Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Hystor: making the best use of solid state drives in high performance storage systems

With the fast technical improvement, flash memory based Solid State Drives (SSDs) are becoming an important part of the computer storage hierarchy to significantly improve performance and energy efficiency. However, due to its relatively high price and low capacity, a major system research issue to address is on how to make SSDs play their most effective roles in a high-performance storage system in cost- and performance-effective ways. In this paper, we will answer several related questions with insights based on the design and implementation of a high performance hybrid storage system, called Hystor. We make the best use of SSDs in storage systems by achieving a set of optimization objectives from both system deployment and algorithm design perspectives. Hystor manages both SSDs and hard disk drives (HDDs) as one single block device with minimal changes to existing OS kernels. By monitoring I/O access patterns at runtime, Hystor can effectively identify blocks that (1) can result in long latencies or (2) are semantically critical (e.g. file system metadata), and stores them in SSDs for future accesses to achieve a significant performance improvement. In order to further leverage the exceptionally high performance of writes in the state-of-the-art SSDs, Hystor also serves as a write-back buffer to speed up write requests. Our measurements on Hystor implemented in the Linux kernel 2.6. 25.8 show that it can take advantage of the performance merits of SSDs with only a few lines of changes to the stock Linux kernel. Our system study shows that in a highly effective hybrid storage system, SSDs should play a major role as an independent storage where the best suitable data are adaptively and timely migrated in and retained, and it can also be effective to serve as a write-back buffer.
Mirror therapy for the alleviation of phantom limb pain following amputation: A literature review

Background/Aim: Phantom limb pain (PLP) is a debilitating condition that affects 50–85% of patients following an amputation and significantly diminishes their quality of life. Mirror therapy has been reported to have potential success for the alleviation of PLP. However, due to a lack of understanding of the mechanisms underlying PLP and the fact that no current consensus as to the effectiveness of mirror therapy exists, guidelines for treatment protocols are lacking. This review aimed to assess the current best evidence for using mirror therapy to treat PLP in patients with amputation. Methods: The authors conducted a systematic review of original research papers specifically investigating the use of mirror therapy in populations of patients experiencing PLP after unilateral limb amputation. Literature was sourced from PubMed, AMED, CINAHL and Google Scholar. The following search terms were used in combination: ‘phantom pain’; ‘PLP’; ‘phantom limb’; ‘phantom limb pain’; ‘mirror’; ‘mirror treatment’; ‘mir.
Ventriculo-vascular interactions in patients with β thalassaemia major

Objectives: To determine potential interactions between the heart and arterial system in patients with β thalassaemia major. Design and patients: Vascular compliance, systemic vascular resistance, and left ventricular (LV) contractility was determined in 34 asymptomatic thalassaemia patients at 2–4 hours after blood transfusion and also in 34 age and sex matched controls using a non-invasive device. The results were compared between groups and inter-relationships between LV contractility and indices of vascular load were explored. Setting: Tertiary paediatric cardiac centre. Results: When compared with controls, patients had greater systemic vascular resistance (1633 (259) v 1377 (276) dynes/s/cm5, p < 0.001) and effective arterial elastance (Ea) (1.86 (0.25) v 1.65 (0.29) mm Hg/ml, p = 0.001), an index of combined pulsatile and static vascular load. On the other hand, their systolic blood pressure (104 (9) v 112 (13) mm Hg, p = 0.006), pulse pressure (45 (9) v 57 (10) mm Hg, p < 0.001), adjusted systemic vascular compliance (1.21 (0.09) v 1.37 (0.14), p < 0.001), adjusted brachial artery distensibility (21 (0.29) v 7.95 (0.29)%/mm Hg, p < 0.001) and LV+dP/dt (1059 (183) v 1239 (237) mm Hg/s, p = 0.001) were significantly lower. Significant determinants of LV contractility, as reflected by LV+dP/dt, were age (standardised β = −0.24, p = 0.003), body mass index (standardised β = −0.34, p = 0.004), systolic blood pressure (standardised β = 0.90, p < 0.001), and effective Ea (standardised β = −0.50, p < 0.001) (model R2 = 0.69). No significant correlation existed between serum ferritin concentration and any of the cardiac or vascular indices. Conclusion: An unfavourable ventriculo-vascular interaction, as characterised by impaired cardiac contractility and increased static and pulsatile vascular load, occurs in patients with β thalassaemia major.
Child-Parent Wellbeing in a Paediatric Ward: The Role of Music Therapy in Supporting Children and Their Parents Facing the Challenge of Hospitalisation

This report, based on clinical practice on a children’s ward in New Zealand, examines the role of short-term music therapy in supporting children and their parents[1] facing the difficulties of hospitalisation. It endeavours to explore three questions. How might music therapy support hospitalised children? How can it support parents of hospitalised children? Is it important/valuable for music therapists working in a paediatric ward to involve parent(s) in music therapy sessions? Three hospitalised children (aged 11 months, 5 and 7 years), who were accompanied by a parent, participated in a single individual music therapy session. From the clinical notes, semi-structured interviews with the children’s parents and a staff member, and my own reflective journal it was indicated that music therapy supported the psychosocial needs of the paediatric patients and their parents in many ways. For the children music therapy: 1) promoted normalisation; and 2) provided emotional/psychological support. For parents, it: 1) elicited positive changes in mood; 2) reduced anxiety; and 3) supported parental learning/parenting. Furthermore, the findings suggested that the wellbeing of the parent-child relationship can be supported during music therapy. The importance of parental involvement varied for each case, and highlighted different views between therapist, staff member and parents regarding this. Factors that may determine parental involvement and the benefits of both parental presence and absence during sessions were elicited. The report suggests that music therapy has the potential positively to support paediatric wards in New Zealand to provide an environment that is responsive to the psychosocial needs of hospitalised children and their parents.
Predictors of HIV-Infection in Older Adults

This article is a retrospective case-control study of patients from a Veteran’s Affairs Medical Center and an urban public hospital. Patients (53) older than 55 at the time of their HIV diagnosis were age- and gender-matched to 106 HIV-negative controls. Potential predictors of HIV-infection were abstracted from the medical records. HIV-positive patients were more likely to have a history of sexually transmitted diseases, have Hepatitis B+, and have significant differences in their mean globulin, serum sodium, albumin, and hemoglobin levels. The mean albumin to globulin ratio was also statistically, significantly different between the HIV-positive patients and the controls. These data suggest that for patients older than 55, certain medical history parameters may be useful in predicting risk of being HIV-positive. An albumin to globulin ratio < 1.0, especially when combined with a history of alcohol abuse or prior sexually transmitted disease, should prompt all physicians to screen their older patients for HIV.
Potential beneficial effects of butyrate in intestinal and extraintestinal diseases

The multiple beneficial effects on human health of the short-chain fatty acid butyrate, synthesized from non-absorbed carbohydrate by colonic microbiota, are well documented. At the intestinal level, butyrate plays a regulatory role on the transepithelial fluid transport, ameliorates mucosal inflammation and oxidative status, reinforces the epithelial defense barrier, and modulates visceral sensitivity and intestinal motility. In addition, a growing number of studies have stressed the role of butyrate in the prevention and inhibition of colorectal cancer. At the extraintestinal level, butyrate exerts potentially useful effects on many conditions, including hemoglobinopathies, genetic metabolic diseases, hypercholesterolemia, insulin resistance, and ischemic stroke. The mechanisms of action of butyrate are different; many of these are related to its potent regulatory effects on gene expression. These data suggest a wide spectrum of positive effects exerted by butyrate, with a high potential for a therapeutic use in human medicine.
Implementação oportuna de intervenções para reduzir a transmissão vertical do HIV: uma experiência brasileira bem-sucedida

OBJETIVO: Descrever o impacto da implementacao oportuna de novas condutas recomendadas por consensos clinicos nacionais dirigidos a prevencao da transmissao vertical de HIV na maternidade de um hospital universitario publico no Brasil. METODO: Realizou-se um estudo retrospectivo de coorte dos partos de mulheres infectadas pelo HIV atendidos na instituicao de 1990 a 2000. As condutas adotadas nesse periodo foram: 1) ate 1994, amamentacao contra-indicada, sem uso de drogas anti-retrovirais; 2) de 1995 a 1996, uso de zidovudina (AZT) pela gestante e pelo recem-nascido; 3) de 1997 a 1998, uso de AZT conforme protocolo ACTG 076; e 4) de 1999 a 2000, terapia anti-retroviral multipla e cesarea eletiva. Em todos os periodos, a distribuicao das drogas foi gratuita. Foram calculadas as taxas de transmissao nas quatro fases e as razoes de risco de transmissao congenita para as fases e para cada intervencao profilatica (amamentacao, tipo de terapia anti-retroviral, tipo de parto). RESULTADOS: Foram estudadas 197 gestacoes. Houve reducao na transmissao vertical da primeira para a quarta fase, de 32,3 para 25,7, 2,2 e 2,9%. A maior queda, observada na terceira fase, ocorreu apos a introducao do esquema completo do ACTG 076. O uso de terapia anti-retroviral combinada aumentou de 0% na primeira fase para 46,4% na quarta fase. Nao houve nenhum caso de transmissao vertical nas gestantes tratadas com multiplas drogas. O risco de transmissao vertical foi 5 vezes maior com amamentacao do que sem amamentacao (razao de risco = 5,06), 5 vezes maior sem terapia anti-retroviral contra uso do esquema ACTG completo (razao de risco = 5,29) e 4 vezes maior para parto com forcipe contra cesarea eletiva (razao de risco = 4,13). CONCLUSAO: A adocao oportuna de intervencoes atualizadas, recomendadas por consenso nacional de especialistas, com provisao gratuita de drogas, mostrou-se eficiente para reduzir a transmissao congenita do HIV.
Negotiating professional identities: dominant and contesting narratives in medical students' longitudinal audio diaries

Abstract: The successful development of a professional identity is paramount to becoming a successful doctor. This study investigates medical studentsʼ professional identity formation over time through the analysis of their narrative accounts of events recorded during their first two years of medical school using longitudinal audio diaries. The data was analysed for underlying narrative plotlines. Six dominant discourses from societal narratives about doctors and medicine were found within the studentsʼ narratives: The Privilege narrative, the Gratitude narrative, the Certainty of Medicine narrative, the Good Doctor narrative, the Healing Doctor narrative, and the Detached Doctor narrative. A further two narrative plotlines were identified as emerging narratives that contest master narratives and which are frequently found in the current culture within a modern medical school: the Informed Servant narrative and the Uncertainty of Medicine narrative. Following an overview of these narrative plotlines identified within medical studentsʼ audio diaries, a single event narrative is presented in full, in order to provide a deeper understanding of how these are played out as medical students try to make sense of the events they experience and of their own development as a doctor.
The Effect of Prenatal Education on the Process of Childbirth

Background: Childbirth mandates support for women due to its painful nature and its maternal and neonatal complications. Increased knowledge and skills during pregnancy prepares pregnant mothers for labor and promotes their health. Objectives: This study was designed to evaluate the education process of childbirth. Patients and Methods: This semiclinical trial was conducted on 195 pregnant women (132 cases in control group and 63 in the case group) attending at health centers in Amol, Iran from 20 weeks of gestational age without any complication during pregnancy. Case group members attended in prenatal classes and the control group only received routine care. Data were collected by means of demographic checklist, standard hospital anxiety questionnaire, and a checklist, related to childbirth information, and intensity of pain based on Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) and McGill scale. The data were analyzed by SPSS using T-test and chi-square test. Results: The results of this study showed that parents with high level of education were more interested in prenatal classes (P = 0.007, P = 0.003). The mean score of anxiety among case group was 14.47 ± 4.69 and in control group was 16 ± 4.86 (P = 0.002). Pain intensity in case group was 85.68 ± 1.85 and in control group was 90.99 ± 14.72 (P = 0.030), intervention on labor such as episiotomy was 66.1% in case group and 72.8% in control group (P > 0.001) and C/S was 17.1% in case group and 32.2% in control group (P = 0.01). Conclusions: Prenatal education and psychological support of mothers during pregnancy and labor is recommended for all pregnant women.
Oral ixazomib maintenance therapy in multiple myeloma

Continuous therapy has proven to be an effective therapeutic strategy to improve the outcome of both young and elderly multiple myeloma patients. Remarkably, lenalidomide and bortezomib showed to play a crucial role in this setting due to their safety profile allowing long-term exposure. Ixazomib, the first oral proteasome inhibitor to be evaluated in multiple myeloma, exerts substantial anti-myeloma activity as a single agent and particularly in combination with immunomodulatory drugs and it may be an attractive option for maintenance therapy. Here we address the issue of maintenance therapy as part of a therapeutic approach of multiple myeloma patients focusing on the potential role of ixazomib.
Random fecal α1-antitrypsin excretion in children with intestinal disorders

• Demonstration of excessive enteric protein loss traditionally required the use of labeled macromolecules and prolonged stool collection uncontaminated by urine. α 1 -Antitrypsin (α 1 -AT) clearance has recently been used for the demonstration of enteric protein loss, but controversy still exists about the value of determining α 1 -AT concentration in random stool samples. We have measured α 1 -AT excretion in random stool samples from children with various gastrointestinal (GI) tract disorders using an immune nephelometric method. Statistically significant elevations in α 1 -AT concentrations were found in stools from patients with active celiac disease and confirmed PLE, while normal values were demonstrated in patients with irritable bowel and inactive celiac disease. We conclude that determination of α 1 -AT concentration in random fecal samples is an easy, reproducible screening method for the demonstration of excessive enteric protein loss in various GI tract disorders. ( AJDC 1984;138:971-973)
Inter-Facility Transfer vs. Direct Admission of Patients With ST-Segment Elevation Acute Myocardial Infarction Undergoing Primary Percutaneous Coronary Intervention.

BACKGROUND Inter-facility transfer for primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) from referring facilities to PCI centers causes a significant delay in treatment of ST-segment elevation acute myocardial infarction (STEMI) patients undergoing primary PCI. However, little is known about the clinical outcomes of STEMI patients undergoing inter-facility transfer in Japan. METHODSANDRESULTS In the CREDO-Kyoto acute myocardial infarction (AMI) registry that enrolled 5,429 consecutive AMI patients in 26 centers in Japan, the current study population consisted of 3,820 STEMI patients who underwent primary PCI within 24 h of symptom onset. We compared long-term clinical outcomes between inter-facility transfer patients and those directly admitted to PCI centers. The primary outcome measure was a composite of all-cause death or heart failure (HF) hospitalization. There were 1,725 (45.2%) inter-facility transfer patients, and 2,095 patients (54.8%) with direct admission to PCI centers. The cumulative 5-year incidence of death/HF hospitalization was significantly higher in the inter-facility transfer patients than in those with direct admission (26.9% vs. 22.2%; log-rank P<0.001). After adjusting for potential confounders, the risk for death/HF hospitalization was significantly higher (adjusted hazard ratio: 1.22, 95% confidence interval: 1.07-1.40, P<0.001) in the inter-facility transfer patients than in those directly admitted. CONCLUSIONS Inter-facility transfer was associated with significantly worse long-term clinical outcomes for patients with STEMI undergoing primary PCI. (Circ J 2016; 80: 1764-1772).
Complete response in a critically ill patient with ALK-negative anaplastic large cell lymphoma treated with single agent brentuximab-vedotin

ABSTRACT Anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL) is a rare hematological malignancy and a distinct subtype of mature T-cell lymphomas. ALCL is comprised of two clinically distinct but morphologically similar sub-class under 2008 WHO classification: cutaneous and systemic. Primary systemic ALCL is further sub-categorized into tumors that carry the anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) gene rearrangement or not; ALK-positive versus ALK-negative disease respectively. Traditionally, both forms of primary systemic ALCL have been treated upfront with an anthracycline based combination chemotherapy such as CHOP. More recently an antibody drug conjugate, brentuximab-vedotin (BV), directed against CD30 antigen has shown promise in CD30 expressing hematologic malignancies such as Hodgkin's lymphoma and ALCL. At the present time, this novel antibody-drug conjugate has been approved in the treatment of patients with ALCL after failure of at least one prior multi-agent chemotherapy regimen in the United States. We present a case describing a previously healthy 48 year-old female diagnosed with ALK-negative ALCL who achieved complete response with upfront single agent brentuximab-vedotin. It is the first case described in the literature utilizing BV in the first line setting particularly in a patient with multi-organ failure and critically ill at time of diagnosis. This case highlights the full potential that targeted therapies can exert over hematological malignancies while also minimizing treatment related toxicities. Abbreviations: AE: adverse event; ALCL: anaplastic large cell lymphoma; ALK: anaplastic lymphoma kinase; ASCT: autologous stem cell transplant; BEAM: BCNU/carmustine, etoposide, ara-C, and melphalan; BV: brentuximab vedotin; CHEOP: cyclophosphamide, daunorubicin, vincristine, prednisone, etoposide; CHOP: cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, prednisone; CR:complete response; G3+: grade 3 or higher; MTD: maximum tolerated dose; ORR: overall response rate; OS: overall survival; PFS: progression-free survival.
Prostate cancer: from Gleason scoring to prognostic grade grouping

ABSTRACT The Gleason grading system was developed in the late 1960s by Dr. Donald F. Gleason. Due to changes in prostatic adenocarcinoma (PAC) detection and treatment, newer technologies to better characterize prostatic pathology, subsequently described variants of PAC and further data relating various morphologic patterns to prognosis, the application of the Gleason grading system changed substantially in surgical pathology. First in 2005 and more recently in 2014, consensus conferences were held to update PAC grading. Here, we review of the successive changes in the grading of PAC from the original system, with emphasis on the newest prognostic grade grouping.
Fast context-aware recommendations with factorization machines

The situation in which a choice is made is an important information for recommender systems. Context-aware recommenders take this information into account to make predictions. So far, the best performing method for context-aware rating prediction in terms of predictive accuracy is Multiverse Recommendation based on the Tucker tensor factorization model. However this method has two drawbacks: (1) its model complexity is exponential in the number of context variables and polynomial in the size of the factorization and (2) it only works for categorical context variables. On the other hand there is a large variety of fast but specialized recommender methods which lack the generality of context-aware methods. We propose to apply Factorization Machines (FMs) to model contextual information and to provide context-aware rating predictions. This approach results in fast context-aware recommendations because the model equation of FMs can be computed in linear time both in the number of context variables and the factorization size. For learning FMs, we develop an iterative optimization method that analytically finds the least-square solution for one parameter given the other ones. Finally, we show empirically that our approach outperforms Multiverse Recommendation in prediction quality and runtime.
The burden of motorcycle-related neurotrauma in South-East Nigeria

Neurotrauma or cranio-spinal trauma is the most common pathology in multiple injuries, causing significant morbidity and mortality. Majority of cases result from road traffic accidents. In one of Nigeria’s centres for neurosurgery, we evaluated our local etiological patterns to ascertain the impact of motorcycles, the most commonly used mode of intra-city transportation, on neurotrauma. This is a retrospective study of all consecutive neurotrauma patients presenting in our unit in the first 30 months after the commencement of neurosurgical services. The data were collected for each patient with a structured proforma, and were analyzed. A total of 1055 neurosurgical cases were attended to in our service in the period under study, out of which 138 had congenital anomalies and 917 had acquired diseases. Among the acquired cases, 785 had trauma but only 748 (95.3%) of them had complete re-cords, with 658 (88%) cases of head injury, 61 (8.1%) cases of spinal injury, and 29 (3.9%) concomitant head and spinal injuries. These are distributed thus: road traffic accidents 537 (71.8%), falls 120 (16.0%), assaults 47 (6.3%), missiles 20 (2.7%), falling objects 11 (1.5%), deceleration/acceleration injuries 7 (0.9%), sports/recreational activities 3 (0.4%) and birth trauma 3 (0.4%). Majority were males 569 (76.1%), and in the 15-40year age group 376 (50.3%). Of the 537 cases of road accidents, those related to motorcycles were 367 (68.3%), motor vehicles 169 (31.5%) and bicycle 1 (0.2%); and none of the motorcycle cases wore a protective helmet at the time of the accident. Most of the cases were treated conservatively 559 (74.7%), and the mortality rate from all neurotrauma cases was 17.7%. Neurotrauma is the major reason for neurosurgical consultations in our service, affecting mostly the young male age group, and most cases result from motorcycle accidents caused by the poor compliance with traffic regulations. There is an urgent need to stringently control the use of motorcycles to reduce the morbidity and mortality amongst Nigerian youths. Key words: Head, injury, spinal, road, traffic, accidents.