Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Validation of the Supportive and Palliative Care Indicators Tool in a Geriatric Population.

BACKGROUND Timely identification of patients in need of palliative care is especially challenging in a geriatric population because of prognostic uncertainty. The Supportive and Palliative Care Indicators Tool (SPICT™) aims at facilitating this identification, yet has not been validated in a geriatric population. OBJECTIVE This study validates the SPICT in a geriatric patient population admitted to the hospital. DESIGN This is a retrospective cohort study. SETTING Subject were patients admitted to the acute geriatric ward of a Belgian university hospital between January 1 and June 30, 2014. MEASUREMENTS Data including demographics, functional status, comorbidities, treatment limitation decision (TLD), and one-year mortality were collected. SPICT was measured retrospectively by an independent assessor. RESULTS Out of 435 included patients, 54.7% had a positive SPICT, using a cut-off value of 2 for the general indicators and a cut-off value of 1 for the clinical questions. SPICT-positive patients were older (p = 0.033), more frequently male (p = 0.028), and had more comorbidities (p = 0.015) than SPICT-negative patients. The overall one-year mortality was 32.2%, 48.7% in SPICT-positive patients, and 11.5% in SPICT-negative patients (p < 0.001). SPICT predicted one-year mortality with a sensitivity of 0.841 and a specificity of 0.579. The area under the curve of the general indicators (0.758) and the clinical indicators of SPICT (0.748) did not differ (p = 0.638). In 71.4% of SPICT-positive cases, a TLD was present versus 26.9% in SPICT-negative cases (p < 0.001). CONCLUSION SPICT seems to be valuable for identifying geriatric patients in need of palliative care as it demonstrates significant association with one-year mortality and with clinical survival predictions of experienced geriatricians, as reflected by TLDs given.
Nerve root pressure in lumbar disc herniation.

STUDY DESIGN The contact pressure between the nerve root and lumbar disc herniation was measured and compared with clinical features. OBJECTIVE To assess levels of actual compression to the nerve root in clinical cases. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA Actual levels of pressure to the nerve root of lumbar disc herniation in clinical cases is unknown. METHODS The study was performed on 34 patients who had lumbar disc herniation. All of them had been treated by open discectomy. After laminotomy, nerve root pressure was measured by inserting a transducer between the nerve root and the disc herniation. The magnitude of pressure was compared with clinical features. RESULTS Nerve root pressures before discectomy were varied from 7 mm Hg to 256 mm Hg (mean, 53 mm Hg). After discectomy, the contact pressure was 0 mm Hg in all cases. There were no significant correlations between the magnitude of nerve root pressure and limits to the degree of straight leg raising, duration of symptoms, and age of the patients. However, the magnitude of the pressure in patients with neurologic deficits and trunk list was significantly higher than in the absence of these findings. CONCLUSIONS The contact pressure exerted by lumbar disc herniation on the nerve roots was recorded during surgical intervention, and the mean pressure was 53 mm Hg. The magnitude of nerve root pressure was not correlated with the degree of straight leg raising, but with the severity of neurologic deficits.
Estrogen Regulates the Production of VEGF for Osteoclast Formation and Activity in op/op Mice

op/op mice have a severe deficiency of osteoclasts because of lacking functional M‐CSF that is an essential factor of osteoclast differentiation and function. We now report that OVX induces osteoclast formation and cures osteopetrosis by increasing the VEGF that regulates osteoclast formation in these mice.
Contagion of Anxiety Symptoms Among Adolescent Siblings: A Twin Study

This study examined whether social contagion of anxiety symptoms is present between siblings during early adolescence and whether this process is moderated by sex, relationship quality, and zygosity. Based on 634 monozygotic and dizygotic twins (336 females) assessed in Grades 6 and 7, anxiety symptoms and sibling relationship quality were measured with self-report questionnaires. The predictive association of the co-twin's level of anxiety with adolescents' own increased anxiety 1 year later was only observed in same-sex twin dyads (monozygotic and dizygotic) and was higher for those who perceived a higher level of relationship quality with their co-twin. Raising awareness of a possible sibling contagion of anxiety may be useful for preventing the development of anxiety symptoms in youth.
Sexual function in women after vaginal surgery with synthetic mesh material.

OBJECTIVE To prospectively assess the impact of surgery for stress urinary incontinence (SUI) and pelvic organ prolapse (POP) with vaginal synthetic mesh on female sexual function and satisfaction. MATERIALS AND METHODS Forty-four women treated by vaginal surgery for SUI and POP between October 2009 and October 2011 were asked to fill in questionnaires at baseline and at six months after surgery to determine the impact on their sexual function and satisfaction. The questionnaires used for assessment were the 19-item Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI) and the Dutch Seksueel Functioneren Algemeen (General sexual function) or SFA-questionnaire. RESULTS The questionnaire was completed by 27 patients (61.4%) at baseline; Nineteen reported being sexually active and eight were not. At six months follow-up, the questionnaire was returned by eight patients. In the studied population, an overall improvement of sexual function at six months follow-up was found. All six FSFI-domains: desire, arousal, lubrication, orgasm, satisfaction, and pain seemed to slightly improve. CONCLUSION The authors found that there was an overall improvement of sexual function after vaginal surgery with synthetic mesh for POP and SUI.
COPD-related Mortality by Sex and Race Among Adults Aged 25 and Over: United States, 2000-2014.

KEY FINDINGS Data from the National Vital Statistics System, Mortality •From 2000 through 2014, the age-adjusted rate for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)-related deaths decreased 22.5% for men and 3.8% for women aged 25 and over. •Between 2000 and 2014, the COPD-related death rate decreased for both men and women aged 65-84 and for men aged 85 and over. The rate increased for both men and women aged 45-64 and for women aged 85 and over. •The age-adjusted death rate declined for white men but remained stable for white women from 2000 through 2014. •The age-adjusted death rate declined for black men but increased for black women from 2000 through 2014. •The major underlying causes of death for COPD-related deaths were COPD, heart disease, and cancer for both men and women.
On the Duration of Spatial Fluency Measures

Various measures of spatial fluency have been developed and have been shown to be sensitive to right frontal lobe dysfunction. Patients with diffuse cerebral injuries (traumatic brain injury) also show impaired performance. Administration times for these tests range from three to five minutes. It is well known that longer tests provide more reliable data. in the present study, the base rates of unique designs and perseverative errors on the Five-Point Test were examined minute-by-minute for ten minutes, in a sample of healthy young adults (n = 80). Contrasts between each minute showed significant decreases in number of unique designs to the ninth minute (significant at p <. 001). Contrasts between each minute revealed significant increases (significant at p <. 001) in percentage of perseverative errors to the eighth minute. Data demonstrating the progressive decrease of unique designs and progressive increase of perseverative errors as a function of time have important implications for clinical practice. Optimal administration time is considered in the context of clinicians' objectives.
Induction of labor as compared with serial antenatal monitoring in post-term pregnancy. A randomized controlled trial. The Canadian Multicenter Post-term Pregnancy Trial Group.

BACKGROUND The rates of perinatal mortality and neonatal morbidity are higher for post-term pregnancies than for term pregnancies. It is not known, however, whether the induction of labor results in better outcomes than does serial fetal monitoring while awaiting spontaneous labor. METHODS We studied 3407 women with uncomplicated pregnancies of 41 or more weeks' duration. The women were randomly assigned to undergo induction of labor or to have serial antenatal monitoring and spontaneous labor unless there was evidence of fetal or maternal compromise, in which case labor was induced or cesarean section was performed. In the induction group, labor was induced by the intracervical application of prostaglandin E2. Serial antenatal monitoring consisted of counts of fetal kicks, nonstress tests, and assessments of amniotic-fluid volume. The outcomes we measured were the rates of perinatal mortality, neonatal morbidity, and delivery by cesarean section. RESULTS Among the 1701 women in the induction group, 360 (21.2 percent) underwent cesarean section, as compared with 418 (24.5 percent) of the 1706 women in the monitoring group (P = 0.03). This difference resulted from a lower rate of cesarean section performed because of fetal distress among the women in the induction group (5.7 percent vs. 8.3 percent, P = 0.003). When two infants with lethal congenital anomalies were excluded, there were no perinatal deaths in the induction group and two stillbirths in the monitoring group (P not significant). The frequency of neonatal morbidity was similar in the two groups. CONCLUSIONS In post-term pregnancy, the induction of labor results in a lower rate of cesarean section than serial antenatal monitoring; the rates of perinatal mortality and neonatal morbidity are similar with the two approaches to management.
Metric learning for semi-supervised clustering using pairwise constraints and the geometrical structure of data

Metric learning is a powerful approach for semi-supervised clustering. In this paper, a metric learning method considering both pairwise constraints and the geometrical structure of data is introduced for semi-supervised clustering. At first, a smooth metric is found (based on an optimization problem) using positive constraints as supervisory information. Then, an extension of this method employing both positive and negative constraints is introduced. As opposed to the existing methods, the extended method has the capability of considering both positive and negative constraints while considering the topological structure of data. The proposed metric learning method can improve performance of semi-supervised clustering algorithms. Experimental results on real-world data sets show the effectiveness of this method.
PREVALENCE OF HYPOGLYCEMIA IN PATIENTS WITH TYPE 1 DIABETES AND ADVANCED TYPE 2 DIABETES

Studies have shown that intensive glycemic control in patients with diabetes reduces risk of micro and macrovascular complications of diabetes. The current treatment guidelines recommend glycated hemoglobin of < 7% for most patients with diabetes. However, one of the limiting factors in achieving this goal is risk of hypoglycemia particularly in patients treated with insulin and insulin secretagogues. The International Hypoglycemia Study Group recommends a glucose concentration of <3.0 mmol/L (<54 mg/dL) be counted as hypoglycemia in clinical trials and that hypoglycemia requiring assistance of another for treatment to be defined as severe hypoglycemia. When plasma glucose falls below physiologic threshold; the body initiates physiologic responses designed to raise the plasma blood glucose. One of the first physiologic responses is reduction in the secretion of pancreatic beta-cell hormone insulin and the release of glucagon. In patients with type 1 diabetes and advanced type 2 diabetes; these defense mechanisms are absent due to absence of endogenous insulin production. The prevalence of hypoglycemia in patients with diabetes is much higher in type 1 vs. type 2 diabetes. The clinical presentation of hypoglycemia can range from mild symptoms to coma and death. It causes economic burden on the individual and health care. When it comes to clinical management of hypoglycemia; prevention is the key. Patient education that addresses the conventional risk factors of hypoglycemia and appropriate therapy for episodes plays a crucial role. Continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) has become an Kidmealem L Zekarias and Elizabeth R Seaquist* Department of Medicine, University of Minnesota, USA *Corresponding author: Elizabeth R Seaquist, Department of Medicine, Division of Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolism, University of Minnesota, 420 Delaware St SE, MMC101, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA, Tel: 612-624-9176; Fax: 612-626-3133; Email: seaqu001@umn.edu Published Date: July 31, 2017 Gr up SM
A Global Review of the Distribution, Taxonomy, and Impacts of Introduced Seaweeds

We reviewed over 407 global seaweed introduction events and have increased the total number of introduced seaweed species to 277. Using binomial tests we show that several algal families contain more successful invaders than would be expected by chance, highlighting groups that should be targeted for management. Hull-fouling and aquaculture are the most significant sources of seaweed invaders and should be carefully regulated. The ecological effects of introduced seaweeds have been studied in only 6% of the species, but these studies show mostly negative effects or changes to the native biota. Herbivores generally prefer native to introduced seaweeds, and are unlikely to control spread, as they can do in other habitats. Undisturbed marine communities can be at least initially resistant to most introduced seaweeds aside from the siphonous green species; however, disturbances and eutrophication can facilitate invasion. Major research gaps include community-level ecological studies and economic assessments.
Novel prognostic protein markers of resectable pancreatic cancer identified by coupled shotgun and targeted proteomics using formalin‐fixed paraffin‐embedded tissues

Pancreatic cancer is among the most lethal malignancies worldwide. We aimed to identify novel prognostic markers by applying mass spectrometry (MS)‐based proteomic analysis to formalin‐fixed paraffin‐embedded (FFPE) tissues. Resectable, node positive pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) with poor (n = 4) and better (n = 4) outcomes, based on survival duration, with essentially the same clinicopathological backgrounds, and noncancerous pancreatic ducts (n = 5) were analyzed. Cancerous and noncancerous cells collected from FFPE tissue sections by laser microdissection (LMD) were processed for liquid chromatography (LC)‐tandem MS (MS/MS). Candidate proteins were identified by semiquantitative comparison and then analyzed quantitatively using selected reaction monitoring (SRM)‐based MS. To confirm the associations between candidate proteins and outcomes, we immunohistochemically analyzed a cohort of 87 cases. In result, totally 1,229 proteins were identified and 170 were selected as candidate proteins for SRM‐based targeted proteomics. Fourteen proteins overexpressed in cancerous as compared to noncancerous tissue showed different expressions in the poor and better outcome groups. Among these proteins, we found that three novel proteins ECH1, OLFM4 and STML2 were overexpressed in poor group than in better group, and that one known protein GTR1 was expressed reciprocally. Kaplan–Meier analysis showed high expressions of all four proteins to correlate with significantly worse overall survival (p < 0.05). In conclusion, we identified four proteins as candidates of prognostic marker of PDAC. The combination of shotgun proteomics verified by SRM and validated by immunohistochemistry resulted in the prognostic marker discovery that will contribute the understanding of PDAC biology and therapeutic development.
Relationship attachment and subjective vitality as outcomes of social networking site use

This paper investigates the determinants of relationship attachment and subjective vitality in a social networking site (SNS) use context. Following the social bond theory, we hypothesize that utilitarian value and hedonic value would influence relationship attachment. In addition, drawing the concept of autonomous vs. controlled motivations and relationship attachment theory, we hypothesize that hedonic value, utilitarian value, and relationship attachment would influence subjective vitality. The hypothesized research model is tested by collecting data from 150 Facebook users from a Facebook group using Partial Least Squares (PLS) approach. The findings suggest that relationship attachment is predicted by only hedonic value. Interestingly, utilitarian value did not have significant influence on relationship attachment. The findings also suggest that subjective vitality is predicted utilitarian value, hedonic value, and relationship attachment.
Self-Esteem and Relationship Satisfaction During the Transition to Motherhood

In the current study, we used 5 waves of longitudinal data from a large representative sample of Norwegian mothers (N = 84,711) to examine the association between romantic relationship satisfaction and self-esteem before and after childbirth in subgroups of first-, second-, third-, and fourth-time mothers. Maternal self-esteem showed a highly similar change pattern across subgroups. Specifically, self-esteem decreased during pregnancy, increased until the child was 6 months old, and then gradually decreased over the following years. The replication of this trajectory across subgroups and pregnancies suggests that this is a normative change pattern. For relationship satisfaction, the birth of the first child seemed to have the strongest impact compared with the birth of subsequent children. In first-time mothers, relationship satisfaction was high during pregnancy, sharply decreased around childbirth, and then gradually decreased in the following years. In second-, third-, and fourth-time mothers, the decrease in relationship satisfaction after childbirth was more gradual and linear compared with the sharp decrease found in first-time mothers. Moderate positive correlated changes between self-esteem and relationship satisfaction indicated that these constructs were linked over time. Discussion focuses on the implications of the results for theory and future research on self-esteem, relationship satisfaction, and personality–relationship transactions.
Haematological and biochemical variations among eight sighthound breeds.

OBJECTIVE The aim of the study was to compare the haematological and biochemical profiles of eight sighthound breeds. DESIGN Samples were taken from 192 individuals of the sighthound breeds (Whippet, Greyhound, Italian Greyhound, Sloughi, Saluki, Borzoi, Pharaoh Hound and Azawakh). Routine haematological and biochemical examinations were performed and the results were evaluated statistically. RESULTS There were significant differences in haematology and clinical biochemistry among the sighthound breeds. The most similar laboratory profile to Greyhounds was found in Whippets. Italian Greyhounds had significantly higher alanine aminotransferase activity than other sighthounds, except Pharaoh Hounds. CONCLUSION Application of the Greyhound laboratory profile to other sighthounds is not recommended because of the frequent differences in haematological and clinical biochemical reference intervals.
Attempts at standardization of lupus-like graft-vs-host disease: inadvertent repopulation by DBA/2 spleen cells of H-2-different nonirradiated F1 mice.

By induction of a suitable graft-vs-host reaction (GVHR) in nonirradiated, H-2-incompatible F1 mice, one can induce a syndrome strongly resembling systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). The aim of the present study was to standardize the kind and number of DBA/2 donor cells required for optimal induction of this SLE-like GVH disease (GVHD). Groups of adult (C57BL/10 x DBA/2)F1 (BDF1) mice were injected i.v. with increasing numbers of DBA/2 spleen and lymph-node cells. We found that doses of 100 x 10(6) to 180 x 10(6) spleen and lymph-node cells provided a suitable donor-cell inoculum, whereas doses of donor cells below 100 x 10(6) were suboptimal and doses higher than 180 x 10(6) cells were supraoptimal for the induction of SLE-like GVHD. In a number of those F1 recipients that had received the donor-cell inocula composed of spleen cells, the duration of autoantibody formation was surprisingly brief. This appeared to be due to the fact that these GVH F1 mice were rapidly repopulated by lympho-hemopoietic donor cells. Even after the highest doses of DBA/2 spleen and lymph-node cells administered, this repopulation was not preceded by symptoms of acute GVH disease. Repopulation was avoided and a severe SLE-like disease induced when a mixture deficient in hemopoietic cells, i.e., 280 x 10(6) DBA/2 lymph-node and thymus cells, was used as donor-cell inoculum. Taken together, we reached three conclusions. First, the induction of full-blown SLE-like GVHD depends not only on the injection of a sufficient number of donor T cells but also on the continuous presence of F1 lymphoid cells, which seem to serve as stimulator cells. Second, in addition to the lymphoid hyperplasia and immune-complex glomerulonephritis (ICGN) described previously, the GVHR-induced lesions presenting themselves in the context of SLE-like autoimmunity include a Sjögren-like lymphoid infiltration of the salivary gland, a ubiquitous periarteritis, and a lymphoid infiltration of the bile ducts that is reminiscent of primary biliary cirrhosis. Third, the repopulation by donor cells of nonirradiated, H-2-incompatible hosts need not be accompanied by GVH mortality or symptoms of acute GVHD.
The Causal Effect of Parental Human Capital on Children’s Human Capital

We present a structural model of life-cycle human capital accumulation to isolate the direct effect of parents’ human capital on children’s human capital. Identification of this spillover term comes from the model delivering a relationship between parental human capital, and both the schooling and earnings of the child. We demonstrate identification is achieved by comparing the earnings levels of individuals with the same schooling level but different parental schooling levels. A generalized version of the model with taste shocks for schooling is estimated using HRS data, and we find substantial evidence of strong parental spillover effects. We conduct a policy experiment to examine the impact of compulsory schooling laws. These laws have been used as an instrument to isolate the causal effect parental schooling on children’s schooling. We find that a large parental spillover term is consistent with both a large OLS coefficient from regressing child schooling on parent schooling, as well as a (close to) zero IV coefficient. Nonetheless, the reform has a positive impact on earnings. This is because much of schooling variation is explained by taste shocks, and higher parental human capital has a level effect, reducing the need for children to spend more time in school. Contrary to some recent debates that put less emphasis on nurture, we conclude that parental spillovers can explain more than half of the human capital transmission from parents to children. ∗We thank Steven Durlauf, Jim Heckman and Chris Taber for very helpful conversations. Junjie Guo and Wei Song provided outstanding research assistance.