Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
RESPONSE LETTER TO DRS. CAMPBELL AND ROBERTSON

sources for the whole of the large population at risk of falls. A population-based approach to fall prevention requires high coverage, the most effective use of highly trained health professionals, and the most efficient use of limited funding. This does not preclude a comprehensive assessment, multiple-intervention, multiple-outcome strategy, but there does have to be evidence of additional benefit from such an approach, which by virtue of the intensity of the assessment and treatment, will almost certainly require a higher budget and be less cost effective than an effective, single-factor intervention strategy. A systematic review and meta-regression of high-quality fall prevention trials found single-factor interventions to be as effective as multifactorial interventions in preventing falls. These analyses were redone to include trials published to August 2008, and the results are essentially unchanged. Multifactorial strategies reduce the rate of falls by 19% (pooled incidence rate ratio (IRR) 5 0.81, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.75–0.88) and single interventions by 23% (pooled IRR 5 0.77, 95% CI 5 0.67–0.89). An earlier randomized controlled trial of fall prevention using a twoby-two design found that the effective intervention was more effective when used singly than in combination. There are practical problems with adherence in the widespread introduction of multiple interventions. It is possible that multifactorial interventions may have benefits in addition to fall prevention, but such benefits may not be the sole prerogative of this approach. Strength and balance retraining, which is the most widely investigated, long-term, effective fall prevention measure, has cardiovascular, metabolic, and self-confidence benefits in addition to greater stability. Early cataract removal, another single-intervention strategy, decreases falls and improves vision and independence. We should take note of Voltaire’s advice, ‘‘le mieux est l’ennemi du bien’’ and not let the perfect be the enemy of the good. Certainly introduce a population-based, multiplerisk-assessment, multiple-intervention strategy for the whole at-risk population if you can afford to. If you cannot, do not retreat, but open another, more-affordable, more-achievable, more-focused front. Evidence indicates that your advance will be as great.
Adiposity among 132 479 UK Biobank participants; contribution of sugar intake vs other macronutrients.

Background Policy makers are being encouraged to specifically target sugar intake in order to combat obesity. We examined the extent to which sugar, relative to other macronutrients, was associated with adiposity. Methods We used baseline data from UK Biobank to examine the associations between energy intake (total and individual macronutrients) and adiposity [body mass index (BMI), percentage body fat and waist circumference]. Linear regression models were conducted univariately and adjusted for age, sex, ethnicity and physical activity. Results Among 132 479 participants, 66.3% of men and 51.8% of women were overweight/obese. There was a weak correlation (r = 0.24) between energy from sugar and fat; 13% of those in the highest quintile for sugar were in the lowest for fat, and vice versa. Compared with normal BMI, obese participants had 11.5% higher total energy intake and 14.6%, 13.8%, 9.5% and 4.7% higher intake from fat, protein, starch and sugar, respectively. Hence, the proportion of energy derived from fat was higher (34.3% vs 33.4%, P < 0.001) but from sugar was lower (22.0% vs 23.4%, P < 0.001). BMI was more strongly associated with total energy [coefficient 2.47, 95% confidence interval (CI) 2.36-2.55] and energy from fat (coefficient 1.96, 95% CI 1.91-2.06) than sugar (coefficient 0.48, 95% CI 0.41-0.55). The latter became negative after adjustment for total energy. Conclusions Fat is the largest contributor to overall energy. The proportion of energy from fat in the diet, but not sugar, is higher among overweight/obese individuals. Focusing public health messages on sugar may mislead on the need to reduce fat and overall energy consumption.
Research Questions And Research Objectives

Primary care research is best done in primary care settings. Its aim is to improve the quality of primary care and provide better care for the patients. The scope of research ranges from basic research to develop research methods in the discipline, clinical research to inform clinical practice, health services research to improve health service delivery, health systems research to improve health systems and policies, and educational research to improve education for primary care clinicians. (copied from article)
MendelianRandomization: an R package for performing Mendelian randomization analyses using summarized data

Abstract MendelianRandomization is a software package for the R open-source software environment that performs Mendelian randomization analyses using summarized data. The core functionality is to implement the inverse-variance weighted, MR-Egger and weighted median methods for multiple genetic variants. Several options are available to the user, such as the use of robust regression, fixed- or random-effects models and the penalization of weights for genetic variants with heterogeneous causal estimates. Extensions to these methods, such as allowing for variants to be correlated, can be chosen if appropriate. Graphical commands allow summarized data to be displayed in an interactive graph, or the plotting of causal estimates from multiple methods, for comparison. Although the main method of data entry is directly by the user, there is also an option for allowing summarized data to be incorporated from the PhenoScanner database of genotype—phenotype associations. We hope to develop this feature in future versions of the package. The R software environment is available for download from [https://www.r-project.org/]. The MendelianRandomization package can be downloaded from the Comprehensive R Archive Network (CRAN) within R, or directly from [https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/MendelianRandomization/]. Both R and the MendelianRandomization package are released under GNU General Public Licenses (GPL-2|GPL-3).
Verification and validation of simulation models

In this paper we discuss verification and validation of simulation models. Four different approaches to deciding model validity are described; two different paradigms that relate verification and validation to the model development process are presented; various validation techniques are defined; conceptual model validity, model verification, operational validity, and data validity are discussed; a way to document results is given; a recommended procedure for model validation is presented; and model accreditation is briefly discussed.
Curbing the hepatitis C virus epidemic in Pakistan: the impact of scaling up treatment and prevention for achieving elimination

Abstract Background The World Health Organization (WHO) has developed a global health strategy to eliminate viral hepatitis. We project the treatment and prevention requirements to achieve the WHO HCV elimination target of reducing HCV incidence by 80% and HCV-related mortality by 65% by 2030 in Pakistan, which has the second largest HCV burden worldwide. Methods We developed an HCV transmission model for Pakistan, and calibrated it to epidemiological data from a national survey (2007), surveys among people who inject drugs (PWID), and blood donor data. Current treatment coverage data came from expert opinion and published reports. The model projected the HCV burden, including incidence, prevalence and deaths through 2030, and estimated the impact of varying prevention and direct-acting antiviral (DAA) treatment interventions necessary for achieving the WHO HCV elimination targets. Results With no further treatment (currently ∼150 000 treated annually) during 2016–30, chronic HCV prevalence will increase from 3.9% to 5.1%, estimated annual incident infections will increase from 700 000 to 1 100 000, and 1 400 000 HCV-associated deaths will occur. To reach the WHO HCV elimination targets by 2030, 880 000 annual DAA treatments are required if prevention is not scaled up and no treatment prioritization occurs. By targeting treatment toward persons with cirrhosis (80% treated annually) and PWIDs (double the treatment rate of non-PWIDs), the required annual treatment number decreases to 750 000. If prevention activities also halve transmission risk, this treatment number reduces to 525 000 annually. Conclusions Substantial HCV prevention and treatment interventions are required to reach the WHO HCV elimination targets in Pakistan, without which Pakistan’s HCV burden will increase markedly.
Toward Brain-Computer Interfacing

© 2007 Massachusetts Institute of Technology All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by any electronic or mechanical means(including photocopying, recording, or information storage and retrieval) without permission in writing from thepublisher. This book was set in LaTex by the authors and was printed and bound in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Towards Brain-Computer Interfacing / edited by Guido Dornhege, Jose del R. Millan, Thilo Hinterberger, Dennis McFarland, Klaus-Robert Muller. p.; cm. (Neural information processing series) “A Bradford book. ” Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-262-04244
Melanin fate in the human epidermis: a reassessment of how best to detect and analyse histologically

Melanin is the predominant pigment responsible for skin colour and is synthesized by the melanocyte in the basal layer of the epidermis and then transferred to surrounding keratinocytes. Despite its optical properties, melanin is barely detectable in unstained sections of human epidermis. However, identification and localization of melanin is of importance for the study of skin pigmentation in health and disease. Current methods for the histologic quantification of melanin are suboptimal and are associated with significant risk of misinterpretation. The aim of this study was to reassess the existing literature and to develop a more effective histological method of melanin quantification in human skin. Moreover, we confirm that Warthin‐Starry (WS) stain provides a much more sensitive and more specific melanin detection method than the commonplace Fontana‐Masson (FM) stain. For example, WS staining sensitivity allowed the visualization of melanin even in very pale Caucasian skin that was missed by FM or Von Kossa (VK) stains. From our reassessment of the histology‐related literature, we conclude that so‐called melanin dust is most likely an artifact of discoloration due to non‐specific silver deposition in the stratum corneum. Unlike FM and VK, WS was not associated with this non‐specific stratum corneum darkening, misinterpreted previously as ‘degraded’ melanin. Finally, WS melanin particle counts were largely similar to previously reported manual counts by transmission electron microscopy, in contrast to both FM and VK. Together these findings allow us to propose a new histology/Image J‐informed method for the accurate and precise quantification of epidermal melanin in skin.
Élaboration et validation d’un outil de mesure du bien-être psychologique: L’ÉMMBEP

RésuméS’il est admis que le bien-être est plus que l’image inversée de la détresse psychologique et qu’il recouvre des composantes affectives et cognitives, les dimensions sous-jacentes à ce concept sont mal connues. Cet article présente les résultats des validations de contenu, de construit et concomitante d’une nouvelle Échelle de Mesure des Manifestations du Bien-être Psychologique (EMMBEP). Son originalité est de reposer sur une liste initiale de manifestations d’une bonne santé psychologique rapportées par une population non clinique dans le cadre d’épisodes vécus. Les dimensions factorielles identifiées ne reposent donc plus sur le modèle théorique qu’en proposent leurs auteurs mais sur les construits qui structurent le contenu populaire du bien-être. Nous concluons à la pertinence de coupler des mesures de la santé mentale positive aux mesures de la détresse dans les enquêtes épidémiologiques et de santé publique.AbstractPsychological well-being scales used in epidemiologic surveys usually show high construct validity. The content validation, however, is less convincing since these scales rest on lists of items that reflect the theoretical model of the authors. In this study we present results of the construct and criterion validation of a new Well-Being Manifestations Measure Scale (WBMMS) founded on an initial list of manifestations derived from an original content validation in a general population. It is concluded that national and public health epidemiologic surveys should include both measures of positive and negative mental health.
Malnutrition and associated risk factors in pre-school children (2-5 Years) in district Swabi (NWFP)-Pakistan

To assess the nutritional status and the associated risk factors in preschool age children in the District Swabi of the North West Frontier Province (NWFP)-Pakistan. The studies included 140 children (both boys and girls) and were assessed for nutritional status using correlation analysis for association of malnutrition with parent’s income, family size and number of the child within the family, sex of the child and Z-score for stature/age, weight/age/stature and weight/stature. The results showed no significant differences between the sex, age for weight and height compared. The weight and height were lower than the third percentile in all cases and indicate that the children were stunted and under-weight. The mean z-score in every case (i.e., -score for age-height and age-weight, sex-height and sex-weight and height-weight) was significantly different. Furthermore, there was strong association of malnutrition with family size, income of the parents and child number in the family in rural areas. This study indicates that the children in this particular area on average are at the risk of malnutrition due to large family size and lower income.
Pharmaceutical Properties of Terminalia bellerica (Bahera)-An Overview

In recent times, focus on plant research has increased all over the world and a large body of evidence has been collected to show immense potential of plants used in various pharmaceutical application. Terminalia bellerica plant is growing widely throughout the Indian subcontinent, Sri Lanka and South-East Asia. In the Traditional system of medicine like Ayurveda, Siddha and Unani, its medicinal uses have been described in several diseases and the action in almost all system. Glycosides, Tannins, Gallic acid, Ellagic acid, Ethylgalate, Gallylglucose, Chebulanic acid is mainly believed to be responsible for its various therapeutic actions. It is used as antioxidant, antimicrobial, anti diarrheal, anticancer, anti diabetic, antihypertensive, hepatic protective and immune stimulatory agent. The gums of the plant have been used for the formulation of microencapsulated drug delivery system and polysaccharide isolated from it, used as pharmaceutical excipient. Therefore, it is worthwhile to review its therapeutic properties to give an overview of its status to scientist both modern and ancient. This review also encompasses on the potential application of the Terminalia bellerica (bahera) plant in the pharmaceutical field due to its wide phyto pharmacological activities.
Assessment of life insurance applications: an approach integrating neuro‐symbolic rule‐based with case‐based reasoning

Assessment of applications for life insurance is an important task in the insurance sector that concerns estimation of potential risks underlying an application, if accepted. This task is accomplished by specialized personnel of insurance companies. Because of recent financial crises, this task is more demanding, and intelligent computer‐based methods could be employed to assist. In this paper, we present an intelligent approach to assessment of life insurance applications, which is based on an integration of neurule‐based with case‐based reasoning. Neurules are a type of neuro‐symbolic rules that combine a symbolic (production rules) and a connectionist (adaline unit) representation. A characteristic of neurules is that in contrast to other hybrid neuro‐symbolic approaches, they retain the naturalness and modularity of symbolic rules. Neurules are produced from available symbolic rules that represent general knowledge, which however do not completely cover the domain. We use health condition, age, gender, annual income, profession, insurance type and primary life insurance benefit as assessment parameters used in rule conditions. The integration of neurules and cases employs different types of indices for the cases according to different roles they play in neurule‐based reasoning. This results in its accuracy improvement. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the approach.
The impact of respiratory motion correction methods on tumour detection and quantification in Positron Emission Tomography

28 respiratory motion on lesion detectability. A comprehensive assessment is performed using different amplitudes for lesion displacement due to respiration and different respiration patterns derived from actual patient respiratory traces. The impact on the detectability is compared with that achievable by a higher resolution scanner in order to investigate the importance of correcting for motion to realise the benefit from the increased resolution of future PET scanners.
Location, location, location: applying spatial statistics to the relationship landscape.

The desire to understand relationships is a passion shared by professionals in research, clinical, and educational settings. Questionnaires are frequently used in each of these settings for a multitude of purposes-such as screening, assessment, program evaluation, or establishing therapeutic effectiveness. However, clinical issues arise when a couple's answers on questionnaires do not match clinical judgment or lack clinical utility, while statistical problems arise when data from both partners are put into analyses. This article introduces the use of geospatial statistics to analyze couple data plotted on a two-dimensional "relational map. " Relationship maps can increase assessment sensitivity, track treatment progress, and remove statistical issues typically associated with couple data. This article briefly introduces core assumptions of spatial models, illustrates the use of spatial models in creating a relational landscape of divorce, offers suggestions for the use of relational maps in a clinical setting, and explores future research ideas.
Estimating the cost of Emergency Department presentations in NSW. CHERE Working Paper 2014/01

This brief methods paper explains how to use the NSW Government Health Costs of Care Standards to estimate the cost of presentations to emergency departments (ED) in NSW. We begin with a discussion of the allocation of presentations according to visit type, triage category and mode of separation to urgency disposition group (UDG) class for the purpose of allocating cost weights and how to apply these weights to estimate the cost per presentation. The discussion is then extended to incorporate a suggested approach for estimating ED costs when mode of separation is known but visit type and triage category are unknown; we do this by using the distribution of current NSW ED presentations by visit type, triage category and mode of separation to calculate the average cost for each mode of separation.
Prevalência dos Fatores de Risco da Obesidade Infantil nos Centros Municipais de Educação Infantil do Município de Maringá - PR-2010

Since childhood is the period in which human potential develops, weight-related disorders that occur during this period may have serious consequences to individuals and communities. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), obesity is a growing problem in childhood and may affect between 25 and 30% of children population in developed countries. Obesity has been mainly attributed to environmental, social and cultural factors, such as propaganda on poor diet, with high fatty proportions, and to sedentary attitudes. Current analysis identifies the risk factors of child obesity in children who attend the municipal kindergartens in Maringa PR Brazil. Two hundred and twenty-nine children, between 0 and 5 years old, of both sexes, 51.53% females and 48.47% males, attending the kindergartens, participated in current research. An anthropometric evaluation analyzed children’s weight and height and their Body Mass Index calculated. Whereas 15.31% of males were overweight and 19.81 were obese, 16.95% of females were overweight and 11.86 obese. Children’s obesity is a serious public health problem worldwide and its predominance is increasing both in developed and in developing countries. If the disease is not controlled or treated as soon as possible, it will cause serious health problems to those concerned due to the fact that articulation, cardiovascular, endocrine-metabolic, neoplasm, respiratory, gastro-intestinal complications affect children’s growth and development and may even cause psycho-social harm.
SEQUENTIAL THERAPY IN METASTATIC BREAST CANCER: SURVIVAL ANALYSIS WITH TIME DEPENDENT COVARIATES

Metastatic breast cancer, a disease with a high mortality rate among women, is a major public health problem in the United States and other developed countries. This study evaluated the effect of certain treatments within the clinical setting during the patients' individual courses of sequential treatments. A database based on clinical data from one practice of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute Breast Cancer Program was used to analyze from data metastatic breast cancer patients receiving sequential therapies. Data from the clinic cohort were available from January 1999 to July 2005.Taxanes, a specific class of chemotherapeutic agents including Taxol® and Taxotere® have been demonstrated to be very effective in tumor control and symptom relief in metastatic breast cancer patients. However, it is unclear whether there is a benefit in survival compared to non-taxane compounds. Therefore, the survival among patients who received taxane-containing regimes versus those who never received taxane-containing regimes as chemotherapeutic agents needs attention.The purpose of this study is to investigate the survival benefit of taxanes, after initiating chemotherapy or hormonal therapy. Hence, survival analyses with time dependent covariates were employed. The results showed that taxane was beneficial for survival in women with metastatic breast cancer. However, the effect strongly depended on the estrogen receptor type. Patients who had metastatic breast cancer with negative estrogen receptors benefited from taxane therapy. In contrary, taxane showed an adverse effect in patients with positive estrogen receptor cancer. The combination of toxic side effects from the drug, patient characteristics, and timeline of taxane intervention might have possibly contributed to this finding.These results will facilitate the development of guidelines for the management of metastatic breast cancer. In the meantime it will be useful to guide clinicians in their decision-making regarding therapeutic regimes for metastatic breast cancer providing physicians and health care professionals with an important tool to improve public health.