Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Design of the China Epidemiology Research in Subarachnoid Haemorrhage (CHERISH) Study

Rationale Limited epidemiological data exist on subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH) in China. Effective prevention requires knowledge of the rates and risk factors for SAH the most lethal type of stroke that most often affects younger adults. We report the methods and the initial experience of a new study to address this deficiency. Aims To determine the incidence, risk factors, management and outcomes of SAH. Design The CHina Epidemiology Research In Subarachnoid Haemorrhage (CHERISH) is a prospective, population-based, case–control study in a defined region (study population 1.7 million) of the city of Baotou in Inner Mongolia, China. Methods Cases of spontaneous SAH are identified using standard definitions through prospective surveillance of all major acute care hospitals with neurology/neurosurgery facilities, small hospitals/clinics, and the single city crematorium over a 2-year period. Verbal autopsy procedures are used to ascertain the probable causes of deaths outside of hospital. For each case, two nonrelative controls without SAH are matched by age (5-year strata), gender, and district of residence. Data are collected on socio-demography, lifestyle factors, and medical history, and blood is taken for the extraction and storage of DNA. Details of the clinical features, presentation, and management of SAH are obtained from cases, and survivors provide details on health care utilisation, physical function, health-related quality of life, and complications, at 6-months. Study outcomes The primary outcomes are overall, age- and gender-specific incidence, relative (odds ratios) and population-attributable risks for defined exposures, and 28-day and 6-month case fatality ratios and other outcomes. Conclusions Preliminary experience confirms the completeness of the surveillance methods, with no clear missed out-of-hospital cases of SAH with sudden death, and of high participation and reliable data collection procedures. CHERISH is well placed to provide reliable estimates of the burden of SAH in China.
Quantification of Risk for Pouch Failure After Ileal Pouch Anal Anastomosis Surgery

Objective: To identify risk factors associated with ileal pouch failure and to develop a multifactorial model for quantifying the risk of failure in individual patients. Summary Background Data: Ileal pouch anal anastomosis (IPAA) has become the treatment choice for most patients with ulcerative colitis and familial adenomatous polyposis who require surgery. At present, there are no published studies that investigate collectively the interrelation of factors related to ileal pouch failure, nor are there any predictive indices for risk stratification of patients undergoing IPAA surgery. Methods: Data from 23 preoperative, 7 intraoperative, and 10 postoperative risk factors were recorded from 1,965 patients undergoing restorative proctocolectomy in a single center between 1983 and 2001. Primary end point was ileal pouch failure during the follow-up period of up to 19 years. The “CCF ileal pouch failure” model was developed using a parametric survival analysis and a 70%:30% split-sample validation technique for model training and testing. Results: The median patient follow-up was 4.1 year (range, 0–19 years). Five-year ileal pouch survival was 95.6% (95% CI, 94.4–96.7). The following risk factors were found to be independent predictors of pouch survival and were used in the final multivariate model: patient diagnosis, prior anal pathology, abnormal anal manometry, patient comorbidity, pouch-perineal or pouch-vaginal fistulae, pelvic sepsis, anastomotic stricture and separation. The model accurately predicted the risk of ileal pouch failure with adequate calibration statistics (Hosmer Lemeshow &khgr;2 = 3.001; P = 0.557) and an area under the receiver operating characteristics curve of 82.0%. Conclusions: The CCF ileal pouch failure model is a simple and accurate way of predicting the risk of ileal pouch failure in clinical practice on a longitudinal basis. It may play an important role in providing risk estimates for patients wishing to make informed choices on the type of treatment offered to them.
Frame Selection for Text-independent Speaker Recognition

In this paper, we propose a set of criteria for the selection of the most relevant frames in order to improve text-independent speaker automatic recognition (TISAR) task. The selection is carried out on the short term Cepstral feature vectors such as PLP and MFCC and performed at the front end processing level. The proposed criteria mainly attempt to select vectors lying far from the universal background model (UBM). Experiments are conducted on the MOBIO database and show that the selection allows an improvement in complexity (time and space) and in speaker identification rate, which is appropriate for real-time TISAR systems.
Ripple-trapped loss of neutral-beam-injected fast ions in JT-60U.

Toroidal field ripple loss of neutral-beam-injected fast ions is measured from the heat load on the first wall in JT-60U. The heat load is localized in both toroidal and poloidal directions and increases with both ripple size and safety factor. The overall measured ripple loss is in good agreement with an orbit-following Monte Carlo calculation. Nevertheless, there is a small difference between the experimental and the calculated location of the maximum heat load, which suggests that the radial electric field shifts the impinging points of ripple-trapped ions on the first wall.
Heme Oxygenase-Mediated Increases in Adiponectin Decrease Fat Content and Inflammatory Cytokines Tumor Necrosis Factor-α and Interleukin-6 in Zucker Rats and Reduce Adipogenesis in Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells

Adiponectin, an abundant adipocyte-derived plasma protein that modulates vascular function in type 2 diabetes, has been shown to provide cytoprotection to both pancreatic and vascular systems in diabetes. Therefore, we examined whether up-regulation of heme oxygenase (HO)-1 ameliorates the levels of inflammatory cytokines and influences serum adiponectin in Zucker fat (ZF) rats. ZF rats displayed a decrease in both HO activity and HO-1 and HO-2 protein levels and an increase in tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α and interleukin (IL)-6 compared with Zucker lean (ZL) rats. Treatment of ZF animals with 2 mg/kg cobalt protoporphyrin IX (CoPP) increased protein levels of HO-1 and HO activity, but HO-2 was unaffected. The increase in HO-1 was associated with a decrease in superoxide levels (p < 0.05) and an increase in plasma adiponectin (p < 0.005), compared with untreated ZF rats. CoPP treatment decreased visceral and s.c. fat content, and it reduced weight gain (p < 0.01). In addition, the inflammatory cytokines TNF-α and IL-6 were decreased (p < 0.04 and p < 0.008, respectively). Treatment of human bone marrow-derived adipocytes cultured with CoPP resulted in an increase in HO-1 and a decrease in superoxide levels. Up-regulation of HO-1 caused adipose remodeling, smaller adipocytes, and increased adiponectin secretion in the culture medium of human bone marrow-derived adipocytes. In summary, this study demonstrates that the antiobesity effect of HO-1 induction results in an increase in adiponectin secretion, in vivo and in vitro, a decrease in TNF-α and IL-6, and a reduction in weight gain. These findings highlight the pivotal role and symbiotic relationship of HO-1 and adiponectin in the modulation of the metabolic syndrome phenotype.
Evidence for dissociation between adrenarche and gonadarche: studies in patients with idiopathic precocious puberty, gonadal dysgenesis, isolated gonadotropin deficiency, and constitutionally delayed growth and adolescence.

To test the hypothesis that adrenarche and the activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis (gonadarche) are independent and dissociated events, controlled by separate mechanisms, we examined the relationship between adrenarche and gonadarche in patients with a variety of clinical disorders of sexual maturation. The concentration of plasma dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEA-S) was used as a hormonal marker of adrenal androgen secretion. The 26 patients with idiopathic precocious puberty exhibited two distinct patterns. Seventeen patients with onset of puberty before 6 yr of age had a mean plasma concentration of DHEA-S which was not different from that of normal prepubertal, preadrenarchal children of the same sex, chronological age (CA; 1–6 yr), and bone age (BA; 1–10 yr). In contrast, 9 patients with onset of precocious puberty between 6 and 8 yr of age had a mean DHEA-S plasma concentration greater than that of agematched prepubertal children (86.4 ± 13.9 vs. 10.0 ± 2.2 μg/dl; P < 0.004) and.
Antibiotic resistance mechanisms of Escherichia coli Isolates from urinary specimens.

BACKGROUND This study was designed to characterize urinary isolates of Escherichia coli that produce extended-spectrum beta-lactamases (ESBLs) and to determine the prevalence of other antimicrobial resistance genes. METHODS A total of 264 non-duplicate clinical isolates of E. coli were recovered from urine specimens in a tertiary-care hospital in Busan in 2005. Antimicrobial susceptibility was determined by disk diffusion and agar dilution methods, ESBL production was confirmed using the double-disk synergy (DDS) test, and antimicrobial resistance genes were detected by direct sequencing of PCR amplification products. E. coli isolates were classified into four phylogenetic biotypes according to the presence of chuA, yjaA, and TSPE4. RESULTS DDS testing detected ESBLs in 27 (10.2%) of the 264 isolates. The most common type of ESBL was CTX-M-15 (N=14), followed by CTX-M-3 (N=8) and CTX-M-14 (N=6). All of the ESBL-producing isolates were resistant to ciprofloxacin. PCR experiments detected genes encoding DHA-1 and CMY-10 AmpC beta-lactamases in one and two isolates, respectively. Also isolated were 5 isolates harboring 16S rRNA methylases, 2 isolates harboring Qnr, and 19 isolates harboring AAC(6')-Ib-cr. Most ESBL-producing isolates clustered within phylogenetic groups B2 (N=14) and D (N=7). CONCLUSION CTX-M enzymes were the dominant type of ESBLs in urinary isolates of E. coli, and ESBL-producing isolates frequently contained other antimicrobial resistance genes. More than half of the urinary E. coli isolates harboring CTX-M enzymes were within the phylogenetic group B2.
Unsupervised clustering of multivariate circular data

In this paper, we study an unsupervised clustering problem. The originality of this problem lies in the data, which consist of the positions of five separate X‐ray beams on a circle. Radiation therapists positioned the five X‐ray beam ‘projectors’ around each patient on a predefined circle. However, similarities exist in positioning for certain groups of patients, and we aim to describe these similarities with the goal of creating pre‐adjustment settings that could help save time during X‐ray positioning. We therefore performed unsupervised clustering of observed X‐ray positions. Because the data for each patient consist of five angle measurements, Euclidean distances are not appropriated. Furthermore, we cannot perform k‐means algorithm, usually used for minimizing corresponding distortion because we cannot calculate centers of clusters. We present here solutions to these problems. First, we define a suitable distance on the circle. Then, we adapt an algorithm based on simulated annealing to minimize distortion. This algorithm is shown to be theoretically convergent. Finally, we present simulations on simulated and real data. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Cost-Effectiveness of Computer-Aided Behaviour Therapy for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

ments, so the cost of clinician-guided therapy was GBP 569 (EUR 819). Relaxation was intended as a placebo and given a zero cost. Incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs) were used to compare the interventions. An ICER is the ratio of the difference in costs between two interventions to the difference in outcomes. If one intervention is more expensive and more effective than an alternative, the ICER indicates the extra cost incurred by producing an extra unit of improvement. An ICER is not required if one intervention has lower costs and better outcomes – in this case it is dominant. We used the difference in mean change scores in the ratios. In sensitivity analyses we used the upper and lower ends of the 95% confidence intervals (CIs) around these means. In further analyses we used the ‘net benefit approach’, which assumes a societal value placed on a unit-improvement in effectiveness [7] . Achieving that improvement incurs costs (e.g. therapist input, computer time). A net benefit is achieved if the monetary value of a unit improvement in outcome ( ) multiplied by the total improvement exceeds costs incurred. The value of is unknown, so for a range of values, in this case GBP 0 (EUR 0) to GBP 200 (EUR 288) in GBP 20 (EUR 29) increments, we used regression models to calculate mean differences in net benefit between therapy and relaxation. One thousand regression coefficients for the group variable were generated using bootstrapping, and the proportion of these 1 0 indicated the probability that the treatment was cost-effective compared to relaxation, and the probability that clinician-led therapy was more cost-effective than BTSteps. These probabilities were used to generate cost-effectiveness acceptability curves. From the trial, 176 had follow-up scores (55/74 BTSteps, 55/69 clinician-guided therapy and 66/75 relaxation) [3] . Mean YBOCS scores at baseline and at end-point were, respectively, 24.6 and 19.0 for BTSteps; 25.2 and 17.6 for clinician-guided therapy and 25.8 and 24.1 for relaxation placebo. Change scores were 5.6 (95% CI 3.8–7.4) for BTSteps; 8.0 (95% CI, 6.2–9.8) for clinician-guided therapy and 1.7 (95% CI 0.5–2.8) for relaxation. BTSteps was significantly less effective than clinician-guided therapy on this measure of outcome. Both these treatments were significantly more effective than relaxation. Compared to relaxation BTSteps produced a unit change in outcome at a cost of GBP 64 (EUR 92), with a range based on the 95% CIs around change scores of GBP 36–249 (EUR 52–359) whilst clinician-guided therapy did so at a cost of GBP 90 (EUR 130) with a range of GBP 61–167 (EUR 88– 240). Comparison of the two active therapies reveals that against BTSteps, clinician-guided therapy produces a unit change in symptoms at a cost of GBP 133 (EUR 192). Given the 95% CI around the mean change scores on the YBOCS, clinician-guided
RpmA Is Required for Nonopsonic Phagocytosis ofPseudomonas aeruginosa

ABSTRACT Pseudomonas aeruginosa causes severe respiratory tract infections in patients with cystic fibrosis (CF). We have been examining nonopsonic phagocytosis of P. aeruginosa by macrophages. To study the P. aeruginosa-macrophage interaction at the molecular level, we have constructed a transposon Tn5G bank in a clinical isolate of P. aeruginosa (strain 4020) and identified mutants resistant to nonopsonic phagocytosis. Phagocytosis-resistant mutants were enriched by passaging the transposon bank over 18 macrophage monolayers. Of 900 individual mutants isolated from this enriched pool in a nonopsonic phagocytosis assay, we identified 85 putative mutants that were resistant to phagocytosis. In this study, we have characterized one of these transposon mutants, P. aeruginosa 4020 H27A, which was poorly ingested. H27A possessed a Tn5G insertion in a gene encoding a protein with homology to the MotA proteins of several species of bacteria. We have called this gene rpmA for required for phagocytosis by macrophages. RpmA is one of two MotA paralogs in P. aeruginosa. ThisrpmA::Tn5G mutant was motile both on agar plates and in visual examination of wet mounts. The phagocytosis defect was partially complemented by providing the rpmAgene in trans and fully complemented when bothrpmA and rpmB were provided. A rpmAnull mutant was ingested by macrophages similar to the H27A transposon mutant. These data suggest that the rpmA andrpmB gene products are required for the efficient ingestion of P. aeruginosa by macrophages.
The flat-footed child -- to treat or not to treat: what is the clinician to do?

BACKGROUND This article addresses the treatment of pediatric flatfoot with foot orthoses and explores the existing knowledge from an evidence-based perspective. METHODS Studies investigating the use of foot orthoses for pediatric flatfoot were reviewed and ranked on the evidence hierarchy model according to research designs. Clinical guidelines and efficacy rating methods were also reviewed. RESULTS Three randomized controlled trials exist, and a systematic review and possible meta-analysis of these studies is in progress. The results of these studies, although not definitive for the use of orthoses for pediatric flatfoot, provide useful direction. Clinical guidelines for the management of flatfoot are a useful supplement for clinical decision making and have been enhanced. CONCLUSION This article presents a pragmatic and evidence-based clinical care pathway for clinicians to use for pediatric flatfoot. It uses a simple "traffic light" framework to identify three subtypes of pediatric flatfoot. The clinician is advised to 1) treat symptomatic pediatric flatfoot, 2) monitor (or with discretion simply treat) asymptomatic nondevelopmental pediatric flatfoot, and 3) identify and advise asymptomatic developmental pediatric flatfoot. (Children with juvenile arthritis should receive customized foot orthoses.) This approach will dispel much of the contention surrounding the use of foot orthoses in children.
Market-Based Multi-Robot Planning in a Distributed Layered Architecture

This paper presents a market-based, multi-robot planning capability, designed as part of a distributed, layered architecture for multi-robot control and coordination. More speci cally, we are developing an extension to the traditional three-layered robot architecture that enables robots to interact directly at each layer | at the behavioral level, the robots create distributed control loops; at the executive level, they synchronize task execution; at the planning level, they use market-based techniques to assign tasks and allocate resources. The market-based planning layer of each robot has two main components: (1) a trader that participates in the market, auctioning and bidding on tasks; (2) a scheduler that determines task feasibility and cost for the trader, and interacts with the executive layer for task execution. This paper focuses on the planning level, detailing the architecture, our current implementation, and planned future extensions. We show how the architecture (in particular, the planning layer) has been applied to a Mars exploration scenario involving the characterization of scienti cally \interesting" rocks. We also present preliminary simulation results exploring market and scenario parameters.
Renal transplantation in the elderly : does patient age determine the results ?

Background: intermediate care (IC) services have been widely introduced in England and have the strategic objectives of reducing hospital and long-term care use. There is uncertainty about the clinical outcomes of these services and whether their strategic aims will be realised. Setting: a metropolitan city in northern England. Design: a quasi-experimental study comparing a group of older people before and after the introduction of an IC service. A quota sampling method was used to match the groups. Subjects: patients presenting as emergency admissions to two elderly care departments with falls, confusion, incontinence or immobility. Intervention: a city-wide service in which a joint care management team (multi-agency, multi-disciplinary) assessed patient need and purchased support and rehabilitation from sector-based IC teams. Outcomes: Nottingham Extended Activities of Daily Living score, Barthel Index, Hospital Anxiety and Depression score, mortality, readmission to hospital, and new institutional care placement at 3, 6 and 12 months post-recruitment. Results: there were 800 and 848 patients, respectively, in the control and intervention groups. Clinical outcomes, hospital and long-term care use were similar between the groups. Uptake of IC was lower than anticipated at 29%. An embedded case–control study comparing the 246 patients who received IC with a matched sample from the control group demonstrated similar clinical outcomes but increased hospital bed days used over 12 months (mean +8 days; 95% CI 3.1–13.0). Conclusion: this city-wide IC service was associated with similar clinical outcomes but did not achieve its strategic objectives of reducing long-term care and hospital use.
Influence of reproduction on nitrogen uptake and allocation to new organs in Fagus crenata

The contributions of the internal nitrogen (N) cycle and N uptake from soil to growth in mature trees remain poorly understood, especially during reproduction. In order to elucidate how reproduction affects N uptake, allocation and remobilization, we applied pulse 15N labelling to three fruiting (F) and three non-fruiting (NF) Fagus crenata Blume trees after the leaves were fully unfurled. Three-year-old branches were sampled from upper crowns at about 2 week intervals until leaf fall. 15N content per organ dry mass (15Nexcess) and N concentration in all new shoot organs were determined. Fruiting led to greater 15Nexcess uptake from the soil during the first month following application. Cupules absorbed the highest fraction of 15Nexcess initially and nuts contained about half the 15Nexcess at the end of the growing season. Biomass of reproductive organs represented up to 70% of new shoot growth in F trees. This fruit burden led to 34% and 38% reduction in biomass and 15Nexcess, respectively, in mature leaves compared with NF trees. Moreover, the increment of 15Nexcess in new shoots of F relative to NF trees was lower than the increment of biomass between the two. These results indicate that N is a limiting resource during masting in F. crenata. 15Nexcess incorporated into nuts started to increase dramatically once 15Nexcess in leaves, branches and cupules hit seasonal maxima. Similar seasonal biomass growth patterns were also found in these organs, indicating that sink strength drives uptake and allocation of 15Nexcess between new shoot compartments. These results, together with translocation of 15Nexcess from cupules and senescing leaves to nuts (contributing to fruit ripening), suggest that a finely tuned growth phenology alleviated N limitation. Thus, fruiting did not influence the N concentration in leaves or branches. These reproduction-related variations in N uptake and allocation among new shoot compartments have implications for N dynamics in the plant-soil system.
Multi-channel and real-time monitoring system for junction temperature of light-emitting diodes

In order to enhance the accuracy of lifetime estimation in the LED packages, we developed a multi-channel real-time monitoring system for LED characteristics. This characterizing system includes a precise junction-temperature measurement of the LED packages. A 2, 500-hour lifetime test had been carried out and the junction temperatures of the LED packages had been monitored. Our proposing method could consider a deviation of the thermal property in the LED packages and we could filter out thermally-abnormal samples in a lifetime-estimation procedure.