Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Automated Ensemble Search Framework for Semantic Segmentation Using Medical Imaging Labels

Reliable classiﬁcation and detection of certain medical conditions, in images, with state-of-the-art semantic segmentation networks, require vast amounts of pixel-wise annotation. However, the public availability of such datasets is minimal. Therefore, semantic segmentation with image-level labels presents a promising alternative to this problem. Never-theless, very few works have focused on evaluating this technique and its applicability to the medical sector. Due to their complexity and the small number of training examples in medical datasets, classiﬁer-based weakly supervised networks like class activation maps (CAMs) struggle to extract useful information from them. However, most state-of-the-art approaches rely on them to achieve their improvements. Therefore, we propose a framework that can still utilize the low-quality CAM predictions of complicated datasets to improve the accuracy of our results. Our framework achieves that by ﬁrst utilizing lower threshold CAMs to cover the target object with high certainty; second, by combining multiple low-threshold CAMs that even out their errors while highlighting the target object. We performed exhaustive experiments on the popular multi-modal BRATS and prostate DECATHLON segmentation challenge datasets. Using the proposed framework, we have demonstrated an improved dice score of up to 8% on BRATS and 6% on DECATHLON datasets compared to the previous state-of-the-art.
Optimal Role Assignment for Multiplayer Reach-Avoid Differential Games in 3D Space

In this article an $n$-pursuer versus $m$-evader reach-avoid differential game in 3D space is studied. A team of evaders aim to reach a stationary target while avoiding capture by a team of pursuers. The multiplayer scenario is formulated in a differential game framework. This article provides an optimal solution for the particular case of $n=m=1$ and extends it to a more general scenario of $n\geq m$ via an optimal role assignment algorithm based on a linear program. Consequently, the pursuer and the evader winning regions, and the Value of the game are analytically characterized providing optimal strategies of the players in state feedback form.
1 4 M ar 2 02 3 Hamiltonian dynamics and Faddeev-Jackiw of the Jackiw-Teitelboim model written as a BF theory

The Jackiw-Teitelboim model written as a BF theory in two dimensions is analyzed by using Dirac’s and Faddeev-Jackiw symplectic formalism. The analysis consists in finding the full structure of the constraints, the gauge transformations, the counting of degrees of freedom, and the generalized Faddeev-Jackiw brackets. The Poincaré symmetry and the diffeomorphisms are found. Further, we show that the Faddeev-Jackiw and Dirac’s brackets coincide with each other.
Breaking of rotational symmetry in a swirling jet experiment

In this experimental investigation, the dynamics of symmetry-breaking instabilities in swirling jets is analyzed for swirl parameters S in the pre-breakdown range 0⩽S⩽Sc, where Sc=1.3 is the critical swirl value for the appearance of vortex breakdown determined by Billant, Chomaz, and Huerre [J. Fluid Mech. 376, 183 (1998)]. As S is increased, three distinct dynamical regimes have been identified in the streamwise region extending to the end of the potential core. In the low swirl range S<0.6, the evolution is governed by the same instability mechanisms as in a nonswirling jet. The shear in axial direction generates axisymmetric vortex rings at a Strouhal number independent of the swirl S. As S increases, the amplitude of the axisymmetric mode decreases in magnitude. Concurrently, co-rotating streamwise vortices form in the braids connecting the rings due to a secondary instability mechanism. The advection by the mean rotation of these secondary structures generates an azimuthal wave propagating cyclonica.
Predicting In Vivo Target Occupancy (TO) Profiles via Physiologically Based Pharmacokinetic–TO Modeling of Warfarin Pharmacokinetics in Blood: Importance of Low Dose Data and Prediction of Stereoselective Target Interactions

Warfarin is well recognized for its high-affinity and capacity-limited binding to the pharmacological target and undergoes target-mediated drug disposition. Here, we developed a physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) model that incorporated saturable target binding and other reported hepatic disposition components of warfarin. The PBPK model parameters were optimized by fitting to the reported blood pharmacokinetic (PK) profiles of warfarin with no stereoisomeric separation after oral dosing of racemic warfarin (0.1, 2, 5, or 10 mg) using the Cluster Gauss-Newton method (CGNM). The CGNM-based analysis yielded multiple “accepted” sets for six optimized parameters, which were then used to simulate the warfarin blood PK and in vivo target occupancy (TO) profiles. When further analyses examined the impact of dose selection on uncertainty in parameter estimation by the PBPK modeling, the PK data from 0.1 mg dose (well below target saturation) was important in practically identifying the target binding-related parameters in vivo. When stereoselective differences were incorporated for both hepatic disposition and target interactions, our PBPK modeling predicted that R-warfarin (of slower clearance and lower target affinity than S-warfarin) contributes to TO prolongation after oral dosing of racemic warfarin. Our results extend the validity of the approach by which the PBPK-TO modeling of blood PK profiles can yield TO prediction in vivo (applicable to the drugs with targets of high affinity and abundance and limited distribution volume via nontarget interactions). Our findings support that model-informed dose selection and PBPK-TO modeling may aid in TO and efficacy assessment in preclinical and clinical phase 1 studies. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT The current physiologically based pharmacokinetic modeling incorporated the reported hepatic disposition components and target binding of warfarin and analyzed the blood pharmacokinetic (PK) profiles from varying warfarin doses, practically identifying target binding-related parameters in vivo. By implementing the stereoselective differences between R- and S-warfarin, our analysis predicted the role of R-warfarin in prolonging overall target occupancy. Our results extend the validity of analyzing blood PK profiles to predict target occupancy in vivo, which may guide efficacy assessment.
In silico study of interaction of (ZnO)12 nanocluster to glucose oxidase-FAD in absence and presence of glucose

Abstract Diabetes mellitus is one of the foremost global concerns, as it has impacted millions of lives. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop a technology for continuous glucose monitoring in vivo. In the current study, we employed computational methods such as docking, MD simulations, and MM/GBSA, to obtain molecular insights into the interaction between (ZnO)12 nanocluster and glucose oxidase (GOx) that cannot be obtained through experiments alone. For this, theoretical modeling of the 3D cage-like (ZnO)12 nanocluster in ground state configuration was performed. Further docking of (ZnO)12 nanocluster with GOx molecule was carried out to find the nano-bio-interaction of (ZnO)12-GOx complex. To understand the whole interaction and dynamics of (ZnO)12-GOx-FAD-with and without glucose, we performed MD simulation and MM/GBSA analysis of (ZnO)12-GOx-FAD complex and glucose-(ZnO)12-GOx-FAD complex separately. The interaction was found to be stable, and the binding energy of (ZnO)12 to GOx-FAD increases in the presence of glucose by 6 kcal mol−1. This may be helpful in nano probing of the interaction of GOx with glucose. It can help in making a device like fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) based nano-biosensor to monitor the glucose level in pre and post diabetic patient. Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma
Raising Awareness of Female Genital Mutilation Through Theater

This article considers several plays by European playwrights that focus on cases of female genital mutilation, with the goal of raising awareness among their communities of the practice itself, the reason it exists or persists, and the consequences it has had on the lives of the women who have undergone it. The plays discussed are “Kubra” by Dacia Maraini (2016); Little Stitches by Bahar Brunton, Karis E. Halsall, Isley Lynn and Raúl Quirós Molina (2014); and Cuttin’ It by Charlene James (2016).
Risk Factors for Severe COVID-19 Among Health Care Workers

We examined risk factors for severe COVID-19 among health care workers at an academic medical center. Health care workers in high-risk settings who also have a history of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) pulmonary embolism (PE)/stroke should be prioritized for workplace preventive measures, vaccination, and early treatment for COVID-19. Objective: Evaluate potential risk factors for severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) among health care workers (HCWs) at the University of Virginia Medical Center in Charlottesville, Virginia. Methods: We conducted a retrospective manual chart review of data from HCWs who were diagnosed with COVID-19 from March 2020 to March 2021. Using data from patient medical histories, we ascertained risk factors for COVID-19–related emergency department encounter, hospitalization, or death. Results: We had 634 patients in total, and 9.8% had a severe COVID-19–related outcome. A history of deep vein thrombosis/pulmonary embolism/stroke (odds ratio, 19.6; 95% confidence interval, 5.11 to 94.7), as well as asthma, chronic lung disease, diabetes, or current immunocompromised status, was associated with increased adjusted odds of COVID-19–related emergency department encounter/hospitalization/death. Conclusions: A preexisting history of deep vein thrombosis/pulmonary embolism/stroke is a novel risk factor for poor COVID-19 outcomes among a cohort of HCWs.
Value of Opening the Middle Meatus in Patients With Nasal Airway Obstruction

Objectives While surgeries to correct the anatomical malformations that cause nasal airway obstruction (NAO) are generally successful, the outcomes of such procedures are often unsatisfactory. The aim of the present study was to assess the value of opening the middle meatus in patients with NAO. Methods Thirty-four patients with nasal obstruction due to nasal septal deviation were included in this study. After randomization, the middle meatus was either opened or not opened during septoplasty. The patients were evaluated through pre- and postoperative rhinomanometry and acoustic rhinometry. The Visual Analog Scale (VAS) scores of subjective symptoms along with responses to the 20-item Sinonasal Outcome Test (SNOT-20) were obtained before surgery and three months after surgery. Results The VAS scores and SNOT-20 responses improved significantly in both groups after surgery. The effective treatment rate based on the nasal congestion score (NCS) was 64.7% in the single group (septoplasty alone) and 100% in the combined group (septoplasty in conjunction with opening the middle meatus), and the difference was statistically significant (P = .018). In both groups, surgery significantly improved nasal flow, resistance, minimal cross-sectional area, cross-sectional area 6 cm (CA6) from the anterior nostril and nasal volume. Nasal volume and CA6 after surgery were statistically different between the 2 groups (P = .004 and .019, respectively). Conclusions Opening the middle meatus may further improve the subjective perception of patency on the basis of septoplasty.
Cancer Statistics in Korea: Incidence, Mortality, Survival, and Prevalence in 2020

Purpose The current study provides national cancer statistics and their secular trends in Korea, including incidence, mortality, survival, and prevalence in 2020. Materials and Methods Incidence, survival, and prevalence rates of cancer were calculated using the Korea National Cancer Incidence Database, from 1999 to 2020, with survival follow-up until December 31, 2021. Deaths from cancer were assessed using causes-of-death data obtained from Statistics Korea. Results The number of new cancer diagnoses in 2020 decreased by 9,218 cases (3.6%) compared to 2019. In 2020, newly diagnosed cancer cases and deaths from cancer were reported as 247,952 (age-standardized rate [ASR], 262.2 per 100,000) and 82,204 (ASR, 69.9 per 100,000), respectively. The overall cancer incidence rates increased by 3.3% annually from 1999 to 2012, and decreased by 5.0% annually from 2012 to 2015, thereafter, followed by nonsignificant changes. Cancer mortality rates have been decreasing since 2002, with more rapid decline in recent years. The 5-year relative survival between 2016 and 2020 was 71.5%, which contributed to prevalent cases reaching over 2.2 million in 2020. Conclusion In 2020, the number of newly diagnosed cancer patients decreased due to the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, but the overall trend is on the rise. Cancer survival rates have improved over the past decades. As the number of cancer survivors increases, a comprehensive cancer control strategy should be implemented in line with the changing aspects of cancer statistics. The long-term impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic on cancer statistics needs to be investigated in the future.
Evaluation of clinical performance and safety for the rechargeable InterStim Micro device in overactive bladder subjects: 6‐month results from the global postmarket ELITE study

Sacral neuromodulation (SNM) is an advanced therapy option for the treatment of overactive bladder (OAB), nonobstructive urinary retention, and fecal incontinence. The aim of this ongoing prospective, multicenter, global, postmarket study is to confirm safety and clinical performance of the InterStimTM Micro system for SNM in all indications. Reported here are the results for the OAB cohort through 6‐month follow‐up.
Kilowatt-class single-frequency fiber sources (Invited Paper)

We discuss the dramatic development of high-power fiber laser technology in recent years and the prospects of kilowattclass single-frequency fiber sources. We describe experimental results from an ytterbium-doped fiber-based multihundred-watt single-frequency, single-mode, plane-polarized master-oscillator power amplifier (MOPA) operating at 1060 nm and a similar source with 0.5 kW of output power, albeit with a degraded beam quality (M2 = 1.6) and not linearly polarized. Experiments and simulations aimed at predicting the Brillouin limit of single-frequency system with a thermally broadened Brillouin gain are presented. These suggest that single-frequency MOPAs with over 1 kW of output power are possible. In addition, the power scalability of a simple single-strand fiber laser to 10 kW is discussed.
Ultrastable emission from a metal–oxide–semiconductor field‐effect transistor‐structured Si emitter tip

A silicon field emitter tip with a dual‐gate metal–oxide–semiconductor field‐effect transistor (MOSFET) structure was fabricated and demonstrated. The present tip structure is just the same as an n‐channel MOSFET whose drain was replaced by a cone‐shaped Si tip. Two coplanar gates of 0.3‐μm‐thick Nb are made on a 0.6‐μm‐thick thermally oxidized SiO2 insulator between the source and the tip and make inversion layers in a p‐type Si substrate under each gate. One of the gates has a 1.8‐μm‐diam aperture surrounding the tip for extraction of electrons from the tip. The other is 3 μm wide and 300 μm long and is separated by 2 μm from this gate. Ultrastable emission of about 0.3 μA was demonstrated with a single tip for one day.
Effect of length, width, and mode on the mass detection sensitivity of piezoelectric unimorph cantilevers

We have investigated both experimentally and theoretically the resonance frequency change of a piezoelectric unimorph cantilever due to the mass loaded at the tip of the cantilever. The piezoelectric cantilever was composed of a lead zirconate titanate (PZT) layer and a stainless steel layer. The dependence of the resonance frequency shift, Δf, with respect to a loaded mass, Δm, on the cantilever length, L, width, w, and the resonance modes was examined. For Δm much smaller than the effective mass of the cantilever, we showed that Δf/Δm increased with an increasing eigen value, νn2, and decreasing length, L, and decreasing width, w, as Δfn/Δm=−(νn2/4π)(1/L3w)(1/0.23612ρ)Ẽ/ρ, where Ẽ and ρ are the effective Young’s modulus and effective density of the unimorph cantilever that depends on the thickness fraction, Young’s modulus and density of each of the individual layers. Thus, given the same Ẽ and ρ by maintaining the same layer thickness fractions of the individual layers, Δf/Δm is increased by a fact.
Mitochondrial bioenergetic changes in systemic lupus erythematosus immune cell subsets: Contributions to pathogenesis and clinical applications

The association of dysregulated metabolism in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) pathogenesis has prompted investigations into metabolic rewiring and the involvement of mitochondrial metabolism as a driver of disease through NLRP3 inflammasome activation, disruption of mitochondrial DNA maintenance, and pro-inflammatory cytokine release. The use of Agilent Seahorse Technology to gain functional in situ metabolic insights of selected cell types from SLE patients has identified key parameters that are dysregulated during disease. Mitochondrial functional assessments specifically can detect dysfunction through oxygen consumption rate (OCR), spare respiratory capacity, and maximal respiration measurements, which, when coupled with disease activity scores could show potential as markers of disease activity. CD4+ and CD8 + T cells have been assessed in this way and show that oxygen consumption rate, spare respiratory capacity, and maximal respiration are blunted in CD8 + T cells, with results not being as clear cut in CD4 + T cells. Additionally, glutamine, processed by mitochondrial substrate level phosphorylation is emerging as a key role player in the expansion and differentiation of Th1, Th17, ϒδ T cells, and plasmablasts. The role that circulating leukocytes play in acting as bioenergetic biomarkers of diseases such as diabetes suggests that this may also be a tool to detect preclinical SLE. Therefore, the metabolic characterization of immune cell subsets and the collection of metabolic data during interventions is also essential. The delineation of the metabolic tuning of immune cells in this way could lead to novel strategies in treating metabolically demanding processes characteristic of autoimmune diseases such as SLE.
Early identification of treatment non-response in first-episode psychosis

Abstract Background Approximately one-third of patients with psychotic disorders does not respond to standard antipsychotic treatments. Consensus criteria for treatment resistance (TR) may aid the identification of non-response and subsequent tailoring of treatments. Since consensus criteria require stability of clinical status, they are challenging to apply in first-episode psychosis (FEP). This study aims to investigate (a) if an adaptation of consensus criteria can be used to identify FEP patients with early signs of TR (no early clinical recovery—no-ECR) after 1 year in treatment and (b) to what extent differences in antipsychotic treatments differentiate between outcome groups. Methods Participants with FEP DSM-IV schizophrenia spectrum disorders were recruited during their first treatment. A total of 207 participated in the 1-year follow-up. Remission and recovery definitions were based on adaptations of the “Remission in Schizophrenia Working Group” criteria and TR on adaptations of the “Treatment Response and Resistance in Psychosis” (TRRIP) working group criteria. Results 97 participants (47%) could be classified as no-ECR, 61 (30%) as ECR, and 49 (23%) as with partial ECR (P-ECR). Statistically significant baseline predictors of no-ECR matched previously identified predictors of long-term TR. Only 35 no-ECR participants had two adequate treatment trials and met the full TRRIP criteria. 21 no-ECR participants were using the same medication over the follow-up year despite the lack of significant effects. Conclusion The difference in the percentage of FEP participants classified as no-ECR versus TR indicates that we may underestimate the prevalence of early TR when using consensus criteria.
Impairment’s Role in the Pathway From Externalizing Psychopathology to Depressive Symptoms in Adolescents With ADHD

Objective: This study examined the role of academic, social, and family impairment in the pathway from externalizing psychopathology to depression among young adolescents with ADHD in a multiple mediation model. Method: The sample included adolescents with ADHD enrolled in an intervention trial. Parent ratings of externalizing psychopathology were measured at eligibility assessment, adolescent self-reported depressive symptoms were measured at eligibility and at the end of treatment, and parent-rated impairment was measured in the middle of treatment. A multiple mediation model was used to examine mediating effects of impairment types in the pathway from externalizing psychopathology to depression. Results: Parent-reported family impairment significantly mediated the association between externalizing psychopathology and depressive symptoms. Conclusions: Results suggest family impairment mediates the association between externalizing psychopathology and depressive symptoms beyond academic and social impairment for youth with ADHD. Findings implicate the importance of targeting family functioning during early adolescence to prevent depression.
Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Tuberculosis Testing and Treatment at a Tertiary Hospital in Zambia

ABSTRACT. Globally, tuberculosis (TB) testing and treatment have declined dramatically during the COVID-19 pandemic. We quantified the change in TB visits, testing, and treatment compared with a 12-month pre-pandemic baseline at the national referral hospital’s TB Clinic in Lusaka, Zambia, in the first year of the pandemic. We stratified the results into early and later pandemic periods. In the first 2 months of the pandemic, the mean number of monthly TB clinic visits, prescriptions, and positive TB polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests decreased as follow: −94.1% (95% CI: −119.4 to −68.8%), −71.4% (95% CI: −80.4 to −62.4%), and −73% (95% CI: −95.5 to −51.3%), respectively. TB testing and treatment counts rebounded in the subsequent 10 months, although the number of prescriptions and TB-PCR tests performed remained significantly lower than pre-pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic significantly disrupted TB care in Zambia, which could have long-lasting impacts on TB transmission and mortality. Future pandemic preparedness planning should incorporate strategies developed over the course of this pandemic to safeguard consistent, comprehensive TB care.