Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Volar locking plate versus percutaneous fixation for the treatment of distal radial fractures : a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

Background: Although operative fixation with a volar locking plate is becoming increasingly popular for treatment of distal radius fractures, it is not clear whether it is superior to other conventional treatment methods such as percutaneous fixation with Kirschner wires. The present meta-analysis compared the effects of internal fixation with volar locking plates and percutaneous fixation for the treatment of distal radius fractures. Methods: A literature search was performed without language restrictions and all randomized controlled studies comparing the effects of volar locking plates and percutaneous fixation for the treatment of distal radial fractures were included. Data of function scores, range of motion, grip strength, radiographic results, and complications were pooled and analyzed with a standard meta-analytical method. Results: Seven studies in seven publications were included. Pooled data indicated that there were no significant differences in Patient-Related Wrist Evaluation (PRWE) and Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder, and Hand (DASH) scores between the two treatment methods postoperatively. Fixation with volar locking plates took significantly longer than percutaneous fixation. There was a significant difference in supination and grip strength favoring volar locking plate fixation at 3 and 6 months but not at ≥12 months, postoperatively. The final complication rates were similar in the two treatment groups. Conclusion: In the management of distal radius fractures, volar locking plate and percutaneous fixation yielded similar outcomes, while the former had the advantage of supination and grip strength in the early stage postoperatively. Percutaneous fixation was quicker to perform than volar locking plate fixation.
Association Rules Mining Based Clinical Observations

Healthcare institutes enrich the repository of patients' disease related information in an increasing manner which could have been more useful by carrying out relational analysis. Data mining algorithms are proven to be quite useful in exploring useful correlations from larger data repositories. In this paper we have implemented Association Rules mining based a novel idea for finding co-occurrences of diseases carried by a patient using the healthcare repository. We have developed a system-prototype for Clinical State Correlation Prediction (CSCP) which extracts data from patients' healthcare database, transforms the OLTP data into a Data Warehouse by generating association rules. The CSCP system helps reveal relations among the diseases. The CSCP system predicts the correlation(s) among primary disease (the disease for which the patient visits the doctor) and secondary disease/s (which is/are other associated disease/s carried by the same patient having the primary disease).
American College of Cardiology/american Heart Association Clinical Competence Statement on Invasive Electrophysiology Studies, Catheter Ablation, and Cardioversion a Report of the American College of Cardiology/american Heart Association/american College of Physicians–american Society of Internal Me

T he granting of clinical staff privileges to physicians is a primary mechanism used by institutions to uphold the quality of patient care. The Joint Commission on Accredita-tion of Healthcare Organizations requires that the granting of continuing medical staff privileges be based on assessments of applicants in accordance with professional criteria specified in the medical staff bylaws. Physicians and other health-care providers are thus charged with identifying the criteria that constitute professional competence and with evaluating their peers accordingly. The process of evaluating clinical knowledge and competence is often constrained by the evaluator's knowledge and ability to elicit the appropriate information, a problem that is compounded by the growing number of highly specialized procedures for which privileges are requested. The American College of Cardiology (ACC)/American Heart Association (AHA)/American College of Physicians– American Society of Internal Medicine (ACP-ASIM) Task Force on Clinical Competence was formed in 1998 to develop recommendations to attain and maintain the cognitive and technical skills necessary for the competency performance of a specific cardiovascular service, procedure, or technology. These documents are evidence based, and where evidence is not available, expert opinion is used to formulate recommendations. Indications and contraindications for specific services or procedures are not included in the scope of these guidelines. Recommendations are intended to assist those who must judge the competence of cardiovascular healthcare providers who are entering practice for the first time and those who are in practice and undergo periodic review of their practice expertise. Because the assessment of competence is complex and multidimensional, the isolated recommendations given here may not be sufficient or appropriate for the judgment of overall competence. Board specialty certification is not a required part of these guidelines but rather is another measure of expertise. The ACC/AHA/ACP-ASIM Task Force on Clinical Competence makes every effort to avoid any actual or potential College of Cardiology/American Heart Association clinical competence statement on invasive electrophysiology studies, catheter ablation, and cardioversion. conflicts of interest that might arise as a result of an outside relationship or a personal interest of a member of the Writing Committee. Specifically, all members of the Writing Committee are asked to provide disclosure statements of all such relationships that might be perceived as real or potential conflicts of interest. These statements are reviewed by the Writing Committee and updated as changes occur.
Virtual Reality and Psychotherapy

Virtual Reality (VR) is a new technology consisting on a graphic environment in which the user, not only has the feeling of being physically present in a virtual world, but he/she can interact with it. The first VR workstations were designed for big companies in order to create environments that simulate certain situations to train professionals. However, at this moment a great expansion of this technology is taking place in several fields, including the area of health. Especially interesting for us is the use of VR as a therapeutic tool in the treatment of psychological disorders. Compared to the traditional treatments, VR has many advantages (e.g., it is a protected environment for the patient, he/she can re-experience many times the feared situation, etc.). There are already data on the effectiveness of this technology in the treatment of different psychological disorders; here anxiety disorders, eating disorders and sexual disorders are reviewed. Finally, this chapter ends with some words about the limitations of VR and future perspectives.
Toward Graphene Plasmon-Based Free-Electron IR to X-ray Sources

Rapid progress in nanofabrication methods has fuelled a quest for ultra-compact photonic integrated systems and nanoscale light sources. The prospect of small-footprint, high-quality emitters of short-wavelength radiation is especially exciting due to the importance of extreme ultraviolet and X-ray radiation as research and diagnostic tools in medicine, engineering, and the natural sciences. Here, we propose a highly-directional, tunable, and monochromatic radiation source based on electrons interacting with graphene plasmons (GPs). Our complementary analytical theory and ab-initio simulations demonstrate that the high momentum of the strongly-confined GPs enables the generation of high-frequency radiation from relatively low-energy electrons, bypassing the need for lengthy electron acceleration stages or extreme laser intensities. For instance, highly-directional 20 keV photons could be generated in a table-top design using electrons from conventional radiofrequency (RF) electron guns. The conductive nature and high damage threshold of graphene make it especially suitable for this application. Our electron-plasmon scattering
Jordan Canonical Form of the Google Matrix: A Potential Contribution to the PageRank Computation

We consider the web hyperlink matrix used by Google for computing the PageRank whose form is given by A(c) = [cP + (1 − c)E]T , where P is a row stochastic matrix, E is a row stochastic rank one matrix, and c ∈ [0, 1]. We determine the analytic expression of the Jordan form of A(c) and, in particular, a rational formula for the PageRank in terms of c. The use of extrapolation procedures is very promising for the efficient computation of the PageRank when c is close or equal to 1.
Living in a glass house: a survey of private moments in the home

As advances in technology accelerate, sensors and recording devices are increasingly being integrated into homes. Although the added benefit of sensing is often clear (e.g., entertainment, security, encouraging sustainable behaviors, etc.), the home is a private and intimate place, with multiple stakeholders who may have competing priorities and tolerances for what is acceptable and useful. In an effort to develop systems that account for the needs and concerns of householders, we conducted an anonymous survey (N = 475) focusing on the activities and habits that people do at home that they would not want to be recorded. In this paper, we discuss those activities and where in the home they are performed, and offer suggestions for the design of UbiComp systems that rely on sensing and recording.
Fashioning Futures: Life Coaching and the Self‐Made Identity Paradox

Contemporary processes of individualization push people to construct single-handedly their own identities. This urge runs counter to a fundament of sociology, which proposes that identities are social products that must be validated through social relations. Based on participant observation and in-depth interviews with life coaches and their clients, I investigate life coaching as a social institution that aims to resolve the paradoxical nature of the desire for self-creation. Locating life coaching in the larger identity-fashioning market, this article illustrates how the artificial nature of outsourced social relations reconciles two apparently contradictory desires: the “need for help” and “wanting to find it on my own. ” Three mechanisms are involved: creating an independent social space where identities can be crafted away from significant others; deliberately deemphasizing the coach and intentionally underwriting personal authorship; and encouraging clients to root identities in the social world while promoting an instrumental view of sociality. The article discusses the blurring of boundaries between intimate social relations and utilitarian market logic, and the implications of the ongoing outsourcing of identity support that reinforces the privileged ideal of self-made identities.
Nitric Oxide Production Modulates Cyclosporin A-Induced Distal Renal Tubular Acidosis in the Rat

Cyclosporine A (CsA) causes distal renal tubular acidosis (dRTA) in humans and rodents. Because mice deficient in nitric-oxide (NO) synthase develop acidosis, we examined how NO production modulated H+ excretion during acid loading and CsA treatment in a rat model. Rats received CsA, l-arginine (l-Arg), or Nω-nitro-l-arginine methyl ester (l-NAME), or combinations of CsA and l-NAME or l-Arg, followed by NH4Cl (acute acid load). In vehicle-treated rats, NH4Cl loading reduced serum and urine (\batchmode \documentclass[fleqn,10pt,legalpaper]{article} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amsmath} \pagestyle{empty} \begin{document} \(\mathrm{HCO}_{3}^{-}\) \end{document}) and urine pH, which was associated with increases in serum [K+] and [Cl–] and urine NH3 excretion. Similar to CsA (7.5 mg/kg), l-NAME impaired H+ excretion of NH4Cl-loaded animals. The combination CsA and l-NAME reduced H+ excretion to a larger extent than either drug alone. In contrast, administration of l-Arg ameliorated the effect of CsA on H+ excretion. Urine pH after NH4Cl was 5.80 ± 0.09, 6.11 ± 0.13*, 6.37 ± 0.16*, and 5.77 ± 0.09 in the vehicle, CsA, CsA + l-NAME and CsA + l-Arg groups, respectively (*P < 0.05). The effect of CsA and alteration of NO synthesis were mediated at least in part by changes in bicarbonate absorption in perfused cortical collecting ducts. CsA or l-NAME reduced net \batchmode \documentclass[fleqn,10pt,legalpaper]{article} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amsmath} \pagestyle{empty} \begin{document} \(\mathrm{HCO}_{3}^{-}\) \end{document} absorption, and, when combined, completely inhibited it. CsA + l-Arg restored \batchmode \documentclass[fleqn,10pt,legalpaper]{article} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amsmath} \pagestyle{empty} \begin{document} \(\mathrm{HCO}_{3}^{-}\) \end{document} absorption to near control levels. Administration of CsA along with l-NAME reduced NO production to below levels observed with either drug alone. These results suggest that CsA causes dRTA by inhibiting H+ pumps in the distal nephron. Inhibition of NO synthesis may be one of the mechanisms underlying the CsA effect.
Seroconversion to multiple islet autoantibodies and risk of progression to diabetes in children.

IMPORTANCE Type 1 diabetes usually has a preclinical phase identified by circulating islet autoantibodies, but the rate of progression to diabetes after seroconversion to islet autoantibodies is uncertain. OBJECTIVE To determine the rate of progression to diabetes after islet autoantibody seroconversion. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS Data were pooled from prospective cohort studies performed in Colorado (recruitment, 1993-2006), Finland (recruitment, 1994-2009), and Germany (recruitment, 1989-2006) examining children genetically at risk for type 1 diabetes for the development of insulin autoantibodies, glutamic acid decarboxylase 65 (GAD65) autoantibodies, insulinoma antigen 2 (IA2) autoantibodies, and diabetes. Participants were all children recruited and followed up in the 3 studies (Colorado, 1962; Finland, 8597; Germany, 2818). Follow-up assessment in each study was concluded by July 2012. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES The primary analysis was the diagnosis of type 1 diabetes in children with 2 or more autoantibodies. The secondary analysis was the diagnosis of type 1 diabetes in children with 1 autoantibody or no autoantibodies. RESULTS Progression to type 1 diabetes at 10-year follow-up after islet autoantibody seroconversion in 585 children with multiple islet autoantibodies was 69.7% (95% CI, 65.1%-74.3%), and in 474 children with a single islet autoantibody was 14.5% (95% CI, 10.3%-18.7%). Risk of diabetes in children who had no islet autoantibodies was 0.4% (95% CI, 0.2%-0.6%) by the age of 15 years. Progression to type 1 diabetes in the children with multiple islet autoantibodies was faster for children who had islet autoantibody seroconversion younger than age 3 years (hazard ratio [HR], 1.65 [95% CI, 1.30-2.09; P < .001]; 10-year risk, 74.9% [95% CI, 69.7%-80.1%]) vs children 3 years or older (60.9% [95% CI, 51.5%-70.3%]); for children with the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) genotype DR3/DR4-DQ8 (HR, 1.35 [95% CI, 1.09-1.68; P = .007]; 10-year risk, 76.6% [95% CI, 69.2%-84%]) vs other HLA genotypes (66.2% [95% CI, 60.2%-72.2%]); and for girls (HR, 1.28 [95% CI, 1.04-1.58; P = .02];10-year risk, 74.8% [95% CI, 68.0%-81.6%]) vs boys (65.7% [95% CI, 59.3%-72.1%]). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE The majority of children at risk of type 1 diabetes who had multiple islet autoantibody seroconversion progressed to diabetes over the next 15 years. Future prevention studies should focus on this high-risk population.
Low‐density lipoprotein receptor‐related protein 5 (LRP5) expression in human osteoarthritic chondrocytes

The aim of this study was to investigate the activation of the Wnt/β‐catenin pathway in osteoarthritis and the role of low‐density lipoprotein receptor‐related protein 5 (LRP5) in human osteoarthritic chondrocytes. The influence of 1,25(OH)2D3 on the expression of the LRP5 gene in human chondrocytes was also assessed. Human cartilage was obtained from 11 patients with primary osteoarthritis (OA) undergoing total knee replacement surgery. Normal cartilage was obtained from five healthy individuals. Beta‐catenin and LRP5 mRNA levels were investigated using real‐time PCR and LRP5 protein expression using Western blot analysis. Furthermore, we evaluated the effect of 1,25(OH)2D3 on LRP5 mRNA expression levels in osteoarthritic chondrocytes. Blocking LRP5 expression was performed using small interfering RNA (siRNA) against LRP5, and subsequent MMP‐13 mRNA and protein levels were evaluated by real‐time PCR and Western blot analysis, respectively. We confirmed the activation of the Wnt/β‐catenin pathway in OA, as we observed significant up‐regulation of β‐catenin mRNA expression in osteoarthritic chondrocytes. We also observed that LRP5 mRNA and protein expression were significantly up‐regulated in osteoarthritic cartilage compared to normal cartilage, and LRP5 mRNA expression was further increased by vitamin D. Also, blocking LRP5 expression using siRNA against LRP5 resulted in a significant decrease in MMP‐13 mRNA and protein expressions. Our findings suggest the catabolic role of LRP5 is mediated by the Wnt/β‐catenin pathway in human osteoarthritis. © 2009 Orthopaedic Research Society. Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Orthop Res 28:348–353, 2010
Synaptic organization of complex ganglion cells in rabbit retina: Type and arrangement of inputs to directionally selective and local‐edge‐detector cells

The type and topographic distribution of synaptic inputs to a directionally selective (DS) rabbit retinal ganglion cell (GC) were examined and were compared with those received by two other complex GC types. The percentage of cone bipolar cell (BC) input, presumably an index of sustained responses and simple receptive field properties, is much higher than expected for complex GCs in reference to previous reports in other species: approximately 20% for the type 1 bistratified ON–OFF DS GC and for a multistratified GC, and approximately 40% for the small‐tufted local‐edge‐detector GC. Consistent with a previous study (Famiglietti [ 1991 ] J. Comp. Neurol. 309:40–70), no ultrastructural evidence is found for inhibitory synapses from starburst amacrine cells to the ON–OFF DS GC. The density of inputs to the ON–OFF DS GC is high and rather evenly distributed over the dendritic tree. Clustering of inputs brings excitatory and inhibitory inputs into proximity, but the strict on‐path condition of more proximal inhibitory inputs, favoring shunting inhibition, is not satisfied. Prominent BC input and its regional variation suggest that BCs play key roles in DS neural circuitry, both pre‐ and postsynaptic to the ON–OFF DS GC, according to a bilayer model (Famiglietti [ 1993 ] Invest. Ophthalmol. Vis. Sci. 34:S985). Asymmetry of inhibitory amacrine cell input may signify a region on the preferred side of the receptive field, the inhibition‐free zone (Barlow and Levick [ 1965 ] J. Physiol. (Lond.) 178:477–504), supporting a role for postsynaptic integration in the DS mechanism. Prominent BC input to the local‐edge‐detector, often without accompanying amacrine cell input, indicates presynaptic integration in forming its trigger feature. J. Comp. Neurol. 484:357–391, 2005. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Genomic dark matter: the reliability of short read mapping illustrated by the genome mappability score

Motivation: Genome resequencing and short read mapping are two of the primary tools of genomics and are used for many important applications. The current state-of-the-art in mapping uses the quality values and mapping quality scores to evaluate the reliability of the mapping. These attributes, however, are assigned to individual reads and do not directly measure the problematic repeats across the genome. Here, we present the Genome Mappability Score (GMS) as a novel measure of the complexity of resequencing a genome. The GMS is a weighted probability that any read could be unambiguously mapped to a given position and thus measures the overall composition of the genome itself. Results: We have developed the Genome Mappability Analyzer to compute the GMS of every position in a genome. It leverages the parallelism of cloud computing to analyze large genomes, and enabled us to identify the 5–14% of the human, mouse, fly and yeast genomes that are difficult to analyze with short reads. We examined the accuracy of the widely used BWA/SAMtools polymorphism discovery pipeline in the context of the GMS, and found discovery errors are dominated by false negatives, especially in regions with poor GMS. These errors are fundamental to the mapping process and cannot be overcome by increasing coverage. As such, the GMS should be considered in every resequencing project to pinpoint the ‘dark matter’ of the genome, including of known clinically relevant variations in these regions. Availability: The source code and profiles of several model organisms are available at http://gma-bio.sourceforge. net Contact: hlee@cshl.edu Supplementary Information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Molecular mechanism of silver nanoparticles in human intestinal cells

Abstract Silver nanoparticles are used in consumer products like food contact materials, drinking water technologies and supplements, due to their antimicrobial properties. This leads to an oral uptake and exposure of intestinal cells. In contrast to other studies we found no apoptosis induction by surfactant-coated silver nanoparticles in the intestinal cell model Caco-2 in a previous study, although the particles induced oxidative stress, morphological changes and cell death. Therefore, this study aimed to analyze the molecular mechanism of silver nanoparticles in Caco-2 cells. We used global gene expression profiling in differentiated Caco-2 cells, supported by verification of the microarray data by quantitative real-time RT-PCR and microscopic analysis, impedance measurements and assays for apoptosis and oxidative stress. Our results revealed that surfactant-coated silver nanoparticles probably affect the cells by outside-in signaling. They induce oxidative stress and have an influence on canonical pathways related to FAK, ILK, ERK, MAPK, integrins and adherence and tight junctions, thereby inducing transcription factors like AP1, NFkB and NRF2, which mediate cellular reactions in response to oxidative stress and metal ions and induce changes in the cytoskeleton and cell–cell and cell–matrix contacts. The present data confirm the absence of apoptotic cell death. Non-apoptotic, necrotic cell death, especially in the intestine, can cause inflammation and influence the mucosal immune response.
Stability Radii for Linear Hamiltonian Systems with Dissipation Under Structure-Preserving Perturbations

Dissipative Hamiltonian (DH) systems are an important concept in energy based modeling of dynamical systems. One of the major advantages of the DH formulation is that system properties are encoded in an algebraic way. For instance, the algebraic structure of DH systems guarantees that the system is automatically stable. In this paper the question is discussed when a linear constant coefficient DH system is on the boundary of the region of asymptotic stability, i.e., when it has purely imaginary eigenvalues, or how much it has to be perturbed to be on this boundary. For unstructured systems this distance to instability (stability radius) is well understood. In this paper, explicit formulas for this distance under structure-preserving perturbations are determined. It is also shown (via numerical examples) that under structure-preserving perturbations the asymptotical stability of a DH system is much more robust than under general perturbations, since the distance to instability can be much larger when struc.