Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Agreement between anthropometry and bioelectrical impedance for measuring body fat in nonobese and obese nondialyzed chronic kidney disease patients.

OBJECTIVES We investigated reproducibility and agreement between anthropometry (ANT) and bioelectrical impedance (BIA) in nonobese and obese nondialyzed chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients, and examined the factors influencing the agreement between these two methods. PATIENTS AND METHODS One hundred and five clinically stable CKD patients, comprising stages 3 and 4 of CKD, had their body fat (BF) assessed by ANT and BIA. Patients were stratified into nonobese (body mass index [BMI] <25 kg/m(2), n = 48, 26 males, aged 64.5 +/- 13.6 years) and overweight/obese (BMI > or =25 kg/m(2), n = 57, 35 males, aged 63.1 +/- 12.1 years; +/-SD in all values) groups. RESULTS In the nonobese group, BF as assessed by ANT was similar to body fat as assessed by BIA (11.4 +/- 3.8 kg vs 11.7 +/- 4.1 kg, respectively, no significance). The concordance correlation coefficient (CCC) was indicative of good reproducibility for males (0.67; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.41 to 0.83) and females (0.88; 95% CI, 0.71 to 0.95), and the mean inter-method difference between ANT and BIA and limits of agreement were -0.9 (-6.8 to 4.9) kg for males, and 0.4 (-3.4 to 4.3) kg for females. In the overweight/obese group, a weak CCC was observed for males (0.46; 95% CI, 0.26 to 0.62) and females (0.53; 95% CI, 0.29 to 0.70), and the mean inter-method difference between both methods was 5.7 (-3.2 to 14.7) kg for males, and 6.4 (-1.8 to 14.7) kg for females. In the multiple regression analysis (adjusted r(2) = 0.42, n = 105), BMI, sex, body water, and age were independent determinants of the agreement between ANT and BIA. CONCLUSIONS For nonobese patients, ANT and BIA can be applied equally well for assessing BF. For overweight/obese patients a weak agreement was observed. Body mass index, sex, body water, and age were the factors influencing the agreement between ANT and BIA.
Rate of cartilage loss at two years predicts subsequent total knee arthroplasty: a prospective study

Objective: To determine whether cartilage volume loss is an independent predictor of knee replacement. Design: Prospective community based, four year prospective cohort study. Methods: 123 subjects with mild to moderate symptomatic radiographic knee osteoarthritis were recruited by either advertising, the Victorian branch of the Arthritis Foundation of Australia, treating general practitioners, orthopaedic surgeons, or rheumatologists; 113 completed the study. Magnetic resonance imaging was carried out at baseline and at 2 years on the symptomatic knee. Rate of change in tibial cartilage volume was calculated. Subjects were then followed up at year 4 to determine whether they had undergone a knee replacement. Results: The rate of tibial cartilage loss over two years was an independent predictor of knee replacement at four years. For every 1% increase in the rate of tibial cartilage loss there was a 20% increase risk of undergoing a knee replacement at four years (95% confidence interval, 10% to 30%). Those in the highest tertile of tibial cartilage loss had 7.1 (1.4 to 36.5) higher odds of undergoing a knee replacement than those in the lowest tertile. WOMAC score at baseline, female sex, and tibial bone size (but not age and radiographic score) were also predictors of knee replacement. Conclusions: The data suggest that treatment targeted at reducing the rate of knee cartilage loss in subjects with symptomatic osteoarthritis may delay knee replacement. This has important implications in terms of prevention and therapeutic interventions in osteoarthritis.
Prognostic factors of recurrence in encapsulated Hurthle cell carcinoma of the thyroid gland

Follicular carcinomas of the thyroid gland, including its oncocytic variant (so‐called Hurthle cell carcinoma), are subdivided into the indolent encapsulated (“minimally invasive”) and the clinically aggressive widely invasive tumors. There are, however, cases of encapsulated follicular carcinoma that recur and metastasize. Identifying these cases at the time of diagnosis is crucial for prognostic and therapeutic considerations. Because to the authors' knowledge most studies do not focus exclusively on the encapsulated Hurthle cell carcinoma (EHC), the current study attempted to identify predictors of recurrence in EHC.
Assessing Postoperative Pain in Neonates: A Multicenter Observational Study

OBJECTIVE. A multicenter observational study was conducted to evaluate the practices of postoperative pain assessment and management in neonates to identify specific targets for improvement in clinical practice. METHODS. Ten participating NICUs collected data for the 72 hours after a surgical operation on 25 consecutive neonates (N = 250), including demographics, principal diagnoses, operative procedure, other painful procedures, pain assessments, interventions (pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic), and adverse events in neonates who underwent minor and major surgery. Descriptive and logistic-regression analyses were performed by using SPSS and Stata. RESULTS. The neonates studied had a birth weight of 2.4 ± 1.0 kg (mean ± SD) and gestational age of 36 ± 4.3 weeks; 57% were male, and length of hospital stay was 23.5 ± 30.0 days. Participating hospitals used 7 different numeric pain scales, with nursing pain assessments documented for 88% (n = 220) of the patients and physician pain assessments documented for 9% (n = 23) of the patients. Opioids (84% vs 60%) and benzodiazepines (24% vs 11%) were used more commonly after major surgery than minor surgery, and a small proportion (7% major surgery, 12% minor surgery) received no analgesia. Logistic-regression analyses showed that physician pain assessment was the only significant predictor of postsurgical analgesic use, whereas major surgery and postnatal age in days did not seem to contribute. Physician pain assessment was documented for 23 patients; 22 of these received postoperative analgesia. CONCLUSIONS. Documentation of postoperative pain assessment and management in neonates was extremely variable among the participating hospitals. Pain assessment by physicians must be emphasized, in addition to developing evidence-based guidelines for postoperative care and educating professional staff to improve postoperative pain control in neonates.
Critical role for Sec22b-dependent antigen cross-presentation in antitumor immunity

CD8+ T cells mediate antigen-specific immune responses that can induce rejection of solid tumors. In this process, dendritic cells (DCs) are thought to take up tumor antigens, which are processed into peptides and loaded onto MHC-I molecules, a process called “cross-presentation. ” Neither the actual contribution of cross-presentation to antitumor immune responses nor the intracellular pathways involved in vivo are clearly established because of the lack of experimental tools to manipulate this process. To develop such tools, we generated mice bearing a conditional DC-specific mutation in the sec22b gene, a critical regulator of endoplasmic reticulum–phagosome traffic required for cross-presentation. DCs from these mice show impaired cross-presentation ex vivo and defective cross-priming of CD8+ T cell responses in vivo. These mice are also defective for antitumor immune responses and are resistant to treatment with anti–PD-1. We conclude that Sec22b-dependent cross-presentation in DCs is required to initiate CD8+ T cell responses to dead cells and to induce effective antitumor immune responses during anti–PD-1 treatment in mice.
Multifactorial Vascular Risk Factor Intervention to Prevent Cognitive Impairment after Stroke and TIA: A 12-month Randomized Controlled Trial

Objectives Vascular risk factor control may not only prevent stroke but also reduce the risk of dementia. We investigated whether a multifactorial intervention program reduces the incidence of cognitive symptoms one-year after stroke and transient ischemic attack in first ever stroke patients without cognitive decline prior to the stroke. Materials and methods Patients suffering their first ever stroke were included in this randomized, evaluator-blinded, controlled trial with two parallel groups. Baseline examination included extensive assessment of exposure to vascular risk factors and cognitive assessments regarding memory, attention, and executive function. After discharge, patients were allocated to either intensive vascular risk factor intervention or care as usual. The primary end points were changes in trail-making test A and 10-word test from baseline to 12 months follow-up. Results One hundred ninety-five patients were randomized. The difference between groups in trail-making test A, adjusted for baseline measurements, was 3·8 s (95% confidence interval: −4·2 to 11·9; P = 0·35) in favor of the intervention group. The difference between groups in the 10-word recall test was 1·1 words (95% confidence interval: −0·5 to 2·7; P = 0·17) in favor of the intervention group. We did not observe any differences in the secondary outcomes of incident dementia or mild cognitive impairment. Conclusions We could not demonstrate cognitive effects of an intensive risk factor intervention at one-year poststroke. Longer follow-up and a more heterogeneous study sample might have lead to larger effects. More effective methods for managing the risk of further cognitive decline after stroke are needed.
Cognitive mediation of clinical improvement after intensive exposure therapy of agoraphobia and social phobia

Background: The present study investigated cognitive mediation of clinical improvement in patients with agoraphobia (N=427) or social phobia (N=98) receiving high‐density exposure therapy in a naturalistic clinical treatment setting. Methods: Patients were assessed before therapy, 6 weeks after the end of therapy, and 1 year thereafter, using a self‐report assessment battery. Lower level mediation analyses provided support for the notion that cognitive changes partially mediate clinical improvement after exposure therapy. Results: Changes in cognitions relating to physical catastrophes mediated treatment outcome only for patients with agoraphobia, whereas changes in cognitions about loss of control mediated outcome for both agoraphobia and social phobia patients. Changes in relationship satisfaction did not mediate symptomatic improvement. Conclusions: The results extend previous findings by demonstrating mediation in an unselected clinical sample and by providing evidence for the specificity of mediation effects. They further support the importance of cognitive changes in cognitive–behavior therapy. Depression and Anxiety, 2010. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Causes of Death in a Contemporary Cohort of Patients With Type 2 Diabetes and Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease: Insights From the TECOS Trial

OBJECTIVE We evaluated the specific causes of death and their associated risk factors in a contemporary cohort of patients with type 2 diabetes and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD). RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS We used data from the Trial Evaluating Cardiovascular Outcomes with Sitagliptin (TECOS) study (n = 14,671), a cardiovascular (CV) safety trial adding sitagliptin versus placebo to usual care in patients with type 2 diabetes and ASCVD (median follow-up 3 years). An independent committee blinded to treatment assignment adjudicated each cause of death. Cox proportional hazards models were used to identify risk factors associated with each outcome. RESULTS A total of 1,084 deaths were adjudicated as the following: 530 CV (1.2/100 patient-years [PY], 49% of deaths), 338 non-CV (0.77/100 PY, 31% of deaths), and 216 unknown (0.49/100 PY, 20% of deaths). The most common CV death was sudden death (n = 145, 27% of CV death) followed by acute myocardial infarction (MI)/stroke (n = 113 [MI n = 48, stroke n = 65], 21% of CV death) and heart failure (HF) (n = 63, 12% of CV death). The most common non-CV death was malignancy (n = 154, 46% of non-CV death). The risk of specific CV death subcategories was lower among patients with no baseline history of HF, including sudden death (hazard ratio [HR] 0.4; P = 0.0036), MI/stroke death (HR 0.47; P = 0.049), and HF death (HR 0.29; P = 0.0057). CONCLUSIONS In this analysis of a contemporary cohort of patients with diabetes and ASCVD, sudden death was the most common subcategory of CV death. HF prevention may represent an avenue to reduce the risk of specific CV death subcategories.
Effects of antibody reactivity to major histocompatibility complex (MHC) and non-MHC alloantigens on graft endothelial cells in heart allograft rejection.

BACKGROUND To gain insight in the pathogenesis of vascular lesions in heart allograft rejection, we investigated effects of allosera reactive with major histocompatibility complex (MHC) or non-MHC alloantigens on graft endothelial cells (EC) in a rat transplantation model. METHODS Anti-MHC and anti-non-MHC allosera were obtained from Brown Norway (RT.1(n)) recipients of a Lewis (RT.1(1)) or congenic LEW.1N (RT.1(n)) heart allograft respectively. Reactivity with endothelial alloantigens was studied in vitro using a series of three rat heart endothelial cell (RHEC) lines of Lewis origin. Phenotypic studies of MHC and non-MHC alloantigen expression, and adhesion molecule induction on EC were performed by immunostaining and fluorescence-activated cell sorting analysis. Complement-mediated cytotoxicity of allosera was studied using a 51Cr release assay. RESULTS Both anti-MHC allosera and anti-non-MHC allosera showed reactivity with all three RHEC lines. EC stimulation with tumor necrosis factor-alpha and interferon-y resulted in increased reactivity of anti-MHC but not of anti-non-MHC allosera. Anti-MHC allosera showed complement-mediated cytotoxicity for EC, which was strongly increased when cytokine-stimulated EC were used. With anti-non-MHC allosera, only minor cytotoxicity was measured, irrespective of the activation of EC. Anti-MHC and anti-non-MHC allosera from the day of rejection (days 7-8 and days 29-35, respectively) had similar subclass profiles of allospecific IgG, except for allospecific IgM, which was only detected in anti-MHC allosera. Complement-mediated cytotoxicity of anti-MHC allosera from the day of rejection was effected mainly by IgM alloantibodies, whereas, in allosera taken 4 days after rejection, a predominance of cytotoxic alloantibodies of the IgG class was observed. No indications were found that either alloantibody reactivity alone or in combination with complement activation led to EC activation processes relevant to intercellular adhesion molecule-1 or vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 induction. CONCLUSIONS Our data show that, in heart allograft rejection, MHC but also non-MHC alloantigens on EC are target structures in the alloantibody response. Alloantibodies reactive with endothelial MHC, but not those reactive with non-MHC alloantigens, may significantly contribute to vasculopathy by complement-mediated cytotoxicity. Although no evidence was found that alloantibodies reactive with graft EC induce adhesion molecule expression, they may trigger other EC mechanisms relevant to graft vasculopathy.
Psychological factors in pregnancy and mixed‐handedness in the offspring

Animal studies suggest that psychological factors may interfere with the development of brain asymmetry during gestation. We evaluated whether psychological exposure in pregnancy was associated with mixed‐handedness in the offspring. In a follow‐up design study, 824 Danish‐speaking women with singleton pregnancies provided information on psychological distress and the occurrence of life events in the early second and third trimesters of pregnancy. Handedness of the children was based on maternal reports when the children were 3 years of age. Among the 419 males and 405 females, 7% and 5% respectively were mixed‐handed whereas mixed‐handedness was found in 3% of the parents. Psychological distress in the third trimester as well as higher levels of stressful life events were related to a higher prevalence of mixed‐handedness in the offspring. About 16% of the women reported more than one life event in the third trimester of pregnancy and among the offspring of these women 11% were mixed‐handed (odds ratio=2.3; 95% confidence interval 1.2 to 4.4). Women who at the same time reported a high level of distress and stressful life events, had a three‐ to four‐fold higher prevalence of mixed‐handedness in their offspring.
Does Lithium Therapy Protect Against the Onset of Dementia?

Lithium compounds might theoretically play a role in preventing dementia by inhibiting formation both of beta amyloid and hyper phosphorylated tau protein. We carried out a case-control study to assess any possible clinical effects of lithium therapy on the diagnosis of dementia, using data from the General Practice Research Database, which collects routine data from primary care patients in the UK. Patients who received lithium had a higher risk of a diagnosis of dementia compared with those who did not (adjusted odds ratio 1.8, 95% CI 1.1-2.8). There was a trend toward increasing risk with increasing numbers of lithium prescriptions. This evidence does not support the use of lithium for preventing dementia.
BRISKS: Binary Features for Spherical Images on a Geodesic Grid

In this paper, we develop an interest point detector and binary feature descriptor for spherical images. We take as inspiration a recent framework developed for planar images, BRISK (Binary Robust Invariant Scalable Keypoints), and adapt the method to operate on spherical images. All of our processing is intrinsic to the sphere and avoids the distortion inherent in storing and indexing spherical images in a 2D representation. We discretise images on a spherical geodesic grid formed by recursive subdivision of a triangular mesh. This leads to a multiscale pixel grid comprising mainly hexagonal pixels that lends itself naturally to a spherical image pyramid representation. For interest point detection, we use a variant of the Accelerated Segment Test (AST) corner detector which operates on our geodesic grid. We estimate a continuous scale and location for features and descriptors are built by sampling onto a regular pattern in the tangent space. We evaluate repeatability, precision and recall on both synthetic spherical images with known ground truth correspondences and real images.
Private Governance: Creating Order in Economic and Social Life

From the first stock markets of Amsterdam and London to the millions of credit card transactions governed by arbitration, privately produced and enforced economic regulations are more common, more effective, and more promising than commonly considered. In Private Governance, prominent economist Edward Stringham presents case-studies of the various forms of private enforcement, self-governance, or self-regulation among private groups or individuals that fill a void that government enforcement cannot. Through analytical narratives the book provides a close examination of the world's first stock markets, key elements of which were unenforceable by law; the community of Celebration, Florida, and other private communities that show how public goods can be bundled with land and provided more effectively; and the millions of credit-card transactions that occur daily and are regulated by private governance. Private Governance ultimately argues that while potential problems of private governance, such as fraud, are pervasive, so are the solutions it presents, and that much of what is orderly in the economy can be attributed to private groups and individuals.With meticulous research, Stringham demonstrates that private governance is a far more common source of order than most people realize, and that private parties have incentives to devise different mechanisms for eliminating unwanted behavior. Private Governance documents numerous examples of private order throughout history to illustrate how private governance is more resilient to internal and external pressure than is commonly believed. Stringham discusses why private governance has economic and social advantages over relying on government regulations and laws, and explores the different mechanisms that enable private governance, including sorting, reputation, assurance, and other bonding mechanisms. Challenging and rigorously-written, Private Governance will make a compelling read for those with an interest in economics, political philosophy, and the history of current Wall Street regulations. Available in OSO:
Recent injury and health-related quality of life in adolescent athletes.

CONTEXT Health-related quality of life (HRQOL) is a global concept that takes into account the physical, psychological, and social domains of health. Determining the extent to which injury affects HRQOL is an important aspect of rehabilitation practice, enabling comparisons of clinical outcomes across different conditions in diverse patient groups. OBJECTIVE To examine the extent to which a self-reported recent injury affected HRQOL in adolescent athletes using 2 generic patient self-report scales. DESIGN Cross-sectional study. SETTING High school classrooms and athletic training facilities. PATIENTS OR OTHER PARTICIPANTS A convenience sample of uninjured (n = 160) and injured (n = 45) adolescent athletes. INTERVENTION(S) THE INDEPENDENT VARIABLE WAS INJURY STATUS: uninjured versus injured. All participants completed a self-administered brief health status questionnaire and the Short Form-36 Health Survey Questionnaire (SF-36) and Pediatric Outcomes Data Collection Instrument (PODCI) in a counterbalanced manner. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S) Dependent variables included 8 subscale and 2 composite scores of the SF-36 and 5 subscale scores and 1 global score of the PODCI. Group differences were assessed with the Mann-Whitney U test (P < or = .05) and reported as median and interquartile range. RESULTS On the SF-36, the injured group demonstrated lower scores (P < .008) for physical functioning, limitations due to physical health problems, bodily pain, social functioning, and the physical composite. On the PODCI, the injured group reported lower scores (P < .01) on the pain and comfort subscale and the global score. CONCLUSIONS Adolescent athletes with self-reported injuries demonstrated lower HRQOL than their uninjured peers. As expected, recent injury affected physical functioning and pain. Social functioning (on the SF-36) and global HRQOL (on the PODCI) also decreased, suggesting that injuries affected areas beyond the expected physical component of health. Clinicians need to recognize the full spectrum of negative influences that injuries may have on HRQOL in adolescent athletes.