Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Good midterm results of hip arthroscopy for femoroacetabular impingement.

INTRODUCTION Short-term outcome after hip arthroscopy for femoroacetabular impingement (FAI) has been reported to improve hip function and decrease pain. Only few midterm and long-term studies have been published. The objective of this study was to report midterm results in a consecutive cohort and to study the relation between cartilage lesions and the conversion rate to total hip arthroplasty (THA). METHODS Eighty-four FAI patients were followed retrospectively for 6-8 years. The conversion rate to THA, the peri-operative findings and the patient-reported outcome measures were reported. RESULTS Fifteen of 84 (18%) patients were converted to THA. The five-year hip survival rate was 83.9% (confidence interval (CI): 75.1-91.5%). The THA group was significantly older, with a mean age of 46.9 years (CI: 42.8-50.8 years) compared with 39.0 years (CI: 36.6-41.6 years) in the non-THA group (p = 0.011). In the THA group, 13 of 15 patients were 40 years or older (p = 0.005). A high-grade acetabular or femoral cartilage lesion was associated with a higher risk of conversion to THA (p = 0.017 and p < 0.0001). Sixty-four of the 69 patients (93%) were willing to repeat their arthroscopy. CONCLUSIONS The midterm results for arthroscopic hip-preserving surgery show a high level of patient satisfaction and a good functional outcome. The conversion rate to THA was 18%. High-grade cartilage lesions and age of 40 years and older are risk factors for conversion to THA. FUNDING This work was supported by Aleris' Research Foundation, Box 47134, 100 74 Stockholm, Sweden. Registration number: 2014-24. TRIAL REGISTRATION not relevant.
Price Dispersion in Mortgage Markets

type="main"> Using transaction-level data on Canadian mortgage contracts, we document an increase in the average discount negotiated off the posted price and in rate dispersion. Our aim is to identify the beneficiaries of discounting and to test whether dispersion is caused by price discrimination. The standard explanation for dispersion in credit markets is risk-based pricing. Our contracts are guaranteed by government-backed insurance, so risk cannot be the main factor. We find that lenders set prices that reflect consumer bargaining leverage, not just costs. The presence of dispersion implies a lack of competition, but our results show this to be consumer specific.
Financial Development and Economic Growth Nexus: Evidence from Ethiopia (Johnson Approach to Co-Integration)

: The main objective of the study was to examine empirically the nexus between banking sector development proxy by interest rate margin and economic growth in Ethiopia over the period 1975-2011.The Johnson approach to Co-integration and Error Correction Model are employed to investigate the long run and short run impact of financial development on economic growth. The test for Co-integration showed a linear long run relationship between real GDP per capita, interest rate margin, education (human capital), physical capital stock, and labor force. The estimated long run model revealed interest rate margin, physical capital stock, and labor growth remained significant variables. Moreover, net interstate margin is positively related to economic growth. This implies that economic growth becomes slow when transaction costs higher and a small share of savings is flow in to investment due to the inefficiency of the bank sector development. The short run, coefficient of error correction term is -0.2461 signifying about 24.61 percent annual adjustment towards long run equilibrium which is guaranteed the occurrence of a stable long run relationship among the variables. Moreover, the estimated short-run model confirmed that interest rate margin is significantly and negatively related to economic growth. This finding is consistent with theory, which advocates that economic growth will get faster when transaction costs get lower and a large share of savings is flowed in to investment. The above results have an important policy implication since most of the earlier studies measured the financial sector development using financial depth (size) which is not necessarily represent the development of financial sector due to its correlation with economic growth. The measurement of bank sector development by interest rate margin exposed Ethiopian bank sector needs further improvements to convey efficiency and competition among commercial banks. Hence, policy makers require reviewing the legal and institutional frameworks which creates financial repression and hinder financial sector efficiency.
How Do the Hospital Prices Paid by Medicare Advantage Plans and Commercial Plans Compare With Medicare Fee-for-Service Prices?

The prices that private insurers pay hospitals have received considerable attention in recent years, but most of that literature has focused on the commercially insured population. Although nearly one-third of Medicare beneficiaries are enrolled in a Medicare Advantage (MA) plan, little is known about the prices paid to hospitals by the private insurers that administer such plans. More information on the hospital prices paid by MA plans would provide additional insights into whether MA prices are more closely tied to Medicare fee-for-service (FFS) prices or commercial prices. Moreover, information on whether the hospital prices paid by MA plans vary with market characteristics or other factors would be useful for evaluating the performance of the MA program and analyzing proposals to modify it. In this study, we compared the hospital prices paid by MA plans and commercial plans with Medicare FFS prices using 2013 claims from the Health Care Cost Institute (HCCI) database. The HCCI claims were used to calculate hospital prices for private insurers, and Medicare’s payment rules were used to estimate Medicare FFS prices. We focused on stays at acute care hospitals in metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs). We found MA prices to be roughly equal to Medicare FFS prices, on average, but commercial prices were 89% higher than FFS prices. In addition, commercial prices varied greatly across and within MSAs, but MA prices varied much less.
Improvement in upper-limb UPDRS motor scores following fast-paced arm exercise: A pilot study

Background: The symptoms of patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) have been shown to improve when they perform fast-paced rhythmic cycling movements with their lower limbs. Objective: Our goal in this pilot experiment was to test the feasibility and the benefits of a short exercise program involving fast-paced rhythmic movements of the upper limb for patients with PD. Methods: We used an experimental procedure that elicits large, fast-paced movements by the participants without the direct instructions to do so by the experimenter. Ten participants with PD (71.0±6.5 years old) performed a 50-min fast-paced rhythmic exercise of the upper limb after withdrawal from PD medication for at least 12 hours. Results: Participants improved their kinematic performance, in terms of accuracy and combined speed and amplitude (p < 0.02), as well as their upper-limb MDS-UPDRS motor scores (p = 0.023). Conclusions: The results demonstrate the feasibility of using the described apparatus to perform an exercise session of approximately 50 min with both arms, and give a preliminary indication of the potential benefit of such an exercise program.
R-spondin1/Wnt-enhanced Ascl2 autoregulation controls the self-renewal of colorectal cancer progenitor cells

ABSTRACT The Wnt signaling pathway controls stem cell identity in the intestinal epithelium and cancer stem cells (CSCs). The transcription factor Ascl2 (Wnt target gene) is fate decider of intestinal cryptic stem cells and colon cancer stem cells. It is unclear how Wnt signaling is translated into Ascl2 expression and keeping the self-renewal of CRC progenitor cells. We showed that the exogenous Ascl2 in colorectal cancer (CRC) cells activated the endogenous Ascl2 expression via a direct autoactivatory loop, including Ascl2 binding to its own promoter and further transcriptional activation. Higher Ascl2 expression in human CRC cancerous tissues led to greater enrichment in Ascl2 immunoprecipitated DNA within the Ascl2 promoter in the CRC cancerous sample than the peri-cancerous mucosa. Ascl2 binding to its own promoter and inducing further transcriptional activation of the Ascl2 gene was predominant in the CD133+CD44+ CRC population. R-spondin1/Wnt activated Ascl2 expression dose-dependently in the CD133+CD44+ CRC population, but not in the CD133−CD44− CRC population, which was caused by differences in Ascl2 autoregulation under R-spondin1/Wnt activation. R-spondin1/Wnt treatment in the CD133+CD44+ or CRC CD133−CD44− populations exerted a different pattern of stemness maintenance, which was defined by alterations of the mRNA levels of stemness-associated genes, the protein expression levels (Bmi1, C-myc, Oct-4 and Nanog) and tumorsphere formation. The results indicated that Ascl2 autoregulation formed a transcriptional switch that was enhanced by Wnt signaling in the CD133+CD44+ CRC population, thus conferring their self-renewal.
Wzx flippases exhibiting complex O‐unit preferences require a new model for Wzx–substrate interactions

The Wzx flippase is a critical component of the O‐antigen biosynthesis pathway, being responsible for the translocation of oligosaccharide O units across the inner membrane in Gram‐negative bacteria. Recent studies have shown that Wzx has a strong preference for its cognate O unit, but the types of O‐unit structural variance that a given Wzx can accommodate are poorly understood. In this study, we identified two Yersinia pseudotuberculosis Wzx that can distinguish between different terminal dideoxyhexose sugars on a common O‐unit main‐chain, despite both being able to translocate several other structurally‐divergent O units. We also identified other Y. pseudotuberculosis Wzx that can translocate a structurally divergent foreign O unit with high efficiency, and thus exhibit an apparently relaxed substrate preference. It now appears that Wzx substrate preference is more complex than previously suggested, and that not all O‐unit residues are equally important determinants of translocation efficiency. We propose a new “Structure‐Specific Triggering” model in which Wzx translocation proceeds at a low level for a wide variety of substrates, with high‐frequency translocation only being triggered by Wzx interacting with one or more preferred O‐unit structural elements found on its cognate O unit(s).
Comparative Genomics of Lactobacillus acidipiscis ACA-DC 1533 Isolated From Traditional Greek Kopanisti Cheese Against Species Within the Lactobacillus salivarius Clade

Lactobacillus acidipiscis belongs to the Lactobacillus salivarius clade and it is found in a variety of fermented foods. Strain ACA-DC 1533 was isolated from traditional Greek Kopanisti cheese and among the available L. acidipiscis genomes it is the only one with a fully sequenced chromosome. L. acidipiscis strains exhibited a high degree of conservation at the genome level. Investigation of the distribution of prophages and Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPRs) among the three strains suggests the potential existence of lineages within the species. Based on the presence/absence patterns of these genomic traits, strain ACA-DC 1533 seems to be more related to strain JCM 10692T than strain KCTC 13900. Interestingly, strains ACA-DC 1533 and JCM 10692T which lack CRISPRs, carry two similar prophages. In contrast, strain KCTC 13900 seems to have acquired immunity to these prophages according to the sequences of spacers in its CRISPRs. Nonetheless, strain KCTC 13900 has a prophage that is absent from strains ACA-DC 1533 and JCM 10692T. Furthermore, comparative genomic analysis was performed among L. acidipiscis ACA-DC 1533, L. salivarius UCC118 and Lactobacillus ruminis ATCC 27782. The chromosomes of the three species lack long-range synteny. Important differences were also determined in the number of glycobiome related proteins, proteolytic enzymes, transporters, insertion sequences and regulatory proteins. Moreover, no obvious genomic traits supporting a probiotic potential of L. acidipiscis ACA-DC 1533 were detected when compared to the probiotic L. salivarius UCC118. However, the existence of more than one glycine-betaine transporter within the genome of ACA-DC 1533 may explain the ability of L. acidipiscis to grow in fermented foods containing high salt concentrations. Finally, in silico analysis of the L. acidipiscis ACA-DC 1533 genome revealed pathways that could underpin the production of major volatile compounds during the catabolism of amino acids that may contribute to the typical piquant flavors of Kopanisti cheese.
Rethinking the Puzzle of Escalating Penalties for Repeat Offenders

II. DECLINING PENALTIES FOR REPEAT OFFENDERS AS "OPTIMAL" DETERRENTS: THE SIGNIFICANCE OF ESCALATING PROBABILITIES OF D ETECTION . 739 A. Optimal Deterrence as an Evaluative Baseline . 740 B. Escalation in Probabilities of Detection . 742 1. Linking Known Violations to Unknown Perpetrators . 744 2. Detecting Unknown Violations . 746 C. Objections to the Empirical Claim Regarding Probabilities of D etection . 750 D. The Significance of Escalating Probabilities of Detection for Optim al Penalty Levels . 754 1. Conserving Enforcement Costs . 755 2. Avoiding M istakes . 757
Acoustic and Seismic Fields of Hydraulic Jumps at Varying Froude Numbers

Mechanisms that produce seismic and acoustic wavefields near rivers are poorly understood because of a lack of observations relating temporally dependent river conditions to the near‐river seismoacoustic fields. This controlled study at the Harry W. Morrison Dam (HWMD) on the Boise River, Idaho, explores how temporal variation in fluvial systems affects surrounding acoustic and seismic fields. Adjusting the configuration of the HWMD changed the river bathymetry and therefore the form of the standing wave below the dam. The HWMD was adjusted to generate four distinct wave regimes that were parameterized through their dimensionless Froude numbers (Fr) and observations of the ambient seismic and acoustic wavefields at the study site. To generate detectable and coherent signals, a standing wave must exceed a threshold Fr value of 1.7, where a nonbreaking undular jump turns into a breaking weak hydraulic jump. Hydrodynamic processes may partially control the spectral content of the seismic and acoustic energies. Furthermore, spectra related to reproducible wave conditions can be used to calibrate and verify fluvial seismic and acoustic models.
Post extractive implant: evaluation of the critical aspects.

Purpose Nowadays, implant supported prosthetic rehabilitation is a reliable procedure to replace compromised or untreatable teeth. The purpose of this review is to explore the concept of post extractive implant and the indications for clinical practice through an analysis of recent studies in the literature. All the main factors that could influence the outcome of this treatment will also be considered. Materials and methods Focusing on the extraction-socket healing time, three different implant insertion protocols have been defined: Immediate implant placement (IIP), Early implant placement (EIP), Delayed implant placement (DIP). The entity of bone remodeling can be associated with different factors: three dimensional implant position, presence/absence of platform switching, absence of facial bony wall, inter implant/tooth distance. Results All the studies in literature agreed that implant primary stability is the main condition for a successful osseointegration of dental implants. Primary implant stability is influenced by many factors including local bone quality and quantity, implant macro-design, soft tissue conditions and rehabilitation, surgical technique, prosthetic load timing, oral hygiene. Conclusions There is insufficient evidence in literature to determine possible advantages or disadvantages of IIP, EIP or DIP. Studies suggest that IIP and EIP may be at higher risks of implant failures and complications than delayed implants; on the other hand the aesthetic outcome might be better when placing implants just after teeth extraction.
Flexible Load Balancing with Multi-dimensional State-space Collapse

Heavy traffic delay analysis for load balancing policies has relied heavily on a condition called state-space collapse onto a single-dimensional line. In this paper, via Lyapunov driftbased method, we rigorously prove that even under a multidimensional state-space collapse, steady-state heavy-traffic delay optimality can still be achieved for a general load balancing system. This result directly implies that achieving steady-state heavy-traffic delay optimality simply requires that no server is kept idling while others are busy at heavy loads, thus complementing and extending the result obtained by diffusion approximations. Further, we explore the greater flexibility provided by allowing a multidimensional state-space collapse in designing new load balancing policies that are both throughput optimal and heavytraffic delay optimal in steady state.
Quantitative Methods for Decision Making Using Excel

Quantitative Methods for Decision Making is a comprehensive guide that provides students with the key techniques and methodology they will need to successfully engage with all aspects of quantitative analysis and decision making; both on their undergraduate course, and in the larger context of their future business environments. Organized in accordance with the enterprise functional structure where the decision making takes place, the textbook encompasses a broad range of functions, each detailed with clear examples illustrated through the single application tool Microsoft Excel. The authors approach a range of methods which are divided into major enterprise functions such as marketing, sales, business development, manufacturing, quality control and finance; illustrating how the methods can be applied in practice and translated into a working environment. Each chapter is packed with short case studies to exemplify the practical use of techniques, and contains a wealth of exercises after key sections and concepts, giving students the opportunity to monitor their own progress using the solutions at the back of the book. An Online Resource Centre accompanies the text and includes: For students: - Numerical skills workbook with additional exercises, questions and content - Data from the examples and exercises in the book - Online glossary of terms - Revision tips - Visual walkthrough videos covering the application of a range of quantitative methods - Appendices to the book For lecturers: - Instructor's manual including solutions from the text and a guide to structuring lectures and seminars - PowerPoint presentations - Test bank with questions for each chapter - Suggested assignment and examination questions Contributors to this volume - Martyn Jarvis, Senior Lecturer in Quantitative Methods, School of Law, Accounting and Finance, Faculty of Business and Society, University of Glamorgan David Ward, PhD, Technical-Managerial consultant specialising in Innovation, Engineering Design, Strategy and Applied Quantitative Methods in the private and public sectors. David Whigham, M.A. M.Phil.
Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus and bat coronavirus HKU9 both can utilize GRP78 for attachment onto host cells

Coronavirus tropism is predominantly determined by the interaction between coronavirus spikes and the host receptors. In this regard, coronaviruses have evolved a complicated receptor-recognition system through their spike proteins. Spikes from highly related coronaviruses can recognize distinct receptors, whereas spikes of distant coronaviruses can employ the same cell-surface molecule for entry. Moreover, coronavirus spikes can recognize a broad range of cell-surface molecules in addition to the receptors and thereby can augment coronavirus attachment or entry. The receptor of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) is dipeptidyl peptidase 4 (DPP4). In this study, we identified membrane-associated 78-kDa glucose-regulated protein (GRP78) as an additional binding target of the MERS-CoV spike. Further analyses indicated that GRP78 could not independently render nonpermissive cells susceptible to MERS-CoV infection but could facilitate MERS-CoV entry into permissive cells by augmenting virus attachment. More importantly, by exploring potential interactions between GRP78 and spikes of other coronaviruses, we discovered that the highly conserved human GRP78 could interact with the spike protein of bat coronavirus HKU9 (bCoV-HKU9) and facilitate its attachment to the host cell surface. Taken together, our study has identified GRP78 as a host factor that can interact with the spike proteins of two Betacoronaviruses, the lineage C MERS-CoV and the lineage D bCoV-HKU9. The capacity of GRP78 to facilitate surface attachment of both a human coronavirus and a phylogenetically related bat coronavirus exemplifies the need for continuous surveillance of the evolution of animal coronaviruses to monitor their potential for human adaptations.
Intergenerational effects of endocrine-disrupting compounds: a review of the Michigan polybrominated biphenyl registry

Endocrine-disrupting compounds (EDCs) are a broad class of chemicals present in many residential products that can disrupt hormone signaling and cause health problems in humans. Multigenerational cohorts, like the Michigan polybrominated biphenyl registry, are ideal for studying the effects of intergenerational exposure. Registry participants report hormone-related health problems, particularly in those exposed before puberty or those in the second generation exposed through placental transfer or breastfeeding. However, more research is needed to determine how EDCs cause health problems and the mechanisms underlying intergenerational exposure. Utilizing existing data in this registry, along with genetic and epigenetic approaches, could provide insight to how EDCs cause human disease and help to determine the risk to exposed populations and future generations.
DeepFirearm: Learning Discriminative Feature Representation for Fine-grained Firearm Retrieval

There are great demands for automatically regulating inappropriate appearance of shocking firearm images in social media or identifying firearm types in forensics. Image retrieval techniques have great potential to solve these problems. To facilitate research in this area, we introduce Firearm 14k, a large dataset consisting of over 14,000 images in 167 categories. It can be used for both fine-grained recognition and retrieval of firearm images. Recent advances in image retrieval are mainly driven by fine-tuning state-of-the-art convolutional neural networks for retrieval task. The conventional single margin contrastive loss, known for its simplicity and good performance, has been widely used. We find that it performs poorly on the Firearm 14k dataset due to: (1) Loss contributed by positive and negative image pairs is unbalanced during training process. (2) A huge domain gap exists between this dataset and ImageNet. We propose to deal with the unbalanced loss by employing a double margin contrastive loss. We tackle the domain gap issue with a two-stage training strategy, where we first fine-tune the network for classification, and then fine-tune it for retrieval. Experimental results show that our approach outperforms the conventional single margin approach by a large margin (up to 88.5% relative improvement) and even surpasses the strong triplet-loss-based approach.