Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Stigma related to tuberculosis among patients attending DOTS clinics of Dharan municipality.

BACKGROUND The patients suffering from tuberculosis are receiving shame and unfair treatment from the people living around them within their own society attending DOTS clinic of Dharan municipality. OBJECTIVE To assess the stigma experienced by tuberculosis patients and to find out the association between stigma experienced by Tuberculosis patient and the selected variables (socio-demographic characteristics, clinical profile and illness experience). METHODS Descriptive Cross Sectional study was done among sixty tuberculosis patients. Stratified random sampling was used to select the main center and sub center of Tuberculosis treatment and population proportionate simple random sampling using lottery method was done. Data was collected using predesigned, pretested performa from Explanatory Model Interview Catalogue developed by World Health Organization. RESULTS The study revealed that 63.3% of the subjects were stigmatized. There was association between stigma and variables such as occupation, monthly family income and past history of Tuberculosis. There was also association of stigma with treatment phase, category of the patient and past outcome of illness. CONCLUSION Due to lack of knowledge and awareness about Tuberculosis, many patients were stigmatized. Efforts should be made to educate the public about Tuberculosis to reduce stigma experienced by Tuberculosis patients and improve the compliance of the patient.
Higher-Order Regularization in Computer Vision

At the core of many computer vision models lies the minimization of an objective function consisting of a sum of functions with few arguments. The order of the objective function is defined as the highest number of arguments of any summand. To reduce ambiguity and noise in the solution, regularization terms are included into the objective function, enforcing different properties of the solution. The most commonly used regularization is penalization of boundary length, which requires a second-order objective function. Most of this thesis is devoted to introducing higher-order regularization terms and presenting efficient minimization schemes. One of the topics of the thesis covers a reformulation of a large class of discrete functions into an equivalent form. The reformulation is shown, both in theory and practical experiments, to be advantageous for higher-order regularization models based on curvature and second-order derivatives. Another topic is the parametric max-flow problem. An analysis is given, showing its inherent limitations for large-scale problems which are common in computer vision. The thesis also introduces a segmentation approach for finding thin and elongated structures in 3D volumes. Using a line-graph formulation, it is shown how to efficiently regularize with respect to higher-order differential geometric properties such as curvature and torsion. Furthermore, an efficient optimization approach for a multi-region model is presented which, in addition to standard regularization, is able to enforce geometric constraints such as inclusion or exclusion of different regions. The final part of the thesis deals with dense stereo estimation. A new regularization model is introduced, penalizing the second-order derivatives of a depth or disparity map. Compared to previous second-order approaches to dense stereo estimation, the new regularization model is shown to be more easily optimized.
Evaluación de las actitudes hacia la discapacidad en educación física: Efecto diferencial del sexo, contacto previo y la percepción de habilidad y competencia

El objetivo del estudio es examinar las actitudes hacia la discapacidad de alumnos de Educacion Secundaria Obligatoria en Educacion Fisica, comparando las diferencias en funcion del sexo, de la edad, del contacto previo con personas con discapacidad y de la habilidad deportiva y competitividad percibida. Doscientos noventa y cuatro estudiantes de Educacion Secundaria Obligatoria de tres centros de Castilla – La Mancha (14,54 ± 1,31 anos) formaron parte de este estudio. Para el analisis de las actitudes hacia la discapacidad se utilizaron dos instrumentos: “The Attitudes towards Inclusion of Students with Disabilities in Physical Education” (AISDPE) (Reina, Hutzler, Iniguez-Santiago y Moreno-Murcia, 2016), y “Escala de Actitud hacia el Alumnado con Discapacidad en Educacion Fisica” (EAADEF) (Iniguez-Santiago, Ferriz, Martinez-Galindo, Cebrian-Sanchez y Reina, 2016). Los resultados muestran que contactos mas intimos o frecuentes relacionados con la inclusion (como tener un amigo/a o familiar con discapacidad o realizar deporte inclusivo) se relacionarian con una actitud mas positiva hacia la discapacidad, en contraposicion a los contactos mas superficiales o puntuales (compartir aula o clases de EF). Ademas, la habilidad y competitividad percibida se presentan como posibles variables mediadoras en el proceso de una potencial inclusion efectiva.
Comparative morphometric study of AgNORs in variants of ameloblastoma

Aims: To compare the area and number of AgNORs (silver stained nucleolar organizer regions) by morphometry between follicular and plexiform variants of ameloblastoma in order to analyze their cell proliferation rates. Materials and Methods: This retrospective study was carried out on 30 cases each of follicular and plexiform ameloblastoma. The sections were obtained and stained with silver staining technique to identify the nucleolar organizer regions. AgNORs were quantified using two parameters; manual tag for the number of AgNORs and area measurement using the image analyzer software, Image-Pro-Express. Results: Morphometric area measurements of AgNOR were significantly higher for Plexiform ameloblastoma (0.831μm2) than follicular ameloblastoma (0.528μm2). Enumeration of the number of AgNORs showed a significantly higher number of AgNOR for follicular ameloblastoma (1.71) than plexiform ameloblastoma (1.43). Among the groups studied, follicular ameloblastoma was more aggressive than plexiform ameloblastoma, as it showed smaller AgNOR area and higher AgNOR number. Conclusion: The combination of counting the number and measuring the area of AgNOR dots showed a significant overall difference between AgNOR profiles of follicular and plexiform variants of ameloblastoma.
A European view of diagnostic yield and appropriateness of colonoscopy.

BACKGROUND/AIMS This study's purpose was to examine the relationship between appropriateness criteria and diagnostic yield of colonoscopy. METHODOLOGY This observational study prospectively included consecutive patients referred for colonoscopy from 21 centers in 11 countries. Patient, center, and colonoscopy characteristics were collected. Significant diagnoses included cancer, adenomatous polyps, angiodysplasia, and new diagnoses of inflammatory bowel disease. Appropriateness criteria were developed by the European Panel on the Appropriateness of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (EPAGE) using the RAND Appropriateness Method. Determinants associated with a significant diagnosis were examined using multiple logistic regression. RESULTS 5,213 patients who underwent diagnostic colonoscopy were included in the study. There were 1,227 (24%) significant diagnoses made, including 218 (4%) cancers and 735 (14%) adenomatous polyps. Among patients who had a significant diagnosis, 53% had an appropriate indication, 25% had an uncertain indication and 22% had an inappropriate indication. Having an appropriate indication, increasing age, and male sex increased the odds of finding a significant diagnosis at colonoscopy. CONCLUSIONS Appropriateness criteria enhanced the detection of significant lesions, thereby demonstrating one way to enhance quality of care. However, appropriateness criteria will never perform better than the imperfect relationship between clinical symptoms and diagnostic yield.
Managing Highly Innovative Projects: The Influence of Design Characteristics on Project Valuation

The climate change debate and economic recovery strategies in various industries demand highly innovative projects featuring stretched performance goals for developing clean technology. These projects face multiple sources of uncertainty in high risk situations, and require specialized know-how and longer periods for revenue growth than their counterparts in other industries. We use data from 207 clean technology projects funded by the U.S. Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy to conduct a comparative study of how operations design can hedge risk and enhance project valuation in technology development and deployment stages. We find that deployment feasibility is significantly and positively related to project valuation. On the other hand, stretched technical performance goals, development feasibility and market growth targets are associated with lower valuation. We also find some significant differences for these results across institution types: mature firms, start-ups, universities, and research centers. We examine the risk profile of these projects by technology and institution type, and discuss the managerial and policy implications for these findings.
The Connecticut Experiment: The Role of Ultrasound in the Screening of Women With Dense Breasts

Abstract: The aim of this study was to determine the potential of screening breast ultrasound to improve breast cancer detection in women with mammographically normal, but dense breasts. Six Connecticut radiology practices with 12 total sites participated in a retrospective chart review. The total number of screening mammograms, screening ultrasounds broken down by BIRADS (Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System) codes, and the number of positive and negative biopsies were collected from November 2009 through November 2010. Demographic data on the patients with positive biopsies as well as cancer staging were also collected. Sensitivity, Specificity, Positive Predictive Value, and Negative Predictive Value were calculated. A total of 72,030 screening mammograms and 8,647 screening ultrasounds were performed at the research sites during the study period. Relevant research indicates that 41% of the female population has dense breasts. In this study, 12% (8,647/72,030) underwent follow‐up breast ultrasound screening. A total of 86% (7,451/8,647) of the ultrasounds were BIRADS 1 or 2, 9% (767/8,647) were BIRADS 3, 5% (429/8,647) were BIRADS 4 or 5. Of those 429 recommended to undergo biopsy 418 were performed and 28 cancers were found. There was one false negative. Screening breast ultrasound in women with mammographically normal, but dense breasts has a Positive Predictive Value (PPV) of 6.7% (28/418), Negative Predictive Value (NPV) of 99.9% (7,450/7,451), sensitivity of 96.6% (28/29), and a specificity of 94.9% (7,450/7,851). Screening ultrasound had an additional yield of 3.25 per 1,000 cancers in women with dense breasts and normal mammograms and no additional risk factors. As with all screening tests, time, cost, and false positive risk must be considered.
Phosphorylation by Glycogen Synthase Kinase-3β Down-regulates Notch Activity, a Link for Notch and Wnt Pathways*

Phosphorylation of Notch proteins has been indirectly correlated with Notch activation and nuclear translocation as well as cellular transformation. There is evidence that the Wnt signaling pathway, which results in glycogen synthase kinase-3β (GSK-3β) inhibition, cross-talks with the Notch pathway. In this study, we show that GSK-3β is able to bind and phosphorylate Notch2 in vitro and in vivo. We identify three specific phosphorylation sites in the Notch2 serine/threoninerich domain that are dependent on GSK-3β activity. Phosphorylation of the serine/threonine-rich domain has been shown previously to be crucial in regulating cytokine-specific cell differentiation. Coimmunoprecipitation experiments show that full-length Notch2 binds more efficiently than intracellular Notch2 to GSK-3β. Nevertheless, only the processed Notch2 is a substrate for the kinase, thus suggesting that GSK-3β-dependent phosphorylation may be specifically regulating the activated Notch molecule. Consistent with this, GSK-3β inhibits the transcriptional activation of Notch target genes both in vitro and in vivo, whereas lithium chloride treatment or Wnt-1 overexpression that results in GSK-3β inhibition leads to the up-regulation of the Hes-1 promoter. Together, our results suggest that cross-talk between Notch and Wnt pathways may be partially mediated by specific regulation of GSK-3β-dependent Notch phosphorylation.
Corporate Elites and Corporate Strategy: How Demographic Preferences and Structural Position Shape the Scope of the Firm

This study combines elements of the upper echelons and agency perspectives to resolve some of the ambiguity surrounding how corporate elites affect corporate strategy. We propose and test the notion that while differences in individual characteristics of corporate elites may imply different preferences for particular corporate strategies such as diversification and acquisitions, these basic preferences, when situated in different agency contexts (e.g., CEO, outsider director, non-CEO top management team member), generate very different strategic outcomes. Our detailed empirical findings, based on extensive longitudinal governance and corporate strategy data from large U.S. corporations, also highlight the pitfalls of using aggregate units of analysis (e.g., board of directors or top management team) when studying the influence of corporate elites on corporate strategy.
Factors influencing Internet usage in older adults (65 years and above) living in rural and urban Sweden

Older adults living in rural and urban areas have shown to distinguish themselves in technology adoption; a clearer profile of their Internet use is important in order to provide better technological and health-care solutions. Older adults’ Internet use was investigated across large to midsize cities and rural Sweden. The sample consisted of 7181 older adults ranging from 59 to 100 years old. Internet use was investigated with age, education, gender, household economy, cognition, living alone/or with someone and rural/urban living. Logistic regression was used. Those living in rural areas used the Internet less than their urban counterparts. Being younger and higher educated influenced Internet use; for older urban adults, these factors as well as living with someone and having good cognitive functioning were influential. Solutions are needed to avoid the exclusion of some older adults by a society that is today being shaped by the Internet.
Computation Algebras

We introduce a framework that generalizes algebraic specifications by equipping algebras with descriptions of evaluation strategies. The resulting abstract mathematical description allows one to model the implementation of algebras on various platforms in a way that is independent of the function-oriented specifications. We study algebras with associated data dependencies. The latter provide separate means for modelling computational aspects apart from the functional specifications captured by an algebra. The formalization of evaluation strategies (1) introduces increased portability among different hardware platforms, and (2) allows a potential increase in execution efficiency, since a chosen evaluation strategy may be tailored to a particular platform. We present the development process where algebraic specifications are equipped with data dependencies, the latter are refined, and, finally, mapped to actual hardware architectures.
Semi-analytical evaluation of concatenated RS/LDPC coding performance with finite block interleaving against impulsive noise

This contribution considers the word error rate (WER) performance of a concatenated coding scheme in the presence of impulsive noise (IN), which is modeled as gated white Gaussian noise, with on- and off-times governed by a 2-state Markov model. The scheme consists of a Reed-Solomon (RS) outer code and a low-density parity-check (LDPC) inner code, which are separated by a block interleaver with finite depth. The Monte Carlo (MC) simulation of the WER of such communication systems is time-consuming, especially when targeting low error rates and examining several interleaver settings. We present a semi-analytical evaluation of the WER, which relies on a simple semi-analytical statistical model for the number of byte errors in a segment of the information word after LDPC decoding. To compute the error performance of the concatenated code corresponding to different parameters of the RS code and the interleaver, we require only the WER and byte error rate (ByteER) of the inner subsystem, determined by the LDPC code and the considered constellation, in the presence of stationary white noise. We show that the semi-analytical WER of the concatenated system closely matches the WER resulting from MC simulations and use the proposed model to investigate the effect of the interleaver depth on the WER performance.
Parvovirus B19 as a cause of acquired chronic pure red cell aplasia

Parvovirus B19 infection causes chronic anaemia in immunodeficient individuals by selective suppression of erythropoiesis. The bone marrow morphology is character‐istic of pure red cell aplasia (PRCA). To determine the frequency of B19‐induced PRCA we retrospectively analysed a series of 57 PRCA patients. B19 DNA was present in serum of eight patients (14%) and could be extracted from bone marrow aspirate slides from five of these patients. Recent exposure to the virus was confirmed by the presence of anti‐B19 IgM in sera from four and by the finding of giant pronormoblasts in marrow aspirates from five of the B19 DNA‐positive patients. The sensitivities of anti‐B19 IgM and of giant pronormoblasts were only 50% and 63%, respectively; specificites were 90% and 92%. Unexpectedly, PRCA in two B19 DNA‐positive patients remitted after antilymphocyte globulin or cyclosporin A therapy, suggesting that the clinical course of B19‐induced PRCA may be indistinguishable from other forms of PRCA. As therapy with immunoglobulin is uniformly effective for treatment of B19‐associated anaemia, our data suggest that all patients with acquired PRCA should be evaluated for evidence of B19 infection. B19 DNA analysis is the most reliable method to demonstrate infection.
Distance-Dependent Model of Ricean K-Factors in High-Speed Rail Viaduct Channel

This paper proposes a distance-dependent Ricean K-factor model for a line-of-sight (LOS) viaduct scenario in the high-speed rail (HSR) of China. Extensive narrowband measurements conducted at 930 MHz are utilized. The propagation environment can be categorized into two cases: moderate suburban and dense suburban. The estimated K-factors are modeled as a piecewise-linear function of distance. The statistical fluctuations of K-factors are well considered by introducing the standard deviation to the expression. A detailed comparison between the piecewise-linear K-factor model and that of other literature validates the proposed model. Our results will be useful in the modeling of HSR viaduct channels and the performance analysis such as channel capacity and throughput for HSR wireless communication systems.
CD4+IL13+ T Lymphocytes at Birth and the Development of Wheezing and/or Asthma during the 1st Year of Life

Background: Despite our knowledge that maternal inheritance influences the development of asthma in childhood, attempts to identify a clear-cut Th2-oriented cytokine production by T lymphocytes at birth have given conflicting results. The prognostic significance of these cells for asthma development later in life remains to be determined. Methods: We evaluated at the single cell level Th1- and Th2-type cytokines in 208 randomly selected cord blood mononuclear cell (CBMC) samples obtained from pregnant women (group A, n = 68 with diagnosed respiratory allergic disease; group B, n = 140, with no evidence of atopy), and prospectively followed newborns for 1 year. Results: There was no difference in IFN-γ, IL-4 and IL-5 production at birth between both groups, whereas a correlation between CD4+IL13+ lymphocytes from CBMC samples derived from atopic mothers and the occurrence of wheezing and/or asthma during the 1st year of life was found. Conclusions: Our observations suggest that the intracellular cytokine profile of cord blood CD4+ cells, in terms of IL-13 production, could be considered a useful tool for a more accurate identification of newborns from atopic mothers who are at high risk of developing asthma.
Real time hand pose estimation for human computer interaction

The aim of this thesis is to address the challenge of real-time pose estimation of the hand. Specifically this thesis aims to determine the joint positions of a non-augmented hand. This thesis focuses on the use of depth, performing localisation of the parts of the hand for efficient fitting of a kinematic model and consists of four main contributions. The first contribution presents an approach to Multi-touch(less) tracking, where the objective is to track the fingertips with a high degree of accuracy without sensor contact. Using a graph based approach, the surface of the hand is modelled and extrema of the hand are located. From this, gestures are identified and used for interaction. We briefly discuss one use case for this technology in the context of the Making Sense demonstrator inspired by the film ”The Minority Report”. This demonstration system allows an operator to quickly summarise and explore complex multi-modal multimedia data. The tracking approach allows for collaborative interactions due to its highly efficient tracking, resolving 4 hands simultaneously in real-time. The second contribution applies a Randomised Decision Forest (RDF) to the problem of pose estimation and presents a technique to identify regions of the hand, using features that sample depth. The RDF is an ensemble based classifier that is capable of generalising to unseen data and is capable of modelling expansive datasets, learning from over 70,000 pose examples. The approach is also demonstrated in the challenging application of American Sign Language (ASL) fingerspelling recognition. The third contribution combines a machine learning approach with a model based method to overcome the limitations of either technique in isolation. A RDF provides initial segmentation allowing surface constraints to be derived for a 3D model, which is subsequently fitted to the segmentation. This stage of global optimisation incorporates temporal information and enforces kinematic constraints. Using Rigid Body Dynamics for optimisation, invalid poses due to self-intersection and segmentation noise are resolved. Accuracy of the approach is limited by the natural variance between users and the use of a generic hand model. The final contribution therefore proposes an approach to refine pose via cascaded linear regression which samples the residual error between the depth and the model. This combination of techniques is demonstrated to provide state of the art accuracy in real time, without the use of a GPU and without the requirement for model initialisation.