3998A > G, p.(Glu1333Gly) variants with the latter variant predicted to affect splicing. Whereas the first case presented with early death and a severe phenotype characterized by anterior agyria with prominent extra‐axial spaces, absent basal ganglia, and hypoplasia of the brainstem and cerebellum, the second case had a milder clinical presentation with hypomyelination and otherwise preserved brain structures on MRI. Our findings expand the clinical spectrum of ZNF335‐associated microcephaly.
Esculentin-1a-Derived Peptides Promote Clearance of Pseudomonas aeruginosa Internalized in Bronchial Cells of Cystic Fibrosis Patients and Lung Cell Migration: Biochemical Properties and a Plausible Mode of Action

ABSTRACT Pseudomonas aeruginosa is the major microorganism colonizing the respiratory epithelium in cystic fibrosis (CF) sufferers. The widespread use of available antibiotics has drastically reduced their efficacy, and antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are a promising alternative. Among them, the frog skin-derived AMPs, i.e., Esc(1-21) and its diastereomer, Esc(1-21)-1c, have recently shown potent activity against free-living and sessile forms of P. aeruginosa. Importantly, this pathogen also escapes antibiotics treatment by invading airway epithelial cells. Here, we demonstrate that both AMPs kill Pseudomonas once internalized into bronchial cells which express either the functional or the ΔF508 mutant of the CF transmembrane conductance regulator. A higher efficacy is displayed by Esc(1-21)-1c (90% killing at 15 μM in 1 h). We also show the peptides' ability to stimulate migration of these cells and restore the induction of cell migration that is inhibited by Pseudomonas lipopolysaccharide when used at concentrations mimicking lung infection. This property of AMPs was not investigated before. Our findings suggest new therapeutics that not only eliminate bacteria but also can promote reepithelialization of the injured infected tissue. Confocal microscopy indicated that both peptides are intracellularly localized with a different distribution. Biochemical analyses highlighted that Esc(1-21)-1c is significantly more resistant than the all-l peptide to bacterial and human elastase, which is abundant in CF lungs. Besides proposing a plausible mechanism underlying the properties of the two AMPs, we discuss the data with regard to differences between them and suggest Esc(1-21)-1c as a candidate for the development of a new multifunctional drug against Pseudomonas respiratory infections.
Rice yields in tropical/subtropical Asia exhibit large but opposing sensitivities to minimum and maximum temperatures

Data from farmer-managed fields have not been used previously to disentangle the impacts of daily minimum and maximum temperatures and solar radiation on rice yields in tropical/subtropical Asia. We used a multiple regression model to analyze data from 227 intensively managed irrigated rice farms in six important rice-producing countries. The farm-level detail, observed over multiple growing seasons, enabled us to construct farm-specific weather variables, control for unobserved factors that either were unique to each farm but did not vary over time or were common to all farms at a given site but varied by season and year, and obtain more precise estimates by including farm- and site-specific economic variables. Temperature and radiation had statistically significant impacts during both the vegetative and ripening phases of the rice plant. Higher minimum temperature reduced yield, whereas higher maximum temperature raised it; radiation impact varied by growth phase. Combined, these effects imply that yield at most sites would have grown more rapidly during the high-yielding season but less rapidly during the low-yielding season if observed temperature and radiation trends at the end of the 20th century had not occurred, with temperature trends being more influential. Looking ahead, they imply a net negative impact on yield from moderate warming in coming decades. Beyond that, the impact would likely become more negative, because prior research indicates that the impact of maximum temperature becomes negative at higher levels. Diurnal temperature variation must be considered when investigating the impacts of climate change on irrigated rice in Asia.
Elastic Scaling of Stateful Network Functions

Elastic scaling is a central promise of NFV but has been hard to realize in practice. The difficulty arises because most Network Functions (NFs) are stateful and this state need to be shared across NF instances. Implementing state sharing while meeting the throughput and latency requirements placed on NFs is challenging and, to date, no solution exists that meets NFV’s performance goals for the full spectrum of NFs. S6 is a new framework that supports elastic scaling of NFs without compromising performance. Its design builds on the insight that a distributed shared state abstraction is well-suited to the NFV context. We organize state as a distributed shared object (DSO) space and extend the DSO concept with techniques designed to meet the need for elasticity and high-performance in NFV workloads. S6 simplifies development: NF writers program with no awareness of how state is distributed and shared. Instead, S6 transparently migrates state and handles accesses to shared state. In our evaluation, compared to recent solutions for dynamic scaling of NFs, S6 improves performance by 100x during scaling events [25], and by 2-5x under normal operation [27].
Robots , Trade , and Luddism ∗

Technological change, from the advent of robots to expanded trade opportunities, tends to create winners and losers. When are such changes welcome? How should government policy respond? We provide a general analysis of optimal technology regulation in a second best world, with linear taxes on goods and a nonlinear tax on labor income. Our first result shows that, despite these limited instruments, productivity improvements are always welcome and valued in the same way as in a first best world. Our second set of results offers three optimal tax formulas, with minimal structural assumptions, involving sufficient statistics that can be implementing using existing reduced-form evidence on the distributional impact of robots and trade. Our final result is a comparative static exercise illustrating that while distributional concerns create a rationale for non-zero taxes on robots and trade, the magnitude of these taxes may decrease with improvements in new technologies. Hence, as the process of automation and globalization deepens, more inequality may best be met with lower luddism. ∗We thank Andrés Rodriguez-Clare for detailed comments on an earlier draft. We also are grateful for comments and discussions at conferences and seminars at UC Berkeley, U. of Copenhagen, U. of Oslo, MIT, Harvard, NBER ITI SI, BFI Taxation and Fiscal Policy Conference, Princeton IES Summer Workshop. Masao Fukui, Mary Gong and Martina Uccioli provided excellent research assistance. Finally, we thank HAL for its unrelenting discouragement.
Variations in mitochondrial cytochrome b region among Ethiopian indigenous cattle populations assert Bos taurus maternal origin and historical dynamics

Objective This study was carried out to assess the haplotype diversity and population dynamics in cattle populations of Ethiopia. Methods We sequenced the complete mitochondrial cytochrome b gene of 76 animals from five indigenous and one Holstein Friesian×Barka cross bred cattle populations. Results In the sequence analysis, 18 haplotypes were generated from 18 segregating sites and the average haplotype and nucleotide diversities were 0.7540±0.043 and 0.0010±0.000, respectively. The population differentiation analysis shows a weak population structure (4.55%) among the populations studied. Majority of the variation (95.45%) is observed by within populations. The overall average pair-wise distance (F ST) was 0.049539 with the highest (F ST = 0.1245) and the lowest (F ST = 0.011) F ST distances observed between Boran and Abigar, and Sheko and Abigar from the indigenous cattle, respectively. The phylogenetic network analysis revealed that all the haplotypes detected clustered together with the Bos taurus cattle and converged to a haplogroup. No haplotype in Ethiopian cattle was observed clustered with the reference Bos indicus group. The mismatch distribution analysis indicates a single population expansion event among the cattle populations. Conclusion Overall, high haplotype variability was observed among Ethiopian cattle populations and they share a common ancestor with Bos taurus.
Predictability of formulae for intraocular lens power calculation according to the age of implantation in paediatric cataract

Aims To analyse the predictability of diverse intraocular lens (IOL) power calculation formulae in paediatric patients with congenital cataract. Methods The medical records of patients who underwent cataract surgery and posterior chamber IOL implantation (in-the-bag) for congenital cataract before 17 years of age were reviewed retrospectively. Target refractions calculated by Sanders-Retzlaff-Kraff (SRK)/II, SRK/T and Hoffer-Q formulae were compared with the actual refraction. Patients were subgroup according to the age at IOL implantation (age group 0–24 months, 25–60 months, 61–120 months, 121–203 months), and we compared mean prediction error (PE) and mean absolute error (AE) for each formula. Corrected AE was obtained by linear regression analysis. Results Totally 481 eyes were included in the final analysis. Both SRK/II and SRK/T yielded the lowest mean AE in the age group 0–24 months and SRK/II yielded the lowest mean AE in the age group 25–60 months. For every formula, the mean PE was positive during the first five years of age, which converged to zero according to age as IOL implantation increases. The tendency for immediate postoperative overcorrection in younger patients (<6 years) could be improved by corrected formulae based on the linear regression equation. Conclusions Patients with congenital cataract who underwent IOL implantation within 5 years of age showed higher AE than the older ones did. Among the three formulae evaluated, SRK/II consistently provided the best predictive result in these patients. For patients aged >10 years, all three formulae showed favourable predictive abilities.
Distinct and common expression of receptors for inflammatory mediators in vagal nodose versus jugular capsaicin-sensitive/TRPV1-positive neurons detected by low input RNA sequencing

Capsaicin-sensitive sensory C-fibers derived from vagal ganglia innervate the visceral organs, and respond to inflammatory mediators and noxious stimuli. These neurons play an important role in maintenance of visceral homeostasis, and contribute to the symptoms of visceral inflammatory diseases. Vagal sensory neurons are located in two ganglia, the jugular ganglia (derived from the neural crest), and the nodose ganglia (from the epibranchial placodes). The functional difference, especially in response to immune mediators, between jugular and nodose neurons is not fully understood. In this study, we microscopically isolated murine nodose and jugular capsaicin-sensitive / Trpv1-expressing C-fiber neurons and performed transcriptome profiling using ultra-low input RNA sequencing. RNAseq detected genes with significantly differential expression in jugular and nodose neurons, which were mostly involved in neural functions. Transcriptional regulators, including Cited1, Hoxb5 and Prdm12 showed distinct expression patterns in the two C-fiber neuronal populations. Common and specific expression of immune receptor proteins was characterized in each neuronal type. The expression of immune receptors that have received little or no attention from vagal sensory biologists is highlighted including receptors for certain chemokines (CXCLs), interleukins (IL-4) and interferons (IFNα, IFNγ). Stimulation of immune receptors with their cognate ligands led to activation of the C-fibers in isolated functional assays.