Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The effects of an unsupervised water exercise program on low back pain and sick leave among healthy pregnant women – A randomised controlled trial

Background Low back pain is highly prevalent among pregnant women, but evidence of an effective treatment are still lacking. Supervised exercise–either land or water based–has shown benefits for low back pain, but no trial has investigated the evidence of an unsupervised water exercise program on low back pain. We aimed to assess the effect of an unsupervised water exercise program on low back pain intensity and days spent on sick leave among healthy pregnant women. Methods In this randomised, controlled, parallel-group trial, 516 healthy pregnant women were randomly assigned to either unsupervised water exercise twice a week for a period of 12 weeks or standard prenatal care. Healthy pregnant women aged 18 years or older, with a single fetus and between 16–17 gestational weeks were eligible. The primary outcome was low back pain intensity measured by the Low Back Pain Rating scale at 32 weeks. The secondary outcomes were self-reported days spent on sick leave, disability due to low back pain (Roland Morris Disability Questionnaire) and self-rated general health (EQ-5D and EQ-VAS). Results Low back pain intensity was significantly lower in the water exercise group, with a score of 2.01 (95% CI 1.75–2.26) vs. 2.38 in the control group (95% CI 2.12–2.64) (mean difference = 0.38, 95% CI 0.02–0.74 p = 0.04). No difference was found in the number of days spent on sick leave (median 4 vs. 4, p = 0.83), disability due to low back pain nor self-rated general health. There was a trend towards more women in the water exercise group reporting no low back pain at 32 weeks (21% vs. 14%, p = 0.07). Conclusions Unsupervised water exercise results in a statistically significant lower intensity of low back pain in healthy pregnant women, but the result was most likely not clinically significant. It did not affect the number of days on sick leave, disability due to low back pain nor self-rated health. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02354430
Detecting Mood Disorder in Resource-Limited Primary Care Settings: Comparison of a self-administered screening tool to general practitioner assessment

Objectives Although efficacious treatments for mood disorders are available in primary care, under-diagnosis is associated with under-treatment and poorer outcomes. This study compares the accuracy of self-administered screening tests with routine general practitioner (GP) assessment for detection of current mood disorder. Methods 197 consecutive patients attending primary care centres in Santiago, Chile enrolled in this cross-sectional study, filling out the Patients Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) for depression and the Mood Disorder Questionnaire (MDQ) for bipolar disorder, after routine GP assessment. Diagnostic accuracy of these self-administered tools was compared with GP assessment, with gold standard diagnosis established by a structured diagnostic interview with trained clinicians (SCID-I). Results The sample was 75% female, with a mean age of 48.5 (SD 16.8); 37% had a current mood disorder (positive SCID-I result for depression or bipolar disorder). Sensitivity of the screening instruments (SI) was substantially higher than GP assessment (SI: 0.8, [95% CI 0.71, 0.81], versus GP: 0.2, [95% CI 0.12, 0.25]: p-value < 0.0001), without sacrifice in specificity (SI: 0.9, [95% CI 0.86, 0.96], versus GP: 0.9, [95% CI 0.88, 0.97]: p-value = 0.7). This led to improvement in both positive predictive value (SI: 0.8, [95% CI 0.82, 0.90], versus GP: 0.6, [95% CI 0.50, 0.64]: p-value < 0.001) and negative predictive value (SI: 0.9, [95% CI 0.78, 0.91] versus GP: 0.7, [95% CI 0.56, 0.72]: p-value < 0.01). Conclusion Self-administered screening tools are more accurate than GP assessment in detecting current mood disorder in low-income primary care. Such screening tests may improve detection of current mood disorder if implemented in primary care settings.
A multi-criteria decision model for the selection of a more suitable Internet-of-Things device

The emerging Internet-of-Things (IoT) technology is becoming more and more important in society, with applicability in many areas, such as Smart Cities, Intelligent Transportation Systems and Domotics (Smart Buildings). IoT deployments are by nature a very heterogeneous environment built on numerous “things” (actuators, sensors, etc.). These “things”, are based on hardware platforms which can differ widely, implement different tasks and can use distinct Operating System (OS). They are mainly used for environment awareness, giving to people a more truly interaction with the surrounding world. With such diversity, a complex problem emerges for developers regarding the selection of a proper, more suitable device for an IoT deployment. Make a right decision depends on multiple criteria and a challenge for science and technology managers. An IoT System (device) is characterized by several parameters. It presents, among other special characteristics, low processing capabilities, battery-powered, very specific OS, and the major concern to engineers the energy efficiency. This work proposes a multi-criteria model and a framework to analyze the most suitable solution in the design of a System of IoT Systems. Assist in the decision of a suitable solution for an IoT System, during the design phase and IoT deployment.
Applying the Problem Behavior Theory to Adolescent Drug Use Among a Cross-Sectional Sample of Boys Participating in a Community-Based Youth Organization

ABSTRACT Background: Drug use remains an important public health concern in the United States, and understanding drug use among young adolescents is vital towards improving the health of the population. Objective: This study applied the Problem Behavior Theory (PBT) to lifetime drug use among a cross-sectional sample of Boy Scouts (N = 770). The PBT provides a conceptual framework for identifying risk and protective factors for adolescent problem behaviors, including drug use. Methods: Scouts reported their drug use and socio-demographics, and were assessed on several risk and protective factors. For analyses, sociodemographic and risk and protective factors were selected according to the framework provided by PBT, and use of each drug was regressed logistically on these selected factors. Final logistic models were assessed for goodness of fit and discriminatory power. Results: The PBT demonstrated discriminatory power for all drugs (Tjur's R2 values ≥.29), but fell sharply for illicit drug use (Tjur's R2 =.20). There were no consistent correlates of drug use. Conclusions/Importance: The PBT had less explanatory power for illicit drug use compared to tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana, which suggests different risk and protective factors were associated with illicit drug use.
Real-Time Automatic Apneic Event Detection Using Nocturnal Pulse Oximetry

Objective: Nocturnal pulse oximetry has been proposed as a simpler alternative to polysomnography in diagnosing sleep apnea. However, existing techniques are limited in terms of inability to provide time information on sleep apnea occurrence. This study aimed to propose a new strategy for near real-time automatic detection of apneic events and reliable estimation of apnea–hypopnea index using nocturnal pulse oximetry. Methods: Among 230 polysomnographic recordings with apnea–hypopnea index values ranging from 0 to 86.5 events/h, 138 (60%) and the remaining 92 recordings (40%) were categorized as training and test sets, respectively. By extracting the quantitative characteristics caused by the apneic event for the amount and duration of the change in blood oxygen saturation value, we established the criteria to determine the occurrence of apneic event. Regression modeling was used to estimate the apnea–hypopnea index from the apneic event detection results. Results: The minute-by-minute apneic segment detection exhibited an average accuracy of 91.0% and an average Cohen's kappa coefficient of 0.71. Between the apnea–hypopnea index estimations and reference values, the mean absolute error was 2.30 events/h. The average accuracy of our diagnosis of sleep apnea was 96.7% for apnea–hypopnea index cutoff values of ≥5, 10, 15, and 30 events/h. Conclusion: We developed an effective strategy to detect apneic events by using morphometric characteristics in the fluctuation of blood oxygen saturation values. Significance: Our study could be potentially useful in home-based multinight apneic event monitoring for purposes of therapeutic intervention and follow-up study on sleep apnea.
Hydrodynamics of bile flow: Lessons from computational modeling

potential to use autologous cells for generation of liver organoids and cell therapy as this may obviate the need for immunosuppressive drugs, which are associated with increased risk of infections and other complications. Organoid cultures from diseased livers may further be amenable to new genome editing techniques such as CRISPR/Cas9 to correct genetic aberrations. Liver transplantation is currently the only curative option to treat end-stage biliary diseases. However, this approach is limited by the availability of healthy organs for transplantation. Using a combination of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine approaches illustrated in this article, it may one day be possible to generate bioengineered biliary tissue that could theoretically provide an adjunct therapy for certain biliary pathologies. Artificial bile ducts not only would be useful for tissue repair but also could provide a platform to model diseases of the bile duct and potentially develop and test new drug therapies. One important unanswered question is how feasible this approach will be for human therapeutic applications considering that the diseased ducts in humans might hinder collection of a homogenous population of normal cholangiocytes. Additionally, many biliary diseases are associated with a robust ductular reaction that involves hyperplasia of the peribiliary glands and expansion of a heterogeneous population of stem-like cells. In these cases, the cell isolation procedure could inadvertently select an inappropriate population of cells with unclear differentiation capacity. Another limitation of the study is that the bioengineered bile duct was implanted in a healthy mouse and not in an experimental disease model, and thus, we do not yet know if the scaffold will adapt to a pathologic environment. Furthermore, for cell replacement therapy, along with significant cell engraftment, it will also be important to ascertain whether ECOs can form functional connections with hepatocytes upon engraftment. Maintenance of physiological properties in vivo for a prolonged period of time will also be vital. Other questions include, but are not limited to, the genomic and phenotypic stability in vivo and whether this approach can be used for gene correction and autologous therapy of genetic biliary diseases. Certainly, further study is now warranted to clarify the regenerative medicine approaches that will most optimally improve human biliary disease in various clinical settings. The present studies highlight biliary organoids and biodegradable scaffolds as one potentially important approach to be considered further for translation to human disease.
Prognostic value of the Hippo pathway transcriptional coactivators YAP/TAZ and β1-integrin in conventional osteosarcoma

Introduction Currently, very few studies are available concerning the mammalian Hippo pathway in bone sarcomas. YAP/TAZ transcription co-activators are key downstream effectors of this pathway and may also have oncogenic properties. Additionally, recent in-vitro experiments showed that expression of β1-integrin promoted metastasis in osteosarcomas. This study investigated the expression of YAP/TAZ and β1-integrin in human osteosarcomas. Materials and methods We performed automated immunohistochemistry on tissue-microarrays (TMA) in which 69 conventional osteosarcomas biopsies performed prior to chemotherapy were embedded. Cellular localization and semi-quantitative analysis of each immunostain was performed using Immunoreactive Score (IRS) and correlated to clinico-pathological data. Results Cytoplasmic expression of β1-integrin was noted in 54/59 osteosarcomas (92%), with 33/59 cases (56%) displaying membranous staining. YAP/TAZ was expressed in 27/45 osteosarcomas (60%), with 14 cases (31%) showing cytoplasmic expression while 13 other cases (28%) displayed nuclear expression. No link was found between YAP/TAZ or β1-integrin expression and response to chemotherapy. In univariate analysis, YAP/TAZ immunoreactive score was pejoratively correlated with overall survival (p = 0.01). Expression of β1-integrin on cell membrane was also pejorative for OS (p = 0.045). In multivariate analysis, YAP/TAZ nuclear expression was an independent prognostic factor for PFS (p = 0.035). Conclusion this study indicates that β1-integrin and YAP/TAZ proteins are linked to prognosis and therefore could be therapeutic targets in conventional osteosarcomas.
Deposition of Titanium Nitride Thin Films onto Silicon by RF Reactive Magnetron Sputtering

The properties of TiN films deposited by magnetron sputtering are related to their deposition conditions. The elaboration of our films has been carried out by RF-Magnetron Sputtering (13.56 MHz) from a titanium metallic target in reactive N2/Ar gas mixture. The main variables investigated are the composition of the Ar/N2 gas mixture, the total pressure, the deposition time, the discharge power but in this work the attention is given to the effect of the substrate bias voltage. A study is carried out the effects of these variations on the film growth rates, the film thickness and the properties of TiN films. The deposited films were characterized by energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), and observed by means of atomic force microscopy (AFM).
Social Learning from Online Reviews with Product Choice

Product choice when consumers engage in social learning has significant implications on learning outcomes and on the information accumulation rate. In many practical settings, consumers have a choice on which product to buy, if any, among several possible alternatives. The quality of these products may be unknown to consumers, but online platforms provide product reviews so that, as time goes by, customers accumulate information about products' quality. This paper studies a model where consumers estimate the quality of products from online binary product reviews (like/dislike), and subsequently make a choice among competing alternatives using a multinomial logit model. The consumer learning model is naive, i.e., consumers take the ratio of likes over the total number of reviews as a proxy for quality. We explore the impact of choice on the learning outcome, and show that consumers correctly learn the ranking of the product qualities, but not the actual quality vector. We provide the conditions that allow consumers to get arbitrarily close to the truth and characterize the consistency of their product choices relative to the full information benchmark. Using a large market (fluid model) approximation, we study how choice and product parameters affect learning speed and derive some intuition on the primitives that matter the most. Finally, we address the following platform control problem: assuming that consumers suffer some search cost to go down the list of displayed products, which order of products should the platform use to speed up learning and purchases? Without search costs, the platform has no leverage to accelerate learning, but if search costs exist, and are significant, e.g., most people do not see past the top 10 or so options, then (a) disregarding the search cost leads to significantly optimistic results in terms of information accumulation speed, and (b) by carefully selecting the order in which product options are displayed, the platform may in fact reduce the time-to-learn even when compared to the case where there are no search costs.
Complex Orthogonal Designs With Forbidden 2$\,\times\,$2 Submatrices

Complex orthogonal designs (CODs) are used to construct space-time block codes. COD O<sub>z</sub> with parameter [p, n, k] is a p × n matrix, where nonzero entries are filled ±z<sub>i</sub> by ±z<sub>i</sub>*, i = 1,2. ,k, or , such that O<sub>z</sub><sup>H</sup>O<sub>z</sub> = (|z<sub>1</sub>|<sup>2</sup> + |z<sub>2</sub>|<sup>2</sup> + .+ |z<sub>k</sub>|<sup>2</sup>)I<sub>n×n</sub>. Define O<sub>z</sub> a first type COD if and only if O<sub>z</sub> does not contain submatrix (±zj,0:0,±zj*) or (±zj*,0:0,±zj). It is already known that all CODs with maximal rate, i.e., maximal k/p, are of the first type. In this paper, we will determine all achievable parameters [p, n, k] of first type COD, as well as all their possible structures. The existence of parameters is proved by explicit-form constructions. New CODs with parameters [p, n, k] = [(n:w-1) + (n:w+1),n, (n:w)], for 0 ≤ w ≤ n, are constructed, which demonstrate the possibility of sacrificing code rate to reduce decoding delay. It is worth mentioning that all maximal rate, minimal delay CODs are contained in our constructions, and their uniqueness under equivalence operation is proved.
Improved Synthesis and In Vitro Evaluation of an Aptamer Ribosomal Toxin Conjugate.

Delivery of toxins, such as the ricin A chain, Pseudomonas exotoxin, and gelonin, using antibodies has had some success in inducing specific toxicity in cancer treatments. However, these antibody-toxin conjugates, called immunotoxins, can be bulky, difficult to express, and may induce an immune response upon in vivo administration. We previously reported delivery of a recombinant variant of gelonin (rGel) by the full-length prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) binding aptamer, A9, to potentially circumvent some of these problems. Here, we report a streamlined approach to generating aptamer-rGel conjugates utilizing a chemically synthesized minimized form of the A9 aptamer. Unlike the full-length A9 aptamer, this minimized variant can be chemically synthesized with a 5' terminal thiol. This facilitates the large scale synthesis and generation of aptamer toxin conjugates linked by a reducible disulfide linkage. Using this approach, we generated aptamer-toxin conjugates and evaluated their binding specificity and toxicity. On PSMA(+) LNCaP prostate cancer cells, the A9.min-rGel conjugate demonstrated an IC50 of ∼60 nM. Additionally, we performed a stability analysis of this conjugate in mouse serum where the conjugate displayed a t1/2 of ∼4 h, paving the way for future in vivo experiments.
Presence of TERT Promoter Mutations is a Secondary Event and Associates with Elongated Telomere Length in Myxoid Liposarcomas

The occurrence of TERT promoter mutations has been well described in soft tissue sarcomas (STS). However, the biological role of these mutations as well as their impact on telomere length in STS is still unclear. We analyzed 116 patient samples diagnosed with 22 distinct histological subtypes of bone and STS for the occurrence of TERT promoter mutations by Sanger sequencing. We observed TERT promoter mutations at an overall frequency of 9.5% distributed over 7 different sarcoma subtypes. Except for one chondrosarcoma case harboring a C250T mutation, all other mutations were detected at location C228T. By far the far highest frequency of TERT promoter mutations was found in myxoid liposarcoma (MLS) (4 out of 9 cases studied, i.e., 44%). Assessment of telomere length from tumor biopsies revealed that TERT promoter-mutated MLSs had significantly fewer shortened telomeres in comparison to TERT wildtype MLSs. Based on the frequency of TERT promoter mutations and the elongated telomere length in mutated compared to wildtype MLS, we hypothesize that occurrence of TERT promoter mutations has a pivotal role in the disease progression as a secondary genetic event at a time when tumor cells face the need for telomere elongation to allow further proliferation.
Treatment and risk factors of Internet use disorders

Recently, many young people have developed Internet use disorders (IUD) as a result of the proliferation of Internet‐enabled devices, leading to serious health and social problems worldwide. On occasion, medical and educational institutions, governments, and other groups have sought to take preventive action or treat IUD. In many cases, the preferred treatment for IUD is to set recommendations for appropriate Internet use. Reportedly, psychosocial therapies (including cognitive behavioral therapy, family therapy, and compound therapy) for IUD and pharmacotherapies (including antidepressant drugs and psychostimulants) for comorbid psychiatric or development disorders have been effective at reducing the degree and symptoms of IUD. In some countries, treatment camps have been developed for adolescents with IUD, and preventive education (including lectures and group discussions) has been provided for general adolescents. Such efforts have been effective at reducing the average degree of IUD severity. Some future IUD risk factors (e.g. being male, suffering from attention‐deficit hyperactivity disorder, and exhibiting deteriorating psychiatric symptoms) have begun to be identified. However, clinical studies, treatment, and preventive actions are insufficient for treating IUD and standard treatments and preventive systems have yet to be established. Educational and medical institutions, government, families, and others must take greater action and cooperate more effectively in order to treat or prevent IUD.
Formation and photoluminescence of single-crystalline rutile TiO2 nanowires synthesized by thermal evaporation

Uniform nanowires were grown over a selected area of a TiO2/sapphire substrate using a horizontal furnace system with a radio frequency (RF) heater. The growth of the nanowire was governed by a catalyst-free vapour–solid (VS) mechanism. The x-ray diffraction pattern showed that the nanowires comprised TiO2 in the pure rutile phase. The size of the TiO2 nanowires was verified using field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), which showed that the diameters were in the range 50–100 nm and the lengths were in the range 1–2 µm. The nanowire growth direction and its crystalline structure were examined using high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), indicating that these nanowires had a single-crystalline structure and grew along the [110] axis. A blue emission peak at ∼380 nm was obtained under examination by photoluminescence (PL), which revealed only single-crystalline rutile TiO2 nanowires, and thus indicated that the single-crystalline TiO2 nanowire could be a candidate for use in optoelectronic devices.