Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Use of misoprostol in pregnancy.

The article by Goldberg et al. in this issue of the Journal reviews the evidence supporting the use of misoprostol in women at various stages of pregnancy.1 The authors identified more than 200 studies involving more than 16,000 women who received misoprostol and conclude that “misoprostol is one of the most important medications in obstetrical practice. ”1 The product-information enclosure approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) states that misoprostol is indicated for the prevention of gastric ulcers caused by nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs in patients who are at high risk for these ulcers.2 The contraindications include pregnancy, because of misoprostol's .
Acinetobacter baumannii in Localised Cutaneous Mycobacteriosis in Falcons

Between May 2007 and April 2009, 29 falcons with identically localized, yellowish discolored cutaneous lesions in the thigh and lateral body wall region were presented at Abu Dhabi Falcon Hospital. Out of 18 falcons integrated in this study, 16 tested positive to Mycobacterium. avium complex. The 2 negative falcons tested positive in the Mycobacterium genus PCR. Moreover, 1 falcon tested positive to M. avium. paratuberculosis in tissue samples by PCR. In all cases, blood and fecal samples tested negative. In the acid-fast stain, all samples showed the for mycobacteriosis typical rods. Moreover, in 13 samples Acinetobacter baumannii was detected by PCR and proven by DNA sequencing. Clinical features included highly elevated WBCs, heterophilia, lymphocytopenia, monocytosis, severe anemia and weight loss. A. baumannii, a gram-negative bacillus with the ability to integrate foreign DNA, has emerged as one of the major multidrug resistant bacteria. In veterinary medicine, it has so far been detected in dogs, cats, horses and wild birds. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first report of an A. baumannii infection in falcons and of a veterinary Mycobacterium-Acinetobacter coinfection.
High-Q inductors on digital VLSI CMOS substrate for analog RF applications

In this paper, the design, modeling and performance of high-Q RF inductors using aggressively scaled digital VLSI CMOS technology are presented. Quality factors of 12.7 and 10, and self resonance frequencies of 45 GHz and 29 GHz are measured for inductors with values of 0.31 nH and 0.9 nH, respectively. The influence of parasitics is also investigated.
Response of Blood Pressure and Blood Glucose to Treatment With Recombinant Tissue-Type Plasminogen Activator in Acute Ischemic Stroke: Evidence From the Virtual International Stroke Trials Archive

Background and Purpose— Elevations in blood pressure (BP) and blood glucose are common during stroke and may represent a stress response secondary to the acute neurological deficit. If so, they should settle more completely in recombinant tissue-type plasminogen activator (rtPA)-treated patients in association with improved neurological status. Methods— We performed a controlled comparison of 24-hour declines in BP and glucose in rtPA-treated and control patients from the Virtual Stroke International Stroke Trial Archive (VISTA) database. Twenty-four-hour falls in BP and glucose were compared using multiple regression to account for baseline imbalances. The logarithmic transformation of glucose was used and 24-hour differences expressed as ratios of 24 hours to admission geometric means. Two-way analysis of variance was used to test for interaction between rtPA and early improvement for 24-hour falls in BP and blood glucose. Results— BP analysis included 5406 patients (rtPA=41%) and glucose analysis 4288 (rtPA=37%). rtPA-treated patients were younger, less likely to have a history of hypertension or diabetes, and had more severe strokes on admission. BP and glucose were lower at baseline in rtPA-treated patients than control subjects. On regression, rtPA predicted significantly greater 24-hour falls in systolic BP (&bgr;=3.9; 95% CI, 2.8–5.0), diastolic BP (&bgr;=3.1; 95% CI, 2.4–3.9), and glucose (&bgr;=0.97; 95% CI, 0.95–0.99). rtPA did not interact with early neurological improvement for 24-hour falls in systolic BP (P=0.72), diastolic BP (P=0.79), or blood glucose (P=0.51). Conclusions— A stress response does not appear to be the principal cause of elevations in BP and glucose during stroke.
Learner Requirement Analysis based on the Classification Framework of Online Learning Activities: A Mixed Method Research

The purpose of this paper is to set up a classification framework of online learning activities and analyze online learners’ requirements based on it. Fifty-nine online learning activity cases were collected from seven disciplines. Open coding, axial coding, and selective coding were conducted according to Grounded Theory. After step-by-step validation, the classification framework consists of six core categories (Argumentation, Resource Sharing, Collaboration, Inquiry, Evaluation, and Social Network) has been set up. Based on this, the online learners’ perceived demands have been extracted and the index weight has been investigated. Further study is needed to get more insight into each category and establish effective activity-based instruction models.
Shifting Paradigms: From Flexner to Competencies

Realizing medical education is on the brink of a major paradigm shift from structure- and process-based to competency-based education and measurement of outcomes, the authors reviewed the existing medical literature to provide practical insight into how to accomplish full implementation and evaluation of this new paradigm. They searched Medline and the Educational Resource Information Clearinghouse from the 1960s until the present, reviewed the titles and abstracts of the 469 articles the search produced, and chose 68 relevant articles for full review. The authors found that in the 1970s and 1980s much attention was given to the need for and the development of professional competencies for many medical disciplines. Little attention, however, was devoted to defining the benchmarks of specific competencies, how to attain them, or the evaluation of competence. Lack of evaluation strategies was likely one of the forces responsible for the three-decade lag between initiation of the movement and wide-spread adoption. Lessons learned from past experiences include the importance of strategic planning and faculty and learner buy-in for defining competencies. In addition, the benchmarks for defining competency and the thresholds for attaining competence must be clearly delineated. The development of appropriate assessment tools to measure competence remains the challenge of this decade, and educators must be responsible for studying the impact of this paradigm shift to determine whether its ultimate effect is the production of more competent physicians.
Precise hand movement telerehabilitation with virtual cubes for patients with Parkinson's disease

The preliminary study is focused on small range of motion and finger movements in persons with Parkinson disease. We presumed that such activity can increase participation and thus slow down the progress of the disease and increase the quality of life. For that purpose we have developed a virtual environment for pick and place of small virtual cubes. The person's hand and fingers movement were detected by a small table-top 3D camera and shown in virtual environment. In the 3-weeks study 18 patients with Parkinson disease participated. The participants carried out 10 sessions each lasting 30 min/day. A successful rate was measured as number of collected cubes within the limited time. Additionally clinical Jebsen, Box&Blocks, 9 Hole Peg Test and UPDRS tests were carried out before and after the study. The outcomes demonstrated the feasibility of the approach in small object manipulation. The preliminary results were encouraging in terms of functional movements and also demonstrated a potential objective evaluation.
Multimodal measurement of proximity and touch force by light- and strain-sensitive multifunctional MEMS sensor

A multimodal sensor with Si micro-cantilever embedded in PDMS elastomer for measurement of proximity and touch forces has been fabricated and characterized. DC resistance of the strain gauge on the cantilever changes in proportion to the indentation depth of the object. On the other hand, the AC (> 0.5 MHz) impedance including photo-sensitive component of Si increases with increase of distance between the sensor surface and the object because of decrease of light intensity reflected on the object surface. Moreover, the AC impedance is different between grounding and floating of the proximate object because of difference of distribution of electrostatic field between electrodes, so that it is suggested that proximity can be detected as the impedance change by light as well as the electric field.
Delivery system for creation of one-step in vivo lac gene fusions in Pseudomonas spp. involved in biological control

The suicide plasmid pVA838 carrying the operon fusion transposon Tn5-lac was used as a delivery system to introduce Tn5-lac into Pseudomonas sp. strain M114. Random, in vivo lac gene fusions were successfully isolated in a one-step conjugation approach with this vector system. Tn5-lac-containing exconjugants were recovered at a frequency of approximately 10(-7) per recipient. However, when the mating temperature was increased from the normal growth temperature (28 degrees C) to 34 degrees C, the frequency was increased to approximately 10(-4) per recipient. A number of in vivo lac gene fusions were isolated and characterized in strain M114, a potentially important bacterium for biological control purposes.
Shifted Set Families, Degree Sequences, and Plethysm

We study, in three parts, degree sequences of k-families (or k-uniform hypergraphs) and shifted k-families. The first part collects for the first time in one place, various implications such as: Threshold implies Uniquely Realizable implies Degree-Maximal implies Shifted, which are equivalent concepts for 2-families (=simple graphs), but strict implications for k-families with k > 2. The implication that uniquely realizable implies degree-maximal seems to be new. The second part recalls Merris and Roby's reformulation of the characterization due to Ruch and Gutman for graphical degree sequences and shifted 2-families. It then introduces two generalizations which are characterizations of shifted k-families. The third part recalls the connection between degree sequences of k-families of size m and the plethysm of elementary symmetric functions e_m[e_k]. It then uses highest weight theory to explain how shifted k-families provide the ``top part'' of these plethysm expansions, along with offering a conjecture about a further relation.
Can We Predict Who in the Audience will Ask What Kind of Questions with their Feedback Behaviors in Poster Conversation?

We investigate feedback behaviors in conversations in poster sessions, speciﬁcally whether it is possible to predict who in the audience will ask questions, and also what kind of questions. We focus on verbal backchannels and non-verbal noddings by the audience as well as joint eye-gaze events by the presenter and the audience. We ﬁrst show how these patterns are correlated with turn-taking by the audience. Then, questions made by the audience are classiﬁed into two kinds: conﬁrming questions and substantive questions. It is suggested that only verbal backchannels are useful for distinguishing them.
Learning Market Parameters Using Aggregate Demand Queries

We study efficient algorithms for a natural learning problem in markets. There is one seller with m divisible goods and n buyers with unknown individual utility functions and budgets of money. The seller can repeatedly announce prices and observe aggregate demand bundles requested by the buyers. The goal of the seller is to learn the utility functions and budgets of the buyers. Our scenario falls into the classic domain of ''revealed preference'' analysis. Problems with revealed preference have recently started to attract increased interest in computer science due to their fundamental nature in understanding customer behavior in electronic markets. The goal of revealed preference analysis is to observe rational agent behavior, to explain it using a suitable model for the utility functions, and to predict future agent behavior. Our results are the first polynomial-time algorithms to learn utility and budget parameters via revealed preference queries in classic Fisher markets with multiple buyers. Our analysis concentrates on linear, CES, and Leontief markets, which are the most prominent classes studied in the literature. Some of our results extend to general Arrow-Debreu exchange markets.
A Hospital-Based Survey of Risk Factors for Diabetic Foot Ulceration in Northern Thailand

Ulceration of the foot is found more commonly in patients with diabetes mellitus than those without it. Foot ulcers affect the lives of patients in many ways, and though good care can be defined, loss of limb is a common occurrence in this patient group. Therefore, early detection of the foot at risk for foot ulceration is of paramount importance. Many risk factors for this type of ulcer have been previously reported such as neuropathy, deformity of the foot, arterial occlusion, and poor glycemic control. The authors conducted a hospital-based survey in patients attending a hospital diabetic clinic to establish a baseline database and found that the percentages of sensory neuropathy, history of claudication and poor glycemic control were 19.2%, 5.7%, and 79.7%, respectively. This suggests the need to establish good diabetic control and health education for our patient population.
Pediatric Germ Cell Tumors From 1987 to 2011: Incidence Rates, Time Trends, and Survival

BACKGROUND: Malignant germ cell tumors (GCTs) are a rare and a heterogeneous group of pediatric cancers. The incidence rate has increased in some populations or subgroups. However, only a few recent publications on epidemiologic data showing the trends in incidence of pediatric GCTs are available. METHODS: We analyzed the incidence rates, time trends, and survival for 1366 GCTs in children 0 to 14 years old registered in the nationwide, population-based German Childhood Cancer Registry in 1987–2011. RESULTS: The incidence rate of GCTs was slightly higher in girls (age-standardized rate: girls, 5.3; boys, 4.4 per million). A bimodal age distribution was seen. In children aged <1 year, the highest age-specific incidence rates were seen for girls with GCTs in the pelvis (12.7 per million) and for boys with GCTs in the testis (9.5 per million). For 10- to 14-year-old boys, the tumors occurred most often in the central nervous system (3.1 per million); for girls, the most common site was in the ovaries (4.5 per million). Only the incidence rate for ovarian GCTs increased statistically significantly. The 5- and 20-year survival probabilities for the patients diagnosed between 1987 and 2010 were 92% and 90%, respectively. Survival rates improved notably for intracranial and extragonadal GCTs from 1987 to 2006. CONCLUSIONS: The localization and histology of the GCTs varied between the genders and age groups. During 1987 to 2011, the incidence rate increased only for ovarian GCTs. The increase, however, may be due to changes in reporting. The survival rates were excellent.
Settleable algal-bacterial culture for municipal wastewater treatment

A wastewater-born and settleable algal-bacterial culture, cultivated in a stirred tank photobioreactor under lab conditions, was used to remove the carbon and nutrients in municipal wastewater and accumulate biomass simultaneously. The algal-bacterial culture showed good settleable property and could totally settle down over 20 min, resulting in a reduction of total suspended solids from an initial 1.84 to 0.016 g/l. The average removal efficiencies of chemical oxygen demand, total kjeldahl nitrogen and phosphate were 98.2 1.3%, 88.3 1.6% and 64.8 1.0% within 8 days, respectively, while the average biomass productivity was 10.9 1.1 g/m$d. Accumulation into biomass, identified as the main nitrogen and phosphorus removal mechanism, accounted for 44.9 0.4% and 61.6 0.5% of total inlet nitrogen and phosphorus, respectively. Microscopic analysis showed the main algae species in the bioreactor were filamentous bluegreen algae. Furthermore, denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis and 16S rDNA gene sequencing revealed that the main bacteria present in the photobioreactor were consortia with sequences similar to those of Flavobacteria, Gammaproteobacteria, Bacteroidia and Betaproteobacteria. This study explores a better understanding of an algae-bacteria system and offers new information on further usage of biomass accumulated during treatment. a 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Application of two stream water temperature simulation models in the Fenton River-Storrs-Connecticut

In this research, the physically-based WTS (Water Temperature Simulation) model was developed to predict water temperature changes in a river in eastern Connecticut during the summer. The model was applied and calibrated with a one-hour time step during the summer’s low-flow season on the Fenton River, which is tributary of the Mansfield Hollow Lake. Temperatures were recorded at one-hour intervals during the summer in 2004 and 2005, at various locations along the river to provide data for the model’s calibration. Model results were tested against observed stream temperatures and also compared to the SSTemp (Stream Segment Temperature model) created by Bartholow (2002). Results show that both models can be used to predict changes in stream temperature due to changes in groundwater inflow/outflow, and could be used to assess various water management scenarios.
Leukocyte phenotype and function predicts infection risk in renal transplant recipients.

BACKGROUND The degree to which transplant recipients are immunosuppressed influences their risks of rejection, infection and cancer. Current measures of immune suppression are crude (clinical events) or indirect (drug exposure). We assessed a direct measure of immune status, leukocyte phenotype and function (LPF, a composite measure of five aspects of peripheral blood leukocyte phenotype and function), as a predictor of infection. METHODS A double-blind, prospective, cohort study was conducted, to determine the burden of infection in stable renal transplant recipients with moderate-severe (Group I, n = 34) or minimal (Group II, n = 36) impairment of LPF, a composite score of: (i) CD4 count; (ii) lymphocyte proliferation in response to phytohaemagglutinin A (PHA); (iii) serum Ig concentrations; (iv) neutrophil phagocytic function; and (v) reactive oxygen species generation. Subjects completed a 6 month diary and each recorded infection was scored 1-4: 1, minor undefined infection (e.g. URTI); 2, minor, microbiologically defined infection (e.g. UTI); 3, major defined infection (requiring hospitalization); 4, opportunistic infection (e.g. Herpes zoster). Final infection score was the sum of all infective episodes. Subjects were then followed-up for 5 years for outcome measures. RESULTS Groups were well matched for age, sex, diabetes, serum creatinine, rejection and trough cyclosporin concentrations. Group I (moderate to severe impairment of LPF) recorded a higher infection score, 2.4+/-2.8 vs 1.2+/-1.2 for Group II, P = 0.02, due to a higher incidence of moderate to severe infection. This relationship was confirmed by multivariate analysis (OR 1.83, CI 1.08, 3.11, P = 0.03 per unit increase in infection score). During the 5 year follow-up period they had significantly more episodes of admission to hospital, and twice as many admissions due to infections, but no difference in malignancy, graft or patient outcome. CONCLUSION LPF testing prospectively identified a cohort who incurred a higher burden of infection. Further studies are required to determine the predictive value of LPF for acute rejection, infection and cancer, and to determine whether adjustments to therapy on the basis of LPF can lead to improved outcomes.
PRINTS--a database of protein motif fingerprints.

PRINTS is a compendium of protein motif 'fingerprints'. A fingerprint is defined as a group of motifs excised from conserved regions of a sequence alignment, whose diagnostic power or potency is refined by iterative databasescanning (in this case the OWL composite sequence database). Generally, the motifs do not overlap, but are separated along a sequence, though they may be contiguous in 3D-space. The use of groups of independent, linearly- or spatially-distinct motifs allows protein folds and functionalities to be characterised more flexibly and powerfully than conventional single-component patterns or regular expressions. The current version of the database contains 200 entries (encoding 950 motifs), covering a wide range of globular and membrane proteins, modular polypeptides, and so on. The growth of the databaseis influenced by a number of factors; e.g. the use of multiple motifs; the maximisation of sequence information through iterative database scanning; and the fact that the database searched is a large composite. The information contained within PRINTS is distinct from, but complementary to the consensus expressions stored in the widely-used PROSITE dictionary of patterns.
Humans take control of fire-driven diversity changes in Mediterranean Iberia’s vegetation during the mid–late Holocene

Fire regime changes are considered a major threat to future biodiversity in the Mediterranean Basin. Such predictions remain uncertain, given that fire regime changes and their ecological impacts occur over timescales that are too long for direct observation. Here we analyse centennial- and millennial-scale shifts in fire regimes and compositional turnover to track the consequences of fire regime shifts on Mediterranean vegetation diversity. We estimated rate-of-change, richness and compositional turnover (beta diversity) in 13 selected high-resolution palaeoecological records from Mediterranean Iberia and compared these with charcoal-inferred fire regime changes. Event sequence analysis showed fire regime shifts to be significantly temporally associated with compositional turnover, particularly during the last three millennia. We find that the timing and direction of fire and diversity change in Mediterranean Iberia are best explained by long-term human–environment interactions dating back perhaps 7500 years. Evidence suggests that Neolithic burning propagated a first wave of increasing vegetation openness and promoted woodland diversity around early farming settlements. Landscape transformation intensified around 5500 to 5000 cal. yr BP and accelerated during the last two millennia, as fire led to permanent transitions in ecosystem state. These fire episodes increased open vegetation diversity, decreased woodland diversity and significantly altered richness on a regional scale. Our study suggests that anthropogenic fires played a primary role in diversity changes in Mediterranean Iberia. Their millennia-long legacy in today’s vegetation should be considered for biodiversity conservation and landscape management.