Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Minimally Invasive Endoscopic-Assisted Lateral Lumbar Interbody Fusion: Technical Report and Preliminary Results

Objective Lateral lumbar interbody fusion (LLIF) is a highly useful lumbar fusion surgical technique for degenerative spinal disease. However, many complications have already been reported. The purpose of this study is to report the concept, surgical technique, and clinical results of the first 70 consecutive cases treated with a safer and minimally invasive endoscopic-assisted LLIF (ELLIF). Methods This retrospective study included 70 cases involving 106 segments in which ELLIF was used to treat degenerative spinal disease. We examined the clinical progress, complications and analyzed radiographic images. Regarding the fusion rate, 49 cases involving 72 segments whose follow-up period was more than 7 months were evaluated. Results The mean of preoperative Numerical Rating Scale (NRS) was 7.0 and postoperative NRS was 1.4. Postoperative NRS had a significant correlation with the number of fusion segments (p = 0.028). The mean of preoperative disc space height, foraminal height, sagittal rotation angle, whole lumbar lordosis and sagittal translation distance were 3.3 mm, 14.3 mm, 2.4°, 9.7°, and 3.2 mm, respectively. Postoperative values were 9.4 mm, 17.9 mm, -4.9°, 36.3°, and 0.7 mm. The fusion rate was 79.2%. Complications included, transient psoas muscle weakness 1, sensory disturbance in the thigh 2, retroperitoneal injury 1, postoperative ileus possibly involving a retroperitoneal injury 1, and cage migration 4. Conclusion Using the ELLIF in the degenerative spinal disease, we obtained good radiological reduction and good clinical results. Our study confirms that ELLIF is safer and provides better results for degenerative spinal disease. However, the issue of cage migration remains to be resolved.
The Effectiveness and Safety of Ultrasonic Bone Scalpel Versus Conventional Method in Cervical Laminectomy: A Retrospective Study of 311 Patients

Study Design: Retrospective cohort study. Objectives: The aim of this study was to compare the results of cervical laminectomy (CL) performed with ultrasonic bone scalpel (UBS) or conventional method (CM). Method: This study comprised 311 CL performed by a single surgeon between January 2004 and December 2017. Group A (GpA) comprised 124 cases of CL performed using UBS, while Group B (GpB) comprised 187 cases of CL performed using CM. These 2 groups were compared in terms of demographic characteristics of patients, duration of surgery, estimated blood loss, and surgical complications. Results: GpA included 112 males and 12 females, mean age being 61.18 years. GpB comprised 166 males and 21 females, mean age being 62.04 years. Mean duration of surgery, estimated blood loss, and length of hospital stay was 65.52/70.87 minutes, 90.24/98.40 mL, and 4.80/4.87 days in GpA and GpB, respectively. Six patients were reported to have dural injuries in each group. In GpA, 2 cases of C5 palsy and 1 nerve root injury was observed, while in GpB, 3 cases of C5 palsy and no nerve root injury was reported. One patient had developed transient neurological deterioration postsurgery in GpA as against 11 patients in GpB. Conclusion: Neurological complications observed in CM leads to intensive care unit admission, additional morbidity, and additional expenditure, whereas UBS provides a safe, rapid, and effective means of performing CL, thereby decreasing the rate of surgical complications and postoperative morbidity.
Skeletal Maturation Using Cervical Vertebrae Versus Dental Age For Age Estimation

In forensic science, few data exist regarding cervical vertebrae stages for age estimation, meanwhile, teeth are frequently used to estimate age. The present study tested the cervical vertebrae skeletal maturation as an indicator for chronological age. A total of 149 radiographs (68 boys and 81 girls) were analyzed. Their ages ranged from 5.94 - 18.00 years. Cervical vertebral skeletal maturation (CVM) staging and dental age estimation by Willem's method were estimated. Results show that there is significant correlation between dental age, CVM and chronological age. However, CVM staging is not accurate to depend on solely for age estimation especially in forensic investigations. Willem's method underestimated age by 0.01 years in girls and 0.16 years in boys. It can be concluded that CVM can give rough idea about age and accuracy will be enhanced if combined with dental age estimation.
Platelet-derived growth factor-BB promotes proliferation and migration of retinal microvascular pericytes by up-regulating the expression of C-X-C chemokine receptor types 4

Stromal cell-derived growth factor (SDF)-1α acts as a ligand to C-X-C chemokine receptors 4 (CXCR4) and 7 (CXCR7), which are involved in the formation of choroidal neovascularization. Previous studies have demonstrated crosstalk between the platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF)-BB/PDGF receptor (PDGFR)-β and SDF-1α/CXCR4 axes during tumor neovascularization by increasing the recruitment of pericytes. However, the effects of interactions between these two signaling pathways in retinal microvascular pericytes remain poorly understood. Western blotting and reverse transcription-quantitative PCR were used to measure CXCR4 and CXCR7 expression in PDGF-BB-treated pericytes, whilst Cell Counting Kit-8 and Transwell migration assays were used to investigate cell viability and migration following PDGF-BB pretreatment on SDF-1α-treated pericytes. Exogenous PDGF-BB enhanced CXCR4 and CXCR7 expression through PDGFR-β in a dose- and time-dependent manners. In addition, PDGF-BB increased cell viability and migration in SDF-1α-treated pericytes, which were inhibited by AMD3100 and niclosamide, inhibitors for CXCR4 and STAT3 respectively. Crosstalk between PDGF-BB/PDGFR-β and SDF-1α/CXCR4/CXCR7 were involved in the JAK2/STAT3 signaling pathway. PDGF-BB treatment enhanced CXCR4, CXCR7 and PDGFR-βexpression, which may be associated with the phosphorylation of STAT3. siRNA-PDGFR-β transfection reduced CXCR4 and CXCR7 expression in pericytes. Therefore, PDGF-BB directly targets PDGFR-β and serves an important role in regulating CXCR4 and CXCR7 expression, ultimately affecting viability and migration in SDF-1α-treated pericytes. Therefore, targeting CXCR4/CXCR7 may serve as a potential therapeutic strategy for fundus diseases.
Management of a hybrid renewable power plant supplying an isolated rural load within a changing environment

Abstract: Often, authors deal with the sizing issue of hybrid power plants on horizons of several years. Proposed approaches are certainly essential to optimize energy costs. However, these solutions cannot remain optimal throughout the life cycle of the plant due to the inevitable evolution of the number of households, their consumption profiles, and possible degradation of a part of the plant. In this paper, an efficient management strategy of a sized hybrid renewable system is developed. It is based on the scheduling of the different resources of the plant. The main aim is to minimize the generated energy cost while ensuring an optimal quality of service and taking into account the evolution of the environment. The scheduling issue was modeled as a constrained quadratic problem and solved using the interior-pointconvex algorithm. To show the effectiveness of the approach, several scenarios representing the changing context have been developed and implemented on an existing power plant. Obtained results were compared with the case of energy dispatch without management and significant energy cost savings was noticed. This work provides an efficient decision aid tool for the microgrid manager and fits well with the general policy of smart grids.
Platelet recruitment to lungs following inhalation of bacterial lipopolysaccharides

Background Platelets contribute to disease-relevant inflammatory processes, and research indicates that platelet recruitment to inflamed lungs might be important in the platelet-dependence of inflammatory responses. Compared to platelet recruitment to lesions in blood vessel walls or to thrombi, the mechanisms of platelet recruitment to lungs following inflammatory responses in lung airpaces are poorly understood, so methods were sought to enable the characterisation of this response in mouse and human models. Methods Bright field and fluorescence microscopy for quantifying immunostained platelets, non-invasive radiolabelled platelet tracking, radiolabelled platelet biodistribution, lung intravital multiphoton microscopy with genetic platelet labelling, and blood microsample platelet counts were assessed as methods for measuring and describing lung platelet recruitment in a mouse model of lung inflammation induced by intranasal challenge with bacterial lipopolysaccharides (LPS). Platelets were also immunostained in human lung samples exposed to LPS via intrabronchial installation during ex vivo blood-perfused lung experiments. The effects of neutrophil depletion, blockade of the adhesion molecules P-selectin or PSGL-1, and treatment with the anti-platelet drugs MRS2500, AR-C 66096 or aspirin on LPS-induced lung platelet recruitment were then investigated in mice. Results Immunostaining and radiolabelled platelet tracking methods showed that LPS inhalation caused platelet recruitment to lungs of mice, and intravital microscopy revealed that LPS
Gender-related differences among patients with STEMI: a propensity score analysis

Introduction and objectives: Female sex is believed to be a significant risk factor for mortality among patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) undergoing primary percutaneous coronary interventions (pPCI). Methods: We collected data on all consecutive STEMI patients treated with pPCI within 12 hours and compared the males vs the females. The primary endpoint was long-term mortality one month after hospital discharge. The secondary endpoint was 30-days mortality. Results: From March 2006 to December 2016, 1981 patients underwent pPCI at our hospital, 484 (24.4%) were females. Compared with men, women were older (mean age 71.3 ± 11.6 vs 62.9 ± 11.8 years, P < .001), less smokers (26.7% vs 72.7%; P < .001), more diabetic (28.0% vs 22.3%; P < .002), more hypertensive (69.6% vs 61.3%; P < .001), presented more often with shock at baseline (13.2% vs 9.0%; P = .006), had longer symptoms-to-balloon time frames (5.36 ± 3.97 vs 4.47 ± 3.67 hours; P < .001). Also, women were less likely to receive glycoprotein IIb-IIIa inhibitors (59.5% vs 71.4%; P < .001) and stents (79.5% vs 86.6%; P = .01). During the 30-day and long-term follow-up (mean 4.9 ± 3.2 years) the female sex was associated with a higher mortality rate (8.9% vs 4.0%, P < .001 and 23.8% vs 18.4%, P = .01, respectively). After propensity score matching, 379 men and 379 women were selected. Female sex continued to be associated with a higher death rate at 30 days (9.5% vs 5.5%; P = .039) but not in the long term among survivors (25.6% vs 21.4%; P = .170). Conclusions: Compared to men, women with STEMI undergoing pPCI had higher 30-day mortality rates. However, among survivors, the long-term mortality rate was similar. Even if residual confounding cannot be ruled out, this difference in the outcomes may be partially explained by biological sex-related differences.
The framework of anthropomorphic interface in gamification application for transitional healthcare

Anthropomorphic interfaces in gamified applications may offer different effects on human and computer interactions. Applying them in healthcare applications, particularly for a transition care, could help to support the transition process, transferring a patient from hospital care to self-care. Anthropomorphic interfaces virtually imitate the patient’s health progress in the transition process which could aid in helping to maintain the patient’s motivation throughout the process. Furthermore, an anthropomorphic interface is seen as a tool to support a long-term relationship, especially when human components are applied in a human-computer interaction. Combining gamified applications with an anthropomorphic interface is expected to provide a motivational effect. This can happen when an anthropomorphic interface is designed with its characteristics deemed trustworthy and preferable. However, little consideration has been given to the gamification of anthropomorphic interfaces as a supportive tool for transitional healthcare. This research proposes a framework for the application of anthropomorphic interfaces in gamified applications for transitional healthcare. The framework analyses existing research on anthropomorphic interfaces, gamification, and transitional healthcare. The framework has been validated by triangulating previous literature, expert interviews, and a patient survey. The research further develops an instrument to measure the extent of the gamification of anthropomorphic interfaces for transition care in games. To be validated, the instruments went through a series of tests. The test results showed that the instruments were reliable. Following from the framework and the instrument, a set of guidelines was developed and validated in a focus group discussion. The outcome of this research has provided constructive recommendations for future designs of an anthropomorphic interface in gamified applications for the transitional healthcare.
Evaluation of the effects of dental filling material artifacts on IMRT treatment planning in patient with nasopharyngeal cancer

Background: Presence of artifacts, caused by dental filling high-Z materials (DFM), on intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) treatment plan CT images may lead to uncertainty in head and neck calculated dose distributions. Hence, the purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of DFM on the IMRT calculated dose distribution and consequent radiobiological derived outcomes for nasopharyngeal cancer patients. Materials and Methods: IMRT optimization of two groups (15 patients in each) of nasopharyngeal cancer (NPC) patients with (group I) and without (group II) dental amalgam was performed by using the Prowess Panther treatment planning system (TPS). For all the patients, target prescribed dose was 70 Gy to planning target volume. We used 3 sets of treatment plans including; nine fields arrangement (F9E) and two plans of seven fields (namely: F7 and F7E) at different angles. The dose volume histograms (DVHs), monitor units (MUs), Homogeneity index (HI), conformity index (CI), Tumor control probability (TCP) and normal tissue complication probability (NTCP) of main organs at risk (OARs) were analyzed. Results: According to the results, the TCP of PTV70 due to presence of dental filling material was significantly decreased (p=0.031). On the other hand received dose by mandible, left cochlea, both eyes and right optic nerve were considerably different between patients with and without artifacts (p<0.05), whereas mandible showed the maximum differences (up to 315.65 cGy) compared to the other studied OARs. Conclusion: Results Presence of dental artifact in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma leads to uncertainty in calculated dose of IMRT treatment plans, especially for mandible as an OAR.
A High Performance (72, 64) SEC-DAEC codes for ECC’S

Single error correction and double-adjacent error correction (SEC–DAEC) codes are a type of error correction codes (ECCs) capable of correcting single and double-adjacent errors. They are useful in applications where multiple adjacent errors may occur, such as space or avionics. ECC encoders and decoders have a regular structure that makes it easier to accommodate them into field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs). This brief proposes methods to optimize the decoder of SEC–DAEC codes when implemented in an FPGA, reducing the resource utilization when compared with the conventional implementations. Index Terms: Error correction codes (ECCs), field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), look up tables (LUTs), single; Error correction and double-adjacent error correction (SEC–DAEC).
Abuse in Colombian elderly and its association with socioeconomic conditions and functionality

Abstract Objective: To describe the presence of abuse in elderly people in Colombia and its association with socio-demographic and functional conditions. Methods: Cross-sectional and descriptive research. Data were taken from the SABE Colombia Survey, a population study, with a national representative sample of 23,694 adults aged over 60 years. Presence and type of abuse by partners or family members, members were investigated. Generalized linear models with Poisson link function were used to estimate the causes of the prevalence of abuse by area of residence, region, age, sex, dependence on activities of daily living and living arrangements. Results: 15.1% of the elderly in Colombia reported some type of abuse, and over 50% reported more than one form of abuse. Abuse proportion is greater in people who are aged 60-69, in women, people with lower levels of education, people who belong to lower socioeconomic status, people who live alone, people who live with children, and people in urban areas. The most frequent abuse form is psychological, followed by neglect and physical abuse. Dependence on basic and instrumental daily living activities increases the probabilities of suffering abuse. Conclusions: Home is a risky place for the elderly people, especially for those with functional dependence, those who belong to low socioeconomic strata and women. Results should encourage debate among researchers, professionals and decision makers on public policy about necessary actions and means to change violent family dynamics in homes with elderly people.
Differentiation of Collective Behavior Based on Automated Discovery of Dynamical Kinds

In this paper, we explore a model of collective behavior using EUGENE, an algorithm for automated discovery of so-called “dynamical kinds”. Two systems are of the same dynamical kind if their underlying causal dynamics are similar, as defined using dynamical symmetry. We apply EUGENE to simulation data from a model capable of generating a range of qualitatively different collective behaviors, from aligned motion to circular milling. These behaviors are measured using both global and local order parameters, and this data is analyzed with EUGENE. We find that EUGENE is capable of differentiating between these systems when global order parameters are used, and can only identify more coarse characteristics when local order parameters are considered.
A New Robust Distance Machine Leaning Approach to Edge and Corner Detection: RD-FAST

According to [1] the RD RANSAC gives better performance of other SAC procedures and associate with the concept of SFAST [2]. SFAST method gives better performance compared to FAST [3]. In this paper, to contribute a new approach in Robust Distance (RD) SAC to use in computer vision in specially edge and corner detection a technique is defined as RD-FAST. SFAST is based on S estimator, it’s used in standard deviation is the choice of distance. In this usual standard deviation is not performing well the data is irregular. To overcome this concept we use new approach of robust distance in FAST algorithm (RD-FAST). It is performing better compared to FAST and other FAST related methods. All experimental is carried out MATLAB software.
systematische Analyse des Einflusses ökologischer Ziele auf das IT-Service-ManagementEine

IT-Services, wie etwa die Bereitstellung von Suchfunktionen, werden auf Basis einer weltweit verteilten Infrastruktur aus Rechenzentren erstellt. Dies fuhrt dazu, dass Rechenzentren aktuell zu den grosten Energieverbrauchern der Informationstechnik zahlen. Verfahren zur Steigerung der Energieeffizienz bilden bereits den Gegenstand aktueller Forschungsvorhaben, der Fokus liegt allerdings auf infrastrukturnahen Ansatzen. Methoden zum Management von Rechenzentren wurden bisher nicht oder nur in geringem Umfang auf ihren Beitrag zur Verbesserung der Energieeffizienz untersucht. Aus diesem Grund werden am Beispiel der IT-Infrastructure Library (ITIL) – der defacto-Standard fur IT-Service-Management (ITSM) – die Implikationen aus der Berucksichtigung okologischer Ziele fur die ITSM-Prozesse herausgearbeitet und okologisch orientierte Erweiterungen eingefuhrt.
Cultural Adaptation and Optimization of the Compliance Questionnaire-Rheumatology (CQR) Through Statistical Methods for Patients with Rheumatic Diseases

There is a growing interest in the management of long-term conditions and increasing awareness of the need for compliance/adherence's assessment. An inexpensive and simple way to measure patients’ treatment compliance is pharmacoeconomic measurement tools. The aim of the study is to increase the quality of assessment of patients’ compliance through statistical methods in order to obtain a more accurate estimation and a shorter, easy-to-respond self-administered questionnaire. We used the Compliance Questionnaire-Rheumatology (CQR) translated into Romanian and we verified the reliability and the internal consistency of this instrument. The research included 140 consecutive patients diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis according to currently used criteria, with different treatment strategies and from different parts of Romania. Two methods for CQR's optimization were used. The first method identified associations between CQR score and patient compliance. An exploratory factor analysis was performed, as an alternative method, to reduce the number of items in CQR. The factor analysis identified a two-dimensional 9 item model that explains 66.78% of the variance in adherence and has a good internal consistency and fits the data. A shortened and optimized version of the CQR increases the clinical utility by reducing the patient’s burden while maintaining a good level of reliability.
Adapting healthcare services to a more intense way of tobacco prevention in child health care: A comparison between active and passive spreading

ABSTRACT Child health care has an important role to help parents minimize children’s exposure to tobacco smoke. An instrument has together with other supporting routines for staff, been implemented in different ways. The aim was to compare the effectiveness of two implementation strategies, to analyze passive spreading to colleagues and the sustainability to the methods. All CHC nurses in two counties in South East of Sweden were sent a questionnaire about their tobacco preventive work among parents. Three groups of nurses were compared. One group had taken part in a pilot study comprising extensive support and lectures, one group got a lecture at one occasion and further support via mail, and one group got no support or lecture but heard about the project from colleagues. Included in the study was 63%. Nurses in the pilot study still used most of the strategies included. Few nurses who had participated in the less extensive implementation knew about or used the instrument. More nurses who had heard about the project from colleagues knew about and used the strategies. The results indicate that according to the implementation of new routines in health care, more comprehensive methods are needed to change working routines and get sustainable effect.