Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Awareness and Pharmacotherapy of Hypertension in a Rural Community

Objective: To determine the level of awareness of hypertension and pharmacological management in patients from a rural community of Australia. Subjects and Methods: A total of 665 patients were studied. Thepatients were recruited from Albury-Wodonga and surrounding districts, which are located in a rural area of south-eastern Australia. Demographic information and medical history were recorded for all patients. Clinical data were also recorded. Results: Of the 665 patients, 449 (75%) were hypertensive, and of these 449 hypertensive patients, 195 (43.4%) were aware that they had hypertension. Blood pressure was inadequately controlled in 399 of the hypertensive patients (88.9%) according to the management guidelines of the National Heart Foundation of Australia. Of all the patients who had hypertension, 247 (55.0%) were not receiving antihypertensive therapy. Of those receiving therapy, 132 (65.3%) were being administered only one antihypertensive (monotherapy). The most commonly prescribed antihypertensive classes were angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, angiotensin II receptor antagonists, diuretics, β-blockers and calcium channel blockers. Conclusion: The level of awareness of hypertension and its management appeared to be poor in hypertensive patients living in this rural Australian community. Actual hypertension control was extremely poor, and a major potential cause of this may be the poor use of anti-hypertensive medications in these patients. Strategies to improve the awareness of hypertension and its required management in patients residing in rural communities are recommended.
Premorbid adjustment in schizophrenia. Part IV. Some biological approaches to research on premorbid functioning in schizophrenia.

Most research concerning premorbid functioning in schizophrenia has focused on measures of psychosocial adjustment, but biological variables may also provide valuable information about the nature of premorbid adjustment. Research dealing with biological aspects of premorbid functioning has focused on the relationship between premorbid status and two types of variables. One large group of studies has investigated psychophysiological patterns of resting activity and reactivity to stimulation. These investigations have been carried out on patients diagnosed as schizophrenics and also on nonschizophrenic subjects considered at increased risk for becoming schizophrenic (e.g., Mednick and McNeil 1968). A second major group of studies has investigated reactions to neuroleptic medication by patients with various levels of premorbid functioning. In this report, we will review the findings from these research approaches so as to clarify the relationship between premorbid function and biological variables.
Patch Reordering: A NovelWay to Achieve Rotation and Translation Invariance in Convolutional Neural Networks

Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) have demonstrated state-of-the-art performance on many visual recognition tasks. However, the combination of convolution and pooling operations only shows invariance to small local location changes in meaningful objects in input. Sometimes, such networks are trained using data augmentation to encode this invariance into the parameters, which restricts the capacity of the model to learn the content of these objects. A more efficient use of the parameter budget is to encode rotation or translation invariance into the model architecture, which relieves the model from the need to learn them. To enable the model to focus on learning the content of objects other than their locations, we propose to conduct patch ranking of the feature maps before feeding them into the next layer. When patch ranking is combined with convolution and pooling operations, we obtain consistent representations despite the location of meaningful objects in input. We show that the patch ranking module improves the performance of the CNN on many benchmark tasks, including MNIST digit recognition, large-scale image recognition, and image retrieval.
Decentralized swarm aggregation with static communication links

The objective of this paper is decentralized swarm aggregation with collision avoidance. Specifically, each agent is assigned with a control law which is the sum of two elements: a repulsive potential field, which is responsible for the collision avoidance objective, and an attractive potential field, that forces the agents to converge to a configuration where they are close to each other. It is shown that under the proposed control law agents converge to a configuration where each agent is located at a bounded distance from each of its neighbors. Connectivity of the communication graph is then shown to be a sufficient condition for swarm aggregation. When a global objective is imposed, namely aggregation of the robotic swarm close to a desired location we show that only one agent, which plays the role of the leader of the swarm, has to be aware of this objective. The leader is shown to be able to drag the swarm around the desired location. We also show that these results are applied to both cases of robots satisfying single integrator kinematics and kinematic unicycle-type robots.
Antioxidant Profile of Mono-and Dihydroxylated Flavone Derivatives in Free Radical Generating Systems

Abstract A number of free radical generating systems were used to investigate the antioxidant properties and structure-activity relationships of a series of monohydroxylated and dihydroxylated flavones. Ortho-dihydroxylated flavones showed the highest inhibitory activity on en zymic and non-enzymic microsomal lipid peroxidation as well as on peroxyl radical scavenging. Most flavones were weak scavengers of hydroxyl radical, while ortho-dihydroxylated flavones interacted with superoxide anion generated by an enzymic system or by human neutrophils. This series of compounds did not exert cytotoxic effects on these cells. Scavenging of superoxide and peroxyl radicals may determ ine the antioxidant properties of these active flavones.
A new approach for the assessment of sleepiness and predictivity of obstructive sleep apnea in drivers: A pilot study

Background: Falling asleep behind the wheel is one of the most relevant consequences of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). We created a new screening questionnaire, named the Driver Sleepiness Score (DSS), aiming to assess sleepiness in drivers with suspected OSA. The primary aim of our study was to evaluate sleepiness in drivers with a suspicion of OSA by the DSS in order to assess its correlation with the apnea-hypopnea index (AHI), oxygen desaturation index (ODI), and total sleep time with oxyhemoglobin saturation below 90% (TST90). We also aimed to assess the diagnostic accuracy of DSS for three different cutoffs of AHI (AHI = 5, AHI = 15, AHI = 30), which allow stratification of the severity of OSA. Materials and Methods: Seventy-three driving patients at risk for OSA participated in the study. DSS and the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) were both administered in operator-dependent modality and in randomized sequence. Results: The DSS showed higher accuracy in screening patients with mild OSA [area under curve (AUC): 0.88 vs 0.74] and moderate OSA (AUC: 0.88 vs 0.79), whereas ESS showed higher accuracy in screening patients with severe OSA (AUC: 0.91 vs 0.78). A DSS score ≥ 7 is the optimal cutoff for distinguishing true positives from false positives for the presence of OSA and for its different severity levels. The administration of both questionnaires increases the accuracy for the detection of all OSA severity levels. Conclusions: If validated, DSS may qualify as a new screening tool specifically for drivers with the suspicion of having OSA, in combination with the ESS.
Improvement of Satoyoshi syndrome with tacrolimus and corticosteroids

Satoyoshi syndrome (SS) is characterized by progressive, painful intermittent generalized muscle spasms, alopecia, diarrhea, secondary skeletal abnormalities, and endocrinopathy with amenorrhea.1 Corticosteroid treatment2,3⇓ and IV immunoglobulin (IVIg)4 have improved symptoms. We here report that daily tacrolimus with alternate-day oral prednisolone improved amenorrhea and alopecia as well as generalized muscle spasms. A 13-year-old Japanese girl presented with generalized intermittent painful muscle spasms. At age 12, painful 1- to 3-minute muscle spasms, induced easily by voluntary muscle contraction, developed in all extremities. At age 13 she developed alopecia and amenorrhea. The patient had a history of bronchial asthma, atopic dermatitis, and duodenal ulcer but no diarrhea. Family history was unremarkable. On examination, the patient was of normal height (154 cm) and weight (41 kg). Her scalp hair was thin, and her eyebrows, axillary, and pubic hairs were scant. Her mental state, speech, and muscle strength were normal. Deep …
[Causes of death in a cohort of EDF-GDF employees: comparison between occupational medicine and official statistics data].

BACKGROUND In an epidemiological study, medical causes of death may be obtained from different sources. In a study on French gas and electricity company (EDF-GDF) workers, they were obtained from the national INSERM database. Additionally, the causes collected by the EDF-GDF occupational physicians were available for a subset of 1,330 deaths, which occurred between 1989 and 1994. The data from the two sources were compared with each other, in order to assess whether they were globally equivalent, and the potential impact of their differences on the results of epidemiological analyses. METHODS Concordance rates between causes of death in the INSERM and EDF-GDF physicians databases were calculated according to the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) ninth revision codes and for various causes groups. Causes of death records were also examined in order to clarify the observed divergences. SMRs were computed in order to evaluate the consequences of using each database in epidemiological analyses. Finally, some SMRs were computed with the two sources and compared with each other. RESULTS INSERM and EDF-GDF physicians causes belonged to the same causes group in 81% of cases, but the exact cause was different for more than half of them. The concordance rate was high for the deaths by AIDS and by cancer, and low for deaths by respiratory system and digestive system diseases. More causes of death were coded as "unknown" in EDF-GDF physicians data than in INSERM data. The SMRs varied widely depending on whether the INSERM or EDF-GDF physicians causes of death databases were used. CONCLUSIONS Causes of death recorded in the INSERM and EDF-GDF physicians databases are very different. Therefore, using the national mortality rates computed by INSERM with the EDF-GDF physicians causes of death to calculate SMRs is not valid, and it is observed that they may be very different from those computed with INSERM data. In a general way, it should be better to use the INSERM database, which is a common source, in order to generate results comparable with other studies. However, this database has its own limitations, and it may be better, in particular situations and for internal analyses, to use another source if it seems to be a better one.
Use of an Immunoperoxidase Technique to Detect Equine Herpesvirus-1 Antigen in Formalin-Fixed Paraffin-Embedded Equine Fetal Tissues

An indirect immunoperoxidase (IP) procedure using the avidin-biotin-peroxidase complex detection technique was developed to detect viral equine herpesvirus-1 (EHV-1) antigen in formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissues from aborted equine fetuses. The procedure was applied to liver, lung, and other tissues from 20 cases of confirmed or suspected EHV-1 -induced abortions. Specific staining was observed in tissue sections from EHV-1-infected fetuses. Positive IP staining was present in tissues of 7 cases that were also positive by fluorescent antibody (FA) and virus isolation (VI) and that had typical histologic lesions. There was no IP staining in 7 cases that had no histologic lesions and negative FA and VI results. Five cases had typical histologic lesions and positive results in only 1 laboratory test; 3 were positive by VI and 2 by FA. Liver of 1 case was positive by IP, but tissues were too autolytic for other tests to be evaluated.
SVD analysis of the multi-view scattering operator in 1D inverse problems

The electromagnetic inverse scattering problem of localizing a planar conducting interface buried in a half-space background medium is dealt with. The illuminating field is provided by plane waves at fixed frequency and varying angle of incidence and the inversion is achieved by means of the truncated singular value decomposition (SVD) of the involved linear operator. Emphasis is put on the derivation of the SVD and on the role played by the reflections occurring between the background interface and the conducting one on the achievable resolution.
Commentary on: The role of surgery for treatment of low back pain: Insights from the randomized controlled SPORT trials

Background: The SPORT trial database offered much useful information regarding the efficacy of surgical treatment for lumbar disc herniations, lumbar spinal stenosis, and degenerative spondylolisthesis. Data were obtained from 13 sites and included 2500 patients. Methods: The randomized trial for lumbar disc herniations was contaminated by the immense crossover of patients from surgical (50%) to non-surgical (30%) groups. Weinstein et al. concluded that they could not claim superiority of one treatment modality over the other. Weinstein's next SPORT study on lumbar discs, performed utilizing a prospective cohort of patients undergoing lumbar disc surgery (those that would not agree to be randomized), appeared to demonstrate better outcomes with vs. without surgery. Results: The follow-up study 8 years later again questioned the value of surgery vs. non-operative intervention. The other SPORT studies dealing with degenerative spondylolisthesis appeared to document the benefit of surgical decompression, but could not consistently substantiate the relative value of decompression alone vs. non-instrumented vs. instrumented fusion. The more recent SPORT study in 2015 on spinal stenosis treated with/without surgery indicated improvement in short term 4-year outcomes; however, the two arm-results (surgical vs. non-surgical) converged at 8 years. Conclusions: Here, the 6 SPORT studies and short commentaries following each study indicate the pros, cons, and shortcomings of each investigation are presented. Notably, if surgeons better selected patients for surgery and avoided unnecessary procedures for “black discs alone” or pain alone, the results of the surgical intervention would likely be more clearly confirmed.
LEVONORGESTREL AS AN EMERGENCY CONTRACEPTIVE DRUG

The potential of low‐dose levonorgestrel, alone or in combination with ethynyloestradiol (Yuzpe regimen), as emergency contraception is reviewed for its acceptability and effectiveness. Plasma levonorgestrel concentration ranges from 9–12 nmol/l at 12 hours with a peak of 27–33 nmol/l 2–2.5 hours after taking one 0.75 mg tablet. The concentration of steroid hormone binding globulins in plasma is not influenced by the presence of levonorgestrel during this period. The success rates for levonorgestrel‐only and the Yuzpe regimen as emergency contraception are 85% and 57%, respectively, while the failure rates are 1.1% and 3.2%, respectively, within the prescribed time limit of use. The mode of action of levonorgestrel emergency contraception is to prevent or delay ovulation and/or alter the endometrium unfavourably the for implantation of an embryo. The use of emergency contraceptive pills within 72 hours after unprotected sexual intercourse reduces the risk of pregnancy by about 75% and is safe, with no serious side‐effects.
Caregivers’ Perspectives on the Sensory Environment and Participation in Daily Activities of Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to obtain caregivers’ perspectives on the impact of the sensory environment on participation in daily activities of their young children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Interviews were completed with 34 caregivers of children with ASD ages 3‐7 yr. Results strongly suggest that parents and caregivers were pivotal in enabling participation for their children through the implementation of specific strategies and a parental decision‐making process. The decision‐making process considered amount of effort necessary to support participation and whether participation in a given activity was perceived as essential or nonessential. Strategies enabled participation and reduced the effort required to support the child’s participation. Strategies either directly related to the sensory factors of the environment or focused on reducing behavioral responses associated with sensory factors. In this study, we identified important considerations to enhance participation in the home and community environments for children with ASD. Pfeiffer, B. , Coster, W. , Snethen, G. , Derstine, M. , Piller, A. , & Tucker, C. (2017). Caregivers’ perspectives on the sensory environment and participation in daily activities of children with autism spectrum disorder.
Technical efficiency drivers for the Italian water industry

L’obiettivo di questo lavoro e introdurre un’analisi dell’impatto che l’assetto proprietario, la struttura finanziaria, la dimensione del mercato e la strategia di business hanno sull’efficienza tecnica delle utilities italiane operanti nel settore idrico. Recente- mente la letteratura si e concentrata sull’analisi di fattori dimensionali o di localizzazione, sulle economie di scopo o sull’assetto proprietario, tuttavia nessuno, per la nostra conoscenza, ha mai considerato congiuntamente tutte queste variabili edoniche quali efficiency shifter o driver. Abbiamo stimato quattro diverse frontiere stocastiche eteroschedastiche di produzione: due modelli parametrici differenti (dove la variabile edonica mono e introdotta nel modello o come variabile addizionale, o come variabile atta a parametrizzare la varianza del termine di inefficienza), per i quali sono state adottate due diverse formulazioni statistiche per la distribuzione della componente di inefficienza, esponenziale e half-normal. Rispetto agli obiettivi fissati dalla legge Galli, si puo concludere che l’integrazione tra i servizi di acquedotto e fognatura e stato sostanzialmente positivo; allo stesso tempo, le economie di scala e l’impatto della densita giustificano il dimensionamento su base provinciale. Il ruolo del settore privato nell’idrico, concorde con la letteratura in materia, ha un impatto neutro sull’efficienza, la natura della proprieta non influisce (il giudizio non tiene conto dell’impatto sulla qualita del servizio).
A new block-structure modeling technique for RF power amplifiers in a 2×2 MIMO system

A new block-structure behavioral model is proposed for radio frequency power amplifiers in a 2×2 multiple-input multiple-output system including input cross-talk. The proposed model forms kernels of blocks of different nonlinear order that correspond to the significant frequency response of measured frequency domain Volterra kernels. The model can therefore well describe the input-output relationships of the nonlinear dynamic behavior of PAs. The proposed model outperforms conventional models in terms of model errors.
MR imaging of the enlarged endolymphatic duct and sac syndrome by use of a 3D fast asymmetric spin-echo sequence: volume and signal-intensity measurement of the endolymphatic duct and sac and area measurement of the cochlear modiolus.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE In enlarged endolymphatic duct (EED) and sac (EES) syndrome, deformity of the EED and EES is congenital; however, hearing loss is acquired. To investigate the pathophysiology of progressive sensorineural hearing loss in EED and EES syndrome, we measured the volume of the EED and EES, the diameter of the EED and EES, the area of the cochlear modiolus, and the signal intensity of the EES and compared our findings against degree of hearing loss. METHODS Thin-section MR images of 33 ears in 17 patients with EED and EES syndrome were studied. All studies were obtained on a 1.5-T MR unit using a quadrature surface phased-array coil. Heavily T2-weighted 3D fast asymmetric spin-echo images were obtained with a voxel size of 0.3 x 0.3 x 0.8 mm without zero-fill interpolation. Two radiologists traced the areas of the EED and EES manually, and the volume was calculated. The area of the cochlear modiolus, diameter of the EED and EES, and signal intensity of the EES were also measured by drawing regions of interest manually. The signal intensity ratio of EES/CSF was calculated. These measured values were compared against audiographic data, and the degree of linear correlation was determined. RESULTS The volume of the EED and EES, the area of the modiolus, the diameter of the EED and EES, and the signal intensity of the EES did not show significant correlation with degree of hearing loss. CONCLUSION These findings suggest that there is a microscopic area of damage or fragility in the inner ear not visible even with thin-section heavily T2-weighted MR imaging.
Vaginal birth after cesarean in the diabetic gravida.

OBJECTIVE To compare the delivery outcomes in term diabetic patients without a prior cesarean delivery to those attempting vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC). STUDY DESIGN A retrospective chart review study was performed of singleton pregnancies complicated by class A-2-R diabetes who delivered at > or = 37 weeks from 1991 to 1997. Exclusion criteria were prior classical or low vertical cesarean, more than one prior cesarean delivery, fetal structural defects or any contraindications to labor. Outcome measures were compared for patients without prior cesarean (group 1) to those with a VBAC attempt (group 2). RESULTS One hundred fifty-nine patients, 127 patients without a prior cesarean delivery and 32 patients with a VBAC attempt, met all the study criteria. The cesarean delivery rate was 26.3% (34/127) in group 1 and 56.3% (18/32) in group 2 (VBAC success rate, 43.7%). There were no cases of uterine rupture. There were no differences in the frequency of endometritis rates or neonatal intensive care unit admission, whether vaginal or cesarean delivery occurred. CONCLUSION VBAC success rates appeared to be lower for diabetic gravidas as compared to those for nondiabetic women reported in the literature. Although maternal and neonatal complication rates were low, further studies are necessary to determine the safety of VBAC in this population.
Ionic mechanisms of cell volume regulation in leukocytes.

Mammalian cells, including leukocytes, tend to gain volume passively be­ cause of the presence of intracellular charged macromolecules, which are impermeant. This tendency of the cells to swell is counteracted by the active extrusion of monovalent ions, which results in the maintenance of cellular volume. In fact, many cell types preserve an approximately constant cell size in the face of variations in the osmolarity of the medium. The precise coupling between the inward ion leak and the active outward pumping under both isotonic and anisotonic conditions is unlikely to be fortuitous. Instead, the preservation of near-normal size under such a variety of conditions suggests that the cells are able to sense thei.r volume and to compensate for departure from an optimal, physiologic state. This implies the existence of volume­ sensitive ion transport pathways that mediate the net loss of solutes when enlarged cells are required to shrink and vice versa. Under physiologic conditions, such transport pathways are likely activated by minute departures from the normal volume. Though subtle and effective, such responses are obviously difficult to study. Instead, several groups have resorted to a more convenient experimental paradigm to investigate the regulation of cellular volume. In this approach, substantial volume changes are imposed by abrupt­ ly varying the tonicity of the medium, in the expectation that the responses