Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Adult Orthotopic Liver Transplantation in the United Kingdom and Ireland Between 1994 and 2005

Background. The UK and Ireland Liver Transplant Audit collects information on all liver transplantations that are carried out in both countries. In this paper, we describe these transplantations and their outcomes in adult patients according to primary liver disease diagnosis, type of transplantation and period. Methods. A prospective cohort study of 7906 orthotopic liver transplantations carried out between April 1994 and June 2005 in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Multivariable logistic regression was used to investigate improvements in mortality according to period of transplantation adjusted for recipient and donor characteristics. Results. A total of 6,850 transplantations were done in adults (patients 16 years or older). Of these, 836 (12.2%) were first super-urgent procedures (33.7% men; median age 36 years), and 5,072 (74.0%) first elective procedures (60.0% men; median age 52 years). The percentage of patients who received a donor organ with abnormal appearance gradually increased, especially in patients receiving an elective transplant. Mortality at 90 days after first super-urgent transplant decreased from 29.6% (95% confidence interval: 23.5% to 36.9%) before October 1, 1996 to 16.0% (11.7% to 21.7%) after October 1, 2002. Considering the same time periods, mortality at 90 days after first elective transplant decreased from 10.6% (8.9% to 12.7%) to 7.7% (6.3% to 9.3%). Multivariable analysis demonstrated that these improvements cannot be explained by changes in the risk profile of recipients and donors. Conclusions. Patients undergoing a liver transplantation in the most recent years had a better survival than patients with similar characteristics transplanted 10 years earlier. Posttransplant survival has improved despite a deteriorating quality of donor organs.
Lung tumor motion estimation using 3-D phase correlation for radiotherapy treatment

This paper proposes a three-dimensional (3-D) phase correlation-based rigid volume registration method for estimation of the lung tumor motion in four-dimensional (4-D) computed tomography (CT). In the lung cancer radiotherapy treatment, the 4-D thorax CT has been used to observe the spatiotemporal tumor motion with the patient's respiration. In the proposed method, the respiration-induced lung tumor motion is approximately modeled as a 3-D translation between two CT volumes obtained from two respiratory stages. A 3-D phase correlation of the two CT volumes is calculated by using the 3-D inverse discrete Fourier transform (IDFT) of the normalized cross power spectrum of the two volumes. The tumor motion values along three directions are estimated by locating the highest peak of the 3-D phase correlation. The experimental results show that the proposed method is capable of estimating the tumor motion with high accuracy and low computational cost.
“I Only Want to Know What You Know”: The Use of Orienting Messages During Forensic Interviews and Their Effects on Child Behavior

ABSTRACT The purpose of this research was to evaluate orienting messages within the CornerHouse Forensic Interview Protocol in two formats: provided both at the outset and as needed throughout the interview compared to previous practice in which orienting messages were provided only as the opportunity arose. Through the content analysis of 120 videotaped forensic interviews and corresponding case files in which children were interviewed for sexual abuse allegations, results suggest that the use of orienting messages both at the beginning and as needed lead to significantly more autonomous responses from children, that use of more orienting messages was significantly related to more autonomous responses from children, and that the specific orienting messages of “can’t/won’t say” and “ask me a question” significantly predict more autonomous responses among children. Implications for practice include the use of orienting messages as a way to provide a respectful and safe experience for children participating in forensic interviews.
Treating COPD--the TORCH trial, P values, and the Dodo.

In the United States, the overall, age-standardized death rate decreased from 1242 deaths per 100,000 population in 1970 to 845 deaths per 100,000 in 2002. This good news must be viewed against the doubling during the same interval of the age-standardized death rate among persons with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD),1 which makes COPD a major cause of death (Figure 1). COPD is the diagnostic term for a group of disorders that are characterized by respiratory symptoms — dyspnea, cough, and sputum production; airflow limitation; and chronic inflammation of the lung.2 Risk factors include exposure to a wide variety of .
Online stabilization of block-diagonal recurrent neural networks

This paper deals with a discrete-time recurrent neural network (DTRNN) with a block-diagonal feedback weight matrix, called the block-diagonal recurrent neural network (BDRNN), that allows a simplified approach to online training and to address network and training stability issues. The structure of the BDRNN is exploited to modify the conventional backpropagation through time (BPTT) algorithm. to reduce its storage requirement by a numerically stable method of recomputing the network state variables. The network and training stability is addressed by exploiting the BDRNN structure to directly monitor and maintain stability during weight updates by developing a functional measure of system stability that augments the cost function being minimized. Simulation results are presented to demonstrate the performance of the BDRNN architecture, its training algorithm, and the stabilization method.
Which type of congenital malformations is significantly increased in singleton pregnancies following after in vitro fertilization/intracytoplasmic sperm injection: a systematic review and meta-analysis

It is inconclusive nowadays for which type of congenital malformations(CMs) is increased in singleton pregnancies following after in vitro fertilization(IVF)/intracytoplasmic sperm injection(ICSI) compared with those after spontaneous conception; furthermore, a complete overview is missing. We conducted a meta-analysis of cohort studies to assess the risk of specific CMs associated with IVF/ICSI singleton pregnancies. Unrestricted searches were conducted, with an end date parameter of 1 June 2017, of PubMed, Embase, Google Scholar, Cochrane Libraries, and Chinese databases. Either a fixed- or a random-effects model was used to calculate the overall combined risk estimates. Subgroup and sensitivity analyses were performed to explore potential heterogeneity moderators when significant heterogeneity was observed. Sixteen cohort studies with a total of 129,648 IVF/ICSI and 5,491,949 spontaneously conceived singleton births fulfilled the inclusion criteria. The IVF/ICSI singleton pregnancies had a significantly increased risk of cleft lip and/or palate (OR = 1.34 [95% CI: 1.07–1.69]; I 2 = 0%), eye, ear, face and neck (odd ratios [OR] = 1.20 [95% CI: 1.04–1.39]; I 2 = 15%), chromosomal (OR = 1.23 [95% CI: 1.07–1.40]; I 2 = 32%), respiratory (OR = 1.28 [95% CI: 1.01–1.64]; I 2 = 37%), digestive (OR = 1.46 [95% CI: 1.29–1.65]; I 2 = 0%), musculoskeletal (OR = 1.47 [95% CI: 1.25–1.72]; I 2 = 64%), urogenital (OR = 1.43 [95% CI: 1.18–1.72]; I 2 = 62%), and circulatory (OR = 1.39 [95% CI: 1.23–1.58]; I 2 = 46%) system malformations. Relevant heterogeneity moderators have been identified by subgroup analysis. Sensitivity analysis yielded consistent results. No evidence of publication bias was observed. In conclusion, the IVF/ICSI singleton pregnancies are associated with higher risks for most specific CMs. Clinicians should provide appropriate information to counseling IVF/ICSI patients.
Validation of the Brazilian Portuguese version of the Premenstrual Symptoms Screening Tool (PSST) and association of PSST scores with health-related quality of life

Objective: To develop and validate a Brazilian Portuguese version of the Premenstrual Symptoms Screening Tool (PSST), a questionnaire used for the screening of premenstrual syndrome (PMS) and of the most severe form of PMS, premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD). The PSST also rates the impact of premenstrual symptoms on daily activities. Methods: A consecutive sample of 801 women aged ≥ 18 years completed the study protocol. The internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and content validity of the Brazilian PSST were determined. The independent association of a positive screen for PMS or PMDD and quality of life determined by the World Health Organization Quality of Life instrument-Abbreviated version (WHOQOL-Bref) was also assessed. Results: Of 801 participants, 132 (16.5%) had a positive screening for PMDD. The Brazilian PSST had adequate internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.91) and test-retest reliability. The PSST also had adequate convergent/discriminant validity, without redundancy. Content validity ratio and content validity index were 0.61 and 0.94 respectively. Finally, a positive screen for PMS/PMDD was associated with worse WHOQOL-Bref scores. Conclusions: These findings suggest that PSST is a reliable and valid instrument to screen for PMS/PMDD in Brazilian women.
Empirical Method for Detecting Pointing Gestures in Recorded Lectures

Pointing gestures performed by lecturers are important because they seem to indicate pedagogical significance. In this extended abstract, we describe a simple empirical method for detecting pointing gestures in recorded lectures captured using a depth sensor (Kinect). We first analyse component gestures; second, we assign them weights; finally, we set a threshold on the aggregated weight in order to decide if a pointing gesture has been performed.
The role of presacral drainage in the management of penetrating rectal injuries.

PURPOSE To compare in a randomized, prospective manner infectious complication rates associated with presacral drainage versus no drainage in the presence of penetrating rectal injury. METHODS During a 45-month period, 48 patients with penetrating rectal injuries were entered into a randomized, prospective study at an urban Level I trauma center. The patients were randomized to a presacral drainage group or a nondrainage group. Randomization was performed after detection of the rectal injury. Forty-four injuries were identified by proctoscopy (92%), with the rest detected intraoperatively or by physical examination. All patients with rectal injuries were included regardless of age, associated injuries, time from injury to operation, blood loss, severity of rectal injury, other abdominal organs injured, or hemodynamic stability. Rectal injuries were defined as those injuries to the large bowel distal to the peritoneal reflection. All rectal injuries underwent fecal diversion, and all drainage was accomplished using closed Jackson-Pratt drainage. RESULTS Forty-eight patients were studied, of whom 25 were randomized to no drainage and 23 were randomized to presacral drainage. The average age for the nondrainage group was 21.9 years, and the average age for the presacral drainage group 26.0 years. The average Penetrating Abdominal Trauma Index score was 34.3 for the nondrainage group and 32.4 for the presacral drainage group. There were two (8%) septic complications (one perirectal and one perivesical abscess) associated with the rectal injuries in the presacral drainage group. The abscesses in the drainage group resolved after computed tomography-guided drainage. There was one (4%) septic complication (rectocutaneous fistula) in the nondrainage group, which was associated with a retained missile fragment. The fistula resolved after bedside percutaneous removal of the missile fragment. CONCLUSION We conclude that presacral drainage for penetrating rectal injuries has no effect on infectious complications associated with the rectal injuries.
Malignant rhabdoid‐tumor cell line showing neural and smooth‐muscle‐cell phenotypes

Malignant rhabdoid tumor (MRT) is a rare and extremely aggressive malignant tumor in childhood. In this study, an MRT cell line, designated KP‐MRT‐NS, was established from the ascitic fluid taken from an 11‐month‐old girl, whose tumor had originated from the left kidney. Ultrastructural findings demonstrated the typical aggregation of whorls of intermediate filaments. Chromosome constitution was described as 46, XX, add (10)(q26)[17]/46, idem, dis (1;2)(q22;q31)[3] based on ISCN (1995) and a del (22)(q11.2) was not found in this cell line. The origin of MRT is controversial, various cellular origins having been proposed because of the phenotypic diversity of MRT. Therefore, in this study, to clarify the origin of MRT, the expressions of cytoplasmic proteins including smooth‐muscle‐specific proteins (α‐smooth‐muscle actin, basic calponin, smooth‐muscle‐myosin‐heavy‐chain isoforms of SM1 and SM2) in the primary‐MRT tissue and cell line were analyzed. In the primary‐tumor tissue, the expressions of neurofilament, vimentin and α‐smooth‐muscle actin were demonstrated by indirect immunofluorescence. In the KP‐MRT‐NS cell line, the expression of neurofilament, α‐smooth‐muscle actin, basic calponin and smooth‐muscle‐myosin heavy chain of SM1 and SM2 isoforms was revealed by immunofluorescence, Western blot and/or reverse transcriptase‐polymerase chain reaction (RT‐PCR). MyoD1 mRNA, determined as a skeletal‐muscle‐cell lineage marker, was not expressed in the primary‐tumor tissue or in the KP‐MRT‐NS cell line. According to our findings, the MRT cells are of both neural and smooth‐muscle cell phenotypes, and support the neural‐crest origin of MRT. Int. J. Cancer 82:678–686, 1999. © 1999 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Iterative learning control for a timoshenko beam with input backlash

In this paper, vibration control is addressed for a Timoshenko beam system with input backlash and external disturbances. By integrating iterative learning control into adaptive control, two dual-loop adaptive iterative learning control schemes are proposed in the presence of the input backlash. Two observers are designed to estimate two bounded terms, which are divided from the backlash inputs. Based on the defined composite energy function, all the signals are proved to be bounded in each iteration. Along the iteration axis, (I) the input backlash is tackled; (II) the transverse displacements and the angle displacements are suppressed to zero; and (III) the spatiotemporally varying disturbance and the time-varying disturbance are rejected. Simulations are provided to manifest the effectiveness of the proposed control laws.
Capacity Limits of Optical Fiber Networks

We describe a method to estimate the capacity limit of fiber-optic communication systems (or ¿fiber channels¿) based on information theory. This paper is divided into two parts. Part 1 reviews fundamental concepts of digital communications and information theory. We treat digitization and modulation followed by information theory for channels both without and with memory. We provide explicit relationships between the commonly used signal-to-noise ratio and the optical signal-to-noise ratio. We further evaluate the performance of modulation constellations such as quadrature-amplitude modulation, combinations of amplitude-shift keying and phase-shift keying, exotic constellations, and concentric rings for an additive white Gaussian noise channel using coherent detection. Part 2 is devoted specifically to the "fiber channel. '' We review the physical phenomena present in transmission over optical fiber networks, including sources of noise, the need for optical filtering in optically-routed networks, and, most critically, the presence of fiber Kerr nonlinearity. We describe various transmission scenarios and impairment mitigation techniques, and define a fiber channel deemed to be the most relevant for communication over optically-routed networks. We proceed to evaluate a capacity limit estimate for this fiber channel using ring constellations. Several scenarios are considered, including uniform and optimized ring constellations, different fiber dispersion maps, and varying transmission distances. We further present evidences that point to the physical origin of the fiber capacity limitations and provide a comparison of recent record experiments with our capacity limit estimation.
Sleep-patterns, sleep hygiene behaviors and parental monitoring among Bahrain-based Indian adolescents

Introduction: Sleep plays an important role in adolescent's health and undergoes substantial changes with puberty and physical maturation with a preference for later bed times. Evidence shows that many adolescents are not obtaining the required amounts of sleep which is 9.25 h, due to inadequate sleep practices, academic and societal demands. This study aims at describing the (1) sleep patterns of adolescents on school days and weekends, (2) sleep hygiene practices and the extent of parental monitoring and (3) gender and grade level differences in sleep duration and sleep hygiene practices among Indian adolescents in Bahrain. Materials and Methods: Study used a descriptive correlational design. A total of 145 adolescents from 11 to 17 years from grade 6 to 12 were selected using convenience sampling. Data was collected from November 2012 to March 2013. A structured questionnaire for sleep patterns and Mastin et al.'s Sleep Hygiene Index for assessing sleep hygiene practices were used. Results: The adolescents’ total sleep duration was 7.07 ± 1.13 hours. A highly significant difference in sleep duration on school days and weekends between adolescents of various grade levels (P < 0.001 and 0.001, respectively) and between parental monitoring at the time of getting up on school days and sleep duration (P value 0.026 at 0.05 level of significance) was found. Gender was not significant with the sleep duration, and also with Sleep Hygiene Index scores. Conclusion: The results suggest that there is a high prevalence of insufficient sleep and irregular bed-time schedule among Indian adolescents in Bahrain. Interventions directed toward improving sleep and promoting good sleep hygiene strategies are required to improve the physical and emotional health of adolescents.
Adolescents' physical activity habits--results from a national health survey.

BACKGROUND The MABAT Youth National Health and Nutrition Survey was conducted in Israel by the Ministry of Health and the Center for Disease Control. This article presents results of physical activity (PA) habits in Israel, in relation to recommendations by world health organizations. METHODS Participants were 6274 adolescents, grades 7-12, enrolled in a cross-sectional, representative, school-based survey. Sufficient level of PA was defined as any moderate and vigorous level of PA that adds up daily to 60 min/day. Light PA was considered to be an insufficient level of PA. RESULTS Only 10.5% of the participants reported performing sufficient PA. Large gender differences were found, with 17.7% of boys versus only 4.6% of girls meeting the guidelines. CONCLUSIONS Results highlight the need to develop programmes for school children in Israel to promote PA. Such programmes have been initiated in many countries that have a large percentage of adolescents with a sedentary lifestyle.
Representation of Three-Dimensional Space in the Hippocampus of Flying Bats

Bats, Grids, and Oscillations Nearly all animals move around in a three-dimensional (3D) world; however, very little is known about the neural circuitry underlying the representation of 3D space (see the Perspective by Barry and Doeller). Using whole-cell patch recordings in slices of entorhinal cortex, Heys et al. (p. 363) found that bat entorhinal stellate cells must generate grid patterns without theta-frequency oscillatory mechanisms. In another study, Yartsev and Ulanovsky (p. 367) used telemetry to record activity from the hippocampus of bats while they were flying around. They found that active pyramidal cells—or place cells—in hippocampal area CA1 fired in positions, depending on where the animals were in the room. The spatial firing properties of neurons were recorded in bats during flight using a wireless neural-telemetry system. [Also see Perspective by Barry and Doeller] Many animals, on air, water, or land, navigate in three-dimensional (3D) environments, yet it remains unclear how brain circuits encode the animal's 3D position. We recorded single neurons in freely flying bats, using a wireless neural-telemetry system, and studied how hippocampal place cells encode 3D volumetric space during flight. Individual place cells were active in confined 3D volumes, and in >90% of the neurons, all three axes were encoded with similar resolution. The 3D place fields from different neurons spanned different locations and collectively represented uniformly the available space in the room. Theta rhythmicity was absent in the firing patterns of 3D place cells. These results suggest that the bat hippocampus represents 3D volumetric space by a uniform and nearly isotropic rate code.
Comparing Speech and Text Classification on ICNALE

In this paper we explore and compare a speech and text classification approach on a corpus of native and non-native English speakers. We experiment on a subset of the International Corpus Network of Asian Learners of English containing the recorded speeches and the equivalent text transcriptions. Our results suggest a high correlation between the spoken and written classification results, showing that native accent is highly correlated with grammatical structures found in text.
User scheduling for large multi-beam satellite MIMO systems

Very large size MIMO systems (hundreds of antennas) are practically relevant, for instance in the return link of satellite communications. Indeed, satellites routinelly have about one hundred beams and hundreds of terminals may be present in each beam. Scheduling can become very challenging in in this large-size scenario: an arbitrarily selected scheduling plan may result in users with low offered rates; on the other hand searching for the best scheduling plan is unfeasible due to the huge number of possible combinations. This work proposes a low complexity heuristic based on graph theory to find a scheduling plan that well balances the offered rates to the served users.
Vision-Based Trajectory Tracking Controller for Autonomous Close Proximity Operations

Tight unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) autonomous missions such as formation flight and aerial refueling (AR) requires an active controller that works in conjunction with a precise vision-based sensor that is able to extract in-front aircraft relative position and orientation from captured images. A key point in implementing such a sensor is its robustness in the presence of noises and other uncertainties. In this paper, a new vision-based algorithm that uses neural networks to estimate the In-front aircraft relative orientation and position is developed. The accuracy and robustness of the proposed algorithm has been validated via a detailed modeling and a complete virtual environment based on the 6DOF nonlinear simulation of aircraft dynamics in an autonomous aerial refueling (AAR) mission. In addition, a tracking controller based on linear methods is designed to generate required commands for aircraft control surfaces and engine during an AAR. The performance of the system in the presence of noise and disturbances has also been examined. The obtain results are quite satisfactory.