Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Musculocutaneous Flap Reconstruction of Chest‐Wall Defects: An Experience with 50 Patients

Precepts derived from a review of 50 patients included (1) prior radiation of the vessel supplying the flap does not appear to have any effect on viability; (2) in an open, infected wound, use of synthetic materials adds significantly to the risk of infection and, in fact, appears to be unnecessary; (3) in full-thickness chest-wall defects, reconstruction can be accomplished in almost all cases by inset of the flap only, without need of support of fascia, ribs, or prosthetic material; and (4) in locally recurrent breast cancer, chest-wall resection is an adjunct to chemotherapy. A schematic outlining potential defects and appropriate musculocutaneous reconstruction is also presented.
Chronotherapeutic Dose Schedule of Phenytoin and Carbamazepine in Epileptic Patients

The objective of this study was to compare the efficacy and safety of a chronotherapeutic dosing schedule of phenytoin and carbamazepine versus a conventional dosing schedule for the treatment of tonic‐clonic epileptic patients. Of 148 epileptic subjects found to have subtherapeutic trough drug levels (subtherapeutic group, STG), 103 subjects who completed the study were randomized to either STG I (n=51) for treatment by the conventional dosing schedule (tablet phenytoin 100–400 mg/day OD or BD, tablet carbamazepine 200–800 mg BD, or both, equally divided doses with no fixed time of drug intake), with a dose increment but no change in usual time of drug administration allowed; or to STG II (n=52), with no dose increment permitted but a shift in all or most (two‐thirds or three‐fourths) of the daily dose of one or both medications to 20:00 h. The 62 patients who experienced drug toxicity reactions (toxicity group, TG) and who had serum drug levels in the toxic range were assigned to TG I for dose reduction or TG II for dose reduction and drug administration at 20:00 h. Those 16 subjects in STG I and 47 subjects in STG II who initially evidenced subtherapeutic trough drug concentrations exhibited therapeutic drug levels by the end of four weeks of treatment (p<0.01). A significantly greater number of TG II, as compared to TG I, subjects who experienced toxic reactions showed improved drug tolerance. There were no poor responders and more good responders (control of epilepsy for one year) in STG II compared to STG I subjects. The findings of this study indicate that a chronotherapeutic dosing schedule of phenytoin and carbamazepine involving the administration of most or all the daily dose of medication(s) at 20:00 h can improve the response of diurnally active epileptic patients not responding to standard doses, achieve therapeutic drug levels, and reduce toxic manifestations in subjects having drug concentrations beyond the therapeutic range.
Ultra-lightweight forearm with a parallel-wire mechanism

A robot should provide a comfortable service to consumers, with proper speed and accuracy - ideally as fast as a human servant. Conversely, the robot should also be absolutely safe for both humans and the environment, which is why conventional service robots move so slowly. Unfortunately, such slow robots are very difficult to market. In response, the mass of the robot arm should be reduced to allow rapid motion, which remains safe. In this paper, we introduce the concept of the “ultra-lightweight arm” and design and develop a prototype ultra-lightweight forearm, part of a 7-DOF ultra-lightweight arm. Experimental results show that it achieves both proper weight and power.
Visual Concept Derivation from Natural Scenery Images Using Lexical Basis Functions, Multidimensional Scaling, and Density Clustering

Cognitive modeling of the visual concepts used by humans to classify images is a challenging task that first requires the characterization of images in terms of low-level or mid-level features that are salient to human visual perception. To complete the cognitive model, this characterization must then be correlated with higher-level concepts that are evoked in humans as they examine images. This paper presents a pilot experiment that involves characterization of outdoor scenery images in terms of mid-level visual content, as represented by words called lexical basis functions. To validate the list of lexical basis functions that are used for this purpose, the similarities between images (based on these basis functions) are correlated with subjectively perceived image similarities. To complete the cognitive model, multidimensional scaling and a novel density-based clustering algorithm are then used to cluster the images, and the resulting clusters are shown to correlate with salient high-level concepts that humans use to categorize images.
What are the experiences of seeking, receiving and providing FGM-related healthcare? Perspectives of health professionals and women/girls who have undergone FGM: protocol for a systematic review of qualitative evidence

Introduction Female genital mutilation (FGM) is an issue of global concern. High levels of migration mean that healthcare systems in higher-income western countries are increasingly being challenged to respond to the care needs of affected communities. Research has identified significant challenges in the provision of, and access to, FGM-related healthcare. There is a lack of confidence and competence among health professionals in providing appropriate care, suggesting an urgent need for evidence-based service development in this area. This study will involve two systematic reviews of qualitative evidence to explore the experiences, needs, barriers and facilitators to seeking and providing FGM-related healthcare in high-income (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) countries, from the perspectives of: (1) women and girls who have undergone FGM and (2) health professionals. Review methods Twelve databases including MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO, ASSIA, Web of Science, ERIC, CINAHL, and POPLINE will be searched with no limits on publication year. Relevant grey literature will be identified from digital sources and professional networks. Two reviewers will independently screen, select and critically appraise the studies. Study quality will be assessed using the Joanna Briggs Institute Qualitative Assessment and Review Instrument appraisal tool. Findings will be extracted into NVivo software. Synthesis will involve inductive thematic analysis, including in-depth reading, line by line coding of the findings, development of descriptive themes and re-coding to higher level analytical themes. Confidence in the review findings will be assessed using the CERQual approach. Findings will be integrated into a comprehensive set of recommendations for research, policy and practice. Dissemination The syntheses will be reported as per the Enhancing Transparency in Reporting the Synthesis of Qualitative Research (ENTREQ) statement. Two reviews will be published in peer-reviewed journals and an integrated report disseminated at stakeholder engagement events. PROSPERO registration number CRD42015030001: 2015 and CRD42015030004: 2015.
Virtual Putty: Reshaping the Physical Footprint of Virtual Machines

Virtualization is a key technology underlying cloud computing platforms, where applications encapsulated within virtual machines are dynamically mapped onto a pool of physical servers. In this paper, we argue that cloud providers can significantly lower operational costs, and improve hosted application performance, by accounting for affinities and conflicts between co-placed virtual machines. We show how these affinities can be inferred using location-independent VM characterizations called virtual footprints, and then show how these virtual footprints can be used to reshape the physical footprint of a VM—its physical resource consumption—to achieve higher VM consolidation and application performance in a cloud environment. We also identify three general principles for minimizing a virtual machine’s physical footprint, and discuss challenges in applying these principles in practice.
fMRI Activation in a Visual-Perception Task: Network of Areas Detected Using the General Linear Model and Independent Components Analysis

The Motor-Free Visual Perception Test, revised (MVPT-R), provides a measure of visual perceptual processing. It involves different cognitive elements including visual discrimination, spatial relationships, and mental rotation. We adapted the MVPT-R to an event-related functional MRI (fMRI) environment to investigate the brain regions involved in the interrelation of these cognitive elements. Two complementary analysis methods were employed to characterize the fMRI data: (a) a general linear model SPM approach based upon a model of the time course and a hemodynamic response estimate and (b) independent component analysis (ICA), which does not constrain the specific shape of the time course per se, although we did require it to be at least transiently task-related. Additionally, we implemented ICA in a novel way to create a group average that was compared with the SPM group results. Both methods yielded similar, but not identical, results and detected a network of robustly activated visual, inferior parietal, and frontal eye-field areas as well as thalamus and cerebellum. SPM appeared to be the more sensitive method and has a well-developed theoretical approach to thresholding. The ICA method segregated functional elements into separate maps and identified additional regions with extended activation in response to presented events. The results demonstrate the utility of complementary analyses for fMRI data and suggest that the cerebellum may play a significant role in visual perceptual processing. Additionally, results illustrate functional connectivity between frontal eye fields and prefrontal and parietal regions.
Bayesian treed gaussian process models

Computer experiments often require dense sweeps over input parameters to obtain a qualitative understanding of their response. Such sweeps can be prohibitively expensive, and are unnecessary in regions where the response is easily predicted; well-chosen designs could allow a mapping of the response with far fewer simulation runs. Thus, there is a need for computationally inexpensive surrogate models and an accompanying method for selecting small designs. This dissertation explores a nonparametric and semiparametric nonstationary modeling methodologies for addressing this need that couples stationary Gaussian processes and (limiting) linear models with treed partitioning. A Bayesian perspective yields an explicit measure of (nonstationary) predictive uncertainty that can be used to guide sampling. As typical experiments are high-dimensional and require large designs, a careful but thrifty implementation is essential. The methodological developments and statistical computing details which make this approach efficient are outlined in detail. In addition to several illustrations using synthetic data, classic nonstationary data analyzed in recent literature are used to validate the model, and the benefit of adaptive sampling is illustrated through a motivating example which involves the computational fluid dynamics simulation of a NASA reentry vehicle.
Data-Driven Subvector Clustering using the Cross-Entropy Method

Automatic speech recognition (ASR) systems are limited in the computational power and memory resources, especially in low-memory/low-power environments such as personal digital assistants. The parameter quantization is the one of the ways to achieve these conditions. In this work, we compare various subvector clustering procedures for the parameter quantization in the ASR system and propose a data-driven subvector clustering technique based on the entropy minimization. The cross-entropy(CE) method is a good choice for the combinatorial optimization problems. We compare the ASR performance on resource management (RM) speech recognition task and show that the proposed technique produces better performance than previous heuristic techniques
Effect of Traffic-Related Air Pollution on Allergic Disease: Results of the Children's Health and Environmental Research

Purpose This study evaluated the relationship of living near to main roads to allergic diseases, airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR), allergic sensitization, and lung function in Korean children. Methods A total of 5,443 children aged 6-14 years from 33 elementary schools in 10 cities during 2005-2006 were included in a baseline survey of the Children's Health and Environmental Research. We assessed association of traffic-related air pollution (TAP) exposure with the distance to the nearest main road, total road length of main roads and the proportion of the main road area within the 200-m home area. Results Positive exposure-response relationships were found between the length of the main road within the 200-m home area and lifetime wheeze (adjusted prevalence ratio [PR] for comparison of the longest to the shortest length categories=1.24; 95% CIs, 1.04-1.47; P for trend=0.022) and diagnosed asthma (PR=1.42; 95% CIs, 1.08-1.86; P for trend=0.011). Living less than 75 m from the main road was significantly associated with lifetime allergic rhinitis (AR), past-year AR symptoms, diagnosed AR, and treated AR. The distance to the main road (P for trend=0.001), the length of the main road (P for trend=0.041), and the proportion of the main road area (P for trend=0.006) had an exposure-response relationship with allergic sensitization. A strong inverse association was observed between residential proximity to the main load and lung function, especially FEV1, FEV1/FVC, and FEF25-75. The length of the main road and the proportion of the main road area were associated with reduced FEV1 in schoolchildren. Conclusions The results of this study suggest that exposure to traffic-related air pollution may be associated with increased risk of asthma, AR, and allergic sensitization, and with reduced lung function in schoolchildren.
DuP 753 Is a Specific Antagonist for the Angiotensin Receptor

2-n-Butyl-4-chloro-5-hydroxy-methyl-l-[(2′-(lff)-tetrazol-5-yl)biphenyl-4-yl)methyl]imidazol potassium salt (DuP 753) is a nonpeptide angiotensin II receptor antagonist that inhibits the contractile effects of angiotensin II competitively and shows pA1 values of 8.27 on the rabbit aorta and jugular vein, 8.66 on the rat portal vein and stomach, 8.19 on the rat urinary bladder, and 836 on human colon, ileum, and urinary bladder. This agent (more than 10* M) exhibits no agonistic activity and does not affect the contractile effects of norepinephrine, acetylcholine, bradykinin, desArg'-bradykinin, substance P, neurokinin A, neurokinin B, or bombesin in the various tissues. The present results demonstrate that DuP 753 is a potent nonpeptide antagonist with high affinity, specificity, and selectivity for the angiotensin receptor.
Striking EEG Profiles from Single Episodes of Glossolalia and Transcendental Meditation

Transient, focal, epileptic-like electrical changes in the temporal lobe, without convulsions, have been hypothesized to be primary correlates of religious experiences. Given these properties, direct measurement of these phenomena within the laboratory should be rare. However, two illustrated instances have been recorded. The first case involved the occurrence of a delta-wave-dominant electrical seizure for about 10 sec. from the temporal lobe only of a Transcendental Meditation teacher during a peak experience within a routine TM episode. The second case involved the occurrence of spikes within the temporal lobe only during protracted intermittent episodes of glossolalia by a member of a pentecostal sect. Neither subject had any psychiatric history. These observations are commensurate with the hypothesis that religious experiences are natural correlates of temporal lobe transients that can be detected by routine EEG measures.
Automatically Classifying Edit Categories in Wikipedia Revisions

In this paper, we analyze a novel set of features for the task of automatic edit category classification. Edit category classification assigns categories such as spelling error correction, paraphrase or vandalism to edits in a document. Our features are based on differences between two versions of a document including meta data, textual and language properties and markup. In a supervised machine learning experiment, we achieve a micro-averaged F1 score of . 62 on a corpus of edits from the English Wikipedia. In this corpus, each edit has been multi-labeled according to a 21-category taxonomy. A model trained on the same data achieves state-of-the-art performance on the related task of fluency edit classification. We apply pattern mining to automatically labeled edits in the revision histories of different Wikipedia articles. Our results suggest that high-quality articles show a higher degree of homogeneity with respect to their collaboration patterns as compared to random articles.
National Transplant Network Information System of US and England

Introduction and Objectives: National Transplant Network leads to integration of transplant activities chain amongst participating centers. Co-ordinate and timely information exchange among those centers is a key requirement of integration which is made possible by information system. The present research studied US and England National Transplant Network Information System. Background: In National Transplant Network of US, United Network for Organ Sharing, American Association of Tissue Banks, and National Marrow Donor Program have safe and online information systems which deal with the management of data associated with organs, tissues, and cells transplants respectively. The American Division of Transplantation in the department of Health and Human Services supervises the activities of these systems. In England, also the management of transplantation data is supervised by Department of Health and through information system of National Health Services, Blood and Transplant organization, where in addition to variety types of transplantations it comprises the data associated with blood supply chain. Findings: National Transplant Network Information System in US and England has such important characteristics as integrated management of the entire data related to transplantation types, clarity of data set, and the nature of their exchanges as well as precise and on time flow of information amongst network components which are supported by infrastructure features including government legal and financial backing, supervision of Health Ministries and involvement of policy making organization on national level. Conclusion: Given the breadth of transplantation services in US and England, via a precise and on time information flow, National Transplant Network Information System has created coordination amongst the components of National Transplant Network and consequently provided a comprehensive and equitable service nationwide.
Algebraic analog decoding of linear binary codes

Bit-by-bit soft-decision decoding of binary cyclic codes is considered. A significant reduction in decoder complexity can be achieved by requiring only that the decoder correct all analog error patterns which fall within a Euclidean sphere whose radius is equal to half the minimum Euclidean distance of the code. Such a "maximum-radius" scheme is asymptotically optimum for the additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) channel. An iterative extension of the basic algebraic analog decoding scheme is discussed, and performance curves are given for the (17,9), (21,11), and (73,45) codes on the AWGN channel.
Pub1p C-Terminal RRM Domain Interacts with Tif4631p through a Conserved Region Neighbouring the Pab1p Binding Site

Pub1p, a highly abundant poly(A)+ mRNA binding protein in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, influences the stability and translational control of many cellular transcripts, particularly under some types of environmental stresses. We have studied the structure, RNA and protein recognition modes of different Pub1p constructs by NMR spectroscopy. The structure of the C-terminal RRM domain (RRM3) shows a non-canonical N-terminal helix that packs against the canonical RRM fold in an original fashion. This structural trait is conserved in Pub1p metazoan homologues, the TIA-1 family, defining a new class of RRM-type domains that we propose to name TRRM (TIA-1 C-terminal domain-like RRM). Pub1p TRRM and the N-terminal RRM1-RRM2 tandem bind RNA with high selectivity for U-rich sequences, with TRRM showing additional preference for UA-rich ones. RNA-mediated chemical shift changes map to β-sheet and protein loops in the three RRMs. Additionally, NMR titration and biochemical in vitro cross-linking experiments determined that Pub1p TRRM interacts specifically with the N-terminal region (1–402) of yeast eIF4G1 (Tif4631p), very likely through the conserved Box1, a short sequence motif neighbouring the Pab1p binding site in Tif4631p. The interaction involves conserved residues of Pub1p TRRM, which define a protein interface that mirrors the Pab1p-Tif4631p binding mode. Neither protein nor RNA recognition involves the novel N-terminal helix, whose functional role remains unclear. By integrating these new results with the current knowledge about Pub1p, we proposed different mechanisms of Pub1p recruitment to the mRNPs and Pub1p-mediated mRNA stabilization in which the Pub1p/Tif4631p interaction would play an important role.
Validating accelerometry estimates of energy expenditure across behaviours using heart rate data in a free-living seabird

ABSTRACT Two main techniques have dominated the field of ecological energetics: the heart rate and doubly labelled water methods. Although well established, they are not without their weaknesses, namely expense, intrusiveness and lack of temporal resolution. A new technique has been developed using accelerometers; it uses the overall dynamic body acceleration (ODBA) of an animal as a calibrated proxy for energy expenditure. This method provides high-resolution data without the need for surgery. Significant relationships exist between the rate of oxygen consumption (V̇O2) and ODBA in controlled conditions across a number of taxa; however, it is not known whether ODBA represents a robust proxy for energy expenditure consistently in all natural behaviours and there have been specific questions over its validity during diving, in diving endotherms. Here, we simultaneously deployed accelerometers and heart rate loggers in a wild population of European shags (Phalacrocorax aristotelis). Existing calibration relationships were then used to make behaviour-specific estimates of energy expenditure for each of these two techniques. Compared with heart rate-derived estimates, the ODBA method predicts energy expenditure well during flight and diving behaviour, but overestimates the cost of resting behaviour. We then combined these two datasets to generate a new calibration relationship between ODBA and V̇O2 that accounts for this by being informed by heart rate-derived estimates. Across behaviours we found a good relationship between ODBA and V̇O2. Within individual behaviours, we found useable relationships between ODBA and V̇O2 for flight and resting, and a poor relationship during diving. The error associated with these new calibration relationships mostly originates from the previous heart rate calibration rather than the error associated with the ODBA method. The equations provide tools for understanding how energy constrains ecology across the complex behaviour of free-living diving birds. Summary: A calibration of the overall dynamic body acceleration (ODBA) method for estimating behaviour-specific energy expenditure in terms of V̇O2 in free-ranging birds at high temporal resolution.