Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Minor neurological dysfunction in preterm children and its association with school readiness

ABSTRACT Minor neurological dysfunction (MND) has been associated with learning, cognitive, and motor problems in preterm children. This study aims to study the prevalence of MND in preterm children without cerebral palsy in the preschool period and to investigate its association with school readiness. Forty-four children born at less than 37 weeks of gestation and 35 term children at a mean age of 5 years 6 months were included in the study. MND was classified according to Touwen. School readiness was assessed with the Marmara Primary School Readiness Scale. The prevalence of MND in preterm preschoolers was higher compared to their term-peers. Linear regression analyses showed that MND was the strongest predictor of school readiness in the preterm group. Preterm children, in the absence of CP, are at risk of MND and this is associated with school readiness. Greater emphasis needs to be placed on the follow-up, and an intervention should be prepared for preterm children with MND when they are starting school.
A bridge over troubled waters

Lung transplantation (LTx) remains the only therapeutic strategy for the treatment of end-stage respiratory failure in selected patients [1,2]. However, clinical scenario of LTx is rapidly changing. Two aspects still characterize LTx in comparison with the transplant of other solid organs. First, only a limited number of lung grafts is considered suitable for transplant within the donors’ pool. Secondly, patients quickly deteriorating while on the waiting list cannot be bridged for long periods [3]. These limitations result in a long period and a high mortality rate on the waiting list. Different strategies have been proposed to overcome these problems. Among those, the ex vivo lung perfusion (EVLP) appears the most promising one. Several lung transplant centers have been implemented with an EVLP program worldwide. EVLP is applied to evaluate and eventually recondition marginal or even initially rejected grafts, allowing an increase of transplanted grafts with clinical results as good as those obtained with the use of “standard” lungs [4,5]. Despite the effect of such strategies, the mismatch between the request and the offer still remains and the donor/recipient matching plays a crucial role to achieve the optimal risk/benefit ratio after transplant. Rapidly deteriorating patients waiting for lung transplant can be supported with mechanical ventilation and/or extracorporeal lung support (by means of extracorporeal circulatory membrane oxygenation or CO2 removal devices) only for a limited period of time, and LTx remains the definitive therapy. Therefore, critically ill patients suffering from severe hypercapnic or hypoxic respiratory insufficiency represent a real challenge in LTx. Ethical and clinical concerns arise when lungs are transplanted in supported patients because of the higher risk of transplant failure directly related to the critical status of the recipient. On the other hand, emergency LTx represents the only survival chance for these patients. In addition, emergency transplantation can reduce the number of grafts employed for standard cases loosing the survival benefit of elective procedure. In the paper entitled “Extracorporeal CO2-removal as bridge to lung transplantation in life-threatening hypercapnia”, Schellongowski P. et al. [6] describe optimal results
Steatitis in wild sharptooth catfish, Clarias gariepinus (Burchell), in the Olifants and lower Letaba Rivers in the Kruger National Park, South Africa.

Large numbers of adult Nile crocodiles, Crocodylus niloticus (Laurenti), died from pansteatitis during autumn and winter 2008 in the lower Letaba and Olifants River gorge in the Kruger National Park, South Africa. Consequently, the health status of fish from these waters was investigated. The study presents the pathological findings in fish inhabiting these rivers within the boundaries of the Park. Changes typical of steatitis were diagnosed in many of the larger specimens of sharptooth catfish, Clarias gariepinus (Burchell), caught within the Olifants River gorge. These fish carried large amounts of mesenteric fat with characteristic small brown granulomata within the adipose tissue. Necrosis and inflammation of the adipose tissues, with characteristic ceroid accumulation within the resultant granulomata and the associated aggregation of ceroid-containing macrophages, were demonstrated histologically and were typical of steatitis. Other changes included mild thickening and pallor of the gill tissues and swollen, orange, fatty livers. Focal hepatic lipidosis was demonstrated histologically, and special stains revealed storage of large amounts of iron in the livers. Blood smears revealed chromatin clumping in erythrocyte nuclei and nuclear and cell membrane irregularities. This is the first record of steatitis in wild-caught C. gariepinus.
A C‐terminal domain conserved in precursor processing proteases is required for intramolecular N‐terminal maturation of pro‐Kex2 protease.

The Kex2 protease of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae is the prototype of a family of eukaryotic subtilisin homologs thought to process prohormones and other precursors in the secretory pathway. Deletion analysis of Kex2 protease shows that a sequence of 154‐159 residues carboxyl to the subtilisin domain is essential for the formation of active enzyme. Disruption of this region, termed the ‘P‐domain’, blocks the normally rapid intra‐molecular cleavage of the N‐terminal pro‐segment of pro‐Kex2 protease in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). The C‐terminal boundary of the P‐domain coincides closely with the endpoint of similarity between Kex2 protease and its mammalian homologues. The conservation of and functional requirement for the P‐domain sharpens the distinction between a ‘Kex2 family’ of processing enzymes and degradative ‘subtilases’, and implies that the Kex2‐related enzymes have in common entirely novel structural features that are important in the maturation of precursor polypeptide substrates. Failure to cleave the N‐terminal pro‐domain, due either to truncation of the P‐domain or to mutation of the active site histidine or serine, results in stable, intracellular retention of pro‐enzyme, apparently in the ER. Thus pro‐Kex2 protease appears to contain an ER retention signal which is removed or destroyed by cleavage of the pro‐domain.
Exit Strategies

We study alternative scenarios for exiting the post-crisis fiscal and monetary accommodation using a macromodel where banks choose their capital structure and are subject to runs. Under a Taylor rule, the post-crisis interest rate hits the zero lower bound (ZLB) and remains there for several years. In that condition, pre-announced and fast fiscal consolidations dominate –– based on output and inflation performance and bank stability –– alternative strategies incorporating various degrees of gradualism and surprise. We also examine an alternative monetary strategy in which the interest rate does not reach the ZLB; the benefits from fiscal consolidation persist, but are more nuanced.
Mineralogy and Weathering of Realgar-Rich Tailings At a Former As-Sb-Cr Mine At Lojane, North Macedonia

the Lojane area (North Macedonia) ores of Sb (stibnite), As (realgar), and Cr (chromite) were mined and processed in a metallurgical plant until 1979. Over one million tons of flotation tailings containing As, Sb, and other hazardous substances are located in an open dump site for flotation waste created by the mine. The tailings site is completely unprotected, and its orange color reflects a very high concentration of arsenic (fine-grained realgar superficially altered to pararealgar). In order to better understand the weathering behavior of these tailings, which is necessary to evaluate the environmental risks (mainly from the mobilization of As-Sb-Cr), solid waste material was sampled and studied from the chemical and mineralogical point of view. The material was characterized by inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), inductively coupled plasma- optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES), X-ray diffraction analysis (both single crystal and powder), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with energy-dispersive microanalysis (EDX), Raman spectroscopy, and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) with selected area electron diffraction (SAED), energy-dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX), and electron energy loss spectrometry (EELS). The studied tailings material is comprised mostly of well-crystallized realgar, gypsum, and quartz, and minor amounts of stibnite, pararealgar, chromite, and sulfur. Very minor pyrite is found within quartz aggregates. The most abundant secondary phase, which forms thin coatings around realgar and stibnite grains, is an As-Sb-Fe-Ca-(Ni)-oxide/ hydroxide in which the As:Sb ratio varies from ca . 2:1 to 1:2.2 and Fe contents are variable. Antimony-dominant variants of this oxide also form larger homogeneous grains up to 500 l m in size, characterized by broad dehydration cracks suggesting original formation as a gel. Both As-rich and -poor variants were identified as members of the rom´eite group. EELS showed that all the Fe is ferric. Further secondary phases originated from the weathering of realgar, stibnite, and other primary phases are As-bearing sulfur, scorodite (often slightly Sb-bearing, locally common), arsenolite, ‘‘ limonite ’’ , pickeringite (Ni- and Fe-bearing), alunogen, and annabergite. The weathering of primary sulfides in the flotation tailings at Lojane proceeded under mostly oxidizing, acidic, and temporarily wet conditions. Highly acidic conditions on the surface of the tailings dump imply dissolution of arsenolite and scorodite, thus causing contamination of the environment and high mobility of arsenic.
Mucosal and Systemic Immune Responses in Humans after Primary and Booster Immunizations with Orally Administered Invasive and Noninvasive Live Attenuated Bacteria

ABSTRACT The mucosal and systemic immune responses after primary and booster immunizations with two attenuated live oral vaccine strains derived from a noninvasive (Vibrio cholerae) and an invasive (Salmonella typhi) enteric pathogen were comparatively evaluated. Vaccination with S. typhi Ty21a elicited antibody-secreting cell (ASC) responses specific for S. typhi O9, 12 lipopolysaccharide (LPS), as well as significant increases in levels of immunoglobulin G (IgG) and IgA antibodies to the same antigen in serum. A strong systemic CD4+ T-helper type 1 cell-mediated immune (CMI) response was also induced. In contrast to results with Ty21a, no evidence of a CMI response was obtained after primary immunization with V. cholerae CVD 103-HgR in spite of the good immunogenicity of the vaccine. Volunteers who received a single dose of CVD 103-HgR primarily developed an IgM ASC response against whole vaccine cells and purified V. cholerae Inaba LPS, and seroconversion of serum vibriocidal antibodies occurred in four of five subjects. Serum IgG anti-cholera toxin antibody titers were of lower magnitude. For both live vaccines, the volunteers still presented significant local immunity 14 months after primary immunization, as revealed by the elevated baseline antibody titers at the time of the booster immunization and the lower ASC, serum IgG, and vibriocidal antibody responses after the booster immunization. These results suggest that local immunity may interfere with colonization of the gut by both vaccine strains at least up to 14 months after basis immunization. Interestingly, despite a low secondary ASC response, Ty21a was able to boost both humoral (anti-LPS systemic IgG and IgA) and CMI responses. Evidence of a CMI response was also observed for one of three volunteers given a cholera vaccine booster dose. The direct comparison of results with two attenuated live oral vaccine strains in human volunteers clearly showed that the capacity of the vaccine strain to colonize specific body compartments conditions the pattern of vaccine-induced immune responses.
Rethinking the Interpretation of Item Discrimination and Factor Loadings

Factor loadings and item discrimination parameters play a key role in scale construction. A multitude of heuristics regarding their interpretation are hardwired into practice—for example, neglecting low loadings and assigning items to exactly one scale. We challenge the common sense interpretation of these parameters by providing counterexamples and general results which altogether cast doubt on our understanding of these parameters. In particular, we highlight the counterintuitive way in which the best prediction of a test taker’s latent ability depends on the factor loadings. As a consequence, we emphasize that practitioners need to shift their focus from interpreting item discrimination parameters by their relative loading to an interpretation which incorporates the structure of the model-based latent ability estimate.
Los términos de intercambio como impulsores de fluctuaciones económicas en economías en desarrollo: estudio empírico

En esta investigacion, los autores usan datos trimestrales de Peru para examinar de manera empirica la relacion entre los choques permanentes sobre los terminos de intercambio y las fluctuaciones economicas en economias abiertas y pequenas en desarrollo. Para ello, los autores calcularon un modelo VAR con tendencias estocasticas comunes, siguiendo la metodologia descrita en King et al. (1991) y en Mellander et al. (1992). Los principales hallazgos son que los choques permanentes a los terminos de intercambio explican la mayor parte de las fluctuaciones del producto, el consumo y la inversion a largo plazo. Este resultado es robusto para diversas especificaciones alternativas. Ademas, se muestra que la variabilidad del crecimiento del producto potencial, medido con el componente permanente calculado del PIB, depende en alto grado de las oscilaciones de los terminos de intercambio. Sus principales resultados se mantienen sin cambio cuando estiman el modelo con datos de Chile, aunque en ese caso la influencia de los choques de productividad interna permanentes parecen tener mayor significancia que en el caso peruano.
Current Concepts Review Update: Insertional Achilles Tendinopathy

Approximately 6% of the general population reports Achilles tendon pain during their lifetime.63 Of these patients, roughly one-third will have insertional Achilles tendinopathy (IAT). 55,58,63,83 Patients with IAT often report stiffness that is aggravated by prolonged rest as well as pain that is aggravated by physical activity. Patients often report that their symptoms limit their activity at work and participation in sports. In addition, because of sensitivity over the posterior heel, many struggle with shoewear. This Current Concepts Review provides an update to Dr Irwin’s review and highlights evidence on treatment published since the previous 2010 publication.50 In addition, this update provides Levels of Evidence and Grades of Recommendation for treatment recommendations (Table 1) that are consistent with the previous and recently published reviews.20,50 Table 1 Levels of Evidence and Grades of Recommendation.
Is Knee Pain During Adolescence a Self-limiting Condition?

Background: The prevalence of adolescent knee pain is 33%, and patellofemoral pain (PFP) is the most common diagnosis with a nontraumatic onset. The 2-year prognosis of adolescent PFP compared with other types of knee pain is unknown. Purpose: To investigate the 2-year prognosis of knee pain among adolescents with and without a diagnosis of PFP. Study Design: Cohort study; Level of evidence, 2. Methods: In 2011, a cohort of 2200 adolescents aged 15 to 19 years answered an online questionnaire on musculoskeletal pain. Of these, 504 reported knee pain, and 153 of these were clinically diagnosed with PFP. After 2 years, the 504 adolescents, as well as 252 randomly selected adolescents who did not report knee pain in 2011, were contacted again. Primary outcome at follow-up was the proportion of adolescents with knee pain during the last week prior to follow-up. Results: Overall, 55.9% (95% CI, 50.8%-60.9%) of those reporting knee pain at baseline also reported pain 2 years later. Adolescents diagnosed with PFP had a 1.26 (95% CI, 1.05-1.50) higher relative risk (RR) of knee pain at follow-up compared with other types of knee pain. Adolescents with PFP were significantly more likely to reduce or stop sports participation compared with adolescents with other types of knee pain. Of those without knee pain at baseline, 12.8% (95% CI, 8.4%-17.2%) reported knee pain at follow-up in 2013. Adolescents with knee pain at baseline had a 4.51 (95% CI, 3.15-6.45) higher RR of knee pain at follow-up compared with adolescents without knee pain at baseline. Conclusion: Knee pain during adolescence, and PFP in particular, is in most cases present after 2 years and thus may not be self-limiting. A greater focus on early detection and prevention of knee pain during adolescence is needed.
Troubles cognitifs légers dans le cadre des maladies neurodégénératives : dépistage ou repérage ? Effet de spectre et biais spectral

De nombreux tests de depistage des troubles cognitifs legers ont ete elabores ces dernieres annees afin d'identifier des personnes plus a risque de developper une maladie neurodegenerative telle que la maladie d'Alzheimer. Plusieurs indices (sensibilite, specificite, valeurs de prediction et rapports de vraisemblance) permettent d'evaluer la performance et l'utilite d'un test en pratique. L'objectif de cette these etait d'evaluer le degre de variation de la performance d'un outil de depistage des troubles cognitifs legers et ses consequences sur la prise de decision clinique. Nos resultats montrent une variation importante de la performance de l'outil etudie en fonction des caracteristiques demographiques des individus, de la nature et la severite du trouble cognitif La performance globale d'un test ne serait donc pas constante et exposerait a un risque de sous-estimer ou de surestimer la presence de troubles cognitifs dans certains sous-groupes de l'echantillon d'etude. La mesure de ce phenomene de variation (ou effet de spectre) devrait faire partie des etapes obligatoires de la validation d'un test de depistage des troubles cognitifs. Elle implique l'analyse de grands echantillons permettant de rendre compte de la complexite de l'interpretation d'un test et son application au niveau pratique. L'utilisation de valeurs seuils ajustees selon l'âge et le niveau scolaire, est proposee afin d'ameliorer la prise de decision clinique. Nous discutons egalement de l'interet d'utiliser le concept epidemiologique de depistage dans la recherche et l'identification de troubles cognitifs et proposons le terme plus approprie de reperage qui ne prejuge pas de leur etiologie.
Learning to Recommend with Location and Context

of thesis entitled: Learning to Recommend with Location and Context Submitted by CHENG, Chen for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at The Chinese University of Hong Kong in September 2015 In the past decade, location-based social networks (LBSNs), such as Gowalla and Foursquare, have attracted millions of users to share their locations via check-in behaviors. Point-of-interest (POI) recommendation has been a significant task in LBSNs since it can help targeted users explore their surroundings as well as help third-party developers provide personalized services. Different from traditional recommender systems in music and movie, POI recommendation needs to consider the geographical influence, which has a great impact on users’ choices. Apart from geo-information from locations, plenty of other auxiliary information is also available. All these auxiliary information are referred to as context. Recommendation with location and context brings new challenges for recommender systems and new methods need to be tailored for it. In this thesis, the challenges from three perspectives motivated by real life problems will be addressed. Firstly, we consider the point-of-interest recommendation task in LBSNs. In this task, we try to recommend the potentially attractive while unvisited POIs to users. By carefully studying the users’ moving patterns, we find that users tend to check in around several centers and different users have different number of centers. Based on this finding, we propose a novel Multi-center Gaussian Model to capture this pattern. Moreover, we consider the fact that users are usually more interested in the top 10 or 20 recommen-
Expression of visfatin in the diabetic rat retina

Visfatin has been found in adipose tissue, liver and kidney of healthy and diabetic people, with its expression being increased in the aforementioned tissues in diabetes. Based on the former researches, visfatin may exist in the retina and affect the development of diabetic retinopathy. The expression of visfatin in Sprague–Dawley rats' retina, which may carve a path to study the pathogenesis of diabetic retinopathy, was investigated by this study.
Examining how different modes mediate adolescents’ interactions during their collaborative multimodal composing processes

ABSTRACT Previous research illustrates the collaborative nature of adolescents’ multimodal composing processes. However, few studies have specifically focused on how different modes influence student interactions over time. This study examines how multiple modes (e.g. text, music, visuals, and animations) mediated middle schoolers’ composing processes as they worked in small groups to create multimodal science fictions. Situated in an afterschool program, each student selected the role of writer, scientist, or designer. Data sources included screen capture video, semi-structured interviews, and multimodal products. Qualitative data analysis involved the constant comparative method to establish codes for types of interactions and the mediating modes as a case study small group collaboratively composed. Findings indicate: (1) students were inclined to provide short responses to move on with composing practices; (2) group discussions while multimodal composing followed three stages: mode and story exploration, mode-story integration, and mode-story completion; (3) multimodal comics fostered the most discussion; (4) different modes supported self-oriented and group-oriented contributions in unique ways. This study contributes an initial understanding into how different modalities mediate students’ interactions and offers implications for scaffolding peer interactions during multimodal composing processes.
Determinants of 6-Minute Walk Distance in Patients with Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis Undergoing Lung Transplant Evaluation

Little is known about the physiologic determinants of 6-minute walk distance in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. We investigated the demographic, pulmonary function, echocardiographic, and hemodynamic determinants of 6-minute walk distance in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis evaluated for lung transplantation. We performed a cross-sectional analysis of 130 patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis who completed a lung transplantation evaluation at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania between 2005 and 2010. Multivariable linear regression analysis was used to generate an explanatory model for 6-minute walk distance. After adjustment for age, sex, race, height, and weight, the presence of right ventricular dilation was associated with a decrease of 50.9 m (95% confidence interval [CI], 8.4–93.3) in 6-minute walk distance (P = 0:02). For each 200-mL reduction in forced vital capacity, the walk distance decreased by 15.0 m (95% CI, 9.0–21.1; P < 0:001). For every increase of 1 Wood unit in pulmonary vascular resistance, the walk distance decreased by 17.3 m (95% CI, 5.1–29.5; P = 0:006). Six-minute walk distance in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis depends in part on circulatory impairment and the degree of restrictive lung disease. Future trials that target right ventricular morphology, pulmonary vascular resistance, and forced vital capacity may potentially improve exercise capacity in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.