Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Ankylosing Spondylitis: A rheumatology clinic experience

Objective: To determine the frequency, demographics, laboratory and radiological features in patients with Ankylosing Spondylitis. Methods: This is a retrospective analysis of prospectively collected data of patients with a diagnosis of Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS), based on Modified New York criteria. The study was conducted at the Rheumatology Clinic of Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC), from February 2004 to February 2014. Detailed history, examination and laboratory investigations were recorded in a pre-designed structured proforma. The frequency, demographic characteristics, extra-articular features and associated co-morbidities were studied. Results: A total of 603 patients were registered in our Rheumatology Clinic during this period, with a definitive diagnosis of inflammatory rheumatological disorders. Out of these, Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS) was diagnosed in 32 (5.3%) patients. 24 were male and 8 patients were female. The commonest affected age group was between 21-40 years. Majority of the patients belonged to Pathan ethnicity. Conclusion: The demographic features of AS are same as reported in earlier studies from other parts of the world. The predominance of AS in specific ethnic groups is a fact that needs to be studied. Larger studies are required for clarifying the triggers of this disease. It often leads to severe disability, hence an early diagnosis and prompt treatment is required for better disease control and quality of life.
Field Evaluation and User Acceptability of Repellent Formulations Containing Deet Against Mosquitoes in Australia1

Abstract Field efficacy trials comparing 2 formulations of deet against mosquitoes in Redcliffe, Queensland, Australia were conducted in February 2009. A formulation containing 35% deet in a gel (Australian Defence Force deet) provided >95% protection for 3 h, while a formulation containing 40% deet in ethanol (Bushman) in a spray applicator provided >95% for 6 h. A user acceptability study showed that 82% of soldiers using the Bushman formulation during contingency operations for 14–28 days in Timor–Leste would recommend this formulation to others and believed that the formulation provided protection against mosquitoes.
System identification of an interconnected power system with an energy storage system for robust stability improvement

This paper presents the use of the system identification method to find the appropriate transfer function of an interconnected power system with an energy storage system (ESS) and to design the robust ESS controller with the identified power system transfer function for robust stability improvement. The gradient search methodology is implemented to obtain an optimal power system transfer function for the ESS controller design. Then, the H-infinite loop shaping control (HLSC) and the phase lead-lag compensator (LLC) techniques are used to design the ESS controllers. The performance comparisons of the controllers by HLSC and LLC are done to illustrate the robustness of the ESS controllers under the inter-area oscillations with different load conditions. The study on the multi-machine power system is performed by DIgSILENT PowerFactory software. The simulation results show that the system identification technique can be applied for the ESS controller design. Furthermore, it is found that the ESS with HLSC can enhance the power system oscillation damping with a superior capability.
Racial Disparities in the Association Between Stress and Preterm Birth

Background: High levels of maternal stress have been linked to preterm births. However, findings from previous studies are inconsistent due to the varied use of stress measures. This study examined the effect of maternal stress on preterm birth, using both psychosocial and physiological measures. Methods: This study was conducted among 231 pregnant women enrolled during their first prenatal care visit. Presence of stress was assessed at enrollment using the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) and Stressful Life Events Inventory (SLEI). Samples of maternal salivary cortisol were obtained during the first trimester and birth outcomes were ascertained at delivery. Multiple logistic regression was conducted to assess the association between stress and preterm birth. Results: The majority of the study participants were Black, not married, less educated and low income. There was an association between cortisol level and preterm birth. Per 1µg/dL increase in cortisol level, the odds of preterm birth increased by 26%. The increase was accentuated in Blacks where a unit increase in cortisol level was associated with higher odds of preterm birth (29%). Conclusions: Stress measures using PSS and SLEI did not reveal a statistically significant association with preterm birth. Health care and public health professionals should be aware of the association between increased cortisol level and preterm birth. Salivary cortisol may be a better predictor of preterm birth than PSS and SLEI.
Associations between nut consumption and inflammatory biomarkers.

BACKGROUND Increased nut consumption has been associated with reduced risk of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes, as well as a healthy lipid profile. However, the associations between nut consumption and inflammatory biomarkers are unclear. OBJECTIVE We investigated habitual nut consumption in relation to inflammatory biomarkers in 2 large cohorts of US men and women. DESIGN We analyzed cross-sectional data from 5013 participants in the Nurses' Health Study (NHS) and Health Professionals Follow-Up Study (HPFS) who were free of diabetes. Nut intake, defined as intake of peanuts and other nuts, was estimated from food-frequency questionnaires, and cumulative averages from 1986 and 1990 in the NHS and from 1990 and 1994 in the HPFS were used. Plasma biomarkers were collected in 1989-1990 in the NHS and 1993-1995 in the HPFS. Multivariate linear regression was used to assess the associations of nut consumption with fasting plasma C-reactive protein (CRP, n = 4941), interleukin 6 (IL-6, n = 2859), and tumor necrosis factor receptor 2 (TNFR2, n = 2905). RESULTS A greater intake of nuts was associated with lower amounts of a subset of inflammatory biomarkers, after adjusting for demographic, medical, dietary, and lifestyle variables. The relative concentrations (ratios) and 95% CIs comparing subjects with nut intake of ≥5 times/wk and those in the categories of never or almost never were as follows: CRP: 0.80 (0.69, 0.90), P-trend = 0.0003; and IL-6: 0.86 (0.77, 0.97), P-trend = 0.006. These associations remained significant after further adjustment for body mass index. No significant association was observed with TNFR2. Substituting 3 servings of nuts/wk for 3 servings of red meat, processed meat, eggs, or refined grains/wk was associated with significantly lower CRP (all P < 0.0001) and IL-6 (P ranges from 0.001 to 0.017). CONCLUSION Frequent nut consumption was associated with a healthy profile of inflammatory biomarkers.
Neutrophils exposed to bacterial lipopolysaccharide upregulate NADPH oxidase assembly.

Bacterial LPS is a pluripotent agonist for PMNs. Although it does not activate the NADPH-dependent oxidase directly, LPS renders PMNs more responsive to other stimuli, a phenomenon known as "priming. " Since the mechanism of LPS-dependent priming is incompletely understood, we investigated its effects on assembly and activation of the NADPH oxidase. LPS pretreatment increased superoxide (O2-) generation nearly 10-fold in response to N-formyl methionyl leucyl phenylalanine (fMLP). In a broken-cell O2--generating system, activity was increased in plasma membrane-rich fractions and concomitantly decreased in specific granule-rich fractions from LPS-treated cells. Oxidation-reduction spectroscopy and flow cytometry indicated LPS increased plasma membrane association of flavocytochrome b558. Immunoblots of plasma membrane vesicles from LPS-treated PMNs demonstrated translocation of p47-phox but not of p67-phox or Rac2. However, PMNs treated sequentially with LPS and fMLP showed a three- to sixfold increase (compared with either agent alone) in plasma membrane-associated p47-phox, p67-phox, and Rac2, and translocation paralleled augmented O2- generation by intact PMNs. LPS treatment caused limited phosphorylation of p47-phox, and plasma membrane-enriched fractions from LPS- and/or fMLP-treated cells contained fewer acidic species of p47-phox than did those from cells treated with PMA. Taken together, these studies suggest that redistribution of NADPH oxidase components may underlie LPS priming of the respiratory burst.
Patterns of cardiovascular and ventilatory response to maximal cardiopulmonary test in elite basketball players.

OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to investigate patterns of cardiovascular and ventilatory response during cardiopulmonary exercise stress test and determine standard values of physical capacity during cardiopulmonary exercise stress tests for professional basketball players. MATERIAL AND METHODS Materials of the study were collected during a ramp exercise test of 33 professional athletes using an electronically braked bike ERGOLINE 9000. Power output and heart rate samples were collected. Ventilation and gas exchange indices were measured during the tests using VMAX229 metabolic card and Sensor Medics gas flow analyzer. Scattergrams of power, oxygen uptake, heart rate and pulmonary ventilation with 95% mean prediction intervals were presented. Data of European champions as example of successful conditioning were compared with other athletes. RESULTS The typical values of oxygen uptake, power output, hear rate and pulmonary ventilation are presented. We found statistically significant correlations between heart rate, oxygen uptake and power output at anaerobic threshold. Statistically significant correlations between heart rate, oxygen uptake and power output disappeared at peak of exercise. CONCLUSIONS The data of incremental exercise tests gives valid information about physical capacity of basketball players. The collected data could become referential source for the sport and might be useful for monitoring and evaluating current and future players. European champions developed relative high peak oxygen consumption despite "early" anaerobic threshold. Other advantages of European champions during cardiopulmonary testing were not determined.
Inductive rule generation and interpretation

Abstract The problem of knowledge acquisition has been recognized as the major bottleneck in the development of knowledge-based systems. An encouraging approach to alleviate this problem is inductive learning. Inductive learning systems accept, as input, a set of data that represent instances of the problem domain and produce, as output, the rules of the knowledge base. Each data item is described by a set of attribute values and is assigned to a unique decision class. A common characteristic of the existing inductive learning systems, is that they are empirical in nature and do not take into account the implications of the inductive rule generation process on the performance of the resulting set of rules. That performance is assessed when the rules are used to classify new unlabelled data. This paper demonstrates that the performance of a rule set is a function of the rule generation and rule interpretation processes. These two processes are interrelated and should not be considered separately. The inter.
Evaluating intensity normalization for multispectral classification of carotid atherosclerotic plaque

Intensity normalization is an important preprocessing step for automatic plaque analysis in MR images as most segmentation algorithms require the images to have a standardized intensity range. In this study, we derived several intensity normalization approaches with inspiration from expert manual analysis protocols, for classification of carotid vessel wall plaque from in vivo multispectral MRI. We investigated intensity normalization based on a circular region centered at lumen (nCircle); based on sternocleidomastoid muscle (nSCM); based on intensity scaling (nScaling); based on manually classified fibrous tissue (nManuFibrous) and based on automatic classified fibrous tissue (nAutoFibrous). The proposed normalization methods were evaluated using three metrics: (1) Dice similarity coefficient (DSC) between manual and automatic segmentation obtained by classifiers using different normalizations; (2) correlation between proposed normalizations and normalization used by expert; (3) Mahalanobis Distance between pairs of components. In the performed classification experiments, features of normalized image, smoothed, gradient magnitude and Laplacian images at multi-scales, distance to lumen, distance to outer wall, wall thickness were calculated for each vessel wall (VW) pixel. A supervised pattern recognition system, based on a linear discriminate classifier, was trained using the manual segmentation result to classify each VW pixel to be one of the four classes: fibrous tissue, lipid, calcification, and loose matrix according to the highest posterior probability. We evaluated our method on image data of 23 patients. Compared to the result of conventional square region based intensity normalizatio n, nScaling resulted in significant increase in DSC for lipid (p = 0.006) and nAutoFibrous resulted in significant increase in DSC for calcification (p = 0.004). In conclusion, it was demonstrated that the conventional region based normalization approach is not optimal and nAutoFibrous and nScaling are promising approaches deserving further studies.
The development of cellular junctions in the Drosophila embryo.

The pattern and development of cellular junctions in the different tissues of the Drosophila embryo from the blastoderm stage until hatching were analyzed. The cellular junctions found include: gap junctions, two types of septate junctions, and several types of cell-cell and cell-substrate adherens junctions. During early and mid embryogenesis (stages 4 to 13) only spot adherens junctions, gap junctions, and zonulae adherentes prevail. Scattered spot adherens junctions are already formed at the blastoderm stage. During and shortly after gastrulation, spot adherens junctions become concentrated at the apical pole and fuse into continuous zonulae adherentes in the posterior endoderm and the ectoderm. In addition to the zonulae adherentes, ectodermally derived epithelia possess scattered gap junctions and form pleated septate junctions and hemiadherens junctions during late embryogenesis (stages 14 to 17). Mesenchymal tissues (i.e., all nonepithelial tissues of the embryo, including the neural primordium and, transiently, the mesoderm and endoderm) possess both spot adherens junctions and gap junctions at a low frequency. Initially, the midgut epithelium does not establish a junctional complex and possess only gap junctions and spot adherens junctions. Only late in development does a circumferential smooth septate junction develop; zonulae adherentes are missing. The various derivatives of the mesoderm express spot adherens junctions, hemiadherens junctions, and gap junctions, but never zonulae adherentes or septate junctions. After organogenesis, several different types of tissue-specific adherens junctions are formed, among them connecting hemiadherens junctions (between gut epithelium and visceral muscle and early during the formation of the muscle tendon junction), muscle tendon junctions (between somatic muscle and tendon cells), fasciae adherentes (between the cells of both the visceral muscle and the dorsal vessel), and autocellular nephrocyte junctions (in nephrocytes). Interesting exceptions to the general pattern of junctional development are provided by the outer epithelial layer of the proventriculus and the Malpighian tubules. Both tissues develop as typical ectodermal epithelia and possess zonulae adherentes. During late embryogenesis, both epithelia lose the zonulae adherentes and form smooth rather than pleated septate junctions, thereby expressing a junctional complex similar to that of the endodermally derived midgut epithelium.
A methodological study into the linguistic dimensions of pitch range differences between German and English

The aim of this paper is to develop the methodology that would allow us to investigate the nature of variability in pitch range across speakers of different languages. In particular, we wanted to investigate whether by using linguistically based pitch range measures, such as those proposed by [1-3], we are able to characterise differences in pitch range across languages. We investigated Southern Standard British English (SSBE) and Northern Standard German (NSG), as it is often assumed that speakers of SSBE have a wider pitch range than speakers of NSG [4]. Using the linguistic measures suggested by [3], we found no such differences between NSG and SSBE, although a difference in the predicted direction was found with another linguistically based measure. Our study highlights the difficulty of using the previously suggested linguistic measures for cross-language comparisons, as some tonal structures are not equally distributed across the two languages. We therefore suggest that more suitable linguistic measures of pitch range may need to take the tonal distribution in the different languages into account.
Lung function changes in asthmatic children treated with HFA‐BDP

Asthma guidelines suggest that normal or near normal lung function should be one of the goals for good asthma control. Therefore, children with chronic persistent asthma and reduced peripheral airway function were assessed after the replacement of conventional inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) with an extrafine aerosol formulation, hydrofluoroalkane–134a beclomethoasone diproprionate (HFA‐BDP).
Novel Bipolar Photonic Digital-to-Analog Conversion Employing Differential Phase Shift Keying Modulation and Balanced Detection

A novel weighed and summing bipolar photonic digital-to-analog converter (BPDAC) scheme employing optical differential phase shift keying modulation and balanced detection is proposed and demonstrated in a proof-of-principle experiment of three-bit resolution and 2.5-GS/s conversion rate. Compared with the existing unipolar PDAC schemes, this BPDAC has a greater dynamic range and a larger noise margin. Compared with our previously proposed BPDAC based on optical differential quadrature phase shift keying modulation, it is much more robust to the phase detuning, and the tolerable range is greatly expanded from ±1° to ±18°.
Volumetric-modulated arc therapy vs. c-IMRT in esophageal cancer: a treatment planning comparison.

AIM To compare the volumetric-modulated arc therapy (VMAT) plans with conventional sliding window intensity-modulated radiotherapy (c-IMRT) plans in esophageal cancer (EC). METHODS Twenty patients with EC were selected, including 5 cases located in the cervical, the upper, the middle and the lower thorax, respectively. Five plans were generated with the eclipse planning system: three using c-IMRT with 5 fields (5F), 7 fields (7F) and 9 fields (9F), and two using VMAT with a single arc (1A) and double arcs (2A). The treatment plans were designed to deliver a dose of 60 Gy to the planning target volume (PTV) with the same constrains in a 2.0 Gy daily fraction, 5 d a week. Plans were normalized to 95% of the PTV that received 100% of the prescribed dose. We examined the dose-volume histogram parameters of PTV and the organs at risk (OAR) such as lungs, spinal cord and heart. Monitor units (MU) and normal tissue complication probability (NTCP) of OAR were also reported. RESULTS Both c-IMRT and VMAT plans resulted in abundant dose coverage of PTV for EC of different locations. The dose conformity to PTV was improved as the number of field in c-IMRT or rotating arc in VMAT was increased. The doses to PTV and OAR in VMAT plans were not statistically different in comparison with c-IMRT plans, with the following exceptions: in cervical and upper thoracic EC, the conformity index (CI) was higher in VMAT (1A 0.78 and 2A 0.8) than in c-IMRT (5F 0.62, 7F 0.66 and 9F 0.73) and homogeneity was slightly better in c-IMRT (7F 1.09 and 9F 1.07) than in VMAT (1A 1.1 and 2A 1.09). Lung V30 was lower in VMAT (1A 12.52 and 2A 12.29) than in c-IMRT (7F 14.35 and 9F 14.81). The humeral head doses were significantly increased in VMAT as against c-IMRT. In the middle and lower thoracic EC, CI in VMAT (1A 0.76 and 2A 0.74) was higher than in c-IMRT (5F 0.63 Gy and 7F 0.67 Gy), and homogeneity was almost similar between VMAT and c-IMRT. V20 (2A 21.49 Gy vs. 7F 24.59 Gy and 9F 24.16 Gy) and V30 (2A 9.73 Gy vs. 5F 12.61 Gy, 7F 11.5 Gy and 9F 11.37 Gy) of lungs in VMAT were lower than in c-IMRT, but low doses to lungs (V5 and V10) were increased. V30 (1A 48.12 Gy vs. 5F 59.2 Gy, 7F 58.59 Gy and 9F 57.2 Gy), V40 and V50 of heart in VMAT was lower than in c-IMRT. MUs in VMAT plans were significantly reduced in comparison with c-IMRT, maximum doses to the spinal cord and mean doses of lungs were similar between the two techniques. NTCP of spinal cord was 0 for all cases. NTCP of lungs and heart in VMAT were lower than in c-IMRT. The advantage of VMAT plan was enhanced by doubling the arc. CONCLUSION Compared with c-IMRT, VMAT, especially the 2A, slightly improves the OAR dose sparing, such as lungs and heart, and reduces NTCP and MU with a better PTV coverage.
Young People's Policy Recommendations on Algorithm Fairness

This paper explores the policy recommendations made by young people regarding algorithm fairness. It describes a piece of ongoing research developed to bring children and young people to the front line of the debate regarding children's digital rights. We employed the Youth Juries methodology which was designed to facilitate learning through discussions. The juries capture the deliberation process on a specific digital right, the right to know how algorithms govern and influence the Web and its users. Preliminary results show that young people demand to know more about algorithms, they want more transparency, more options, and more control about the way algorithms use their personal data.
Chemopreventive Potential of Canola Leafy Greens and Other Cruciferous Vegetables on Azoxymethane (AOM)-Induced Colon Cancer in Fisher-344 Male Rats

Cruciferous vegetables have great health benefits, and their components may be significant in the inhibition of colon tumors. The objective of this study was to investigate and compare the chemopreventive potential of cabbage, turnip greens, collard greens and canola greens on azoxymethane (AOM)-induced colon cancer. Following a one-week acclimatization period, forty-two Fisher-344 male rats were randomly assigned to five groups (treatment groups: n = 8; control: n = 10). Four groups were fed treatment diets consisting of the selected cruciferous vegetables at 5%, while the C group was fed AIN-93 growth diet. Colon tumors were induced by administration of AOM at 7 and 8 weeks of age and rats were killed by CO2 asphyxiation at 45 weeks of age. Results show a 42.85% tumors incidence in rats fed canola greens compared to 100% in the rats fed cabbage and the control. Rats fed control had higher tumors/ tumor bearing rat (TBR) ratio (4.5) compared to those seen in treatment groups (1 - 1.71). Significant differences (P ≤ 0.05) were noted in weight gain, cecal wall weight and total cecal weight in the control compared to treatment groups. Hepatic catalase (CAT) and Glutathione-S-Transferase (GST) activities (43.05 and 2.02 μmol/mg, respectively) in rats fed canola were significantly higher (P ≤ 0.05) compared to the control (10.22 and 0.58 μmol/mg) and other treatment groups. Superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity (μmol/mg) in rats fed canola (0.29), cabbage (0.26) and turnip greens (0.25) were similar, however, significantly higher (P ≤ 0.05) compared to the control (0.09). Activities of glutathione peroxidase (GPX) increased in the order: collard greens > canola greens > turnip greens > cabbage > control. Selected cruciferous vegetables, including canola leafy greens, were effective in reducing incidence of AOM-induced colon tumors in Fisher-344 male rats and may be useful as dietary chemopreventive agents.