Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
[New recommendations for contact tracing in tuberculosis].

In 2007, the German Central Committee against Tuberculosis (DZK) published recommendations for contact tracing that introduced the new interferon gamma release assays (IGRAs). Meanwhile, substantial progress has been made in documenting the utility of IGRAs. Because IGRAs are usually superior to the tuberculin skin test (TST) in detecting latent TB infection (LTBI) with respect to sensitivity and specificity in adult contact populations that are at least partially BCG vaccinated, it is now recommended that instead of two-step testing only IGRAs be used. [nl]As the literature does not yet provide sufficient data on the accuracy of IGRAs in children younger than 5 years, the TST remains the method of choice in that age group. To date, also, no clear body of data exists to substantiate better performance for IGRAs than for the TST in older children, thus in this age group using of either test is recommended. The new recommendations also underscore the importance of a diligent preselection of close contacts in order to achieve a high probability that positive test results represent recent infection and to thus increase the benefit of chemopreventive treatment for those identified as requiring it. In a third point of update, it is noted that re-testing of contacts individuals found positive for LTBI may produce a considerable number of false-negative results and should thus be avoided in case of documented exposure.
Cross-cultural adaptation and validation of the Swedish STarT Back Screening Tool

Abstract Objectives: The STarT Back Screening Tool (SBT) is a newly validated questionnaire that identifies modifiable risk factors of poor prognosis in patients with low back pain (LBP). The aim of this study was to cross-culturally adapt the SBT into Swedish and to test its concurrent validity in patients with LBP in primary healthcare. Methods: The SBT was translated according to established guidelines. Concurrent validity was tested on 62 patients by comparing the SBT with the Örebro Musculoskeletal Pain Screening Questionnaire, short form (ÖMPSQ-short). Analysis of correlations between the instruments' total scores and between psychosocial sub-score of SBT and ÖMPSQ-short was performed using Spearman's rank correlation. Results: A translation of the SBT into Swedish required minor semantic adaptation until the final version was acceptable. Correlation between the SBT and the ÖMPSQ-short was large with r = 0.61 (SBT total with ÖMPSQ-short total score) and r = 0.60 (SBT psychosocial subscale with ÖMPSQ-short total score). Conclusion: The original SBT was successfully translated into Swedish. Correlation between the Swedish SBT and ÖMPSQ-short was large. The present study supports the use of the Swedish SBT for further clinical practice and research.
Nonfrequent but well-documented, rare and very rare HLA alleles observed in the Croatian population.

The aim of the study was to evaluate the presence of nonfrequent, rare and very rare alleles among Croats and to estimate whether they are associated with specific alleles at other human leukocyte antigen (HLA) loci. This retrospective study included the typing results from the last 10 years; total number of individuals included was approximately 45,000. Among 17 alleles so far observed only once in our population, 6 (A*24:41, B*07:02:28, B*35:03:03, B*39:40N, DRB1*13:23 and DRB1*14:111) belong to very rare alleles, 2 (B*44:16 and DRB1*01:31) belong to rare alleles according to the 'Rare Alleles Detector' tool ( www.allelefrequencies.net), while for the B*35:101:01 allele published data exist only in the IMGT/HLA database. The remaining eight HLA alleles observed only once among Croats are considered as frequent according to the 'Rare Alleles Detector'. Those 17 HLA alleles are not declared as common well defined (CWD) alleles in the CWD allele catalogue 2.0. 0. Haplotype analysis of nonfrequent alleles detected in our sample supports the idea that different populations, although similar in some aspects regarding HLA allele and haplotype distribution, still have some unique characteristics. This is the case for A*01:02, B*39:10 and DRB1*13:32 which form haplotypes unreported to date among our subjects.
Phase III trial comparing intensive induction chemoradiotherapy (60 Gy, infusional 5-FU and intermittent cisplatin) followed by maintenance gemcitabine with gemcitabine alone for locally advanced unresectable pancreatic cancer. Definitive results of the 2000-01 FFCD/SFRO study.

BACKGROUND The role of chemoradiation with systemic chemotherapy compared with chemotherapy alone in locally advanced pancreatic cancer (LAPC) is uncertain. PATIENTS AND METHODS One hundred and nineteen patients with LAPC, World Health Organization performance status of zero to two were randomly assigned to either the induction CHRT group (60 Gy, 2 Gy/fraction; concomitant 5-fluorouracil infusion, 300 mg/m(2)/day, days 1-5 for 6 weeks; cisplatin, 20 mg/m(2)/day, days 1-5 during weeks 1 and 5) or the induction gemcitabine group (GEM: 1000 mg/m(2) weekly for 7 weeks). Maintenance gemcitabine (1000 mg/m(2) weekly, 3/4 weeks) was given in both arms until disease progression or toxicity. RESULTS Overall survival was shorter in the CHRT than in GEM arm [median survival 8.6 (99% confidence interval 7.1-11.4) and 13 months (8.7-18.1), P = 0.03]. One-year survival was, respectively, 32% and 53%. These results were confirmed in a per-protocol analysis for patients who received 75% or more of the planned dose of radiotherapy. More overall grades 3-4 toxic effects were recorded in the CHRT arm, both during induction (36 versus 22%) and maintenance (32 versus 18%). CONCLUSION This intensive induction schedule of CHRT was more toxic and less effective than gemcitabine alone.
Deterministic rendezvous in networks: A comprehensive survey

Two or more mobile entities, called agents or robots, starting at distinct initial positions, have to meet. This task is known in the literature as rendezvous. Among many alternative assumptions that have been used to study the rendezvous problem, two most significantly influence the methodology appropriate for its solution. The first of these assumptions concerns the environment in which the mobile entities navigate: it can be either a terrain in the plane, or a network modeled as an undirected graph. The second assumption concerns the way in which the entities move: it can be either deterministic or randomized. In this article, we survey results on deterministic rendezvous in networks. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. NETWORKS, 2012
A Proportional Odds Model with Complex Sampling Design to Identify Key Determinants of Malnutrition of Children under Five Years in Rwanda

The main objective of this study is to identify the key determinants of malnutrition of children under five years in Rwanda. The Rwanda demographic health survey (2010) data was used as application. The anthropometric indicator for underweight (weight-for-age) was considered and categorized as severely undernourished when z-score DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014. v5n23p1642
Clustering dietary habits and the risk of breast and ovarian cancers.

BACKGROUND Limited information is available on the relationship between dietary patterns and breast and ovarian cancers. PATIENTS AND METHODS Cases were 2569 breast cancers and 1031 ovarian cancers hospitalized in four Italian areas from 1991 to 1999. Controls were 3413 women in hospital for acute non-neoplastic diseases. Dietary habits were investigated through a validated food-frequency questionnaire. Dietary patterns were obtained from a K-means clustering on factor scores from factor analysis. Odds ratios (ORs) for both cancers were estimated using unconditional multiple logistic regression models on clusters of patients. Floating absolute risk method was used for reporting 95% floating confidence intervals (FCIs). RESULTS We identified five groups of subjects. The G3 cluster, including subjects with the lowest intakes of any food group, was used as reference. The G5 cluster, including subjects mainly consuming bread and pasta, was unfavorable for both cancers (OR=1.23, 95% FCI=1.08-1.38 for breast cancer, OR=1.21, 95% FCI=1.03-1.42 for ovarian cancer). The G1 group, including subjects mainly consuming fruits and vegetables, was protective against ovarian cancer (OR=0.81, 95% FCI=0.67-0.98). CONCLUSIONS A diet mainly based on bread and pasta is unfavorable for breast and ovarian cancers; a diet rich in fruits and vegetables may be associated with a reduced risk of ovarian cancer.
Finding a Nash equilibrium and an optimal sharing policy for multiagent network expansion game

In this work, a multiagent network flow problem is addressed, aiming at characterizing the properties of stable flows and allowing their computation. Two types of agents are considered: transportation‐agents, that carry a flow of products on a given network and another agent, either a producer or a customer, who is willing to ship (receive, respectively), products. Every transportation‐agent controls a set of arcs, each having a capacity that can be increased up to a certain point at a given cost. The other agent (i.e., the customer/producer) is interested in maximizing the flow transshipped through the network. To this aim, we assume it offers the transportation‐agents a reward that is proportional to the realized flow value. This particular multiagent framework is referred to as a Multiagent network expansion game. We characterize and find particular stable strategies (i.e., Nash equilibria) that are of interest for this game. We particularly focus on the problem of finding a Nash Equilibrium and a sharing policy that maximize the value of the total flow. We prove that this problem is NP‐hard in the strong sense and show how such a strategy can be characterized considering paths in specific auxiliary graphs. We also provide a mixed integer linear programming formulation to solve the problem. Computational experiments are provided to prove the effectiveness of our approach and derive some insights for practitioners. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. NETWORKS, Vol. 69(1), 94–109 2017
Quality of life and disease-related symptoms in previously treated Japanese patients with non-small-cell lung cancer: results of a randomized phase III study (V-15-32) of gefitinib versus docetaxel.

BACKGROUND This report describes quality of life (QoL) findings of a randomized study comparing gefitinib with docetaxel in patients with advanced/metastatic pretreated non-small-cell lung cancer. PATIENTS AND METHODS This open-label, phase III study randomized 490 Japanese patients to gefitinib (250 mg/day) or docetaxel (60 mg/m(2)/3 weeks), with survival as the primary outcome. Preplanned QoL analyses included Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Lung (FACT-L), Trial Outcome Index (TOI) and Lung Cancer Subscale (LCS) improvement rates, and mean change from baseline. RESULTS Gefitinib showed statistically significant benefits over docetaxel in QoL improvement rates (FACT-L 23% versus 14%, P = 0.023; TOI 21% versus 9%, P = 0.002) and mean change from baseline score [mean treatment difference: FACT-L 3.72 points, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.55-6.89, P = 0.022; TOI 4.31 points, 95% CI 2.13-6.49, P < 0.001], although differences did not meet the clinically relevant six-point change. There were no significant differences between treatments in LCS improvement rates (23% versus 20%, P = 0.562) or mean change from baseline score (0.63 points, 95% CI -0.07 to 1.34, P = 0.077). CONCLUSIONS Gefitinib improved aspects of QoL over docetaxel, with superior objective response rate and a more favorable tolerability profile and no statistically significant difference in overall survival (although noninferiority was not statistically proven).
Relationship of prenatal depression and comorbidities to infant outcomes

Objective The purpose of this study was to provide information on the effect of prenatal depression and anxiety as assessed in the context of obstetrical care on key infant outcomes (gestational age at birth, birth weight, and APGAR scores), while simultaneously considering interactions with maternal medical conditions among primarily Medicaid enrollees. Methods Obstetrical medical records of 419 women presenting consecutively for prenatal care at a health system serving primarily Medicaid patients were examined. Information on maternal characteristics (age, race, education) and maternal medical health (BMI, high blood pressure, diabetes, and kidney problems), as well as mental health information, was extracted. Depression was assessed as part of routine care using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), and any documentation of depression or anxiety by the obstetrics clinician was also used in the analyses. Results Approximately one-third of the sample showed some evidence of prenatal depression, either based on PHQ-9 score (≥10) or clinician documentation of depression, and close to 10% showed evidence of anxiety. Multivariate analyses showed significant interactions between depression and anxiety on gestational age and birth weight, between depression and high blood pressure on gestational age, and also between anxiety and kidney problems on gestational age. Conclusion Among this sample, the effect of maternal depression and anxiety on birth outcomes was more evident when considered along with maternal chronic medical conditions. This information may be used to assist prenatal care clinicians to develop risk assessment based on knowledge of multiple risk factors that may exert and additive influence on poor birth outcomes.
N0332 phase 2 trial of weekly irinotecan hydrochloride and docetaxel in refractory metastatic breast cancer: a North Central Cancer Treatment Group (NCCTG) Trial.

BACKGROUND Because of the single-agent activity of irinotecan hydrochloride, combination of irinotecan and docetaxel treatment against metastatic breast cancer (MBC) should be evaluated. PATIENTS AND METHODS Single-stage phase 2 study of irinotecan and docetaxel to evaluate tumor response, toxicity, time to progression, and overall survival was carried out. Regimen of docetaxel (25 mg/m(2)) and irinotecan (70 mg/m(2)) was administered on days 1 and 8 of each 3-week cycle. Patients had histologically confirmed breast adenocarcinoma and metastatic cancer measurable with RECIST. RESULTS Of 70 patients enrolled, 64 were assessable. Prior treatment with an anthracycline and a taxane was required. Eighteen (28%) patients [95% confidence interval (CI) 15% to 31%] had tumor response, plus four patients had stable disease (less than 30% decrease in sum of longest diameter and less than 20% increase) for >6 months. The clinical benefit rate was 34% overall. Median duration of tumor response was 6.7 months (95% CI 4.2-37.7 months); median follow-up was 18.6 months (range 8.5-37.7 months). The most common severe adverse events included fatigue [n = 16 (25%)] and neutropenia [n = 13 (20%)]. CONCLUSIONS Weekly dosing of combination of irinotecan and docetaxel is active against MBC. However, the response rate to our regimen was not significantly better than single-agent docetaxel. Other schedules of irinotecan plus docetaxel should be considered for future studies.
Complexity of vehicle routing and scheduling problems

The complexity of a class of vehicle routing and scheduling problems is investigated. We review known NP-hardness results and compile the results on the worst-case performance of approximation algorithms. Some directions for future research are suggested. The presentation is based on two discussion sessions during the Workshop to Investigate Future Directions in Routing and Scheduling of Vehicles and Crews, held at the University of Maryland at College Park, June 4–6, 1979.
Neuropsychological performance changes following subthalamic versus pallidal deep brain stimulation in Parkinson’s disease: a systematic review and metaanalysis

Background Studies comparing subthalamus (STN) and globus pallidus internus (GPi) deep brain stimulation (DBS) for the management of Parkinson’s disease in terms of neuropsychological performance are scarce and heterogeneous. Therefore, we performed a systematic review and metaanalysis to compare neuropsychological outcomes following STN DBS versus GPi DBS. Methods A computer literature search of PubMed, the Web of Science, and Cochrane Central was conducted. Records were screened for eligible studies, and data were extracted and synthesized using Review Manager (v. 5.3 for Windows). Results Seven studies were included in the qualitative synthesis. Of them, four randomized controlled trials (n=345 patients) were pooled in the metaanalysis models. The standardized mean difference (SMD) of change in the Stroop color-naming test favored the GPi DBS group (SMD=–0.31, p=0.009). However, other neuropsychological outcomes did not favor either of the two groups (Stroop word-reading: SMD=–0.21, p=0.08; the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) digits forward: SMD=0.08, p=0.47; Trail Making Test Part A: SMD=–0.05, p=0.65; WAIS–R digit symbol: SMD=–0.16, p=0.29; Trail Making Test Part B: SMD=–0.14, p=0.23; Stroop color–word interference: SMD=–0.16, p=0.18; phonemic verbal fluency: bilateral DBS SMD=–0.04, p=0.73, and unilateral DBS SMD=–0.05, p=0.83; semantic verbal fluency: bilateral DBS SMD=–0.09, p=0.37, and unilateral DBS SMD=–0.29, p=0.22; Boston Naming Test: SMD=–0.11, p=0.33; Beck Depression Inventory: bilateral DBS SMD=0.15, p=0.31, and unilateral DBS SMD=0.36, p=0.11). Conclusions There was no statistically significant difference in most of the neuropsychological outcomes. The present evidence does not favor any of the targets in terms of neuropsychological performance.
Scalable generation of texts using causal and temporal expansions of sentences

This paper presents a exible bottom-up process to incrementally generate several versions of the same text, building up the core text from its kernel version into other versions varying of the levels of details. We devise a method for identifying the question/answer relations holding between the propositions of a text, we give rules for characterizing the kernel version of a text, and we provide a procedure, based on causal and temporal expansions of sentences, which distinguishes semantically these levels of details according to their importance. This is based on the assumption that we have a stock of information from the interpreter's knowledge base available. The sentence expansion operation is formally defined according to three principles: (1) the kernel principle ensures to obtain the gist information; (2) the expansion principle defines an incremental augmentation of a text; and (3) the subsume principle defines an importance-based order among the possible details of the information. The system developed allows users to generate in a follow-up way their own text version which meets their expectations and their demands expressed as questions about the text under consideration.
Patients’ Understanding of Medical Technology in Palliative Home Care: A Qualitative Analysis

Healthcare reforms and reductions in the number of hospital beds are leading to an increasing amount of medical technology moving from hospitals into home care, affecting the daily lives of patients. The aim of this study was therefore to describe the ways patients understand medical technology in palliative home care. With use of a phenomenographic approach, 15 patients with medical technology were interviewed, and data were analyzed in a 7-step process. Three ways of understanding the phenomenon emerged: a masterful patient, an adjustable patient, and a restricted patient. Masterful patients took control over the medical technology and were mostly independent of assistance from personnel. Adjustable patients accepted and adapted their lives to the medical technology and were satisfied with assistance from the personnel. Restricted patients were reminded daily of the medical technology and dependent on assistance from personnel. Depending on the patients’ health conditions, the support from the personnel, and the impact of medical technology, a transfer between the different ways of understanding occurred with a simultaneous movement between independence and dependence. The patient exhibited various ways of understanding, although one way of understanding was more dominant.
Phase 3 study of docosahexaenoic acid-paclitaxel versus dacarbazine in patients with metastatic malignant melanoma.

BACKGROUND Docosahexaenoic acid-paclitaxel (DHA-paclitaxel, Taxoprexin(®)) is made by covalently conjugating the essential fatty acid DHA to the paclitaxel molecule. Preclinical studies of DHA-paclitaxel have demonstrated increased activity relative to paclitaxel and the potential for an improved therapeutic ratio. In the present study, the efficacy and toxicity profiles of DHA-paclitaxel were compared with those of dacarbazine. METHODS In this study, 393 chemonaive patients with metastatic melanoma were randomly assigned to receive either DHA-paclitaxel at a starting dose of 900 mg/m(2) IV on day 1 every 3 weeks or dacarbazine at a starting dose of 1000 mg/m(2) IV on day 1 every 3 weeks. The primary end point of the study was the comparison of overall survival (OS). RESULTS No significant difference in OS was noted between patients in the DHA-paclitaxel and dacarbazine arms. Similarly, there were no significant differences in response rate, duration of response, time to progression, and time to treatment failure between the two drugs. Safety results of the two drugs were as predicted from prior studies. Myelosuppression was more common with DHA-paclitaxel. CONCLUSIONS DHA-paclitaxel was not superior to dacarbazine. We conclude that further studies with the drug on an every 3-week schedule in melanoma are not warranted.
Time bounds on fault-tolerant broadcasting

Broadcasting is the process by which a message originated at one vertex is delivered to all other vertices of a network, subject to the restriction that a vertex may participate in only one message transfer during a given time unit. A k fault-tolerant broadcasting scheme is a calling scheme that gurantees the completion of the broadcast in the presence of up to k link failures. Let Tk(n) denote the minimum time required for k fault-tolerant broadcasting in an n-vertex network. Liestman [Networks15 (1985) 159–171] showed that for every n and k such that n − 2 ≥ k ≥ 1, Tk(n) ⩾ [log n]+k. This paper establishes a matching upper bound, showing that for such n and k, Tk(n) ϵ O (log n +k). In particular, we present various efficient broadcasting schemes achieving almost optimal multiplicative constants. Our best upper bound uses new partial results on a tree-packing problem that may be of independent interest.