Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A controlled clinical treatment trial of interpersonal psychotherapy for depressed pregnant women at 3 New York City sites.

OBJECTIVE While treatment decisions for antepartum depression must be personalized to each woman and her illness, guidelines from the American Psychiatric Association and the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology include the recommendation of psychotherapy for mild-to-moderate depression in pregnant women. Although we previously demonstrated the efficacy of interpersonal psychotherapy for antepartum depression in a sample of Hispanic women, this study provides a larger, more diverse sample of African American, Hispanic, and white pregnant women from 3 New York City sites in order to provide greater generalizability. METHOD A 12-week bilingual, parallel-design, controlled clinical treatment trial compared interpersonal psychotherapy for antepartum depression to a parenting education program control group. An outpatient sample of 142 women who met DSM-IV criteria for major depressive disorder was randomly assigned to interpersonal psychotherapy or the parenting education program from September 2005 to May 2011. The 17-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS-17) was the primary outcome measure of mood. Other outcome scales included the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) and the Clinical Global Impressions scale (CGI). The Maternal Fetal Attachment Scale (MFAS) assessed mother's interaction with the fetus. RESULTS Although this study replicated previous findings that interpersonal psychotherapy is a beneficial treatment for antepartum depression, the parenting education program control condition showed equal benefit as measured by the HDRS-17, EPDS, CGI, and MFAS. CONCLUSIONS This study supports the recommendation for the use of interpersonal psychotherapy for mild-to-moderate major depressive disorder in pregnancy. The parenting education program may be an alternative treatment that requires further study. TRIAL REGISTRATION ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT00251043
Is there a relationship between periodontal conditions and number of medications among the elderly?

OBJECTIVE To investigate possible correlations of clinical attachment level and pocket depth with number of medications in elderly individuals. METHODS Intra-oral examinations for 139 patients visiting Tufts dental clinic were done. Periodontal assessments were performed with a manual UNC-15 periodontal probe to measure probing depth (PD) and clinical attachment level (CAL) at 6 sites. Complete lists of patients' medications were obtained during the examinations. Statistical analysis involved Kruskal-Wallis, chi square and multivariate logistic regression analyses. RESULTS Age and health status attained statistical significance (p< 0.05), in contingency table analysis with number of medications. Number of medications had an effect on CAL: increased attachment loss was observed when 4 or more medications were being taken by the patient. Number of medications did not have any effect on periodontal PD. In multivariate logistic regression analysis, 6 or more medications had a higher risk of attachment loss (>3mm) when compared to the no-medication group, in crude OR (1.20, 95% CI:0.22-6.64), and age adjusted (OR=1.16, 95% CI:0.21-6.45), but not with the multivariate model (OR=0.71, 95% CI:0.11-4.39). CONCLUSION CAL seems to be more sensitive to the number of medications taken, when compared to PD. However, it is not possible to discriminate at exactly what number of drug combinations the breakdown in CAL will happen. We need to do further analysis, including more subjects, to understand the possible synergistic mechanisms for different drug and periodontal responses.
Ventricular cerebrospinal fluid melatonin concentrations investigated with an endoscopic technique

Abstract: The role of melatonin in humans still remains unclear. Uncertainties persist about its effects on neurophysiology regarding its levels in human cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), as the bulk of knowledge on this subject mainly derives from studies conducted on animals. In this study, CSF was micro‐sampled with a simple, new method from each cerebral ventricle of patients undergoing neuroendoscopy for hydrocephalus. Our purpose was to measure CSF melatonin levels and determine possible differences in its concentration among various significant areas in the cerebral ventricles (e.g. pineal recess, pituitary recess, lateral ventricle, fourth ventricle) and lumbar cistern. From 2002 to 2004, 10 hydrocephalic patients were operated on using a neuroendoscopic technique. The CSF specimens were investigated for melatonin concentrations (free plus protein‐bound) after deproteinization; the measurement technique was high‐performance liquid chromatography. The preliminary data obtained with this endoscopic micro‐sampling technique (applied to humans for the first time) suggest that melatonin is more concentrated within the ventricles and its highest concentration is found in the third ventricle (IIIv), although the difference detected between the CSF of the IIIv and that of the pineal recess was not significant.
NEUROMUSCULAR RESPONSES TO THREE DAYS OF VELOCITY‐SPECIFIC ISOKINETIC TRAINING

The purpose of this investigation was to examine the effects of 3 days of velocityspecific isokinetic training on peak torque (PT) and the electro-myographic (EMG) signal. Thirty adult women were randomly assigned to a slow-velocity training (SVT), fast-velocity training (FVT), or control (CON) group. All subjects performed maximal, concentric, isokinetic leg extension muscle actions at 30 and 270°·s−1 for the determination of PT on visits 1 (pretest) and 5 (posttest). Electromyographic signals were recorded from the vastus lateralis, rectus femoris, and vastus medialis muscles during each test. The training groups performed 4 sets of 10 maximal repetitions at 30°·s−1 (SVT group) or 270°·s−1 (FVT group) on visits 2, 3, and 4. For the SVT group, PT increased from pretest to posttest at 30 and 270°·s−1. The increase in PT at 30°·s−1 was greater than at 270°·s−1. For the FVT group, PT increased at 270°·s−1 only. For the CON group, there were no changes in PT at either velocity. There were no pretest to post-test changes in EMG amplitude or mean power frequency (MPF) for any group at any velocity, with the exception of an increase in EMG MPF from the vastus medialis muscle at 270°·s−1 for the FVT group. The results indicated that 3 sessions of slow velocity (30°·s−1) isokinetic training resulted in an increase in PT at slow and fast velocities (30 and 270°·s−1), whereas training at the fast velocity (270°·s−1) increased PT only at 270°·s−1. The lack of consistent increases in EMG amplitude or MPF suggested that the training-induced increases in leg extension PT were not caused by increased activation of the superficial muscles of the quadriceps femoris. The important implication for coaches, trainers, and physical therapists is that significant muscular performance gains may be achieved even after very short training periods, but determination of the specific physiological adaptation(s) underlying these performance gains requires further investigation.
Prospective study of intra‐abdominal hypertension and renal function after laparotomy

The value of postoperative monitoring of intra‐abdominal pressure (IAP) in surgical patients has not been established. This study prospectively evaluated the occurrence of increased IAP and its association with renal impairment and outcome in surgical patients admitted to an intensive care unit. One hundred consecutive patients after laparotomy were studied, 88 of whom had complete IAP measurements. IAP was measured using an intravesical catheter and was considered increased when equal to 20 mmHg or above. Renal impairment was defined as a postoperative serum creatinine concentration of greater than 130 (μmol/1), or an increase in serum creatinine of greater than 100 μmol/1 within 72 h of surgery. The median (range) APACHE (Acute Physiology And Chronic Health Evaluation) II score of the patients was 13° (4–43). The incidence of raised IAP was 29 of 88 (33 per cent). Renal impairment was present in 29 of 88 (33 per cent), of whom 20 of 29 (69 per cent) had raised IAP (P <0·01). The odds ratios (95 per cent confidence interval) for the development of renal impairment and death in patients with increased IAP were 12·4 (3·8–41·7) and 11·2 (2·8–47·9) respectively. There is a clinically significant association between increased IAP and renal impairment in patients admitted to an intensive care unit after laparotomy.
The Mobile Robot RHINO

RHINO was the University of Bonn’s entry in the 1994 AAAI Robot Competition and Exhibition. RHINO is a mobile robot designed for indoor navigation and manipulation tasks. The general scientific goal of the RHINO project is the development and the analysis of autonomous and complex learning systems. This paper briefly describes the major components of the RHINO control software as they were exhibited at the competition. It also sketches the basic philosophy of the RHINO architecture and discusses some of the lessons that we learned during the competition.
Impact of persistence with antiplatelet therapy on recurrent ischemic stroke and predictors of nonpersistence among ischemic stroke survivors

Abstract Objective: Medication adherence is an important component of effective secondary stroke prevention. The objectives of this study were to examine the impact of persistence with two prescription antiplatelet therapies on the outcome of recurrent hospitalized stroke, and to identify the predictors of nonpersistence with these antiplatelet therapies. Research design and methods: Administrative claims from a large, geographically diverse US health plan were used to evaluate acetylsalicylic acid / extended-release dipyridamole (ASA/ERDP) treated and clopidogrel treated patients from November 1, 2002 – December 31, 2005 who had an ischemic stroke requiring hospitalization. Nonpersistence was defined as failure to refill index medication within 30 days from the run-out date of the prior prescription. A Cox proportional hazards model was used to identify key factors associated with time to nonpersistence. Main outcome measures: Patient demographic variables, clinical characteristics, comorbidities hypothesized to affect the risk of current stroke, stroke outcomes, treatment patterns, and compliance were assessed. Results: A total of 1413 patients hospitalized for ischemic stroke were identified. Mean age was 63.4 years and 44.2% were female. The proportion of patients persistent per person-year was 45.1%. Persistence with medication was significantly associated with a longer time to recurrent hospitalized stroke (HR 0.275; 95% CI 0.134–0.564; p < 0.0004). A medication copayment of >$40 (relative to a copayment of ≤$20) was the only significant factor predicting time to nonpersistence (HR 1.320; 95% CI 1.091–1.596; p < 0.0042). Conclusions: Persistence with antiplatelet medication within a cohort of hospitalized ischemic stroke patients was associated with a 72.5% lower likelihood of recurrent hospitalized stroke. Higher medication copayment was found to negatively impact patient persistence with antiplatelet therapy. The findings of this study must be considered within the limitations of database analysis, as claims data are collected for the purpose of payment and not research.
How Do Budget Level and Type of Incentives Influence Performance?

This research experimentally compares the influence of budget-based contracts and social incentives on individual performance. This paper compares two different types of budget-based contracts, budget-linear and budget-fixed, along with social incentives on individual performance. Assigning individuals in different budget levels, 75% or 100%, to perform complex tasks will lead to different performance outputs. The results show that individual performance will be higher when they receive a budget-linear contract. Social incentives have a strong impact on both types of budget-based contracts. The result of the study on the influence of budget levels confirms previous research that higher budget levels will led to higher performance when compared with lower budget levels. Keywords: Budget-based incentive contracts, social incentives, budget level, task complexity, individual performance.
A three-dimensional computed tomography analysis of craniofacial asymmetry in malaysian infants with cleft lip and palate.

BACKGROUND The application of three-dimensional computed tomography (3D CT) to analyse craniofacial morphology in individuals with cleft lip and palate (CLP) enables detailed assessments to be made of asymmetry in the region of the cleft and in regions distant from the cleft. The aim of this study was to compare craniofacial morphology in a sample of Malaysian infants with unoperated CLP with a control sample of unaffected Malaysian infants. METHODS The study sample comprised 29 individuals: 10 with unilateral CLP (UCLP), 5 with bilateral CLP (BCLP), 7 with cleft lip and primary palate (CLPP), and 7 with isolated cleft palate (ICP). The control sample consisted of 12 non-cleft (NC) infants. All subjects were between 0.4 and 12.2 months of age. Nine mid-facial and 4 nasal bone landmarks were located on 3D CT scans and compared to a midline reference plane, which was created using the landmarks basion, sella, and nasion. Unpaired t tests and F tests were used to compare means and variances between sample groups, whereas paired t tests were used for comparisons within the UCLP and NC groups. RESULTS Differences in variances of some mid-facial breadths and nasal bone dimensions were found in both male and female cleft groups when compared to the NC sample. In the UCLP group, some nasal bone and facial breadth dimensions were larger than in the NC sample and the nasal bone tended to deviate to the contralateral side of the cleft. CONCLUSION CLP affects the size and orientation of the nasal bones and is associated with an altered morphology of some facial bones at positions distant from the region of the cleft.
Enhanced Cortisol Increase Upon Awakening Is Associated With Greater Pain Ratings but Not Salivary Cortisol or Soluble Tumor Necrosis Factor-&agr; Receptor II Responses to Acute Pain

Objectives:The cortisol awakening response (CAR) is related to psychosocial factors and health in potentially significant ways, suggesting that it may be a distinctive marker of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis function and dysfunction. This study sought to expand upon previous work that examined the association between CAR and ratings of laboratory-evoked acute pain stimulation. In addition to evoked pain ratings, this study also tested whether CAR was prospectively related with salivary cortisol and soluble tumor necrosis factor-&agr; receptor II responses to acute pain stimulation. Methods:This study included 36 healthy, pain-free volunteers of both sexes recruited through posted study flyers. Prior to completion of laboratory pain testing, salivary cortisol samples were obtained at home over the course of a single morning according to the following time frame: upon awakening, and 15, 30, and 60 minute after awakening. After collection of saliva, study participants brought their home saliva samples to the laboratory for assay and subsequently completed acute experimental pain testing procedures. Results:Cluster analysis of CAR revealed two distinct groups with similar patterns of cortisol response to awakening; increased and flattened. Relative to flattened CAR, increased CAR was associated with greater ratings of pain intensity and unpleasantness. Salivary cortisol was significantly increased and soluble tumor necrosis factor-&agr; receptor II significantly decreased after pain testing, but neither of these responses differed as a function of increased versus flattened CAR. Discussion:CAR may be a marker for stress sensitivity and/or the anticipation of impending stress, which could explain why the increased CAR cohort reported greater acute pain ratings.
Regulation of GFRα‐1 and GFRα‐2 mRNAs in rat brain by electroconvulsive seizure

The influence of both acute and chronic electroconvulsive seizure (ECS) or antidepressant drug treatments on expression of mRNAs encoding glial cell line‐derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) and its receptors, GFRα‐1, GFRα‐2, and c‐Ret proto‐oncogene (RET) in the rat hippocampus was examined by in situ hybridization. Two hours after acute ECS, levels of GFRα‐1 mRNA in the dentate gyrus were significantly increased. This increase peaked to nearly 3‐fold at 6 h after acute ECS and returned to basal levels 24 h after treatment. Chronic (once daily for 10 days) ECS significantly increased the expression of GFRα‐1 mRNA nearly 5‐fold after the last treatment. Levels of GFRα‐2 mRNA in the dentate gyrus were also significantly increased by acute and chronic ECS, although this effect was less than that observed for GFRα‐1. Maximum induction of GFRα‐2 was 30% and 70% compared to sham in response to acute or chronic ECS, respectively. Levels of GDNF and RET mRNAs were not significantly changed following either acute or chronic ECS treatment at the time points examined. Chronic (14 days) administration of different classes of antidepressant drugs, including tranylcypromine, desipramine, or fluoxetine, did not significantly affect the GDNF, GFRα‐1, GFRα‐2, or RET mRNA levels in CA1, CA3, and dentate gyrus areas of hippocampus. The results demonstrate that acute ECS increases the expression of GFRα‐1 and GFRα‐2 and that these effects are enhanced by chronic ECS. The results also imply that regulation of the binding components of GDNF receptor complex may mediate the adaptive responses of the GDNF system to acute and chronic stimulation. Synapse 39:42–50, 2001. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Prevalence of thyroid dysfunction in patients with Ménière's disease.

OBJECTIVE To estimate the prevalence of hypothyroidism in a population of patients with Ménière's disease (MD). DESIGN Retrospective case-control study comparing the use of thyroid hormone supplements between patients with MD and controls. SETTING Outpatient neurology clinic specializing in the management of patients experiencing dizziness. PATIENTS Fifty patients who met the 1995 American Academy of Otolaryngology criteria for MD and 50 controls matched for age and sex also experiencing dizziness. RESULTS The 50 patients who met the criteria for MD were identified from a database of more than 2000 patients with dizziness seen over a 5-year period. Of these, 16 (32%) were taking thyroid hormone supplements in contrast to 2 (4%) of the 50 matched controls (P<.001). The median age of the patients with MD was 60 years, and 5 (19%) of the 26 patients younger than 60 years were taking thyroid hormone supplements, compared with 11 (46%) of 24 patients 60 years or older (P<.05). There were no statistically significant differences in the severity of hearing loss, pattern of hearing loss, or prevalence of bilateral hearing loss between patients with MD who were taking thyroid hormone supplements and patients with MD who were not. CONCLUSION Ménière's disease is associated with corrected hypothyroidism.
Mutational pattern of hepatitis B virus on sequential therapy with famciclovir and lamivudine in patients with hepatitis B virus reinfection occurring under hbig immunoglobulin after liver transplantation

Famciclovir (FCV) and lamivudine (LAM) reduce viral replication in patients with recurrent hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection after orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT). Eighteen of 20 patients with insufficient response to FCV were treated with 100 mg LAM daily after OLT. These patients had shown nonresponse (n = 5), partial response (n = 7), or breakthrough (n = 6) during FCV therapy. Despite passive immunoprophylaxis with hepatitis B immunoglobulin after liver transplantation, HBV reinfection had occurred in 14 of 15 transplanted patients. HBV‐DNA levels and the regions A to E of the HBV‐DNA polymerase gene were analyzed before and after treatment failure to either therapy. Within 4 weeks on LAM, all but 1 patient showed a 95% average reduction of the HBV‐DNA level. As with FCV, we did not observe any severe side‐effects attributable to LAM. However, 7 patients developed a breakthrough within 12, 29 (n = 2), 32, 37, 54, and 145 weeks under treatment with LAM associated with the methionine‐to‐valine signature mutation (M552V) in the YMDD motif in all. With FCV, no unique, but a dominant, resistance pattern with the L528M mutation was identified for patients with breakthrough under FCV. In contrast, nonresponders or patients with partial response to FCV did not exhibit such mutations. Our results indicate that the L528M mutation is a risk factor for LAM breakthrough, because breakthrough during LAM occurred earlier in patients with this mutation (50 ± 10 weeks vs. 120 ± 21 weeks). Because breakthrough on either treatment is frequent for this specific group of patients, the use of combination therapy should be explored.
Bacterial Plasmids in Antarctic Natural Microbial Assemblages

Samples of psychrophilic and psychrotrophic bacteria were collected from sea ice, seawater, sediments, and benthic or ice-associated animals in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica. A total of 155 strains were isolated and tested for the presence of plasmids by DNA agarose gel electrophoresis. Thirty-one percent of the isolates carried at least one kind of plasmid. Bacterial isolates taken from sediments showed the highest plasmid incidence (42%), and isolates from seawater showed the lowest plasmid incidence (20%). Plasmids were significantly more frequent in the strains which had been first isolated from low-nutrient media (46%) than in the strains which had been isolated from high-nutrient media (25%). Multiple forms of plasmids were observed in two-thirds of the plasmid-carrying strains. A majority of the plasmids detected were estimated to have a mass of 10 megadaltons or less. Among 48 plasmid-carrying strains, 7 showed antibiotic resistance. It is concluded that bacterial plasmids are ubiquitous in natural microbial assemblages of the pristine marine ecosystem of Antarctica.
Modelling landscape evolution on geological time scales: a new method based on irregular spatial discretization

We present simulations of large‐scale landscape evolution on tectonic time scales obtained from a new numerical model which allows for arbitrary spatial discretization. The new method makes use of efficient algorithms from the field of computational geometry to compute the set of natural neighbours of any irregular distribution of points in a plane. The natural neighbours are used to solve geomorphic equations that include erosion/deposition by channelled flow and diffusion. The algorithm has great geometrical flexibility, which makes it possible to solve problems involving complex boundaries, radially symmetrical uplift functions and horizontal tectonic transport across strike‐slip faults. The algorithm is also ideally suited for problems which require large variations in spatial discretization and/or self‐adaptive meshing. We present a number of examples to illustrate the power of the new approach and its advantages over more ‘classical’ models based on regular (rectangular) discretization. We also demonstrate that the synthetic river networks and landscapes generated by the model obey the laws of network composition and have scaling properties similar to those of natural landscapes. Finally we explain how orographically controlled precipitation and flexural isostasy may be easily incorporated in the model without sacrificing efficiency.