Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Outcomes of prolotherapy for intra-tendinous Achilles tears: a case series.

BACKGROUND The intra-tendinous tear is a new pathology that is defined as a discontinuity of fibres situated entirely within the tendon. Prolotherapy involves injecting an irritant, such as hyperosmolar dextrose, to stimulate a tissue healing response and ultimately reduce pain. METHODS 43 consecutive patients diagnosed with an intra-tendinous tear were included (27 males: 16 females, mean (SD) age 41 (11.3). Patients were injected with 0.4ml-1.5ml (mean 0.8ml) of 50% dextrose and 0.5% marcaine mixed in a 1:1 ratio. A 4-6 week period of walking boot immobilisation was followed by progressive rehabilitation (6-8 weeks). Outcomes were assessed with a VISA-A questionnaire at baseline, 3 months and a mean 12.6 (7.0) months post-treatment. Ultrasound scans were conducted before treatment and 5.2 (2.3) weeks later to assess sonographic changes. RESULTS 30 patients (70%) responded with VISA-A scores increasing by 31 (30.5) points after 3 months (f=0.62, p<0.05) and by 40 (29.3) points after 12.60 (7.0) months (f=0.87, p<0.05). After 5.2 (2.3) weeks, echogenicity was significantly reduced (p<0.05) and 27% of tears were no longer detectable. No significant differences were observed in remaining tears with respect to tear size, tendon thickness or neovascularisation. CONCLUSION Treatment resulted in clinically significant improvements and controlled trials are warranted. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE IV.
Evaluating Common Strategies for the Efficiency of Feature Selection in the Context of Microarray Analysis

The recent explosion of high-throughput technology has been accompanied by a corresponding rapid increase in the number of new statistical methods for developing prognostic and predictive signatures. Three commonly used feature selection techniques for time-to-event data: single gene testing (SGT), Elastic net and the Maximizing R Square Algorithm (MARSA) are evaluated on simulated datasets that vary in the sample size, the number of features and the correlation between features. The results of each method are summarized by reporting the sensitivity and the Area Under the Receiver Operating Characteristic Curve (AUC). The performance of each of these algorithms depends heavily on the sample size while the number of features entered in the analysis has a much more modest impact. The coefficients estimated utilizing SGT are biased towards the null when the genes are uncorrelated and away from the null when the genes are correlated. The Elastic Net algorithms perform better than MARSA and almost as well as the SGT when the features are correlated and about the same as MARSA when the features are uncorrelated.
An analysis of anemia and pregnancy-related maternal mortality.

The relationship of anemia as a risk factor for maternal mortality was analyzed by using cross-sectional, longitudinal and case-control studies because randomized trials were not available for analysis. The following six methods of estimation of mortality risk were adopted: 1) the correlation of maternal mortality rates with maternal anemia prevalence derived from national statistics; 2) the proportion of maternal deaths attributable to anemia; 3) the proportion of anemic women who die; 4) population-attributable risk of maternal mortality due to anemia; 5) adolescence as a risk factor for anemia-related mortality; and 6) causes of anemia associated with maternal mortality. The average estimates for all-cause anemia attributable mortality (both direct and indirect) were 6.37, 7.26 and 3.0% for Africa, Asia and Latin America, respectively. Case fatality rates, mainly for hospital studies, varied from <1% to >50%. The relative risk of mortality associated with moderate anemia (hemoglobin 40-80 g/L) was 1.35 [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.92-2.00] and for severe anemia (<47 g/L) was 3.51 (95% CI: 2.05-6.00). Population-attributable risk estimates can be defended on the basis of the strong association between severe anemia and maternal mortality but not for mild or moderate anemia. In holoendemic malarious areas with a 5% severe anemia prevalence (hemoglobin <70 g/L), it was estimated that in primigravidae, there would be 9 severe-malaria anemia-related deaths and 41 nonmalarial anemia-related deaths (mostly nutritional) per 100,000 live births. The iron deficiency component of these is unknown.
Face2Graph: Base de données graphe et visualisation pour l'annotation d'archives vidéos

La réalisation d’analyses de haut niveau sur de grandes archives de documents (photos et vidéos), telles que des analyses médiatiques, sociales, juridiques ou politiques, demande souvent une phase d’annotation des documents (Renoust et al., 2016). Les technologies actuelles nous permettent de déployer à moindre frais des outils à grande échelle comme la détection et la reconnaissance de visages. Nous nous intéressons particulièrement à la reconnaissance de personnes dans une grande archive de vidéos de journaux télévisés (JTs). Bien que la reconnaissance de visages atteigne aujourd’hui de hauts niveaux de fiabilité, il est nécessaire de construire de grandes bases de vérité pour leur implémentation. Cela peut fonctionner pour les personnalités les plus connues, mais pour les cas les plus spécifiques, il est toujours nécessaire de passer par une étape d’annotation manuelle des visages. Nous proposons avec Face2Graph de faciliter cette tâche d’annotation via une information contextuelle sous la forme d’un réseau social de co-apparition dans les informations télévisées. Suivant le vieil adage “dis-moi qui sont tes amis, je te dirais qui tu es”, il est plus facile de trouver l’identité d’un individu au sein d’un groupe que de manière isolée. L’exploration du réseau de co-apparition avec Face2Graph propose une manière originale d’annoter les visages dans notre archive. La souplesse d’une modélisation en base de données orientée graphe permet de dériver et de modifier rapidement les liens entre visages et personnalités détectés dans notre archive de 15 années de JTs.
Internal Fracture Fixation in Patients With Osteoporosis

&NA; Because of the decreased holding power of plate‐and‐screw fixation in osteoporotic bone fractures, internal fixation can have a high failure rate, ranging from 10% to 25%. Screws placed into cortical bone have better resistance to pullout than do those placed into adjacent trabecular bone. Plates should not be used to bridge unstable regions of bony comminution in osteoporotic patients. Fixation stability is optimized by securing stable bone contact across the fracture site and by placing screws both as close to and as far from the fracture as possible. Intentional shortening can improve stability and load sharing of the fracture construct. Structural bone graft or other types of fillers can be used to fill voids when comminution prevents stable contact. Load‐sharing fixation devices such as the sliding hip screw, intramedullary nail, antiglide plate, and tension band constructs are better alternatives for osteoporotic metaphyseal locations. Proper planning is essential for improved fracture fixation in this high‐risk patient group.
Washing away your sins in the brain: physical cleaning and priming of cleaning recruit different brain networks after moral threat

Abstract The association between moral purity and physical cleanliness has been widely discussed recently. Studies found that moral threat initiates the need of physical cleanliness, but actual physical cleaning and priming of cleaning have inconsistent effects on subsequent attitudes and behaviors. Here, we used resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging to explore the underlying neural mechanism of actual physical cleaning and priming of cleaning. After recalling moral transgression with strong feelings of guilt and shame, participants either actually cleaned their faces with a wipe or were primed with cleanliness through viewing its pictures. Results showed that actual physical cleaning reduced the spontaneous brain activities in the right insula and MPFC, regions that involved in embodied moral emotion processing, while priming of cleaning decreased activities in the right superior frontal gyrus and middle frontal gyrus, regions that participated in executive control processing. Additionally, actual physical cleaning also changed functional connectivity between insula/MPFC and emotion related regions, whereas priming of cleaning modified connectivity within both moral and sensorimotor areas. These findings revealed that actual physical cleaning and priming of cleaning led to changes in different brain regions and networks, providing neural evidence for the inconsistent effects of cleanliness on subsequent attitudes and behaviors.
THROMBOSIS AND HEMOSTASIS Differential contribution of FXa and thrombin to vascular in fl ammation in a mouse model of sickle cell disease

• Inhibition of FXa or thrombin might be considered to reduce thrombotic complications and vascular inflammation in sickle cell patients. • PAR-2 could be a potential target to inhibit vascular pathology associated with sickle cell disease. Activation of coagulation and vascular inflammation are prominent features of sickle cell disease (SCD). Previously, we have shown that inhibition of tissue factor (TF) attenuates activation of coagulation and vascular inflammation in mouse models of SCD. In this study, we examined the mechanism by which coagulation proteases enhance vascular inflammation in sickle BERKmice. To specifically investigate the contribution of FXa and thrombin, mice were fed chow containing either rivaroxaban or dabigatran, respectively. In addition, we used bone marrow transplantation to generate sickle mice deficient in either protease activated receptor-1 (PAR-1) or protease activated receptor-2 (PAR-2) on nonhematopoietic cells. FXa inhibition and PAR-2 deficiency in nonhematopoietic cells attenuated systemic inflammation, measured by plasma levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6). In contrast, neither thrombin inhibition nor PAR-1 deficiency in nonhematopoietic cells affected plasma levels of IL-6 in sickle mice. However, thrombin did contribute to neutrophil infiltration in the lung, independently of PAR-1 expressed by nonhematopoietic cells. Furthermore, the TF-dependent increase in plasma levels of soluble vascular cell adhesionmolecule-1 in sickle mice was not mediated by FXa or thrombin. Our data indicate that TF, FXa, and thrombin differentially contribute to vascular inflammation in a mouse model of SCD. (Blood. 2014;123(11):1747-1756)
Factores socio-político y judiciales como determinantes de la inversión privada en Latinoamérica [Social-Political and Judicial Factors as Determinants of Private Investment in Latin America]

This paper studies the relationship between social-political and judicial factors and private investment in Latin America during 1995-2003 by means of panel data analysis. The empirical evidence suggests that investment rate differentials, not only among Latin American countries but also with developed countries might have been caused by these factors. Countries with a neutral and strong judicial system might see their investment rates increase by as much as 2.29 percentage points. Regarding the social-political factor, it is worth to emphasize that significant improvement in political institutions, control on corruption, and better access to political and civil rights could cause the investment rate to increase by 1.84 percentage points. At last, if Latin American countries want to attract new investments, increase their economic growth possibilities, and improve their population standard of living, their governments must start working on the strengthening and creation of political institutions that permit to abolish or at least diminish corruption levels, civil rights repression, the loss of political rights, and on enhancing the judicial system.
22q11.2 Deletion Status and Disease Burden in Children and Adolescents With Tetralogy of Fallot

Background—Patients with repaired tetralogy of Fallot experience variable outcomes for reasons that are incompletely understood. We hypothesize that genetic variants contribute to this variability. We sought to investigate the association of 22q11.2 deletion status with clinical outcome in patients with repaired tetralogy of Fallot. Methods and Results—We performed a cross-sectional study of tetralogy of Fallot subjects who were tested for 22q11.2 deletion, and underwent cardiac magnetic resonance, exercise stress test, and review of medical history. We studied 165 subjects (12.3±3.1 years), of which 30 (18%) had 22q11.2 deletion syndrome (22q11.2DS). Overall, by cardiac magnetic resonance the right ventricular ejection fraction was 60±8%, pulmonary regurgitant fraction was 34±17%, and right ventricular end-diastolic volume was 114±39 cc/m2. On exercise stress test, maximum oxygen consumption was 76±16% predicted. Despite comparable right ventricular function and pulmonary regurgitant fraction, on exercise stress test the 22q11.2DS had significantly lower percent predicted: forced vital capacity (61.5±16 versus 80.5±14; P<0.0001), maximum oxygen consumption (61±17 versus 80±12; P<0.0001), and work (64±18 versus 86±22, P=0.0002). Similarly, the 22q11.2DS experienced more hospitalizations (6.5 [5–10] versus 3 [2–5]; P<0.0001), saw more specialists (3.5 [2–9] versus 0 [0–12]; P<0.0001), and used ≥1 medications (67% versus 34%; P<0.001). Conclusions—22q11.2DS is associated with restrictive lung disease, worse aerobic capacity, and increased morbidity, and may explain some of the clinical variability seen in tetralogy of Fallot. These findings may provide avenues for intervention to improve outcomes, and should be re-evaluated longitudinally because these associations may become more pronounced with time.
Cultural industries and public policy

This article re‐imagines the space of the cultural industries and their governance. It is divided into three parts. In the first, questions of definition are reviewed. In the second part, cultural policies (and by default cultural industries policies) are examined in order to disclose the key concepts of culture that they are based upon. The final section, on governance, develops an argument that seeks to open up a space where the hybrid nature of cultural production can be addressed by policy.
Validation of a Self-efficacy Scale for Adolescents and Young Adults With Inflammatory Bowel Disease

ABSTRACT Self-efficacy (SE) is a strong predictor of health outcomes in chronic diseases. The aim of the study was to develop a valid and reliable SE scale for adolescents and young adults with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Participants with IBD, 12 to 25 years’ old, were recruited via outpatient gastroenterology clinics and online to provide demographic and clinical information and to complete psychosocial questionnaires. Reliability statistics, principle components factor analysis, and Pearson correlations with psychosocial variables assessed the psychometric properties of the IBD Self-efficacy Scale for Adolescents and Young Adults (IBDSES-A). A total of 95 participants completed the study. Internal consistency and split-half reliability of the IBDSES-A fell above the acceptable standard cutoff. Principle components factor analysis yielded 3 potential subscales. Test-retest reliability was excellent. Construct validity is supported by significant positive correlations with self-esteem and health-related quality of life, and negative correlations with depression and anxiety. IBDSES-A, a 13-item disease-specific scale to assess SE toward disease management, demonstrates good reliability and construct validity and could be a useful tool in understanding the role of SE in pediatric IBD self-management and outcomes.
The U.S. Grain Consumption Landscape: Who Eats Grain, in What Form, Where, and How Much?

The U.S. Government is promoting whole-grain foods, responding to mounting evidence of their association with maintaining a healthy weight and reducing the risk of heart problems and other diseases. This study compared Americans’ consumption of grains with the recommendations in the Government’s 2005 Dietary Guidelines, using data from USDA’s Continuing Survey of Food Intakes by Individuals, 1994-96 and 1998. The analysis confirmed a national preference for refined grains—only 7 percent of survey respondents met the 2005 whole-grain recommendation. The authors compared grain consumption by economic and demographic characteristics of consumers, and also examined the effects of consumers’ social, economic, and demographic characteristics and dietary perceptions and practices. The results suggest that consumers who perceive grain consumption as important and read food labels during shopping tend to eat more whole grains than other people. When data from more recent surveys are analyzed, results of the present study can serve as a baseline from which to gauge changes in the American diet and the consumption of whole grains.
[Mortality and survival analysis of liver cancer in China].

OBJECTIVE Based on the cancer registry data to analyze the mortality and survival of liver cancer in China. METHODS Liver cancer data of 2011 were retrieved from the National Cancer Registry Database.Liver cancer deaths were estimated using age-specific rate by areas and gender according to the national population in 2011. Mortality data from 22 cancer registries during 2000-2011 were used to analyze the mortality trend, and data from 17 cancer registries during 2003-2005 were used for survival analysis. RESULTS The estimates of liver cancer deaths were about 322 thousand in 2011 with a crude mortality rate of 23.93/10(5). There was an increasing trend of crude mortality rate of liver cancer during 2000-2011 in 22 Chinese cancer registries with an average annual percentage change of 0.7% (95%CI: 0.2%-1.2%), 1.1% in urban and 0.4% in rural areas. After age standardization with Segi's population, the mortality rate was significantly decreased, with an APC of -2.3%, -1.9% in urban and -2.2% in rural populations. The 5-year age standardized relative survival was 10.1% (95%CI: 9.5% to 10.7%), and the 1-, 3- and the 5-year observed survival rates were 27.2%, 12.7%, and 8.9%, respectively. CONCLUSION Liver cancer is a major cancer threatening people's lives and health in China, and the liver cancer burden is still high.
Strengthening the poor: what have we learned?

"A veritable treasure trove. " --"Newsletter of the International Center or Economic Growth Network" Viewing "strengthering the poor" as encompassing both top-down and ground-up approaches, Lewis sets out an array of lessons about poverty alleviation and the empowerment of the poor that he finds in the experiences of the 1970s and 1980s. These are lessons involving poverty aspects of agricultural and rural development, human resource development and institution building, the interplay of environment and development, the effects of the market, the roles of local groups and governments, financing development at the local level, the limitations of project aid as conventionally practiced, "wholesaling" versus "retailing" roles for aid donors, the comparative advantage and limitations of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), antipoverty politics in developing countries, and the proper accommodations that adjustment programs need to incorporate. A distinguished group of co-authors reacts to these propositions on the basis of diverse sectoral, country, and regional expertise.
Price, Principle, and the Environment

1. Zuckerman's dilemma: an introduction 2. At the monument to General Meade 3. Should preferences count? 4. Value in use and in exchange 5. The philosophical common sense of pollution 6. On the value of wild ecosystems 7. Carrying capacity and ecological economics 8. Cows are better than condos 9. The view from Quincy library.
Severe insulin resistance in disguise: A familial case of reactive hypoglycemia associated with a novel heterozygous INSR mutation

Hypoglycemia in childhood is very rare and can be caused by genetic mutations or insulin‐secreting neoplasms. Postprandial hypoglycemia has previously been associated with insulin receptor (INSR) gene mutations. We aimed to identify the cause of postprandial hypoglycemia in a 10‐year‐old boy.
Autogenetic inhibition from contraction receptors in the decerebrate cat.

1. Autogenetic inhibition from contraction receptors was measured by eliciting contractions of the soleus muscle in the decerebrate cat. Inhibitory feedback was detected when the tension increment f, produced by stimulating motor fibres in the presence of a background reflex contraction, was smaller than the tension d elicited by the same stimulus in the absence of reflex action. Tendon vibration was applied throughout to clamp primary spindle afferents at a constant firing rate, thereby preventing spindle unloading from disfacilitating the reflex contraction. 2. The reduction in tension d‐‐f varied roughly linearly with the size of the tension stimulus f. Feedback gain was proportional to d‐‐f/f, i.e. the ratio of inhibited tension to stimulus tension. It was computed by averaging over several measurements obtained with stimuli of different sizes, and ranged between 0 and 0.88 in ten animals. The average gain, 0.39, implies that voluntary muscle force is reduced by approximately 27% through the direct inhibition of alpha‐motoneurones from homonymous contraction receptors. 3. Inhibitory feedback gain did not appear to co‐vary with the background reflex contraction. When measured without vibration, however, a positive covariance did emerge, suggesting that this is due to unloading of muscle spindles, either by extrafusal muscle shortening or by inhibition of fusimotor neurones. 4. Inhibited tension varied linearly with the estimated increment in Ib afferent firing. On the assumption that group Ib afferents carried the entire inhibitory signal, inhibitory feedback gain measured with vibration was used to predict the size of the gain if vibration had not been applied. Feedback gain calculated in this way was reduced by still did not vary with reflex tension. 5. In one animal with signs of brain stem trauma, feedback gain was increased to around six. It is argued that inhibitory feedback in the intact animal can rise to comparable values, as a result both of convergence of signals from different muscles and of supraspinal facilitation.
Decentralized Time-Synchronized Channel Swapping for Ad Hoc Wireless Networks

Time-synchronized channel hopping (TSCH) is currently the most efficient solution for collision-free interference-avoiding communications in ad hoc wireless networks, such as wireless sensor networks, vehicular networks, and networks of robots or drones. However, all variants of TSCH require some form of centralized coordination to maintain the time-frequency slotting mechanism. This leads to slow convergence to steady state and moderate time-frequency slot utilization, particularly under node churn or mobility. We propose decentralized time-synchronized channel swapping (DT-SCS), which is a novel protocol for medium access control (MAC) in ad hoc wireless networks. Under the proposed protocol, nodes first converge to synchronous beacon packet transmissions across all available channels at the physical layer, with a balanced number of nodes in each channel. This is done by the novel coupling of distributed synchronization and desynchronization mechanisms-which are based on the concept of pulse-coupled oscillators-at the MAC layer. Decentralized channel swapping can then take place via peer-to-peer swap requests/acknowledgments made between concurrent transmitters in neighboring channels. We benchmark the convergence and network throughput of DT-SCS, TSCH, and the efficient multichannel MAC protocol (seen as the state of the art in decentralized, interference-avoiding, and multichannel MAC protocols) under simulated packet losses at the MAC layer. Moreover, performance results via a Contiki-based deployment on TelosB motes reveal that DT-SCS comprises an excellent candidate for decentralized multichannel MAC-layer coordination by providing for quick convergence to steady state, high bandwidth utilization under interference and hidden nodes, as well as high connectivity.