Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Bee Venom Acupuncture for Neck Pain: A Review of the Korean Literature

Bee venom is a natural toxin that is effective in treating various types of pain. The purpose of this paper was to review all the features of clinical studies conducted on bee venom acupuncture (BVA) for the treatment of neck pain in Korean publications. Six Korean databases and 16 Korean journals were searched in August 2022 for clinical studies on BVA for neck pain. We identified 24 trials that met our inclusion criteria, of which 316 patients with neck pain were treated with BVA. The most common diagnosis in the patients with neck pain was herniated intervertebral discs (HIVDs) of the cervical spine (C-spine) (29.2%), and the concentration and dosage per session were 0.05–0.5 mg/mL and 0.1–1.5 mL, respectively. The visual analog scale was most often measured for neck pain severity (62.5%), and all clinical research reported improvements in 16 outcome measures. This study shows that BVA could be recommended for the treatment of neck pain, especially HIVD of the C-spine; however, the adverse effects of BVA must be examined in future studies.
Alternated Greedy-Step Deterministic Policy Gradient

The greedy-step <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$Q$ </tex-math></inline-formula>-learning (GQL) can effectively accelerate the <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$Q$ </tex-math></inline-formula>-value updating process. However, since it is an improved version of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$Q$ </tex-math></inline-formula>-learning, the problem of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$Q$ </tex-math></inline-formula>-value overestimation also exists. Since there are in total two max operators used to iteratively calculate <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$Q$ </tex-math></inline-formula>-value in GQL, many existing solutions to reduce the <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$Q$ </tex-math></inline-formula>-value estimation bias are invalid for GQL. To address the issue, an alternated greedy-step update (AGU) framework that consists of two independent <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$Q$ </tex-math></inline-formula>-value estimators is proposed in this study. In the proposed AGU framework, one estimator is to determine the time step that can maximize the estimated <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$n$ </tex-math></inline-formula>-step return and the other estimator is to update the prior estimator using the target value calculated on the basis of the determined time step. The convergence of the AGU framework is proved in theoretical. In addition, an alternated greedy-step deterministic policy gradient (AGDPG) that can be applied to continuous-action tasks is proposed by combining the AGU framework with deep deterministic policy gradient (DDPG). Experiments of AGDPG on continuous-action tasks of the MuJoCo platform highlight its superior performance.
WSNet: Towards An Effective Method for Wound Image Segmentation

Medical image segmentation is critical for effective computer-aided diagnosis and localization of ailments. Automated segmentation of wound regions from patient images can aid clinicians in measuring and managing chronic wounds and monitoring the wound healing trajectory. While there exists a plethora of work on general medical image segmentation, there is hardly any work on wound image analysis and segmentation. Existing methods are limited to segmenting a smaller subset of ulcers, such as foot ulcers, with no special processing for wound images. In this paper, we build segmentation models for eight different types of wound images. Wound image analysis is a challenging problem due to the lack of availability of extensive data (labeled or unlabeled), and annotation is also challenging due to the shortage of well-trained wound care clinicians. To handle these challenges, we contribute WoundSeg1, a large and diverse dataset of segmented wound images. Generic wound image segmentation is complex due to the heterogeneous appearance of wound area across images of similar wound types. We propose a novel image segmentation framework, WSNet, which leverages (a) wound-domain adaptive pretraining on a large unlabeled wound image collection and (b) a global-local architecture that utilizes full image and its patches to learn fine-grained details of heterogeneous wounds. On WoundSeg, we achieve a decent Dice score of 0.847. On existing AZH Woundcare and Medetec datasets, we establish a new state-of-the-art. Further, we show the impact of using segmentation for improving the accuracy of downstream tasks like wound area and volume prediction.
The Relationship between Social Support and Anxiety Symptoms in Informal Carers: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Background: Providing care can be challenging for informal carers and increases the risk of mental health problems, such as experiencing clinical symptoms of anxiety. While strengthening social support for informal carers is a common recommendation to reduce this risk, no systematic review or meta-analysis to date has examined the relationship between social support and anxiety symptoms in informal carers. The aim of our study was to systematically review the current evidence on the association between perceived and received social support and anxiety symptoms in informal carers of dependent adults and older people, and to comment on the quality of the evidence. Methods: We searched PubMed, CINAHL (EBSCO), PsycINFO (ProQuest), Scopus, and LILACS up to 31 March 2021 for articles reporting on the association between caregiver anxiety symptoms and social support. A random-effects model was used to pool estimates, and each study was rated for quality using pre-specified criteria. Publication bias was assessed using a funnel plot and Egger’s regression test, which was adjusted using trim and fill analysis. Results: From the 2180 identified articles, 35 studies met our inclusion criteria, reporting on 5036 informal carers in total. We found a moderate negative association between perceived social support and caregiver anxiety symptoms (r = −0.31, 95% CI = −0.35, −0.27) and a small, negative association between received social support and caregiver anxiety (r = −0.15, 95% CI = −0.22, −0.08). Conclusion: The levels of perceived social support showed a significant negative association with caregiver anxiety symptoms. Policymakers and those working directly with informal carers should consider the development of targeted social support interventions that specifically enhance the levels of perceived social support to reduce symptoms of anxiety in informal carers.
An RRAM retention prediction framework using a convolutional neural network based on relaxation behavior

The long-time retention issue of resistive random access memory (RRAM) brings a great challenge in the performance maintenance of large-scale RRAM-based computation-in-memory (CIM) systems. The periodic update is a feasible method to compensate for the accuracy loss caused by retention degradation, especially in demanding high-accuracy applications. In this paper, we propose a selective refresh strategy to reduce the updating cost by predicting the devices’ retention behavior. A convolutional neural network-based retention prediction framework is developed. The framework can determine whether an RRAM device has poor retention that needs to be updated according to its short-time relaxation behavior. By reprogramming these few selected devices, the method can recover the accuracy of the RRAM-based CIM system effectively. This work provides a valuable retention coping strategy with low time and energy costs and new insights for analyzing the physical connection between the relaxation and retention behavior of the RRAM device.
Comparative study of two menus of contracts for outsourcing the maintenance function of a process having a linear failure rate

Abstract One of the most frequently outsourced functions in business is maintenance. A model for the design of an incentive-based maintenance outsourcing contract has been proposed under the assumption of an information-symmetric system, wherein both the manufacturer and the contractor have full knowledge of the parameters needed for contract design. In this article, we relax the assumption and extend this model under an information-asymmetric system, wherein the manufacturer knows only limited information about one of the parameters, the contractor’s expected repair cost. We use two approaches to determine a menu of contracts, where the menu of contracts is often used in the presence of limited information. The first approach maximizes the manufacturer’s expected profit, and the second approach maximizes the system’s expected profit. Our analytical and numerical comparisons of the two approaches show that the second approach is not only robust with respect to the estimated probability of the expected repair cost, but also more acceptable to the manufacturer than the first approach when a Black Swan event is possible, which occurs with small probability in a context where the contractor’s expected repair cost is large.
Biodiesel Purification by Solvent-Aided Crystallization Using 2-Methyltetrahydrofuran

The previous biodiesel purification by Solvent-Aided Crystallization (SAC) using 1-butanol as assisting agent and parameters for SAC were optimized such as coolant temperature, cooling time and stirring speed. Meanwhile, 2-Methyltetrahydrofuran (2-MeTHF) was selected as an alternative to previous organic solvents for this study. In this context, it is used to replace solvent 1-butanol from a conducted previous study. This study also focuses on the technological improvements in the purification of biodiesel via SAC as well as to produce an even higher purity of biodiesel. Experimental works on the transesterification process to produce crude biodiesel were performed and SAC was carried out to purify the crude biodiesel. The crude biodiesel content was analyzed by using Gas Chromatography–Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) and Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) to measure the composition of Fatty Acid Methyl Esters (FAME) present. The optimum value to yield the highest purity of FAME for parameters coolant temperature, cooling time, and stirring speed is −4 °C, 10 min and 210 rpm, respectively. It can be concluded that the assisting solvent 2-MeTHF has a significant effect on the process parameters to produce purified biodiesel according to the standard requirement.
Temozolomide Chronotherapy in Glioma: A Systematic Review

Outcomes for patients with high-grade glioma remain poor. Temozolomide (TMZ) is the only drug approved for first-line treatment of glioblastoma multiforme, the most aggressive form of glioma. Chronotherapy highlights the potential benefit of timed TMZ administration. This is based on pre-clinical studies of enhanced TMZ-induced glioma cytotoxicity dependent on circadian, oscillating expression of key genes involved in apoptosis, DNA damage repair, and cell-cycle mediated cell death. The current systematic review’s primary aim was to evaluate the efficacy and toxicity of TMZ chronotherapy. A systemic review of literature following PRISMA guidelines looking at clinical outcomes on TMZ chronotherapy on gliomas was performed. The search in the English language included three databases (PubMed, EMBASE, and Cochrane) and five conferences from 1946 to April 2022. Two independent reviewers undertook screening, data extraction, and risk-of-bias assessment. A descriptive analysis was conducted due to limited data. Of the 269 articles screened, two unique studies were eligible and underwent abstraction for survival and toxicity findings. Both studies—one a retrospective cohort study (n = 166) and the other a prospective randomized feasibility study (n = 35)—were conducted by the same academic group and suggested a trend for improved overall survival, but possibly increased toxicity when TMZ was administered in the morning (vs. evening). There was limited evidence suggesting possible therapeutic value from administering TMZ in the morning, which may be consistent with the pre-clinical observations of the importance of the timing of TMZ administration in vitro. Larger, pragmatic, prospective randomized controlled trials are needed to ascertain the value of TMZ chronotherapy to provide optimized and equitable care for this population.
Preventative Management of Sepsis-Induced Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome in the Geriatric Population

Sepsis and its treatment are the most common etiologies of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), which has a disturbing mortality rate. Sepsis management relies heavily on the introduction of resuscitative fluids. However, when fluids are paired with the circulating inflammatory mediators of sepsis, patients are prone to lung damage. Survivors of sepsis-induced ARDS become plagued with functional and/or psychological sequelae such as impaired memory, difficulty in concentrating, and decreased mental processing speed. Specific techniques can be implemented when diagnosing and treating elderly patients with sepsis to prevent the onset of ARDS, including bed elevation and early antibiotics. Additionally, albumin infusion may be beneficial; however, more research must be conducted. Finally, inflammatory mediators, including serum mannose biomarkers and extracellular histone therapy, show a promising avenue for future treatment. Although there is limited research on osteopathic manipulative medicine (OMT) on ARDS or sepsis-induced ARDS, OMT that focuses on alleviating rib and thoracic somatic dysfunctions has been used as an adjunct therapy to treat other respiratory diseases, such as pneumonia and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The results of these studies may garner interest in whether the use of OMT as an adjunct therapy may be beneficial for patients with ARDS or sepsis-induced ARDS. This paper is intended to review the current guidelines for sepsis and ARDS management in elderly patients to identify measures to prevent sepsis-induced ARDS.
Resveratrol-Loaded Chia Seed Oil-Based Nanogel as an Anti-Inflammatory in Adjuvant-Induced Arthritis

Natural anti-inflammatory nutraceuticals may be useful in preventing rheumatoid arthritis from worsening. Resveratrol (RV) and chia seed oil, having antioxidant potential, can assist in avoiding oxidative stress-related disorders. This investigation developed and evaluated resveratrol-loaded chia seed oil-based nanoemulsion (NE) gel formulations through in vitro and in vivo studies. The physical stability and in vitro drug permeability of the chosen formulations (NE1 to NE10) were studied. The optimized RV-loaded nanoemulsion (NE2) had droplets with an average size of 37.48 nm that were homogeneous in shape and had a zeta potential of −18 mV. RV-NE2, with a permeability of 98.21 ± 4.32 µg/cm2/h, was gelled with 1% carbopol-940P. A 28-day anti-arthritic assessment (body weight, paw edema, and levels of pro-inflammatory mediators including TNF-α, IL-6, IL-1β, and COX-2) following topical administration of RV-NE2 gel showed significant reversal of arthritic symptoms in arthritic Wistar rats induced by Freund’s complete adjuvant injection. Therefore, RV-NE2 gel demonstrated the potential to achieve local therapeutic benefits in inflammatory arthritic conditions due to its increased topical bioavailability and balancing of pro-inflammatory mediators.
A new surface interpolation technique for reconstructing 3-D objects from serial cross sections

A method for automatically reconstructing a three-dimensional object from serial cross sections is presented. The method combines the techniques of dynamic elastic contour interpolation, spline theory, and quadratic-variation-based surface interpolation. In the proposed method, the initial description of the object is formed by applying the elastic interpolation algorithm to generate a series of intermediate contours between each pair of consecutive cross sections. After this, preliminary processing for surface computation is carried out by mapping the contours into the domain of the surface function and then using spline functions to calculate the initial surface values. Based on the output from preliminary processing, the quadratic-variation-based surface interpolation algorithm is applied to calculate the final surface representation. Since the presented methods take the continuity of high-order derivatives into consideration, smooth and complete surface of a 3-D object can be reconstructed. <<ETX>>
Influence of User Profile Attributes on e-Cigarette–Related Searches on YouTube: Machine Learning Clustering and Classification

Background The proliferation of e-cigarette content on YouTube is concerning because of its possible effect on youth use behaviors. YouTube has a personalized search and recommendation algorithm that derives attributes from a user’s profile, such as age and sex. However, little is known about whether e-cigarette content is shown differently based on user characteristics. Objective The aim of this study was to understand the influence of age and sex attributes of user profiles on e-cigarette–related YouTube search results. Methods We created 16 fictitious YouTube profiles with ages of 16 and 24 years, sex (female and male), and ethnicity/race to search for 18 e-cigarette–related search terms. We used unsupervised (k-means clustering and classification) and supervised (graph convolutional network) machine learning and network analysis to characterize the variation in the search results of each profile. We further examined whether user attributes may play a role in e-cigarette–related content exposure by using networks and degree centrality. Results We analyzed 4201 nonduplicate videos. Our k-means clustering suggested that the videos could be clustered into 3 categories. The graph convolutional network achieved high accuracy (0.72). Videos were classified based on content into 4 categories: product review (49.3%), health information (15.1%), instruction (26.9%), and other (8.5%). Underage users were exposed mostly to instructional videos (37.5%), with some indication that more female 16-year-old profiles were exposed to this content, while young adult age groups (24 years) were exposed mostly to product review videos (39.2%). Conclusions Our results indicate that demographic attributes factor into YouTube’s algorithmic systems in the context of e-cigarette–related queries on YouTube. Specifically, differences in the age and sex attributes of user profiles do result in variance in both the videos presented in YouTube search results as well as in the types of these videos. We find that underage profiles were exposed to e-cigarette content despite YouTube’s age-restriction policy that ostensibly prohibits certain e-cigarette content. Greater enforcement of policies to restrict youth access to e-cigarette content is needed.
The three-dimensional algorithm of solving the electric field integral equation using face-centered node points, conjugate gradient method, and FFT

It has been known for a long time that the accuracy of solving the scattering by a dielectric body using the electric field integral equation (EFIE) is poor when the permittivity of the scatterer becomes large. Recently, this problem has been settled by using a procedure involving face-centered node points. Such a procedure is efficient, since it preserves the convolution property in the EFIE and, hence, the applicability of the fast Fourier transform (FFT). This procedure is generalized to the three-dimensional and anisotropic case. The generalization is quite straightforward in both the formulation and the programming. A calculation for a scatterer with a relative permittivity as high as 100 indicates that the proposed procedure converges quite rapidly, whereas the conventional using the conjugate gradient method approach fails to converge. >
Effect of Deferoxamine on Post-Transfusion Iron, Inflammation, and In Vitro Microbial Growth in a Canine Hemorrhagic Shock Model: A Randomized Controlled Blinded Pilot Study

Simple Summary Blood transfusions can be lifesaving but can also harm patients by causing inflammation and increasing the risk of infection. Harm may occur from increasing the amount of unbound iron in circulation. When it is not bound to special carriers, iron is toxic, causing inflammation and supporting bacterial growth. This study aimed to determine if giving deferoxamine, a drug designed to bind iron, just after a transfusion would prevent the increase in unbound iron and inflammation that occurs in dogs following blood transfusions. All dogs in the study had increased unbound iron levels and markers of inflammation after receiving a transfusion. However, when unbound iron levels and markers of inflammation were compared between dogs that received deferoxamine and dogs that received a placebo, there were no differences detected. Furthermore, deferoxamine did not slow the growth of bacteria within blood samples taken from dogs during the study compared to placebo. In conclusion, the dose of deferoxamine used in this study did not prevent inflammation in the transfused dogs nor did it inhibit bacterial growth in blood samples from these dogs. Abstract Red blood cell (RBC) transfusion is associated with recipient inflammation and infection, which may be triggered by excessive circulating iron. Iron chelation following transfusion may reduce these risks. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of deferoxamine on circulating iron and inflammation biomarkers over time and in vitro growth of Escherichia coli (E. coli) following RBC transfusion in dogs with atraumatic hemorrhage. Anesthetized dogs were subject to atraumatic hemorrhage and transfusion of RBCs, then randomized to receive either deferoxamine or saline placebo of equivalent volume (n = 10 per group) in a blinded fashion. Blood was sampled before hemorrhage and then 2, 4, and 6 h later. Following hemorrhage and RBC transfusion, free iron increased in all dogs over time (both p < 0.001). Inflammation biomarkers interleukin-6 (IL6), CXC motif chemokine-8 (CXCL8), interleukin-10 (IL10), and keratinocyte-derived chemokine (KC) increased in all dogs over time (all p < 0.001). Logarithmic growth of E. coli clones within blood collected 6 h post-transfusion was not different between groups. Only total iron-binding capacity was different between groups over time, being significantly increased in the deferoxamine group at 2 and 4 h post-transfusion (both p < 0.001). In summary, while free iron and inflammation biomarkers increased post-RBC transfusion, deferoxamine administration did not impact circulating free iron, inflammation biomarkers, or in vitro growth of E. coli when compared with placebo.
Investigation of Catalytic Co-Pyrolysis Characteristics and Synergistic Effect of Oily Sludge and Walnut Shell

The co-pyrolysis of oily sludge and walnut shell is a reliable method for solid waste treatment and waste recycling. In this paper, a thermogravimetric analysis was used to study the thermodynamics and synergy effect of oily sludge (OS) and walnut shell (WS) at four heating rates (10, 20, 30, and 40 °C/min) in the temperature range from 50–850 °C. Two model-free methods (FWO and KAS) were used to calculate the activation energy. The results showed that the heating rate had no significant effect on the pyrolysis process. The addition of walnut shell improved the pyrolysis process of the samples. Mixture 1OS3WS had a synergy effect, while other blends showed an inhibitory effect. The synergy effect of co-pyrolysis was strongest when the mass ratio of oily sludge was 25%. The activation energy of the Zn-ZSM-5/25 catalyst was the lowest, and the residual substances were the least, indicating that the Zn-ZSM-5/25 was beneficial to the co-pyrolysis of oily sludge and walnut shell. The analysis of catalytic pyrolysis products by Py-GC/MS found that co-pyrolysis was beneficial to the generation of aromatic hydrocarbons. This study provided a method for the resource utilization of hazardous waste and biomass waste, which was conducive to the production of aromatic chemicals with added value while reducing environmental pollution.