Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Sitting Postures and Trunk Muscle Activity in Adolescents With and Without Nonspecific Chronic Low Back Pain: An Analysis Based on Subclassification

Study Design. A preliminary cross-sectional comparative study of adolescents with nonspecific chronic low back pain (NSCLBP) and healthy controls. Objective. To investigate whether differences in spinal kinematic and trunk muscle activity exist in both usual and slump sitting in adolescents with NSCLBP. Summary of Background. Evidence suggests that low back pain commonly develops in adolescence and increases the risk for low back pain in adulthood. Sitting is an important consideration in adolescents with NSCLBP: currently there are no reports investigating their motor control strategies in sitting. Methods. Twenty-eight adolescents (14 female) with NSCLBP and 28 matched pain-free controls were recruited from a large cohort study. Pain subjects were subclassified based on O'Sullivan's classification system. Three-dimensional lumbo-pelvic kinematic data and the activation of 3 back and 2 abdominal muscles were recorded during usual and slump sitting. The flexion-relaxation phenomenon in sitting was also investigated. Results. Spinal posture in usual and slump sitting were similar for adolescents with and without NSCLBP. However, differences were identified in both sitting conditions when those with NSCLPB were subclassified and compared with controls. Muscle activation differences were not consistently identified, with only lower levels of internal oblique activation in usual sitting in NSCLBP compared with pain-free controls showing significance. Flexion relaxation was observed in both iliocostalis and thoracic erector spinae in the NSCLBP group but not controls. Conclusion. This study provides preliminary results. Differences with sitting posture are only seen when adolescents with NSCLBP are classified. Trunk muscle activation is not a sensitive marker for discriminating subgroups of NSCLBP during adolescence.
Development of a Short Form of the Test Anxiety Inventory (TAI)

Abstract The Test Anxiety Inventory (TAI) is widely used in research and practical settings and has particular application to the assessment and treatment of test anxiety in student populations. However, there are a number of instances in which a short version of the TAI would be more appropriate, especially when time constraints preclude the use of the full form. Similar short forms have been developed for other measures such as the State scale of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI; T. M. Marteau & H. Bekker, 1992). The authors of the present study aimed to develop a short form of the TAI. The TAI was completed by 333 undergraduate psychology students. Item–remainder correlations were used to compare short forms with varying numbers of items. Internal consistency and concurrent and construct validity were assessed in hypothetical and actual examination conditions. A 5-item short form produced optimal reliability and validity, and a balance of items from the Worry and Emotionality subscales of the TAI. Further research is needed to replicate these results, but the 5-item short form of the TAI shows promise, particularly for contexts in which time demands preclude the use of longer versions.
The impact of arbitrary constraints over the payment parameter on WTP: a case of a normally distributed random parameter

ABSTRACT This paper aims to substantiate the impact of the ‘old’ practice in environmental valuation that arbitrarily imposes a constrained distribution on the payment parameter, and to offer a rule of thumb guidance for the accurate willingness-to-pay (WTP) estimation using choice experiments. A ratio of means approach and a mean of ratios approach were compared for estimation accuracy, involving eleven simulated datasets and two real world cases. Contrary to what is still practiced in the literature, incorrectly constrained payment parameters can in fact cause a systematic misrepresentation of true mean WTP values. The overall findings suggest for researchers using choice experiments, as a rule of thumb, that mean WTP values for environmental changes might be safely and accurately estimated using the ratio of means approach based on population moments with an unconstrained random payment parameter. In contrast, the mean of ratios approach based on conditional individual-specific WTP ratios might be neither accurate nor reliable.
Offshoring Health Risks: The Impact of the U.S. Lead Regulation on Infant Health in Mexico

This study examines the effect of tightening the environmental standard on lead in the United States (US) on (i) air quality in the US, (ii) trade patterns between the US and Mexico and (iii) infant health in Mexico as a test of pollution haven hypothesis. We provide new evidence based on the innovative research design that allows us to exploit exogenous variation in the regulatory stringency as well as to single out the specific substance and pollution-intensive product. Consistent with the theoretical prediction, our findings show that improvement in air quality in the US was achieved by offshoring the pollution-intensive product and infant health risks to Mexico.
Is a Single dose of Prophylactic Antibiotics Sufficient in Patients with Acute Non-Complicated Appendicitis?

Background: Acute appendicitis is one of the most common acute surgery events. Its main treatment is surgery. However medical management before and after the surgery has an important impact on the treatment. Objective: The aim of study was evaluating the outcomes of single dose and quadruple doses of prophylactic antibiotic therapy in patients with acute non-complicated appendicitis. Methods: This randomized double blind clinical trial was carried out on 294 patients in single dose (136 patients) and the quadruple doses (158 patients) groups. In single dose group, a dose of 1g Cefazolin + 500mg Metronidazole was prescribed intravenously about half an hour before surgery. The quadruple doses group received three more doses after surgery. Two groups were followed for fever, erythema, seroma, wound infection, intra-abdominal abscess formation and readmissions within one month after discharge. Results: The mean age of patients was 31±5.14 years. 203(69%) of patients were men while 91(31%) were women. There were no significant statistical differences between groups in age, sex and body mass index (BMI) variables. No significant statistical differences were observed during surgery and hospitalization period between two groups. In the single dose group, wound infection was 8(5.9%), while it was 6(3.8%) in the quadruple doses group; hence, there were no significant statistical differences in this regard. There was no abdominal abscess in groups. There were significant statistical differences regarding erythema, seroma and antibiotics consumption costs between groups. Conclusion: A single dose of prophylactic antibiotics is sufficient in patients with acute suppurative non-complicated appendicitis.
Murine Sarcoma Virus: The Question of Defectiveness

Infection of mouse and rat cells by the murine sarcoma virus (Moloney isolate) showed two-hit kinetics for focus production in mouse cells but one-hit kinetics in rat cells. Antiserum added to cultures after infection suppressed focus formation in mouse cells but not in rat cells. These studies suggest that, in rat cells infected with murine sarcoma virus, leukemina virus is not needed for focus formation and that these foci result from proliferation of the transformed rat cell; in mouse cells, on the other hand, leukemia virus is needed as "helper," and focus formation requires spread of virus. The term "defectiveness" then, if used, should not be applied to RNA tumor viruses without qualification for the viral function studied and the cell system employed.
Exploring the nature of the ‘subject’-preference: Evidence from the online comprehension of simple sentences in Mandarin Chinese

In two visual ERP studies, we investigated whether Mandarin Chinese shows a subject-preference in spite of the controversial status of grammatical relations in this language. We compared ERP responses at the position of the verb and the second NP in object-verb-subject (OVS) and subject-verb-object (SVO) structures. While SVO is the basic word order in Chinese and OV with subject-drop is possible, OVS is strongly dispreferred. At the position of the verb, which disambiguated towards an object or a subject reading of NP1, Experiment 1 revealed an N400 for both subject-initial control conditions in comparison with the critical object-initial condition. Experiment 2 showed that this result was due to differences in lexical-semantic relatedness between NP1 and the verb. When these were controlled for, we observed an N400 for the disambiguation towards an object-initial order, i.e., evidence for a subject-preference. At the postverbal NP, the object-initial condition showed a biphasic N400-late positivity pattern in both experiments. We interpret the N400 as reflecting the processing of an unexpected argument and the late positivity as a correlate of a well-formedness mismatch. Overall, our results suggest that Mandarin Chinese shows a subject-preference for an initial argument, thus providing further converging support for the notion that the subject-preference might constitute a universal processing strategy. We argue that the functional basis for this strategy lies in cross-linguistically applicable economy principles that serve to constrain incremental interpretation.
The dual facet of gamma oscillations: Separate visual and decision making circuits as revealed by simultaneous EEG/fMRI

It remains an outstanding question whether gamma‐band oscillations reflect unitary cognitive processes within the same task. EEG/MEG studies do lack the resolution or coverage to address the highly debated question whether single gamma activity patterns are linked with multiple cognitive modules or alternatively each pattern associates with a specific cognitive module, within the same coherent perceptual task. One way to disentangle these issues would be to provide direct identification of their sources, by combining different techniques. Here, we directly examined these questions by performing simultaneous EEG/fMRI using an ambiguous perception paradigm requiring holistic integration. We found that distinct gamma frequency sub‐bands reflect different neural substrates and cognitive mechanisms when comparing object perception states vs. no categorical perception. A low gamma sub‐band (near 40 Hz) activity was tightly related to the decision making network, and in particular the anterior insula. A high gamma sub‐band (∼60 Hz) could be linked to early visual processing regions. The demonstration of a clear functional topography for distinct gamma sub‐bands within the same task shows that distinct gamma‐band modulations underlie sensory processing and perceptual decision mechanisms. Hum Brain Mapp 35:5219–5235, 2014. 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Commentary: Having too much evidence (depression, suicide, and low serum cholesterol)

Another observational study on low serum cholesterol concentration and suicide appears in this week's BMJ,1 complementing other BMJ publications in the past two years.2 3 4 These papers all take as their premise that the controversy on low serum cholesterol, depression, and accidents and suicide remains unresolved. They conclude that it remains unresolved. The past two years have also seen the publication of two large randomised controlled trials of cholesterol reduction using hydroxymethyl glutaryl coenzyme A reductase inhibitors (“statins”). 5 6 These drugs produce large reductions in serum cholesterol concentration (20-30%) and hence are particularly informative on safety. If smaller trials are taken into account as well, published randomised trials of statins have now accumulated 38 700 person years of observation on active treatment and 33 800 person years on placebo. With a total of 11 deaths from accidents and suicide in treated patients and 14 in controls in these trials, …
Disorders of orgasm in women.

INTRODUCTION Orgasm is a sensation of intense pleasure creating an altered consciousness state accompanied by pelvic striated circumvaginal musculature and uterine/anal contractions and myotonia that resolves sexually-induced vasocongestion and induces well-being/contentment. In 1,749 randomly-sampled U.S. women, 24% reported an orgasmic dysfunction. AIM To provide recommendations/guidelines concerning state-of-the-art knowledge for management of orgasmic disorders in women. METHODS An International Consultation in collaboration with the major urology and sexual medicine associations assembled over 200 multidisciplinary experts from 60 countries into 17 committees. Committee members established specific objectives and scopes for various male and female sexual medicine topics. The recommendations concerning state-of-the-art knowledge in the respective sexual medicine topic represent the opinion of experts from five continents developed in a process over a 2-year period. Concerning the Disorders of Orgasm in Women Committee, there were four experts from two countries. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE Expert opinion was based on grading of evidence-based medical literature, widespread internal committee discussion, public presentation and debate. RESULTS Female Orgasmic Disorder, the second most frequently reported women's sexual problem is considered to be the persistent or recurrent delay in, or absence of, orgasm following a normal sexual excitement phase that causes marked distress or interpersonal difficulty (DSM-IV). Empirical treatment outcome research is available for cognitive behavioral and pharmacological approaches. Cognitive-behavioral therapy for anorgasmia promotes attitude and sexually-relevant thought changes and anxiety reduction using behavioral exercises such as directed masturbation, sensate focus, and systematic desensitization treatments as well as sex education, communication skills training, and Kegel exercises. To date there are no pharmacological agents trials (i.e., bupropion, granisetron, and sildenafil) proven to be beneficial beyond placebo in enhancing orgasmic function in women diagnosed with Female Orgasmic Disorder. CONCLUSIONS More research is needed in understanding management of women with orgasmic dysfunction.
Causes of failure in total knee arthroplasty.

BACKGROUND The number of primary total knee replacement procedures has rapidly increased worldwide because of the high success rates. The incidence of failure of total knee replacements has concurrently increased. Determining the causes of failure is very important for devising treatment and plan for future prevention strategies. MATERIAL AND METHOD A retrospective study was done with patients who underwent revised total knee replacements in Siriraj Hospital between September 2003 and March 2009. Patient demographic data, laboratory tests, radiographic studies, and intra-operative findings were used to categorize the causes of failure. RESULTS One hundred eighty nine patients (31 male, 158 female) were included in the present study. The average age was 70.8 years. The average survival time after surgery was 6.42 years (ranging from 1 month to 22 years). The major causes of failure included aseptic loosening (52%), polyethylene wear (43%), and infection (31%). Infection (61%) was found in more than half the cases of early failure (< 3 years). Most cases of late failure (> 3 years) were due to aseptic loosening (74%), polyethylene wear (68%), and infection (14%). Male sex and early failure were strongly associated with failure secondary to infection, with odds ratios 4.5 and 8.8, respectively. CONCLUSION There are different causes of early and late failure. The major cause of early failure was infection, while aseptic loosening and polyethylene wear played major roles in late failure. The number of failures due to infection was higher than observed from previous studies. Identification of the causes of failure of total knee replacement surgery from the same country or region will be useful for devising plans to manage and prevent failure in future surgeries.
Interactive Thesaurus Navigation: Intelligence Rules OK?

We discuss whether it is feasible to build intelligence rule‐ or weight‐based algorithms into general‐purpose software for interactive thesaurus navigation. We survey some approaches to the problem reported in the literature, particularly those involving the assignment of “link weights” in a thesaurus network, and point out some problems of both principle and practice. We then describe investigations which entailed logging the behavior of thesaurus users and testing the effect of thesaurus‐based query enhancement in an IR system using term weighting, in an attempt to identify successful strategies to incorporate into automatic procedures. The results cause us to question many of the assumptions made by previous researchers in this area. © 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
No Effects of Non-invasive Brain Stimulation on Multiple Sessions of Object-Location-Memory Training in Healthy Older Adults

Object-location memory (OLM) is known to decline with normal aging, a process accelerated in pathological conditions like mild cognitive impairment (MCI). In order to maintain cognitive health and to delay the transition from healthy to pathological conditions, novel strategies are being explored. Tentative evidence suggests that combining cognitive training and anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (atDCS), both reported to induce small and often inconsistent behavioral improvements, could generate larger or more consistent improvements or both, compared to each intervention alone. Here, we explored the combined efficacy of these techniques on OLM. In a subject-blind sham-controlled cross-over design 32 healthy older adults underwent a 3-day visuospatial training paired with either anodal (20 min) or sham (30 s) atDCS (1 mA, temporoparietal). Subjects were asked to learn the correct object-location pairings on a street map, shown over five learning blocks on each training day. Acquisition performance was assessed by accuracy on a given learning block in terms of percentage of correct responses. Training success (performance on last training day) and delayed memory after 1-month were analyzed by mixed model analysis and were controlled for gender, age, education, sequence of stimulation and baseline performance. Exploratory analysis of atDCS effects on within-session (online) and between-session (offline) memory performance were conducted. Moreover, transfer effects on similar trained (visuospatial) and less similar (visuo-constructive, verbal) untrained memory tasks were explored, both immediately after training, and on follow-up. We found that atDCS paired with OLM-training did not enhance success in training or performance in 1-month delayed memory or transfer tasks. In sum, this study did not support the notion that the combined atDCS-training approach improves immediate or delayed OLM in older adults. However, specifics of the experimental design, and a non-optimal timing of atDCS between sessions might have masked beneficial effects and should be more systematically addressed in future studies.
Hypoxia induces apoptosis and autophagic cell death in human periodontal ligament cells through HIF‐1α pathway

Oxygen deficiency caused by occlusal trauma and smoking can be present in patients with periodontitis. However, biochemical events important in periodontal tissues during hypoxia remain unclear. The aim of this study was to investigate effects of hypoxia on apoptosis and autophagy of human periodontal ligament cells (PDLCs) in vitro.
Membrane-initiated effects of progesterone on proliferation and activation of VEGF in breast cancer cells

Objective Progesterone influences mammary gland development and probably breast cancer tumorigenesis and functions by regulating a broad spectrum of physiological processes. We investigated receptor membrane-initiated actions of progesterone in MCF-7 breast cancer cells via progesterone receptor membrane component 1 (PGRMC1). Design and method The expression of PGRMC1 in breast cancer was verified by immune fluorescent analysis of paraffin sections. MCF-7 cells were transfected with PGRMC1 (wild type) or PGRMC1 variants. These cells were stimulated with a membrane-impermeable progesterone (P4) conjugate (P4-BSA-fluorescein isothiocyanate, P4-BSA-FITC, 10−6 mol/l) or unconjugated progesterone (P4, 10−6 mol/l) in the presence or absence of the progesterone receptor blocker RU-486 (10−6 mol/l). Additionally, the effects on the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGF-A) were determined using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. Results PGRMC1 is perinuclearly localized in breast cancer cells. Western Blot analysis suggests that PGRMC1 is phosphorylated at serine 180. MCF-7-PGRMC1 (S180A) cells show an approximately 35% increase in proliferation after incubation with P4-BSA-FITC compared to MCF-7 control and MCF-7-PGRMC1 (wild type) cells. This effect cannot be blocked by RU-486. P4 reduced proliferation of MCF-7-PGRMC1 cells by approximately 10% compared to untreated controls. P4-BSA-FITC treatment led to a roughly three-fold activation of VEGF-A gene expression compared to MCF-7 cells. Conclusion PGRMC1 is expressed in breast cancer tissue and mediates an RU-486-independent proliferative signal. It might also contribute to VEGF-induced neovascularization in tumor tissue. Thus, screening for PGRMC1 expression might be of interest to identify women with a higher expression of PGRMC1 and who might thus be susceptible for breast cancer development under hormone replacement therapy. H. Neubauer and G. Adam contributed equally to this manuscript.
Headache Complaints and the Risk of Suicidal Thoughts or Behaviors

The association between severe headaches and suicidal thoughts or behaviors is generally attributed to underlying depression, but it is plausible that severe headaches can lead to suicidal thoughts/behaviors, independent of the effects of psychiatric conditions. This association has been observed in only 1 previous study. Our multivariate analysis examined the longitudinal association between severe headaches and development of suicidal thoughts/behaviors over a period of 1 to 2 years among 6832 community-dwelling adults interviewed during the Epidemiologic Catchment Area Study. Severe headaches were significantly associated with developing suicidal thoughts/behaviors after adjusting for psychiatric diagnoses and demographics [adjusted odds ratio (ORa) = 1.48; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.04, 2.11], or additionally adjusting for interaction between anxiety and depression (ORa = 1.52; 95% CI = 1.07, 2.16). These results suggest that individuals with severe headaches should be screened for suicidal thoughts/behaviors, irrespective of the presence of a psychiatric condition.
On the DoF of co-existing 2×2 X channel and 2×2 interference channel

We investigate the degrees of freedom (DoF) of coexisting 2 × 2 X channel and 2 × 2 interference channel with single antenna at each node. Asymptotic interference alignment approach is used to obtain the lower bound on the DoF: (n+1)<sup>5</sup>+3n<sup>5</sup>/(n+1)<sup>5</sup>+n<sup>5</sup> based on symbol extension model. This bound will be tight when n tends to infinity, i.e., the limit 2 of lower bound on DoF will meet the upper bound.