Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Prevalence of Late Preterm and Early Term Birth in Portugal.

INTRODUCTION Late preterm birth (defined as birth between 34 and 36 complete weeks' gestation) and early term birth (defined as birth between 37 and 38 complete weeks' gestation) have become a topic of recent discussion as the morbidity associated with delivery at these gestational ages has become increasingly evident. Our objective was to evaluate the characteristics of late preterm and early term birth in Portugal. MATERIAL AND METHODS We developed a survey questionnaire that was sent to the Obstetric Department of all public hospitals in Portugal. The questionnaire consisted on questions on prevalence and mode of delivery of late preterm and early term period and associated neonatal morbidity and mortality. The questions referred solely to single births occurred during 2013. RESULTS We received completed questionnaires from 14 hospitals, corresponding to nearly one third (33.5%) of total deliveries in Portugal. We report 5.4% of late preterm and 27% of early term deliveries. Approximately two thirds of late preterm and three quarters of early term deliveries were spontaneous. The cesarean section rate was higher in late preterm (39.1%) than in early term (26.4%) births. Neonatal complications were more frequent in late preterm neonates (34.2%) when compared to early term neonates (14.2%). DISCUSSION The prevalence of late preterm and early term birth in our cohort is comparable, although slightly reduced, to other published series. CONCLUSION The obstetric community should raise efforts to limit deliveries below 39 weeks' gestation to the ones with a valid medical indication.
Final Results From the 16‐Year Sumatriptan, Naratriptan, and Treximet Pregnancy Registry

To monitor for a signal of major teratogenicity by determining the risk of all birth major defects following in utero exposure to sumatriptan, naratriptan, and the sumatriptan/naproxen sodium combination product (tablets marketed in the United States as Treximet [GlaxoSmithKline, Research Triangle Park, NC, USA]), and to monitor for unusual patterns of defects that might suggest teratogenicity.
Modification of an adaptive observer to improve its performance in actuator fault detection

In this paper, we address the problem of actuator fault estimation for continuous linear time-invariant system in the presence of external disturbances. Based on an adaptive observer, the Robust Adaptive Fast Fault Estimation observer (RAFFE) is designed to enhance speed actuator estimation. The construction of the proposed observer is carried out through transformation of system into its Special Coordinate Basis (SCB) form. This transformation allows, in first stage, a decoupling of the fault estimates from the disturbances. Thanks to this decoupling, the observer produce a robust fault estimation based on a modified form of the standard adaptive observer. Simulation results are presented to illustrate the efficiency of the proposed RAFFE methodology.
Percutaneous closure of perimembranous ventricular septal defects with Amplatzer occluders--a single centre experience.

BACKGROUND Perimembranous ventricular septal defect (VSD) is the most common congenital heart defect. Percutaneous transcatheter closure of VSD is one of the greatest challenges in interventional cardiology. AIM Presentation of our experience in transcatheter closure of perimembranous VSD. METHODS Eighteen patients were treated. Nine patients (group I) had VSD closed with implant Amplatzer Perimembranous VSD Occluder (PMVSDO) whereas the other nine had VSD closed with Muscular VSD Occluder (MVSDO). In the second group the presence of at least 4 mm rim from aortic valve was mandatory to undergo the procedure. Average patients age was 17.1 (3.2-40) years, defect diameter--4.7 (4-8) mm and Qp/Qs ratio--1.84 (1.5-4.6). Perimembranous interventricular septum aneurysm was noted in 5 cases. Only patients who had hemodynamically important defect (Qp/Qs ratio >1.5) were selected for interventional VSD closure. Patients with subarterial VSDs, pulmonary hypertension or/and aortic regurgitation were excluded. Ventricular septal defect closure was performed with standard techniques. RESULTS Procedures were completed successfully in 16 of 18 patients. There was no early or late implant embolisation. After the procedure in every case complete closure or important reduction of the shunt was observed. In the group I there was a trend towards more frequent occurrence of rhythm disturbances (p=0,08), including two cases with severe arrhythmias occurring during VSD closure requiring abandoning of procedure. In other 2 cases (patients age 12 and 14 years) in the second week after PMVSDO placement complete atrio-ventricular block occurred. In one patient sinus rhythm was restored after steroid treatment whereas another patient required pacemaker implantation. In group II mild nonprogressive tricuspid regurgitation was noted in 3 patients. CONCLUSIONS Percutaneous perimembranous VSD closure is an interesting alternative to surgical treatment. In selected cases closure of the defect with muscular VSD implant is effective and safe.
Evaluation of antibiotic usage in swine reproduction farms in Umbria region based on the quantitative analysis of antimicrobial consumption

Antibiotic use in food-producing animals has considerable impact on public health, especially with respect to the development and spread of antibiotic resistance. Pigs represent one of the main species in which antibiotics are frequently used for different purposes. Surveillance of antibiotic consumption and dose appropriateness, through novel approaches based on defined daily doses, is strongly needed to assess farms’ antibiotic risk, in terms of spread of antibiotic resistance and possibile presence of residues in meat. In this study, antibiotic consumption was monitored in 14 swine reproduction farms, together with managerial, structural, and health aspects. Most of the controlled farms (65%) were classified as at medium antibiotic risk, 21% at high antibiotic risk, and 14% at low antibiotic risk. Critical aspects of antibiotic administration concerned treatments for suckling and weaner piglets, oral antibiotic administration, treatment and diagnosis of gastroenteric infections, and use of critically important antimicrobials for human medicine, especially colistin. These aspects could be considered critical aspects of antibiotic use in from-farrow-to-wean/finish swine farms in the Umbria region and must be controlled to minimize risks. Even though a small number of farms in Umbria region are at high antibiotic risk, the risk of antibiotic resistance should be minimized, and management and biosecurity of the farms should be improved by extending the use of antimicrobial susceptibility tests and optimizing the diagnostic methods for infectious diseases. Furthermore, farmers’ and veterinarians’ knowledge of antibiotic resistance should be improved and the prudent use of antibiotics encouraged to prevent the development and spread of resistant microorganisms.
Compétitivité des banques luxembourgeoises, monnaie unique et prospectives stratégiques des acteurs

Cette these a pour but l'identification des contours de la competitivite des banques luxembourgeoises et l'evaluation des repercussions du decloisonnement des marches bancaires nationaux sur les metiers des banques grand-ducales. Malgre le caractere multidimensionnel de la competitivite et le flou qui l'entoure, nous avons tente de cerner, dans une premiere partie, les facteurs competitifs des banques luxembourgeoises. Dans ce cadre, trois elements ont ete identifies. Le premier est relatif a l'efficacite bancaire (X-effiency) ; le second porte sur la structure du marche bancaire ; et le troisieme concerne la differenciation des produits et son impact sur les performances financieres. L'efficacite des banques et la structure du marche sont approchees par l'estimation d'une fonction translogarithmique sur des donnees en panel de 136 banques operant dans six pays europeens. Les resultats obtenus revelent : une efficacite plus importante des banques luxembourgeoises par rapport aux banques europeennes, la presence d'economies d'echelle pour les etablissements de petite dimension, l'absence d'economies de varietes dans la production multi-produits. Pour ce qui est du troisieme facteur, une modele theorique a ete developpe afin d'analyser l'impact de la differentiation par la reglementation (confidentialite) sur les taux crediteurs. L'estimation empirique obtenue pour les six pays europeens de notre echantillon temoigne de l'importance de la confidentialite comme source d'economie pour les banques operant au Luxembourg et en Suisse. Dans une seconde partie, nous avons entrepris de mesurer l'impact de l'Union monetaire sur les metiers de la banque et d'identifier les strategies les plus appropriees pour les acteurs luxembourgeois en s'appuyant sur les resultats d'une enquete, a deux tours, aupres de quarante "experts". Ces derniers considerent, qu'a court terme, l'impact de la monnaie unique sur l'activite bancaire au Luxembourg est fondamentalement marginal. A terme, les experts de notre panel estiment que les forces centripetes domineront les facteurs structurels locaux. Ainsi, l'europeanisation du marche bancaire constituera un facteur de l'intensification de la concurrence etrangere aux banques luxembourgeoises. Toutefois, le choix d'options strategiques appropriees, telles que la differenciation des produits, une specialisation accrue, une cooperation avec d'autres acteurs et une zone geographique porteuse, est considere, par les sondes, comme un moyen efficace pour attenuer les effets d'une concurrence potentiellement vive.
Isolation and In Vitro Culture of Trypanosomes From Leptodactylus ocellatus From the Atlantic Forest in a New Experimental Culture Medium

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to verify the in vitro development of Trypanosoma sp. isolated from Leptodactylus ocellatus frogs under a new protocol using a biphasic medium composed of Novy, McNeal, and Nicolle (NNN) blood agar medium as a solid phase and liver infusion, brain heart infusion, and tryptose (LIBHIT) medium as a liquid phase. Blood forms, collected by cardiac puncture or after the maceration of different organs, were inoculated in culture tubes containing the biphasic medium composed by NNN and LIBHIT. Trypanosomes were observed 4 days postinoculation; most bloodstream trypomastigotes had differentiated into epimastigotes and amastigotes by this time. Trypomastigotes were again observed in older cultures (7 days). Parasites were successfully subcultured for 8 mo in this medium and successfully cryopreserved. The present study provides a new protocol medium for the isolation and culture of anuran trypanosomes.
Temporal Weight Class SetSequared Distance Matrix Query Set Temporal Weight : Temporal Weight : Temporal Weight : Stage 1 Stage i Stage N

Motivated by previous success of using non-parametric methods to recognize objects, e.g., NBNN [2], we extend it to recognize actions using skeletons. Each 3D action is presented by a sequence of 3D poses. Similar to NBNN, our proposed Spatio-Temporal-NBNN applies stage-to-class distance to classify actions. However, STNBNN takes the spatio-temporal structure of 3D actions into consideration and relaxes the Naive Bayes assumption of NBNN. Specifically, ST-NBNN adopts bilinear classifiers [19] to identify both key temporal stages as well as spatial joints for action classification. Although only using a linear classifier, experiments on three benchmark datasets show that by combining the strength of both non-parametric and parametric models, ST-NBNN can achieve competitive performance compared with state-of-the-art results using sophisticated models such as deep learning. Moreover, by identifying key skeleton joints and temporal stages for each action class, our ST-NBNN can capture the essential spatiotemporal patterns that play key roles of recognizing actions, which is not always achievable by using end-to-end models.
Diagnostic value of gastric shake test for hyaline membrane disease in preterm infant

Background: Hyaline membrane disease (HMD) has remained a common neonatal problem and is a cause of morbidity in infants. The shake test can be used to assess whether surfactant is present in the infant's lungs at birth. Objective: The goal of this study was to determine the usefulness and accuracy of gastric aspirate shake test for the diagnosis of two HMD. Materials and Methods: This was a diagnostic accuracy study carried out on 49 preterm infant born at Shahid Sadoughi hospital in 2012 (25 newborns without pulmonary diseases and 24 newborns with HMD). Shortly after birth, the shake test was performed using gastric fluid. The results of the shake test were correlated with definitive diagnosis of HMD. Results: All infants who developed HMD had negative test results. In 23 of 25 infants with no respiratory distress, the test was positive. Our findings indicated that the gastric aspirate shake test has 100% sensitivity, 92% specificity, a 92.3% predictive value for surfactant deficiency, and 100% predictive value for surfactant sufficiency. Conclusion: According to this study gastric shake test (GST) is a reliable test and is a simple procedure to identify those neonates who will develop respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) and therefore to decide prophylactic exogenous surfactant replacement.
Influence of the Quasi-Biennial Oscillation on the Extratropical Winter Stratosphere in an Atmospheric General Circulation Model and in Reanalysis Data

Abstract The interannual variability of the stratospheric polar vortex during winter in both hemispheres is observed to correlate strongly with the phase of the quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO) in tropical stratospheric winds. It follows that the lack of a spontaneously generated QBO in most atmospheric general circulation models (AGCMs) adversely affects the nature of polar variability in such models. This study examines QBO–vortex coupling in an AGCM in which a QBO is spontaneously induced by resolved and parameterized waves. The QBO–vortex coupling in the AGCM compares favorably to that seen in reanalysis data [from the 40-yr ECMWF Re-Analysis (ERA-40)], provided that careful attention is given to the definition of QBO phase. A phase angle representation of the QBO is employed that is based on the two leading empirical orthogonal functions of equatorial zonal wind vertical profiles. This yields a QBO phase that serves as a proxy for the vertical structure of equatorial winds over the whole depth of the.
Characterization of expression of protein kinase C isozymes in human B‐cell lymphoma: Relationship between its expression and prognosis

Protein kinase C (PKC) enzymes play a major role in signal transduction and contribute to the regulation of cellular differentiation and proliferation. However, little is known about subtype‐specific intracellular expression of PKC in human malignant lymphoma. To characterize the relationship between expression of PKC and B‐cell lymphomas based on the different subspecies, we investigated the expression of four subspecies (α, βII, γ and δ) in five cases of reactive lymphoid tissues, 77 cases of human B‐cell lymphoma and 17 human lymphoma cell lines. In the reactive lymphoid tissues, PKC βII‐positive cells were found in the mantle zones and marginal zones, and centroblasts and centrocytes in the germinal centers showed cytoplasmic staining with strong intensity against PKC δ. The present study is the first report to examine the expression of PKC δ in reactive lymphoid tissues. In interfollicular areas, a small number of T‐cells were positive for PKC α. Protein kinase C γ‐positive cells were not found in these lymphoid tissues. Eight cases of Burkitt lymphoma (BL) (8/10; 80%) showed the overexpression of PKC α (P < 0.01), but other B‐cell lymphoma cases except three cases of diffuse large B‐cell lymphoma did not express PKC α. In addition, six and eight out of nine BL cell lines expressed the protein and mRNA of PKC α, respectively. These results indicate that PKC α was predominantly expressed on BL in comparison with other types of lymphoma. The expression of PKC γ was observed in only five cases of BL. The overall survival of PKC γ‐positive BL was significantly better than that of PKC γ‐negative BL (P < 0.05). The expression of PKC γ seems to be associated with a better prognosis in the limited number of BL cases in the present study.
Reconstruction of congenital inverted conchal bowl deformity: Our experience in two of four children

Prominotia is a congenital entity that is commonly seen in the paediatric otolaryngology and paediatric plastic surgery clinics. The specific aetiology of the prominent ears is usually owing to an underdeveloped antihelical fold and ⁄ or conchal bowl hypertrophy. Numerous articles have addressed the many possible corrective techniques to alleviate the outstanding ears. Inverted conchal bowl deformity is a rare congenital condition that has not been described in the literature (Fig. 1), to the author’s knowledge. Essentially, the normal anterolateral concave shape of the conchal bowl is reversed into a convex shape. Most of the time, the degree of the deformity is very mild and not readily noticed by clinicians. As well, the deformity tends to only involve the inferior aspect of the conchal bowl or the concha cavum, which can be associated with antitragal prominence. Subsequently, nearly all patients with this subtle deformity do not have any symptoms that require medical attention. Although typically benevolent, inverted conchal bowl deformities can cause concerning problems in certain patients. More specifically, some patients may develop stenosis of the external auditory canal meatus, which may lead to cerumen impaction and conductive hearing loss. In addition, for those patients who wear hearing aids, the convex shape of the conchal bowl can cause difficulties with earmould fittings and retention (Fig. 2). These cases usually involve a more severe deformity, where the entire or most of the conchal bowl is involved. In the present report, we describe a small case series and simple surgical technique to correct the inverted conchal bowl deformity.
Cooperative Bandwidth Sharing for Relaying in LTE-Advanced Using Game Theory

Heterogeneous networks (HetNets) are likely to provide ubiquitous access to mobile broadband services as they involve various small cells, each targeting a different environment in the network. In this paper, we are interested in improving the system performance at the cell edge. Hence, we consider a HetNet composed of an eNodeB (eNB) coexisting with different relay nodes (RNs) situated at the cell border. We propose a cooperative physical resource blocks (PRBs) sharing scheme in a dual-hop LTE-Advanced in which every node can transmit on some of the PRBs assigned to a coexisting node without causing it harmful interference. To do so, we use a powerful mathematical tool, i.e., game theory. First, we consider two nodes in the macrocell and define a new repeated game in which a selfish node is encouraged to cooperate under the threat of punishment. Then, we enlarge the number of RNs in the network and find the optimal pairs of nodes that will cooperate, due to a new coalition formation game. Simulation results show that the proposed cooperative PRB sharing scheme significantly improves the utilization of the spectrum and the achieved total throughput in the system. We also demonstrate that both games rapidly attain Pareto efficiency.
Event-related potentials in a visual discrimination task: negative waves related to detection and attention.

Event-related potential effects of deviant stimuli were investigated in a visual discrimination task. The stimuli (two angles within a frame) were either frequent (Standard) or one of two types of infrequent deviant (Deviant 1 or Deviant 2) stimuli. In comparison to the Standard stimuli, for Deviant 1 the two angles differed in their orientation, whereas for Deviant 2 the angles were identical but the frame was thicker. In Condition 1 the subjects counted the number of Deviant 1 stimuli. Of the 13 subjects, 12 did not detect the fact that some of the frames were thicker in this condition (i.e., for the Deviant 2 stimuli in Condition 2). The task in Condition 2 was the same (i.e., the target was Deviant 1), but the subjects were instructed about the thicker frame of Deviant 2 stimuli. In Condition 3, Deviant 2 stimuli became the targets. In comparison to the Standard, Deviant 1 elicited two posterior negative waves in the 120-180 and 240-300 ms latency ranges respectively. In addition, when Deviant 1 was the target stimulus (Conditions 1 and 2), this stimulus elicited the N2 and the P300 as well. In contrast, the irrelevant Deviant 2 elicited no such waves. In the target position (Condition 3), Deviant 2 elicited the second posterior negativity, the N2 and the late positivity. The earlier negativity is considered to be a correlate of processes connected to the automatic detection of the deviant features, whereas the later negativity is considered to be related to attentive processes, i.e., this wave is considered to be a member of the family of processing negativities.
Socioeconomic differentials in child nutrition and morbidity in a rural area of Bangladesh.

This study examines differentials in nutritional status and morbidity in an attempt to elucidate some of the mechanisms underlying socioeconomic differentials in mortality. Data were collected during 1981 surveys of household socioeconomic indicators child nutritional status and child morbidity in Matlab Thana Bangladesh. Household wealth indicators--size of landholding cows boats and modern goods owned; occupation of household head amount of the tax paid in the previous year and size and quality of housing-- were negatively associated with the proportion of children who could be classified as malnourished using standard criteria. Years of education of the household head of the mother and of the most educated household member had a similar relationship with the proportion malnourished. The association is strongest for years of schooling of the most educated household member. Neither of the measures of household sanitation--source of drinking water or use of a latrine--showed a significant relationship with childrens nutritional status. When the association between proportion malnourished and socioeconomic status is examined controlling for the sex of the child a striking pattern emerges. There is little difference in the proportions malnourished at the lowest socioeconomic level and for both sexes the amount of malnutrition decreases as socioeconomic status improves. However the amount of improvement is greater for boys than for girls so that females are relatively more disadvantaged in higher socioeconomic status families. For almost all the socioeconomic indicators examined no simple pattern of reported illness and household status is discernible either for illness at all or for particular diseases.