Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Photobiomodulation Therapy Using Infrared (808 nm) Low Level Laser Therapy Associated with Strength Training in Knee Osteoarthritis: A Randomized placebo-controlled clinical trial

Mechanisms for significant clinical and statistical benefits of photobiomodulation (PBMT) in the treatment of knee osteoarthritis (KOA) include anti-inflammatory effects, optimization of tissue repair, improved muscle function and analgesia. The effectiveness of (PBMT) associated with strength training (ST), in the form of strength training, has been investigated in randomized clinical trials, but the results are not well clarified. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of ST associated with PBMT on joint pain intensity, range of motion, physical function and muscle strength of the quadriceps femoris and hamstrings in patients diagnosed with KOA. Twenty-eight adult patients of both genders with KOA were randomly distributed in 2 treatment groups, performed 3 times a week, for 6 weeks: ST Group (ST), submitted to stretching, self- mobilization, muscle strengthening and sensorimotor training and ST and STP Group (STP), submitted to the same program as the ST followed by infrared laser irradiation (Therapy XT, DMC, São Carlos, Brasil, l= 808 nm, P= 100mW, 5 points in the medial joint region and 4 points lateral, 3 J/point, 30 s/point). Blinded evaluators assessed pain at movent and no movement and range of motion using Analogic Visual Scale and goniometry, respectively. To assess physical function, the WOMAC questionnaire (Western Ontario and MacMaster University Osteoarthritis Index) and functional tests were used: Sit and stand test; 2 min-walk test. The muscular strength of the quadriceps and hamstrings were measured using an isometric dynamometer. The evaluations were performed in 4 moments: before (EV0), during (EV1: 3 weeks of treatment), at the end (EV2: after 6 weeks of treatment) and 30 days after the end of treatment (follow-up). The STP group showed a significant reduction in pain intensity at rest and at movement in EV1, as well as, significant improvement in relation to stiffness, total WOMAC and knee flexion amplitude, an improvement in physical function and an increase in muscle strength of quadriceps femoris when compared to ST group (p <0.05). In the assessment of the strength of the hamstring muscles, there was no significant difference between the groups at any time evaluated (p> 0.05). ST associated with PBMT had greater effects in reducing joint pain intensity, active knee flexion, physical function and muscle strength, especially in the quadriceps femoris, than strength training alone in patients with KOA.
Oncoplastic Breast Surgery versus Conservative Mastectomy in the Management of Large Ductal Carcinoma In Situ (DCIS): Surgical, Oncological, and Patient-Reported Outcomes

Simple Summary The safety and efficacy of level II oncoplastic surgery (OPS2) is well-established in the treatment of invasive breast cancer, and most research suggests a benefit, compared to mastectomy, in terms of patient satisfaction and final breast cosmesis. However, very few studies address its use in the treatment of large DCIS, a condition with a unique clinical presentation, which often represents a surgical challenge, given the intraoperative difficulty in assessing disease margins. Our aim was to analyze the surgical, oncological, and patient-reported outcomes in patients undergoing oncoplastic level II breast-conserving surgery for large DCIS, to assess its safety, efficacy and final cosmetic outcome. This is the first study on large DCIS to compare OPS2 with conservative mastectomy, the other option a surgeon can offer to these patients. It is also the first to include patient-reported outcomes, and does so by means of a standardized instrument such as BREAST-Q©. Abstract Oncoplastic level II breast-conserving surgery (OPS2) allows for wider excisions than standard breast-conserving surgery, but the literature on this technique in the treatment of DCIS is scarce. This study compares OPS2 to conservative mastectomy (CM) in patients undergoing surgery for large DCIS. The clinical, radiological, surgical, and post-operative data of 147 patients who underwent either CM or OPS2 for large DCIS between 2007 and 2021 were retrospectively reviewed. The surgical, oncological, and patient-reported outcomes (PRO) were analyzed and compared between the two groups. The surgical outcomes were similar, in terms of margin involvement (p = 0.211), complication rate (p = 0.827), and re-excision rate (p = 1). The rate of additional surgery for cosmetic optimization was significantly lower in the OPS2 group: only 1 (1.8%) patient required surgical adjustments versus 24 (26.4%) patients in the CM group (p < 0.001). The mean hospital stay was lower in the OPS2 group (p < 0.001). The oncological outcomes did not differ between the two groups (p = 0.662). The PRO analysis showed better outcomes in the OPS2 group, which achieved statistical significance in the sexual well-being module (p = 0.015). Skin sensitivity loss was also significantly lower in the OPS2 group (p < 0.001). When feasible, OPS2 should be considered in the treatment of large DCIS, as it is safe and shows high levels of patient satisfaction.
Isolation, Characterization and Anticancer Activity of Two Bioactive Compounds from Arisaema flavum (Forssk.) Schott

Medicinal plants play important role in the public health sector worldwide. Natural products from medicinal plants are sources of unlimited opportunities for new drug leads because of their unique chemical diversity. Researchers have focused on exploring herbal products as potential sources for the treatment of cancer, cardiac and infectious diseases. Arisaema flavum (Forssk.) is an important medicinal plant found in the northwest Himalayan regions of Pakistan. It is a poisonous plant and is used as a remedy against snake bites and scorpion stings. In this study, two bioactive compounds were isolated from Arisaema flavum (Forssk.) and their anticancer activity was evaluated against human breast cancer cell line MCF-7 using an MTT assay. The crude extract of Arisaema flavum (Forssk.) was subjected to fractionation using different organic solvents in increasing order of polarity. The fraction indicating maximum activity was then taken for isolation of bioactive compounds using various chromatographic and spectroscopic techniques such as column chromatography, thin-layer chromatography (TLC), gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR). Crude extract of Arisaema flavum (Forssk.), as well as various fractions extracted in different solvents such as n-hexane, chloroform and ethyl acetate, were tested against human breast cancer cell line MCF-7 using an MTT assay. The crude extract exhibited significant dose-dependent anticancer activity with a maximum activity of 78.6% at 500 µg/mL concentration. Two compounds, hexadecanoic acid ethyl ester with molecular formula C18H36O7 and molar mass 284 and 5-Oxo-19 propyl-docosanoic acid methyl ester with molecular formula C26H50O3 and molecular mass 410, were isolated from chloroform fraction. These compounds were tested against the MCF-7cell line for cytotoxic activity and exhibited a significant (p < 0.00l) decrease in cell numbers for MCF-7 cells with IC50 of 25 µM after 48 h of treatment. Results indicated that Arisaema flavum (Forssk.) possesses compounds with cytotoxic activity that can further be exploited to develop anticancer formulations.
Persistent Anomalies of the Extratropical Northern Hemisphere Wintertime Circulation: Geographical Distribution and Regional Persistence Characteristics

Abstract We have studied the geographical and regional persistence characteristics of wintertime Northern Hemisphere 500 mb height anomalies, focusing particular attention on the behavior of strong anomalies that persist beyond the durations associated with synoptic-scale variability (“persistent anomalies”). We have also examined the persistence characteristics of certain dominant regional patterns of low-frequency variability. There are three major regions for the occurrence of persistent anomalies: the North Pacific to the south of the Aleutians, the North Atlantic to the southeast of Greenland, and from the northern Soviet Union northeastward to over the Arctic Ocean. These regions have relatively high numbers of both persistent positive anomaly and persistent negative anomaly cases. For moderate magnitudes and durations, the numbers of positive and negative cases in each region are about the same; however, for larger magnitudes and longer durations, the number of positive cases exceeds the correspond.
Synslator: An Interactive Machine Translation Tool with Online Learning

Interactive machine translation (IMT) has emerged as a progression of the computer-aided translation paradigm, where the machine translation system and the human translator collaborate to produce high-quality translations. This paper introduces Synslator, a user-friendly computer-aided translation (CAT) tool that not only supports IMT, but is adept at online learning with real-time translation memories. To accommodate various deployment environments for CAT services, Synslator integrates two different neural translation models to handle translation memories for online learning. Additionally, the system employs a language model to enhance the fluency of translations in an interactive mode. In evaluation, we have confirmed the effectiveness of online learning through the translation models, and have observed a 13% increase in post-editing efficiency with the interactive functionalities of Synslator. A tutorial video is available at:https://youtu.be/K0vRsb2lTt8.
Compact Self-Isolated Four-Element MIMO Antenna for WLAN and ISM Bands Application

A compact self-isolated four-element MIMO antenna is introduced for use in ISM systems and WLAN applications in the 2.4 GHz frequency band. The proposed design consists of four printed dipoles so four integrated baluns are responsible for feeding these antennas. By choosing an appropriate arrangement of the elements next to each other and using the feature of self-isolated antennas, great isolation is achieved in the first step. Finally, by utilizing a printed decoupling component in the space between the dipoles, the value of the envelope correlation coefficient (ECC) parameter comes very close to zero for the MIMO antenna. The major part of the isolation in this design is the responsibility of the self-isolated technique, and adding the decoupling element at the last stage of the design is to complete the antenna isolation process. The fabricated prototype of the proposed MIMO antenna operating at 2.25-2.87 GHz frequency band reaches the measured port-to-port isolation of better than 19 dB, ECC of less than 0.0009, the peak gain of 8.6 dBi with total dimensions of $1.11\lambda _{0}\times 1.11 \lambda _{0}\times 0.34\lambda _{0}$ . The numerical and experimental results approve the excellent MIMO performance for 2.4 GHz applications.
Analysis and Simulation of a Wideband Dual-Band Balanced-to-Unbalanced Gysel Power Divider Using Coupled Lines

In this article, theoretical analysis and simulation of a wideband dual-band balanced to unbalanced Gysel power divider using coupled lines are proposed for dual-band WiFi applications. The proposed power divider consists of three coupled line sections, stepped-impedance stub, two grounded resistors, and a dual-band phase inverter. The dual-band phase inverter is used to perform the differential functionality at the input port. The use of the coupled lines results in a wide frequency range, compact size, flexible structure, and more freedom in choosing the design parameters. The closed-form equations and the ABCD matrix are derived using even and odd mode analysis and precise electrical design parameters are determined. The power divider was simulated at 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz, and great performance had been achieved; all ports are matched at the two frequencies with a 10-dB input fractional bandwidth of 45.83% at 2.4 GHz and 21.7% at 5 GHz. The isolation between output ports was more than 15 dB within the frequency bandwidth and the power was divided equally between output ports with the same phase. In addition, a perfect common mode suppression was reached, and the differential functionality was a success. Moreover, the device is simulated using Keysight-ADS and the results agreed well with the derived equations results. The device can be used for any application requiring dual-band WiFi connectivity.
Photometric long-term variations and superhump occurrence in the Classical Nova RR Pictoris

We present an analysis of all available time-resolved photometry from the literature and new light curves obtained in 2013-2014 for the old nova RR Pictoris. The well-known hump light curve phased with the orbital period reveals significant variations over the last 42 years in shape, amplitude and other details which apparently are caused by long-term variations in the disc structure. In addition we found evidence for the presence of superhumps in 2007, with the same period (~9% longer than the orbital period), as reported earlier by other authors from observations in 2005. Possibly, superhumps arise quickly in RR Pic, but are sporadic events, because in all the other observing runs analysed no significant superhump signal was detected. We also determined an actual version of the Stolz--Schoembs relation between superhump period and orbital period, analysing separately dwarf novae, classical novae and nova-like stars, and conclude that this relation is of general validity for all superhumpers among the cataclysmic variables (CVs), in spite of small but significant differences among the sub-types mentioned above. We emphasize the importance of such a study in context with the still open question of the interrelation between the different sub-classes of CVs, crucial for our understanding of the long-term CV evolution.
Parametrizing the power spectrum: beyond the truncated Taylor expansion

The power spectrum is traditionally parametrized by a truncated Taylor series: . It is reasonable to truncate the Taylor series if , but it is not if . We argue that there is no good theoretical reason to prefer , and show that current observations are consistent with |n*′ln(k/k*)| ∼ |n* − 1| even for |ln(k/k*)| ∼ 1. Thus, there are regions of parameter space, which are both theoretically and observationally relevant, for which the traditional truncated Taylor series parametrization is inconsistent, and hence it can lead to incorrect parameter estimations. Motivated by this, we propose a simple extension of the traditional parametrization, which uses no extra parameters, but that, unlike the traditional approach, covers well motivated inflationary spectra with |n*′| ∼ |n* − 1|. Our parametrization therefore covers not only standard slow-roll inflation models but also a much wider class of inflation models. We use this parametrization to perform a likelihood analysis for the cosmological parameters.
Trajectory-Robust RFID Relative Localization Based on Phase Profile Correlation

Indoor localization systems based on radio frequency identification (RFID) technologies are widely adopted in the Internet of Things (IoT). Many of these applications prefer to obtain the relative position of the target object rather than the absolute position. Existing relative positioning methods are subject to strict trajectory constraints and cannot work under nonstraight trajectories. RFID mobile localization which has high accuracy can also be used for relative positioning, but they require the acquisition of precise moving trajectory coordinates. To overcome these challenges, we propose a trajectory-robust relative localization algorithm (TRL), based on phase profiles’ correlation in this article. The intuition of TRL is that the phase of the backscattered signal has a linear mapping relationship with the distance between the reader and the antenna, so the closer the tag is to each other, the higher the correlation of their phase curves is. We use the dynamic time warping (DTW) algorithm to calculate the correlation between the phase profiles of different tags and achieve relative localization of all the tags by sequentially determining their position intervals in the tag sequence. Compared with the state-of-the-art solutions, TRL gives greater flexibility to antenna movement and the demand for trajectory coordinates, and is it fully robust to trajectory error. A series of experimental results show that TRL has significant advantages over the current state-of-the-art schemes in terms of both accuracy and computation time.
Three-Dimensional Photoionization Structure and Distances of Planetary Nebulae. II. Menzel 1

We present the results of a spatiokinematic study of the planetary nebula Menzel 1 using spectrophotometric mapping and a three-dimensional photoionization code. We create several two-dimensional emission-line images from our long-slit spectra and use these to derive the line fluxes for 15 lines, the Hα/Hβ extinction map, and the [S II] line ratio density map of the nebula. We use our photoionization code constrained by these data to derive the three-dimensional nebular structure and ionizing star parameters of Menzel 1 by simultaneously fitting the integrated line intensities, the density map, and the observed morphologies in several lines, as well as the velocity structure. Using theoretical evolutionary tracks of intermediate- and low-mass stars, we derive a mass for the central star of 0.63 ± 0.05 M☉. We also derive a distance of 1050 ± 150 pc to Menzel 1.
Improving physical and psychological outcomes of cardiac patients using the Naluri app: A study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

Background: Coronary artery disease (CAD) continues to be a significant burden to public health. Poor treatment and management can lead to more severe cardiac events that could result in death or disability. Early interventions like cardiac rehabilitation programs can provide patients the required knowledge, skills and support to recover from and prevent more cardiac events. Electronic health (eHealth) interventions have potential to complement hospital-based rehabilitation programs. This study aims to investigate the effectiveness of the Naluri app in improving health behaviours, clinical and psychological outcomes in a sample of cardiac patients in Malaysia. Methods: This study is a two-arm, parallel, superiority randomized control trial to be conducted at the Malaysian National Heart Institute. A total of 200 patients will be randomly assigned to either a 16-week theory-based Naluri app in addition to usual care (treatment) or to usual care only (control). Outcomes will be measured at baseline and at 16 weeks. Health behaviour outcomes include physical activity and diet. Clinical outcomes include BMI, hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c), and lipid levels. Psychological outcomes include anxiety, depression, and health related quality of life (HRQOL). The Naluri app theoretical framework is based on the Health Action Process Approach (HAPA) theory. Risk perception, self-efficacy, planning, intentions, outcome expectancies, illness perceptions and psychological outcomes will be measured using self-reported measures. Discussion: This trial will determine the effectiveness of the Naluri app intervention in improving various outcomes of cardiac patients after four months. It will provide data on the applicability of the HAPA theory in Mobile health (mHealth) intervention and the acceptance and efficacy of mHealth as a cardiac rehabilitation program for patients in Malaysia. The results may inform the potential implementation of the app for use with patients with other chronic illnesses like diabetes, stroke, and depression. Registration: Australia New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (14/01/2019, ACTRN12619000104156).
A Robust Optimization Method for Location Selection of Parcel Lockers under Uncertain Demands

Parcel lockers have continuously growing in popularity as an alternative mode for last-mile delivery services due to their capability of effectively alleviating the risk of a delivery failure, increasing the possibility of delivery consolidation, and reducing the number of drop-off sites. However, poorly located of parcel lockers be less efficient. When determining the parcel locker location, inadequate consideration of uncertain demands can potentially increase the risk of unsatisfied demands. To remedy this issue, a robust optimization model is proposed in this paper with consideration of the demand uncertainties, including the large and small parcels to be received and sent. Not only can the collection locations be optimally determined, but so can the number of large and small parcel lockers for each location at the same time under various robust levels. Meanwhile, the sites whose demands are covered by one of the collection locations are also determined by the constraints of acceptable walking distance. A series of numerical experiments has been performed to evaluate the proposed model, with the main focus being on the solution robustness. Since the set of non-linear constraints are transformed into the linear counterparts, the robust solution can be obtained by the existing solvers within a reasonable time with moderate computing power. The experimental results also provide useful guidance for the practical application of the method, as slightly more conservative decision making can secure the solution robustness with only a marginal increase in costs.
Determination of long focal length of lenses with Talbot interferometer

In this paper, a method for high-accuracy determination of long focal length based on Talbot interferometer is presented. Through changing the angle between two gratings, systematic errors are reduced effectively by calibration. The collimation of the light is determined by a standard concave mirror. The experimental results reveal that the relative error is 0.1%, and the repeatability is better than 0.1%. As the method is simple and somewhat insensitive to environmental effects, it is especially useful for measuring long focal-length lenses.
Rogue wave generation by inelastic quasi-soliton collisions in optical fibres

Optical “rogue” waves are rare and very high intensity pulses of light that occur in optical devices such as communication fibers. They appear suddenly and can cause transmission errors and damage in optical communication systems. Indeed, the physics governing their dynamics is very similar to “monster” or “freak” waves on the Earth’s oceans, which are known to harm shipping. It is therefore important to characterize rogue wave generation, dynamics and, if possible, predictability. Here we demonstrate a simple cascade mechanism that drives the formation and emergence of rogue waves in the generalized non-linear Schrodinger equation with third-order dispersion. This generation mechanism is based on inelastic collisions of quasi-solitons and is well described by a resonant-like scattering behaviour for the energy transfer in pair-wise quasi-soliton collisions. Our theoretical and numerical results demonstrate a threshold for rogue wave emergence and the existence of a period of reduced amplitudes — a “calm before the storm” — preceding the arrival of a rogue wave event. Comparing with ultra-long time window simulations of 3.865 × 106ps we observe the statistics of rogue waves in optical fibres with an unprecedented level of detail and accuracy, unambiguously establishing the long-ranged character of the rogue wave power-distribution function over seven orders of magnitude.