Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An assessment of the quality of data on health and nutrition in the DHS surveys, 1993-2003

MEASURE DHS assists countries worldwide in the collection and use of data to monitor and evaluate population, health, and nutrition programs. Additional information about the MEASURE DHS project can be obtained by contacting The main objectives of the MEASURE DHS project are: to provide decisionmakers in survey countries with information useful for informed policy choices; to expand the international population and health database; to advance survey methodology; and to develop in participating countries the skills and resources necessary to conduct high-quality demographic and health surveys. This study was carried out with support provided by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) through the MEASURE DHS project (#GPO-C-00-03-00002-00). The views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government. Table 1.3 Percentage distributions of the six covariates used to assess possible bias in missing data, given separately for children and mothers, with equal weight Table 2.1 Surveys in which 2 percent or more of weighted responses to questions about antenatal care or tetanus toxoid injection are missing, all DHS surveys 1993-Table 2.4 Surveys in which 2 percent or more of cases are missing a valid duration of postpartum amenorrhea, after removing cases with ―period not returned,‖ all DHS surveys 1993-2003 that included these questions, except Cote d'Ivoire Table 2.5 Surveys in which 2 percent or more of cases are missing a valid duration of postpartum abstinence, after removing cases that are still abstaining, all DHS surveys 1993-2003 that included these questions, except Cote d'Ivoire Table 2.6 Frequency distributions (unweighted) of the reported durations of postpartum amenorrhea (m6) and sexual abstinence (m8) in Burkina Faso 1998/99 and Guinea 1999, the two surveys with the highest levels of heaping on these variables . Table 3.1 Surveys in which 4.0 percent or more of weighted responses to questions about diarrhea, fever, cough, or treatment for any of these is coded ―don't know‖ or ―not stated,‖ all DHS surveys 1993-2003 that included these questions.
Low incidence of perineal hernia repair after abdominoperineal resection for rectal cancer.

INTRODUCTION Perineal hernia may be a long-term complication to conventional abdominoperineal resection or proctocolectomy. We analysed the incidence of post-operative perineal hernia repair and described patient-reported outcome measures (PROMS) after perineal hernia repair. METHODS This was a nationwide retrospective analysis of consecutive Danish patients undergoing conventional abdominoperineal resection or proctocolectomy for rectal cancer from 1 January 2004 to 31 December 2014 combined with patients undergoing a subsequent repair for a perineal hernia during the follow-up period from 1 January 2004 to 31 December 2016. Patients were sent a quality of life questionnaire (HerQles A) and related PROMS. RESULTS The incidence of perineal hernia repair was 0.83%. A total of 2,170 patients underwent proctocolectomy and conventional abdominoperineal resection, and 18 patients had a subsequent perineal hernia repair. Four patients developed a clinical hernia recurrence, another four patients reported moderate/severe perineal pain or heaviness during physical activity and complained of poor perception of health, and one patient reported that the perineal hernia repair had a negative impact on sexual function. CONCLUSIONS The incidence of perineal hernia repair was below 1% after conventional abdominoperineal resection and proctocolectomy. PROMS and risk of recurrence may benefit from centralising perineal hernia repair. FUNDING none. TRIAL REGISTRATION not relevant.
Detection of BCL2-IGH Using Single-Round PCR Assays

The translocation t(14;18) resulting in fusion of the BCL2 and the immunoglobulin heavy chain genes (BCL2-IGH) is present in 80% to 90% of follicular lymphomas and 20% to 30% of diffuse large B-cell lymphomas. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis for the translocation products suffers from low analytic specificity. As a result, either nested PCR or probe hybridization is required to aid in the identification of the specific translocation products. These added procedures are undesirable in clinical laboratories because nested procedures increase the possibility of contamination and probe hybridization increases assay turnaround time. To simplify the BCL2-IGH assay procedure, we attempted to eliminate the nonspecific PCR products by optimizing the annealing temperatures of the PCR assays using a gradient thermocycler. We showed that gradually increasing the annealing temperature from 55°C to 67°C significantly enhanced the intensity of the specific PCR products while eliminating the nonspecific ones. We compared the simplified procedure with a PCR-probe hybridization method on 68 patient specimens. The simplified procedure had increased analytic and diagnostic specificities with comparable sensitivities. With significantly improved analytic specificity, one round of PCR is sufficient to detect the BCL2-IGH gene rearrangements without further confirmation.
Pulmonary activity on labelled leukocyte images: patterns of uptake and their significance

The objective of this study was to characterize, and determine the significance of, pulmonary activity on labelled leukocyte images. This retrospective review included 137 immunocompetent patients who had undergone 111In labelled autologous leukocyte chest imaging and chest X-ray within 7 days. Pulmonary activity was classified as normal, focally increased, or diffusely increased. Images were correlated with chest X-rays and final diagnoses. One hundred and twelve patients (82%) had normal pulmonary activity. Seventy-six had normal chest X-rays; none had pulmonary infection. Thirty-six patients had chest X-ray abnormalities; only one had pulmonary infection. Twenty-five patients had abnormal pulmonary activity. In 13 patients it was segmental or lobar in distribution. The chest X-ray was abnormal in 12: pneumonia (11) and cystic fibrosis (one). The chest X-ray was normal in one patient with pneumonia. Two patients with non-segmental pulmonary activity did not have pulmonary infection. The chest X-ray was abnormal in one (pulmonary edema) and normal in one (sepsis). Ten patients had diffuse pulmonary activity. Chest X-ray was abnormal in two patients: adult respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) (one) and drug toxicity (one). No patient with diffuse pulmonary activity had pulmonary infection. In summary, negative labelled leukocyte imaging excludes pulmonary infection with a high degree of certainty (the negative predictive value was 99% in this series), and can exclude pneumonia as the cause of a chest X-ray abnormality. Focal pulmonary activity strongly suggests pneumonia, while diffuse pulmonary activity is unlikely to indicate infection.
The comparative study on therapeutic effects of intravenous alteplase thrombolysis , intravenous urokinase thrombolysis and interventional urokinase thrombolysis for acute ischemic stroke

Objective: To compare the therapeutic effects of intravenous alteplase thrombolysis, intravenous urokinase thrombolysis and interventional urokinase thrombolysis for acute ischemic stroke. Methods: One hundred and twenty patients of acute ischemic stroke who were treated in our hospital from January 2015 to January 2017 were selected and separated into intravenous alteplase thrombolytic treatment group (Group A, n=40), intravenous urokinase thrombolytic treatment group (Group B, n=40) and interventional urokinase thrombolytic treatment group (Group C, n=40), according to the random number table method. The National Institutes of Health Strike Scale (NIHSS) scores, clinical efficacy, adverse reactions, long-term therapeutic effects of the patients in three groups were statistically analyzed. Results: The differences of NIHSS scores before and after treatment among the three groups were not statistically significant (P=0.125 and P=0.230 respectively); the total effective rates of the three groups were 97.5% (39/40), 95% (38/40), 92.5% (37/40) respectively, the differences of which were not significant in statistics (F=2.77, P=0.223>0.05). The adverse reaction rates of the three groups were 7.5% (3/40), 10% (4/40), 12.5% (5/40) respectively and there were no significant differences (F=4.11, P=0.256>0.05); The differences of recanalization rates, good prognosis rates, mortality rates among the three groups had no statistical significance (F=0.32, 0.45, 0.41, P=0.421, 0.467, 0.362>0.05). Conclusion: Intravenous alteplase thrombolysis, intravenous urokinase thrombolysis and interventional urokinase thrombolysis for acute ischemic stroke have equivalent therapeutic effects.
SCRAPPER Selectively Contributes to Spontaneous Release and Presynaptic Long-Term Potentiation in the Anterior Cingulate Cortex

SCRAPPER is an E3 ubiquitin ligase expressed in presynaptic terminals, neural cell body, and dendrites of the hippocampus and cortex, which is coded by the FBXL20 gene. SCRAPPER is known to regulate synaptic transmissions and long-term potentiation (LTP) in the hippocampus, but no report is available for the cortex. Here we show genetic evidence for critical roles of SCRAPPER in excitatory transmission and presynaptic LTP (pre-LTP) of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), a critical cortical region for pain, anxiety, and fear. Miniature and spontaneous releases, but not evoked release, of glutamate were significantly increased in SCRAPPER knock-out (SCR-KO) mice. Interestingly, SCRAPPER selectively contributes to the increases of frequency and amplitude. The pre-LTP in the ACC was completely blocked in SCR-KO mice. Our results thus provide direct evidence for SCRAPPER in both spontaneous release and pre-LTP in the ACC and reveal a potential novel target for treating anxiety-related disease. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) plays critical roles in pain, anxiety, and fear. Peripheral injury induces long-term changes in synaptic transmission in the ACC. Our recent study found that a presynaptic form of LTP (pre-LTP) in the ACC contributes to chronic pain-induced anxiety. Here, we show that SCRAPPER plays a critical role in ACC pre-LTP as well as synaptic transmission.
Maximal levator resection in unilateral congenital ptosis with poor levator function

Background/aims Surgical treatments for the correction of congenital ptosis with poor levator function, including frontalis suspension or maximal levator resection, remain controversial. We evaluated the postoperative surgical and cosmetic outcomes after maximal levator resection for unilateral congenital ptosis with poor levator function. Methods A retrospective, interventional case series was performed. A total of 243 patients with 243 eyelids (210 unilateral and 33 bilateral asymmetric ptosis) who underwent unilateral maximal levator resection were included. The surgical results were graded as excellent, good and poor and postoperative complications were documented. Results The mean age at the time of surgery was 8.8±9.7 years (range, 2–58 years) with mean follow-up time of 40.9±38.9 months (range, 3 months to 18.9 years). Satisfactory results (excellent or good result) were obtained in 93.0% of the patients. Patients were divided into two groups based on levator function as follows: 0–2 mm (80 cases) and 2.5–4.0 mm (163 cases). Factors such as preoperative levator function, margin reflex distance-1 and levator dehiscence were not correlated with postoperative surgical outcomes. Complications included exposure keratopathy (11.1%), lid crease asymmetry (8.2%), entropion (8.2%), overcorrection (3.3%), eyelash ptosis (3.7%), temporal eyelid droop (3.3%), suture abscess (0.8%) and conjunctival prolapse (0.8%). Conclusions Maximal levator resection is an effective procedure for congenital ptosis even in patients with poor levator function, which provides improved cosmesis, a more natural lid contour, and avoids brow scars.
Estimation of Strain Elastography from Ultrasound Radio-Frequency Data by Utilizing Analytic Gradient of the Similarity Metric

Most strain imaging techniques follow a pipeline strategy: in the first step, tissue displacement is estimated from radio-frequency (RF) frames, and in the second step, a spatial derivative operation is applied. There are two main issues that arise from this framework. First, the gradient operation amplifies noise, and therefore, smoothing techniques have to be adopted. Second, strain estimation does not exploit the original RF data. It rather relies solely on the noisy displacement field. In this paper, a novel technique is proposed that utilizes both the displacement field and the RF frames to accurately obtain the strain estimates. The normalized cross correlation (NCC) metric between two corresponding windows around the samples of the pre- and post-compressed images is employed to generate a dissimilarity measurement. The derivative of NCC with respect to the strain is analytically derived using the chain rule. This allows an efficient minimization of the dissimilarity metric with respect to the strain using the gradient descent optimization technique. The effectiveness of the proposed method is investigated through simulation data, phantom experiments, and in vivo patient data. The experimental results show that exploiting the information in RF data significantly improves the strain estimates.
Driven Analysis and Trend Forecasting Changes in Grain Production in Gansu Province

In this paper,select the major grain-producing province of the northwest China-Gansu province as the study area.It explores the impacts that affect the regional grain production,by choosing socio-economic statistics from 1949 to 2011,based on quantitative and qualitative analysis to the grain dynamic changes in 63 years.After that,GM(1,1) prediction model was established depend on the data about grain production of Gansu province in the past 34 years.Then the paper carried out the simulation and prediction in medium and long-term on food production of Gansu province in the next ten years(2012-2021). The results provide a scientific basis for relevant grain production departments of Gansu province.The research show that,(1) From 1949 to 2011,the characteristics of the dynamic change about the grain production in Gansu province mainly performance in three aspects.Firstly,it displayed a significantly fluctuated growth in grain production but the fluctuations in grain production in recent years has slowed down;secondly,the curve line of total grain production,the changing trends of per capita food production and grain yield per unit area are basically alike;Finally,there was typical oscillation such as 38a,23a and 15a in grain production variation in Gansu Province on a time scale of 63 years since the founding of our motherland,particularly,the 38a and 23a oscillation dominated. (2)Four major components of the impacts on food production are socio-economic development level,such as the total power of agricultural machinery and effective irrigated area. (3) Grain production will keep the sound development momentum from 2012 to 2021 through the forecasting results.
Prevalence of Hypertension and Association of Dietary Mineral Intake with Blood Pressure in Healthy Schoolchildren from Northern Greece Aged 7–15 Years

Background and Aims: Pediatric hypertension is urgently increasing in Greece. The purpose of this study is to record the prevalence of hypertension in schoolchildren and to relate dietary minerals to blood pressure (BP). Methods and Results: 308 males and 298 females, aged 7–15 years, from 10 schools in Northern Greece participated in the study. BP and dietary minerals were measured in all children. Twenty-seven and 12.3% of boys and 21.2 and 15.1% of girls were diagnosed with prehypertension systolic BP and systolic hypertension, respectively. For diastolic BP, 19 and 13.3% of boys and 21.5 and 15.1% of girls were diagnosed with prehypertension diastolic BP and diastolic hypertension, respectively. Systolic BP was significantly positively associated with age (β: 0.283, 95% CI: 1.440–2.484, p < 0.001), BMI (β: 0.267, 95% CI: 0.830–1.489, p < 0.001) and potassium (β: 0.139, 95% CI: 0.001–0.005, p < 0.001) and negatively related to Ca (β: –0.160, 95% CI: –0.012 to 0.002, p = 0.007). Diastolic BP was positively related only to BMI (β: 0.194, 95% CI: 0.380–0.968, p < 0.001). Conclusion: The current study tried to estimate the prevalence of hypertension among children in Northern Greece. Early prevention through nutrition education programs on BP that include diet and exercise modifications is urgently needed in order to avoid certain chronic risk factors in early life.
Biofuel Mandating and the Green Paradox

The theory on the green paradox has focused primarily on the consumption of a clean substitute produced using a static technology. In reality, we observe the gradual accumulation of the clean substitute’s capacity, suggesting that supply decisions for the clean substitute and finite carbon resource should both be treated as dynamic. This paper shows that when climate policy is preannounced, and with simultaneous consumption of a finite carbon resource and a clean substitute, myopia in the supply of the latter leads to the green paradox. When clean substitute producers can accumulate capacity and are forward looking, the green paradox may or may not arise, however. In this setting, its occurrence depends on both the size of the discount rate and the remaining stock of carbon resource. These and other drivers of the green paradox are investigated in a multi-producer game-theoretic model calibrated to real-world global oil market data. The timing of mandating policy is shown to be the single most important variable for mitigating the green paradox. Moreover, for EU-2020 and US-2022 style biofuel mandating targets, a rather robust 0.3% decline in production is observed during the premandate phase, suggesting that concerns over the green paradox may be seriously overstated.
Ethanolic fermentation in transgenic tobacco expressing Zymomonas mobilis pyruvate decarboxylase.

During oxygen limitation in higher plants, energy metabolism switches from respiration to fermentation. As part of this anaerobic response the expression of genes encoding pyruvate decarboxylase (PDC) and alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) is strongly induced. In addition there is ample evidence for post‐translational regulation. In order to understand this multi‐level regulation of the anaerobic response, we provided tobacco with the constitutive capacity of ethanolic fermentation by expressing a PDC gene derived from the obligate anaerobe Zymomonas mobilis. The protein accumulated to high levels and was active in an in vitro assay. During the first 2‐4 h of anoxia, acetaldehyde accumulated to 10‐ to 35‐fold and ethanol to 8‐ to 20‐fold higher levels than in wild‐type. Under normoxic conditions no accumulation of acetaldehyde and ethanol could be measured. Instead, the two products may be immediately re‐metabolized in tobacco leaf tissue. We show that aerobic fermentation takes place when the respiratory system is inhibited. Although these conditions enhance ethanolic fermentation under normoxia, they fail to increase ADH transcript levels. These results indicate that anaerobic transcription is triggered not by the metabolic consequences of oxygen limitation, but directly through an oxygen‐sensing system.
Catecholamine neurones in rats modulate sleep, breathing, central chemoreception and breathing variability

Brainstem catecholamine (CA) neurones have wide projections and an arousal‐state‐dependent activity pattern. They are thought to modulate the processing of sensory information and also participate in the control of breathing. Mice with lethal genetic defects that include CA neurones have abnormal respiratory control at birth. Also the A6 region (locus coeruleus), which contains CA neurones sensitive to CO2in vitro, is one of many putative central chemoreceptor sites. We studied the role of CA neurones in the control of breathing during sleep and wakefulness by specifically lesioning them with antidopamine β‐hydroxylase–saporin (DBH‐SAP) injected via the 4th ventricle. After 3 weeks there was a 73–84% loss of A5, A6 and A7 tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) immunoreactive (ir) neurones along with 56–60% loss of C1 and C2 phenyl ethanolamine‐N‐methyltransferase (PNMT)‐ir neurones. Over the 3 weeks, breathing frequency decreased significantly during air and 3 or 7% CO2 breathing in both wakefulness and non‐REM (NREM) sleep. The rats spent significantly less time awake and more time in NREM sleep. REM sleep time was unaffected. The ventilatory response to 7% CO2 was reduced significantly in wakefulness at 7, 14 and 21 days (−28%) and in NREM sleep at 14 and 21 days (−26%). Breathing variability increased in REM sleep but not in wakefulness or NREM sleep. We conclude that CA neurones (1) promote wakefulness, (2) participate in central respiratory chemoreception, (3) stimulate breathing frequency, and (4) minimize breathing variability in REM sleep.
Role of apoptosis in the regulation of virus‐induced T cell responses, immune suppression, and memory

Apoptosis is an important mechanism enabling the selection of the non‐self‐reactive T cell repertoire and for maintaining homeostasis in the immune system after it has expanded to combat infections. Highly activated, proliferating T cells become susceptible to apoptosis driven by a number of stimuli, and T cells activated during a viral infection become susceptible to “activation induced cell death” after repeated stimulation through the T cell receptor (TcR). This is a major mechanism for the immune deficiencies observed during many viral infections. During infections with a high antigen load this can lead to a selective deletion of virus‐specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) and to the establishment of persistent infection. More commonly, the CTL control the infection first, and high levels of apoptosis in the expanded lymphocyte population occur after antigen and growth factors become limiting. This cell death does not seem to depend on TcR specificity, as the residual population contains a remarkably stable population of memory CTL precursors that approximate the frequency per CD8 cell of that seen during the peak of the acute infection. Subsequent infections with heterologous viruses result in an expansion and then an apoptotic elimination of T cells, with the consequence being a reduction in precursor CTL specific for the first virus. Thus, apoptosis shapes the quality and quantity of T cell memory. © 1995 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
New Insights into the Amplitude of Random Telegraph Noise in Nanoscale MOS Devices

Amplitude distribution of random telegraph noise (RTN) in nanoscale CMOS technology is an open question, with both lognormal and exponential distributions widely reported in literatures. In this paper, we experimentally clarified the underlying reasons for the first time, and revealed that the trap coupling effect is the missing role behind the divergent measured results of RTN amplitude statistics. Based on the proposed new method, “clean” RTN data with and without coupling are successfully characterized. It is found that, with increasing of the coupling strength, the apparent distribution changes from exponential-like to lognormal-like; while the exact form is actually the two-stage lognormal distribution, originating from two categories of traps (located above the channel percolation paths or not). The results are essential for understanding of oxide trap coupling and modeling of RTN and are thus helpful for resilient circuit design against RTN in the future.