Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Rat Bite Fever: Three Case Reports and a Literature Review

Rat bite fever is a systemic illness classically characterized by abrupt onset of fever, rash, and arthralgias, which carries a mortality rate of 13% if left untreated.1 We believe our experience has been unusual, as we diagnosed 3 cases between the months of July and October 2001. Since the presentation of rat bite fever may be nonspecific, a high potential for misdiagnosis exists with potentially fatal complications. We therefore describe our patients’ presentations and review existing literature to help practitioners recognize this infectious illness.
Do socially deprived urban areas have lesser supplies of cancer care services?

PURPOSE Area social deprivation is associated with unfavorable health outcomes of residents across the full clinical course of cancer from the stage at diagnosis through survival. We sought to determine whether area social factors are associated with the area health care supply. PATIENTS AND METHODS We studied the area supply of health services required for the provision of guideline-recommended care for patients with breast cancer and colorectal cancer (CRC) in each of the following three distinct clinical domains: screening, treatment, and post-treatment surveillance. We characterized area social factors in 3,096 urban zip code tabulation areas by using Census Bureau data and the health care supply in the corresponding 465 hospital service areas by using American Hospital Association, American Medical Association, and US Food and Drug Administration data. In two-level hierarchical models, we assessed associations between social factors and the supply of health services across areas. RESULTS We found no clear associations between area social factors and the supply of health services essential to the provision of guideline recommended breast cancer and CRC care in urban areas. The measures of health service included the supply of physicians who facilitate screening, treatment, and post-treatment care and the supply of facilities required for the same services. CONCLUSION Because we found that the supply of types of health care required for the provision of guideline-recommended cancer care for patients with breast cancer and CRC did not vary with markers of area socioeconomic disadvantage, it is possible that previously reported unfavorable breast cancer and CRC outcomes among individuals living in impoverished areas may have occurred despite an apparent adequate area health care supply.
Jaundice and hepatocellular damage associated with nevirapine therapy

ObjectiveNevirapine is a nonnucleoside reverse transcription inhibitor that is used as part of highly active antiretroviral therapeutic combinations. Nevirapine has been associated with a skin rash in 32 to 48% of patients. Recent reports indicate that hepatic toxicity also occurs.METHODS:We describe four instances of reversible hepatocellular damage associated with the use of nevirapine in patients with HIV infection. Two of the four patients were also coinfected with the hepatitis C virus.RESULTS:Evidence of malaise, skin rash, and icteric hepatitis with pruritus occurred 4–6 wk after the beginning of nevirapine therapy. No evidence of metabolic acidosis was present in any of our patients. In all cases, liver test results declined to normal or near normal levels, and pruritus disappeared 4–6 wk after discontinuation of the medication. No patient was rechallenged with the drug.CONCLUSION:Nevirapine can be associated with icteric hepatitis, which appears to be reversible after withdrawal of the drug.
The sox gene Dichaete is expressed in local interneurons and functions in development of the Drosophila adult olfactory circuit

In insects, the primary sites of integration for olfactory sensory input are the glomeruli in the antennal lobes. Here, axons of olfactory receptor neurons synapse with dendrites of the projection neurons that relay olfactory input to higher brain centers, such as the mushroom bodies and lateral horn. Interactions between olfactory receptor neurons and projection neurons are modulated by excitatory and inhibitory input from a group of local interneurons. While significant insight has been gleaned into the differentiation of olfactory receptor and projection neurons, much less is known about the development and function of the local interneurons. We have found that Dichaete, a conserved Sox HMG box gene, is strongly expressed in a cluster of LAAL cells located adjacent to each antennal lobe in the adult brain. Within these clusters, Dichaete protein expression is detected in both cholinergic and GABAergic local interneurons. In contrast, Dichaete expression is not detected in mature or developing projection neurons, or developing olfactory receptor neurons. Analysis of novel viable Dichaete mutant alleles revealed misrouting of specific projection neuron dendrites and axons, and alterations in glomeruli organization. These results suggest noncell autonomous functions of Dichaete in projection neuron differentiation as well as a potential role for Dichaete‐expressing local interneurons in development of the adult olfactory circuitry. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Develop Neurobiol, 2013
Traffic Stream Short-term State Prediction using Machine Learning Techniques

: The paper addresses the problem of stretch wide short-term prediction of traffic stream state. The problem is a multivariate problem where the responses are the speeds or flows on different road segments at different time horizons. Recognizing that short-term traffic state prediction is a multivariate problem, there is a need to maintain the spatiotemporal traffic state correlations. Two cutting-edge machine learning algorithms are used to predict the stretch-wide traffic stream traffic state up to 120 minutes in the future. Furthermore, the divide and conquer approach was used to divide the large prediction problem into a set of smaller overlapping problems. These smaller problems are solved using a medium configuration PC in a reasonable time (less than a minute), which makes the proposed technique suitable for practical applications.
Risk factors for smoking in rural women.

BACKGROUND This study examined the association between social, demographic, and psychologic factors and smoking status among Appalachian Ohio women. A secondary aim examined whether specific factors could be identified and segmented for future tailored treatment of tobacco dependence. METHODS A cross-sectional survey (n=570) obtained information about social, demographic, and psychologic factors and smoking. Logistic regression described associations between these characteristics and smoking status. Chi-square automatic interaction detection (CHAID) analyses identified subgroups at risk for smoking. RESULTS Fifty-two percent never smoked, with 20.5% and 27.5% categorized as former and current smokers, respectively. Women with low adult socioeconomic position (SEP) were more likely to smoke (odds ratio [OR] 3.05, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.74-5.34) compared to high SEP women. Other factors associated with current smoking included age 31-50 (OR 2.30, 95% CI 1.22-4.33), age 18-30 (OR 3.29, 95% CI 1.72-5.34), Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression scale (CES-D) score≥16 (OR 1.99, 95% CI 1.31-3.05), and first pregnancy at age<20 (OR 1.74, 95% CI 1.14-2.66). The prevalence of smoking was 50% among those with four or more risk factors compared to 10% for those reporting no risk factors. CHAID analyses identified low adult SEP and depressive symptoms as the combination of risk factors most strongly associated with smoking; 49.3% of women in this subgroup currently smoked. CONCLUSIONS Low SEP in adulthood, maternal circumstances, and depressive symptoms are associated with current smoking. Tailored cessation interventions that address these risk factors should be developed and further evaluated in an attempt to reduce disparities in smoking prevalence among this vulnerable group of women.
Reproducibility of measures of overuse of cataract surgery by three physician panels.

BACKGROUND Assess the reproducibility of methods to measure overuse of cataract surgery. OBJECTIVES The objectives of this study are: (1) To determine the extent of agreement about clinical scenarios among, between, and within three physician panels; (2) to apply ratings of clinical scenarios from three panels to actual surgeries; and (3) to assess reproducibility of rates of appropriate use and overuse. METHODS Three physician panels scored 2,894 clinical scenarios for the appropriate use of cataract surgery. One thousand and twenty charts were abstracted and assigned to the clinical scenario that best corresponded to the patient's clinical situation. Two hundred and fifty nine clinical scenarios were required to assign the cases. Weighted kappa values, confidence intervals, and percentages of agreement were used to measure agreement among, between, and within panels. RESULTS The all ophthalmologist panel (OP) and the convened multispecialty panel (CM) each rate 92% of the cases as appropriate use, compared with 70% by the mail-in multispecialty panel (MM). The MM have higher uncertain (26% vs. 8% and 7%) and higher inappropriate use (3.5% vs. 0.1% and 1.9%). For the clinical scenarios, the CM and the MM have similar percentages of overuse (6.6%, 7.3%), in contrast to the OP (0.4%). The weighted kappa value for the overall level of agreement about the clinical scenarios among the three panels is 0.53, consistent with moderate agreement. CONCLUSIONS Study results demonstrate reproducibility for assessment of appropriate use of surgery between the OP and CM. However, both multispecialty panels rate more clinical scenarios as inappropriate use than the ophthalmologist panel. Thus, reproducibility between the CM and the OP may be attributable to the low percentage of overuse of cataract surgery in the study population. The overall level of agreement about the clinical scenarios among the panels is moderate.
Robust Color Object Tracking with Application to People Monitoring

We present an automated and complete camera-based monitoring system that makes use of low-level color features to perform detection, tracking and recognition of multiple people in video sequence. Specifically, the system employs a novel coverage check-up method to segment detected foreground regions into isolated people and then localize each of them. During tracking, the appearances of people are modeled by their color histograms so that the system can keep aware of their identities and recognize them after occlusions by maximizing the joint likelihood. To make the recognition more robust against shadows or changes of background illumination, the system also incorporates a shadow removal scheme to suppress shadow effects and hence improve the quality of color histogram. The proposed system has been used to identify people who re-enter the field of view of a monitoring camera in a closed-environment. Experimental results of real video data demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed people monitoring system.
Incidence of HTLV‐I/II infection in seronegative high‐risk individuals

The frequency of human T-cell lymphotropic virus types I and II (HTLV-I/II) polymerase chain reaction (PCR) reactivity was studied in two groups of high-risk individuals in Amsterdam: hard drug users and heterosexual outpatients of the sexual transmitted diseases (STD) clinic. Both groups were seronegative as determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), Western blot (WB), and radioimmuno-precipitation assay (RIPA). Detection of HTLV-I and HTLV-II in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (MNC) was performed by PCR, using primer sets indicative for the pol and tax genes. In the hard drug users group (n = 25) no evidence of HTLV-I/II infection was found whereas in the STD group (n = 21) one individual was identified with HTLV-II proviral DNA. Positive reactions in PCR were confirmed only for three seropositive controls after in vitro culture of MNC but not for the PCR-positive, seronegative individual. Virus production in vitro could not be detected by a sensitive HTLV-I antigen capture assay for viral p24gag proteins after in vitro T-cell stimulation of MNC, either from PCR-positive or PCR-seronegative individuals. This suggests again a low viral production rate. It is concluded that infection with HTLV-II can be detected among high-risk seronegative individuals.
Molecular mechanisms of cancer cell invasion and plasticity

Cancer cell interactions with the extracellular matrix and the migration therein involve the function of adhesion receptors of the integrin family, a dynamic cytoskeleton, as well as proteolytic mechanisms to overcome tissue barriers. Recent progress in investigating tumour cell migration and associated matrix remodelling was made using three‐dimensional (3D) dermis equivalents such as 3D collagen lattices or dermal explant cultures, prompting new concepts in molecular tumour invasion mechanisms and related adaptation responses. Mesenchymal HT‐1080 fibrosarcoma cells as a model line migrate in an integrin‐dependent manner and proteolytically cleave extracellular matrix structures. After interference with integrin and protease function, however, cancer cells can switch migration programs and thereby rescue migration by alternative mechanisms. Depending on the context of invasion, treatment with protease inhibitors or integrin antagonists can cause the mesenchymal–amoeboid transition and the collective–amoeboid transition, both generating sustained dissemination of single cells. These adaptation responses show an unexpected degree of plasticity resulting in migratory ‘escape’ strategies after pharmacotherapeutic intervention by prompting alternative mechanisms of cancer cell dissemination in tissues.
Refining Hierarchical Radial Basis Function Networks

The hierarchical radial basis function (HRBF) Network is a neural model that proved its ability in surface reconstruction problem. The algebraic error is used to drive the HRBF configuration procedure and for evaluating the reconstruction ability of the network. While for function approximation the algebraic distance is the appropriate error metric, for computer graphics applications, such as model reconstruction by 3D scanning, the geometric distance is a more suitable error metric. In this paper, we propose a modified HRBF model which makes use of the geometric error as a measure of the reconstruction accuracy.
A review of epidemiologic studies of low-level exposures to organophosphorus insecticides in non-occupational populations

Abstract This paper systematically reviews epidemiologic studies related to low-level non-occupational exposures to organophosphorus (OP) insecticides. Many of the studies evaluate levels of maternal OP metabolites and subsequent health outcomes in offspring. The studies focused primarily on birth outcomes (e.g., infant body weight or head circumference) and neurodevelopmental (e.g., mental and psychomotor) testing results. The evidence from these studies was reviewed under the Bradford Hill guidelines. Most of the studies assessing exposure based on urinary levels of OP insecticide metabolites used only one or two measurements during pregnancy. The potential for exposure misclassification with this method is largely due to (1) preformed metabolites that are ingested with food, (2) the short elimination half-life of OP insecticides, and (3) lack of specificity to particular OP insecticides for many of the metabolites. For birth outcomes, the majority of reported results are not statistically significant, and the associations are inconsistent within and across studies. There is more within-study consistency for some of the neurodevelopmental testing results, although few associations were examined across several studies. These associations are generally weak, have been replicated only to a limited extent, and require further confirmation before they can be considered established. The OP insecticide levels measured in the epidemiologic studies are too low to cause biologically meaningful acetylcholinesterase inhibition, the most widely used metric for OP insecticide toxicity. Overall, the available evidence does not establish that low-level exposures to OP insecticides cause adverse birth outcomes or neurodevelopmental problems in humans.
On the equivalence of the simultaneous and separate MMSE optimizations of a DFE FFF and FBF

There is great interest in the use of decision feedback equalization (DFE) to mitigate the effects of intersymbol interference (ISI) on wireless multipath fading channels. The coefficients of a DFE feedforward filter (FFF) and feedback filter (FBF) are usually adjusted based on the minimum mean square error (MMSE) criterion. The equalizer coefficients can be calculated by recursive adaptation or by direct computation based on a channel estimate. The equivalence of the simultaneous and separate MMSE optimization of the FFF and FBF of a finite-length DFE is established.
Hybrid Heuristics for the Vehicle Routing Problem with Time Windows

This paper addresses the development of effective heuristics for solving the vehicle routing and scheduling problem with time window constraints. Both tour construction and local search tour improvement heuristics are developed. A major premise of the paper is that embedding global tour improvement procedures within the tour construction process can lead to improved solutions. Computational results are reported on test problems from the literature as well as real world applications. The hybrid construction/improvement heuristic is more effective in reducing vehicle fleet size requirements than previously reported heuristics.
Energy Deposited by Secondary Electrons Generated by Swift Proton Beams through Polymethylmethacrylate

The ionization yield of ion tracks in polymers and biomolecular systems reaches a maximum, known as the Bragg peak, close to the end of the ion trajectories. Along the path of the ions through the materials, many electrons are generated, which produce a cascade of further ionizations and, consequently, a shower of secondary electrons. Among these, very low energy secondary electrons can produce damage in the biomolecules by dissociative electron attachment. This work deals with the calculation of the energy distribution of electrons produced by protons in a sample of polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA), a material that is used as a phantom for living tissues in hadron therapy. PMMA is also of relevance for microelectronics in CMOS technologies and as a photoresist mask in electron beam lithography. We present a Monte Carlo code that, starting from a realistic description of the energy distribution of the electrons ejected by protons moving through PMMA, simulates the entire cascade of generated secondary electrons. By following in detail the motion of all these electrons, we find the radial distribution of the energy that they deposit in PMMA for several initial proton energies characteristic of the Bragg peak. Keywords—Monte Carlo method, secondary electrons, energetic ions, ion-beam cancer therapy, ionization cross section, polymethylmethacrylate, proton beams, secondary electrons, radial energy distribution.
Evaluating accuracy of diagnostic tests with intermediate results in the absence of a gold standard

Intermediate test results often occur with diagnostic tests. When assessing diagnostic accuracy, it is important to properly report and account for these results. In the literature, these results are commonly discarded prior to analysis or treated as either a positive or a negative result. Although such adjustments allow sensitivity and specificity to be computed in the standard way, these forced decisions limit the interpretability and usefulness of the results. Estimation of diagnostic accuracy is further complicated when tests are evaluated without a gold standard. Although traditional latent class modeling can be readily applied to analyze these data and account for intermediate results, these models assume that tests are independent conditional on the true disease status, which is rarely valid in practice. We extend both the log‐linear latent class model and the probit latent class model to accommodate the conditional dependence among tests while taking the intermediate results into consideration. We illustrate our methods using a simulation study and a published medical study on the detection of epileptiform activity in the brain. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
S‐100 protein is a differentiation marker in thyroid carcinoma of follicular cell origin: An immunohistochemical study

S‐100 protein, a dimer of S‐100α and S‐100β subunits (S‐100α and S‐100β), is widely distributed in human tissue, and several papers describing S‐100 protein expression in follicular cells of the thyroid have been published. in the present study, 105 cases of thyroid carcinoma (of which 96 were papillary, four follicular, two undifferentiated, and three meduilary) were analyzed immunohistochemically for the expression of S‐100 protein, S‐100α, S‐100β, and thyroglobulin. in papillary carcinoma, 188 lesions were studled and classified into well differentiated types (56 papillary, 45 follicular) and poorly differentiated types (41 trabecular, four solid, eight squamoid, three tall, and one insular), because the histological structure of each tumor was heterogeneous. The percentage of lesions which expressed positively for 5–100 protein and S‐100α, respectively, according to type were: papillary, 96 and 99%; foillcular, 96 and 100%; trabecular, 95 and 100%; solid, 50 and 50%; squamoid, 50 and 757%; and tall, 33 and 100%. The insular type was negative for both. For papillary carcinoma, well differentiated lesions showed stronger S‐100α expression than poorly differentiated lesions. S‐100α expression was weaker In follicular and undifferentiated carcinoma than in papillary carcinoma. Meduliary carcinoma also expressed S‐100α. S‐100β was positive in lesions that expressed S‐100α strongly. Expression of S‐100 protein and S‐100α protein correlated with thyroglobulin synthesis in the follicular cells. It was concluded that S‐100 protein, mainly S 100α. exists in thyroid follicular cells, that it exists In higher quantity in most of the well differentiated lesions but in lower quantity in poorly differentiated or Undifferentiated lesions, and that 5100 protein, especially S‐100α, is a differentiation marker in carcinoma of thyroid follicular cell origin.
Assessment of journal similarity based on citing discipline analysis

This study compares the range of disciplines of citing journal articles to determine how closely related journals assigned to the same Web of Science research area are. The frequency distribution of disciplines by citing articles provides a signature for a cited journal that permits it to be compared with other journals using similarity comparison techniques. As an initial exploration, citing discipline data for 40 high‐impact‐factor journals assigned to the “information science and library science” category of the Web of Science were compared across 5 time periods. Similarity relationships were determined using multidimensional scaling and hierarchical cluster analysis to compare the outcomes produced by the proposed citing discipline and established cocitation methods. The maps and clustering outcomes reveal that a number of journals in allied areas of the information science and library science category may not be very closely related to each other or may not be appropriately situated in the category studied. The citing discipline similarity data resulted in similar outcomes with the cocitation data but with some notable differences. Because the citing discipline method relies on a citing perspective different from cocitations, it may provide a complementary way to compare journal similarity that is less labor intensive than cocitation analysis.