Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cost Comparison of Collagenase Clostridium Histolyticum and Fasciectomy for Treatment of Dupuytren's Contracture in the Australian Health System.

BACKGROUND Dupuytren's disease results in contracted cords in the hand that lead to deformity and disability. Current treatment options include fasciectomy and an injectable, collagenase clostridium histolyticum. No cost comparison studies have been published within the Australian health care environment. METHODS A retrospective review of all patients treated for Dupuytren's disease in a major teaching hospital was undertaken to compare the costs of treatment by fasciectomy or collagenase injection. RESULTS Eighteen patients underwent fasciectomy and 21 collagenase clostridium histolyticum injections were performed during the study period and were eligible for inclusion under the review criteria. Of the 39 patients, 36 were male and 3 were female with an average age 66.4 years (50-85). Twenty-five digits were treated by fasciectomy in 18 patients, and 23 digits were treated by collagenase in 21 patients. The fasciectomy group attended an average 9.2 visits (5-22), incurring an average costing of US$5738.12 per patient ($3181.18-$9618.10). The collagenase group attended an average 3.8 visits (3-8), incurring an average costing of US$2076.83 per patient ($1842.24-$3929.57). CONCLUSIONS Collagenase treatment of Dupuytren's contracture represents a significant reduction in cost relative to fasciectomy, with 64% savings, length of follow up and number of visits. This is a similar finding to studies in other countries.
How to play 20 questions with nature and lose: Reflections on 100 years of brain-training research

Despite dozens of empirical studies and a growing body of meta-analytic work, there is little consensus regarding the efficacy of cognitive training. In this review, we examine why this substantial corpus has failed to answer the often-asked question, “Does cognitive training work? ” We first define cognitive training and discuss the general principles underlying training interventions. Next, we review historical interventions and discuss how findings from this early work remain highly relevant for current cognitive-training research. We highlight a variety of issues preventing real progress in understanding the underlying mechanisms of training, including the lack of a coherent theoretical framework to guide training research and methodological issues across studies and meta-analyses. Finally, suggestions for correcting these issues are offered in the hope that we might make greater progress in the next 100 y of cognitive-training research.
The Effect of Experiential Learning on the Mathematics Achievement and Mathematics Anxiety of African-American Students

This study examined whether or not there were any significant differences between the anxiety and achievement levels of African-American students enrolled in College Algebra courses taught using traditional instruction methods and those taught using experiential learning, as used in The Algebra Project curriculum. The classes were taught for the same amount of time for one semester, using the two curricular methods, and student anxiety was measured prior to the course and immediately following the implementation of an experiential learning module. Additionally, student achievement on selected questions focusing on the functions unit from the midterm exam were collected and analyzed to determine any differences in achievement based upon gender and teaching method. This quantitative study utilized a quasi-experimental nonequivalent controlgroup design. A sample of 102 African-American students, 41 males and 61 females, from a medium-sized university in central Virginia was used, with 30 students in the experiential learning group and 72 in the traditional instruction group. Student anxiety was measured using the Fennema-Sherman Mathematics Anxiety Scale-Revised. A preliminary analysis of covariance was conducted to investigate differences in the anxiety levels of the experiential learning and traditional instruction groups. Student achievement was measured using scores on selected questions focusing on the functions unit from the common midterm exam and was analyzed using an independent samples t-test and a two-way analysis of variance. The results showed that there was no significant difference in anxiety between the experiential learning and traditional instruction groups at the p < . 05 level. Additionally, there was no significant difference in the achievement levels between the experiential learning and traditional instruction groups at the p < . 05 level.
An Information-Flow-Based Sensitivity Analysis Method for Continuous-Time Models

Sensitivity analysis plays an important role in analyzing most influential factors of models. There are few studies on sensitivity analysis (SA) of continuous time models. By using the concept of information flow, this paper presents a new sensitivity analysis method for dynamical models. By combining the direction and magnitude of information transfer, the method builds a novel framework for SA, with the rigorous mathematical and statistic theories on information flow. This method is effective and feasible for both static systems and dynamical systems including continuous time models and discrete time series. The new method is applied to an example of linear dynamical models and the Lorenz system, and the results indicate that the method could find out the most influential variables, which conforms with entropy method, and it also give more detailed information for system analysis.
Hybrid Intrusion Detection System Using K-Means and Classification and Regression Trees Algorithms

Intrusion detection is the process called indentifying invasions. The action to enter a system without permission is called intrusion. By adding advanced technologies to mobile phones, such as smart phones, tablets, smart devices, other computing devices, the number of Internet users are increasingly growing. Therefore, network security is very important for all Internet users. IDS are essential for security limits. So, now Internet consumers are considered mandatory safety devices for critical networks. There are many traditional techniques of intrusion detection. In research on traditional intrusion detection technology analysis, the statistical model for setting up rules, management and aggression capability and so on are still some disadvantages and disabilities, because the actual test results cannot meet the requirements. There are many current methods used in. Each method has advantage and disadvantage. Intrusion detection can also be considered as a classification problem. In this research we use K-means algorithm and classification and regression trees (CART) algorithm. The purpose of this paper is to show good accuracy in performance analysis with time complexity by using hybrid data mining method. This model is verified by KDD'99 data set.
2018 European Thyroid Association Guideline for the Management of Graves’ Hyperthyroidism

Graves’ disease (GD) is a systemic autoimmune disorder characterized by the infiltration of thyroid antigen-specific T cells into thyroid-stimulating hormone receptor (TSH-R)-expressing tissues. Stimulatory autoantibodies (Ab) in GD activate the TSH-R leading to thyroid hyperplasia and unregulated thyroid hormone production and secretion. Diagnosis of GD is straightforward in a patient with biochemically confirmed thyrotoxicosis, positive TSH-R-Ab, a hypervascular and hypoechoic thyroid gland (ultrasound), and associated orbitopathy. In GD, measurement of TSH-R-Ab is recommended for an accurate diagnosis/differential diagnosis, prior to stopping antithyroid drug (ATD) treatment and during pregnancy. Graves’ hyperthyroidism is treated by decreasing thyroid hormone synthesis with the use of ATD, or by reducing the amount of thyroid tissue with radioactive iodine (RAI) treatment or total thyroidectomy. Patients with newly diagnosed Graves’ hyperthyroidism are usually medically treated for 12–18 months with methimazole (MMI) as the preferred drug. In children with GD, a 24- to 36-month course of MMI is recommended. Patients with persistently high TSH-R-Ab at 12–18 months can continue MMI treatment, repeating the TSH-R-Ab measurement after an additional 12 months, or opt for therapy with RAI or thyroidectomy. Women treated with MMI should be switched to propylthiouracil when planning pregnancy and during the first trimester of pregnancy. If a patient relapses after completing a course of ATD, definitive treatment is recommended; however, continued long-term low-dose MMI can be considered. Thyroidectomy should be performed by an experienced high-volume thyroid surgeon. RAI is contraindicated in Graves’ patients with active/severe orbitopathy, and steroid prophylaxis is warranted in Graves’ patients with mild/active orbitopathy receiving RAI.
BRDF Analysis with Directional Statistics and its Applications

Data-driven BRDF models using real material measurements have become increasingly prevalent due to the development of novel gonioreflectometers, but efficient use of these models in many graphical applications remains challenging due to the few functionalities the raw data could provide. To ameliorate this issue, we propose to analyze BRDFs using directional statistics for better handling and exploring measured materials, especially isotropic materials, with efficient computation and compact storage. We conduct a thorough statistical analysis on both analytical BRDF models and measured materials from the MERL database. We show that different aspects of visual appearance can be characterized by different spherical moments, from which several descriptive measures can be derived to further facilitate their usage. We demonstrate how these measures are best leveraged in some graphical applications including gamut mapping using a new BRDF similarity measure, BRDF or SVBRDF reconstruction based on material clustering, and importance sampling for measured materials based on fast extracted GGX distributions. We finally show the potential of our approach in the categorization of surface reflectance types which is common for traditional photon mapping.
Comparison of long course and short course preoperative radiotherapy in the treatment of locally advanced rectal cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND rectal cancer (RC) is one of the most prevalent malignancies worldwide and different preoperative radiotherapies may lead to different outcomes. This meta-analysis aimed to compare the effectiveness of long-course (LC) and short-course radiotherapy (SC), with or without chemotherapy, for locally advanced rectal cancer. METHODS studies published up to March 31st 2018 were retrieved from PubMed, Medline, Cochrane and EMABSE. Randomized control or consort control trials that reported the outcomes of short or long course radiotherapy were eligible. Either a fixed or random effects model was used to access the overall combined risk estimates. RESULTS sixteen studies with a total of 2,773 RC patients were included in the analysis. There were no significant differences between LC and SC therapies with regard to the following: pathological complete response (PCR) (I2 = 78%, p < 0.05, RR = 0.54, 95% CI: 0.26-1.10); tumor downstaging (I2 = 79%, p < 0.05, RR = 0.83, 95% CI: 0.58-1.17); local recurrences (I2 = 22%, p = 0.27, RR = 0.55, 95% CI: 0.26-1.16); distant metastases (I2 = 29%, p = 0.22, RR = 1.03, 95% CI: 0.77-1.37); mortality (I2 = 0%, p = 0.78, RR = 0.95, 95% CI: 0.78-1.15) and serious late toxicity (I2 = 74%, p = 0.01, RR = 1.10, 95% CI: 0.37-3.26). In the subgroup analysis, LC had a better PCR and tumor downstaging rate compared with SC in the RCT subgroup. Besides, LC also presented a better PCR rate compared with SC without chemotherapy. CONCLUSIONS LC and SC are both effective in the preoperative treatment of RC with regard to PCR, tumor downstaging, local recurrences, distant metastases, mortality and serious late toxicity. Furthermore, chemotherapy may enhance the efficacy of preoperative treatment.
Abstract Representation of Prospective Reward in the Hippocampus

Motivation enhances memory by increasing hippocampal engagement during encoding. However, whether such increased hippocampal activation reflects encoding of the value of highly rewarding events per se is less understood. Here, using a monetary incentive encoding task with a novel manipulation, we tested in humans whether the hippocampus represents abstract reward value, independent of perceptual content. During functional MRI scanning, men and women studied object pairs, each preceded by a monetary reward cue indicating the amount of money they would receive if they successfully remembered the object pair at test. Reward cues varied on both the level of reward (penny, dime, and dollar) and visual form (picture or word) across trials to dissociate hippocampal responses to reward value from those reflecting the perceptual properties of the cues. Behaviorally, participants remembered pairs associated with the high reward (dollar) more often than pairs associated with lower rewards. Neural pattern-similarity analysis revealed that hippocampal and parahippocampal cortex activation patterns discriminated between cues of different value regardless of their visual form, and that hippocampal discrimination of value was most pronounced in participants who showed the greatest behavioral sensitivity to reward. Strikingly, hippocampal patterns were most distinct for reward cues that differed in value but had similar visual appearance, consistent with theoretical proposals of hippocampal-pattern differentiation of competing representations. Our data illustrate how contextual representations within the hippocampus go beyond space and time to include information about the motivational salience of events, with hippocampal reward coding tracking the motivational impact on later memory. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Motivation, such as the promise of future rewards, enhances hippocampal engagement during encoding and promotes successful retention of events associated with valuable rewards. However, whether the hippocampus explicitly encodes reward value, dissociable from sensory information, is unclear. Here, we show that the hippocampus forms abstract representation of valuable rewards, encoding conceptual rather than perceptual information about the motivational context of individual events. Reward representation within the hippocampus is associated with preferential retention of high-value events in memory. Furthermore, we show that hippocampal-pattern differentiation serves to emphasize differences between visually similar events with distinct motivational salience. Collectively, these findings indicate that hippocampal contextual representations enable individuals to distinguish the motivational value of events, leading to prioritized encoding of significant memories.
Effect of Early Surgery vs Physical Therapy on Knee Function Among Patients With Nonobstructive Meniscal Tears: The ESCAPE Randomized Clinical Trial

Importance Despite recent studies suggesting arthroscopic partial meniscectomy (APM) is not more effective than physical therapy (PT), the procedure is still frequently performed in patients with meniscal tears. Objective To assess whether PT is noninferior to APM for improving patient-reported knee function in patients with meniscal tears. Design, Setting, and Participants Noninferiority, multicenter, randomized clinical trial conducted in 9 hospitals in the Netherlands. Participants were aged 45 to 70 years with nonobstructive meniscal tears (ie, no locking of the knee joint). Patients with knee instability, severe osteoarthritis, and body mass index greater than 35 were excluded. Recruitment took place between July 17, 2013, and November 4, 2015. Participants were followed up for 24 months (final participant follow-up, October 11, 2017). Interventions Three hundred twenty-one participants were randomly assigned to APM (n = 159) or a predefined PT protocol (n = 162). The PT protocol consisted of 16 sessions of exercise therapy over 8 weeks focused on coordination and closed kinetic chain strength exercises. Main Outcomes and Measures The primary outcome was change in patient-reported knee function on the International Knee Documentation Committee Subjective Knee Form (range, 0 to 100; from worse to best) from baseline over a 24-month follow-up period. The noninferiority margin was defined as a difference between treatment groups of 8 points and was assessed with a 1-sided &agr; of . 025. The primary analysis followed the intention-to-treat principle. Results Among 321 patients who were randomized (mean [SD] age, 58 [6.6] years; 161 women [50%]), 289 (90%) completed the trial (161 women and 158 men). In the PT group, 47 participants (29%) had APM during the 24-month follow-up period, and 8 participants randomized to APM (5%) did not have APM. Over a 24-month follow-up period, knee function improved in the APM group by 26.2 points (from 44.8 to 71.5) and in the PT group by 20.4 points (from 46.5 to 67.7). The overall between-group difference was 3.6 points (97.5% CI, −∞ to 6.5; P value for noninferiority = .001). Adverse events occurred in 18 participants in the APM group and 12 in the PT group. Repeat surgery (3 in the APM group and 1 in the PT group) and additional outpatient visits for knee pain (6 in the APM group and 2 in the PT group) were the most frequent adverse events. Conclusions and Relevance Among patients with nonobstructive meniscal tears, PT was noninferior to APM for improving patient-reported knee function over a 24-month follow-up period. Based on these results, PT may be considered an alternative to surgery for patients with nonobstructive meniscal tears. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT01850719
Visual response properties of neurons in the superficial layers of the superior colliculus of awake mouse

In rodents, including mice, the superior colliculus is the major target of the retina, but its visual response is not well characterized. In the present study, extracellular recordings from single nerve cells in the superficial layers of the superior colliculus were made in awake, head‐restrained mice, and their responses to visual stimuli were measured. It was found that these neurons show brisk, highly sensitive and short latency visual responses, a preference for black over white stimuli, and diverse responses to moving patterns. At least five broad classes can be defined by variation in functional properties among units. The results of the present study demonstrate that eye movements have a measurable impact on visual responses in awake animals and show how they may be mitigated in analyses.
Exosomes Exploit the Virus Entry Machinery and Pathway To Transmit Alpha Interferon-Induced Antiviral Activity

Our previous study showed that LNPC-derived exosomes could transmit IFN-α-induced antiviral activity to HBV replicating hepatocytes, but the concrete transmission mechanisms, which include exosome entry and exosomal cargo release, remain unclear. In this study, we found that virus entry machinery and pathway were also applied to exosome-mediated cell-to-cell antiviral activity transfer. Macrophage-derived exosomes distinctively exploit hepatitis A virus receptor for access to hepatocytes. Later, CME and macropinocytosis are utilized by exosomes, followed by exosome-endosome fusion for efficient transfer of IFN-α-induced anti-HBV activity. We believe that understanding the cellular entry pathway of exosomes will be beneficial to designing exosomes as efficient vehicles for antiviral therapy. ABSTRACT Alpha interferon (IFN-α) induces the transfer of resistance to hepatitis B virus (HBV) from liver nonparenchymal cells (LNPCs) to hepatocytes via exosomes. However, little is known about the entry machinery and pathway involved in the transmission of IFN-α-induced antiviral activity. In this study, we found that macrophage exosomes uniquely depend on T cell immunoglobulin and mucin receptor 1 (TIM-1), a hepatitis A virus (HAV) receptor, to enter hepatocytes for delivering IFN-α-induced anti-HBV activity. Moreover, two primary endocytic routes for virus infection, clathrin-mediated endocytosis (CME) and macropinocytosis, collaborate to permit exosome entry and anti-HBV activity transfer. Subsequently, lysobisphosphatidic acid (LBPA), an anionic lipid closely related to endosome penetration of virus, facilitates membrane fusion of exosomes in late endosomes/multivesicular bodies (LEs/MVBs) and the accompanying exosomal cargo uncoating. Together, our findings provide comprehensive insights into the transmission route of macrophage exosomes to efficiently deliver IFN-α-induced antiviral substances and highlight the similarities between the entry mechanisms of exosomes and virus. IMPORTANCE Our previous study showed that LNPC-derived exosomes could transmit IFN-α-induced antiviral activity to HBV replicating hepatocytes, but the concrete transmission mechanisms, which include exosome entry and exosomal cargo release, remain unclear. In this study, we found that virus entry machinery and pathway were also applied to exosome-mediated cell-to-cell antiviral activity transfer. Macrophage-derived exosomes distinctively exploit hepatitis A virus receptor for access to hepatocytes. Later, CME and macropinocytosis are utilized by exosomes, followed by exosome-endosome fusion for efficient transfer of IFN-α-induced anti-HBV activity. We believe that understanding the cellular entry pathway of exosomes will be beneficial to designing exosomes as efficient vehicles for antiviral therapy.
ViSeq: Visual Analytics of Learning Sequence in Massive Open Online Courses

The research on massive open online courses (MOOCs) data analytics has mushroomed recently because of the rapid development of MOOCs. The MOOC data not only contains learner profiles and learning outcomes, but also sequential information about when and which type of learning activities each learner performs, such as reviewing a lecture video before undertaking an assignment. Learning sequence analytics could help understand the correlations between learning sequences and performances, which further characterize different learner groups. However, few works have explored the sequence of learning activities, which have mostly been considered aggregated events. A visual analytics system called ViSeq is introduced to resolve the loss of sequential information, to visualize the learning sequence of different learner groups, and to help better understand the reasons behind the learning behaviors. The system facilitates users in exploring learning sequences from multiple levels of granularity. ViSeq incorporates four linked views: the projection view to identify learner groups, the pattern view to exhibit overall sequential patterns within a selected group, the sequence view to illustrate the transitions between consecutive events, and the individual view with an augmented sequence chain to compare selected personal learning sequences. Case studies and expert interviews were conducted to evaluate the system.