Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Memory in Memory: A Predictive Neural Network for Learning Higher-Order Non-Stationarity From Spatiotemporal Dynamics

Natural spatiotemporal processes can be highly non-stationary in many ways, e.g. the low-level non-stationarity such as spatial correlations or temporal dependencies of local pixel values; and the high-level variations such as the accumulation, deformation or dissipation of radar echoes in precipitation forecasting. From Cramer's Decomposition, any non-stationary process can be decomposed into deterministic, time-variant polynomials, plus a zero-mean stochastic term. By applying differencing operations appropriately, we may turn time-variant polynomials into a constant, making the deterministic component predictable. However, most previous recurrent neural networks for spatiotemporal prediction do not use the differential signals effectively, and their relatively simple state transition functions prevent them from learning too complicated variations in spacetime. We propose the Memory In Memory (MIM) networks and corresponding recurrent blocks for this purpose. The MIM blocks exploit the differential signals between adjacent recurrent states to model the non-stationary and approximately stationary properties in spatiotemporal dynamics with two cascaded, self-renewed memory modules. By stacking multiple MIM blocks, we could potentially handle higher-order non-stationarity. The MIM networks achieve the state-of-the-art results on four spatiotemporal prediction tasks across both synthetic and real-world datasets. We believe that the general idea of this work can be potentially applied to other time-series forecasting tasks.
Neurofeedback versus psychostimulants in the treatment of children and adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: a systematic review

This systematic review aimed to evaluate the efficacy of neurofeedback (NF) compared to stimulant medication in treating children and adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Included in this review are eight randomized controlled trials that compared an NF condition, either alone or combined with medication, to a medication condition, which was mainly methylphenidate. Outcome measures included behavioral assessments by parents and teachers, self-reports, neurocognitive measures, electroencephalogram power spectra and event-related potentials. When only trials are considered that include probably blinded ratings or those that are sham-NF or semi-active controlled or those that employed optimally titration procedures, the findings do not support theta/beta NF as a standalone treatment for children or adolescents with ADHD. Nevertheless, an additive treatment effect of NF was observed on top of stimulants and theta/beta NF was able to decrease medication dosages, and both results were maintained at 6-month follow-up. This review concludes that the present role of NF in treating children diagnosed with ADHD should be considered as complementary in a multimodal treatment approach, individualized to the needs of the child, and may be considered a viable alternative to stimulants for a specific group of patients. Particularly patients with the following characteristics may benefit from NF treatment: low responders to medication, intolerable side effects due to medication, higher baseline theta power spectra and possibly having no comorbid psychiatric disorders. Future research should prioritize the identification of markers that differentiate responders from nonresponders to NF treatment, the potential of NF to decrease stimulant dosage, the standardization of NF treatment protocols and the identification of the most favorable neurophysiological treatment targets.
A Study of the Feasibility of Co-located App Attacks against BLE and a Large-Scale Analysis of the Current Application-Layer Security Landscape

Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) is a fast-growing wireless technology with a large number of potential use cases, particularly in the IoT domain. Increasingly, these use cases require the storage of sensitive user data or critical device controls on the BLE device, as well as the access of this data by an augmentative mobile application. Uncontrolled access to such data could violate user privacy, cause a device to malfunction, or even endanger lives. The BLE standard provides security mechanisms such as pairing and bonding to protect sensitive data such that only authenticated devices can access it. In this paper we show how unauthorized co-located Android applications can access pairing-protected BLE data, without the user's knowledge. We discuss mitigation strategies in terms of the various stakeholders involved in this ecosystem, and argue that at present, the only possible option for securing BLE data is for BLE developers to implement remedial measures in the form of application-layer security between the BLE device and the Android application. We introduce BLECryptracer, a tool for identifying the presence of such application-layer security, and present the results of a large-scale static analysis over 18,900+ BLE-enabled Android applications. Our findings indicate that over 45% of these applications do not implement measures to protect BLE data, and that cryptography is sometimes applied incorrectly in those that do. This implies that a potentially large number of corresponding BLE peripheral devices are vulnerable to unauthorized data access.
Should the Contralateral Tonsil Be Removed in Cases of HPV‐Positive Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Tonsil?

BACKGROUND Human papillomavirus-positive (HPV+) head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (SCC) are increasing in incidence worldwide. The palatine tonsils are the most commonly involved anatomical subsite, followed by the base of tongue and then the soft palate. Secondary primary malignancy (SPM) is a well-established phenomenon among patients with head and neck SCC and can present in up to 36% of patients within 20 years of their original diagnosis. Furthermore, synchronous tumors are defined as those that occur simultaneously with the index cancer; these tumors are present in approximately 4% of cases. SPM is thought to arise secondary to field cancerization, a biological process by which prolonged exposure to carcinogens leads to independent malignant transformation at multiple sites. The prevalence of synchronous bilateral HPV+ SCC of the tonsil (SBTC) is largely unknown, and there is much controversy regarding routinely removing the contralateral tonsil. Fear of increased pain, bleeding, circumferential scarring, and functional impairment have all been cited as reasons to avoid contralateral tonsillectomy in these scenarios. Proponents of contralateral tonsillectomy, however, raise concerns over the potentially fatal consequences of missing occult contralateral disease. Another advantage is the resulting symmetric appearance of the palatal arches, which allows for improved oncologic surveillance and easier detection of tumor recurrence. Given the important prognostic and therapeutic implications of identifying a SBTC, should the contralateral tonsil routinely be removed in cases of HPV+ squamous cell carcinoma of the tonsil (TSCC)?
Smart Greybox Fuzzing

Coverage-based greybox fuzzing (CGF) is one of the most successful approaches for automated vulnerability detection. Given a seed file (as a sequence of bits), a CGF randomly flips, deletes or copies some bits to generate new files. CGF iteratively constructs (and fuzzes) a seed corpus by retaining those generated files which enhance coverage. However, random bitflips are unlikely to produce valid files (or valid chunks in files), for applications processing complex file formats. In this work, we introduce smart greybox fuzzing (SGF) which leverages a high-level structural representation of the seed file to generate new files. We define innovative mutation operators that work on the virtual file structure rather than on the bit level which allows SGF to explore completely new input domains while maintaining file validity. We introduce a novel validity-based power schedule that enables SGF to spend more time generating files that are more likely to pass the parsing stage of the program, which can expose vulnerabilities much deeper in the processing logic. Our evaluation demonstrates the effectiveness of SGF. On several libraries that parse complex chunk-based files, our tool AFLsmart achieves substantially more branch coverage (up to 87 percent improvement) and exposes more vulnerabilities than baseline AFL. Our tool AFLsmart discovered 42 zero-day vulnerabilities in widely-used, well-tested tools and libraries; 22 CVEs were assigned.
Prevalence and associated phenotypes of PLXNA1 variants in normosmic and anosmic idiopathic hypogonadotropic hypogonadism

Idiopathic hypogonadotropic hypogonadism (IHH) can be divided into two major forms, normosmic IHH and Kallmann syndrome (KS). Genetic mutations are responsible for the majority of IHH. PLXNA1 has recently been implicated in the GnRH neuron migration and the etiology of KS. We aimed to investigate the prevalence and associated phenotypes of PLXNA1 variants in a large cohort of IHH patients. We screened the whole exome data of 215 IHH patients in a single center for causative PLXNA1 variants. Our studies showed eight novel (p.Arg836His, p.Lys1451Arg, p.Val287Met, p.Val536Ile, p.Ser1850Arg, p.Ile1701Val, p.Arg319Trp, and p.Pro485Leu) and two previously described (p.Arg528Trp and p.Gly720Glu) heterozygous PLXNA1 variants in nine affected individuals from seven unrelated families. Only three of nine patients were anosmic (KS) while the remaining patients showed normal olfactory function (nIHH). Seven of nine patients (77.7%) harbored additional one or two variants in other nIHH/KS‐associated genes, including PROKR2, IGSF10, HS6ST1, SEMA3E, CCDC141, FGFR1, NRP1, POLR3A, and SRA1. Our findings indicate that PLXNA1 variants cause not only anosmic but also normosmic IHH with a relatively high prevalence (3.9%). Heterozygous missense PLXNA1 variants appear to be involved together with other IHH gene variants in bringing about the IHH disease phenotype.
Maltreatment and Emotion Recognition Among Brazilian Adolescents

The experience of maltreatment can impair child development, including changes in the process of emotions recognition, which may result in impairment of social interactions and behavioral disabilities. In order to measure the association between maltreatment and changes on emotion recognition among Brazilian adolescents, the Emotional Recognition Test on Human Faces (ERTHF) was applied to a sample of 50 adolescents who had suffered different intensities and types of abuse. The social and clinical characteristics of the participants were analyzed and, from ERTHF data, the accuracy and response time for the emotion recognition. Males were 60%, with mean age of 13 years and 3 months; 60% were living in shelters. Emotion recognition changes were associated with intensity and types of maltreatment. Physical neglect (48%) was associated with changes in neutral and negative emotions recognition. Emotional neglect (48%) and emotional abuse (46%) were associated with changes in both positive and negative emotions recognition. Physical abuse (38%) was associated with changes in positive emotion recognition only. False recognition of anger was the most common outcome of maltreatment, being associated with physical neglect (p = 0.015) and emotional neglect (p = 0.047). Our results point out to the need to add emotional and facial recognition's rehabilitation interventions to better attend the specific demands of maltreated children and to increase the chances of social and family reintegration.
Caregiver delay in seeking healthcare during the acute phase of pediatric illness, Kigali, Rwanda

Introduction Delay in seeking healthcare contributes significantly to under-five mortality. Multiple socioeconomic and demographic factors have been reported as predictors of such delay. There is no published research in this area in Rwanda. Our aim was to describe the caregivers' delay in seeking healthcare during the acute phase of a childhood illness among under-five children admitted in a tertiary hospital, Rwanda. Methods This was an analytical, descriptive cross-sectional study conducted at University Teaching Hospital of Kigali. Bivariate analysis and logistic multivariate regression were used to analyze factors associated with delayed care-seeking behavior, defined as seeking care after the first 48 hours of illness onset. Results Among 275 admitted children under age five, care-seeking delay occurred in 35% (97/275) of cases. The most significant predictors of delay in seeking care were use of traditional healers (AOR = 14.87, 95% CI: 3.94-56.12), the recognition of illness as mild (AOR = 8.20, 95% CI: 4.08-16.47), use of un-prescribed medicine at home (AOR = 2.00, 95% CI: 1.01-3.91), use of special prayers provided by ministers of God before seeking healthcare (AOR = 6.42, 95% CI: 2.50, 16.48), and first consultation at public institutions (AOR = 4.00, 95% CI:1.54-10.39). Conclusion Even though Rwanda has made tremendous achievements in strengthening the community-based health systems, delayed care-seeking is a reality. Health education and behavior change communication interventions are needed at the community level to address the factors that lead to delay in seeking healthcare.
Frequency of Ischemic Stroke Subtypes Based on Toast Classification at a Tertiary Care Center in Pakistan

Background: The purpose of this study was to determine the frequency of ischemic stroke subtypes based on Trial of Org 10172 in Acute Stroke Treatment (TOAST) classification at a tertiary care center in Pakistan. Materials and Methods: Across-sectional study was conducted in Stroke Unit of Shifa International Hospital, Islamabad. We included 145 patients who presented to us from November 2015 to February 2016 with radiological confirmed neurological deficits consistent with ischemic stroke. The causes of ischemic stroke were classified according to TOAST criteria. Regression analysis and Chi-square test were used to compute P value. Results: Among the 145 patients diagnosed with ischemic stroke, there were 54.1% males and 45.9% females with a mean age of 65 ± 14 years. Nearly 62.7% patients had hypertension (HTN) as the most common risk factor, followed by 38.6% diabetes mellitus (DM), 27.5% heart failure, 19.3% valvular disease, 18.6% previous stroke, 16.4% smoking, 15.1% dyslipidemia, 13.7% ischemic heart disease, and 13.1% atrial fibrillation. HTN was significantly associated with large vessel disease (P = 0.028). DM was significantly associated with small vessel disease (P = 0.001). Smoking and atrial fibrillation both were associated with unknown etiology of stroke (P = 0.001 and P = 0.039, respectively). Most common etiology of stroke was cardioembolism (40%), and atrial fibrillation is found to be the most common cause of cardioembolic stroke with 30.6% incidence. Conclusion: Our study concludes that cardioembolic stroke is the most common cause of acute ischemic stroke in our stroke unit. Atrial fibrillation is found to be the most common cause of cardioembolic stroke.
IL-17 in Peritoneal Dialysis-Associated Inflammation and Angiogenesis: Conclusions and Perspectives

Long-term peritoneal dialysis (PD) is associated with peritoneal membrane remodeling. This includes changes in peritoneal vasculature, which may ultimately lead to inadequate solute and water removal and treatment failure. The potential cause of such alterations is chronic inflammation induced by repeated episodes of infectious peritonitis and/or exposure to bioincompatible PD fluids. While these factors may jeopardize the peritoneal membrane integrity, it is not clear why adverse peritoneal remodeling develops only in some PD patients. Increasing evidence points to the differences that occur between patients in response to the same invading microorganism and/or the differences in the course of inflammatory reaction triggered by different species. Such differences may be related to the involvement of different inflammatory mediators. Here, we discuss the potential role of IL-17 in these processes with emphasis on its impact on peritoneal mesothelial cells and peritoneal vascularity.
CIFAR10 to Compare Visual Recognition Performance between Deep Neural Networks and Humans

Visual object recognition plays an essential role in human daily life. This ability is so efficient that we can recognize a face or an object seemingly without effort, though they may vary in position, scale, pose, and illumination. In the field of computer vision, a large number of studies have been carried out to build a human-like object recognition system. Recently, deep neural networks have shown impressive progress in object classification performance, and have been reported to surpass humans. Yet there is still lack of thorough and fair comparison between humans and artificial recognition systems. While some studies consider artificially degraded images, human recognition performance on dataset widely used for deep neural networks has not been fully evaluated. The present paper carries out an extensive experiment to evaluate human classification accuracy on CIFAR10, a well-known dataset of natural images. This then allows for a fair comparison with the state-of-the-art deep neural networks. Our CIFAR10-based evaluations show very efficient object recognition of recent CNNs but, at the same time, prove that they are still far from human-level capability of generalization. Moreover, a detailed investigation using multiple levels of difficulty reveals that easy images for humans may not be easy for deep neural networks. Such images form a subset of CIFAR10 that can be employed to evaluate and improve future neural networks.
Associations of Exposure to Air Pollution with Insulin Resistance: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

In this article, we review the available evidence and explore the association between air pollution and insulin resistance (IR) using meta-analytic techniques. Cohort studies published before January 2018 were selected through English-language literature searches in nine databases. Six cohort studies were included in our sample, which assessed air pollutants including PM2.5 (particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter less than or equal to 2.5 μm), NO2(nitrogen dioxide), and PM10 (particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter less than 10 μm). Percentage change in insulin or insulin resistance associated with air pollutants with corresponding 95% confidence interval (CI) was used to evaluate the risk. A pooled effect (percentage change) was observed, with a 1 μg/m3 increase in NO2 associated with a significant 1.25% change (95% CI: 0.67, 1.84; I2 = 0.00%, p = 0.07) in the Homeostasis Model Assessment of Insulin Resistance (HOMA-IR) and a 0.60% change (95% CI: 0.17, 1.03; I2 = 30.94%, p = 0.27) in insulin. Similar to the analysis of NO2, a 1 μg/m3 increase in PM10 was associated with a significant 2.77% change (95% CI: 0.67, 4.87; I2 = 94.98%, p < 0.0001) in HOMA-IR and a 2.75% change in insulin (95% CI: 0.45, 5.04; I2 = 58.66%, p = 0.057). No significant associations were found between PM2.5 and insulin resistance biomarkers. We conclude that increased exposure to air pollution can lead to insulin resistance, further leading to diabetes and cardiometabolic diseases. Clinicians should consider the environmental exposure of patients when making screening and treatment decisions for them.
Comprehending Non-literal Language: Effects of Aging and Bilingualism

A pressing issue that the twenty-first century is facing in many parts of the developed world is a rapidly aging population. Whilst several studies have looked at aging older adults and their language use in terms of vocabulary, syntax and sentence comprehension, few have focused on the comprehension of non-literal language (i.e., pragmatic inference-making) by aging older adults, and even fewer, if any, have explored the effects of bilingualism on pragmatic inferences of non-literal language by aging older bilinguals. Thus, the present study examined the effects of age(ing) and the effects of bilingualism on aging older adults' ability to infer non-literal meaning. Four groups of participants made up of monolingual English-speaking and bilingual English-Tamil speaking young (17–23 years) and older (60–83 years) adults were tested with pragmatic tasks that included non-conventional indirect requests, conversational implicatures, conventional metaphors and novel metaphors for both accuracy and efficiency in terms of response times. While the study did not find any significant difference between monolinguals and bilinguals on pragmatic inferences, there was a significant effect of age on one type of non-literal language tested: conventional metaphors. The effect of age was present only for the monolinguals with aging older monolinguals performing less well than the young monolinguals. Aging older bilingual adults were not affected by age whilst processing conventional metaphors. This suggests a bilingual advantage in pragmatic inferences of conventional metaphors.
An audit of the management of ectopic pregnancies in a district hospital, Gauteng, South Africa

Background Ectopic pregnancy (EP) is a life-threatening condition; at Odi Hospital, approximately 7–10 EPs are managed weekly. Our study is the first to assess the management of this life-threatening condition at Odi Hospital. Aim This study aimed to determine the incidence of EP and to assess the profile of women who presented with EP at Odi District Hospital from 01 January 2010 to 31 December 2014. Setting The study was conducted at Odi District Hospital, located in Mabopane, a township in Gauteng province, 45 km north of Tshwane, South Africa (SA). Methods This was a cross-sectional study. Results We analysed 263 completed patient records. The incidence rate was 22 per 1000 live births. The mean age was 28.9 years (SD ± 6.09), 57% were within the age group of 25–34 years, 90.9% were single and 85.2% were unemployed. Abdominal pain was the most common presenting complaint (81.1%). Ninety-nine (37.8%) were in a state of haemorrhagic shock. Possible risk factors were not documented in the patient files for 95%. A third (34.2%) were operated on within 4 hours of consultation. Early management was associated with poor record-keeping (p = 0.02). There was a delay in confirming the diagnosis in 48.7%. It was associated with gestational age (p = 0.0017), previous abdominal surgery (p = 0.0026), normal haemoglobin level at the time of consultation (p = 0.0024), considerable haemoperitoneum at operation (p < 0.00001) and per vaginal bleeding (p = 0.003). Conclusion The study highlighted the need to emphasise the importance of good record-keeping and documentation in patients, as well as the urgent need for ultrasound skills training among clinicians to implement the Essential Steps in Managing Obstetric Emergencies programme at this hospital to improve the management of EP and other obstetric emergencies.