Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Age-related High-frequency Hearing Loss Is Not Associated With Horizontal Semicircular Canal Function

Objective: Investigate the association between age-related hearing loss and reduced peripheral vestibular function using paired assessments of high-frequency hearing and horizontal semicircular canal (HSC) function. We hypothesized that age-related high-frequency hearing loss would be correlated with reduced HSC function and, therefore, useful to predict age-related vestibular hypofunction. Design: We conducted a single center, retrospective cross-sectional study in a tertiary/academic referral hospital. This study included 185 patients who were diagnosed with a cerebellopontine angle (CPA) tumor and referred to the academic hospital to evaluate treatment options. Data collected included pure-tone audiometry, caloric reflex test, video head-impulse test (vHIT), and medical history. High-frequency hearing loss was quantified by the high Fletcher index (hFI), and horizontal semicircular canal (HSC) function were quantified by the caloric reflex test and vHIT. Results: We observed a significant association between age and high-frequency hearing loss that was significantly worse in men compared with women. In contrast, we observed no significant association between age and HSC function assessed by either the caloric reflex test or vHIT. We observed associations between HSC function and sex, with male sex predicting reduced HSC function by caloric reflex testing but enhanced HSC function by vHIT. High-frequency hearing loss did not predict HSC hypofunction. Conclusions: We found no evidence indicating age-related decline in HSC function or an association between age-related high-frequency hearing loss and age-related decline in HSC function. We did observe sex-specific differences in HSC function. Our study highlights the need for sex-specific normative values for identifying age-related reduced peripheral vestibular function and for future work linking comprehensive assessments of inner ear function with tests of balance and stability to understand the complex interactions underlying hearing loss and imbalance, especially in the elderly.
Integration of a multicomponent intervention for hypertension into primary healthcare services in Singapore—A cluster randomized controlled trial

Background Despite availability of clinical practice guidelines for hypertension management, blood pressure (BP) control remains sub-optimal (<30%) even in high-income countries. This study aims to assess the effectiveness of a potentially scalable multicomponent intervention integrated into primary care system compared to usual care on BP control. Methods and findings A cluster-randomized controlled trial was conducted in 8 government clinics in Singapore. The trial enrolled 916 patients aged ≥40 years with uncontrolled hypertension (systolic BP (SBP) ≥140 mmHg or diastolic BP (DBP) ≥90 mmHg). Multicomponent intervention consisted of physician training in risk-based treatment of hypertension, subsidized losartan-HCTZ single-pill combination (SPC) medications, nurse training in motivational conversations (MCs), and telephone follow-ups. Usual care (controls) comprised of routine care in the clinics, no MC or telephone follow-ups, and no subsidy on SPCs. The primary outcome was mean SBP at 24 months’ post-baseline. Four clinics (447 patients) were randomized to intervention and 4 (469) to usual care. Patient enrolment commenced in January 2017, and follow-up was during December 2018 to September 2020. Analysis used intention-to-treat principles. The primary outcome was SBP at 24 months. BP at baseline, 12 and 24 months was modeled at the patient level in a likelihood-based, linear mixed model repeated measures analysis with treatment group, follow-up, treatment group × follow-up interaction as fixed effects, and random cluster (clinic) effects. A total of 766 (83.6%) patients completed 2-year follow-up. A total of 63 (14.1%) and 87 (18.6%) patients in intervention and in usual care, respectively, were lost to follow-up. At 24 months, the adjusted mean SBP was significantly lower in the intervention group compared to usual care (−3.3 mmHg; 95% CI: −6.34, −0.32; p = 0.03). The intervention led to higher BP control (odds ratio 1.51; 95% CI: 1.10, 2.09; p = 0.01), lower odds of high (>20%) 10-year cardiovascular risk score (OR 0.67; 95% CI: 0.47, 0.97; p = 0.03), and lower mean log albuminuria (−0.22; 95% CI: −0.41, −0.02; p = 0.03). Mean DBP, mortality rates, and serious adverse events including hospitalizations were not different between groups. The main limitation was no masking in the trial. Conclusions A multicomponent intervention consisting of physicians trained in risk-based treatment, subsidized SPC medications, nurse-delivered motivational conversation, and telephone follow-ups improved BP control and lowered cardiovascular risk. Wide-scale implementation of a multicomponent intervention such as the one in our trial is likely to reduce hypertension-related morbidity and mortality globally. Trial registration Trial Registration: Clinicaltrials.gov NCT02972619.
Automated detection of atrial fibrillation based on vocal features analysis

Early detection of atrial fibrillation (AF) is desirable but challenging due to the often‐asymptomatic nature of AF. Known screening methods are limited and most of them depend of electrocardiography or other techniques with direct contact with the skin. Analysis of voice signals from natural speech has been reported for several applications in medicine.
Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing for Enterococci

Enterococci are major, recalcitrant nosocomial pathogens with a wide repertoire of intrinsic and acquired resistance determinants and the potential of developing resistance to all clinically available antimicrobials. As such, multidrug-resistant enterococci are considered a serious public health threat. ABSTRACT Enterococci are major, recalcitrant nosocomial pathogens with a wide repertoire of intrinsic and acquired resistance determinants and the potential of developing resistance to all clinically available antimicrobials. As such, multidrug-resistant enterococci are considered a serious public health threat. Due to limited treatment options and rapid emergence of resistance to all novel agents, the clinical microbiology laboratory plays a critical role in deploying accurate, reproducible, and feasible antimicrobial susceptibility testing methods to guide appropriate treatment of patients with deep-seated enterococcal infections. In this review, we provide an overview of the advantages and disadvantages of existing manual and automated methods that test susceptibility of Enterococcus faecium and Enterococcus faecalis to β-lactams, aminoglycosides, vancomycin, lipoglycopeptides, oxazolidinones, novel tetracycline-derivatives, and daptomycin. We also identify unique problems and gaps with the performance and clinical utility of antimicrobial susceptibility testing for enterococci, provide recommendations for clinical laboratories to circumvent select problems, and address potential future innovations that can bridge major gaps in susceptibility testing.
A Proactive Behavioral Activities Program (EWA) and the Influence of COVID-19 among Seniors in Congregate Living Communities

Older adults in affordable housing are at risk for mental health problems, physical vulnerability, and isolation. We examine the role of an activities program in buffering the influence of life stressors on the mental health of seniors in congregate housing, using a non-experimental pretest–posttest study design. Results based upon repeated measures analyses (N = 29), found statistically significant (p < .05) program by time effects for depression, coping strategies, positive affect, isolation, and resident satisfaction. Analyses based upon independent samples of pretest and posttest measures (N = 60) were considerably less strong, but consistent in yielding similar patterns to those of the longitudinally gathered data. Our longitudinal findings substantiate the positive impact of the Engage with Age program in supporting older adults living in congregate housing. Researchers need to develop strategies to assess and support the mental health of older persons in low-income urban congregate living in the larger context of COVID-19.
Health Problems Discovery from Motion

Rapid aging of the population of the developed countries could exceed the society's capacity for taking care for them. In order to help solving this problem, we propose a system for automatic discovery of health problems from motion-capture data of gait of elderly. The gait of the user is captured with the motion capture system, which consists of tags attached to the body and sensors situated in the apartment. Position of the tags is acquired by the sensors and the resulting time series of position coordinates are analyzed with machine learning algorithms in order to identify the specific health problem. We propose novel features for training a machine learning classifier that classifies the user's gait into: i) normal, ii) with hemiplegia, iii) with Parkinson's disease, iv) with pain in the back and v) with pain in the leg. Results show that naive Bayes needs more tags and less noise to reach classification accuracy of 98 % than support vector machines for 99 %.
AUTOMATED GENERATION OF A DIGITAL MODEL OF AN OBJECT'S MICRO SURFACE FROM A SEM-STEREO PAIR BY AREA-BASED IMAGE MATCHING

Purpose. The goal of this work was the development and research of a method of automatically constructing a digital model of the micro surface of an object from SEM stereo pair of digital images taking into account the specifics of the survey SEM and evaluating the accuracy of digital modeling. Methods. The developed method consists, firstly, in generating a dense set of input points in the left SEM image of a stereo pair in regions with local features and using an iterative process in accordance with the levels of the image pyramid. Secondly, the search for the corresponding points in the right SEM image of the stereo pair is carried out on the basis of sequentially shifting the points (centers of the search windows) by a shift parameter from the possible parallax's range using the correlation method. For research, we have used two stereo pairs of digital SEM images. Digital images of the deformed surface chrome steel specimen were acquired with the JSM 7100F (JEOL) with magnification 750x. Images of loess soil were acquired with the SEM “Hitachi” S-800 with magnification 1000x. When calculating the spatial coordinates of the points of the surface micro relief, the values of geometric distortion inherent in the SEM image were taken into account. To eliminate some anomalous values of the heights of the 3D model, an adaptive median filtering procedure was applied. To evaluate the accuracy of micro surface simulation test models were created by manually measuring coordinate feature points of the digital stereo pairs for both specimens. Results. The proposed method for shifting parameters reduces the search area and the probability of mismatch and, in addition, speeds up the matching procedure in a pair of images. Formulas are obtained for calculating the coordinates of the center of the search window and the corresponding point in the right image at the k - th step of the shift process. To estimate the accuracy, the differences between the heights of the test model and the heights interpolated at the same points using the created models were computed. For the chrome steel specimen micro surface about 79 % of the points, and for the micro surface specimen of the loess soil about 70 % of the points were within tolerance Δ Z ≤ ± 2 μ m. Scientific novelty. For the first time in Ukraine, a method was developed for an automatic search of corresponding points based on a shift of parameters taking into account the features of SEM survey. The proposed technological reconstruction automation scheme of a digital model of an object’s micro surface from SEM stereo pair, and the creation of this authoring software show its efficiency and expediency. The practical significance. The ability to reproduce the surface micro relief of an object automatically using a stereo pair of SEM digital images was established in accordance with the requirements of both the accuracy of determining the spatial coordinates of points and the structure of the micro surface of the object.
3 Falls and Secondary Fracture Prevention

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and the Author(s) 2018 K. Hertz, J. Santy-Tomlinson (eds.), Fragility Fracture Nursing, Perspectives in Nursing Management and Care for Older Adults, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76681-2_3 J. Santy-Tomlinson (*) Division of Nursing, Midwifery and Social Work, School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, The University of Manchester, Manchester, UK e-mail: Julie.santy-tomlinson@manchester.ac. uk
Microplastic pollution in aquatic environments from washing synthetic textiles

Textile washing is a major contributor to the accumulation of microplastics in the environment. While the use of plastics in textiles positively impacts the industry’s safety, hygiene, and innovation, there are detrimental effects resulting from the subsequent release of microplastics into the environment, much of which contaminate the aquatic environment. Current research on the microplastics problem already establishes relationships between certain parameters and the tendency and rate of microplastics release. Relating factors such as washing method, number of washes, and processing of textile to the rate of release of microplastics can help guide policies and actions towards the management of microplastics released from textiles washing. This article examines several aspects of the issue of microplastics in the environment with a particular focus on microplastics originating from the textiles industry. Their small size, lower ease of detection, and tendencies to absorb harmful microbes and metals make them more of threat to aquatic environments than macroplastics. The environmental and health impacts are explored as well as other issues,such as the route from textiles to the environment. Finally, this paper examines the current global status onmicroplastics, understanding future perspectives and identifying recommendations.
review of the influence of bacterial infection

almost simultaneously with injection of endotoxin 48 hours after 70% hepatectomy and the group in which endotoxin was injected 10 days after operation when liver regeneration was supposed to be rather completed. In all the groups, there were only slight changes in all the organs except the liver. From these results, it was interpreted that hepatic necrosis occurrng early after partial hepatectomy might be the univisceral Shwartzman reaction and also that hepatic regenerative state might be the preparative state for the Shwartzman reaction.
EXPRESSION OF SMAD2TUMOR SUPPRESSOR GENE IN COLORECTAL CANCER: RETROSPECTIVE STUDY

Background: Colorectal cancer (CRC) defined as the cancerous growths in the colon, rectum and appendix. It is a commonly diagnosed cancer in both men and women and represents the third most common form of cancer and the second leading cause of cancer-related death in the western world, SMAD2 (SMAD family member 2) is a protein-coding gene. It is a tumor suppressor gene located at 18q21 a region commonly deleted in colon adenocarcinomas, The role of Smad2 gene as an important tumor-suppressor gene emphasizes the complexity of rate-limiting check points in human tumorigenesis. Most of Smad2 gene mutations in human cancer are missense, nonsense, and frame shift Mutations at the mad homology2 region (MH2) which interfere with the homo-oligomer formation of Smad4protein and hetero oligomer formation between Smad4 and Smad2proteins, resulting in disruption of TGF-b signaling to thousands of adenomatous polyps in colon and rectum. Authors aimed to investigate the clinical significance of SMAD2 in colorectal cancer progression. Materials and methods: Expression of SMAD2 was detected in 50 formalin fixed paraffin using quantitative PCR (QPCR) and their levels were analyzed versus clinicopathological factors of CRC patients. Results: Significant relation was reported young female and CRC as compared to their counterparts from male individuals. SMAD2 Expression was increased significantly with old CRC and reported significant correlation with advanced stage and high grade tumors. Conclusion: SMAD2 expression was significantly related to differential grading thus pointing out their potential role as predictive markers for CRC prognosis.
Evacuation and Life Safety Assessment in Germany

In Germany, performance-based design methods are not explicitly embedded in national building codes. Accordingly, the major knowledge, guidance as well as material and product performance is closely linked to the prescriptive design approach. This approach has provided a substantial improvement of fire safety, resulting in a quite safe situation within the built environment at the present time. However, the increasing individuality and complexity of modern buildings or questions related to the conversion of existing buildings may conflict with the applicability or fulfilment of those deemed-to-satisfy requirements. Thus, the performance-based fire safety design has established in Germany as well.
In situ observations of continuous cooling transformations in low alloy steels

A typical heat treatment for a low alloy steel will often involve a quenching heat treatment step, in which the steel is cooled from high temperatures to trigger austenite decomposition. The particular cooling rate during the quenching step can have a marked influence on the phase transformations taking place, and the resulting steel microstructure and mechanical properties. Although methods such as dilatometry have been available for many decades to characterise continuous-cooling transformation (CCT) behaviour in steels, the use of in situ synchrotron X-ray diffraction (SXRD) to elucidate CCT behaviour in a systematic way has not been reported. In this work, we measure the CCT behaviours of two pressure vessel steels in situ using simultaneous dilatometry and SXRD. Both steels are subject to austenitisation followed by quenching at a range of cooling rates. On comparing results from SXRD and dilatometry, it is found that recorded starts of transformations appear to be in good agreement. However, calculations of phase fractions derived from dilatometry data significantly overestimate the fraction of ferrite that forms in comparison to SXRD when the formation involves the partitioning of carbon. This happens for two reasons: first, because the method to extract ferrite volume fractions from dilatometry data generally ignores the presence of any retained austenite at low temperatures, and second, because analyses of dilatometry data do not account for the expansion of the austenite during transformation due to enrichment in carbon. This enrichment leads to an increase in strain, and the standard analysis method falsely attributes this increase to ferrite formation, thereby overestimating it. The results highlight that caution must be exercised when interpreting the results of dilatometry, since levels of ferrite (especially diffusively-formed) and retained austenite are important quantities for the prediction of mechanical behaviour, and they are not readily quantified by the analysis of dilatometry data alone.
A Systematic Literature Review of the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) or Mobile Applications for Depression Therapy

: Depression is a disease that affects one in five people across the globe, including approximately 16 million people in the United States alone. Technology advances have in the last decade, have created significant opportunities for artificial intelligence (AI) and mobile applications to improve the delivery of mental health care. This systematic literature review aimed to determine if the use of artificial intelligence (AI) or mobile applications for depression therapy will improve patient outcomes and prove to be effective. A search was conducted using the PubMed/Medline and CINAHL academic databases following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. Data from 20 relevant articles were meticulously analyzed using screening criteria that revolved around our research question. The authors identified five themes during this process. The themes included the acceptability or feasibility of using AI or apps, the effectiveness or efficacy of self-guided therapy apps or AI, engagement or adherence to using the AI or apps results in better outcomes, positive impacts on depression symptoms and the use of AI or apps as a therapy aide. The findings and results indicate that the use of mobile apps or other advanced technology (AI) is poised to change the face of psychological assessment and intervention. The findings of this study imply that AI technologies for mental health are effective and innovative and will continue to improve quality and access to health care.
Tissue-Specific and Pathogen-lnduced Regulation of a Nicotiana plumbaginifolia

The Nicotiana plumbaginifolia gnl gene encoding a 8-1,3-glucanase isoform has been characterired. The gnl product represents an isoform distinct from the previously identified tobacco 8-1,3-glucanases. By expressing gnl in Escherichia coli, we have determined directly that the encoded protein does, indeed, correspond to a &1,3glucanase. In N. plumbaginifolia, gnl was found to be expressed in roots and older leaves. Transgenic tobacco plants containing the 5‘-noncoding region of gnl fused to the 8-glucuronidase (GUS) repotter gene also showed maximum levels of GUS activity in roots and older leaves. No detectable activity was present in the upper part of the transgenic plants with the exception of stem cells at the bases of emerging shoots. The expression conferred by the gnl promoter was differentially induced in response to specific plant stress treatments. Studies of three plant-bacteria interactions showed high levels of GUS activity when infection resulted in a hypersensitive reaction. lncreased gene expression was confined to cells surrounding the necrotic lesions. The observed expression pattern suggests that the characterized ,í3-1,3-glucanase plays a role both in plant development and in the defense response against pathogen infection.
USING PLM METHODS IN REENGINEERING AUTOMOTIVE PARTS

The goal to design, manufacture and sell a product with the highest efficiency possible is the common target of all companies. Time shortages regarding the product‘s development can be obtained by starting from an existing model, and changing its characteristics to match future trends. Product reengineering fulfils all these major tasks in order to build fast, precise and at a lower cost as a conventional approach. Product reengineering is linked with modern tools like: Rapid Prototyping, 3D Scanning and state of the art CAD software, in order to obtain conclusive results. In this research we present a complete flow of a product design makeover, from existing model to a new one and also manufacturing aspects.
DESIGNING FOR AN INFORMED FUTURE CONTEXT

This paper discusses radical innovation, more specifically the design of product meanings, in the context of the tendency of companies to realize increase in sales numbers with the minimum amount of changes in (re) design. Two approaches, i.e. design-driven innovation (Verganti, 2008) and Vision in Product design (Hekkert & Van Dijk, 2010), both explicitly posit product meaning as an important concept in innovation. Based on a comparison of both approaches, we suggest that the focus on meaning in design has the potential of benefitting design companies as well as society. When product meaning is put central in both marketing and design, it is possible to establish successful design agencies that realize meaningful and long lasting products.