Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Preconception Coverage Before and After the Affordable Care Act Medicaid Expansions.

OBJECTIVE To estimate the effects of the Affordable Care Act Medicaid expansion provision that was largely implemented in 2014 on preconception insurance coverage among low-income women. METHODS We used a quasiexperimental, difference-in-difference design to compare changes in preconception insurance coverage among low-income women living in expansion compared with nonexpansion states before and after the Medicaid expansions. Women with family incomes 138% the federal poverty level or less who participated in the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System from 2009 to 2015 from states that did or did not expand their Medicaid programs on January 1, 2014, were included. The exposure of interest was the state Medicaid expansion. The primary outcome was insurance status 1 month before conception. We conducted additional subgroup and sensitivity analyses to test the assumptions of the model and the robustness of the findings. RESULTS The study sample included 30,495 women from eight states that expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act and 26,561 patients from seven states in that did not. The rate of preconception Medicaid coverage was 30.8% prepolicy and 35.6% postpolicy in nonexpansion states and 43.2% prepolicy and 56.8% postpolicy in expansion states. There was a significantly greater increase in Medicaid coverage in expansion states after the policy implementation (adjusted difference-in-difference estimate +8.6% points, 95% CI 1.1-16.0). Rates of preconception uninsurance were 44.2% prepolicy and 34.3% postpolicy in nonexpansion states and 37.4% prepolicy and 23.5% postpolicy in expansion states. There was no significant difference in the changes in uninsurance between the two groups in the postpolicy period (adjusted difference-in-difference estimate -4.1, 95% CI -11.1 to 2.9). Non-Medicaid insurance coverage was 25.3% prepolicy and 30.5% postpolicy in nonexpansion states and 19.4% prepolicy and 19.7% postpolicy in expansion states. Relative to nonexpansion states, there was a significant decrease in non-Medicaid coverage in the expansion states in the postpolicy period (adjusted difference-in-difference estimate -4.7, 95% CI -8.3 to -1.1). The results were robust to alternate model specifications and study period definitions. CONCLUSION Medicaid expansion was associated with increased enrollment in Medicaid before pregnancy among low-income women; however, there were no changes in the rates of uninsurance. Additional years of postpolicy data are needed to fully assess the effects of the policy change.
Benchmarking the HRP-2 Humanoid Robot During Locomotion

In this paper we report results on benchmarking a HRP-2 humanoid robot. The humanoid robots of this serie are known to be very robust. They have been successfully used by several research groups for the design of new motion generation algorithms. As such it is a reference in the category of electrically driven humanoid robot. As new humanoid robots are continuously built it is interesting to compare the performances of these new prototypes to those of HRP-2. This benchmarking study was realized through a campaign of measurements in an advanced equipped testing laboratory that provides a well adapted controlled environment. We have investigated the effect of temperatures variation on the robot walking capabilities. In order to benchmark various environmental conditions and algorithms we computed a set of performance indicators for bipedal locomotion. The scope of the algorithms for motion generation evaluated here ranges from analytical solution to numerical optimization approach, enabling real-time walking or multi-contacts motions.
Burr Hole Drainage with Urokinase Irrigation for the Treatment of Acute Subdural Hematoma: A Case Report

We describe the case of a patient with an acute subdural hematoma (SDH) that was removed using urokinase irrigation after burr hole trephination in a limited situation where craniotomy was not possible. A 90-year-old woman was admitted to our hospital with a stuporous mental status. Computed tomography (CT) scans revealed a chronic SDH, and a burr hole procedure was performed. The patient's postoperative progression was good until the third day after surgery when we found that the acute SDH had increased on CT scans. The patient's guardian refused further surgery, and thus we drained the blood from the hematoma by injecting urokinase through a drainage catheter. We used urokinase for two days, and removed the catheter after confirming via CT scans that the hematoma was almost alleviated. The patient recovered gradually; she was discharged with few neurological deficits.
Sub- $\mu$ Vrms-Noise Sub- $\mu$ W/Channel ADC-Direct Neural Recording With 200-mV/ms Transient Recovery Through Predictive Digital Autoranging

Integrated recording of neural electrical potentials from the brain poses great challenges due to stringent dynamic range requirements to resolve small-signal amplitudes buried in noise amidst large artifact and stimulation transients, as well as stringent power and volume constraints to enable minimally invasive untethered operation. Here, we present a 16-channel neural recording system-on-chip with greater than 90-dB input dynamic range and less than 1-<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mu \text{V}_{\mathrm {rms}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> input-referred noise from dc to 500 Hz, at 0.8-<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mu \text{W}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> power consumption, and 0.024-mm<sup>2</sup> area per channel in a 65-nm CMOS process. Each recording channel features a hybrid analog–digital second-order oversampling analog-to-digital converter (ADC), with the biopotential signal coupling directly to the second integrator for high conversion gain and dynamic offset subtraction in the digital domain. This bypasses the need for high-pass filtering pre-amplification in neural recording systems, which often leads to signal distortion. The integrated ADC-direct neural recording offers record figure-of-merit with a noise efficiency factor (NEF) of the combined front end and ADC of 1.81, and a corresponding power efficiency factor (PEF) of 2.6. Predictive digital autoranging of the binary quantizer further supports rapid transient recovery while maintaining fully dc-coupled operation. Hence, the neural ADC is capable of recording <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${\le}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>0.01-Hz slow potentials as well as recovering from <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\ge$ </tex-math></inline-formula>200-mV<sub>pp</sub> transients within <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${\le}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>1 ms that are important prerequisites to effective electrocortical recording for brain activity mapping. <italic>In vivo</italic> recordings from marmoset primate frontal cortex demonstrate its unique capabilities in resolving ultra-slow local field potentials indicative of subject arousal state.
Influence of Bioactive Nutrients on the Atherosclerotic Process: A Review

The protective effects of a dietary intervention as a useful tool in the prevention of atherosclerosis disease has gained greater attention in recent years. Several epidemiological studies have demonstrated the importance of diet in reducing expensive treatments or possible undesirable side effects. The main aim of this review is to examine the effects of specific nutrients on the development and progression of atherosclerosis in patients with cardiovascular disease. Various mechanisms have been proposed to explain the cardioprotective effect of different nutrients. In this sense, results have shown stabilization of vulnerable atherosclerotic plaques or downregulation of biomarkers related to inflammation through nutrients such as Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, hydroxytyrosol of extra virgin olive oil, lycopen, phytosterols of plants, or flavonols of fruits and vegetables, among others. The accumulated evidence on the anti-inflammatory effects related to these nutrients is summarized in the present review.
New Scheme for Estimating Land Surface Temperature from AMSR-E Over the Continental United States

Land surface temperature (LST) is a key variable in the processes of energy and water balance between Earth's surface and atmosphere. To date, considerable researches have been focused on this issue, especially the thermal infrared (TIR) methods. Whereas TIR measurements are only limited to clear-sky condition, no observation is possible under cloudy conditions. While, passive microwave (PMW) as an alternative to the TIR measurements can penetrate the clouds. In this paper, the optical LST was derived from AMSR-E brightness temperatures by building a strong linear relationship over the continental United States. Unlike the previous studies, the algorithm was conducted by further using the corresponding ground measured LSTs which consist of both clear and cloudy conditions. The linear relationships were built on three sub-regions which is defined by NDVIs. The results show that the root-mean-square error (RMSE) of derived LST ranges from 2.50K to 3.23K for ascending overpass and 1.54K to 2.71K for descending track. This accuracy is proven to be better than existing work.
Internet Risks: An Overview of Victimization in Cyberbullying, Cyber Dating Abuse, Sexting, Online Grooming and Problematic Internet Use

The advance of digital media has created risks that affect the bio-psycho-social well-being of adolescents. Some of these risks are cyberbullying, cyber dating abuse, sexting, online grooming and problematic Internet use. These risks have been studied individually or through associations of some of them but they have not been explored conjointly. The main objective is to determine the comorbidity between the described Internet risks and to identify the profiles of victimized adolescents. An analytical and cross-sectional study with 3212 participants (46.3% males) from 22 Spanish schools was carried out. Mean age was 13.92 ± 1.44 years (range 11–21). Assessment tools with adequate standards of reliability and validity were used. The main results indicate that the most prevalent single risk is cyberbullying victimization (30.27%). The most prevalent two-risk associations are cyberbullying-online grooming (12.61%) and cyberbullying-sexting (5.79%). The three-risk combination of cyberbullying-sexting-grooming (7.12%) is highlighted, while 5.49% of the adolescents present all the risks. In addition, four profiles are distinguished, with the profile Sexualized risk behaviour standing out, with high scores in grooming and sexting and low scores in the rest of the risks. Determining the comorbidity of risks is useful for clinical and educational interventions, as it can provide information about additional risks.
Differentiation and Passivity for Control of Brayton–Moser Systems

This article deals with a class of resistive–inductive–capacitive (RLC) circuits and switched RLC (s–RLC) circuits modeled in the Brayton–Moser framework. For this class of systems, new passivity properties using a Krasovskii-type Lyapunov function as storage function are presented, where the supply rate is function of the system states, inputs, and their first time derivatives. Moreover, after showing the integrability property of the port-variables, two simple control methodologies called output shaping and input shaping are proposed for regulating the voltage in RLC and s–RLC circuits. Global asymptotic stability is theoretically proved for both the proposed control methodologies. Moreover, robustness with respect to load uncertainty is ensured by the input shaping methodology. The applicability of the proposed methodologies is illustrated by designing voltage controllers for dc–dc converters and dc networks.
Validation Study of an Operational Tolerance Signature in Korean Kidney Transplant Recipients

Operational tolerance (OT), defined as maintaining stable graft function without immunosuppression after transplant surgery, is an ideal goal for kidney transplant recipients (KTRs). Recent investigations have demonstrated the distinctive features of B cells, T cells, and dendritic cell-related gene signatures and the distributions of circulating lymphocytes in these patients; nonetheless, substantial heterogeneities exist across studies. This study was conducted to determine whether previously reported candidate gene biomarkers and the profiles of lymphocyte subsets of OT could be applied in Korean KTRs. Peripheral blood samples were collected from 153 patients, including 7 operationally tolerant patients. Quantitative real-time PCR and flow cytometry were performed to evaluate gene expression and lymphocyte subsets, respectively. Patients with OT showed significantly higher levels of B cell-related gene signatures (IGKV1D-13 and IGKV4-1), while T cell-related genes (TOAG-1) and dendritic cell-related genes (BNC2, KLF6, and CYP1B1) were not differentially expressed across groups. Lymphocyte subset analyses also revealed a higher proportion of immature B cells in this group. In contrast, the distributions of CD4+ T cells, CD8+ T cells, mature B cells, and memory B cells showed no differences across diagnostic groups. An OT signature, generated by the integration of IGKV1D-13, IGKV4-1, and immature B cells, effectively discriminated patients with OT from those in other diagnostic groups. Finally, the OT signature was observed among 5.6% of patients who had stable graft function for more than 10 years while on immunosuppression. In conclusion, we validated an association of B cells and their related signature with OT in Korean KTRs.
“Normal‐appearing” scalp areas are also affected in lichen planopilaris and frontal fibrosing alopecia: An observational histopathologic study of 40 patients

Lichen planopilaris (LPP) and frontal fibrosing alopecia (FFA) are lymphocyte‐mediated scarring alopecias which clinically affect primarily the anterior and mid‐scalp. However, unaffected scalp areas have not yet been investigated in a systemic manner. In this study, we assessed histopathologic changes in affected and unaffected scalp in both diseases and healthy control subjects and compared these findings with clinical signs and scalp symptoms. We have demonstrated that “normal‐appearing” scalp that is devoid of clinical lesions of LPP and FFA showed lymphocytic perifollicular inflammation around the isthmus/infundibulum areas in 65% of biopsy specimens, perifollicular fibrosis in 15% and mucin deposits in 7.5% of the cases. None of these findings were found in control samples. No direct correlation was found between the degree of histopathological inflammation, scalp symptoms and clinical lesions in the corresponding affected scalp areas. This preliminary study suggests that both diseases may be more generalized processes which affect the scalp and therefore need systemic or total scalp therapy.
"It's Kind of Boring Looking at Just the Face"

Mobile videochat use has been growing, especially for teens. To better understand teens' videochat practices, we conducted a two-week photo diary study with 16 teens. We found that most often, teens videochat with their closest friends from their bedrooms when they feel lonely or bored. Teens turned to videochat when understimulated but also felt understimulated during videochat. In order to manage this, they multitasked -teens moved from active chatting to co-presence while engaged in separate activities like scrolling social feeds or playing games. We uncovered social norms of reciprocity of attention, where teens match the attention level of the other and give leeway to briefly divert attention. Digital notifications did not feel disruptive to the videochat but family members' interruptions felt disruptive as teens' domestic context intruded into their virtual peer setting. We discuss these findings and their implications for research and design of videochat systems.
Spectral Analysis of UWB Signals for Solving Problems of Plane-Layered Media Sensing

Computational experiments of numerical modeling of the UWB pulse signals diffraction on plane-layered media are carried out. First of all, the spectral characteristics of reflected signals are investigated. The values of the electrophysical parameters of the studied structures are chosen on the basis of the practical problem of nondestructive testing of road pavements and building constructions. The GeoVizy software is used for computing experiments. Obtained results allow to optimize GPR pulse parameters. The results analysis also showed the possibility of improving the technique for processing of the signals reflected from plane-layered media.
An Economic Analysis of Disintermediation on Crowdfunding Platforms

Prosocial crowdfunding platforms can work through direct peer-to-peer (P2P) lending or through intermediaries, incurring different costs to borrowers and lenders. This study investigates the incentives of lenders and borrowers’ and how they would choose between the two types of platforms. We model the intermediary as a profit maximizer who filters projects, provides high quality borrowers with access to the platform, and ensures repayment rate to lenders. Our initial findings suggest that the introduction of direct P2P lending platform enables the intermediary to reduce its interest rate and to raise its screening threshold on the intermediated platform. The P2P lending platform also incentivizes more altruistic lenders to shift to the direct funding platform, which enables riskier borrowers to get funded. These findings suggest that the introduction of disintermediated P2P platform improves social welfare on the prosocial crowdfunding platforms.
Component-Based Attention for Large-Scale Trademark Retrieval

The need for large-scale trademark retrieval (TR) systems has significantly increased to combat the rise in international trademark infringement. Unfortunately, the ranking accuracy of current approaches using either hand-crafted or pre-trained deep convolution neural network (DCNN) features is inadequate for large-scale deployments. We show in this paper that the ranking accuracy of TR systems can be significantly improved by incorporating hard and soft attention mechanisms, which direct attention to critical information such as figurative elements and reduce the attention given to distracting and uninformative elements such as text and background. Our proposed approach achieves state-of-the-art results on a challenging large-scale trademark dataset.
Expression patterns common and unique to ulcerative colitis and celiac disease

Autoimmune diseases like celiac disease (CeD) and ulcerative colitis (UC) show a common genetic background defined by the existence of shared susceptibility loci. We aimed to go deeper into this common genetic background through performing a cross‐disease study based on gene expression. We measured the expression of 21 genes located in 13 CeD‐UC susceptibility regions, and 10 genes in five CeD risk regions. Determinations were carried out in colon/rectum samples from 13 UC patients (inflamed and uninflamed tissue) and four colon samples from controls. Duodenal samples from 19 CeD patients and 12 controls were used for comparisons. Differences were analyzed using the Bayesian method. The shared chromosomal regions containing TNFAIP3, PTPN2, ICOSLG, C1orf106, and IL21 showed similar results in both diseases. FASLG, PLEK, CCR4, and TAGAP, all located in CeD risk loci, were up‐regulated in both CeD and UC patients. Finally, ZFP36L1, ZMIZ1, PUS10, UBE2L3, and BACH2 showed opposite results in CeD and UC. A high complexity underlies autoimmune common susceptibility loci, as the expression pattern of the studied genes does not always correlate with the one expected attending to the apparent genetic background. Differentially expressed genes such as ZFP36L1, ZMIZ1, PUS10, and BACH2 deserve further research in autoimmune diseases.
On exponential convergence of SGD in non-convex over-parametrized learning

Large over-parametrized models learned via stochastic gradient descent (SGD) methods have become a key element in modern machine learning. Although SGD methods are very effective in practice, most theoretical analyses of SGD suggest slower convergence than what is empirically observed. In our recent work [8] we analyzed how interpolation, common in modern over-parametrized learning, results in exponential convergence of SGD with constant step size for convex loss functions. In this note, we extend those results to a much broader non-convex function class satisfying the Polyak-Lojasiewicz (PL) condition. A number of important non-convex problems in machine learning, including some classes of neural networks, have been recently shown to satisfy the PL condition. We argue that the PL condition provides a relevant and attractive setting for many machine learning problems, particularly in the over-parametrized regime.
Climate Regimes Override Micro-Site Effects on the Summer Temperature Signal of Scots Pine at Its Northern Distribution Limits

Tree growth at northern boreal treelines is generally limited by summer temperature, hence tree rings serve as natural archives of past climatic conditions. However, there is increasing evidence that a changing summer climate as well as certain micro-site conditions can lead to a weakening or loss of the summer temperature signal in trees growing in treeline environments. This phenomenon poses a challenge to all applications relying on stable temperature-growth relationships such as temperature reconstructions and dynamic vegetation models. We tested the effect of differing ecological and climatological conditions on the summer temperature signal of Scots pine at its northern distribution limits by analyzing twelve sites distributed along a 2200 km gradient from Finland to Western Siberia (Russia). Two frequently used proxies in dendroclimatology, ring width and maximum latewood density, were correlated with summer temperature for the period 1901–2013 separately for (i) dry vs. wet micro-sites and (ii) years with dry/warm vs. wet/cold climate regimes prevailing during the growing season. Differing climate regimes significantly affected the temperature signal of Scots pine at about half of our sites: While correlations were stronger in wet/cold than in dry/warm years at most sites located in Russia, differing climate regimes had only little effect at Finnish sites. Both tree-ring proxies were affected in a similar way. Interestingly, micro-site differences significantly affected absolute tree growth, but had only minor effects on the climatic signal at our sites. We conclude that, despite the treeline-proximal location, growth-limiting conditions seem to be exceeded in dry/warm years at most Russian sites, leading to a weakening or loss of the summer temperature signal in Scots pine here. With projected temperature increase, unstable summer temperature signals in Scots pine tree rings might become more frequent, possibly affecting dendroclimatological applications and related fields.