Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Perirectal block for out-patient anorectal surgery: a new technique.

INTRODUCTION Perirectal block using four puncture places has been classically described for rectal surgery. OBJECTIVE This paper was aimed at showing the quality of anesthesia and postoperative analgesia using a new two-puncture-site technique. MATERIALS AND METHODS Patients scheduled for ambulatory rectal surgery between January/2003 and December/2007 were included consecutively. The new two-puncture technique was used. Alternative anesthetic management and level of postoperative pain requirements were evaluated (rated visual analogue scale-VAS). Follow-up was done by telephone between 1st and 10th postoperative day to evaluate complications, pain (yes/no), and satisfaction level (1-5 points score). RESULTS Four hundred and nine subjects were included; 50.61% were female. Mean age was 43 (95%CI: 41-44; range: 17-85), 12.7% were aged over 60. According to the American Society of Anesthesiology (ASA), 72.6% were classified as ASA1 and 26.1% ASA2. External and internal hemorrhoidectomy was performed on 31% of patients; 61.6% had two or more procedures. Lidocaine was used on 406 subjects. Ropivacaine was added for 9.2% of them and levobupivacaine for 89.4%. 394 patients were followed-up. Median follow-up was 4 days. A response was obtained from 346 subjects (84.6%); 105 (30.3%) recalled having suffered pain during the post-operative period, being most frequent in the lidocaine+ropivacaine group (17/39, 43.5%) than in the lidocaine+bupivacaine group (88/307, 28.6%). Satisfaction was evaluated by 336 subjects (82.1%), 332 of them (98.8%) awarding a score of 5. Two subjects (0.6%) scored this 2 and 1. Subjects did not mention complications. CONCLUSIONS The new peri-rectal two-puncture block technique is easy and also provides analgesia and a high degree of satisfaction.
Collective Supervision of Topic Models for Predicting Surveys with Social Media

This paper considers survey prediction from social media. We use topic models to correlate social media messages with survey outcomes and to provide an interpretable representation of the data. Rather than rely on fully unsupervised topic models, we use existing aggregated survey data to inform the inferred topics, a class of topic model supervision referred to as collective supervision. We introduce and explore a variety of topic model variants and provide an empirical analysis, with conclusions of the most effective models for this task.
The Protection Racket State: Elite Politics, Military Extortion, and Civil War in El Salvador. By Stanley William. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press, 1996. 328p. $59.95 cloth, $22.95 paper.

subparts of more general theoretical relationships. In both the Suez and Falkland cases, the importance of two-level games, bureaucratic politics, and transnational relations was part of the outcome, not part of the explanation. That observation suggests that both academics and policymakers might benefit by stressing theoretical approaches to policy choice and bargaining that are less tied to restrictive empirical assumptions than the ones reviewed by Richardson. For instance, since the key actors' preferences remained stable throughout these cases and the outcomes were clearly the result of variations in the compatibility of their preferences, relative power positions, and resolve, it would seem that Richardson's analysis is closer to a rational-choice, game-theoretic account of coalition building than it is to any of the approaches she reviews. Indeed, about the only change she would need to make in the theoretical structure of her argument—and it would be wise to make it whether or not she is comfortable with rational choice approaches—is in her treatment of power. In yet another example of one of the most perplexing mysteries in political science (how very smart and well-trained scholars can continue to ignore the insights of the social power literature), Richardson treats power as if it were an attribute of states and neglects to examine how it varies across different issues and actors. The suggestion that the United States had more power to manage alliance relations during the Suez than the Falklands crisis—in the 1950s the United States could "rely solely on the preponderance of its power to . prevail" (p. 1); "in 1956 the United States had unrivaled power" (p. 203)—struggles with the claim that Britain was capable of carrying out the Suez operation without U.S. help but needed it in the Falklands. Moreover, even the notion that the British had the power to prevail over Egypt does not seem to take into account their financial and energy vulnerability. As these cases demonstrate once again, the sources of power vary with the scope and domain of the influence attempt.
Caste and Gender in Relation to Health Inequality

This article is based on a micro-level village study in Kerala, the southernmost Indian state with its long-standing impressive basic indicators in health, economic growth and social development. Using the theoretical perspective of ‘cultural inflation of morbidity’ for a hypothesis of continuing inequities in health outcomes, it examines how far such impressive basic indicators have actually translated into equity in health outcomes, defined in terms of incidence of morbidity and morbidity pattern. Confirming the hypothesis, the findings discuss to what extent both caste and gender, separately and together, may be continuing today to mediate health outcomes in a changing socio-economic environment.
Increasing the readability of graph drawings with centrality-based scaling

A common problem in visualising some networks is the presence of localised high density areas in an otherwise sparse graph. Applying common graph drawing algorithms on such networks can result in drawings that are not highly readable in the dense areas. Additionally, networks whose layouts are defined geographically often have dense areas that are located within small geographical regions relative to the size of the entire network. In cases where relationships within these dense areas are of interest, it is desirable to be able to distort the graph layout such that the denser areas are enlarged from their original sizes.In this paper, we propose a technique for enlarging dense areas of a given graph layout, and shrinking sparse areas. This technique is applied to geographical layouts of railway networks and force-directed layouts of non-geographical networks. The results show an increase in readability of dense parts of the networks. In addition, they provide improved starting layouts for schematisation methods which may be used to further increase readability.
The CD14+CD16+ Inflammatory Monocyte Subset Displays Increased Mitochondrial Activity and Effector Function During Acute Plasmodium vivax Malaria

Infection with Plasmodium vivax results in strong activation of monocytes, which are important components of both the systemic inflammatory response and parasite control. The overall goal of this study was to define the role of monocytes during P. vivax malaria. Here, we demonstrate that P. vivax–infected patients display significant increase in circulating monocytes, which were defined as CD14+CD16− (classical), CD14+CD16+ (inflammatory), and CD14loCD16+ (patrolling) cells. While the classical and inflammatory monocytes were found to be the primary source of pro-inflammatory cytokines, the CD16+ cells, in particular the CD14+CD16+ monocytes, expressed the highest levels of activation markers, which included chemokine receptors and adhesion molecules. Morphologically, CD14+ were distinguished from CD14lo monocytes by displaying larger and more active mitochondria. CD14+CD16+ monocytes were more efficient in phagocytizing P. vivax-infected reticulocytes, which induced them to produce high levels of intracellular TNF-α and reactive oxygen species. Importantly, antibodies specific for ICAM-1, PECAM-1 or LFA-1 efficiently blocked the phagocytosis of infected reticulocytes by monocytes. Hence, our results provide key information on the mechanism by which CD14+CD16+ cells control parasite burden, supporting the hypothesis that they play a role in resistance to P. vivax infection.
Facial expression recognition with dynamic Gabor volume feature

Facial expression recognition is a long standing problem in affective computing community. A key step is extracting effective features from face images. Gabor filters have been widely used for this purpose. However, a big challenge for Gabor filters is its high dimensionality. In this paper, we propose an efficient feature called dynamic Gabor volume feature (DGVF) based on Gabor filters while with a lower dimensionality for facial expression recognition. In our approach, we first apply Gabor filters with multi-scale and multi-orientation to extract different Gabor faces. And these Gabor faces are arranged into a 3-D volume and Histograms of Oriented Gradients from Three Orthogonal Planes (HOG-TOP) are further employed to encode the 3-D volume in a compact way. Finally, SVM is trained to perform the classification. The experiments conducted on the Extended Cohn-Kanade (CK+) Dataset show that the proposed DGVF is robust to capture and represent the facial appearance features. And our method also achieves a superior performance compared with the other state-of-the-art methods.
University of Indonesia at TREC 2011 Microblog Task

this paper we describe our submission to the TREC2011 MicroblogTrack. Our run combines different methods namely customized scoring function, query reformulation, and query expansion. We apply query expansion from dataset with different weighting scheme. Furthermore, we do an initial experiment to incorporate timestamp of the tweet document in order to improve search performance. We found the query expansion utilizing external search result combined with re-tweet value in the customized scoring function was the most effective.
Outdoor RGB-D SLAM Performance in Slow Mine Detection

The introduction of Kinect-style RGB-D cameras has dramatically revolutionized robotics research in a very short span. However, despite their low cost and excellent indoor performance in comparison with other competing technologies, they face some basic limitations which prevent their use in outdoor environments. Perhaps for the first time, we report an outdoor application of Kinect-style cameras in a robotics application. We report the use of benchmark RGB-D SLAM algorithm in a land-mine detection application. We argue that due to the slow nature of mine-detection tasks, basic limitations of RGB-D outdoor performance are overcome or gracefully negotiated. We report results from extensive experimentation in a variety of terrains & lighting conditions for three different types of robots.
Price of Stability in Games of Incomplete Information

We address the question of whether price of stability results (existence of equilibria with low social cost) are robust to incomplete information. We show that this is the case in potential games, if the underlying algorithmic social cost minimization problem admits a constant factor approximation algorithm via strict cost-sharing schemes. Roughly, if the existence of an $\alpha$-approximate equilibrium in the complete information setting was proven via the potential method, then there also exists a $\alpha\cdot \beta$-approximate Bayes-Nash equilibrium in the incomplete information setting, where $\beta$ is the approximation factor of the strict-cost sharing scheme algorithm. We apply our approach to Bayesian versions of the archetypal, in the price of stability analysis, network design models and show the existence of $O(\log(n))$-approximate Bayes-Nash equilibria in several games whose complete information counterparts have been well-studied, such as undirected network design games, multi-cast games and covering games.
Trabectedin as a single agent and in combination with pegylated liposomal doxorubicin – activity against ovarian cancer cells

Over 225 000 new cases of ovarian cancer are diagnosed each year. Symptoms are often vague, so most cases are detected when the disease is at an advanced stage. There is a need to find new drugs which will be able to treat ovarian cancer effectively. One of the most promising antineoplastic agents is trabectedin (Yondelis), derived from the marine tunicate Ecteinascidia turbinata, approved by the European Union in July 2007 for the treatment of soft-tissue sarcomas. This drug shows a mechanism of action based on the inhibition of the nucleotide excision repair system. Trabectedin shows anti-tumour activity in vitro and in vivo in ovarian, breast, prostate, renal, melanoma and non-small cell lung cancer cell lines. Trabectedin in combination with pegylated liposomal doxorubicin demonstrates synergistic antineoplastic activity.
Early Diagnosis and Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation for IL10R Deficiency Leading to Very Early-Onset Inflammatory Bowel Disease Are Essential in Familial Cases

Alterations of immune homeostasis in the gut may result in development of inflammatory bowel disease. A five-month-old girl was referred for recurrent respiratory and genitourinary tract infections, sepsis in neonatal period, chronic diarrhea, perianal abscess, rectovaginal fistula, and hyperemic skin lesions. She was born to second-degree consanguineous, healthy parents. Her elder siblings were lost at 4 months of age due to sepsis and 1 year of age due to inflammatory bowel disease, respectively. Absolute neutrophil and lymphocyte counts, immunoglobulin levels, and lymphocyte subsets were normal ruling out severe congenital neutropenia and classic severe combined immunodeficiencies. Quantitative determination of oxidative burst was normal, excluding chronic granulomatous disease. Colonoscopy revealed granulation, ulceration, and pseudopolyps, compatible with colitis. Very early-onset colitis and perianal disease leading to fistula formation suggested probability of inherited deficiencies of IL-10 or IL-10 receptor. A mutation at position c.G477A in exon of the IL10RB gene, resulting in a stop codon at position p.W159X, was identified. The patient underwent myeloablative hematopoietic stem cell transplantation from full matched father at 11 months of age. Perianal lesions, chronic diarrhea, and recurrent infections resolved after transplantation. IL-10/IL-10R deficiencies must be considered in patients with early-onset enterocolitis.
Performance of turbo irregular LDPC codes

A kind of new parallel concatenated LDPC codes (NPCGC) is presented which use two same degree distribution pairs of irregular LDPC codes constructed by the progressive edge-growth (PEG) algorithm in turbo structure. The PEG algorithm for constructing Tanner graphs with large girth by progressively establishing edges or connections between symbol and check nodes in an edge-by-edge manner is used to construct a sparse parity check matrix and a simple encoding method is used to encode the irregular LDPC codes. The advantages of NPCGC over PCGC, irregular LDPC code and turbo code are demonstrated by extensive simulation results on code performance
Visible L-theory

The visible Symmetrie L-groups enjoy roughly the same formal properties s the Symmetrie L-groups of Mishchenko and Ranicki. For a fixed fundamental group π, there is a long exact sequence involving the quadratic L-groups of π, the visible Symmetrie L-groups of π, and some homology of π. This makes visible Symmetrie L-theory computable for fundamental groups whose ordinary (quadratic) L-theory is computable. 1991 Mathematics Subject Classification: 57R67, 19J25. 0. Introduction The visible Symmetrie L-groups are a refmement of the Symmetrie L-groups of Mishchenko [12] and Ranicki [15]. They are much easier to compute, although they hardly differ from the Symmetrie L-groups in their formal properties. Cappell and Shaneson [3] use the visible Symmetrie L-groups in studying 4-dimensional -s-cobordisms; see also Kwasik and Schultz [8]. The visible Symmetrie L-groups are related to the Ronnie Lee L-groups of Milgram [11]. The reader is assumed to be famili r with the main results and definitions of Ranicki [l 5]. Let R be a commutative ring (with unit), let π be a discrete group, and equip the group ring R [π] with the w-twisted involution for some homomorphism w: n -> Z2. An n-dimensional Symmetrie algebraic Poincare complex (SAPC) over R[n] is a finite dimensional chain complex C of finitely generated free left R [7r]-modules, together with a nondegenerate n-cycle where Wis the Standard resolution of Z over / [ZJ. Now fix a right free resolution P of R over R [π]. An «-dimensional visible Symmetrie algebraic Poincare complex (VSAPC) is a chain complex C s above, together with an w-cycle φ E P ® W HomZ[Z2](PF, C ®R C)
Elevated YKL40 is associated with advanced prostate cancer (PCa) and positively regulates invasion and migration of PCa cells

Chitinase 3-like 1 (CHI3L1 or YKL40) is a secreted glycoprotein highly expressed in tumours from patients with advanced stage cancers, including prostate cancer (PCa). The exact function of YKL40 is poorly understood, but it has been shown to play an important role in promoting tumour angiogenesis and metastasis. The therapeutic value and biological function of YKL40 are unknown in PCa. The objective of this study was to examine the expression and function of YKL40 in PCa. Gene expression analysis demonstrated that YKL40 was highly expressed in metastatic PCa cells when compared with less invasive and normal prostate epithelial cell lines. In addition, the expression was primarily limited to androgen receptor-positive cell lines. Evaluation of YKL40 tissue expression in PCa patients showed a progressive increase in patients with aggressive disease when compared with those with less aggressive cancers and normal controls. Treatment of LNCaP and C4-2B cells with androgens increased YKL40 expression, whereas treatment with an anti-androgen agent decreased the gene expression of YKL40 in androgen-sensitive LNCaP cells. Furthermore, knockdown of YKL40 significantly decreased invasion and migration of PCa cells, whereas overexpression rendered them more invasive and migratory, which was commensurate with an enhancement in the anchorage-independent growth of cells. To our knowledge, this study characterises the role of YKL40 for the first time in PCa. Together, these results suggest that YKL40 plays an important role in PCa progression and thus inhibition of YKL40 may be a potential therapeutic strategy for the treatment of PCa.
The rejuvenation of starburst regions due to massive close binary evolution

We present the results of population number synthe- sis calculations on young starbursts in regions of solar metal- licity (Z=0.02), using a Monte Carlo simulation of bursts con- taining 1000 stellar objects. They clearly show that one has to account for interacting binaries to get a correct image of these regions. Independently of all sorts of distributions such as initial mass function (IMF) or mass ratio distribution, interact- ing binary evolution makes starbursts look younger than they really are. What happens is that after some time, the area of the main sequence (MS) above the actual turnoff point of the Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram (HRD) gets crowded with accre- tion stars, which are part of the end product of mass transfer in close binaries. Shortly after their appearance, these accretion stars (blue Stragglers) begin to dominate the O star population in a starburst, proceeding to the moment where they are the only ones left (since at that particular stage, all the O type single stars and binary O type primaries have disappeared). As a con- sequence, if it is assumed that the entire population are single stars, or that the features of the starburst are solely due to sin- gle star evolution, the resulting age estimation of the starburst is wrong, i.e. the starburst may be considerably older than it appears.
Differential-Rate Sound Processing for Cochlear Implants

The aim of this study was to evaluate the Differential-Rate Sound Processing (DRSP) strategy for speech perception by users of the Nucleus cochlear implant. The DRSP strategy uses both low and high rates of stimulation – applying a low rate of stimulation to apical, lower-frequency electrodes and a high rate of stimulation to basal, higher-frequency electrodes. Ten patients implanted with the Nucleus CI-24M cochlear implant were evaluated with three speech processing strategies: 250 pulses per second (pps) over all electrodes, 1500 pps over all electrodes, and DRSP with 250 pps on electrodes up to 2400 Hz and 1500 pps for the remaining electrodes. There was no difference found between strategies across research subjects for consonant, vowel, CVC words and sentences-in-noise tests. However, there were significant individual subject differences confirming that there is still a case for considering lowrate stimulation when Mapping patients. The DRSP strategy demonstrated a compromise between the fixed low-rate and high-rate strategies that can perform equal to or better than either of these strategies for most subjects.
Master equation approach to protein folding

The dynamics of two 12-monomer heteropolymers on the square lattice is studied exactly within the master equation approach. The time evolution of the occupancy of the native state is determined. At low temperatures, the median folding time follows the Arrhenius law and is governed by the longest relaxation time. For good folders, significant kinetic traps appear in the folding funnel whereas for bad folders, the traps also occur in non-native energy valleys.
ROSS: A rapid protein structure alignment algorithm

Protein structure comparison is very important in bioinformatics as the function of a protein is determined by its structure. Finding relationships between proteins is very necessary. The databases for proteins are growing rapidly. Therefore there is a strong need for rapid algorithms to handle large number of requests made by biologists. This means that protein structure comparison is an active research area. Relative Orientation of Secondary Structure (ROSS) algorithm for protein structure alignment is proposed. ROSS is a sequential (preserving order) sequence-independent structure alignment algorithm. This work proposes a data reduction and a hierarchical approach for the structure alignment of proteins. The data reduction is done in the pre-processing stage to compute small descriptors for proteins and store them in a repository. This reduction speeds up the process of aligning the structure of a query protein to a large number of proteins. The comparison process is performed hierarchically. The reduced representation depends on the vectors representing the axes of the Secondary Structure Elements (SSE's) and the inter-direction between their centroids. The accuracy of the algorithm is similar to the well known algorithms Secondary-Structure Matching (SSM) and Vector Alignment Search Tool (VAST), used through their websites. The speed of the algorithm is around fifty times that of TM Align algorithm. This speed enables searching for similarities within large datasets instantly. Moreover, the algorithm achieves reduction ratio around 30:1.