Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Association of material deprivation with discharge location and length of stay after inpatient stroke rehabilitation in Ontario: a retrospective, population-based cohort study

Background: Low socioeconomic status is associated with increased risk of stroke and worse poststroke functional status. The aim of this study was to determine whether socioeconomic status, as measured by material deprivation, is associated with direct discharge to long-term care or length of stay after inpatient stroke rehabilitation. Methods: We performed a retrospective, population-based cohort study of people admitted to inpatient rehabilitation in Ontario, Canada, after stroke. Community-dwelling adults (aged 19–100 yr) discharged from acute care with a most responsible diagnosis of stroke between Sept. 1, 2012, and Aug. 31, 2017, and subsequently admitted to an inpatient rehabilitation bed were included. We used a multivariable logistic regression model to examine the association between material deprivation quintile (from the Ontario Marginalization Index) and discharge to long-term care, and a multivariable negative binomial regression model to examine the association between material deprivation quintile and rehabilitation length of stay. Results: A total of 18 736 people were included. There was no association between material deprivation and direct discharge to long-term care (most v. least deprived: odds ratio [OR] 1.07, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.89–1.28); however, people living in the most deprived areas had a mean length of stay 1.7 days longer than that of people in the least deprived areas (p = 0.004). This difference was not significant after adjustment for other baseline differences (relative change in mean 1.02, 95% CI 0.99–1.04). Interpretation: People admitted to inpatient stroke rehabilitation in Ontario had similar discharge destinations and lengths of stay regardless of their socioeconomic status. In future studies, investigators should consider further examining the associations of material deprivation with upstream factors as well as potential mitigation strategies.
Forty years on: a new national study of hearing in England and implications for global hearing health policy

Abstract Objective We aimed to update the prevalence estimates of hearing loss in older adults in England using a nationally representative sample of adults aged 50 years old and older. Design A comparative cross-sectional study design was implemented. Hearing loss was defined as ≥35 dB HL at 3.0 kHz, as measured via Hearcheck in the better-hearing ear. Study sample We compared the estimates based on the English census in 2015 to estimates from psychoacoustic hearing data available for 8,263 participants in the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) Wave 7 (2014–2015). Results Marked regional variability in hearing loss prevalence was revealed among participants with similar age profiles. The regional differences in hearing outcomes reached up to 13.53% in those belonging to the 71–80 years old group; the prevalence of hearing loss was 49.22% in the North East of England (95%CI 48.0–50.4), versus 35.69% in the South East (95%CI 34.8–36.50). Conclusion A socio-spatial approach in planning sustainable models of hearing care based on the actual populations’ needs and not on age demographics might offer a viable opportunity for healthier lives. Regular assessment of the extent and causality of the population’s different audiological needs within the country is strongly supported.
The Impact of Hyperuricemia on Patients With Low Body Mass Index After Endovascular Treatments: Data From the I-PAD Registry

We investigated the prognostic effects of hyperuricemia and high or low body mass index (BMI) in peripheral artery disease (PAD) after endovascular therapy (EVT). Between July 2015–2016, 357 consecutive patients with PAD who underwent EVT were enrolled. Patients were divided into 2 groups: BMI < 25 kg/m2 (low BMI) and ≥ 25 kg/m2 (high BMI); they were also divided into 2 more groups based on the presence/absence of hyperuricemia. The primary and secondary endpoints were major adverse cardiovascular and limb events (MACLE), and all-cause death at 3 years post-EVT. Patients with hyperuricemia had significantly lower freedom from MACLE than patients without hyperuricemia at 3 years (57.0 vs 71.9%, p = .0068). The overall survival of patients with hyperuricemia was significantly lower than that of patients without hyperuricemia (63.9 vs 81.7%, p = .0012). Patients with hyperuricemia who had low BMI experienced significantly lower freedom from MACLE than those without hyperuricemia who had low BMI (48.2 vs 69.9%, p = .002). The overall survival of patients with hyperuricemia who had low BMI was significantly lower than that of patients without hyperuricemia who had low BMI (55.2 vs 77.1%, p = .003). Patients with hyperuricemia had significantly more MACLE and a lower survival at 3 years than patients without hyperuricemia, even if they had a low BMI.
Limited, But Not Eliminated, Excess Long-Term Morbidity in Stage I-IIA Hodgkin Lymphoma Treated With Doxorubicin, Bleomycin, Vinblastine, and Dacarbazine and Limited-Field Radiotherapy

PURPOSE Balancing disease control and toxicity from chemotherapy and radiotherapy (RT) when treating early-stage classical Hodgkin lymphoma (cHL) is important. Available data on long-term toxicity after RT for cHL mostly refer to RT techniques no longer in use. We aimed to describe long-term toxicity from modern limited-field (LF)-RT after two or four cycles of doxorubicin, bleomycin, vinblastine, and dacarbazine (ABVD). PATIENTS AND METHODS This study included all patients with cHL treated with two or four cycles of ABVD and 30 Gy LF-RT during 1999-2005 in Sweden. Patients (n = 215) and comparators (n = 860), matched for age, gender, and region of residence, were cross-checked against national health registries for malignancies, diseases of the circulatory system (DCS), and diseases of the respiratory system (DRS) from the day of diagnosis of cHL. RESULTS The risk of a malignancy was higher for patients than comparators, hazard ratio (HR) 1.5 (95% CI, 1.0 to 2.4), as was the risk for DCS 1.5 (95% CI, 1.1 to 2.0) and for DRS 2.6 (95% CI, 1.6 to 4.3). The median follow-up was 16 years (range, 12-19 years). Of individual diagnoses in DCS, only venous thromboembolism was statistically significantly elevated. If the first 6 months (ie, time of active treatment for cHL) were excluded and censoring at relapse of cHL or diagnosis of any malignancy, the increased HR for venous thromboembolism diminished. Most of the excess risk for DRS consisted of asthma, HR 3.5 (95% CI, 1.8 to 6.8). Patients diagnosed with DRS were significantly younger than comparators. CONCLUSION Compared with toxicity from earlier RT techniques, excess morbidity was not eliminated, but lower than previously reported. The elevated risk of DRS was driven by diagnosis of asthma, which could in part be explained by misdiagnosis of persisting pulmonary toxicity. Less morbidity in Hodgkin lymphoma treated with chemotherapy and radiotherapy fields smaller than involved field
Identification of eight novel variants across PAX3, SOX10, EDNRB and MITF genes in Waardenburg syndrome with next-generation sequencing

Background: Waardenburg syndrome (WS) is a hereditary, genetically heterogeneous disorder characterized by variable presentations of sensorineural hearing impairment and pigmentation anomalies. Objective: This study aimed to investigate the clinical features of WS in detail and determine the genetic causes of patients with clinically suspected WS. Methods: A total of 24 patients from 21 Han Taiwanese families were enrolled and underwent comprehensive physical and audiological examination. We applied targeted next-generation sequencing (NGS) to investigate the potential causative variants in these patients and further validated the candidate variants through Sanger sequencing. Results: We identified 18 causative variants of WS in our cohort. Of these variants, eight were novel and discovered in PAX3, SOX10, EDNRB, MITF genes, including missense, nonsense, deletion, and splice site variants. Several patients presented skeletal deformities, hypotonia, megacolon, and neurological disorders that were rarely seen in WS. Conclusion: This study revealed highly phenotypic variability in Taiwanese WS patients and demonstrated that targeted NGS allowed us to clarify the genetic diagnosis and extend the genetic variant spectrum of WS.
Molecular investigation on transstadial/transovarial transmission of Hepatozoon canis in Rhipicephalus sanguineus sensu lato ticks

ABSTRACT To investigate the possibility of transovarial and transstadial transmission of Hepatozoon canis, a total of 953 Rhipicehlalus sanguineus sensu lato ticks at different stages were collected from 231 stray dogs housed at Blue cross, and 10 dogs presented at small animal clinics. The engorged nymphs collected from the cracks and crevices of Blue cross were allowed to moult in the laboratory. The ticks collected from the host and moulted ticks were pooled according to their sex and feeding status as fed, unfed males and females. Each tick was dissected individually and examined microscopically, then pooled as H. canis positive and negative. Microscopic examination of the 953 ticks revealed H. canis oocysts in 228 (89.76%) unfed adult males and females which moulted from the nymphs collected from cracks and crevices. Positivity of 74% was observed in unfed females while all unfed males (100%) were positive. Amongst the 213 fed males, 174 (81.69%) were positive, while only 210 (43.20%) of the 486 fed females were positive. No oocyst was detected from ticks collected from dogs presented to clinics. The occurrence of H. canis DNA in the tick was confirmed by PCR assay based on the amplification of 666 bp fragment of partial 18S rRNA gene. Amplification was observed in pooled samples collected from Blue cross, whereas no amplification was observed in ticks collected from dogs presented to clinics. The DNA samples from tick larvae did not show amplification, which indicated that H. canis is not transmitted transovarially.
Cross-sectional study of ticks in the vulnerable free-living spur-thighed tortoise Testudo graeca (Testudines: Testudinidae) from Morocco

ABSTRACT The spur-thighed tortoise (Testudo graeca L., 1758) is classified as a vulnerable species by the IUCN. In this context, it is important to explore the factors affecting its populations to set up an effective conservation plan. The present study was carried out in seven localities of Morocco with the objective to determine the ticks parasitizing this tortoise and their prevalence in relation to host characteristics and environmental factors. We examined 392 free-living tortoises for the presence of ticks during the spring 2018. A total number of 2238 adult ticks (no immature tick detected) were collected and all identified as Hyalomma aegyptium. Infection with at least one tick was detected in 77.6% ± 6.5 of the total tortoises. The infestation prevalence varied according to localities. Infestation intensity varied from 1.5 to 12, while tick abundance ranged from 0.65 to 12 ticks/tortoise. Male tortoises were more infested than females (P < 0.01) and the infestation was age-dependant. Our statistical result provides that the best model drivers tick parasitism was which included locality and age. Further studies are needed to assess the impact of the high intensity of H. aegyptium infestation on the tortoise’s health status and to assess the potential transmission of zoonotic pathogens.
Investigating Hemispheric Specialization of the Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex in Visuospatial Working Memory

The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) plays an important role in visuospatial working memory (VSWM). However, its hemispheric specialization in this cognitive process remains unclear. Here, we aimed to establish whether the DLPFC is hemispherically specialized in the VSWM. Therefore, we applied cTBS over either left or right DLPFC, with vertex as a control site. We recruited 36 participants for the experiment, 18 each for the left and the right DLPFC group. Each participant received a 40 s cTBS over the left or the right DLPFC depending on the group. The stimulation was applied at a uniform intensity of 40% of the maximal stimulator output (MSO) of the Magstim super rapid magnetic stimulator for all subjects. Our results indicated an impairment of VSWM task performance after the cTBS over the right DLPFC relative to the vertex stimulation. While cTBS over the left DLPFC did not significantly decrease the performance. Taken together, our results suggest that the right DLPFC is prominently involved in the VSWM and that cTBS can be used to effectively perturb the activity of the focal brain areas.
Edge Intelligence: Concepts, Architectures, Applications, and Future Directions

The name edge intelligence, also known as Edge AI, is a recent term used in the past few years to refer to the confluence of machine learning, or broadly speaking artificial intelligence, with edge computing. In this article, we revise the concepts regarding edge intelligence, such as cloud, edge, and fog computing, the motivation to use edge intelligence, and compare current approaches and analyze application scenarios. To provide a complete review of this technology, previous frameworks and platforms for edge computing have been discussed in this work to provide the general view of the basis for Edge AI. Similarly, the emerging techniques to deploy deep learning models at the network edge, as well as specialized platforms and frameworks to do so, are review in this article. These devices, techniques, and frameworks are analyzed based on relevant criteria at the network edge, such as latency, energy consumption, and accuracy of the models, to determine the current state of the art as well as current limitations of the proposed technologies. Because of this, it is possible to understand the current possibilities to efficiently deploy state-of-the-art deep learning models at the network edge based on technologies such as artificial intelligence accelerators, tensor processing units, and techniques that include federated learning and gossip training. Finally, the challenges of Edge AI are discussed in the work, as well as the future directions that can be extracted from the evolution of the edge computing and Internet of Things approaches.
Cache Interference-aware Task Partitioning for Non-preemptive Real-time Multi-core Systems

Shared caches in multi-core processors introduce serious difficulties in providing guarantees on the real-time properties of embedded software due to the interaction and the resulting contention in the shared caches. Prior work has studied the schedulability analysis of global scheduling for real-time multi-core systems with shared caches. This article considers another common scheduling paradigm: partitioned scheduling in the presence of shared cache interference. To achieve this, we propose CITTA, a cache interference-aware task partitioning algorithm. We first analyze the shared cache interference between two programs for set-associative instruction and data caches. Then, an integer programming formulation is constructed to calculate the upper bound on cache interference exhibited by a task, which is required by CITTA. We conduct schedulability analysis of CITTA and formally prove its correctness. A set of experiments is performed to evaluate the schedulability performance of CITTA against global EDF scheduling and other greedy partition approaches such as First-fit and Worst-fit over randomly generated tasksets and realistic workloads in embedded systems. Our empirical evaluations show that CITTA outperforms global EDF scheduling and greedy partition approaches in terms of task sets deemed schedulable.
Frequencies of Clinically Important CYP2C19 and CYP2D6 Alleles across East Asian populations

Cytochrome P450 2C19 (CYP2C19) and 2D6 (CYP2D6) are vital drug metabolic enzymes involved in the metabolism of many important prescription drugs. Importantly, CYP2C19 and CYP2D6 genes are highly polymorphic and harbor a plethora of genetic variants that change enzyme activity and consequently result in individual differences in drug metabolism, response and toxicity. While CYP2C19 and CYP2D6 alleles are highly population-specific, we overviewed distribution of 6 clinically important CYP2C19 (CYP2C19*2, *3 and *17) and CYP2D6 (CYP2D6*5, *10 and duplications) alleles within East Asian populations (including Chinese, South Korean and Japanese) as well as Chinese subethnic populations based on 30 original studies and 25,948 healthy individuals. We found that the frequency of CYP2C19*3 shows an obvious West-to-East gradient, ranging from 4.3% in Han Chinese to 12% in Japanese. Within the Chinese subethnic populations, we observed that the frequencies of CYP2C19*2 were graded similarly from West to East China and Hui population harbors strikingly high CYP2C19*2 frequency (42.7%) among all studied populations. In addition, there is a very clear South-to-North gradient of CYP2C19*3 frequencies across China, ranging from 1.5% in Li to 8% in Kazakh. Patterns of CYP2D6 allele distributions are difficult to conclude due to the lack of reported frequency data. In summary, we described frequencies of important CYP2C19 and CYP2D6 alleles in East Asian populations and Chinese ethnic populations, which can serve as important information for the guidance of East Asian population-specific genotyping strategies as well as dose adjustment in drug prescriptions.
Parameterization of mixing in stratified open channel flow

Abstract The dynamics and parameterization of mixing in temporally evolving turbulent open-channel flow is investigated through direct numerical simulations as the flow transitions from an initially neutral state to stable stratification. We observe three distinctly different mixing regimes separated by transitional values of turbulent Froude number $Fr$: a weakly stratified regime for $Fr >1$; an intermediate regime for $0.3< Fr<1$; and a saturated regime for $Fr<0.3$. The mixing coefficient $\varGamma =B/\epsilon _K$, (where $B$ is the buoyancy flux and $\epsilon _K$ is the dissipation rate of kinetic energy), is well predicted by the parameterization schemes of Maffioli et al. (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 794, 2016) and Garanaik & Venayagamoorthy (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 867, 2019, pp. 323–333) across all three regimes through instantaneous measurements of $Fr$ and the ratio $L_E/L_O$, where $L_E$ and $L_O$ are the Ellison and Ozmidov length scales, respectively. The flux Richardson number $R_f = B/(B+\epsilon _K)$ shows linear dependence on the gradient Richardson number $Ri_g$ up to a transitional value of $Ri_g =0.25$, past which it saturates again to a constant value independent of $Fr$ or $Ri_g$. By examining the flow as a balance of inertial, shear and buoyancy forces, we derive physically based scaling relationships to demonstrate that $Ri_g \sim Fr^{-2}$ and $Ri_g \sim Fr^{-1}$ in the weakly and moderately stratified regimes and that $Ri_g$ becomes independent of $Fr$ in the saturated regime. Our results suggest that the $L_E/L_O \sim Fr^{-1}$ scaling of Garanaik & Venayagamoorthy (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 867, 2019, pp. 323–333) in the intermediate regime manifests due to the influence of mean shear. The differences in the relationships between $Fr$ and $L_E/L_O$ for non-sheared flows within this regime are discussed.
A critique of narrative reviews of the evidence-base for ECT in depression

Abstract There has been recent debate regarding the efficacy of electroconvulsive therapy in the treatment of depression. This has been based on narrative reviews that contradict existing systematic reviews and meta-analyses. In this special article, we highlight the mistakes that occur when interpreting evidence using narrative reviews, as opposed to conventional systematic reviews and meta-analyses.
Pulmonary thromboembolism and alveolar hemorrhage as initial manifestations of systemic lupus erythematosus

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is an autoimmune disease that affects multiple organs. SLE can affect the lung, the pulmonary vasculature, and the pleura. A 38-year-old female with limb pain and ecchymosis who later developed pulmonary thromboembolism and alveolar hemorrhage is presented here. Clinical, imaging, laboratory, and histopathological evidence is presented. The patient met the European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) and the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) criteria for SLE. Furthermore, the patient had a Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Disease Activity Index 2000 (SLEDAI-2K) score of 35; thus, indicating severe disease. This case is an example of concomitant venous and arterial lung complications in an SLE patient.
Value Co-Creation in Engineering Service Innovation: Resources and Capabilities Perspectives

Abstract Purpose: This research focuses on firm resources and capabilities used for value co-creation in service innovation. Specifically, I investigated how service innovation is created in an international engineering company. The aim of this article is to reveal what resources and capabilities are employed by a service provider for value co-creation in the innovation project of engineering service and how they vary in particular stages of this project. Methodology: The research is based on qualitative methodology by a multi-case study strategy. Focus group discussion with senior managers and semi-structured interviews with project managers of the studied international engineering company were used as concrete data gathering methods. Findings: The research revealed eight value co-creation activities accomplished by the engineering company and client during the engineering service innovation project. The activities are as follows: co-identification of the client’s problem, co-evaluation of ideas, co-defining of client’s requirements, co-analysis of environment, co-design, co-testing, and co-adoption, co-production, and co-activities after the launch. These activities are diffused in different project stages and demand a range of resources: expert knowledge, diagnostic, communication skills, trust, experience, technological equipment, human resources. Moreover, they require diverse capabilities: relational, innovative, analytical, negotiation, knowledge absorptive, planning, organizational flexibility, and cross-cultural. The intensity and variety of using the mentioned resources and capabilities differ relying on the value co-creation activity. We hope these findings will represent a step toward a more coherent resource-based view (RBV) and service innovation theories. Implications: The study involved only one Lithuanian engineering company, so the research context may influence the findings. Another limitation is related to the small number of cases and research participants. Originality: Unlike previous studies that revealed the importance of single resources and capabilities for service innovation, this study determined the range of resources and capabilities employed in different activities of engineering service innovation project stages, especially in the value co-creation activities performed by the engineering company and clients. Moreover, research also identified how resources and capabilities vary at different stages of these projects.