Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A multicenter controlled study for dementia prevention through physical, cognitive and social activities – GESTALT-kompakt

Prevention of dementia is a public health priority. Physical activity (PA) can reduce the risk of dementia, but the majority of people remain sedentary. We conducted a multicenter controlled study with older adults (60+ years). We hypothesized that an evidence-based PA intervention – GEhen, Spielen und Tanzen Als Lebenslange Tätigkeiten – kompakt [walking, playing and dancing as lifelong activities-compact] (GESTALT-kompakt) – would lead to significantly larger improvements in PA levels (step counts/Fitbit Zip™), cognitive functions (DemTect) and social activities (Social Activity Log), compared to an active control group. Data were collected at baseline and after 3 and 12 months. The intervention group received a 12-week (1/week) multimodal and multicomponent PA program, which combined PA with cognitive and social activities. The control group received either regular gymnastics or cognitive training (1/week). A mixed linear model was chosen for analysis. A total of 87 older individuals were recruited in the GESTALT-kompakt study (68 females, average age =76.0 years, SD ±9.2, range 52–95 years). Marginally significant differences were observed in the intervention group (n=57) in comparison to the control group (n=30), regarding improvements in PA (difference of mean changes =866.4 steps, p=0.055) after 3 months. However, their PA decreased to the baseline score value after 12 months (−866.0 steps, p=0.061). GESTALT-kompakt did not cause significant differences in cognitive functioning (−0.8620, p=0.074) and social activities (−0.2428, p=0.288) in comparison to the control intervention from T0 to T1. Sixteen (24.2%) study participants who finished T2 reported a negative life event during the follow-up period, which severely influenced their PA behavior. GESTALT-kompakt might be effective in increasing PA in the short term, but did not have a long-term impact on the PA levels, cognitive functions or social activities of the participants. We recommend PA programs with longer duration to change behavior in the long term.
Diversity and endemism of butterflies of montane forests of Eravikulam National Park in the Western Ghats, India

In a study on the diversity and abundance of butterflies of montane forests of Eravikulam National Park in the Western Ghats, southern India, 85 species of butterflies belonging to six families were recorded. This include eight species of butterflies that are endemic to the Western Ghats and one Near-Threatened species according to IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. The family Nymphalidae, the brush-footed butterflies, was the major group of butterflies seen in the montane forests of Eravikulam National Park.
Trends in educational placement and cost-benefit considerations in children with cochlear implants.

OBJECTIVES To study the effect of cochlear implantation on the use of educational resources by profoundly hearing-impaired children and to determine trends in educational cost vs benefit. DESIGN Retrospective study and cost-benefit analysis. SETTING Outpatient pediatric cochlear implant program in an academic institution (The Listening Center at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Md), in collaboration with public schools in Maryland and surrounding states. PATIENTS OR OTHER PARTICIPANTS School-aged children with profound prelingual hearing impairment without other clearly defined disabilities. Thirty-five children with multiple-channel cochlear prostheses and a comparison group of 10 children without implants from 'total communication' programs in the Maryland public school system. INTERVENTIONS Multiple-channel cochlear implantation and at least 1 year of a systematic auditory skill development program at the Listening Center, compared with standard educational management of children with conventional amplification. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Classroom placement and number of hours of special educational support used. RESULTS A correlation was observed between the length of cochlear implant experience and the rate of full-time placement in mainstream classrooms (r = 0.10; P= .04). There was also a negative correlation between the length of implant experience and the number of hours of special educational support used by fully mainstreamed children (Pearson product moment correlation = -0.10; P = .03). Children with greater than 2 years of implant experience were mainstreamed at twice the rate or more of age-matched children with profound hearing loss who did not have implants. They were also placed less frequently in self-contained classrooms and used fewer hours of special education support. A cost-benefit analysis based on conservative estimates of educational expenses from kindergarten to 12th grade shows a cost savings of cochlear implantation and appropriate auditory (re)habilitation that ranges from $30000 to $200000. CONCLUSIONS Cochlear implantation accompanied by aural (re)habilitation increases access to acoustic information of spoken language, leading to higher rates of mainstream placement in schools and lower dependence on special education support services. The cost savings that results from a decrease in the use of support services indicates an educational cost benefit of cochlear implant (re)habilitation for many children.
Initial low-dose gentamicin for Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia and endocarditis is nephrotoxic.

BACKGROUND The safety of adding initial low-dose gentamicin to antistaphylococcal penicillins or vancomycin for treatment of suspected Staphylococcus aureus native valve endocarditis is unknown. This study evaluated the association between this practice and nephrotoxicity. METHODS We performed a prospective cohort study of safety data from a randomized, controlled trial of therapy for S. aureus bacteremia and native valve infective endocarditis involving 236 patients from 44 hospitals in 4 countries. Patients either received standard therapy (antistaphylococcal penicillin or vancomycin) plus initial low-dose gentamicin (n=116) or received daptomycin monotherapy (n = 120). We measured renal adverse events and clinically significant decreased creatinine clearance in patients (1) in the original randomized study arms and (2) who received any initial low-dose gentamicin either, as a study medication or <or= days before enrollment. RESULTS Renal adverse events occurred in 8 (7%) of 120 daptomycin recipients, 10 (19%) of 53 vancomycin recipients, and 11 (17%) of 63 antistaphylococcal penicillin recipients. Decreased creatinine clearance occurred in 9 (8%) of 113 of evaluable daptomycin recipients, 10 (22%) of 46 vancomycin recipients, and 16 (25%) of 63 antistaphylococcal penicillin recipients. An additional 21 patients received initial low-dose gentamicin <or=2 days before study enrollment. A total of 22% of patients who received initial low-dose gentamicin versus 8% of patients who did not receive initial low-dose gentamicin experienced decreased creatinine clearance (P = 005 ). Independent predictors of a clinically significant decrease in creatinine clearance were age >or=65 years and receipt of any initial low-dose gentamicin. CONCLUSIONS Initial low-dose gentamicin as part of therapy for S. aureus bacteremia and native valve infective endocarditis is nephrotoxic and should not be used routinely, given the minimal existing data supporting its benefit.
Inertia-coupling based balance control of a humanoid robot on unstable ground

A humanoid robot should be able to keep balance in the presence of various disturbances. We address here a class of disturbances that are due to an unstable ground, when conventional methods of control, e.g. ZMP based ones, are not applicable. The equation of motion has the form of an underactuated system, such as that of a free-flying robot or of a flexible-base/flexible-link robot. We develop an inertia-coupling based control method, similar to the control methods used in previous works for vibration suppression of flexible-base robots. Simulations with a planar humanoid robot are presented for two types of disturbances: (i) rotating surface and (ii) jointed-toe foot model. It is shown that, under the proposed control laws, balance can be recovered in a stable and optimal way, in both cases.
Neurological Outcome of Septic Cardioembolic Stroke After Infective Endocarditis

Background and Purpose— The aim of this study was to evaluate mortality and neurological outcomes of cardioembolic cerebral stroke in infective endocarditis (IE) patients requiring cardiac surgery. Methods— A consecutive series of 214 patients undergoing cardiac surgery for IE was followed up for 20 years. In 65 patients (mean age, 52 years), IE was complicated by computed tomography– or magnetic resonance imaging–verified stroke (n=61) or transient ischemic attack (n=4). Perioperative (30-day) and long-term mortality was assessed with regression models adjusting for age. Complete neurological recovery of IE survivors was defined by a modified Rankin score of ≤1 and a Barthel index of 20 points. Results— Fifty of 61 stroke patients (81.9%) survived surgery. In comparison with nonstroke patients, the age-adjusted perioperative mortality risk was 1.70-fold (95% CI, 0.73 to 3.96, P=0.22) higher and long-term mortality risk was 1.23-fold (95% CI, 0.72 to 2.11, P=0.45) higher in stroke patients. Patients with complicated stroke (meningitis, hemorrhage, or brain abscess) showed a higher perioperative mortality rate (38.9% vs 8.5%, P=0.007) but no higher neurological complication rate than patients with uncomplicated ischemic stroke. Complete neurological recovery was achieved in 35 IE survivors (70%, 95% CI, 55% to 82%). However, in the case of middle cerebral artery stroke, recovery was only 50% and was significantly lower compared with non—middle cerebral artery stroke (P=0.012). Conclusion— Uncomplicated IE-related stroke showed a favorable prognosis with regard to both long-term survival and neurological recovery. The formidable risk of secondary cerebral hemorrhage due to cardiac surgery seems to be much lower than previously thought.
Data Movement Control for the PowerPC Architecture

There is an inherent cost for applications to access off-chip DRAM. A potential solution is a single large on-chip cache that all cores access with uniform latency. This architecture makes it easy for application developers to implement efficient inter-core sharing and use the entire on-chip cache. A large shared on-chip cache, however, is still prohibitively slow. Architects ensure each core has fast access to some portion of on-chip memory by distributing on-chip memory in pieces so that every core is near some cache. In theory this provides a large amount of aggregate cache capacity and fast memory for each core. Unfortunately, it is more difficult for software to use a distributed cache effectively than a shared cache effectively. The goal of this project is to explore whether extensions to hardware can help software make better use of distributed caches on multicore processors. Consider some of challenges faced by software trying to use a distributed cache on a multicore processor. In some architectures, an application can cache data only in the caches of the cores it’s currently executing on. This provides applications with access to only a small amount of on-chip cache capacity. Even if the application is executing on all cores, it is expensive to accesses data in a remote core’s cache, and it’s likely that each core’s individual caches would end up caching the same commonly accessed data. Duplicating data reduces the number of distinct data items cached on-chip, which essentially reduces the effective cache capacity. Promising software solutions (e.g. [6, 10]) use thread migration to help manage cache contents. The basic idea behind these solutions it to assign data items to onchip caches and migrate threads amongst the caches as they access the data items. Moving a thread closer to the data it accesses reduces access latencies and helps ensure that the same data is not duplicated many times. The implementations of these solutions, however, can have significant overheads. Migrating a thread can require as many as 20,000 cycles [11]. Distributing data items to caches requires software to track which data items it assigns to which caches, adding overhead and essentially duplicating directories maintained by hardware. Even if software is able to efficiently manage mappings from data items to caches, it can only guess if a data item is actually cached or or has been evicted by hardware. This project explores the opportunity to extend hardware to make it easier for applications to use on-chip caches efficiently and thereby improve performance. We introduce a set of hardware extensions, which we refer to as Data Movement Control (or DMC), that are in the form of three new instructions: cpush, clookup, and cmsg. The instructions give software more information about and control over on-chip cache contents. cpush allows a thread running on one core to move cache lines into another core’s cache; clookup returns the location of any cache line; and cmsg provides an efficient mechanism for software to send an active message [12]
Vertex Effect in Strain-Softening Concrete at Rotating Principal Axes

The inelastic behavior of concrete for highly nonproportional loading paths with rotating principal stress axes is studied. Test cylinders are first loaded in compression under uniaxial stress and then torsion is applied at constant axial displacement. Proportional compressive-torsional loading tests are also carried out for comparison. The tests demonstrate that the response of concrete for load increments parallel in the stress space to the current yield surface is highly inelastic ~i.e., much softer than elastic! in the peak load range and especially in the postpeak range. The classical tensorial models of plasticity type incorrectly predict for such load increments the elastic stiffness. The experiments are simulated by three-dimensional finite element analysis using the microplane model M4, in which the stress-strain relations are characterized not by tensors but by vectors of stress and strain on planes of various orientations in the material. It is shown that the observed vertex effect is correctly predicted by this model, with no adjustment of its material parameters previously calibrated by other test results. The experiments are also simulated by a state-of-the-art fracture-plastic model of tensorial type and it is found that the vertex effect cannot be reproduced at all, although an adjustment of one material parameter suffices to obtain a realistic postpeak slope and achieve a realistic overall response. What makes the microplane model capable of capturing the vertex effect is the existence of more than 60 simultaneous yield surfaces. Capturing the vertex effect is important for highly nonproportional loading with rotating principal stress axes, which is typical of impact and penetration of missiles, shock, blasts, and earthquake.
Robust airlight estimation for haze removal from a single image

Present methods for haze removal from a single image require the estimation of two physical quantities which, according to the commonly used atmospheric scattering model, are transmission and airlight. The visual quality of images de-hazed with such methods is highly dependent on the accuracy of estimation of the aforementioned quantities. In this paper we propose a new method for reliable airlight color estimation that could be used in digital cameras to automatically de-haze images by removing unrealistic color artifacts. The main idea of our method is based on novel statistics gathered from natural images regarding frequently occurring airlight colors. The statistics are used to introduce a minimization cost functional which has a closed form solution, and is easy to compute. We compare our approach with current methods present in literature, and show its superior robustness with both images with artificially added haze, and real hazy photos.
Design of a cooperative video/image multi-decoding system on a DSP

The convergence of telecommunication, information technology, and broadcasting, entails high-performance computing systems, and this has required TV manufacturers to move forward by employing DSPs. In this paper, we propose a cooperative video/image multi-decoding system that can make the most of the cost-effectiveness of a DSP by maximizing the DSP's utilization rate. Since a multitasking algorithm is implemented without any hardware-specific assistance, the multi-decoding system can be executed on the majority of DSP platforms. The characteristics of the video and image decoders are reflected in the multi-decoding system in order to simultaneously decode video and image data as well as to guarantee the real-time processing of video. We verify the feasibility of the cooperative video/image multi-decoding system, and prove its efficiency in practical use.
Current Incidence of Retinopathy of Prematurity, 1989–1997

Objective. To report the current incidence and the need for surgery for retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) in neonates (22–36 weeks' gestational age [GA], July 1, 1989 through June 30, 1997). Study Design. Retrospective analyses using computerized perinatal database kept on all admissions, a review of patient charts, and eye examination log books. Setting. Level 3 regional referral NICU. Patients. A total of 2528 infants <37 weeks' GA were admitted during this time. Of these infants, 950 met the criteria for eye examination beginning at 4 to 6 weeks of age and repeated every 2 weeks until complete vascularization of the retina or death or discharge. Results. The incidence of ROP was (202/950) 21.3% for any stage and 4.6% (44/950) for stage 3 ROP or greater. No ROP was noted in infants born at >32 weeks' GA. No infant born at >28 weeks needed retinal surgery. Using birth weight (BW) criteria, stage 3 ROP was not noted in infants with BWs >1500 g; retinal surgery was not needed in infants with BWs >1000 g. A number of perinatal factors were associated with ROP on univariate analysis. However, using multiple logistic regression analyses of these factors, only GA and days on supplemental oxygen therapy were associated significantly with the development of ROP. Despite increased survival of extremely low BW infants, we found a considerable reduction in incidence and severity of ROP compared with reports from an earlier chronological period. However, infants <28 weeks' GA or with BWs <1000 g were still at considerable risk for retinal surgical treatment for ROP. Conclusion. We conclude that the incidence and severity of ROP have decreased significantly in the present era of surfactant therapy.
Investigation into the feasibility of using tactons to provide navigation cues in pedestrian situations

Current navigation services do not meet the needs of pedestrians. The displays are often inappropriate. In this paper, we report two experiments to investigate whether using tactile display to present navigation information is sufficient and appropriate in pedestrian situation. The result of those experiments showed that Tactons could be a successful means of communicating navigation information in user interfaces in pedestrian situations.
Polyelectrolyte molecule conformation near a charged surface

The scaling theory of conformation of a weakly charged polyelectrolyte molecule attached onto a charged surface is developed. It is shown that the long-range interaction between charged monomer units and similary (or oppositely) charged surface provides many more qualitatively different regimes of behaviour of polyelectrolyte molecule than short-range repulsion (or attraction) in the case of uncharged polymers near repulsive (or adsorbing) surface. The scaling indices describing orientation and stretching of grafted polyion near similarly charged surface as well as the adjorption of macromolecule due to long-range electrostatic attraction to the oppositely charged surface are obtained.
A transaction-based neighbourhood-driven approach to quantifying interestingness of association rules

In this paper, we present a data-driven approach for ranking association rules (ARs) based on interestingness. The occurrence of unrelated or weakly related item-pairs in an AR is interesting. In the retail market-basket context, items may be related through various relationships arising due to mutual interaction, 'substitutability' and 'complementarity. ' Item-relatedness is a composite of these relationships. We introduce three relatedness measures for capturing relatedness between item-pairs. These measures use the concept of junction embedding to appropriately weigh the relatedness contributions due to complementarity and substitutability between items. We propose an interestingness coefficient by combining the three relatedness measures. We compare this with two objective measures of interestingness and show the intuitiveness of the proposed interestingness coefficient.
Employment and alcohol use after liver transplantation for alcoholic and nonalcoholic liver disease: A systematic review

The purpose of the study is to evaluate patterns of employment and alcohol use among liver transplant recipients with alcoholic (ALD) and nonalcoholic liver disease (non‐ALD). MEDLINE, EMBASE, and bibliographic searches identified 5,505 potentially relevant articles published between January 1966 and October 1998. Eighty‐two studies reporting data on 5,020 transplant recipients met our inclusion criteria. Pre—orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT), 29% of transplant recipients with ALD and 59% of those with non‐ALD worked versus 33% and 80% at 3 years for transplant recipients with ALD and non‐ALD, respectively (P < .00001 for each interval). We found no difference in the proportion of transplant recipients with ALD and non‐ALD reporting early alcohol use post‐OLT: 4% versus 5% at 6 months and 17% versus 16% at 12 months. However, among post‐OLT drinkers, transplant recipients with non‐ALD were more likely to drink moderately and those with ALD to drink excessively. At 7 years post‐OLT, 32% of the patients with ALD reported using alcohol. The odds ratio for alcohol use among patients who maintained abstinence for fewer than 6 months pre‐OLT versus those who maintained abstinence for greater than 6 months was 7.8 (95% confidence interval, 4.0 to 15.3). Before OLT and at long‐term follow‐up, substantially more transplant recipients with non‐ALD than ALD were employed. The proportions of transplant recipients with ALD and non‐ALD reporting alcohol use did not differ, although those with ALD tended to consume greater quantities.
TCGDB: A Compendium of Molecular Signatures of Thyroid Cancer and Disorders

Thyroid cancer is the most prevalent endocrine malignancy affecting 213,000 people every year worldwide. There are many types of thyroid disorders including hyperthyroidism, hypothyroidism, Goitre, Hashimoto’s thyroiditis. The ocean of information that is available with respect to molecular markers related to Thyroid disorders and cancer is scattered in literature. Thyroid Cancer and Disorder Gene Database (TCGDB) is a compendium of genes and miRNAs experimentally known to be involved in thyroid cancer and disorders. The current release of TCGDB houses a collection of 250 genes and 120 unique miRNAs compiled by manual screening of numerous research articles. The literature references have been provided for each entry to establish its association with thyroid cancer and disorders. TCGDB provides information on miRNA in body fluids which can be used as potential biomarkers for diagnosis of thyroid cancer and disorders. We have also analysed the overlap of thyroid cancer related miRNAs with other type of cancers. The database provides various browse and search options for users to quickly extract required information. TCGDB will help in prioritizing, systematic testing and comparative analysis of candidate biomarkers for cancer diagnosis. It is freely accessible at http://www.juit. ac.in/attachments/tcgdb/index.php