Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Treatment of lower extremity lymphedema with suction-assisted lipectomy.

Lymphedema is characterized by the early accumulation of high protein fluid in the skin and subcutaneous tissue, followed by chronic deposition of fat and fibrous tissue. Lymphedema is a common disease, affecting approximately 140 million people throughout the world.1 Primary, idiopathic lymphedema can occur at birth (Milroy disease), puberty (praecox), or adulthood (tarda). Secondary lymphedema, caused by an inciting event, is most commonly due to the parasite Wuchereria bancrofti or to iatrogenic damage. In Western countries, for example, lymphedema occurs in up to 38 percent of breast cancer patients because of axillary lymph node dissection or radiation.2 Presently, no cure exists for lymphedema. Medical management consists of compressive garments and regimens. Surgical intervention is reserved for patients with significant morbidity (e.g., recurrent cellulitis or functional impairment) who have failed conservative therapy. Surgical treatment can either reestablish lymphatic connections (physiologic procedures) or remove tissue (excisional procedures). Physiologic procedures have met with little success, whereas excisional procedures are susceptible to recurrence and complications. Currently, the most commonly performed operation for lymphedema is staged subcutaneous resection. Subcutaneous excision, however, requires multiple stages; it is technically challenging and is associated with recurrence, infection, thromboembolism, extensive cutaneous scarring, and wound dehiscence. To reduce the morbidity of staged subcutaneous excision, suction-assisted lipectomy recently has been utilized to reduce the volume of upper extremity lymphedema after breast cancer.3 Liposuction is less invasive than other surgical procedures for lymphedema; it has been associated with minimal morbidity and has achieved complete edema reduction in conjunction with compression garments with 4 years of follow-up.4 The authors hypothesized that the success of treating upper extremity lymphedema using suctionassisted lipectomy could be translated to patients with lower extremity lymphedema. Consequently, liposuction was used to treat a patient with significant bilateral lower extremity lymphedema who refused amputation and failed conservative management. Eighteen months after a one-stage liposuction procedure, her edema and morbidity have significantly improved.
Grid Technology for Supporting Health Education and Measuring the Health Outcome

In this paper, we present our developed health-IT solution that address these challenges: developing the strategies not only to store such a vast amount of data but also making those available to the researchers for further analysis that can measure the outcome on the participant's health. The developed community health grid (C-Grid) solution to store, manage and share large amounts of these instruction materials and participant's health related data, where the remote management and analysis of this data grid is performed using iRODS, the Integrated Rule-Oriented Data System is discussed and presented in this paper.
Internet Sales Taxes and the Discriminatory Burden on Remote Retailers – An Economic Analysis

[enter Abstract Body]In the wake of South Dakota v. Wayfair et al. some commentators are calling for an Internet Sales Tax (IST) to “close the tax loophole” and “level the playing field” between internet sellers and local retail stores. This view is fatally flawed and based on a number of fundamental misconceptions about both modern retail and basic economics. First, the proposed IST is not a tax on “internet” retail sales, but rather a tax on remote small and micro enterprises that are already struggling to compete in a retail environment dominated by national retail chains, such as Amazon, Walmart, Target, or Home Depot. These mega retailers combine the use of state-of-the-art logistics and internet-enabled processes with local presence, and as such are already subject to sales tax liabilities. Second, the IST, if enacted, would be a discriminatory tariff on remote retailers, who would face significant compliance costs without reaping any benefits of being local, and without incurring any costs for local municipalities through their presence. Third, we deflate popular myths floated by the pro-IST coalition of local governments and local retail interests, including the flawed arguments that remote out-of-state retailers (i) are dominating the retail space; (ii) are responsible for the decline of family-owned brick-and-mortar retail stores, and (iii) deprive states and municipalities of billions of much-needed tax dollars. Finally, we provide an economic rationale for the simple truth that IST, if implemented, would harm, not help, the U.S. economy in the short- and long-term. We conclude that the current tax system is working as it should: businesses with a local presence and capabilities–imposing local costs, reaping local benefits, and reaching local consumers – are getting taxed as they should. Imposing such costs on remote retailers would be discriminatory and harmful for the U.S. economy.
A utility maximization model for evaluation of health care programs.

Abstract A linear health utility scale is described, complete with measurement instruments, that allows assignment of utility values to health states for any disease or treatment program. Given that the change produced by a health care program in the health states of a population is determinable, this utility scale permits assessment of the effectiveness of that program in terms of the change it produces in overall health utility. This is the basis of a model that will rank programs by their effectiveness/cost ratios or select them into a subset achieving the maximum effectiveness under specific cost or other constraints. Two algorithms are described, suitable respectively for priority ranking and for selection of programs giving maximum effectiveness under constraints, and the application of the model is discussed.
Analysis of survival among top industrial firms in Turkey

This paper looks at the survival among the top firms in Turkey and analyses which company specific attributes are correlated with survival. Looking at the company specific attributes such as profitability, number of employees, productivity, exporter status, which industry or network a firm belongs to and where it operates, the paper aimed to get a picture of the top thousand firms in Turkey over a period of 35 years. We found that having a higher number of employees, higher productivity, and higher profitability (with one exception), operating out of a major industrial center, as well as belonging to a secular network were all correlated in a statistically significant way with continued survival among the top firms.
Activation of Src Family Members Is Not Required for the Platelet-Derived Growth Factor β Receptor To Initiate Mitogenesis

ABSTRACT The basal activity of Src family kinases is readily detectable throughout the cell cycle and increases by two- to fivefold upon acute stimulation of cells with growth factors such as platelet-derived growth factor. Previous reports have demonstrated a requirement for Src activity for the G1/S and G2/M transitions. With a chimeric α-β PDGF receptor (PDGFR) expressed in fibroblasts, we have investigated the importance of the PDGF-mediated increase in Src activity at the G0/G1 transition for subsequent cell cycle events. A mutant PDGFR chimera that was not able to detectably associate with or activate Src was compromised in its ability to mediate tyrosine phosphorylation of receptor-associated signaling molecules and initiated a submaximal activation of Erk. In contrast to these early cell cycle events, later responses such as entry of cells into S phase and cell proliferation proceeded normally when Src activity did not increase following acute stimulation with PDGF. We conclude that the initial burst of Src activity is required for efficient tyrosine phosphorylation of receptor-associated proteins such as PLCγ, RasGAP, Shc, and SHP-2 and for maximal activation of Erk. Surprisingly, these events are not required for PDGF-dependent cell proliferation. Finally, later cell cycle events do not require that Src be activated at the G0/G1 transition and leave open the possibility that events such as the G1/S transition require the basal Src activity and/or activation of Src at later times in G1.
Hydroxysafflor Yellow A Attenuates Lymphostatic Encephalopathy‐induced Brain Injury in Rats

Hydroxysafflor yellow A (HSYA) is a main chemical component of the flower of Carthamus tinctorius. The present study investigated whether HSYA could attenuate brain injury induced by lymphostatic encephalopathy (LE). This was induced in adult male Wistar rats by cervical lymphatic blockade (CLB). Heart rate variability (HRV) was used as an indirect measurement of the regulatory function of the autonomic nervous system by recording the ECG signals from rats. It was shown that treatment with HSYA (5 mg/kg, i.p.) significantly alleviated the neurological deficits observed in rats with LE. Histological staining revealed that HSYA treatment attenuated LE‐induced cell apoptosis in the rostral ventrolateral medullus (RVLM). Animals in the LE groups exhibited impaired regulatory roles of the autonomic nervous system in cardiovascular function, which was suppressed by pretreatment with HSYA. Additionally, HSYA administration significantly prevented the decrease of endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) mRNA and protein expression in the RVLM of rats with LE. These findings suggest that HSYA might provide neuroprotection against LE‐induced brain injury and the associated functional alterations, which is likely regulated by the nitric oxide pathway. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
jMock: supporting responsibility-based design with mock objects

In this demonstration we will show the flow of the Mock Object development process by pair-programming to develop a code example. During the session, we will introduce the declarative jMock API and show how we use it to describe relationships between objects when developing test-first. We will show how this approach helps developers concentrate on real requirements and how it encourages a design in which objects are focused with well-defined responsibilities. We will also show our practices for maintaining the readability of tests written using jUnit with jMock. This work is described in a Practitioner Report at this conference, "Mock Roles, Not Objects".
Dependence Measures in Bivariate Gamma Frailty Models

Bivariate duration data frequently arise in economics, biostatistics and other areas. In "bivariate frailty models", dependence between the frailties (i.e., unobserved determinants) induces dependence between the durations. Using notions of quadrant dependence, we study restrictions that this imposes on the implied dependence of the durations, if the frailty terms act multiplicatively on the corresponding hazard rates. Marginal frailty distributions are often taken to be gamma distributions. For such cases we calculate general bounds for two association measures, Pearson's correlation coefficient and Kendall's tau. The results are employed to compare the flexibility of specific families of bivariate gamma frailty distributions.
A Language Independent Approach for Aligning Subject Heading Systems with Geographic Ontologies

Subject headings systems are tools for organization of knowledge that have been developed over the years by libraries. The SKOS Simple Knowledge Organization System provides a practical way to represent subject headings systems, and several libraries have taken the initiative to make these systems widely available as open linked data. Each individual subject heading describes a concept, however, in the majority of cases, one subject heading is actually a combination of several concepts, such as a topic bounded in geographical and temporal scopes. In these cases, the label of the concept actually contains several concepts which are not represented in structured form. This paper address the alignment of the geographic concepts described in subject headings systems with their correspondence in geographic ontologies. Our approach first recognizes the place names in the subject headings using entity recognition techniques and follows with the resolution of the place names in a target geographic ontology. The system is based on machine learning and was designed to be language independent so that it can be applied to the many existing subject headings systems. Our approach was evaluated on a subset of the Library of Congress Subject Headings, achieving an F1 score of 93%.
Evaluation of Cerebrospinal Fluid Virological Escape in Patients on Long-Term Protease Inhibitor Monotherapy

Background A strategy of protease inhibitor (PI) mono-therapy with re-introduction of triple therapy in those who rebound has been shown to be a safe and effective treatment simplification approach for long-term management. We sought evidence for cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) virological escape in patients on long-term PI monotherapy. Methods We performed lumbar puncture in asymptomatic participants with suppressed plasma HIV RNA after 96 weeks on the PI monotherapy arm (PI-mono) of the PIVOT trial. We also report CSF HIV RNA concentration in trial participants who were investigated for neurological/ neurocognitive symptoms during the trial regardless of study arm allocation. Results All 11 asymptomatic participants on PI-mono who were tested had undetectable CSF HIV RNA at week 96. One of the three symptomatic participants on PI-mono had CSF HIV RNA of 1,895 copies/ml (undetectable in plasma) and neither of two symptomatic participants on triple therapy had CSF HIV RNA detected. Conclusions CSF virological escape appears rare in asymptomatic patients on PI monotherapy and may not warrant routine CSF monitoring, but patients with symptoms merit more concern.
Commande optimale décentralisée du trafic urbain

Ce memoire traite de la commande du trafic routier par les feux. A partir de donnees sur les flux, les methodes hors ligne construisent des plans de feux caracterises par un cycle, des durees de vert et des decalages entre carrefours. Les methodes en ligne peuvent adapter ces parametres en fonction de mesures. Cette these applique des techniques d’estimation d’etat, de prediction et d’optimisation, a la commande decentralisee du trafic urbain. Le modele propose vise a estimer l’etat et a predire le temps perdu sur un horizon. On montre que, si on surestime les queues, la stabilite de l’estimation est assuree par l’optimisation de la commande. Les arrivees sont calculees, a partir de donnees communiquees par des carrefours amonts et de mesures pouvant etre filtrees en tenant compte des incertitudes de vitesse et de destination. Les departs tiennent compte des consequences, sur l’ecoulement de chaque voie, des conditions de trafic en aval. L’optimisation d’un critere qui considere les temps perdus des chainons ponderes en fonction de leur saturation ou de la presence de vehicule prioritaire, est realise en deux temps : En regroupant les feux en phases et en utilisant que les phases permettant l’obtention du cycle minimal, l’espace de recherche est reduit avec une faible perte d’optimalite ; Profitant de la commande obtenue a la periode d’echantillonnage precedente et d’une propagation des contraintes, un algorithme par separation – evaluation rend possible l’optimisation en temps reel. Des essais en simulation dans differentes configurations, montrent que le modele est robuste vis-a-vis des incertitudes. Ainsi, l’effet d’une erreur de l’ordre de 20% sur les pourcentages directionnels ou de 10km/h sur la vitesse libre est corrige par filtrage. La modelisation des elargissements permet de reduire de 2 a 22% les temps de parcours. Pour des reseaux la stabilite de l’estimation est assuree meme en conditions saturees et les vehicules prioritaires peuvent etre favorises.
Single beacon navigation: Localization and control of the MARES AUV

This paper addresses the simultaneous localization and control of an AUV using a single acoustic beacon. To determine its horizontal position, the AUV fuses distances to the single beacon with dead reckoning data, heading and longitudinal velocity. A particle filter and an extended Kalman filter are implemented and compared in terms of performances. As this is an ill-posed problem, special guidance laws are derived so that the overall horizontal positioning error remains bounded. Besides presenting the derivation of such guidance and control laws, as well as procedures to estimate the horizontal position, we also demonstrate the performance of the proposed system by means of simulation results.
2D Optical Fiber Wave Guide Design for Multi Haul Applications

The optical communications had an exponential growth over the last few years, having a significant commercial market in optical systems and components. This growth has been extended across all application areas, from transcontinental and transoceanic distances to regional networks and lastly to campus and building wiring. This paper basically explains the concept of Optical fiber communication, the propagation of light inside the fiber and mainly the two dimensional design of optical fiber itself. The researcher discusses the parameters such as effective group delay, dispersion. Modes, Bending Loss, Material Loss, Mode field, Birefringence, Splice Loss, Polarization Mode Dispersion (PMD), Effect of nonlinear Refractive Index. Finally we design the optical fiber with all the above mentioned parameters. Full Text: PDF DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.11591/ij-ict.v5i3. 6035
Cost-effectiveness of apixaban vs. current standard of care for stroke prevention in patients with atrial fibrillation

Aims Warfarin, a vitamin K antagonist (VKA), has been the standard of care for stroke prevention in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF). Aspirin is recommended for low-risk patients and those unsuitable for warfarin. Apixaban is an oral anticoagulant that has demonstrated better efficacy than warfarin and aspirin in the ARISTOTLE and AVERROES studies, respectively, and causes less bleeding than warfarin. We evaluated the potential cost-effectiveness of apixaban against warfarin and aspirin from the perspective of the UK payer perspective. Results and methods A lifetime Markov model was developed to evaluate the pharmacoeconomic impact of apixaban compared with warfarin and aspirin in VKA suitable and VKA unsuitable patients, respectively. Clinical events considered in the model include ischaemic stroke, haemorrhagic stroke, intracranial haemorrhage, other major bleed, clinically relevant non-major bleed, myocardial infarction, cardiovascular hospitalization and treatment discontinuations; data from the ARISTOTLE and AVERROES trials and published mortality rates and event-related utility rates were used in the model. Apixaban was projected to increase life expectancy and quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) compared with warfarin and aspirin. These gains were expected to be achieved at a drug acquisition-related cost increase over lifetime. The estimated incremental cost-effectiveness ratio was £11 909 and £7196 per QALY gained with apixaban compared with warfarin and aspirin, respectively. Sensitivity analyses indicated that results were robust to a wide range of inputs. Conclusions Based on randomized trial data, apixaban is a cost-effective alternative to warfarin and aspirin, in VKA suitable and VKA unsuitable patients with AF, respectively.
Food insecurity: a critical public health nutrition concern

Food security is a condition where ‘all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food which meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life’. However, according to the FAO, in 2015 there are still about 800 million undernourished people across the planet, of whom over 95 % live in under-developed countries. Even when there is no lack of food, food insecurity (FI) may manifest as low-quality diet. Low-nutrient, energydense foods are becoming increasingly accessible for economically disadvantaged segments of the population and their consumption is often associated with overweight and micronutrient deficiency. Food shortage and poor diet are violations of the food security principles and are the causes of a significant proportion of disease burden worldwide, limiting productivity and promoting premature disability and reduced longevity. FI is a vital issue on the public health nutrition agenda both in developing and developed countries. Therefore, measuring the magnitude of FI and evaluating the factors associated with its development are of importance for public health nutrition. The measurement of food security represents a major challenge since it should encompass the complexity of this phenomenon. According to PérezEscamilla and Segall-Corrêa, experience-based FI scales are the only available direct measure of FI, which can be used for ‘mapping, targeting, and understanding the determinants and consequences of food insecurity’. Most of these scales are based on the Household Food Security Supplemental Module (HFSSM) developed by the US Department of Agriculture in the mid-1990s, which is designed to capture the household food security experience and allow categorizing into different levels of FI. In several countries, instruments based in the HFSSM have been developed and evaluated in order to obtain a simple, valid, reliable and low-cost method to measure household FI. Beyond relying on the individual perception of FI and capturing its psychosocial dimensions, these scales have the advantage of offering comparable results even with the adaptations to each local socio-cultural setting and language.
Development of a DNA computing model for Boolean Circuit

In this paper, we present a DNA based algorithm to simulate the logic functionality of any Boolean Circuit. The inherent hybridization property of Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is the key operation used throughout the model. The contribution of this paper is to introduce an algorithm involving a relatively less number of biochemical reactions. The proposed theoretical model is reusable and has a wide range of applicability in simulating Boolean functionality corresponding to any truth table.
Corrective use of the 2.5‐mm GFX stent for suboptimal angioplasty results in small coronary arteries

To evaluate the clinical efficacy of endoluminal stenting in the setting of percutaneous intervention for small coronary artery lesions, we reviewed our results on stenting with the 2.5‐mm GFX stent (Arterial Vascular Engineering, Santa Rosa, CA) during an 18‐month study period. A total of 120 patients with significant coronary artery disease in vessels ≤2.6 mm were followed up clinically. Procedural success (defined as angiographic residual stenosis <20% without clinical complications) was obtained in 94% of cases. In‐hospital complications were death (1%), non–Q‐wave myocardial infarction (5%), and urgent repeat percutaneous intervention because of stent thrombosis (3%). During a mean follow‐up of 9.8 months (range, 6–23 months), the following complications were noted: myocardial infarction (1%), clinical need for repeat intervention (13%) requiring repeat percutaneous treatment (12%) and surgical revascularization (1%). In conclusion, transcatheter application of a specifically designed stent for coronary artery disease in small vessels seems safe and efficient with a low incidence of adverse events during follow‐up. Cathet. Cardiovasc. Intervent. 48:157–161, 1999. © 1999 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.