Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A comparison of interventions to improve clinic follow-up compliance after a pediatric emergency department visit

A randomized prospective study was made to compare two interventions to improve compliance with follow-up appointments (FA) after a pediatric emergency department (ED) visit. The study population was 253 patients and families seen during daytime hours at a large pediatric ED and who required follow-up for their diagnosed condition. A control group of patients were told to call the clinic for FA, an appointment group of patients were given a FA in the ED prior to discharge and written reminder, and an intense group of patients were given a FA in the ED prior to discharge, a written reminder; they were offered a work excuse, child care, and transportation assistance; they were sent mailed reminders and had attempts at telephone reminders. More patients in the appointment group (47%, P<0.001) and intense group (52%, P<0.001) kept FA than the control group (24%). Attempted telephone contact was unsuccessful in 39% of the intense group. When telephone contact was successful, patients were more likely to keep FA (62 vs 38%, P<0.04). Families left to make their own FA did so only 32% of the time. Medical record review of ED and clinic visits for one year after intervention indicated no long-term behavior change in appointment-making behavior or ED use in any group. It was concluded that providing a convenient FA prior to ED discharge improves compliance with clinic follow-up. If telephone contact is successful, telephone reminders also improve compliance. If follow-up is recommended, the majority of patients do not make their own appointments. A one-time intervention does not result in a long-term behavioral change in use of clinics or the ED.
Hybrid ABS Control Using Force Measurement

The anti-lock braking system (ABS) is the most important active safety system for passenger cars. Thanks to tire force measurement, provided for example by the new SKF load sensing hub bearing units, hybrid ABS algorithms can be made simpler and more robust than when only using wheel acceleration measurement. A two-phase algorithm is presented, where the wheel acceleration is controlled in closed-loop and the longitudinal force measurement is used to fire phase switching. Load transfer is accounted for using the vertical force measurement. Realistic simulations show that this simple algorithm can handle changes in vehicle velocity and tire-road friction without extra logic or adaptation of the controller parameters. Stability analysis provides tuning indications. Finally, the algorithm is validated on a tire-in-the-loop experimental facility.
A CpG-Ficoll Nanoparticle Adjuvant for Anthrax Protective Antigen Enhances Immunogenicity and Provides Single-Immunization Protection against Inhaled Anthrax in Monkeys

Nanoparticulate delivery systems for vaccine adjuvants, designed to enhance targeting of secondary lymphoid organs and activation of APCs, have shown substantial promise for enhanced immunopotentiation. We investigated the adjuvant activity of synthetic oligonucleotides containing CpG-rich motifs linked to the sucrose polymer Ficoll, forming soluble 50-nm particles (DV230-Ficoll), each containing >100 molecules of the TLR9 ligand, DV230. DV230-Ficoll was evaluated as an adjuvant for a candidate vaccine for anthrax using recombinant protective Ag (rPA) from Bacillus anthracis. A single immunization with rPA plus DV230-Ficoll induced 10-fold higher titers of toxin-neutralizing Abs in cynomolgus monkeys at 2 wk compared with animals immunized with equivalent amounts of monomeric DV230. Monkeys immunized either once or twice with rPA plus DV230-Ficoll were completely protected from challenge with 200 LD50 aerosolized anthrax spores. In mice, DV230-Ficoll was more potent than DV230 for the induction of innate immune responses at the injection site and draining lymph nodes. DV230-Ficoll was preferentially colocalized with rPA in key APC populations and induced greater maturation marker expression (CD69 and CD86) on these cells and stronger germinal center B and T cell responses, relative to DV230. DV230-Ficoll was also preferentially retained at the injection site and draining lymph nodes and produced fewer systemic inflammatory responses. These findings support the development of DV230-Ficoll as an adjuvant platform, particularly for vaccines such as for anthrax, for which rapid induction of protective immunity and memory with a single injection is very important.
An Energy-Efficient and Low-Crosstalk Sub-THz I/O by Surface Plasmonic Polariton Interconnect in CMOS

Traditional TEM-based I/O communication through either PCB traces or free space has significant path loss and electromagnetic (EM) interferences that are hardly employed toward low-power and dense I/Os for data server. We propose a 0.1–1 THz or sub-terahertz (THz) I/O interface using surface plasmonic polariton (SPP) interconnects in CMOS to obtain high-energy efficiency and low-crosstalk interconnect. The surface wave can be established with on-chip generation and further deployed for signal propagation by corrugating periodical grooves onto the traditional transmission line. It will result in a strongly localized electromagnetically wave onto the surface of top-layer metal in wideband, leading to the broadband low EM coupling between many core and memories. Moreover, we have also developed a high on/off ratio split-ring-resonator-based modulator to support the sub-THz I/O communication. The proposed SPP interconnect achieves data rate of 25 Gb/s with 0.016 pJ/b/mm energy efficiency at 140 GHz in 65-nm CMOS. In addition, two surface-wave channels placed with 2.4- $\mu \text{m}$ spacing exhibits an average −28-dB crosstalk ratio.
Transmission of Simian Immunodeficiency Virus SIVcpz and the Evolution of Infection in the Presence and Absence of Concurrent Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Infection in Chimpanzees

ABSTRACT Current data suggest that the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) epidemic arose by transmission of simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) SIVcpz from a subspecies of common chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes troglodytes) to humans. SIVcpz of chimpanzees is itself a molecular chimera of SIVs from two or more different monkey species, suggesting that recombination was made possible by coinfection of one individual animal with different lentiviruses. However, very little is known about SIVcpz transmission and the susceptibility to lentivirus coinfection of its natural host, the chimpanzee. Here, it is revealed that either infected plasma or peripheral blood mononuclear cells readily confer infection when exposure occurs by the intravenous or mucosal route. Importantly, the presence of preexisting HIV-1 infection did not modify the kinetics of SIVcpz infection once it was established by different routes. Although humoral responses appeared as early as 4 weeks postinfection, neutralization to SIVcpz-ANT varied markedly between animals. Analysis of the SIVcpz env sequence over time revealed the emergence of genetic viral variants and persistent SIVcpz RNA levels of between 104 and 105 copies/ml plasma regardless of the presence or absence of concurrent HIV-1 infection. These unique data provide important insight into possible routes of transmission, the kinetics of acute SIVcpz infection, and how readily coinfection with SIVcpz and other lentiviruses may be established as necessary preconditions for potential recombination.
Involvement of non-B cell-derived immunoglobulin G in the metastasis and prognosis of salivary adenoid cystic carcinoma

Cancer cell-derived immunoglobulin G (cancer-IgG) has been implicated in the pathogenesis and progression of various types of cancer. However, its role in salivary adenoid cystic carcinoma (SACC) remains unclear. The present study aimed to investigate the effects of cancer-IgG on metastasis and prognosis in 96 patients with SACC. Immunohistochemical staining showed that cancer-IgG expression was present in all 96 individual SACC tissues. Additionally, high cancer-IgG expression was significantly correlated with metastasis, nerve invasion and recurrence in SACC (P<0.05). Moreover, cancer-IgG expression was significantly correlated with the survival duration of patients with SACC (P<0.05). Proliferation, cell motility and invasion all decreased significantly following knockdown of cancer-IgG in SACC cells (P<0.05) through population-doubling time, wound healing and transwell invasion assays. Additionally, cancer-IgG-knockdown in SACC cells induced the increased expression of E-cadherin and matrix metalloproteinase 9, and promoted the epithelial-mesenchymal transition, but decreased the expression of F-actin filaments. Taken together, these results showed that the high expression of cancer-IgG was strongly associated with metastasis, recurrence and invasion in SACC, suggesting that cancer-IgG expression could serve as a useful biomarker to predict the prognosis of the disease.
The relationship between depression and sleep disturbances: a Japanese nationwide general population survey.

OBJECTIVE Among the existing epidemiologic studies that have examined the relationship between depression and sleep disturbances, there are few nationwide studies that have been conducted on subjects representing the general population. The present study was therefore conducted to clarify the relationship between depression and sleep disturbances, in particular the relationship between depression and both sleep duration and subjective sleep sufficiency, using a large sample representative of the general population. METHOD The survey was conducted in June 2000, using self-administered questionnaires, targeting a population that was selected randomly from among 300 communities throughout Japan. Among the respondents, data from 24,686 individuals aged 20 years or older were analyzed. The Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale was used to assess the presence of depression. Sleep status, including sleep duration, subjective sleep sufficiency, and the presence or absence of insomnia symptoms, was evaluated. RESULTS Those whose sleep duration was less than 6 hours and those whose sleep duration was 8 hours or more tended to be more depressed than those whose sleep duration was between 6 and 8 hours. Thus, sleep duration exhibited a U-shaped association with symptoms of depression. As subjective sleep sufficiency decreased, symptoms of depression increased, indicating a linear inverse-proportional relationship. CONCLUSION The fact that sleep duration and subjective sleep sufficiency exhibited different relationships with symptoms of depression indicates that these 2 sleep parameters each have their own significance with regard to depression. These findings may be useful in the medical management of mental diseases.
Impact of gender on snore-based obstructive sleep apnea screening

Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSA) is a serious widespread disease in which upper airways (UA) are collapsed during sleep. OSA has marked male predominance in prevalence. Although women are less vulnerable to OSA, under-diagnosed OSA in women may associate with serious consequences. Snoring is commonly associated with OSA and one of the earliest symptoms. Snore sounds (SS) are generated due to vibration of the collapsing soft tissues of the UA. Structural and functional properties of the UA are gender dependent. SS capture these time varying gender attributed UA properties and those could be embedded in the acoustic properties of SS. In this paper, we investigate the gender-specific acoustic property differences of SS and try to exploit these differences to enhance the snore-based OSA detection performance. We developed a snore-based multi-feature vector for OSA screening and one time-measured neck circumference was augmented. Snore features were estimated from SS recorded in a sleep laboratory from 35 females and 51 males and multi-layer neural network-based pattern recognition algorithms were used for OSA/non-OSA classification. The results were K-fold cross-validated. Gender-dependent modeling resulted in an increase of around 7% in sensitivity and 6% in specificity at the decision threshold AHI = 15 against a gender-neutral model. These results established the importance of adopting gender-specific models for the snore-based OSA screening technique.
Overview of Facial Plastic Surgery and Current Developments

Abstract Facial plastic surgery is a multidisciplinary specialty largely driven by otolaryngology but includes oral maxillary surgery, dermatology, ophthalmology, and plastic surgery. It encompasses both reconstructive and cosmetic components. The scope of practice for facial plastic surgeons in the United States may include rhinoplasty, browlifts, blepharoplasty, facelifts, microvascular reconstruction of the head and neck, craniomaxillofacial trauma reconstruction, and correction of defects in the face after skin cancer resection. Facial plastic surgery also encompasses the use of injectable fillers, neural modulators (e.g., BOTOX Cosmetic, Allergan Pharmaceuticals, Westport, Ireland), lasers, and other devices aimed at rejuvenating skin. Facial plastic surgery is a constantly evolving field with continuing innovative advances in surgical techniques and cosmetic adjunctive technologies. This article aims to give an overview of the various procedures that encompass the field of facial plastic surgery and to highlight the recent advances and trends in procedures and surgical techniques.
Impact of refactoring on external code quality improvement: An empirical evaluation

Refactoring is the process of improving the design of the existing code by changing its internal structure without affecting its external behaviour, with the main aims of improving the quality of software product. Therefore, there is belief that refactoring improves quality factors such as understandability, flexibility, and reusability. Moreover, there are also claims that refactoring yields higher development productivity. However, there is limited empirical evidence to support such assumptions. The objective of this study is to validate/invalidate the claims that refactoring improves software quality. Experimental research approach was used to achieve the objective and ten selected refactoring techniques were used for the analysis. The impact of each refactoring technique was assessed based on external measures namely; analysability, changeability, time behaviour and resource utilization. After analysing the experimental results, among the tested ten refactoring techniques, “Replace Conditional with Polymorphism” ranked in the highest as having high percentage of improvement in code quality. “Introduce Null Object” was ranked as worst which is having highest percentage of deteriorate of code quality.
Guidelines on nutritional management in Japanese patients with liver cirrhosis from the perspective of preventing hepatocellular carcinoma

Aim: The Japanese Nutritional Study Group for Liver Cirrhosis (JNUS) was assembled in 2008 with the support of a Health Labor Sciences Research Grant from the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare of Japan. The goal of the study group was to propose new nutritional guidelines for Japanese patients with liver cirrhosis (LC), with the aim of preventing hepatocellular carcinoma.
Predicting palliative care needs and mortality in end stage renal disease: use of an at-risk register

Introduction The Gold Standard Frameworks (GSF) Committee devised Prognostic Indicator Guidance in November 2007 to ‘aid identification of adult patients with advanced disease, in the last months or year of life, who are in need of supportive or palliative care’. Methods This research used the GSF `surprise question' to formulate a list of patients predicted to die within 1 year with end stage renal failure and to establish the specificity and sensitivity of this register. Results 58 patients were added to the list during the follow-up period of which 28 (48.3%) died during the same period giving an annual mortality of 32.2%. In comparison with the patients who died during the follow-up period but were not added to the at-risk register, those on the register had a much higher mortality rate (32.2% vs 7.8%). Identification of patients with chronic kidney disease and reduced life expectancy by this method appears to have a high sensitivity (66.7%) and specificity (77.9%). In particular, the negative predictive value for mortality for those on the at-risk register appears to be very high (88.3%), indicating the very low mortality among those not on the register. Conclusions Patients with chronic kidney disease and a reduced life expectancy can be accurately identified by a multi-disciplinary team using the surprise trigger question with a relatively high sensitivity and specificity. The accurate identification of patients with reduced life expectancy allows appropriate end of life care planning to begin in keeping with patients' wishes and within published guidelines.
Breastfeeding, asthma, and allergy: a tale of two cities

To cite this article: Brew BK, Kull I, Garden F, Almqvist C, Bergström A, Lind T, Webb K, Wickman M, Marks GB. Breastfeeding, asthma, and allergy: a tale of two cities. Pediatric Allergy Immunology 2012: 23: 75–82.
Prediction of Preoperative Anxiety in Children: Who Is Most Accurate?

BACKGROUND: In this investigation, we sought to assess the ability of pediatric attending anesthesiologists, resident anesthesiologists, and mothers to predict anxiety during induction of anesthesia in 2 to 16-yr-old children (n = 125). METHODS: Anesthesiologists and mothers provided predictions using a visual analog scale and children’s anxiety was assessed using a valid behavior observation tool the Modified Yale Preoperative Anxiety Scale. All mothers were present during anesthetic induction and no child received sedative premedication. Correlational analyses were conducted. RESULTS: A total of 125 children aged 2–16 yr, their mothers, and their attending pediatric anesthesiologists and resident anesthesiologists were studied. Correlational analyses revealed significant associations between attending predictions and child anxiety at induction (rs = 0.38, P < 0.001). Resident anesthesiologist and mother predictions were not significantly related to children’s anxiety during induction (rs = 0.01 and 0.001, respectively). In terms of accuracy of prediction, 47.2% of predictions made by attending anesthesiologists were within one standard deviation of the observed anxiety exhibited by the child, and 70.4% of predictions were within two standard deviations. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that attending anesthesiologists who practice in pediatric settings are better than mothers in predicting the anxiety of children during induction of anesthesia. Although this finding has significant clinical implications, it is unclear if it can be extended to attending anesthesiologists whose practice is not mostly pediatric anesthesia.
The prevalence, correlates, and help-seeking of eating disorders in Switzerland

Background Eating disorders (EDs) have long-term physical and mental impacts on those affected. However, few population-based studies have estimated the prevalence of EDs. We aimed to estimate the lifetime and 12-month prevalence rates of EDs using DSM-IV criteria, and to examine differences against the DSM-5 criteria for anorexia. Method A nationally representative sample of 10 038 residents in Switzerland was interviewed, and prevalence rates for anorexia nervosa (AN), bulimia nervosa (BN), and binge eating disorder (BED) were assessed using WHO Composite International Diagnostic Interviews (WHO-CIDI). Results The lifetime prevalence rate for any ED was found to be 3.5%. Lifetime prevalence estimates for AN, BN, and/or BED were 1.2%, 2.4%, and 2.4%, respectively, among women and 0.2%, 0.9%, and 0.7%, respectively, among men. Utilizing the DSM-5 criteria, the prevalence of AN in women increased by more than 50%, from 1.2% to 1.9%. Among those meeting the criteria for any ED, only 49.4% of men and 67.9% of women had ever sought professional help about their problems with eating or weight. Conclusions The higher prevalence of BN we detected relative to other studies should prompt further monitoring for a possible increasing trend. The female v. male ratios, especially for bulimia and BED, are decreasing. Given that more than half of those affected have never consulted any professional about their problems with eating or weight, routine inquiries about eating and weight by clinicians, school teachers/psychologists, and family members may help those who are at risk, especially among men.
Effects of ghrelin on the insulin and glycemic responses to glucose, arginine, or free fatty acids load in humans.

Ghrelin possesses central and peripheral endocrine actions including influence on the endocrine pancreatic function. To clarify this latter ghrelin action, in seven normal young subjects [age (mean +/- SEM), 28.3 +/- 3.1 yr; body mass index, 21.9 +/- 0.9 kg/m(2)), we studied insulin and glucose levels after acute ghrelin administration (1.0 microg/kg i.v.) alone or combined with glucose [oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT), 100 g orally], arginine (ARG, 0.5 g/kg i.v.) or free fatty acid (FFA, Intralipid 10%, 250 ml). Ghrelin inhibited (P < 0.05) insulin and increased (P < 0.05) glucose levels. OGTT increased (P < 0.01) glucose and insulin levels. FFA increased (P < 0.05) glucose but did not modify insulin levels. ARG increased (P < 0.05) both insulin and glucose levels. Ghrelin did not modify both glucose and insulin responses to OGTT as well as the FFA-induced increase in glucose levels; however, ghrelin administration was followed by transient insulin decrease also during FFA. Ghrelin blunted (P < 0.05) the insulin response to ARG and enhanced (P < 0.05) the ARG-induced increase in glucose levels. In all, ghrelin induces transient decrease of spontaneous insulin secretion and selectively blunts the insulin response to ARG but not to oral glucose load. On the other hand, ghrelin raises basal glucose levels and enhances the hyperglycemic effect of ARG but not that of OGTT. These findings support the hypothesis that ghrelin exerts modulatory action of insulin secretion and glucose metabolism in humans.
Life Course Transitions and Depressive Symptoms among Women in Midlife

This study examined the relationship between three midlife transitions and depressive symptoms among 952 women 50 to 59 years of age. Using longitudinal data from women interviewed for the 1992 and 2000 Health and Retirement Study, the study described changes in marital status, change to a parental caregiving role, and changes in perceived health across the eight years. Further, it examined the impact of these changes on mental health. The findings indicate that becoming widowed, becoming a caregiver, and perceiving health declines significantly increased depressive symptoms in the year 2000, even when controlling for pre-transition levels of depressive symptoms. The findings are consistent with the lifecourse perspective that individual development occurs in context and across the lifespan. The findings confirm and add to current midlife research literature.