Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The ART of frozen embryo transfer: back to nature!

Abstract The implementation of cryopreservation-techniques in the IVF laboratory and the improved survival rates of oocytes, cleavage and blastocyst stage embryos have led to a significant increase in the number of frozen-thawed embryo transfer cycles (FET). FETs can be planned either in a ‘pure’ natural cycle, a modified natural cycle, a stimulated cycle or a hormonal replacement therapy cycle and the optimal means to prepare the endometrium for frozen embryo transfer is a topic of ongoing controversy. Recent findings report an increased risk of hypertensive disorders if pregnancy is achieved in a frozen embryo transfer cycle without an existing corpus luteum. Therefore, the question of how to prepare the endometrium has gained even more importance and taken on a new dimension as it should not simply be reduced to the basic question of ‘which approach will result in superior pregnancy rates? ’ but instead ‘which approach will result in the best pregnancy rates and the safest outcome for mother and baby? ’. The aim of this review is to summarize and critically appraise the existing data on the different approaches of endometrial preparation for frozen embryo transfer with a special focus on the ‘pure’ natural cycle.
Salient Facial Features from Humans and Deep Neural Networks

In this work, we explore the features that are used by humans and by convolutional neural networks (ConvNets) to classify faces. We use Guided Backpropagation (GB) to visualize the facial features that influence the output of a ConvNet the most when identifying specific individuals; we explore how to best use GB for that purpose. We use a human intelligence task to find out which facial features humans find to be the most important for identifying specific individuals. We explore the differences between the saliency information gathered from humans and from ConvNets. Humans develop biases in employing available information on facial features to discriminate across faces. Studies show these biases are influenced both by neurological development and by each individual's social experience. In recent years the computer vision community has achieved human-level performance in many face processing tasks with deep neural network-based models. These face processing systems are also subject to systematic biases due to model architectural choices and training data distribution.
The 20-year impact of tobacco price and tobacco control expenditure increases in Minnesota, 1998-2017

Introduction Tobacco control programs and policies reduce tobacco use and prevent health and economic harms. The majority of tobacco control programs and policies in the United States are implemented at local and state levels. Yet the literature on state-level initiatives reports a limited set of outcomes. To facilitate decision-making that is increasingly focused on costs, we provide estimates of a broader set of measures of the impact of tobacco control policy, including smoking prevalence, disease events, deaths, medical costs, productivity and tobacco tax revenues, using the experience of Minnesota as an example. Methods Using the HealthPartners Institute’s ModelHealth™: Tobacco MN microsimulation, we assessed the impact of the stream of tobacco control expenditures and cigarette price increases from 1998 to 2017. We simulated 1.3 million individuals representative of the Minnesota population. Results The simulation estimated that increased expenditures on tobacco control above 1997 levels prevented 38,400 cancer, cardiovascular, diabetes and respiratory disease events and 4,100 deaths over 20 years. Increased prices prevented 14,600 additional events and 1,700 additional deaths. Both the net increase in tax revenues and the reduction in medical costs were greater than the additional investments in tobacco control. Conclusion Combined, the policies address both short-term and long-term goals to reduce the harms of tobacco by helping adults who wish to quit smoking and deterring youth from starting to smoke. States can pay for initial investments in tobacco control through tax increases and recoup those investments through reduced expenditures on medical care.
Augmented Skinning for Finger Simulation

v is the vertex position and v′ means the original vertex position. wi denotes the amount of influence of the ith bone and Ci represents the rigid transformation. For linear blending, Ci is just the configuration matrix. Rigid transformation can be decomposed into the rotation part and the translation part. Dual quaternion blending encodes these two components together with dual quaternion. Therefore, with just a linear combination and normalization, we can get a valid interpolated rigid transformation.
The Cutaneous Lymphoid Proliferations: A Comprehensive Textbook of Lymphocytic Infiltrates of the Skin

A masterful and thorough revision of the only single-source, authoritative reference on cutaneous lymphoproliferative disease. • Classic reference for unsurpassed coverage of lymphocytic infiltrates of the human skin • Covers a broad spectrum of topics ranging from the role of the immune system in the pathogenesis of cutaneous lymphocytic infiltrates to one describing the immunohistochemica nd molecular aspects of lymphoid neoplasia. • Each chapter contains an extensive array of ‘clinical vignettes’ clearly showing the application of principles and treatment techniques discussed in the chapter • Presents a succinct and logical approach to the diagnosis of most cutaneous lymphocytic infiltrates and discusses the interplay between the immune system in the propagation of lymphocytic infiltrates focusing on the role of iatrogenic and endogenous immune dysregulation. The molecular and cytogenetic basis of lymphoid neoplasia is considered in great detail. • Contains hundreds of full-color, high-quality clinical and histologic photographs, with over 200 new images in the new edition
Comparison of ESC and ACCF/AHA Guidelines for Oral Antiplatelet Treatment in the Management of Patients with Acute Coronary Syndrome

Basically, acute coronary syndrome (ACS) is caused by the partial or total occlusion of coronary arteries because of platelet activation and aggregation. Hence, one of the major components of ACS treatment is the inhibition of platelet activation and aggregation. New studies performed in recent years have led to the update of guidelines for the usage of antiplatelet agents (APA) in the treatment of ACSs. This paper aims to compare the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) and American Heart Association (ACCF/AHA) guidelines, by summarizing the key points, regarding the usage of oral APA in patients admitted to emergency departments due to ACS.
Deep Red Emissive Carbonized Polymer Dots with Unprecedented Narrow Full Width at Half Maximum

Development of high‐performance carbon dots (CDs) with emission wavelength longer than 660 nm (deep red emission) is critical in deep‐tissue bioimaging, yet it is still a major challenge to obtain CDs with both narrow full width at half maximum (FWHM) and high deep red/near‐infrared emission yield. Here, deep red emissive carbonized polymer dots (CPDs) with unprecedented FWHM of 20 nm are synthesized. The purified CPDs in dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) solution possess quantum yield (QY) as high as 59% under 413 nm excitation, as well as recorded QY of 31% under 660 nm excitation in the deep red fluorescent window. Detailed characterizations identify that CPDs have unique polymer characteristics, consisting of carbon cores and the shells of polymer chains, and π conjugated system formed with N heterocycles and aromatic rings governs the single photoluminescence (PL) center, which is responsible for high QY in deep red emissive CPDs with narrow FWHM. The CPDs exhibit strong absorption and emission in the deep red light region, low toxicity, and good biocompatibility, making them an efficient probe for both one‐photon and two‐photon bioimaging. CPDs are rapidly excreted via the kidney system and hepatobiliary system.
Leakage performance predictions of a brush seal based on fluid–solid coupling method

The sealing performance of a brush seal is studied in this article. At present, the mostly used model to analyze the performance of a brush seal is porous medium model in which the effect of bristle deformation is not considered. Here, a combined numerical method is proposed. First, the deformation of bristle is calculated in a fluid–solid coupling model with a simplified bristle model, and then the results of the bristle deformation is imported to a porous media model as the boundary conditions. More accurate media flow and leakage variation law of the brush seal are obtained with this calculation model.
Gait Recognition and Understanding Based on Hierarchical Temporal Memory Using 3D Gait Semantic Folding

Gait recognition and understanding systems have shown a wide-ranging application prospect. However, their use of unstructured data from image and video has affected their performance, e.g., they are easily influenced by multi-views, occlusion, clothes, and object carrying conditions. This paper addresses these problems using a realistic 3-dimensional (3D) human structural data and sequential pattern learning framework with top-down attention modulating mechanism based on Hierarchical Temporal Memory (HTM). First, an accurate 2-dimensional (2D) to 3D human body pose and shape semantic parameters estimation method is proposed, which exploits the advantages of an instance-level body parsing model and a virtual dressing method. Second, by using gait semantic folding, the estimated body parameters are encoded using a sparse 2D matrix to construct the structural gait semantic image. In order to achieve time-based gait recognition, an HTM Network is constructed to obtain the sequence-level gait sparse distribution representations (SL-GSDRs). A top-down attention mechanism is introduced to deal with various conditions including multi-views by refining the SL-GSDRs, according to prior knowledge. The proposed gait learning model not only aids gait recognition tasks to overcome the difficulties in real application scenarios but also provides the structured gait semantic images for visual cognition. Experimental analyses on CMU MoBo, CASIA B, TUM-IITKGP, and KY4D datasets show a significant performance gain in terms of accuracy and robustness.
Drug Delivery to the Posterior Segment of the Eye: Biopharmaceutic and Pharmacokinetic Considerations

The treatment of the posterior-segment ocular diseases, such as age-related eye diseases (AMD) or diabetic retinopathy (DR), present a challenge for ophthalmologists due to the complex anatomy and physiology of the eye. This specialized organ is composed of various static and dynamic barriers that restrict drug delivery into the target site of action. Despite numerous efforts, effective intraocular drug delivery remains unresolved and, therefore, it is highly desirable to improve the current treatments of diseases affecting the posterior cavity. This review article gives an overview of pharmacokinetic and biopharmaceutics aspects for the most commonly-used ocular administration routes (intravitreal, topical, systemic, and periocular), including information of the absorption, distribution, and elimination, as well as the benefits and limitations of each one. This article also encompasses different conventional and novel drug delivery systems designed and developed to improve drug pharmacokinetics intended for the posterior ocular segment treatment.
A mixed methods evaluation of an intervention to prevent perinatal depression among Latina immigrants

ABSTRACT Objective: The effectiveness of a cognitive behavioural intervention to prevent perinatal depression in low-income Latina immigrant pregnant women and mothers receiving WIC services was evaluated in a mixed methods study using a community based observational design. Background: The Mothers and Babies Course is a preventive intervention for perinatal depression that is based on cognitive behavioural theory (CBT). CBT is an evidence-based treatment and preventive intervention for perinatal depression. Method: Phase 1 includes 86 Latinas, predominantly Central American immigrant women at high risk for depression, who self-selected into the Mothers and Babies Course, a six-week Spanish CBT group intervention aimed at teaching women mood regulation skills to prevent the onset of depression. Participants, who were recruited from the Women, Infants, and Children services, completed measures of depression and psychopathology at pre-, 6 weeks, and 3 months post-intervention. Phase 2 includes qualitative interviews with a randomly selected subsample (n = 26) from Phase 1 to understand the mechanisms and impact of participants’ experiences with the intervention and study. Results: Results indicated no significant differences in depressive symptoms among participants with varied attendance levels (0 class; 1–3 classes = non-completers; 4–6 classes = completers). None of the participants met diagnostic criteria for major depressive disorder at the final data collection period. Despite the varied attendance, both quantitative and qualitative results indicated that completers and non-completers reported similar experiences in the intervention and benefiting from study participation. Conclusion: Conducting mixed methods research highlights the complexity of understanding who can benefit from preventive interventions.
Does it get easier over time? Psychologists’ experiences of working with suicidal patients

Abstract Does working with suicidal patients become easier with time? A representative national survey of 375 psychologists (72% women, Mean age 44 years) showed that years of experience (r = −.13, p = .01) and frequency of contact with suicidal patients (r = −.15, p = .004) correlated only weakly with perceived difficulty. Thematic analysis of respondents’ descriptions of difficult suicide-related situations on an open survey-question yielded four themes: Unreachable patients, choosing between therapy and security, therapist’s boundaries and empathy with death-wishes. We conclude that improved confidence in coping with suicidality may require specific training rather than simply years of work.
The Role of Root Exudates of Barley Colonized by Pseudomonas fluorescens in Enhancing Root Colonization by Fusarium culmorum

The aim of this study was to find out why after joint inoculation of the substrate with the phytopathogenic fungus Fusarium culmorum and the antagonistic bacterium Pseudomonas fluorescens the amount of the fungus on the root surface in the beginning of the colonization was greater on the roots colonized by the bacterium than on control roots. This phenomenon is especially interesting because joint inoculation with P. fluorescens was always followed by a considerable decrease in the incidence of Fusarium root rot. In two experiments barley was grown in sterile vermiculite inoculated only with F. culmorum, only with P. fluorescens and jointly with the fungus and the bacterium. In the control, vermiculite was not inoculated with any microorganisms. After the removal from the vermiculite, barley plants were transferred into deionized water for the collection of root exudates. The duration of barley growth in the vermiculite and in the water was different in the two experiments. The exudates were tested for their ability to elicit chemotropism in F. culmorum and influence its growth. We did not observe any chemotropism of F. culmorum towards barley root exudates. However, the exudates of the barley colonized by the bacterium stimulated the growth of fungal germ tubes. Using an ultra-performance liquid chromatography system, we found that experimental conditions influenced the quantitative composition of the exudates. The amount of amino acids in the solution of exudates decreased considerably after a prolonged growth of control barley in water, while the presence of P. fluorescens resulted in a considerably increase of the amount of amino acids in the exudates. The exudates of barley colonized by P. fluorescens contained much more glucose, lactic acid and several amino acids than the exudates of control barley. These components are known to be necessary for the growth of F. culmorum. Their presence in the exudates of barley colonized by P. fluorescens seems to be the reason of a more active colonization by the fungus of barley roots colonized by the bacterium.
Concordance between TP53 alterations in blood and tissue: impact of time interval, biopsy site, cancer type and circulating tumor DNA burden

We examined the impact of spatial, temporal, histologic, and quantitative factors on concordance between TP53 alterations in tissue DNA vs in circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA). Four hundred and thirty‐three patients underwent next‐generation sequencing (NGS) in which both tissue and blood samples were evaluated. TP53 was detected in 258 of 433 patients (59.6%); 215 had tissue TP53 alterations (49.7%); 159, ctDNA (36.7%); and 116, both tissue and ctDNA (27.8%). Overall concordance rate between ctDNA and tissue biopsies for TP53 alterations was 67.2%; positive concordance was 45.0%. Overall concordance for TP53 did not vary among patients with ≤ 2 months vs > 6 months between test samples; however, positive concordance trended higher when time intervals between test samples were shorter, suggesting that the lack of difference in overall concordance may be due to the large number of negative/negative tests. There was a trend toward higher overall concordance based on biopsy site (metastatic vs primary) (P = 0.07) and significantly higher positive concordance if the tissue biopsy site was a metastatic lesion (P = 0.03). Positive concordance significantly decreased in noncolorectal cancer patients vs colorectal cancer patients (P = 0.02). Finally, higher %ctDNA was associated with higher concordance rates between blood and tissue (P < 0.001). Taken together, these data indicate that both blood and tissue DNA sequencing are necessary to evaluate the full scope of TP53 alterations, and that concordance rates may be related to multiple factors including, but not limited to, amount of ctDNA, histologic context, and site of tissue biopsy.
A novel combined visual scanning and verbal cuing intervention improves facial affect recognition after chronic severe traumatic brain injury: A single case design

ABSTRACT A single case design (AB with follow up) was used to determine the effect of a combined visual scanning and verbal cuing intervention technique in improving facial affect recognition after traumatic brain injury (TBI). A 35-year-old male (BR) with impaired ability to recognize facial emotions as a result of severe TBI participated in the study over a 3-month duration. BR's mean accuracy across six universal static facial expressions of emotion improved significantly during intervention and was maintained at follow up. BR was most impaired in labelling negative (sad, angry, disgusted, anxious) versus positive facial expressions (surprised, happy). BR's accuracy to negative facial affect significantly improved during intervention. No further improvement was possible for positive expressions because a ceiling effect was observed at baseline. Overall BR's mean response times across emotions was reduced at baseline but increased significantly during intervention. This was also recorded for both positive and negative expressions, respectively. This novel combined intervention has potential to improve facial affect recognition after TBI. Further evaluation using a multiple-baseline design is recommended. Additional research is needed to determine whether improved facial affect recognition following training translates to improvements in social function and communication in people with TBI.
Die Chirurgie des Kleinhirnbrückenwinkels: Teil 2: Spezielle Bemerkungen

Objectives. Cerebellopontine angle tumors are uncommon lesions that can potentially be cured by microsurgical removal. The primary objective of the surgical treatment differs between vestibular schwannoma and meningioma. This feature may be influenced by the site of tumor origin and displacement of neurovascular structures as well as by their different tumor biology. Methods. A review of the current literature was conducted. Results and conclusions. Relevant cranial nerves and vascular involvement as well as anatomical location with respect to the cerebellopontine angle are discussed for vestibular schwannoma and meningioma.The main factors influencing the surgical outcome are outlined with special reference to facial and cochlear nerve function and cerebrospinal fluid leakage. The retrosigmoid approach offers a comparable success rate for hearing conservation and probably a superior outcome in terms offacial nerve function when compared with the middle fossa approach. The intrameatal limitations of the retrosigmoid approach can be excluded by the intraoperative assistance of an endoscope.The advantages of endoscope-assisted surgery may include improved visualization of relevant structures, more complete tumor removal, and a lowered risk of cerebrospinal fluid leakage.
IDH1 Expression via the R132H Mutation–Specific Antibody in Adrenocortical Neoplasias—Prognostic Impact in Carcinomas

Abstract Context Mutations to isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH) appear to play a prognostic or predictive role in several neoplasias. Immunohistochemical staining designed to detect a specific R132H mutation to IDH1 showed expression in the normal adrenal cortex, raising interest to study the potential role of IDH1 in the pathogenesis of adrenocortical tumors. Objective The objective of this work is to study the role of IDH1 and its mutations in adrenocortical tumors. Design and patients IDH1 R132H immunohistological staining was performed on a cohort of 197 adrenocortical tumors. The exon of the IDH1 gene was sequenced in 16 tumors. Results Positive IDH1 R132H immunohistochemical staining correlated with a better prognosis among patients with a malignant adrenocortical tumor. However, IDH1 R132H immunohistochemistry did not distinguish between local and metastasized tumors. We were unable to identify IDH1 mutations among our adrenocortical tumors using a targeted next-generation sequencing panel or via exon sequencing. Conclusions Among adrenocortical carcinomas, IDH1 R132H immunopositivity correlated with a better prognosis. Thus, IDH1 R132H immunohistochemical staining could serve as a prognostic or as a potential predictive marker in adrenocortical carcinomas. Further research is needed to identify the possible alterations in IDH1 that could explain our findings, because we identified no known mutations to the IDH1 gene.
Grizzly: Efficient Stream Processing Through Adaptive Query Compilation

Stream Processing Engines (SPEs) execute long-running queries on unbounded data streams. They follow an interpretation-based processing model and do not perform runtime optimizations. This limits the utilization of modern hardware and neglects changing data characteristics at runtime. In this paper, we present Grizzly, a novel adaptive query compilation-based SPE, to enable highly efficient query execution. We extend query compilation and task-based parallelization for the unique requirements of stream processing and apply adaptive compilation to enable runtime re-optimizations. The combination of light-weight statistic gathering with just-in-time compilation enables Grizzly to adjust to changing data-characteristics dynamically at runtime. Our experiments show that Grizzly outperforms state-of-the-art SPEs by up to an order of magnitude in throughput.