Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Evaluation of the Prevalence of Congenital Cytomegalovirus Infection and its Clinical Outcomes in Neonates Born in Vali-e-Asr Hospital of Birjand, Iran

Background Cytomegalovirus (CMV) has been known as the most common cause for congenital infections worldwide which can lead to death in fetus and neonates as well as neuropsychiatric deficits. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of congenital CMV infection in newly born neonates and to evaluate the medical outcomes. Materials and Methods In this cross-sectional study, 868 neonates were selected using unconditional random sampling in 2017. Neonatal saliva was given on the first or second day of birth using a Dacron swab and tested by PCR for the presence of CMV DNA. All infants with positive CMV infection went through further tests and examinations to evaluate the clinical outcomes. Results: 787 (90.67%) and 81 (9.33%) births were term and preterm respectively. The PCR test was positive results only in 14 term neonates (1.61%). Thus, the prevalence of CMV infection in term neonates (n=14, 1.61%) was higher than that of preterm infants (n=0), although there was no statistically significant difference (P>0.05). The most common abnormalities were neutropenia (50%, n=4) followed by anemia (37.5%, n=3). Conclusion The prevalence of CMV infection in this study (1.61%) was within the global range and there was no association between CMV infection and birth weight, infant gender, and as well ae neonatal type. The frequency of symptomatic neonates at birth in this study was higher than the average global range, but almost the same as in developing countries.
El programa olímpico en Río 2016 a debate [Olympic Programme in Rio 2016 under Debate]

espanolEl estudio aborda la clasificacion de 306 eventos (42 disciplinas deportivas) de la Olimpiada en Rio 2016. Fueron clasificados los eventos deportivos del programa olimpico mediante la elaboracion de un sistema mixto ad hoc compuesto por tres niveles, con tres criterios nucleares: a) genero, b) numero de medallas conseguidas por los participantes, y c) localizacion de la procedencia de incertidumbre en pruebas olimpicas. Se conto con la participacion de dos evaluadores para la elaboracion y aplicacion de un sistema taxonomico, con el fin de controlar la calidad del dato mediante procedimientos cuantitativos y cualitativos. Los resultados animan a plantear sugerencias al asimetrico programa olimpico segun genero, incertidumbre motriz y numero de medallas otorgadas por la organizacion a los atletas en Rio 2016 EnglishThe study addresses the classification of 306 events (42 sports) in the Rio 2016 Olympics. Sports events on the Olympic programme were classified by drawing up an ad hoc mixed system composed of three levels, with three core criteria: a) gender, b) number of medals won by the participants, c) location of the source of uncertainty in the Olympic events. Two evaluators developed and implemented a taxonomic system in order to control the quality of data using both quantitative and qualitative methods. The results encourage making suggestions about the asymmetric Olympic programme by gender, motor uncertainty and number of medals awarded by the organization to athletes in Rio 2016
The electronic frailty index as an indicator of community healthcare service utilisation in the older population

BACKGROUND older people with frailty are particularly high users of healthcare services, however a lack of standardised recording of frailty in different healthcare electronic datasets has limited investigations into healthcare service usage and demand of the older frail population. OBJECTIVES to investigate the community service demand of frail patients using the electronic frailty index (eFI) as a measure of frailty. STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING a retrospective cohort study using anonymised linked healthcare patient data from primary care, community services and acute hospitals in Norfolk. PARTICIPANTS patients aged 65 and over who had an eFI assessment score established in their primary care electronic patient record in Norwich based General Practices. RESULTS we include data from 22,859 patients with an eFI score. Frailty severity increased with age and was associated with increased acute hospital admission within a 6-month window. Patients with a frail eFI score were also more likely to have a community service referral within a 6-month window of frailty assessment, with a RR of 1.84 (1.76-1.93) for mild frailty, 1.96 (1.83-2.09) for moderate frailty and 2.95 (2.76-3.14) for severe frailty scores. We also found that frail patients had more community referrals per patient then those classified as fit and required more care plans per community referral. CONCLUSIONS eFI score was an indicator of community service use, with increasing severity of frailty being associated with higher community healthcare requirements. The eFI may help planning of community services for the frail population.
A probabilistic approach towards robust stability optimization, with application to vibration control

The main results of this paper concern the positioning and robust stability optimization of a mechanical system, to which a so-called delayed resonator is attached in order to absorb harmonic perturbations. Due to the inclusion of this active vibration suppression device, the overall closed-loop system is described by delay differential algebraic equations of retarded type. The stability optimization, thereby taking into account uncertainty on the mathematical model, is achieved by the design of static and dynamic controllers evaluated by minimizing an objective function, consisting of the mean of the spectral abscissa, the real part of the rightmost eigenvalue, with a variance penalty. The analysis and the dynamics of the system show the validity, efficacy and robustness of the novel approach, with respect to the results obtained by stability optimization without taking into account the uncertainty.
Modeling Airflow and Particle Deposition in a Human Acinar Region

The alveolar region, encompassing millions of alveoli, is the most vital part of the lung. However, airflow behavior and particle deposition in that region are not fully understood because of the complex geometrical structure and intricate wall movement. Although recent investigations using 3D computer simulations have provided some valuable information, a realistic analysis of the air-particle dynamics in the acinar region is still lacking. So, to gain better physical insight, a physiologically inspired whole acinar model has been developed. Specifically, air sacs (i.e., alveoli) were attached as partial spheroids to the bifurcating airway ducts, while breathing-related wall deformation was included to simulate actual alveolar expansion and contraction. Current model predictions confirm previous notions that the location of the alveoli greatly influences the alveolar flow pattern, with recirculating flow dominant in the proximal lung region. In the midalveolar lung generations, the intensity of the recirculating flow inside alveoli decreases while radial flow increases. In the distal alveolar region, the flow pattern is completely radial. The micron/submicron particle simulation results, employing the Euler–Lagrange modeling approach, indicate that deposition depends on the inhalation conditions and particle size. Specifically, the particle deposition rate in the alveolar region increases with higher inhalation tidal volume and particle diameter. Compared to previous acinar models, the present system takes into account the entire acinar region, including both partially alveolated respiratory bronchioles as well the fully alveolated distal airways and alveolar sacs. In addition, the alveolar expansion and contraction have been calculated based on physiological breathing conditions which make it easy to compare and validate model results with in vivo lung deposition measurements. Thus, the current work can be readily incorporated into human whole-lung airway models to simulate/predict the flow dynamics of toxic or therapeutic aerosols.
Could Education for Sustainable Development Benefit from a Systems Thinking Approach?

Sustainable development is not a novel concept. However, we continue with our unsustainable way of living. It is as though we cannot see our own part in the unsustainable system. Values, ethics and morals are connected to education and therefor education is in a key position to change the way we think and act for a sustainable future. Both education for sustainable development (ESD) and systems thinking are concepts connected to changes toward a sustainable future. However, they have proven to be conceptually problematic and are characterized by their complexity, making implementation more difficult. The purpose of this study is to discover whether it could be possible to interlace ESD and systems education to a strong and solid entirety in order to overcome the obstacles preventing the implementation of sustainability in education. This is done through a literature review in the fields of systems thinking and ESD. The literature review identifies two joint approaches that could be worth exploring more in order to develop an excellent instrument in the educational work toward sustainability.
Vacuum-Actuated Bending for Grasping

Soft robotic devices typically are actuated with the application of a positive pressure (compared to ambient pressure), but some exciting work has been done with negative pressure application, with advantages for safety and robustness. Here, we present a negative pressure bending actuator inspired by previous work by Yang et al., fabricated using rapid prototyping techniques and elastomeric polymers. We describe the mechanical behavior of the system from a cellular solids perspective, showing the steps needed for the analysis and characterization of future similar systems. We find good agreement between experimentally measured values of displacement and force generated in atmospheric pressure conditions.
The pulmonary vascular response to the sustained activation of the muscle metaboreflex in man

The pulmonary circulation is influenced by the autonomic nervous system, yet whether this is physiologically important during exercise in man is not known. The aim of this study was to assess the pulmonary vascular response to sympathoexcitation induced by the maintained activation of the muscle metaboreflex in the postexercise period. Nine healthy subjects performed isometric handgrip exercise at 50% of their maximal voluntary contraction force for 2 min. Exercise was followed by circulatory occlusion so as to maintain the muscle metaboreflex activated for 2 min (postexercise circulatory occlusion; PECO). Blood pressure measurements and echocardiographically determined estimates of systolic pulmonary artery pressure (SPAP) and cardiac output were obtained at various intervals throughout the two protocols. Compared with baseline values, elevations in SPAP (by 20.06 ± 2.08%), cardiac output (by 36.04 ± 4.97%) and mean arterial pressure (MAP; by 25.62 ± 3.54%) were noted during isometric exercise (means ±s.e.m., all P < 0.05). Increases in SPAP and MAP persisted during PECO (all P < 0.05), whereas cardiac output returned to resting levels. Our findings suggest that the sympathoexcitation induced by isometric exercise affects the pulmonary circulation, possibly by inducing vasoconstriction and/or stiffening the large conduit arteries. The exaggerated activation of the sympathetic nervous system that has been evidenced in cardiopulmonary patients could therefore be implicated in their abnormal pulmonary haemodynamic responses and intolerance of exercise.
Genre Oriented Summarization

To Charles ii iii Acknowledgements There are a great many people who have my sincere gratitude for the assistance that they gave me during the course of my work on my dissertation. I would especially like to thank my advisor Jaime Carbonell for his support and encouragement over the years I am also grateful to the other members of my committee, Jamie Callan, Vibhu Mittal and John Conroy for their insightful comments, discussions and advice. Many thanks also go to the late Barbara Lazarus, who provided much encouragement during this effort, which was always deeply appreciated. My thanks also goes to my colleagues, friends and family members, who have provided much support and assistance during the process – especially (but not limited to) Thanks also to the numerous people (not listed here) who assisted with the annotation of the multiple data sets and judgments of summary quality. I owe a great deal to my husband Charles, who has supported and assisted greatly in this endeavor. Thanks also to my parents who fostered an atmosphere of experimentation and exploration in my childhood. iv v Abstract Summaries are used in daily life to condense information in a manner suitable for the intended recipient's use and ideally suit the recipient's information seeking goals. In the case of text, examples of such summaries include newswire articles, headlines, and the information snippets returned by Google. Previous research has focused on summarizing newswire articles or clusters of newswire documents, scientific articles, books, and extracting opinion (sentiment) sentences from reviews. Our research addresses how to create short multi-sentence summaries meeting user's goals within specific genres. The methodology is first to determine the genre of the document and then, based on the genre, present applicable summaries designed to address the user's information seeking goals. For example, in the movie review genre, a goal-focused summary for a review could be an overview summary, a plot summary, or an opinion summary, each of which has a different focus and hence a different summary composition. We describe our experiments with genre identification using different sets of features and varying numbers of training documents and show that genre tagging using classifiers (Support Vector Machines and Random Forests) is probably at a sufficient level of accuracy to inform a summarization system. We discuss the creation of goal focused single document summaries for seven genres (newswire articles, editorials, interviews, biographies, movie reviews, product reviews, …
Trends in HIV care cascade engagement among diagnosed people living with HIV in Ontario, Canada: A retrospective, population-based cohort study

Background The HIV cascade is an important framework for assessing systems of care, but population-based assessment is lacking for most jurisdictions worldwide. We measured cascade indicators over time in a population-based cohort of diagnosed people living with HIV (PLWH) in Ontario, Canada. Methods We created a retrospective cohort of diagnosed PLWH using a centralized laboratory database with HIV diagnostic and viral load (VL) test records linked at the individual-level. Individuals enter the cohort with record of a nominal HIV-positive diagnostic test or VL test, and remain unless administratively lost to follow-up (LTFU, >2 consecutive years with no VL test and no VL test in later years). We calculated the annual percent of diagnosed PLWH (cohort individuals not LTFU) between 2000 and 2015 who were in care (≥1 VL test), on ART (as documented on VL test requisition) or virally suppressed (<200 copies/ml). We also calculated time from diagnosis to linkage to care and viral suppression among individuals newly diagnosed with HIV. Analyses were stratified by sex and age. Upper/lower bounds were calculated using alternative indicator definitions. Results The number of diagnosed PLWH increased from 8,859 (8,859–11,389) in 2000 to 16,110 (16,110–17,423) in 2015. Over this 16-year period, the percent of diagnosed PLWH who were: in care increased from 81% (63–81%) to 87% (81–87%), on ART increased from 55% (34–60%) to 81% (70–82%) and virally suppressed increased from 41% (23–46%) to 80% (67–81%). Between 2000 and 2014, the percent of newly diagnosed individuals who linked to care within three months of diagnosis or achieved viral suppression within six months of diagnosis increased from 67% to 82% and from 22% to 42%, respectively. Estimates were generally lower for females and younger individuals. Discussion HIV cascade indicators among diagnosed PLWH in Ontario improved between 2000 and 2015, but gaps still remain—particularly for younger individuals.
The effect of gender on food insecurity among HIV-infected people receiving anti-retroviral therapy: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Background HIV-infected adults receiving anti-retroviral therapy have a high prevalence of food insecurity in both high- and low-income settings. , Women bear an inequitable burden of food insecurity due to lack of control over resources and over household food allocation decision-making. The few studies conducted on the association between food insecurity and gender among HIV-infected adults have inconclusive findings. Therefore, the objective of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to estimate the pooled effect of gender on food insecurity among HIV-infected adults receiving antiretroviral therapy. Method We conducted an electronic, web-based search using PubMed, CINAHL, PopLine, MedNar, Embase, Cochrane library, the JBI Library, the Web of Science and Google Scholar. We included studies which reported the association between food insecurity and gender among HIV-infected adults receiving antiretroviral therapy whose age was greater than 18 years. The analysis was conducted using STATA 14 software. A random effects model was used to estimate the pooled effect a 95% confidence interval(CI). Forest plots were used to visualize the presence of heterogeneity. Funnel plots and Egger’s and Begg’s tests were used to check for publication bias. Results A total of 776 studies were identified of which seventeen studies were included in the meta-analysis, with a total of 5827 HIV infected adults receiving antiretroviral therapy. We found that the gender of HIV-infected adults receiving anti-retroviral therapy had statistically significant effects on food insecurity. The pooled odds of developing food insecurity among female HIV infected adults receiving anti-retroviral therapy was 53% higher than male HIV infected adults (OR: 1.53, 95% CI: 1.29, 1.83). Our analysis indicate the findings of studies conducted in the high-income countries showed weakest associations between gender and food insecurity than those conducted in low- and middle-income countries. Conclusion Our systematic review and meta-analysis showed statistically significant effect of gender on food insecurity among HIV-infected adults receiving anti-retroviral therapy in which odds of food insecurity was higher among female HIV infected adults compared to male HIV-infected adults. These findings suggest that the need to include within food and nutrition interventions for HIV-infected adults receiving antiretroviral treatment, culture- and context-specific gender-based policies to address the sex/gender related vulnerability to food insecurity.
A validation of the PAWPER XL-MAC tape for total body weight estimation in preschool children from low- and middle-income countries

Importance The PAWPER tape system is one of the three most accurate paediatric weight estimation systems in the world. The latest version of the tape, which does not rely on a subjective assessment of habitus, is the PAWPER XL-MAC method which uses length and mid-arm circumference (MAC) to estimate weight. It was derived and validated in a population in the USA and has not yet been fully validated in a population from a resource-limited setting. Objective The objective of this study was to evaluate the performance of the PAWPER XL-MAC tape weight estimation system in a large dataset sample of children from resource-limited settings. Methods This was a “virtual” study in which weight estimates were generated using the PAWPER XL-MAC tape and Broselow tape 2007B and 2011A editions in a very large open access dataset. The dataset contained anthropometric information of children aged 6 to 59 months from standardised nutritional surveys in 51 low- and middle-income countries. The performance of PAWPER XL-MAC method was compared with the Broselow tape and a new length- and habitus-based tape, the Ralston method. Main outcomes and measures The bias of the weight estimation methods was assessed using the mean percentage error (MPE) and precision using the 95% limits of agreement (LOA) of the MPE. The overall accuracy was denoted by the percentage of weight estimates falling within 10% and 20% of actual weight (abbreviated as p10 and p20 respectively). Results The MPE (LOA) for the PAWPER XL-MAC tape, the Broselow 2007B and 2011A and Ralston method were 1.9 (-15.3, 19.2), 5.4 (-15.9, 26.7), 7.7 (-13.3, 30.5) and -0.7 (-20.2, 19.3) respectively. The p10 and p20 for each method were 79.3% and 96.9% for the PAWPER XL-MAC tape, 64.3% and 91.0% for the Broselow tape 2007B, 55.5% and 85.9% for the Broselow tape 2011A and 67.4 and 94.0% for the Ralston method respectively. The PAWPER XL-MAC system was statistically significantly more accurate than the Broselow tape 2011A, the Broselow tape 2007B and the Ralston method. The relative difference in accuracy (p10) was 43% (odds ratio 4.4 (4.4, 4.5), p<0.001), 23% (odds ratio 2.9 (2.8, 2.9), p<0.001) and 18% (odds ratio 1.8 (1.8, 1.8), p<0.001) compared to each method, respectively. Conclusions and relevance The PAWPER XL-MAC tape performed well in this study and was statistically significantly more accurate than both the Broselow tape editions and the Ralston method. This difference was substantial and clinically important. The tape did not perform as well at extremes of habitus-type, however, and might benefit from recalibration.
Changes in QTc interval in long-term hemodialysis patients

Background Cardiovascular diseases, including sudden cardiac death (SCD), are the leading cause of death in hemodialysis (HD) patients. A prolonged QT interval on the electrocardiogram (ECG) is a risk factor for SCD in HD patients. This study investigated whether the heart rate-corrected QT (QTc) interval becomes prolonged along with dialysis vintage. Methods A total of 102 HD patients were retrospectively studied. Their ECG data were analyzed at 1, 4, and 7 years after HD initiation. The control group comprised 68 age-matched individuals who had normal renal function and two available ECG reports at an interval of more than 4 years. QTc was measured according to the Bazett formula. The association between QTc interval and dialysis vintage was studied. Additionally, clinically relevant variables related to QTc duration at 1 year after HD initiation were assessed. Results Average QTc interval at 4 and 7 years after HD initiation was significantly longer than that at 1 year after HD initiation (443, 445, and 437 ms) (p<0.05). On the other hand, QTc interval in the control group was 425 ms in the first year and 426 ms after an average of 6 years. They had no significant differences, although they were much shorter than that in HD patients. Multivariate regression analysis of baseline variables revealed that the corrected calcium levels (p = 0.041) and diabetes (p = 0.043) were independently associated with longer QTc interval. Conclusions The QTc interval at 1 year after HD initiation was longer than in the control subjects and was prolonged over several years of HD treatment. Providing clinical management with a focus on QTc interval may be helpful for reducing the incidence of SCD in HD patients.