Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Policy HEALTH TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT FOR DECISION MAKING IN LATIN AMERICA : GOOD PRACTICE PRINCIPLES

Objectives: The aim of this study was to identify good practice principles for health technology assessment (HTA) that are the most relevant and of highest priority for application in Latin America and to identify potential barriers to their implementation in the region. Methods: HTA good practice principles proposed at the international level were identified and then explored during a deliberative process in a forum of assessors, funders, and product manufacturers. Results: Forty-two representatives from ten Latin American countries participated. Good practice principles proposed at the international level were considered valid and potentially relevant to Latin America. Five principles were identified as priority and with the greatest potential to be strengthened at this time: transparency in the production of HTA, involvement of relevant stakeholders in the HTA process, mechanisms to appeal decisions, clear priority-setting processes in HTA, and a clear link between HTA and decision making. The main challenge identified was to find a balance between the application of these principles and the available resources in a way that would not detract from the production of reports and adaptation to the needs of decision makers. Conclusions: The main recommendation was to progress gradually in strengthening HTA and its link to decision making by developing appropriate processes for each country, without trying to impose, in the short-term, standards taken from examples at the international level without adequate adaptation of these to local contexts.
Nonlinear Diffuse fs-Pulse Reflectometry of Harmonic Upconversion Nanoparticles

Nonlinear diffuse femtosecond-pulse reflectometry is introduced as a powerful experimental tool for the unambiguous characterization of polar and non-polar point symmetry groups of harmonic upconversion nanoparticles. Using intense ultrashort 40 femtosecond laser pulses and an appropriate figure of merit (FOM), second and third harmonic emission serve for the structural characterization of polar Yb-doped lithium niobate and non-polar titanium dioxide nanoparticles. The tool is capable of differentiating these two samples by FOM values that differ by up to 13 orders of magnitude. The general applicability to harmonic upconversion nanoparticles over a broad range of intensities and wavelength spectrum, is discussed.
Prevalence and Risk Factors of Cerebral Small Vessel Disease in a Chinese Population-Based Sample

Background and Purpose Epidemiological data of cerebral small vessel disease (CSVD) in the general population of China are lacking. We report on the prevalence of lacunes, white matter hyperintensity (WMH), and cerebral microbleeds (CMBs) in a community-based sample in China and compare the results with those of other studies. Methods This was a cross-sectional analysis of the population-based Shunyi Study in China. A total of 1,211 stroke-free participants (mean age, 55.6±9.3 years; 37.4% men) with available 3 Tesla (3T) magnetic resonance images were included in this analysis. Demographic information and risk factor data were assessed. The overall and age-specific prevalence of lacunes, WMH, and CMBs was evaluated. Associations between cardiovascular risk factors and the presence of these lesions were analyzed by multiple logistic regression. Results Our study showed a prevalence of 14.5% for lacunes, 72.1% for periventricular hyperintensity (PVH), 65.4% for deep white matter hyperintensity (DWMH), and 10.6% for CMBs. When compared with other community-based samples, individuals in the same age group showed a higher burden of lacunes and a relatively lower prevalence of CMBs. Advanced age was independently associated with the prevalence of these CSVD markers, while the presence of hypertension increased the risk of lacunes, PVH/DWMH, and CMBs in deep or infratentorial locations. Conclusions A higher burden of lacunes but a relatively lower prevalence of CMBs was observed in this Chinese population. This notable result highlights the challenge of CSVD prevention in China. Chinese have a risk factor profile for CSVD similar to those in other populations.
Conceptualizing resilience in adult mental health literature: A systematic review and narrative synthesis.

PURPOSE This review aims to identify how the term 'resilience' is conceptualized across adult mental health research due to ongoing criticism regarding the lack of consistency in its conceptualization. METHOD A systematic search, including hand searches of book chapters, was conducted using search terms ('resilien*') AND ('mental illness' OR 'mental health problem'). Papers were excluded if they did not meet the following criteria: written in English, provide a clear conceptualization of resilience, include only adults (aged 18 + ) in the sample, solely focus on individuals with a primary diagnosis of mental illness, and peer-reviewed. Data were extracted on conceptualizations of resilience, demographic, and diagnostic variables of the study population, publication year, and the research design used. Conceptualizations were combined and collapsed into overarching themes and then refined through joint discussion, consultation with a third reviewer, and input from a larger multidisciplinary team. RESULTS Thirty-one texts (6 book chapters, 4 reviews, 2 appraisals/critical evaluations, 1 editorial, and 18 research projects) were included. Two broad understandings of resilience were identified: resilience as a process and resilience as a characteristic of an individual. Processes comprise three themes: 'immunity', 'bouncing back', and 'growth', whilst characteristics are captured in two themes 'personal resources' and 'social resources'. CONCLUSIONS These findings suggest that resilience can be conceptualized in a clear and meaningful manner in adult mental health research. The five themes reflect distinct ways of using the term resilience. Whilst each one of them may have merit in future research, it appears beneficial to make clear in research which exact conceptualization of resilience has been adopted. PRACTITIONER POINTS When considering and reading about 'resilience', one should be aware that there are different concepts of it. The main difference is between resilience as a personal characteristic and resilience as a process. Therapy may address resilience as a personal characteristic by utilizing individual and social resources. The therapeutic process may be understood as resilience in form of bouncing back and personal growth.
Comparison of Single-Step Transepithelial Photorefractive Keratectomy With or Without Mitomycin C in Mild to Moderate Myopia.

PURPOSE To compare efficacy and safety of single-step transepithelial photorefractive keratectomy (PRK) with or without mitomycin C (MMC) in patients with mild to moderate myopia. METHODS Patients with mild to moderate myopia (≤ -5.50 diopters [D]) underwent single-step transepithelial PRK using the Amaris laser (SCHWIND eye-tech-solutions GmbH, Kleinostheim, Germany). Total ablation depth (epithelium and stroma) was 160 μm or less. The right eye of each patient was treated with 0.02% MMC for 10 seconds, whereas the left eye did not receive any MMC. Corneal haze, endothelial cell indices, refraction, visual acuity, contrast sensitivity, and higher order aberrations were assessed preoperatively and postoperatively. RESULTS In this comparative case series, 71 patients (16 men and 55 women; 142 eyes) were enrolled. Mean patient age was 27.97 ± 5.74 years. Mean preoperative spherical equivalent of patients' right and left eyes were -3.20 ± 1.20 and -3.30 ± 1.20 diopters, respectively (P = .70); other preoperative visual parameters were also comparable. Incidence of 2+ grade of haze was detected in 1 (2.5%) right and 2 (5.0%) left eyes (P > .99) 3 to 6 months postoperatively. Incidence of 1+ degree of haze was also comparable. No eye developed 3+ degrees or more of haze. One year postoperatively, both eyes achieved comparable refraction, visual acuity, contrast sensitivity, and higher order aberrations, and no greater than trace haze was detected. MMC-treated eyes suffered a greater loss of endothelial cell density (P < .001) and showed higher variance in cell size (P = .001). CONCLUSIONS Single-step transepithelial PRK with or without MMC showed similar efficacy and incidence of haze in eyes with mild to moderate myopia with total ablation depths of 160 μm or less. However, MMC-treated eyes showed a worse profile of endothelial cell indices. Applications of MMC in this subgroup of patients may be reconsidered. [J Refract Surg. 2018;34(6):400-407. ].
Blind Justice: Fairness with Encrypted Sensitive Attributes

Recent work has explored how to train machine learning models which do not discriminate against any subgroup of the population as determined by sensitive attributes such as gender or race. To avoid disparate treatment, sensitive attributes should not be considered. On the other hand, in order to avoid disparate impact, sensitive attributes must be examined, e.g., in order to learn a fair model, or to check if a given model is fair. We introduce methods from secure multi-party computation which allow us to avoid both. By encrypting sensitive attributes, we show how an outcome-based fair model may be learned, checked, or have its outputs verified and held to account, without users revealing their sensitive attributes.
Shared decision-making for people living with dementia in extended care settings: a systematic review

Background Shared decision-making is recognised as an important element of person-centred dementia care. Objectives The aim of this review was to explore how people living with dementia and cognitive impairment can be included in day-to-day decisions about their health and care in extended care settings. Design A systematic review including primary research relating to shared decision-making, with cognitively impaired adults in (or transferrable to) extended care settings. Databases searched were: CINAHL, PubMed, the Cochrane Library, NICE Evidence, OpenGrey, Autism Data, Google Scholar, Scopus and Medicines Complete (June to October 2016 and updated 2018) for studies published in the last 20 years. Results Of the 19 included studies 15 involved people with living dementia, seven in extended care settings. People living with cognitive impairment often have the desire and ability to participate in decision-making about their everyday care, although this is regularly underestimated by their staff and family care partners. Shared decision-making has the potential to improve quality of life for both the person living with dementia and those who support them. How resources to support shared decision-making are implemented in extended care settings is less well understood. Conclusions Evidence suggests that people living with cognitive impairment value opportunities to be involved in everyday decision-making about their care. How these opportunities are created, understood, supported and sustained in extended care settings remains to be determined. Trial registration number CRD42016035919
A Generalized Matrix Splitting Algorithm

Composite function minimization captures a wide spectrum of applications in both computer vision and machine learning. It includes bound constrained optimization, $\ell_1$ norm regularized optimization, and $\ell_0$ norm regularized optimization as special cases. This paper proposes and analyzes a new Generalized Matrix Splitting Algorithm (GMSA) for minimizing composite functions. It can be viewed as a generalization of the classical Gauss-Seidel method and the Successive Over-Relaxation method for solving linear systems in the literature. Our algorithm is derived from a novel triangle operator mapping, which can be computed exactly using a new generalized Gaussian elimination procedure. We establish the global convergence, convergence rate, and iteration complexity of GMSA for convex problems. In addition, we also discuss several important extensions of GMSA. Finally, we validate the performance of our proposed method on three particular applications: nonnegative matrix factorization, $\ell_0$ norm regularized sparse coding, and $\ell_1$ norm regularized Dantzig selector problem. Extensive experiments show that our method achieves state-of-the-art performance in term of both efficiency and efficacy.
A Stein variational Newton method

Stein variational gradient descent (SVGD) was recently proposed as a general purpose nonparametric variational inference algorithm [Liu & Wang, NIPS 2016]: it minimizes the Kullback-Leibler divergence between the target distribution and its approximation by implementing a form of functional gradient descent on a reproducing kernel Hilbert space. In this paper, we accelerate and generalize the SVGD algorithm by including second-order information, thereby approximating a Newton-like iteration in function space. We also show how second-order information can lead to more effective choices of kernel. We observe significant computational gains over the original SVGD algorithm in multiple test cases.
Interactions of pesticides with membrane drug transporters: implications for toxicokinetics and toxicity

ABSTRACT Introduction: Drug transporters are now recognized as major actors of pharmacokinetics. They are also likely implicated in toxicokinetics and toxicology of environmental pollutants, notably pesticides, to which humans are widely exposed and which are known to exert various deleterious effects toward health. Interactions of pesticides with drug transporters are therefore important to consider. Areas covered: This review provides an overview of the interactions of pesticides with membrane drug transporters, i.e. inhibition of their activity, regulation of their expression, and handling of pesticides. Consequences for toxicokinetics and toxicity of pesticides are additionally summarized and discussed. Expert opinion: Some pesticides belonging to several chemical classes, such as organochlorine, pyrethroid, and organophosphorus pesticides, have been demonstrated to interact with various uptake and efflux drug transporters, including the efflux pump P-glycoprotein (P-gp) and the uptake organic cation transporters (OCTs). This provides proof of the concept that pesticide–transporter relationships merit attention. More extensive and systematic characterization of pesticide–transporter relationships, possibly through the use of in silico methods, is however likely required. In addition, consideration of transporter polymorphisms, pesticide mixture effects, and realistic pesticide concentrations reached in humans may help better define the in vivo relevance of pesticide–transporter interactions in terms of toxicokinetics and toxicity.
Depressive Symptom Trajectories Among Sexually Abused Youth: Examining the Effects of Parental Perpetration and Age of Abuse Onset

Researchers found that sexual abuse in childhood leads to increased adolescent depressive symptomatology, though this link may vary due to the relationship between the victim and the perpetrator as well as the age of the child when the abuse began. A sample of 444 sexually abused youth provided data for the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being I. Growth mixture modeling was used to identify trajectories of depressive symptoms and test the effects of parental perpetration and age of abuse onset. Results supported the following three growth trajectories of depressive symptoms in adolescence: falling, rising, and flat. Youth who were sexually abused by a parent were more likely to follow the rising and falling trajectories. Also, youth who experienced sexual abuse at a younger age were more likely to be classified in the falling trajectory. Findings can inform intervention programming on the links between sexual abuse characteristics and subsequent patterns of adolescent depressive symptomology.
Improved sensitivity and limit-of-detection using a receive-only coil in magnetic particle imaging

Magnetic particle imaging (MPI) is an imaging modality capable of quantitatively determining the 3D distribution of a magnetic nanoparticle (MNP) ensemble. In this work, we present a method for reducing the MNP limit of detection by employing a new receive-only coil (Rx-coil) for signal acquisition. The new signal detector is designed to improve the sensitivity and thus quality of reconstructed images. We present characterization measurements conducted with the prototype Rx-coil installed in a preclinical MPI scanner. The gradiometric design of the Rx-coil attenuates the unwanted signal contributions arising from the excitation field, leading to a 17 dB lower background level compared to the conventional dual-purpose coil (TxRx-coil), which is crucial for detecting low amounts of MNP. Network analyzer measurements of the frequency-dependent coil sensitivity, as well as spectral analysis of recorded MPI data demonstrate an overall increase of the coil sensitivity of about +12 dB for the Rx-coil. Comparisons of the sensitivity distributions revealed no significant degradations in terms of homogeneity for the Rx-coil compared to the TxRx-coil in an imaging volume of 6 × 3 × 3 cm3. Finally, the limit of detection was determined experimentally for each coil type using a serial dilution of MNPs, resulting in values of 133 ng of iron for the conventional TxRx-coil and 20 ng for the new Rx-coil, using an acquisition time of 2 s. A linear relationship between the reconstructed signal intensities and the iron mass in the samples was observed with coefficients of determination (R2) of above 99% in the range of the limit of detection to 3 103ng(Fe). These results open the way for improved image quality and faster acquisition time in pre-clinical MPI scanners.
PROGRAMAS DE LUZ PARA SUÍNOS EM CRESCIMENTO

Foi realizado um experimento com o objetivo de avaliar o uso de programas de luz sobre o desempenho e comportamento de suinos em fase de crescimento. O experimento foi conduzido no setor de suinocultura da UFLA, em Lavras, MG, utilizando-se 48 suinos machos castrados com peso medio inicial de 29,99±0,05kg e final de 76,66±0,84kg, alojados em grupos de dois em cada baia, compondo a unidade experimental. Os animais foram distribuidos em delineamento de blocos casualizados, de acordo com o peso inicial em quatro programas de luz, sendo: luz natural (controle-LN); 15 horas de luz e nove de escuro por dia (15L: 9E); 19 horas de luz por dia (19L: 5E); 23 horas de luz por dia (23L: 1E). O experimento teve duracao de 45 dias. As variaveis analisadas foram o comportamento dos animais (bebendo, fucando, ocio e comendo), o desempenho (consumo de racao medio diario, ganho de peso medio diario, conversao alimentar e peso final). O uso de luz suplementar para suinos em crescimento nao influenciou o desempenho dos animais.
Acoustic Foundations of the Speech-to-Song Illusion

In the “speech-to-song illusion,” certain spoken phrases are heard as highly song-like when isolated from context and repeated. This phenomenon occurs to a greater degree for some stimuli than for others, suggesting that particular cues prompt listeners to perceive a spoken phrase as song. Here we investigated the nature of these cues across four experiments. In Experiment 1, participants were asked to rate how song-like spoken phrases were after each of eight repetitions. Initial ratings were correlated with the consistency of an underlying beat and within-syllable pitch slope, while rating change was linked to beat consistency, within-syllable pitch slope, and melodic structure. In Experiment 2, the within-syllable pitch slope of the stimuli was manipulated, and this manipulation changed the extent to which participants heard certain stimuli as more musical than others. In Experiment 3, the extent to which the pitch sequences of a phrase fit a computational model of melodic structure was altered, but this manipulation did not have a significant effect on musicality ratings. In Experiment 4, the consistency of intersyllable timing was manipulated, but this manipulation did not have an effect on the change in perceived musicality after repetition. Our methods provide a new way of studying the causal role of specific acoustic features in the speech-to-song illusion via subtle acoustic manipulations of speech, and show that listeners can rapidly (and implicitly) assess the degree to which nonmusical stimuli contain musical structure.
Lateral interactions between protofilaments of the bacterial tubulin homolog FtsZ are essential for cell division

The prokaryotic tubulin homolog FtsZ polymerizes into protofilaments, which further assemble into higher-order structures at future division sites to form the Z-ring, a dynamic structure essential for bacterial cell division. The precise nature of interactions between FtsZ protofilaments that organize the Z-ring and their physiological significance remain enigmatic. In this study, we solved two crystallographic structures of a pair of FtsZ protofilaments, and demonstrated that they assemble in an antiparallel manner through the formation of two different inter-protofilament lateral interfaces. Our in vivo photocrosslinking studies confirmed that such lateral interactions occur in living cells, and disruption of the lateral interactions rendered cells unable to divide. The inherently weak lateral interactions enable FtsZ protofilaments to self-organize into a dynamic Z-ring. These results have fundamental implications for our understanding of bacterial cell division and for developing antibiotics that target this key process.
Striatal action-value neurons reconsidered 1

8 It is generally believed that during economic decisions, striatal neurons represent the 9 values associated with different actions. This hypothesis is based on studies, in which the 10 activity of striatal neurons was measured while the subject was learning to prefer the more 11 rewarding action. Here we show that these publications are subject to at least one of two 12 critical confounds. First, we show that even weak temporal correlations in the neuronal 13 data may result in an erroneous identification of action-value representations. Second, we 14 show that experiments and analyses designed to dissociate action-value representation from 15 the representation of other decision variables cannot do so. We suggest solutions to 16 identifying action-value representation that are not subject to these confounds. Applying 17 one solution to previously identified action-value neurons in the basal ganglia we fail to 18 detect action-value representations. We conclude that the claim that striatal neurons 19 encode action-values must await new experiments and analyses. 20
Wave-U-Net: A Multi-Scale Neural Network for End-to-End Audio Source Separation

Models for audio source separation usually operate on the magnitude spectrum, which ignores phase information and makes separation performance dependant on hyper-parameters for the spectral front-end. Therefore, we investigate end-to-end source separation in the time-domain, which allows modelling phase information and avoids fixed spectral transformations. Due to high sampling rates for audio, employing a long temporal input context on the sample level is difficult, but required for high quality separation results because of long-range temporal correlations. In this context, we propose the Wave-U-Net, an adaptation of the U-Net to the one-dimensional time domain, which repeatedly resamples feature maps to compute and combine features at different time scales. We introduce further architectural improvements, including an output layer that enforces source additivity, an upsampling technique and a context-aware prediction framework to reduce output artifacts. Experiments for singing voice separation indicate that our architecture yields a performance comparable to a state-of-the-art spectrogram-based U-Net architecture, given the same data. Finally, we reveal a problem with outliers in the currently used SDR evaluation metrics and suggest reporting rank-based statistics to alleviate this problem.