Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Role of Flexor Tenosynovectomy in the Operative Treatment of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

Background: We conducted a prospective, randomized study to evaluate the effect of flexor tenosynovectomy as an adjunct to open carpal tunnel release for the treatment of idiopathic carpal tunnel syndrome and reviewed the histological characteristics of the flexor tenosynovium to identify possible correlations between histopathology and symptoms.Methods: Eighty-eight wrists in eighty-seven patients with idiopathic carpal tunnel syndrome were randomized to open carpal tunnel release with or without flexor tenosynovectomy. A validated self-administered questionnaire for the assessment of symptom severity and functional status was completed both before and after the operation to assess patient outcome. The study group included fifteen men and seventy-two women with a mean age of fifty-eight years. All patients were followed for a minimum of twelve months after the operation. Intraoperatively, the tenosynovium of all patients was graded on the basis of its gross appearance. Half of the wrists were then treated with a flexor tenosynovectomy through the operative incision, and the tenosynovium was graded histologically. Correlations were sought between the gross appearance of the tenosynovium and the preoperative and postoperative symptoms and functional status, between the histologic appearance of the tenosynovium and the preoperative and postoperative symptoms and functional status, and between the gross and the histologic findings.Results: After the operation, both groups improved significantly with respect to symptom severity and functional status (paired t test), with no significant difference between the groups (unpaired t test). No significant correlation was found between the gross appearance of the tenosynovium and the preoperative or postoperative symptoms and functional status, between the histologic appearance of the tenosynovium and the preoperative or postoperative symptoms and functional status, or between the gross and the histologic findings.Conclusions: We observed neither an added benefit nor an increased rate of morbidity in association with the performance of a flexor tenosynovectomy at the time of carpal tunnel release. We identified no clinical correlations that might predict which individuals would benefit from flexor tenosynovectomy on the basis of either the gross (intraoperative) or histologic evaluation of the flexor tenosynovium. Our findings suggest that routine flexor tenosynovectomy offers no benefit compared with sectioning of the transverse carpal ligament alone for the treatment of idiopathic carpal tunnel syndrome.
Decline of photopic multifocal electroretinogram responses with age is due primarily to preretinal optical factors.

Age-related changes in photopic retinal function were evaluated topographically with the multifocal electroretinogram (mfERG). Thirty-two subjects between the ages of 16 and 69 participated. There was a strong dependence on age for all mfERG response measures that was strongest for the group of central retinal responses (i.e., within 5 deg eccentricity) and approximately equal for responses between 5 and 20 deg. After adjustment for crystalline lens optical density and pupil diameter, significant effects of age were limited to central first-order (i.e., within 5 deg) and second-order response kernels. Simulation studies support an optical basis for the observed age-related changes. It is concluded that mfERG changes between the ages of 20 and 70 are due predominantly to preretinal optical factors.
ARW: Efficient Replacement Policies for Phase Change Memory and NAND Flash

The write operations on emerging Non-Volatile Memory (NVM), such as NAND Flash and Phase Change Memory (PCM), usually incur high access latency, and are required to be optimized. In this paper, we propose Asymmetric Read-Write (ARW) policies to minimize the write traffic sent to NVM. ARW policies exploit the asymmetry costs of read and write operations, and make adjustments on the insertion policy and hit-promotion policy of the replacement algorithm. ARW can reduce the write traffic to NVM by preventing dirty data blocks from frequent evictions. We evaluate ARW policies on systems with PCM as main memory and NAND Flash as disk. Simulation results on an 8-core multicore show that ARW adopted on the last-level cache (LLC) can reduce write traffic by more than 15% on average compared to LRU baseline. When used on both LLC and DRAM cache, ARW policies achieve an impressive reduction of 40% in write traffic without system performance degradation. When employed on the on-disk buffer of the Solid State Drive (SSD), ARW demonstrates significant reductions in both write traffic and overall access latency. Moreover, ARW policies are lightweight, easy to implement, and incur negligible storage and runtime overhead. key words: replacement policy, NAND flash, phase change memory, nonvolatile memory, emerging memory technology
Immediate cortical adaptation in visual and non‐visual areas functions induced by monovision

Monovision is an optical correction for presbyopes that consists of correcting one eye for far distance and the other for near distance, creating a superimposition of an in‐focus with a blurred image. Brain adaptation to monovision was studied in unexperienced observers by measuring visual evoked potentials from 64‐channels. The first clear effect of monovision on visual evoked potentials was the C1 amplitude reduction, indicating that the unilateral blurring induced by monovision reduces feed‐forward activity in primary visual area. Monovision led also to an increased amplitude of the P1 and pP1 components, with the latter originating in prefrontal regions. This effect probably works as an attentional compensatory activity used to compensate for the degraded V1 signal.
Sensing and access over imperfect channel in opportunistic spectrum access system

Spectrum sensing over imperfect channel condition can cause errors in primary signal detection. False alarm detects idle states as a busy channel and makes secondary user (SU) refrain from data transmission, while miss-identification detects busy states as an idle channel and causes collision to primary user (PU). This paper study the performance of opportunistic spectrum access (OSA) system over imperfect channel sensing with the restriction of maximum collision probability allowed (collision threshold) by PU. The successful transmitted bits over T slot is used to evaluate OSA performance and make comparisons to those ones without sensing error as function of number of slot. The throughput performance as a function of signal to noise ratio (SNR) is presented as well. According to the obtained results show that SU can improve the throughput performance by gaining the information from the previous slot over perfect and imperfect channel sensing. SU can maximize the number of bit transmitted within T slot transmission. Subsequently, imperfect channel condition can degrade the throughput achievement since it causes error in primary signal detection.
Influence of a Psychological Perspective on Scene Viewing and Memory for Scenes

In the study, 33 participants viewed photographs from either a potential homebuyer's or a burglar's perspective, or in preparation for a memory test, while their eye movements were recorded. A free recall and a picture recognition task were performed after viewing. The results showed that perspective had rapid effects, in that the second fixation after the scene onset was more likely to land on perspective-relevant than on perspective-irrelevant areas within the scene. Perspective-relevant areas also attracted longer total fixation time, more visits, and longer first-pass dwell times than did perspective-irrelevant areas. As for the effects of visual saliency, the first fixation was more likely to land on a salient than on a nonsalient area; salient areas also attracted more visits and longer total fixation time than did nonsalient areas. Recall and recognition performance reflected the eye fixation results: Both were overall higher for perspective-relevant than for perspective-irrelevant scene objects. The relatively low error rates in the recognition task suggest that participants had gained an accurate memory for scene objects. The findings suggest that the role of bottom-up versus top-down factors varies as a function of viewing task and the time-course of scene processing.
Reduced lung cancer mortality and exposure to synthetic fluids and biocide in the auto manufacturing industry.

OBJECTIVES Water-based soluble and synthetic metalworking fluids (MWF) used in auto manufacturing may be contaminated by endotoxin from Gram-negative bacteria, a possible anticarcinogen via increased immuno-surveillance. The effectiveness of biocide, generally added to limit bacterial growth is unknown. We investigated whether an inverse relationship between lung cancer and synthetic MWF and biocide - as surrogates of endotoxin exposure - persisted in an extended follow-up of autoworkers. METHODS A nested case-control analysis was performed within a retrospective cohort study of 46 399 auto manufacturing workers. Follow-up began in 1941 and was extended from 1985-1995. Mortality rate ratios (MRR) were estimated in Cox regression models for lung cancer as discrete and smoothed functions of cumulative exposure to synthetic MWF (mg/m (3)per year) and years exposed to biocide with both synthetic and soluble MWF. The analysis was also restricted to the subcohort hired on or after 1941 and stratified by follow-up period. RESULTS The splines suggested a non-linear inverse exposure-response for lung cancer mortality with increasing endotoxin exposure. Overall, the greatest reduction in mortality was observed among those with the highest exposure [MRR 0.63, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 0.39-0.98] at the 99 (th)percentile of exposure (15.8 mg/m (3)per year). Evidence for an inverse effect was limited to the earlier follow-up period. Effect modification by biocide was marginally significant (P=0.07); the protective effect of synthetic MWF was observed only for those who were co-exposed. CONCLUSIONS The protective effect of synthetic MWF against lung cancer mortality persisted through the extended period of follow-up, although attenuated, and was observed only among workers with co-exposure to biocide and synthetic MWF.
Self-sorting FFT method eliminating trivial multiplication and suitable for embedded DSP processor

The Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) is a mathematical procedure at the core of processing inside a Digital Signal Processor. Speed and low complexity are crucial in the FFT process; they can be achieved by avoiding trivial multiplications through a proper handling of the input/output data and the twiddle factors. Accordingly, this paper presents an innovative approach for handling the input/output data efficiently by avoiding trivial multiplications. This approach consists of a simple mapping of the three indices (FFT stage, butterfly and element) to the addresses of the input/output data with their corresponding coefficient multiplier. A self-sorting algorithm that reduces the amount of memory accesses to the coefficient multipliers' memory can also reduce the computational load by avoiding all trivial multiplications. Compared with the most-recent work [5], performance evaluation in terms of the number of cycles on the general-purpose TMS320C6416 DSP shows a reduction of 29% (FFT of size 4096) and a 50% memory reduction to stock twiddle factors. The algorithm has also shown a speed gain of 24% on the FFTW platform for a FFT of size 4096.
Identification of varicella-zoster virus strains by PCR analysis of three repeat elements and a PstI-site-less region

We established a method of identifying varicella-zoster virus (VZV) strains, especially those of the Oka vaccine, in patients with clinical VZV infections. The DNAs of 30 clinically isolated strains and 4 laboratory strains including the Oka vaccine strain and its parent VZV strain, were analyzed by PCR with four sets of primers for the four variable regions, R2, R4, R5, and a region without a PstI site (PS). R4 was unstable in four laboratory VZV strains and was excluded from the study. The other regions were stable in several passages in cell culture. The number of copies in R2 and R5 were distributed from 2 to 13 and from 1 to 3, respectively, in the strains analyzed. The vaccine strain had seven copies in R2 and two copies in R5, and it was PS negative. Among 30 clinical isolates, 3, 23, and 11 strains had the same characteristics as the vaccine strain in R2, R5, and PS, respectively. Therefore, by this method, 97.2% of the isolates were distinguished from the Oka vaccine strain. This strategy will be useful in diagnosing VZV infections induced by the vaccine strain.
Subtest Scores of a Comprehensive Examination of Medical Knowledge as a Function of Retention Interval

It was hypothesized that performance on particular subtests of a comprehensive examination of medical knowledge would be a function of the length of time between completion of the respective medical training and the administration of the comprehensive examination. Two samples of graduates of the Jefferson Medical College including 1086 students who graduated between 1975 and 1979, and 877 who graduated in 1980 through 1983 were studied. Each student in the junior year of medical school had been assigned to one of four groups. Each group took the required clerkship training in internal medicine, obstetrics/gynecology, pediatrics, psychiatry and surgery in a different rotational sequence. Statistical analyses indicated that there were no statistically significant differences among the four groups in the two samples, before and after the junior year on total comprehensive medical examination scores. However, an expected linear trend was found in scores on subtests of psychiatry, obstetrics/gynecology, and surgery in both samples. The observed trend indicated that the shorter the retention interval between clerkship training and the respective examination, the higher the score on that examination. Data were analyzed in terms of some hypotheses from learning theories, and implications for medical education were discussed.
Presence of Cystic Artery in the Calot’s Triangle and Its Relation with Common Hepatic Duct – a Postmortem Study

Introduction: Most common disease of liver and biliary tree is cholelithiasis which needs surgical intervention. Safe execution of traditional cholecystectomy or laparoscopic surgery needs proper knowledge of the origin, course, branching pattern of the cystic artery and its relation with common hepatic duct. This study was aimed to find the presence of cystic artery in the Calot’s triangle and its relation with common hepatic duct to prevent any iatrogenic complications especially for newer surgeons in this field. Materials and Methods: This study was done on 60 postmortem gallbladder collected from postmortem dead bodies under the guidance of Forensic Medicine department of Rangpur Medical College, Rangpur. After collection of the specimen, the boundary of the Calot’ triangle was identified and course of the cystic artery was observed whether it was passing through the triangle or not. The relation of the cystic artery with the common hepatic duct was also noticed. Results: It was found from the result of the present study that out of 60 cases cystic artery was found as a content of Calot’s triangle in 58 (96.65%) cases. Regarding the relations of the cystic artery, out of 60 specimens, in 54 cases (90%) cystic arteries were observed to pass behind the common hepatic duct. In four cases (6.67%) cystic artery were found crossing over the common hepatic duct and in two cases (3.33%), cystic artery were found crossing below the cystic duct. In one cases, branches of cystic artery (superficial and deep branch) was found. In every specimen a Calot‘s node was found within the Calot‘s triangle. Discussions : The result of the present study was compared with other workers. Though many of the workers found similar results regarding the course of the cystic artery through the Calot’ triangle but some workers found higher number of cystic artery passing outside the triangle. Also higher percentage of cystic artery passing over the common hepatic duct was found by many workers than the present study. DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.3329/bja.v10i2. 17282 Bangladesh Journal of Anatomy, July 2012, Vol. 10 No. 2 pp 50-56
Idiotype suppression. II. Amplification of a suppressor T cell with anti‐idiotypic activity

Guinea pig IgG2 anti‐idiotypic antibody (āId2) against the strain A/J antibody A5A has a suppressive effect on the expression of the A5A idiotype in adult A/J mice immunized with Group A streptococci. High doses of āId2 cause an immediate but transient suppression, whereas low doses of āId2 result in a delayed but chronic suppression which lasted for more than 1 year without any indication of recovery.
Neurometabolic profiles of the substantia nigra and striatum of MPTP‐intoxicated common marmosets: An in vivo proton MRS study at 9.4 T

Given the strong coupling between the substantia nigra (SN) and striatum (STR) in the early stage of Parkinson's disease (PD), yet only a few studies reported to date that have simultaneously investigated the neurochemistry of these two brain regions in vivo, we performed longitudinal metabolic profiling in the SN and STR of 1‐methyl‐1,2,3,6‐tetrahydropyridine (MPTP)‐intoxicated common marmoset monkey models of PD (n = 10) by using proton MRS (1H–MRS) at 9.4 T. T2 relaxometry was also performed in the SN by using MRI. Data were classified into control, MPTP_2weeks, and MPTP_6‐10 weeks groups according to the treatment duration. In the SN, T2 of the MPTP_6‐10 weeks group was lower than that of the control group (44.33 ± 1.75 versus 47.21 ± 2.47 ms, p < 0.05). The N‐acetylaspartate to total creatine ratio (NAA/tCr) and γ‐aminobutyric acid to tCr ratio (GABA/tCr) of the MPTP_6‐10 weeks group were lower than those of the control group (0.41 ± 0.04 versus 0.54 ± 0.08 (p < 0.01) and 0.19 ± 0.03 versus 0.30 ± 0.09 (p < 0.05), respectively). The glutathione to tCr ratio (GSH/tCr) was correlated with T2 for the MPTP_6‐10 weeks group (r = 0.83, p = 0.04). In the STR, however, GABA/tCr of the MPTP_6‐10 weeks group was higher than that of the control group (0.25 ± 0.10 versus 0.16 ± 0.05, p < 0.05). These findings may be an in vivo depiction of the altered basal ganglion circuit in PD brain resulting from the degeneration of nigral dopaminergic neurons and disruption of nigrostriatal dopaminergic projections. Given the important role of non‐human primates in translational studies, our findings provide better understanding of the complicated evolution of PD.
A Brief Parent-Focused Intervention to Improve Preschoolers’ Conversational Skills and School Readiness

Preschool children’s use of decontextualized language, or talk about abstract topics beyond the here-and-now, is predictive of their kindergarten readiness and is associated with the frequency of parents’ own use of decontextualized language. Does a brief, parent-focused intervention conveying the importance of decontextualized language cause parents to increase their use of these conversations, and as a result, their children’s? We examined this question by randomly assigning 36 parents of 4-year-old children into a decontextualized language training condition or a no-treatment control condition and used mixed effects modeling to measure change (from baseline) in parent and child decontextualized language at 4 subsequent home mealtimes during the following month (N = 174 interactions including the baseline). Compared with the control condition, training condition dyads significantly increased their decontextualized talk and maintained these gains for the month following implementation. Furthermore, trained dyads generalized the program content to increase their use of similarly decontextualized, yet untrained conversations. These results demonstrate that an abstract feature of the input is malleable, and introduces a simple, scalable, and replicable approach to increase a feature of child language known to be foundational for children’s school readiness.
Supplement for Triple Antiplatelet Therapy in Obese Patients Undergoing Stent Implantation

We thank Balta et al 1 for their interest in our article and their attention to the topic of triple antiplatelet therapy in patients undergoing stent implantation. Dual antiplatelet therapy has become a part of standard antiplatelet therapy in patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) with the aim of preventing stent restenosis. However, thrombotic events related to clopidogrel resistance were not completely avoided and could cause severe cardiac events in patients post-PCI. Triple antiplatelet therapy seems to be an effective and prospective treatment to resolve this problem. Triple antiplatelet therapy may be superior to dual antiplatelet therapy in patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction undergoing primary PCI with stents. Nevertheless, the efficiency of triple antiplatelet therapy and status of clopidogrel resistance is unclear in obese patients undergoing stent implantation. In our study, thrombotic events and the subsequent target lesion revascularization may have been associated with resistance to clopidogrel in obese patients undergoing stent implantation, and previous studies showed that obese patients have a higher risk of long-term thrombotic events following PCI with drug-eluting stent than in patients with normal weight. These results may provide the rationale for the use of triple antiplatelet therapy in obese patients. In the followed study, we found that triple antiplatelet therapy results in an adequate inhibition of adenosine diphosphate-induced platelet aggregation and decreases the incidence of clopidogrel resistance compared with dual antiplatelet therapy. Additionally, it is important that this benefit was not associated with increased bleeding. Our results showed that triple antiplatelet therapy was superior to dual antiplatelet therapy in decreasing thrombotic events, a finding possibly driven by a decrease in clopidogrel resistance. Risk factors for thrombotic events and in-stent restenosis in patients undergoing stent implantation are complex. These include periprocedural and cardiovascular risk factors. So, there is no doubt that further large-scale prospective randomized clinical trials are needed to indicate the long-term outcomes of triple antiplatelet therapy.
A population study to define the incidence and survival of multiple myeloma in a National Health Service Region in UK

Epidemiology data on multiple myeloma (MM) occurrence and outcome is inconsistent whilst a major limitation of randomized controlled trials is selection bias. We present a population‐based analysis of patients diagnosed with MM in the South Thames area, which comprises 5·4 million adult inhabitants. A total of 855 cases of MM were ascertained between 1999 and 2000 in a collaborative project involving haematologists and the Thames Cancer Registry. The age‐standardized rate was 3·29 per 100 000 and 4·82 cases per 100 000 (World Standard and European Population respectively). The median age was 73 years. The median survival for the whole group was 24 months whist it was 42 and 18 months in those aged less than 65 years and greater than 65 years respectively (P < 0·001). This population study has shown a higher incidence than previously reported in the UK and Europe and provides a benchmark for future studies. If survival is to be improved, future clinical trials and health care planning should consider patients over 65 years of age.