Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Domain Adaptation for Semantic Role Labeling of Clinical Text

OBJECTIVE Semantic role labeling (SRL), which extracts a shallow semantic relation representation from different surface textual forms of free text sentences, is important for understanding natural language. Few studies in SRL have been conducted in the medical domain, primarily due to lack of annotated clinical SRL corpora, which are time-consuming and costly to build. The goal of this study is to investigate domain adaptation techniques for clinical SRL leveraging resources built from newswire and biomedical literature to improve performance and save annotation costs. MATERIALS AND METHODS Multisource Integrated Platform for Answering Clinical Questions (MiPACQ), a manually annotated SRL clinical corpus, was used as the target domain dataset. PropBank and NomBank from newswire and BioProp from biomedical literature were used as source domain datasets. Three state-of-the-art domain adaptation algorithms were employed: instance pruning, transfer self-training, and feature augmentation. The SRL performance using different domain adaptation algorithms was evaluated by using 10-fold cross-validation on the MiPACQ corpus. Learning curves for the different methods were generated to assess the effect of sample size. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION When all three source domain corpora were used, the feature augmentation algorithm achieved statistically significant higher F-measure (83.18%), compared to the baseline with MiPACQ dataset alone (F-measure, 81.53%), indicating that domain adaptation algorithms may improve SRL performance on clinical text. To achieve a comparable performance to the baseline method that used 90% of MiPACQ training samples, the feature augmentation algorithm required <50% of training samples in MiPACQ, demonstrating that annotation costs of clinical SRL can be reduced significantly by leveraging existing SRL resources from other domains.
Maternal and neonatal outcomes of placenta increta and percreta from a multicenter study in China

Abstract Objective: The objective of this study is to identify the maternal and neonatal outcomes in women with placenta increta or placenta percreta in China. Materials and methods: We retrospectively analyzed 2219 cases from 20 tertiary care centers in China between January 2011 and December 2015. All cases were diagnosed of placenta increta or placenta percreta, based on either intraoperative findings or histopathological findings. Results: The incidence of placenta increta and placenta percreta progressively increased from 0.18% in 2011 to 0.78% in 2015. Compared with the placenta increta, placenta percreta was strongly related to serious adverse outcomes: postpartum hemorrhage (65.9% versus 38.6%, p = .003), blood transfusion (86.2% versus 46.5%, p < .001), hysterectomy (43.3% versus 11.2%, p < .001), preterm birth (65.7% versus 49.9%, p < .001), and the need for neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) admission (54.5% versus 36.7%, p < .001). Conclusion: The incidence of placenta increta and placenta percreta is likely to increase in China. The depth of placenta implantation is associated with the severity of outcomes. Placenta percreta tends to have worse maternal and neonatal outcomes.
Complete Primate Skeleton from the Middle Eocene of Messel in Germany: Morphology and Paleobiology

Background The best European locality for complete Eocene mammal skeletons is Grube Messel, near Darmstadt, Germany. Although the site was surrounded by a para-tropical rain forest in the Eocene, primates are remarkably rare there, and only eight fragmentary specimens were known until now. Messel has now yielded a full primate skeleton. The specimen has an unusual history: it was privately collected and sold in two parts, with only the lesser part previously known. The second part, which has just come to light, shows the skeleton to be the most complete primate known in the fossil record. Methodology/Principal Findings We describe the morphology and investigate the paleobiology of the skeleton. The specimen is described as Darwinius masillae n.gen. n.sp. belonging to the Cercamoniinae. Because the skeleton is lightly crushed and bones cannot be handled individually, imaging studies are of particular importance. Skull radiography shows a host of teeth developing within the juvenile face. Investigation of growth and proportion suggest that the individual was a weaned and independent-feeding female that died in her first year of life, and might have attained a body weight of 650–900 g had she lived to adulthood. She was an agile, nail-bearing, generalized arboreal quadruped living above the floor of the Messel rain forest. Conclusions/Significance Darwinius masillae represents the most complete fossil primate ever found, including both skeleton, soft body outline and contents of the digestive tract. Study of all these features allows a fairly complete reconstruction of life history, locomotion, and diet. Any future study of Eocene-Oligocene primates should benefit from information preserved in the Darwinius holotype. Of particular importance to phylogenetic studies, the absence of a toilet claw and a toothcomb demonstrates that Darwinius masillae is not simply a fossil lemur, but part of a larger group of primates, Adapoidea, representative of the early haplorhine diversification.
Droplets, Ice Crystal or Ash? Real time detection using the next generation Backscatter Cloud Probe

he backscatter cloud probe (BCP) has been providing measurements of cloud size distributions since its implementation as part of IAGOS since July, 2011 and is now operating on six A-340 passenger aircraft. Like the majority of single particle optical spectrometers, the BCP measures the equivalent optical diameter (EOD) of particles but is unable to identify the type of particles, e.g. if it is a water droplet, ice crystal, dust or volcanic ash. In addition, because of the close proximity of the sensitive sample volume to the aircraft skin, many of the ice crystals that are counted and sized could be fragments of ice crystals that have impacted the fuselage in front of the BCP but cannot be distinguished from natural crystals.To address the shattering issue and to expand the capability of the BCP to differentiate different types of atmospheric particles, a next generation BCP has been developed that incorporates the technology that has already been implemented in the DMT CAS-POL that can separate ice crystals from ash and water droplets. A prototype Backscatter Cloud probe with Polarization Detection (BCPD) has been tested in the laboratory, cloud chamber, wind tunnel and on aircraft. Preliminary results indicate that the polarized scattering patterns from spherical and aspherical particles contain information that will potentially allow differentiation of water droplets, ice crystals and various types of aerosols like dust and volcanic ash. In addition, because it measures the interarrival times of particles, some rejection of fragments of shattered ice crystals is possible. An added feature is the processing of the particle transit times and shapes of the transit signal to provide some information on particle morphology.The design and operating principles of the BCPD will be presented and some examples shown that demonstrate its capabilities.
Aligning or not aligning in massive MIMO downlink?

Downlink (DL) pilot design for a multi-user massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) system is a challenging problem. It is relatively simple to have a pilot design working well for a particular mobile station (MS). However, it is difficult to ensure that design will also provide good channel estimation performance at the other MSs. In our previous works, we have proposed a scalable framework for channel state information (CSI) acquisition in frequency-division duplexing (FDD) massive MIMO through aligning the DL channel paths judiciously. However, the total number of aligning patterns is limited and the channel estimation quality is poor when some channel paths always overlap with the channel paths with similar angles of departure (AoDs). In this paper, instead of aligning the DL channel paths, we propose a random pilot scheme for the DL CSI acquisition in FDD massive MIMO. In particular, the serving BS transmits pilots with random phase shifts and each MS compresses the observations with a compression matrix. Then the BS relies on the compressed feedback to recover the DL CSI. The optimal compression matrix for each MS is derived in closed form. Numerical simulations are then carried out and demonstrate the random pilot scheme can deliver better channel estimation performance than the scheme relying on aligning the DL channels paths.
Comment on “Antivenom for European Vipera species envenoming”

authors’ predictive criteria persists in a sensitivity analysis where capillary glucose measurements are excluded. In their study, hypoglycemia was reported to increase the odds of reaching the composite endpoint by over 3-fold (95% CI 1.20–9.6). We note there is a lack of reporting on the delay of chronology between the hypoglycemia and the fulfilment of the outcome of interest. It would also have been interesting for the authors to report on sensitivity or specificity data, as previous literature on the topic discusses [4]. Our most significant concern centers on the fact that the authors do not report on the proportion of patients receiving concomitant treatment with N-acetylcysteine or glucose when the nadir serum glucose concentration was recorded. N-acetylcysteine is diluted in either dextrose 5% or 0.45% saline in many hospitals. Thus, the results that 8.6% of subjects had hypoglycemia despite treatment with N-acetylcysteine diluted in dextrose 5% carries a different meaning than if diluted in half-normal saline. The validity of the results strongly depends on the answer to this question. If the subjects experienced hypoglycemia despite receiving N-acetylcysteine diluted in dextrose 5%, it would mean that glucose concentration would indeed be correlated to hepatic failure. On the other hand, had the subjects experienced hypoglycemia after treatment with N-acetylcysteine diluted in half-normal saline, we would not be able to come to a such conclusion, due to the confounding factors that may have caused the hypoglycemia other than liver failure.
Scalable self-assembly process for the fabrication of sub-millimetre three-dimensional cylindrical tubes

The analysis, simulation and experimental fabrication of three-dimensional (3D) cylindrical tubes formed from 2D aluminium/silicon dioxide (Al/SiO2) substrates are presented. The photolithographically fabricated planar Al/SiO2 substrates bend under residual mechanical stress after release, self-assembling into 3D cylindrical tubes. They present an analytical model that allows them to reliably predict the resulting radius of curvature of bi-layer Al/SiO2 tubes with uniform cross-sections, and provides an approximate solution for SiO2 substrates with patterned Al cross-sections. Finite element analysis simulations and measurements of fabricated tubes show agreement with the model. In addition, they show through a series of batch experiments that the self-assembly process is repeatable with proper design of the substrates.
Bonded versus vacuum-formed retainers: a randomized controlled trial. Part 1 stability, retainer survival, and patient satisfaction outcomes after 12 months

Background There is a shortage of evidence on the best type of retainer. Objectives Evaluate upper and lower bonded retainers (BRs) versus upper and lower vacuum-formed retainers (VFRs) over 12 months, in terms of stability, retainer survival, and patient satisfaction. Trial design Two-arm parallel group multi-centre randomized controlled clinical trial. Methods Sixty consecutive patients completing fixed appliance therapy and requiring retainers were recruited from 3 hospital departments. They were randomly allocated to either upper and lower labial segment BRs (n = 30) or upper and lower full-arch VFRs (n = 30). Primary outcome was stability. Secondary outcomes were retainer survival and patient satisfaction. A random sequence of treatment allocation was computer-generated and implemented by sealing in sequentially numbered opaque sealed envelopes independently prepared in advance. Patients, operators and outcome could not be blinded due to the nature of the intervention. Results Thirty patients received BRs (median [Mdn] age 16 years, inter-quartile range [IQR] = 2) and 30 received VFRs (Mdn age 17 years, IQR = 4). Baseline characteristics were similar between groups. At 12 months, there were no statistically significant inter-group differences in post-treatment change of maxillary labial segment alignment (BR = 1.1 mm, IQR = 1.56, VFR = 0.76 mm, IQR = 1.55, P = 0.61); however, there was greater post-treatment change in the mandibular VFR group (BR = 0.77 mm, IQR = 1.46, VFR = 1.69mm, IQR = 2.00, P = 0.008). The difference in maxillary retainer survival rates were statistically non-significant, P = 0.34 (BR = 63.6%, 239.3 days, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 191.1-287.5, VFR = 73.3%, 311.1 days, 95% CI = 278.3-344.29). The mandibular BR had a lower survival rate (P = 0.01) at 12 months (BR = 50%, 239.3 days 95% CI = 191.1-287.5, VFR = 80%, 324.9 days 95% CI = 295.4-354.4). More subjects with VFRs reported discomfort (P = 0.002) and speech difficulties (P = 0.004) but found them easier to clean than those with BRs (P = 0.001). Limitations Results are after 1 year and we do not know how much the removable retainers were worn. Conclusions After 1 year, there is no evidence of a significant difference in stability or retainer survival in the maxilla. In the mandible, BRs are more effective at maintaining mandibular labial segment alignment, but have a higher failure rate. In comparison with patients wearing VFRs, patients wearing BRs reported that they caused less interference with speech, required less compliance to wear them, and were more comfortable to wear than VFRs. Patients found the BRs harder to keep clean. Trial registration The trail was not registered.
Citrulline as a marker of intestinal function and absorption in clinical settings: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Background Citrulline has been described as a marker of intestinal function or absorption but evidence varies according to clinical settings. Objective The objective of this article is to examine the evidence of plasma citrulline as a marker of intestinal function and absorption in various clinical settings. Methods Studies were examined for p values, means and standard deviations, correlation coefficients or other metrics depicting the association of citrulline with intestinal function. A random effects model was used to produce a pooled estimate. A hierarchical summary receiver operating curve model was fitted for diagnostic accuracy measures. Results Citrulline levels are correlated strongly with small bowel length in short bowel syndrome patients (r = 0.67). Citrulline is strongly negatively correlated (r = –0.56) with intestinal disease severity with regards to enteropathies (coeliac disease, tropical enteropathy, Crohn’s disease, mucositis, acute rejection in intestinal transplantation). Citrulline cut-off levels have an overall sensitivity and specificity of 80% and 84% respectively. Citrulline levels in untreated coeliac patients compared to controls were reduced by 10 µmol/l. Citrulline levels increase with gluten-free diet and with improvement of enteropathy. Citrulline is decreased in critical illness and sepsis. Conclusion These findings allow us to advocate quite reasonably that citrulline is a marker of acute and chronic intestinal insufficiency.
Video delivery in heterogenous crans: architectures and strategies

Video traffic has become a major part of mobile data traffic, and will keep growing in the coming years. The performance of video delivery is fundamentally constrained by the structure of the underlying wireless networks. The recently proposed heterogeneous cloud access networks have been widely recognized as an inevitable evolution trend of the current cellular system toward the future 5G system, where multiple hybrid radio access technologies coexist to provide flexible access for mobile users. As a key enabling functional block for high-performance video delivery, a powerful centralized baseband processing unit pool is adopted to control all the radio access technologies, and possibly facilitate the video encoding and transmission, which opens up the potential to achieve higher throughput, lower traffic delay, and greater robustness compared to its basic baseband processing unit counterpart without central control functions. However, such a centralized control framework also raises many new research challenges to be addressed. In this article, we provide an overview of the state-of-the-art video delivery architectures and video packet transmission strategies in heterogeneous cloud radio access networks, with highlights on the networking architectures, transmission strategies, performance analysis, and design challenges. This article also sheds some light on the design principles for future big-data-oriented wireless networks.
Enhancing Seasonal Influenza Surveillance: Topic Analysis of Widely Used Medicinal Drugs Using Twitter Data

Background Uptake of medicinal drugs (preventive or treatment) is among the approaches used to control disease outbreaks, and therefore, it is of vital importance to be aware of the counts or frequencies of most commonly used drugs and trending topics about these drugs from consumers for successful implementation of control measures. Traditional survey methods would have accomplished this study, but they are too costly in terms of resources needed, and they are subject to social desirability bias for topics discovery. Hence, there is a need to use alternative efficient means such as Twitter data and machine learning (ML) techniques. Objective Using Twitter data, the aim of the study was to (1) provide a methodological extension for efficiently extracting widely consumed drugs during seasonal influenza and (2) extract topics from the tweets of these drugs and to infer how the insights provided by these topics can enhance seasonal influenza surveillance. Methods From tweets collected during the 2012-13 flu season, we first identified tweets with mentions of drugs and then constructed an ML classifier using dependency words as features. The classifier was used to extract tweets that evidenced consumption of drugs, out of which we identified the mostly consumed drugs. Finally, we extracted trending topics from each of these widely used drugs’ tweets using latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA). Results Our proposed classifier obtained an F1 score of 0.82, which significantly outperformed the two benchmark classifiers (ie, P<.001 with the lexicon-based and P=.048 with the 1-gram term frequency [TF]). The classifier extracted 40,428 tweets that evidenced consumption of drugs out of 50,828 tweets with mentions of drugs. The most widely consumed drugs were influenza virus vaccines that had around 76.95% (31,111/40,428) share of the total; other notable drugs were Theraflu, DayQuil, NyQuil, vitamins, acetaminophen, and oseltamivir. The topics of each of these drugs exhibited common themes or experiences from people who have consumed these drugs. Among these were the enabling and deterrent factors to influenza drugs uptake, which are keys to mitigating the severity of seasonal influenza outbreaks. Conclusions The study results showed the feasibility of using tweets of widely consumed drugs to enhance seasonal influenza surveillance in lieu of the traditional or conventional surveillance approaches. Public health officials and other stakeholders can benefit from the findings of this study, especially in enhancing strategies for mitigating the severity of seasonal influenza outbreaks. The proposed methods can be extended to the outbreaks of other diseases.
Mechanics of metallic nanoparticles inside lipid nanotubes: Suction and acceptance energies

Lipid nanotubes with well-designed cylindrical structures, tunable dimensions and biocompatible membrane surfaces have found potential applications such as templates to create diverse one-dimensional nanostructures and nanocarriers for drug or gene delivery. In this regard, knowing the encapsulation process is of crucial importance for such developments. The aim of this paper is to study the suction and acceptance phenomena of metallic nanoparticles, and in particular silver and gold, inside lipid nanotubes using the continuum approximation and the 6–12 Lennard-Jones potential function. The nanoparticle is modelled as a perfect sphere and the lipid nanotube is assumed to comprise six layers, namely two head groups, two intermediate layers and two tail groups. Analytical expressions are derived through undertaking surface and volume integrals to evaluate van der Waals potential energy and interaction force of a nanoparticle entering a semi-infinite lipid nanotube. These expressions are then employed to determine the suction and acceptance energies of system. To ascertain the accuracy of the proposed analytical expressions, the multiple integrals of van der Waals interactions are evaluated numerically based on the differential quadrature method. A comprehensive study is conducted to get an insight into the effects of different geometrical parameters including radius of nanoparticles, innermost radius of lipid nanotube, head group and tail group thicknesses on the nature of suction and acceptance energies and van der Waals interactions. Numerical results show that maximum suction energy increases by enlarging the nanoparticle size, while it decreases by increasing the head group thickness or the tail group thickness. It is further found that gold nanoparticle experiences higher maximum suction energies inside lipid nanotubes compared to silver nanoparticle.
Diagnostic Utility of New Equation for Active Tuberculosis Based on Parameters of Interferon-&ggr; Release Assay

Background We derived a new equation to include interferon-γ (IFN-γ) levels in the QuantiFERON-Gold In-Tube (QFT-GIT) assay to discriminate active tuberculosis (ATB) infection from latent TB, and compared the diagnostic performance of the QFT-GIT assay and the new equation. Methods From January 2013 through May 2015, we retrospectively enrolled 159 and 408 patients with and without ATB, respectively, in this study. Discriminant analysis was performed to derive an equation to distinguish the ATB group from the non-ATB group. Results The sensitivity and specificity of the QFT-GIT assay for diagnosing ATB were 90.6% and 63.0%, respectively. The positive and negative predictive values of the QFT-GIT assay were 48.8% and 94.5%, respectively. When the optimal cutoff for the new equation [Z = (0.031 × Nil) + (0.007 × TBAg) - 0.978] was set to -0.435, the sensitivity and specificity were 84.3% and 69.1% (positive predictive value, 51.5%; negative predictive value, 91.9%), respectively. Conclusions The QFT-GIT assay and the equation derived from each IFN-γ could not discriminate ATB from latent TB without considering other cytokines involved in immunity against TB.