Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The relationship between inadequate response to physical therapy and central sensitization in patients with knee osteoarthritis: A prospective cohort study

Objectives: This study aims to investigate the relationship between physical therapy response and the presence of central sensitization (CS) in patients with painful knee osteoarthritis (OA). Patients and methods: Between May 2019 and March 2020, a total of 84 patients with knee OA (12 males, 72 females; mean age: 60.7±7.7 years; range 50 to 74 years) and 30 age and sex-matched controls (6 males, 24 females; mean age: 59.2±8.9 years; range 50 to 75 years) were included in this study. Knee pain and functional status were evaluated by Visual Analog Scale (VAS) and Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC). Structural damage was assessed by knee radiography. The Central Sensitization Inventory (CSI), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Insomnia Severity Index (ISI), Pain Catastrophizing Scale (PCS), and PainDETECT Questionnaire (PDQ) were applied at baseline. Pain pressure thresholds (PPTs) of the patients were measured and compared with the control group. All patients underwent a total of 15 sessions of physical therapy program for five sessions/weekly. After treatment, the patients were divided into two groups as responders and non-responders according to the Osteoarthritis Research Society International (OARSI) criteria. Results: The CSI score of the patients in non-responder group was significantly higher compared to the responder group (p=0.004). Using a cut-off value of ≥40, the proportion of patients with CSI scores of ≥40 was significantly lower in the responder group compared to non-responder group (p=0.021). The PPT measurement values were significantly lower in the non-responder group compared to the responder and control groups (p <0.01). There was a significant difference in the frequency of hyperalgesia between the groups (p=0.021). Central sensitization and depression were the most significant predictors of non-response to physical therapy (p=0.045 and p=0.024, respectively). Conclusion: Our study results suggest the presence of CS and depression may result in an inadequate response to physical therapy in patients with knee OA. Clinicians should consider the findings of CS and depression in treatment planning.
Exploring How Healthcare Organizations Use Twitter: A Discourse Analysis

The use of Twitter by healthcare organizations is an effective means of disseminating medical information to the public. However, the content of tweets can be influenced by various factors, such as health emergencies and medical breakthroughs. In this study, we conducted a discourse analysis to better understand how public and private healthcare organizations use Twitter and the factors that influence the content of their tweets. Data were collected from the Twitter accounts of five private pharmaceutical companies, two US and two Canadian public health agencies, and the World Health Organization from 1 January 2020, to 31 December 2022. The study applied topic modeling and association rule mining to identify text patterns that influence the content of tweets across different Twitter accounts. The findings revealed that building a reputation on Twitter goes beyond just evaluating the popularity of a tweet in the online sphere. Topic modeling, when applied synchronously with hashtag and tagging analysis can provide an increase in tweet popularity. Additionally, the study showed differences in language use and style across the Twitter accounts’ categories and discussed how the impact of popular association rules could translate to significantly more user engagement. Overall, the results of this study provide insights into natural language processing for health literacy and present a way for organizations to structure their future content to ensure maximum public engagement.
Gene expression programming models for liquefaction-induced lateral spreading

Lateral spreading is one of the most significant destructive and catastrophic phenomena associated with liquefaction caused by earthquake and can impose very serious damages to structures and engineering facilities. The aim of this study is to evaluate liquefaction induced lateral spreading and finding new relations using gene expression programming (GEP) that is a new and developed generation of genetic algorithms approaches. Since there are complicated, nonlinear and higher order relationships between many factors affecting the lateral spreading, GEP is assumed to be capable of finding complex and accurate relationships between these factors. This study includes three main stages: (i) compilation of available database (484 data), (ii) dividing data into training and testing categories, and (iii) building new models and propose new relationships to predict ground displacement in free face, gentle slope and general ground conditions. The results of modeling each of the different ground conditions are presented in the form of mathematical equations. At the end, the final GEP models for 3 different cases of ground conditions are compared with multiple linear regression (MLR) and other published models. The statistical parameters indicate the higher accuracy of the GEP models over other relations.
Tilt-to-Length Coupling Analysis of an Off-Axis Optical Bench Design for NGGM

A new off-axis optical design alternative to that of the GRACE Follow-on mission for future NGGM missions is considered. In place of the triple-mirror assembly of the GRACE Follow-on mission, a laser retro-reflector is instead generated by means of lens systems. The receiving (RX) beam and transmitting (TX) beam are enforced to be anti-parallel by a control loop with differential wavefront sensing (DWS) signals as readout, and a fast-steering mirror is employed to actuate the pointing of the local beam. The tilt-to-length (TTL) coupling noise of the new off-axis optical bench layout is carefully studied in the present work. Local TTL originated from piston noise as well as assembly and alignment errors of optical components are studied. Effort is also made to have an in depth understanding of global TTL due to relative attitude jitter between spacecraft. The margin of TTL noise in the position noise budget for laser ranging is examined. With an open loop control of the offset between the reference point of the optical bench and the centre of mass of a satellite, the TTL noise of the new off-axis optical bench design may be suppressed efficiently.
Beyond adaptive cruise control and lane centering control: drivers’ mental model of and trust in emerging ADAS technologies

Introduction The potential safety benefits of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) highly rely on drivers’ appropriate mental models of and trust in ADAS. Current research mainly focused on drivers’ mental model of adaptive cruise control (ACC) and lane centering control (LCC), but rarely investigated drivers’ understanding of emerging driving automation functions beyond ACC and LCC. Methods To address this research gap, 287 valid responses from ADAS users in the Chinese market, were collected in a survey study targeted toward state-of-the-art ADAS (e.g., autopilot in Tesla). Through cluster analysis, drivers were clustered into four groups based on their knowledge of traditional ACC and LCC functions, knowledge of functions beyond ACC and LCC, and knowledge of ADAS limitations. Predictors of driver grouping were analyzed, and we further modeled drivers’ trust in ADAS. Results Drivers in general had weak knowledge of LCC functions and functions beyond ACC and LCC, and only 27 (9%) of respondents had a relatively strong mental model of ACC and LCC. At the same time, years of licensure, weekly driving distance, ADAS familiarity, driving style (i.e., planning), and personability (i.e., agreeableness) were associated with drivers’ mental model of ADAS. Further, it was found that the mental model of ADAS, vehicle brand, and drivers’ age, ADAS experience, driving style (i.e., focus), and personality (i.e., emotional stability) were significant predictors of drivers’ trust in ADAS. Discussion These findings provide valuable insights for the design of driver education and training programs to improve driving safety with ADAS.
Crankshaft geometry modification and strength simulations for a new design of diesel opposed-piston engine

The article presents simulation strength calculations of a newly designed crankshaft for a PZL 100 engine with a reciprocating piston design. This engine is the subject of a research and development project co-financed by NCBR. The article presents four successive versions of the crankshaft geometric changes which underwent strength calculations. Such elements as the outer and inner parts of the crankshaft arm were changed in these geometric versions. The geometry of the shaft was changed using Catia v5 software, while strength calculations were carried out in Abaqus software. In summary, one of the presented models was selected for further work due to the possible simplification of the manufacturing process and the reduction of mass and stresses. This model was further investigated in the project.
Correlation of HIV-Induced Neuroinflammation and Synaptopathy with Impairment of Learning and Memory in Mice with HAND

Over 38 million people worldwide are living with HIV/AIDS, and more than half of them are affected by HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND). Such disorders are characterized by chronic neuroinflammation, neurotoxicity, and central nervous system deterioration, which lead to short- or long-term memory loss, cognitive impairment, and motor skill deficits that may show gender disparities. However, the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Our previous study suggested that HIV-1 infection and viral protein R (Vpr) upregulate the SUR1-TRPM4 channel associated with neuroinflammation, which may contribute to HAND. The present study aimed to explore this relationship in a mouse model of HAND. This study employed the HIV transgenic Tg26 mouse model, comparing Tg26 mice with wildtype mice in various cognitive behavioral and memory tests, including locomotor activity tests, recognition memory tests, and spatial learning and memory tests. The study found that Tg26 mice exhibited impaired cognitive skills and reduced learning abilities compared to wildtype mice, particularly in spatial memory. Interestingly, male Tg26 mice displayed significant differences in spatial memory losses (p < 0.001), while no significant differences were identified in female mice. Consistent with our early results, SUR1-TRPM4 channels were upregulated in Tg26 mice along with glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) and aquaporin 4 (AQP4), consistent with reactive astrocytosis and neuroinflammation. Corresponding reductions in neurosynaptic responses, as indicated by downregulation of Synapsin-1 (SYN1) and Synaptophysin (SYP), suggested synaptopathy as a possible mechanism underlying cognitive and motor skill deficits. In conclusion, our study suggests a possible relationship between SUR1-TRPM4-mediated neuroinflammation and synaptopathy with impairments of learning and memory in mice with HAND. These findings could help to develop new therapeutic strategies for individuals living with HAND.
A Unified Analysis of Penalty-Based Collision Energies

We analyze a wide class of penalty energies used for contact response through the lens of a reduced frame. Applying our analysis to both spring-based and barrier-based energies, we show that we can obtain closed-form, analytic eigensystems that can be used to guarantee positive semidefiniteness in implicit solvers. Our approach is both faster than direct numerical methods, and more robust than approximate methods such as Gauss-Newton. Over the course of our analysis, we investigate physical interpretations for two separate notions of length. Finally, we showcase the stability of our analysis on challenging strand, cloth, and volume scenarios with large timesteps on the order of 1/40 s.
Declining Trends in Crime Reporting and Victims’ Trust of Police in the United States and Major Metropolitan Areas in the 21st Century

Victims’ willingness to report crime and their opinions about the police are important indicators of police performance, police legitimacy, and trust in the justice system. This study examines two decades of trends in police notification and victims’ perceptions of the police in the United States and major metropolitan areas since 2000, using data from the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS). In contrast to previous studies indicating an increase in police notification in the 1980s and 1990s, the present study shows a progressive decline in police notification observed in the last two decades, especially since 2010. Furthermore, there has been a marked increase in victims’ mistrust of police responsiveness since the mid-2000s. Using multivariable regression models that control for potential changes in the characteristics of crime and survey methodology, we find that the victims’ rising distrust of the police is widespread in many metropolitan areas, in all racial/ethnic and socioeconomic groups, and especially so for victims of theft, burglary, and simple assault. In the discussion, we suggest that the changing policing strategies and the evolving economic, political, and social environments of the 21st century may help explain the trends identified by this research. Understanding victim reporting trends and victims’ opinions of the police may affect data and policy and help the justice system to better serve victims and enhance public safety.
Sodium Hypochlorite Diagnostic Performance compared to Ziehl-Nelseen method among Presumptive Tuberculosis Patients in Uganda

Background: Tuberculosis remains a major public health problem worldwide. Direct Ziehl Nelseen (ZN) is the conventional Laboratory method for diagnosis of TB. However, there are higher chances of missing TB positive cases due to insufficient sensitivity. This would eventually lead to TB transmission and hence mortality. Objective: To determine sensitivity and specificity of ZN diagnostic technique on concentrated and unconcentrated sputum samples as well as to assess how clinical, socio-demographic, and sample variables affect concentrated sputum ZN positivity. Method and Materials: This cross-sectional investigation was carried out in Mulago Hospital, covering adult TB presumptive patients. Sputum samples from 114 patients were collected and processed by both NaOCl concentration and direct ZN diagnostic techniques. Sensitivity and specificity were calculated and tabulated. Prediction of ZN positivity was assessed using Logistic regression analysis. Results: Out of the total 114 samples, 82 (71.9%) were positive by GeneXpert test (the gold standard), whereas by NaOCl concentration method 79 samples (69.3%) were found positive but with direct ZN method 65 samples (57.0%) were found positive, thus an increase of 14 samples (12.3%) in positivity was noted when used NaOCl concentration method which is highly significant with ρ<0.05 (χ2 =95.38). NaOCl concentration method got a higher sensitivity than direct sputum smear with 97.5% and 80.2% respectively. The specificities were almost the same with NaOCl method 93.9% and direct sputum smear with 90.9%. NaOCl concentration method had a PPV of 0.98 and NPV of 0.94 while direct sputum smear had PPV of 0.95 and NPV of 0.65. Conclusion: NaOCl concentration method was found to be more sensitive than direct ZN though the specificity was almost the same. Clinical, socio-demographic and sample factors’ effect on ZN positivity was not statistically significant (ρ value=0.796). NaOCl concentration method should be adopted for effective diagnosis of pulmonary TB.
A Study on the Energy Sustainability of Early Exit Networks for Human Activity Recognition

The design of IoT systems supporting deep learning capabilities is mainly based today on data transmission to the cloud back-end. Recently, edge computing solutions, which keep most computing and communication as close as possible to user devices have emerged as possible alternatives to reduce energy consumption, limit latency, and safeguard privacy. Early-exit models have been proposed as a way to combine models with different depths into a single architecture. The aim of this article is to investigate the energy expenditure of a distributed IoT system based on early exit architectures, by taking human activity recognition as a case study. We propose a simulation study based on an analytical model and hardware characterization to estimate the trade-off between the accuracy and energy of early exit-based configurations. Experimental results highlight nontrivial relationships between architectures, computing platforms, and communication link. For instance, we found that early-exit strategies do not ensure energy reductions with respect to a cloud-based solution if the same accuracy levels are kept; nonetheless, by tolerating a 1.5% decrease in accuracy, it is possible to achieve a reduction of around 40% of the total energy consumption.
Enhancing HTTP Web Protocol Performance with Updated Transport Layer Techniques

Popular Internet applications such as web browsing, and web video download use HTTP protocol as application over the standard Transport Control Protocol (TCP). Traditional TCP behavior is unsuitable for this style of application because their transmission rate and traffic pattern are different from conventional bulk transfer applications. Previous works have analyzed the interaction of these applications with the congestion control algorithms in TCP and the proposed Congestion Window Validation (CWV) as a solution. However, this method was incomplete and has been shown to present drawbacks. This paper focuses on the ‘newCWV’ which was designed to address these drawbacks. NewCWV provides a practical mechanism to estimate the available path capacity and suggests a more appropriate congestion control behavior. This paper describes how this algorithm was implemented in the Linux TCP/IP stack and tested by experiments, where results indicate that, with newCWV, the browsing can get 50% faster in an uncongested network.
Detection of Meloidogyne graminicola (RRKN) in Kumaon region of the Indian Himalayas

Rice root-knot nematode (RRKN), Meloidogyne graminicola is a serious pest of rice (Oryza sativa L.) reported globally. In India, RRKN has been reported from various parts of the rice growing region and causing 17–30% yield loss. In the present study, RRKN population infesting rice growing region of Kumaon hills of Uttarakhand, Indian Himalayan region was isolated during 2019–20, characterized using integrative taxonomy by combining molecular analysis using ITS, morphology of male, juveniles, adult female and morphometry measurements of different stages. The data presented in the comparative analysis of morphometry parameters for Meloidogyne graminicola isolate from the Kumaon region of the Indian Himalayas, as compared to the original description by Golden and Birchfield (1965) from Louisiana, USA, reveals some differences in the morphological characteristics of adult females, adult males, and 2nd stage juveniles (J2) of M. graminicola. The ITS sequence from the present study appeared as a single clade between the Fujian isolate (KM111531.1) and the Brazilian M. graminicola isolate (KY962651). To our knowledge, this is the first authentic characterization and report of RRKN from the Hilly region of Uttarakhand state. The detection of M. graminicola in the mid Indian Himalayan region provides valuable information for further studies on the natural population dynamics and distribution patterns of this nematode species. The findings highlight the need for regular monitoring and surveillance of nematode populations in the region to better understand their distribution and potential impact on rice production.
Phenylalanine Tolerance over Time in Phenylketonuria: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

In phenylketonuria (PKU), natural protein tolerance is defined as the maximum natural protein intake maintaining a blood phenylalanine (Phe) concentration within a target therapeutic range. Tolerance is affected by several factors, and it may differ throughout a person’s lifespan. Data on lifelong Phe/natural protein tolerance are limited and mostly reported in studies with low subject numbers. This systematic review aimed to investigate how Phe/natural protein tolerance changes from birth to adulthood in well-controlled patients with PKU on a Phe-restricted diet. Five electronic databases were searched for articles published until July 2020. From a total of 1334 results, 37 articles met the eligibility criteria (n = 2464 patients), and 18 were included in the meta-analysis. The mean Phe (mg/day) and natural protein (g/day) intake gradually increased from birth until 6 y (at the age of 6 months, the mean Phe intake was 267 mg/day, and natural protein intake was 5.4 g/day; at the age of 5 y, the mean Phe intake was 377 mg/day, and the natural protein intake was 8.9 g/day). However, an increase in Phe/natural protein tolerance was more apparent at the beginning of late childhood and was >1.5-fold that of the Phe tolerance in early childhood. During the pubertal growth spurt, the mean natural protein/Phe tolerance was approximately three times higher than in the first year of life, reaching a mean Phe intake of 709 mg/day and a mean natural protein intake of 18 g/day. Post adolescence, a pooled analysis could only be performed for natural protein intake. The mean natural protein tolerance reached its highest (32.4 g/day) point at the age of 17 y and remained consistent (31.6 g/day) in adulthood, but limited data were available. The results of the meta-analysis showed that Phe/natural protein tolerance (expressed as mg or g per day) increases with age, particularly at the beginning of puberty, and reaches its highest level at the end of adolescence. This needs to be interpreted with caution as limited data were available in adult patients. There was also a high degree of heterogeneity between studies due to differences in sample size, the severity of PKU, and target therapeutic levels for blood Phe control.
GEODATA IN SCIENCE – A REVIEW OF SELECTED SCIENTIFIC FIELDS

Aim of the study: Today, completely new forms of geo-information systems are becoming increasingly popular. New technological possibilities allow these systems to be adapted to the requirements and needs of societies. This paper is an extensive literature review of the use of geodata in various scientific fields, in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) disciplines. However, as there is no universal agreement as to which disciplines are included in the STEM, the authors also included related fields such as geography or transport. Material and methods: Already a preliminary analysis of the Web of Science Core Collection database has shown that geodata is used very widely, in every scientific discipline analysed (with varying degrees of sophistication). The main objective of the paper is to provide a comprehensive analysis of the usage of geodata in five areas: bathymetric measurements, satellite geodata, aerial retrieved geodata, levelling networks, and GIS data. Results and conclusions: The results showed the increasing availability of data that can contribute to a better understanding and management of our planet. Geodata as a tool is overly broad and general, and it is used or might be used in every discipline of science.