Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A fully automated segmentation of radius bone based on active contour in wrist MRI data set

Advanced medical imaging techniques require high performance segmentation algorithms. Extracting the structures of interest accurately is one of the main challenges in medical imaging segmentation. In this paper a methodological approach based on active contour is proposed for fully automated segmentation of radius bone. As soft tissues like tendons, muscles and fat around the bone have close intensities to internal parts of the bone, accurate segmentation is difficult. Here the designed framework takes an MR image including radius bone as input and produces the segmented radius bone in 3D voxel set. The multi-step approach for segmentation is as following. Since our data set was much noisier, at first we denoised and enhanced contrast of the data using wavelet transform. Then an initial segmentation was produced focusing on edge map. Next, according to anatomical knowledge about the radius bone shape and size in intermediate slices, radius bone was extracted in this slice and used as the mask slice for adjacent slices. This masking procedure was applied to all slices with a 3D approach. After that we derived a convex hull region around the radius bone. This step was done for whole slices as regions of interest. Finally the estimated convex region is used as an initial mask for active contour. This framework was tested on more than 600 coronal MR slices of 23 subjects. In comparison to manual segmentation our method showed an average Dice similarity coefficient DSC and kappa statistics of 94.82% and 92.46% respectively. In the future works we utilize the proposed approach as part of a computer-aided diagnosis system for bone age estimation.
A Typical Presentation of Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Introduction: Hepatocellular carcinoma is commonly seen in chronic liver disease patients due to hepatitis B or C infection. Melena and haematemesis are the common gastrointestinal symptoms due to intraluminal haemorrhage. Surgical resection is the treatment of choice. Case presentation: We report a case of hepatocellular carcinoma presenting as gastric outlet obstruction in a 64 years male with chronic hepatitis B virus infection. Hepatocellular carcinoma was detected during evaluation for gastric outlet obstruction. Intra-operatively there was no invasion to the duodenum; rather there was extrinsic compression and adhesions around the duodenum. Patient underwent successful right posterior sectionectomy. Conclusion: Hepatocellular carcinoma presenting as gastric outlet obstruction is rare and curative surgery is possible in selected patients.
Multi-Slot Spectrum Sensing Schedule and Transmitted Energy Allocation in Harvested Energy Powered Cognitive Radio Networks Under Secrecy Constraints

Herein, the authors consider harvested energy powered cognitive radio networks (CRNs) in which harvested energy is stored in a rechargeable battery which has finite capacity. In addition, a practical scenario in which the amount of harvested power is finite is taken into account. Cognitive users (CUs) opportunistically access a licensed channel (or primary channel); meanwhile, it should be ensured that their confidential communications are not leaked to an eavesdropper. We investigate an optimal spectrum sensing schedule and the optimal amount of transmission energy for the CUs in each processing time slot. In particular, at the beginning of each time slot, based on the remaining energy in the battery, CU transmitter decides either: 1) to be active to sense the channel and transmit its data if the channel is found vacant or 2) to stay inactive during the current time slot in order to save energy and wait for more incoming energy for use in the next time slots. The decision is based on expected secrecy transmission rate calculated for both cases over subsequent $K$ time slots. The proposed scheme aims to improve long-term secrecy transmission rate of CRNs in comparison with a conventional scheme where the decision for the current time slot is made to maximize current secrecy transmission rate without considering any future reward.
Interviews with intensive care unit survivors: Assessing post–intensive care quality of life and patients’ preferences regarding intensive care and mechanical ventilation

T he rising healthcare costs during the past few decades have resulted in an increased interest in critically evaluating the outcomes after healthcare interventions. This is especially true of intensive care procedures (1), which account for 20– 30% of total hospital expenditures (2). Most of the studies that have examined outcomes after intensive care have focused on mortality, especially in-hospital and short-term mortality after discharge from the hospital (3–5). Until recently, not as much attention had been given to nonmortality outcomes, namely, quality of life, after critical illness. Although many instruments exist for assessing quality of life, few have undergone psychometric evaluation in the critical care setting (6). Also, many of the studies examining quality of life after intensive care only considered objective measures such as functional status. A crucial aspect to quality-of-life assessment is patients’ subjective evaluations of their quality of life. Thus, quality of life should incorporate patients’ values and preferences (7). Only a modest amount of research, however, has been devoted to studying the perceptions and attitudes of former intensive care unit (ICU) patients, particularly regarding their post–intensive care experiences and preferences for using intensive care resources (8–12). The present review article is divided into two major sections. The first section begins by defining quality of life and describing various instruments for assessing quality of life. This section continues with a discussion of the importance of evaluating quality of life after intensive care therapy and a brief review of the findings of research in this area. The second section describes the existing research on preferences and attitudes toward intensive care treatment among former ICU patients, including a discussion of the relationship between various factors with treatment preferences and the stability of preferences over time. Throughout the article, we will identify specific gaps in the literature.
Immunity to Campylobacter: its role in risk assessment and epidemiology

Abstract Acquired immunity is an important factor in the epidemiology of campylobacteriosis in the developing world, apparently limiting symptomatic infection to children of less than two years. However, also in developed countries the highest incidence is observed in children under five years and the majority of Campylobacter infections are asymptomatic, which may be related to the effects of immunity and/or the ingested doses. Not accounting for immunity in epidemiological studies may lead to biased results due to the misclassification of Campylobacter-exposed but apparently healthy persons as unexposed. In risk assessment studies, health risks may be overestimated when immunity is neglected.
Free flap monitoring: A review of current practice

Individual techniques for the postoperative monitoring of free flaps vary considerably. In order to establish the currently preferred protocols, a survey was conducted among micro‐surgeons in North America using a mailed questionnaire. Data were received from 95 centers for the monitoring of 2,825 free flaps performed during 1994. Results indicate that rates for flap salvage and overall success with free tissue transfer are closely related to surgical experience (number of cases performed per month). Ninety percent of microsurgeons routinely use monitoring devices, with external and laser doppler having achieved greatest popularity. An account is given of the preferred postoperative regimens for flap surveillance, and the overall results are discussed. © 1995 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
A Randomized Trial of Nortriptyline for Severe Chronic Tinnitus: Effects on Depression, Disability, and Tinnitus Symptoms

Objective: To determine whether the antidepressant, nortriptyline, is effective for treatment of depression, tinnitusrelated disability, and tinnitus symptoms in patients with severe chronic tinnitus. Design: A 12-week, double-blind, randomized controlled trial. Setting: A university otolaryngology clinic. Patients: Ninety-two subjects with severe chronic tinnitus: 38 with current major depression and 54 with depressive symptoms and significant tinnitus-related disability. Intervention: Nortriptyline (maintained at 50 to 150 mg/mL for 6 weeks) or placebo. Main Outcome Measures: Hamilton Depression Rating Scale, Tinnitus Disability Measures, and Audiometric Measures. Results: Nortriptyline was superior to placebo by multivariate analysis of covariance for depression (10.6 vs 14.3 final Hamilton Depression score), for tinnitusrelated disability (1.8 vs 2.4 final MPI Tinnitus Interference), and tinnitus loudness (13.6 vs 20.0 dB final loudness match [in worst ear at tinnitus fequency]). When major depression and depressive symptoms groups were considered separately, nortriptyline was superior to placebo on these same measures but differences did not achieve statistical significance. Conclusions: The antidepressant nortriptyline decreases depression, functional disability, and tinnitus loudness associated with severe chronic tinnitus. What appears to be irreversible disability of otologic origin may, in part, be reversible disability of psychiatric origin. (Arch Intern Med. 1993;153:2251-2259)
Overview of commercially available femtosecond lasers in refractive surgery.

PURPOSE To report on four different commercially available femtosecond laser systems used in refractive surgery. METHODS Four systems were analyzed: Ziemer DaVinci system, Zeiss VisuMax, IntraLase FS laser, and 20/10 Perfect Vision FEMTEC. RESULTS The DaVinci system attracts attention with its concept of low laser pulse energy and flexible mirror arm as a beam delivery. The low pulse energy makes it compact and robust, because only an oscillator as a laser source is required. Another important feature of the low energy pulses is the reduced bubble formation during the cutting process. The smaller the bubbles, the more precise the cut can be positioned. However, the compact setup limits the system in its flexibility in cutting geometry. The VisuMax also uses the new generation of femtosecond technology, which should make it more immune to environmental and temperature changes. However, it is a bulky system, and the patient has to be moved to the excimer laser system after the flap is created. The IntraLase is the laser with the most clinical experience by far, which should be an important issue in terms of safety and technical support. On the other hand, it uses older femtosecond laser technology. This technology is sensitive to changes in temperature or humidity, which can be an important factor if the surgical environment is not air conditioned. The 20/10 Perfect Vision FEMTEC system is comparable with the IntraLase with respect to its technical parameters. However, no data are available about the amount of clinical experience. CONCLUSIONS Although the systems are based on the same principle of photodisruption in corneal tissue, differences exist regarding the concept of these devices.
Theoretical Approach on the Effect of Subsidies to Local Public Goods

This study proposes an analysis of the neo-classical optimization model with linear constraints. By introducing the dual problem, it shows that the solution to the maximization problem is also a solution to the minimization problem. The purely theoretical model proposes a universal equation, similar to the Slutsky equation as firstly derived in the consumption theory. This study adds to the standard applications of the model an application which is based on the study of the change in optimality caused by the provision of subsidies to finance the supply of local public goods. The application focuses on the use of duality in analyzing the impact of these government transfers on the optimal decisions in the consumption of private and local public goods. The results from the analysis show that the dual problem can be used as a fruitful research method when analyzing optimization models other than the traditional consumer-producer model, primarily through the application of the classification of the goods derived on the basis of the Slutsky equation.
Wideband tab monopole antenna array for wireless adaptive and mobile information systems application

The Wireless Adaptive Microwave Information Systems (WAMIS) program is concerned with the development of adaptive, high speed data communications systems and associated supporting technologies for mobile applications. One of the projects under the umbrella of the WAMIS program is the Hardware Technologies for Adaptive High Bit-Rate Wireless Transceivers currently underway at the University of California, Los Angeles. UCLA's project has among its goals the development of enabling technologies that facilitate the implementation of high data rate, portable digital, wireless data links with data rates up to 60 Mbit/s. The end product of UCLA's effort will be a flexible, robust, digital radio testbed enabling multimedia peer to peer, indoor communication between portable notebook style computers. The testbed radio being developed will incorporate channel coding, frequency hopping, fully adaptive antenna arrays for both transmit and receive, adaptive bit and power allocation, adaptive equalization, adaptive bit rate selection, and various custom RF and IF integrated circuits. The project goals call for the development of antenna array with a minimum operational band of 2.4 to 2.48 GHz that can be interfaced with the project hardware. These requirements imply a printed antenna with a bandwidth that is considerably wider than 2.4-2.48 GHz to allow for manufacturing tolerances and future requirements. This paper reports on an antenna array that has been developed for the UCLA WAMIS project that utilizes a newly developed, broadband, printed circuit antenna element called the tab monopole.
MicroRNA profiling of Barrett's oesophagus and oesophageal adenocarcinoma

The genetic changes that drive metaplastic progression from squamous oesophageal mucosa toward intestinal metaplasia and adenocarcinoma are unclear. The aberrant expression of microRNAs (miRNAs) is involved in the development of cancer. This study examined whether miRNAs play a role in the development of oesophageal adenocarcinoma.
Exploring anxiety symptoms in a large-scale twin study of children with autism spectrum disorders, their co-twins and controls.

BACKGROUND Although many children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) experience difficulties with anxiety,the manifestation of these difficulties remains unresolved. The current study assessed anxiety in a large population based twin sample, aged 10–15 years. Phenotypic analyses were used to explore anxiety symptoms in children with ASDs, their unaffected co-twins and a control sample. METHODS Participants included 146 families from the Twins Early Development Study (TEDS) where one or both children had a suspected ASD. Eighty control families were also included. The Revised Child Anxiety and Depression scale (Chorpita, Yim, Moffitt, Umemoto & Francis, 2000) was completed (self- and parent-report), along with diagnostic and cognitive tests. Children were categorized into four groups (a) ASD (b) Broader Autism Phenotype (BAP: mainly co-twins of children with ASDs, with high subclinical autistic traits) (c) unaffected co-twins (with neither ASDs nor BAP) (d) controls. RESULTS Children in the ASD and BAP groups scored significantly higher than controls for all parent-rated (although not child-rated) anxiety subscales.There were no significant differences between the ASD and BAP groups for any of the parent-rated anxiety subscales. Compared with controls, unaffected co-twins showed significantly heightened Social Anxiety, Generalized Anxiety,and Panic symptoms. Significant associations were observed between certain anxiety subscales and both IQ and ASD symptoms. For example, greater parent-rated Social Anxiety was associated with higher IQ and increased social and communicative impairments. Significant interrater correlations were observed for anxiety reports in children with ASDs (r = .27–.54; p < .01), their unaffected co-twins (r = .32–.63; p < .01) and controls (r = .23–.43; p < .01)suggesting that children in this sample with and without ASD symptoms were able to report on their anxiety symptoms with some accuracy. CONCLUSIONS These findings support previous reports of heightened anxiety in children with ASDs, at least on parent-reported measures. Unaffected co-twins of children with ASDs also showed increased anxiety, generating questions about the potential etiological overlap between ASDs and anxiety. Progress in this area now depends on more refined anxiety measurement in ASDs and continued investigation of interrater differences.
Anisotropy of electron mobility in arbitrarily oriented FinFETs

We simulated the behavior of electron mobility and the effect of volume inversion in FinFETs with different surface (hkl) orientations and channel <hkl> directions, using a Monte Carlo simulator. For each surface orientation, different channel directions were also considered. In the case of the (110) surface, a strong anisotropy of electron mobility with channel direction was seen: when the channel was in the (110)/<001> direction, electron mobility was 50% higher than in (110)/<1-10>, and was similar to the mobility for a (100)/<001> direction. This anisotropic behavior with channel orientation was not observed in the (100)-or (111)-surface orientations. The study with silicon thickness also revealed some interesting consequences of the volume inversion effect.
Examining Relations between Locus of Control, Loneliness, Subjective Well-Being, and Preference for Online Social Interaction

The unprecedented popularity of online communication has raised interests and concerns among the public as well as in scholarly circles. Online communications have pushed people farther away from one another. This study is a further examination of the effects of online communications on well-being, in particular: Locus of control, Loneliness, Subjective well-being, and Preference for online social interaction. Chinese undergraduate students (N = 260; 84 men, 176 women; M age = 20.1 yr., SD = 1.2) were questioned about demographic information and use of social media as well as four previously validated questionnaires related to well-being. Most participants used QQ, a popular social networking program, as the major channel for online social interactions. Locus of control was positively related to Loneliness and Preference for online social interaction, but negatively related to Subjective well-being; Loneliness (positively) and Subjective well-being (negatively) were related to Preference for online social interaction; and Loneliness and Subjective well-being had a full mediating effect between the relationships of Locus of control and Preference for online social interaction. The findings of the study showed that more lonely, unhappy, and externally controlled students were more likely to be engaged in online social interaction. Improving students' locus of control, loneliness, and happiness may help reduce problematic Internet use.
Assembly of simian virus 40 Okazaki pieces from DNA primers is reversibly arrested by ATP depletion

We have previously proposed that DNA polymerase alpha-primase provides short RNA-DNA precursors below 40 nucleotides (DNA primers), several of which assemble into an Okazaki piece after intervening RNA has been removed and the gaps have been filled by DNA polymerase delta (or epsilon) (T. Nethanel, S. Reisfeld, G. Dinter-Gottlieb, and G. Kaufmann, J. Virol. 62:2867-2873, 1988; T. Nethanel and G. Kaufmann, J. Virol. 64:5912-5918, 1990). In this report, we confirm and extend these conclusions by studying the effects of deoxynucleoside triphosphate (dNTP) concentrations and the presence of ATP on the occurrence, dynamics, and configuration of DNA primers in simian virus 40 replicative intermediate DNA. We first show that these parameters are not significantly affected by a 10-fold increase in dNTP precursor concentrations. We then demonstrate that Okazaki piece synthesis can be arrested at the level of DNA primers by ATP depletion. The arrested DNA primers faced short gaps of 10 to 20 nucleotides at their 3' ends and were progressively chased into Okazaki pieces when ATP was restored. ATP could not be substituted in this process by adenosine-5'-O-(3-thiotriphosphate) or adenyl-imidodiphosphate. The chase was interrupted by aphidicolin but not by butylphenyl-dGTP. The results implicate an ATP-requiring factor in the switch between the two DNA polymerases engaged in Okazaki piece synthesis. They also suggest that the replication fork advances by small, DNA primer-size increments.
Resistance of primary cultured mouse hepatic tumor cells to cellular senescence despite expression of p16Ink4a, p19Arf, p53, and p21Waf1/Cip1

Primary cultured mouse hepatic cells become senescent within a short period, although rare cells form colonies from which continuously proliferating cell lines can be established. In contrast, hepatic tumor (HT) cells show little senescence and higher colony‐forming capacity. To assess this difference, we investigated p16Ink4a/p19Arf/p53/p21Waf1/Cip1 expression in primary normal and HT cells, together with cell lines established from both. In primary normal cells, p16Ink4a/p19Arf were expressed only in association with senescence and disappeared at later stages of colony formation. In contrast, primary HT cells showed sustained p16Ink4a/p19Arf expression from the beginning. No p16Ink4a/p19Arf alterations, such as deletion, mutations, or hypermethylation, were detected in the primary HT cells, although most cell lines derived from either normal or HT cell colonies lost p16Ink4a or p19Arf expression owing to hypermethylation or homozygous deletion of p16Ink4a/p19Arf. On the other hand, primary normal and HT cells and most cell lines showed constitutively elevated expression of p53/p21Waf1/Cip1, with a further increment after ultraviolet ir‐radiation, indicating a functionally normal p53 pathway. These results indicate that primary HT cells are resistant to senescence despite retaining p16Ink4a/p19Arf/p53/p21Waf1/Cip1 expression and that loss of p16Ink4a/p19Arf function is associated only with establishment of the cell lines. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.