Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The use of older studies in meta-analyses of medical interventions: a survey

Background Evidence for medical interventions sometimes derives from data that are no longer up to date. These data can influence the outcomes of meta-analyses, yet do not always reflect current clinical practice. We examined the age of the data used in meta-analyses contained within systematic reviews of medical interventions, and investigated whether authors consider the age of these data in their interpretations. Methods From Issue 4, 2005, of the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews we randomly selected 10% of systematic reviews containing at least 1 meta-analysis. From this sample we extracted 1 meta-analysis per primary outcome. We calculated the number of years between the study’s publication and 2005 (the year that the systematic review was published), as well as the number of years between the study’s publication and the year of the literature search conducted in the study. We assessed whether authors discussed the implications of including less recent data, and, for systematic reviews containing meta-analyses of studies published before 1996, we calculated whether excluding the findings of those studies changed the significance of the outcomes. We repeated these calculations and assessments for 22 systematic reviews containing meta-analyses published in 6 high-impact general medical journals in 2005. Results For 157 meta-analyses (n = 1149 trials) published in 2005, the median year of the most recent literature search was 2003 (interquartile range [IQR] 2002-04). Two-thirds of these meta-analyses (103/157, 66%) involved no trials published in the preceding 5 years (2001-05). Forty-seven meta-analyses (30%) included no trials published in the preceding 10 years (1996-2005). In another 16 (10%), the statistical significance of the outcomes would have been different had the studies been limited to those published between 1996 and 2005, although in some cases this change in significance would have been due to loss of power. Only 12 (8%) of the meta-analyses discussed the potential implications of including older studies. Among the 22 meta-analyses considered in high-impact general medical journals, 2 included no studies published in the 5 years prior to the reference year (2005), and 18 included at least 1 study published before 1996. Only 4 meta-analyses discussed the implications of including older studies. Interpretation In most systematic reviews containing meta-analyses of evidence for health care interventions, very recent studies are rare. Researchers who conduct systematic reviews with meta-analyses, and clinicians who read the outcomes of these studies, should be made aware of the potential implications of including less recent data.
Ni‐GaIn Amalgams Enabled Rapid and Customizable Fabrication of Wearable and Wireless Healthcare Electronics

Recent advances in functional low‐melting liquid metals (LMs) provide routes to quickly fabricate wearable devices, which can offer excellent mechanical compliance on human skin compared to conventional rigid wafer‐based electronics. Particularly, the Gallium‐based LM mixtures are promising materials for use as stretchable and flexible circuits in wearable healthcare electronics due to their fantastic electrical conductivity, favorable fluidity, super compliance, and benign biocompatibility. Here, the authors develop a kind of directly‐printed Ni‐GaIn functional amalgams, which can efficiently construct wearable healthcare monitors. Unlike EGaIn, Ni‐GaIn amalgam owns a tunable and enhanced adhesion, which makes it easy to directly paint on various substrate for customized circuits. A wireless power transfer coil printed with these amalgams is presented to demonstrate the electrical stability under different tensile states. Finally, the authors design a wearable healthcare monitor for pulse wave measurement via collecting pulse wave signals from the wrist steadily. With the advantages of stretchability and rapid manufacture, the functional Ni‐GaIn amalgams as currently presented shows a promising approach for individualized wearable electronics.
PRIMA-1Met/APR-246 Induces Apoptosis and Tumor Growth Delay in Small Cell Lung Cancer Expressing Mutant p53

Purpose: Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) is a highly malignant disease with poor prognosis, necessitating the need to develop new and efficient treatment modalities. PRIMA-1Met (p53-dependent reactivation of massive apoptosis), also known as APR-246, is a small molecule, which restores tumor suppressor function to mutant p53 and induces cancer cell death in various cancer types. Since p53 is mutated in more than 90% of SCLC, we investigated the ability of PRIMA-1Met to induce apoptosis and inhibit tumor growth in SCLC with different p53 mutations. Experimental Design: The therapeutic effect of PRIMA-1Met/APR-246 was studied in SCLC cells in vitro using cell viability assay, fluorescence-activated cell-sorting analysis, p53 knockdown studies, and Western blot analyses. The antitumor potential of PRIMA-1Met/APR-246 was further evaluated in two different SCLC xenograft models. Results: PRIMA-1Met/APR-246 efficiently inhibited the growth of the SCLC cell lines expressing mutant p53 in vitro and induced apoptosis, associated with increased fraction of cells with fragmented DNA, caspase-3 activation, PARP cleavage, Bax and Noxa upregulation and Bcl-2 downregulation in the cells. The growth suppressive effect of PRIMA-1Met/APR-246 was markedly reduced in SCLC cell lines transfected with p53 siRNA, supporting the role of mutant p53 in PRIMA-1Met/APR-246-induced cell death. Moreover, in vivo studies showed significant antitumor effects of PRIMA-1Met after i.v. injection in SCLC mouse models with no apparent toxicity. Conclusion: This study is the first to show the potential use of p53-reactivating molecules such as PRIMA-1Met/APR-246 for the treatment of SCLC. Clin Cancer Res; 17(9); 2830–41. ©2011 AACR.
An advanced plasmonic cermet solar absorber for high temperature solar energy conversion applications

Cermet coatings based on nanoparticles of Au or Ag in a stable dielectric matrix provide a combination of spectral-selectivity and microstructural stability at elevated temperatures. The nanoparticles provide an absorption peak due to their localized surface plasmon resonance and the dielectric matrix provides red-shifting and intrinsic absorption from defects. The matrix and two separated cermet layers combined add mechanical support, greater thermal stability and extra absorptance. The coatings may be prepared by magnetron sputtering. They have solar absorptance ranging between 91% and 97% with low thermal emittance making them suitable for application in solar thermal conversion installations.
Lung cancer incidence decreases with elevation: evidence for oxygen as an inhaled carcinogen

The level of atmospheric oxygen, a driver of free radical damage and tumorigenesis, decreases sharply with rising elevation. To understand whether ambient oxygen plays a role in human carcinogenesis, we characterized age-adjusted cancer incidence (compiled by the National Cancer Institute from 2005 to 2009) across counties of the elevation-varying Western United States and compared trends displayed by respiratory cancer (lung) and non-respiratory cancers (breast, colorectal, and prostate). To adjust for important demographic and cancer-risk factors, 8–12 covariates were considered for each cancer. We produced regression models that captured known risks. Models demonstrated that elevation is strongly, negatively associated with lung cancer incidence (p < 10−16), but not with the incidence of non-respiratory cancers. For every 1,000 m rise in elevation, lung cancer incidence decreased by 7.23 99% CI [5.18–9.29] cases per 100,000 individuals, equivalent to 12.7% of the mean incidence, 56.8. As a predictor of lung cancer incidence, elevation was second only to smoking prevalence in terms of significance and effect size. Furthermore, no evidence of ecological fallacy or of confounding arising from evaluated factors was detected: the lung cancer association was robust to varying regression models, county stratification, and population subgrouping; additionally seven environmental correlates of elevation, such as exposure to sunlight and fine particulate matter, could not capture the association. Overall, our findings suggest the presence of an inhaled carcinogen inherently and inversely tied to elevation, offering epidemiological support for oxygen-driven tumorigenesis. Finally, highlighting the need to consider elevation in studies of lung cancer, we demonstrated that previously reported inverse lung cancer associations with radon and UVB became insignificant after accounting for elevation.
Use of an Operating Microscope During Spine Surgery Is Associated With Minor Increases in Operating Room Times and No Increased Risk of Infection

Study Design. Retrospective database review. Objective. To evaluate whether microscope use during spine procedures is associated with increased operating room times or increased risk of infection. Summary of Background Data. Operating microscopes are commonly used in spine procedures. It is debated whether the use of an operating microscope increases operating room time or confers increased risk of infection. Methods. The American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program database, which includes data from more than 370 participating hospitals, was used to identify patients undergoing elective spinal procedures with and without the use of an operating microscope for the years 2011 and 2012. Bivariate and multivariate linear regressions were used to test the association between microscope use and operating room times. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regressions were similarly conducted to test the association between microscope use and infection occurrence within 30 days of surgery. Results. A total of 23,670 elective spine procedures were identified, of which 2226 (9.4%) used an operating microscope. The average patient age was 55.1 ± 14.4 years. The average operative time (incision to closure) was 125.7 ± 82.0 minutes. Microscope use was associated with minor increases in preoperative room time (+2.9 min, P = 0.013), operative time (+13.2 min, P < 0.001), and total room time (+18.6 min, P < 0.001) on multivariate analysis. A total of 328 (1.4%) patients had an infection within 30 days of surgery. Multivariate analysis revealed no significant difference between the microscope and nonmicroscope groups for occurrence of any infection, superficial surgical site infection, deep surgical site infection, organ space infection, or sepsis/septic shock, regardless of surgery type. Conclusion. We did not find operating room times or infection risk to be significant deterrents for use of an operating microscope during spine surgery. Level of Evidence: 3
Moduli stabilization, F-term uplifting and soft supersymmetry breaking terms(Summer Institute 2007)

We study moduli stabilization with F-term uplifting. As a source of uplifting F-term, we consider spontaneous supersymmetry breaking models, e.g. the Polonyi model and the Intriligator-Seiberg-Shih model. We analyze potential minima by requiring almost vanishing vacuum energy and evaluate the size of modulus F-term. We also study soft SUSY-breaking terms. In our scenario, the mirage mediation is dominant in gaugino masses. Scalar masses can be comparable with gaugino masses or much heavier, depending on couplings with spontaneous supersymmetry breaking sector.
Hand gesture spotting and recognition using HMMs and CRFs in color image sequences

Even though automatic hand gesture recognition technology has been applied to realworld applications with relative success, there are still several problems which need to be addressed for wider applications of Human Computer Interaction (HCI). One of such problems which arise in hand gesture recognition is to extract (spot) meaningful gestures from the continuous sequence of the hand motions. Another problem is caused by the fact that there is quite a bit of variability (i.e. in shape, trajectory and duration) in the same gesture even for the same person. Throughout literature, the backward spotting technique is used which first detects the end points of gestures and then tracks back through their optimal paths to discover the start points of gestures. Upon the detection of the start and the end points, in between points trajectory is sent to the recognizer for recognition. So, a time delay is observed between the meaningful gesture spotting and recognition. This time delay is unacceptable for online applications. Given the fact of high variability of corresponding gesture to other gestures, modeling the other gesture patterns (i.e. non-gesture patterns are other movements which do not correspond to gestures) is a vital issue to accommodate the infinite number of non-gesture patterns. In this thesis, a forward gesture spotting system is proposed which handles hand gesture spotting and recognition simultaneously in stereo color image sequences without time delay. In addition, color and depth map which is obtained by passive stereo measuring based on the mean absolute difference and the known calibration data of the camera, are used to localize hands. Moreover, the hand trajectory is obtained by using Mean-shift algorithm in conjunction with depth map. This structure correctly extracts a set of hand postures to track the hand motion and achieves accurate and robust hand tracking with a stereo camera as an input device. One of the main contributions in the work is to examine the capabilities of combined features of location, orientation and velocity for gesture recognition with respect to Cartesian and Polar coordinates. Furthermore, k-means clustering algorithm is used to quantize the extracted features and employs them for Hidden Markov Models (HMMs) and Conditional Random Fields (CRFs) codewords. The effectiveness of these features yields reasonable recognition rates. In this work, isolated gestures are handled according to two different classification
Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome in pigs

Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome at the highest quarterly diagnostic rate since 2004 Infectious bovine rhinotracheitis confirmed in an adult Holstein-Friesian Hemlock poisoning and tickborne fever diagnosed in recently weaned ewes Necrotic enteritis in laying hens Mass die-off of several hundred gulls with no known cause These are among matters discussed in the Animal and Plant Health Agency's (APHA's) disease surveillance report for December 2014
A prospective view of animal and human Fasciolosis

Fasciolosis, a food‐borne trematodiasis, results following infection with the parasites, Fasciola hepatica and Fasciola gigantica. These trematodes greatly affect the global agricultural community, infecting millions of ruminants worldwide and causing annual economic losses in excess of US $3 billion. Fasciolosis, an important zoonosis, is classified by WHO as a neglected tropical disease with an estimated 17 million people infected and a further 180 million people at risk of infection. The significant impact on agriculture and human health together with the increasing demand for animal‐derived food products to support global population growth demonstrate that fasciolosis is a major One Health problem. This review details the problematic issues surrounding fasciolosis control, including drug resistance, lack of diagnosis and the threat that hybridization of the Fasciola species poses to future animal and human health. We discuss how these parasites may mediate their long‐term survival through regulation and modulation of the host immune system, by altering the host immune homeostasis and/or by influencing the intestinal microbiome particularly in respect to concurrent infections with other pathogens. Large genome, transcriptome and proteomic data sets are now available to support an integrated One Health approach to develop novel diagnostic and control strategies for both animal and human disease.
A comparative assessment of fracture resistance of endodontically treated and re-treated teeth: An in vitro study

Aim: To compare and assess the fracture resistance of endodontically treated teeth with those that have been subjected to endodontic retreatment. Materials and Methods: 30 extracted mandibular premolars were decoronated at cementoenamel junction and randomly divided into 2 groups. In Group I endodontic treatment was performed with ProTaper rotary system till size F2 and obturated. In Group II, cleaning and shaping was done and teeth were subjected to Spiral CT to assess the remaining dentin thickness and obturated. Later retreatment was done using Protaper Universal Retreatment system and final shaping was performed till size F3. Remaining dentin thickness was again assessed using Spiral CT and then obturated. All the specimens were subjected to fracture resistance using universal testing machine. The results were statistically analyzed using Independent Samples t-test for analysis of remaining dentin thickness using SCT within Group II and Paired Samples t-test was used for assessment of fracture resistance between Group I and II (P < 0.05). Results: In Group II, the intra group comparison of the remaining dentin thickness in the coronal third reveals statistical significance, with a significant difference noted in the apical third. Results of the fracture resistance reveal a statistically significant difference (P < 0.05) between Groups I and II with the mean fracture resistance of Group I being higher than Group II. Conclusion: Endodontically retreated teeth have shown significantly decreased resistance to fracture and this has a positive correlation to the increased loss of root dentin during the retreatment procedures
Spatial data compression and denoising via wavelet transformation

A new interpolation wavelet filter for TIN data compression has been applied in two steps, namely splitting and lifting. In the splitting step, a triangle has been divided into several sub-triangles and the elevation step has been used to 'modify' the point values (point coordinates for geometry) after the splitting. This data set is then compressed at the desired locations by using second-generation wavelets: scalar wavelets constructed by using a lifting scheme. Application of the compressed data compares favourably with results derived using the original (and much larger) TIN data set.
Fast Convergence of Online Pairwise Learning Algorithms

Pairwise learning usually refers to a learning task which involves a loss function depending on pairs of examples, among which most notable ones are bipartite ranking, metric learning and AUC maximization. In this paper, we focus on online learning algorithms for pairwise learning problems without strong convexity, for which all previously known algorithms achieve a convergence rate of O(1/ √ T ) after T iterations. In particular, we study an online learning algorithm for pairwise learning with a least-square loss function in an unconstrained setting. We prove that the convergence of its last iterate can converge to the desired minimizer at a rate arbitrarily close to O(1/T ) up to logarithmic factor. The rates for this algorithm are established in high probability under the assumptions of polynomially decaying step sizes.
A Practice-Oriented Review of Learning Objects

Reusable learning objects support packaging of educational materials allowing their discovery and reuse. Open educational resources emphasize the need for open licensing and promote sharing and community involvement. For both teachers and learners, finding appropriate tried and tested resources on a topic of interest and being able to incorporate them within or alongside other learning materials can enrich provision and share best practice. Resources are made available by a number of general and subject-specific repositories, but there are also many educational resources residing outside these repositories which may provide useful additional materials. Potential users of materials need to be able to locate relevant material and to assess it with respect to a number of factors (such as suitability for purpose and license requirements). However, even such basic requirements can be less than straightforward to determine. This paper presents a view of the field from the user's perspective, bringing together themes from existing research relating to practice-oriented concerns including discoverability, reusability, and quality. It provides a background in this area, exploring current trends, controversies, and research findings. The discussion is also aligned with current provision and practice, indicating areas where further research, provision, and support would be useful.
Genetic analysis of production and feed efficiency traits in an Orlopp turkey line (Meleagris gallopavo)

Abstract 1. Genetic parameters for production and feed efficiency traits in the Orlopp line of turkeys were estimated to determine breeding goals and future potential of the line in a long-term genetic improvement programme. 2. Body weight, egg production and fertility traits were recorded and feed conversion ratio (FCR) was assessed from 16–20 weeks of age. 3. Moderate heritabilities were found for feed intake and body weight gain (0.25 to 0.31). Average FCR was 3.14, with heritability of 0.10. Body weight, breast conformation score and egg production traits showed moderate heritabilities (0.22 to 0.52), while both fertility and hatch of fertile eggs were low (0.04 and 0.09, respectively). 4. Genetic correlations between breast confirmation score, 10- and 18-week body weights were moderate, 0.50 and 0.45, respectively. Average egg weight also showed moderate genetic correlations with 10- and 18-week body weights (0.59 and 0.42).
A Simple Model for Analyzing P2P Streaming Protocols

P2P streaming tries to achieve scalability (like P2P file distribution) and at the same time meet real-time playback requirements. It is a challenging problem still not well understood. In this paper, we describe a simple stochastic model that can be used to compare different data-driven downloading strategies based on two performance metrics: continuity (probability of continuous playback), and startup latency (expected time to start playback). We first study two simple strategies: rarest first and greedy. The former is a well-known strategy for P2P file sharing that gives good scalability, whereas the latter an intuitively reasonable strategy to optimize continuity and startup latency from a single peer's viewpoint. Greedy, while achieving low startup latency, fares poorly in continuity by failing to maximize P2P sharing; whereas rarest first is the opposite. This highlights the trade-off between startup latency and continuity, and how system scalability improves continuity. Based on this insight, we propose a mixed strategy that can be used to achieve the best of both worlds. Our algorithm dynamically adapts to the peer population size to ensure scalability; at the same time, it reserves part of a peer's effort to the immediate playback requirements to ensure low startup latency.
Pushdown Processes: Games and Model-Checking

Games given by transition graphs of pushdown processes are considered. It is shown that if there is a winning strategy in such a game then there is a winning strategy which is realized by a pushdown process. This fact turns out to be connected with the model checking problem for push-down automata and the propositional μ-calculus. It is show that this model checking problem is DEXPTIME-complete.