Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Disease activity score-driven therapy versus routine care in patients with recent-onset active rheumatoid arthritis: data from the GUEPARD trial and ESPOIR cohort

Objectives To compare the efficacy of disease activity score in 28 joints (DAS28ESR)-driven therapy with anti-tumour necrosis factor (patients from the GUEPARD trial) and routine care in patients with recent-onset rheumatoid arthritis (patients of the ESPOIR cohort). Results After matching GUEPARD and ESPOIR patients on the basis of a propensity score and a 1:2 ratio, at baseline all patients had comparable demographic characteristics, rheumatoid factor, anticyclic citrullinated peptide antibody positivity and clinical disease activity parameters: erythrocyte sedimentation rate, C-reactive protein, mean DAS (6.26±0.87), Sharp/van der Heijde radiographic score (SHS), health assessment questionnaire (HAQ). Disease duration was longer in GUEPARD patients (5.6±4.6 vs 3.5±2.0 months, p<0.001). After 1 year, the percentage of patients in remission with an HAQ (<0.5) and an absence of radiological progression was higher in the tight control group (32.3% vs 10.2%, p=0.011) as well as the percentage of patients in low DAS with an HAQ (<0.5) and an absence of radiological progression (36.1% vs 18.9%, p=0.045). However, there was no difference in the decrease in DAS, nor in the percentage of EULAR (good and moderate), ACR20, ACR50 and ACR70 responses. More patients in the tight control group had an HAQ below 0.5 (70.2% vs 45.2%, p=0.005). Overall, pain, patient and physician assessment and fatigue decreased more in the tight control group. The mean SHS progression was similar in the two groups as was the percentage of patients without progression. Conclusions In patients with recent onset active rheumatoid arthritis, a tight control of disease activity allows more patients to achieve remission without disability and radiographic progression.
A performance model of multicast communication in wormhole-routed networks on-chip

Collective communication operations form a part of overall traffic in most applications running on platforms employing direct interconnection networks. This paper presents a novel analytical model to compute communication latency of multicast as a widely used collective communication operation. The novelty of the model lies in its ability to predict the latency of the multicast communication in wormhole-routed architectures employing asynchronous multi-port routers scheme. The model is applied to the Quarc [17] NoC and its validity is verified by comparing the model predictions against the results obtained from a discrete-event simulator developed using OMNET++.
Convex vs non-convex estimators for regression and sparse estimation: the mean squared error properties of ARD and GLasso

We study a simple linear regression problem for grouped variables; we are interested in methods which jointly perform estimation and variable selection, that is, that automatically set to zero groups of variables in the regression vector. The Group Lasso (GLasso), a well known approach used to tackle this problem which is also a special case of Multiple Kernel Learning (MKL), boils down to solving convex optimization problems. On the other hand, a Bayesian approach commonly known as Sparse Bayesian Learning (SBL), a version of which is the well known Automatic Relevance Determination (ARD), lead to nonconvex problems. In this paper we discuss the relation between ARD (and a penalized version which we call PARD) and Glasso, and study their asymptotic properties in terms of the Mean Squared Error in estimating the unknown parameter. The theoretical arguments developed here are independent of the correctness of the prior models and clarify the advantages of PARD over GLasso.
Maxillary Sinus Augmentation with Platelet-Rich Plasma and Fibrinogen Cryoprecipitate: A Tomographic Pilot Study

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the clinical efficacy of platelet-rich plasma, autologous bone, and autologous fibrinogen as cryoprecipitate in maxillary sinus augmentation procedures. Six patients (age range, 29–58) undergoing sinus augmentation procedures were included in the study. Platelet-rich plasma and autologous fibrinogen in the form of cryoprecipitate were prepared from 300 ml of blood. Sinus augmentation was performed with intraoral bone grafts, platelet-rich plasma, and cryoprecipitate. The amount of regeneration was then evaluated quantitatively and qualitatively with Spiral TC (Dentascan) pre- and postoperatively 6 months after the intervention. Orthopantomography was performed preoperatively 3 and 6 monthsafter the surgery. A mean platelet concentration of 320.5% was obtained from the baseline platelet blood count. The tomographic analysis indicated an average bone augmentation of 6.27 mm (range, 3.5–10 mm). Radiologically, a satisfactory morphological recovery of the maxillary jaw was obtained. No graft resorption was noticed. Orthopantomography indicated mineralization as early as 3 months postoperatively in the entire study population. This technique appeared to be safe and effective. Our preliminary results encourage the clinical use of platelet-rich plasma associated with cryoprecipitate.
Kallikrein Gene Delivery Improves Cardiac Reserve and Attenuates Remodeling After Myocardial Infarction

Abstract—In this study, we used the somatic gene delivery approach to explore the role of the kallikrein-kinin system (KKS) in cardiac remodeling and apoptosis after myocardial infarction (MI). Rats were subjected to coronary artery ligation to induce MI, and adenovirus carrying the human tissue kallikrein or luciferase gene was injected into the tail vein at 1 week after surgery. Cardiac output gradually decreased from 2 to 6 weeks after MI, whereas delivery of the kallikrein gene prevented this decrease. Cardiac responses to dobutamine-induced stress were improved in rats receiving kallikrein gene as compared with rats receiving control virus at 6 weeks after MI. Kallikrein significantly improved cardiac remodeling by decreasing collagen density, cardiomyocyte size, and left ventricular internal perimeter and increasing capillary density in the heart at 6 weeks after MI. Kallikrein gene transfer attenuated myocardial apoptosis, which was positively correlated with remodeling parameters in the heart at 2 weeks after MI. Endothelial dysfunction, characterized by increased vascular resistance, decreased left ventricular blood flow, and decreased cardiac nitric oxide levels, existed in remodeled hearts at 2 weeks after MI, whereas kallikrein gene transfer improved these parameters. Kallikrein gene delivery improved cell survival parameters as shown by increased phospho-Akt and reduced caspase-3 activation at 2 weeks after MI. This study indicates that the kallikrein-kinin system plays an important role in preventing the progression of heart failure by attenuating cardiac hypertrophy and fibrosis, improving endothelial function, and inhibiting myocardial apoptosis through the Akt-mediated signaling pathway.
MapReduce for multi-view object recognition

This paper presents a MapReduce-based implementation of using high-dimensional image streams from inside-out and outside-in views applied to a simplistic SIFT-based feature extraction method to provide a fast and more accurate object recognition algorithm. We have combined multiple camera streams and have shown that using inside-out vision significantly improves the recognition precision. We show an accuracy of 81.25% against 31.25% when we used SIFT using our combined approach against the standard isolated ones. SIFT has a high computation cost and adding more data streams increases the cost even more. Hence, in our work we used MapReduce to parallelize the computation and achieved the same with a speedup of 80. This paper has two major contributions: First, we used inside-out vision as an additional perception source to increase the object recognition precision. Second, we used MapReduce to increase computational speed to achieve increased object recognition precision which would not have been otherwise practically possible.
HIV Status Awareness, Partnership Dissolution and HIV Transmission in Generalized Epidemics

Objectives HIV status aware couples with at least one HIV positive partner are characterized by high separation and divorce rates. This phenomenon is often described as a corollary of couples HIV Testing and Counseling (HTC) that ought to be minimized. In this contribution, we demonstrate the implications of partnership dissolution in serodiscordant couples for the propagation of HIV. Methods We develop a compartmental model to study epidemic outcomes of elevated partnership dissolution rates in serodiscordant couples and parameterize it with estimates from population-based data (Rakai, Uganda). Results Via its effect on partnership dissolution, every percentage point increase in HIV status awareness reduces HIV incidence in monogamous populations by 0.27 percent for women and 0.63 percent for men. These effects are even larger when the assumption of monogamy can be relaxed, but are moderated by other behavior changes (e.g., increased condom use) in HIV status aware serodiscordant partnerships. When these behavior changes are taken into account, each percentage point increase in HIV status awareness reduces HIV incidence by 0.13 and 0.32 percent for women and men, respectively (assuming monogamy). The partnership dissolution effect exists because it decreases the fraction of serodiscordant couples in the population and prolongs the time that individuals spend outside partnerships. Conclusion Our model predicts that elevated partnership dissolution rates in HIV status aware serodiscordant couples reduce the spread of HIV. As a consequence, the full impact of couples HTC for HIV prevention is probably larger than recognized to date. Particularly high partnership dissolution rates in female positive serodiscordant couples contribute to the gender imbalance in HIV infections.
Comparison of Continuous Femoral Nerve Block, Caudal Epidural Block, and Intravenous Patient-controlled Analgesia in Pain Control After Total Hip Arthroplasty: A Prospective Randomized Study

Thirty-six patients who underwent primary unilateral total hip arthroplasty (THA) were randomly allocated to 4 groups with different pain control protocols; continuous femoral nerve block (FNB group), single-shot caudal epidural block with morphine (EB group), intravenous patient-controlled analgesia with fentanyl (IV-PCA group), and systemic administration of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs group). Postoperative pain was assessed using the numerical rating scale (NRS) scores and the analgesic effect was compared among the groups. The NRS upon arrival at the recovery room and 6 hours after surgery in the FNB, EB, and IV-PCA groups were significantly lower than that in the NSAIDs group. The amount of additional analgesics requested by the patient was smaller in the FNB, EB, and IV-PCA groups as compared to the NSAIDs group. Regarding the complications related to the analgesia, 5 of the 9 patients in the IV-PCA group complained nausea and vomiting and received antiemetic drugs. Delay in the rehabilitation process due to drowsiness was encountered in 3 patients in this group, while no patient in the FNB and EB groups suffered from delayed rehabilitation. Considering both the analgesic effect and the potential risk of complications, continuous femoral nerve blocks and caudal epidural blocks for are recommended for postoperative pain control after THA procedure.
The Pancreas Cancer Microenvironment

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDA) is a common and lethal malignancy resulting in more than 250,000 deaths per year worldwide. Despite extensive efforts, cytotoxic and targeted therapies have provided only limited efficacy for patients with PDA to date. One contributing factor to the failure of systemic therapies may be the abundant tumor stromal content that is the characteristic of PDA. The PDA stroma, aptly termed the tumor microenvironment, occupies the majority of the tumor mass, and consists of a dynamic assortment of extracellular matrix components and nonneoplastic cells including fibroblastic, vascular, and immune cells. Recent work has revealed that the PDA stroma supports tumor growth and promotes metastasis and simultaneously serves as a physical barrier to drug delivery. Accordingly, methods that alter stromal composition or function, for instance interference with the vasculature via Notch/Hedgehog pathway inhibition or relief of vascular compression by hyaluronidase, are under active investigation. Here, we will review our current understanding of the PDA tumor microenvironment, and highlight opportunities for further exploration that may benefit patients. Clin Cancer Res; 18(16); 4266–76. ©2012 AACR.
Economic Conditions at the Time of Birth and Cognitive Abilities Late in Life: Evidence from Ten European Countries

With ageing populations, it becomes increasingly important to understand the determinants of cognitive ability among the elderly. We apply survey data of 17,070 respondents from ten countries to examine several domains of cognitive functioning at ages 60+, and we link them to the macro-economic deviations in the year of birth. We find that economic conditions at birth significantly influence cognitive functioning late in life in various domains. Recessions negatively influence numeracy, verbal fluency, recall abilities, as well as the score on the omnibus cognitive indicator. The results are robust; controlling for current characteristics does not change effect sizes and significance. We discuss possible causal social and biological pathways.
Improving Students ’ Cognitive Dimensionality through Education with Object-Level Interaction

This paper addresses the use of visual analytics techniques in education to advance students' cognitive dimensionality. Students naturally tend to characterize data in simplistic one dimensional terms using metrics such as mean, median, mode. Realworld data, however, is more complex and students need to learn to recognize and create high-dimensional arguments. Data exploration methods can encourage thinking beyond traditional one dimensional insights. In particular, visual analytics tools that afford object-level interaction (OLI) allow for generation of more complex insights, despite inexperience with multivariate data. With these tools, students’ insights are of higher complexity in terms of dimensionality and cardinality and built on more diverse interactions. We present the concept of cognitive dimensionality to characterize students' capacity for dimensionally complex insights. Using this concept, we build a vocabulary and methodology to support a student’s progression in terms of growth from low to high cognitive dimensionality. We report findings from a series of classroom assignments with increasingly complex analysis tools. These assignments progressed from spreadsheet manipulations to statistical software such as R and finally to an OLI application, Andromeda. Our findings suggest that students' cognitive dimensionality can be improved and further research on the impact of visual analytics tools on education for cognitive dimensionality is warranted.
Disassembling the Galaxy with angle-action coordinates

Angle-action coordinates are used to study the relic of an N-body simulation of a self-gravitating satellite galaxy that was released on a short-period orbit within the disc of the Galaxy. Satellite stars that lie within 1.5 kpc of the Sun are confined to a grid of patches in action space. As the relic phase mixes for longer, the patches become smaller and more numerous. These patches can be seen even when the angle-action coordinates of an erroneous Galactic potential are used, but using the wrong potential displaces them. Diagnostic quantities constructed from the angle coordinates both allow the true potential to be identified, and the relic to be dated. Hence, when the full phase space coordinates of large numbers of solar-neighbourhood stars are known, it should be possible to identify members of particular relics from the distribution of stars in an approximate action space. This would then open up the possibility of determining the time since the relic was disrupted and gaining better knowledge of the Galactic potential. The availability of angle-action coordinates for arbitrary potentials is the key to these developments. The paper includes a brief introduction to the torus technique used to generate them.
Transmission Events within Outbreaks of Gastroenteritis Determined through Analysis of Nucleotide Sequences of the P2 Domain of Genogroup II Noroviruses

ABSTRACT Tracking the spread of noroviruses during outbreaks of gastroenteritis is hampered by the lack of sequence diversity in those regions of the genome chosen for virus detection and characterization. Sequence analysis of regions of the genes encoding the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase and the S domain of the capsid does not provide sufficient discrimination between genotypically related strains of different outbreaks. However, analysis of sequences derived from the region encoding the P2 domain showed 100% similarity among strains from the same outbreak and <100% similarity among strains of different outbreaks. The prolonged nature of some hospital outbreaks, links between hospitals, and the introduction of multiple strains of a single genotype associated with an outbreak aboard a cruise ship were determined using this method. This provides a powerful tool for tracking outbreak strains and the subsequent analysis and validation of interventions in a background of multiple introductions of virus strains of the same genotype or genetic cluster.
In Vitro Pharmacodynamic Evaluation of the Mutant Selection Window Hypothesis Using Four Fluoroquinolones against Staphylococcus aureus

ABSTRACT To study the hypothesis of the mutant selection window (MSW) in a pharmacodynamic context, the susceptibility of a clinical isolate of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus exposed to moxifloxacin (MOX), gatifloxacin (GAT), levofloxacin (LEV), and ciprofloxacin (CIP) was tested daily by using an in vitro dynamic model that simulates human pharmacokinetics. A series of monoexponential pharmacokinetic profiles that mimic once-daily administration of MOX (half-life, 12 h), GAT (half-life, 7 h), and LEV (half-life, 6.8 h) and twice-daily administration of CIP (half-life, 4 h) provided peak concentrations (Cmax) that either equaled the MIC, fell between the MIC and the mutant prevention concentration (MPC) (i.e., within or “inside” the MSW), or exceeded the MPC. The respective ratios of the area under the curve (AUC) over a 24-h dosing interval (AUC24) to the MIC varied from 13 to 244 h, and the starting inoculum was 108 CFU/ml (6 × 109 CFU per 60-ml central compartment). With all four quinolones, the greatest increases in MIC were observed at those AUC24/MIC values (from 24 to 62 h) that corresponded to quinolone concentrations within the MSW over most of the dosing interval (>20%). Less-pronounced increases in MIC were associated with the smallest simulated AUC24/MIC values (15 to 16 h) of GAT and CIP, whose Cmax exceeded the MICs. No such increases were observed with the smallest AUC24/MIC values (13 to 17 h) of MOX and LEV, whose Cmax were close to the MICs. Also, less pronounced but significant increases in MIC occurred at AUC24/MIC values (107 to 123 h) that correspond to quinolone concentrations partly overlapping the MIC-to-MPC range. With all four drugs, no change in MIC was seen at the highest AUC24/MIC values (201 to 244 h), where quinolone concentrations exceeded the MPC over most of the dosing interval. These “protective” AUC24/MIC ratios correspond to 66% of the usual clinical dose of MOX (400 mg), 190% of a 400-mg dose of GAT, 220% of a 500-mg dose of LEV, and 420% of two 500-mg doses of CIP. Thus, MOX may protect against resistance development at subtherapeutic doses, whereas GAT, LEV, and CIP provide similar effects only at doses that exceed their usual clinical doses. These data support the concept that resistant mutants are selectively enriched when antibiotic concentrations fall inside the MSW and suggest that in vitro dynamic models can be used to predict the relative abilities of quinolones to prevent mutant selection.
Securing a Firm’s Computer Operating System: Trusted Platform Module

— Recently Trusted Platform Module (TPM) is emerged as a new solution to secure computers and other systems. It is a small microchip that enables encryption and stores authentication information in computer motherboard. This paper presents the initiative of trust computing and an overview of TPM along with architecture and security features. We also discuss the applications and future of TPM. In summary, the TPM is becoming a viable and recognized approach for implementing security controls for embedded systems. With strong vendor adoption, the potential of TPM is tremendous and the continued development of TPM is essential.
Design of a Reconfigurable Antenna for Ground Penetrating Radar Applications

This paper deals with the design and numerical analysis of a reconflgurable antenna implemented according to the total geometry morphing approach. The reconflgurable antenna is designed so to resemble a reference bowtie antenna, suitable for a stepped frequency Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) applications, with geometry variable in order to work in difierent operative conditions. In particular, the good agreement between the reference antenna and the reconflgurable one is tested within the work frequency band 0.3{ 1GHz for both the free-space and half-space geometry. Finally, a trial of the reconflgurability of the proposed solution is shown for operative conditions with antenna in contact with difierent dielectric media.
An effective method for state-of-charge estimation in wireless sensor networks

This poster shows the work-in-progress results of an effective method for predicting the residual battery energy in WSN nodes including the battery behavior. This method uses a hybrid approach consisting of a deterministic part by counting credit points for any operation of the sensor node and a model-based State-of-Charge (SoC) estimation based on battery voltage and temperature. It is applied for Li-Ion accumulators on modified Tmote Sky motes. For demonstration purposes the method is used for cluster head selection in a cluster-based topology formation algorithm to ensure equal distribution of the cluster head role among the network nodes based on the residual energy.
Prenatal diagnosis of macrosomia in pregnancy complicated by diabetes mellitus.

OBJECTIVE To provide a concise review of current practices regarding prenatal diagnosis of excess fetal growth in pregnancies complicated by diabetes mellitus. METHODS A literature review of relevant publications. RESULTS Sonographic estimation of fetal size at term is frequently undertaken in the management of diabetic pregnancy. Considerable error in fetal weight estimations, particularly in asymmetrically enlarged fetuses, may limit the accuracy and clinical utility of these measurements. CONCLUSIONS The limitations and potential inaccuracy of current sonographic methods to detect the large-for-gestational age fetus of a diabetic mother are acknowledged. Customized formulae are of limited benefit so that further study of techniques aimed at assessing fetal fat content and distribution should be undertaken. These methods may improve detection of the large fetus and aid in clinical decision making.