Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Seafarers’ health problems, emergencies, diseases and risk factors. A systematic review of the literature

Background/Aim: Currently, over 1.5 million seafarers, are employed in the global commercial fleet, which comprises of more than 50,000 ships. Traditionally, life at sea has been known to be of low quality and often complicated by various health issues. Despite the considerable number of seamen and the severity of their health issues, to date, no systematic overview of the relevant literature has been performed. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to perform a review of studies referring to health problems, emergencies, diseases and risk factors of seafarers. Methods: A systematic review of peer-reviewed articles from January 1, 2012, to April 15, 2018 was performed. Included databases were: PubMed, Science Direct, Scopus, Cochrane Library and Google Scholar. Two independent researchers performed the study. From the 229 articles initially identified, 25 were selected, based on the inclusion criteria. Results: The majority of studies were descriptive. The main health issues noted were: metabolic syndrome, obesity, cardiovascular/coronary heart disease, fatigue and stress, accidents and injuries. A high risk of bias was estimated due to the small sample size, study population selection, low response rate to questionnaires, lack of medical history and demographic data, and occasionally insufficient information regarding diagnosis or treatment. Conclusion: Unhealthy lifestyle and work-related diseases are the main difficulties of seamen. However, despite the number of available studies, results are limited by small size, data collection, and sample selection. Therefore, more robust evidence is needed, in order to accurately identify health related issues and the means of improving occupational conditions among seafarers.
Heart Transplant: Current Indications and Patient Selection

Heart transplant remains the gold standard treatment for end-stage heart failure, in spite of the recent advances in pharmacological treatment and device therapy. As expected, since the first heart transplant was performed 50 years ago, outcomes in heart transplant have continued to improve over the last decades focusing on perioperative management, the availability of newer and better mechanical circulatory support before and after heart transplant and immunosuppressive drug development. Nonetheless, in the last years we have witnessed a significant drop in the heart donor’s pool as the greatest limiting factor, coupled with a rising number of advanced heart failure patients. Moreover, the difficulty in handling these patients, with multiple and more complex comorbidities, is continuously increasing. More importantly and despite these difficulties, conditional half-life in transplanted patients has nowadays reached 12 years of life expectancy. Thus, besides trying to increase donor numbers, candidate selection emerges as one of the most challenging issues for heart transplant programs. In this chapter we review the latest knowledge on indications for heart transplant, as well as the available screening and optimization tools in candidate selection in order to continue improving outcomes.
Effects of different repeated sprint-training frequencies in youth soccer players

The aim of this study was to determine the effects of 2 different repeated-sprint ability (RSA) training frequencies (2 RSA sessions per week [RSA2D] or 1 RSA session [RSA1D]) under volume-equated conditions on sprint and RSA performance in under-15 (U15) soccer players. Twenty-seven youth male soccer players (age: 12.29±0.47 years; height: 158.35±10.86 cm; weight: 45.08±8.05 kg) were randomly assigned to RSA2D (n=14) or RSA1D (n=13) groups. The players performed the same RSA training for 6 weeks, and only the training frequency differed between the groups. Before and after the training period, 5 m sprint, 10 m sprint, 20 m sprint and the RSA test were assessed. No significant time × group interactions were observed (p>0.05). Within-group analysis showed significant improvements in 20 m sprint (p=0.046, partial eta squared [ηp2] = 0.150, large) and RSA average time (p=0.001, ηp2=0.438, large), fastest time (p=0.012, ηp2=0.229, large), and total time (p=0.001, ηp2=0.438, large) from pre-test to post-test in RSA1D and RSA2D groups. However, no significant pre-post changes (p>0.05) were found in 5 m and 10 m sprint tests. In the between-group analysis, there were no significant differences between RSA1D and RSA2D groups in any variable. In conclusion, the current findings suggest that 6 weeks of RSA training 1 or 2 times per week in addition to typical soccer training produced significant and similar improvements in sprint and RSA performances. This information could be useful for coaches when planning training sessions during congested fixtures of soccer competitions or in periods when the emphasis should be placed on other physical qualities.
Oculomotor neuropathy from an unruptured arteriovenous malformation in the frontal operculum: A case report

Background: Cerebral arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) are vascular lesions with a network of dysplastic vessels between an arterial and a venous tree with no intervening capillary bed. They most commonly present with an acute hemorrhage, seizures, or persistent headaches. Case Description: The authors report the case of a 62-year-old male who presented with diplopia for 5 days. Magnetic resonance imaging and angiography demonstrated a Spetzler-Martin Grade 2 AVM located in the right frontal operculum with deep drainage into the basal vein of Rosenthal causing ipsilateral oculomotor neuropathy. The patient underwent staged embolizations of the feeding pedicles, which were derived from the internal as well as external carotid circulation. This was followed by a right pterional craniotomy for resection of the AVM. The patient reported complete resolution of the diplopia over 4 weeks with no recurrence at the 6-month follow-up appointment. Conlusion: AVMs of the brain can present with atypical clinical symptoms that can be caused by the venous drainage pattern not the location. It is important to include vascular imaging studies in the work-up of patients who present with diplopia to rule out an AVM. Early diagnosis and treatment of the AVM can result in complete resolution of the diplopia.
Clinical outcome of photoactivated platelet-rich plasma in the treatment of knee osteoarthritis

Introduction: Osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee is the most common chronic degenerative joint diseases affecting the quality of life of patients. Pain and loss of function are the main clinical features that lead to treatment. For middle-aged and older patients with earlier stages of OA, conservative nonsurgical interventions have been proposed to treat the painful joint. More recently, platelet-rich plasma (PRP), a biological therapy, has become a treatment option to improve the status of the joint for patients with OA. The present study evaluated the clinical outcome of photoactivated platelet–rich plasma (PA-PRP) in patients with chronic knee osteoarthritis. Methods: A total of 232 patients with knee osteoarthritis, aged between 40-70 years were enrolled and treated in the present study and intervention for twelve months. The patients fulfilled the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) criteria for knee OA. The Western Ontario and McMaster Universities OA index (WOMAC) Questionnaires were used for outcome measurement. Results were evaluated after 12 months of intervention. Results: Female and male patients were 66.8% and 33.2% respectively. Mean age and SD of the patients were 55.69 (± 9.09) and 56.19 (± 9.09) respectively. The mean (SD) score of pain, stiffness and physical function during the 1st visit before treatment were 6.74 (± 3.00), 2.16 (± 1.85) and 22.30 (± 9.17) and after showed 2.44(± 1.66), 0.60 (± 0.74) and 8.84 (± 4.20) respectively. The total mean WOMAC scores during the first visit and after treatment were 31.21 (± 12.19) and 11.82 (± 5.65) respectively. The total score of reduction was statistically significant after treatment (p=0.00). The principal findings of the study were that the mean WOMAC score reduced and there was improved pain, stiffness and functional capacity of patients with knee OA. Conclusion: In conclusion, treatment with PA-PRP for patients with knee osteoarthritis produced beneficial effects in terms of clinical outcomes. These results suggested that PA-PRP might be a valuable therapeutic agent for knee osteoarthritis in Bangladesh. *Correspondence to: Choudhury KN, National Centre for Control of Rheumatic Fever and Heart Disease, Bangladesh, Tel: 8801711359459; E-mail: c.kamrun2014@gmail.com
Using travel time predictions based on TomTom's big data in logistical models

'3! ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS'. '4! CONTENTS'. '5! 1. INTRODUCTION'. '6! 2. LITERATURE'. '8! 3. PROBLEM'DESCRIPTION'AND'METHODOLOGY'. '10! 3.1! BACKGROUND! 10! 3.2! USING! TOMTOM’S! BIG! DATA! 11! 4. SOLUTION'METHOD'. '13! 4.1! DATASET! 13! 4.2! NOTATIONS! 14! 4.3! DETERMINATION! OF! DATA! SET! 15! 4.4! THE! RELATION! BETWEEN! VELOCITY! AND! TRAVEL! TIME! 15! 4.5! COMPARISON! BETWEEN! ESTIMATED! AND! REALIZED! VELOCITY! 16! 4.6! ROUTE! SIMULATION! USING! SAMPLE! OBSERVATIONS! 17! 4.7! PROCESSING! THE! DATA! 17! 5. ANALYSIS'. '19! 5.1! NUMBER! OF! OBSERVATIONS! 19! 5.2! DISTRIBUTION! OF! THE! TRAVEL! TIME! 19! 5.3! DISTRIBUTION! OF! VELOCITIES! 20! 5.4! INCLUDING! STOPS! IN! THE! TRAVEL! SPEED! ESTIMATIONS! 21! 5.5! OBSERVED! DRIVING! SPEED! VERSUS! YEAR! AND! TIME! OF! THE! YEAR! 22! 5.6! DRIVING! SPEED! VERSUS! TIME! OF! THE! DAY! 24! 5.7! WEATHER! AND! DRIVING! SPEED! 25! 5.8! WEATHER! AND! THE! TIME! OF! YEAR! 25! 6. ANALYSIS'OF'UNRESTRICTED'VELOCITIES'PER'ROAD'SEGMENT'. '27! 6.1! PERIOD! WITH! BEST! PREDICTIVE! POWER! OVER! FUTURE! TRAVELING! SPEED! 27! 6.2! RELIABILITY! OF! PREDICTED! PERCENTILE! SCORES! 28! 7. RESULTS'FOR'TRAVEL'TIME'PREDICTIONS'FOR'ROUTES'. '31! 7.1! PREDICTION! COMPARED! WITH! SIMULATED! ROUTE! 31! 7.2! REALISTIC! ROUTES! 31! 8. IMPLICATIONS'FOR'THE'VEHICLE'ROUTING'MODEL'. '34! 9. CONCLUSION'. '36! REFERENCES'. '37! APPENDICES'. '39! Using Travel Time Predictions based on TomTom’s Big Data in Logistical Models
Modulating Fine Roughness Perception of Vibrotactile Textured Surface using Pseudo-haptic Effect

Playing back vibrotactile signals through actuators is commonly used to simulate tactile feelings of virtual textured surfaces. However, there is often a small mismatch between the simulated tactile feelings and intended tactile feelings by tactile designers. Thus, a method of modulating the vibrotactile perception is required. We focus on fine roughness perception and we propose a method using a pseudo-haptic effect to modulate fine roughness perception of vibrotactile texture. Specifically, we visually modify the pointer's position on the screen slightly, which indicates the touch position on textured surfaces. We hypothesized that if users receive vibrational feedback watching the pointer visually oscillating back/forth and left/right, users would believe the vibrotactile surfaces more uneven. We also hypothesized that as the size of visual oscillation is getting larger, the amount of modification of roughness perception of vibrotactile surfaces would be larger. We conducted user studies to test the hypotheses. Results of first user study suggested that users felt vibrotactile texture with our method rougher than they did without our method at a high probability. Results of second user study suggested that users felt different roughness for vibrational texture in response to the size of visual oscillation. These results confirmed our hypotheses and they suggested that our method was effective. Also, the same effect could potentially be applied to the visual movement of virtual hands or fingertips when users are interacting with virtual surfaces using their hands.
Optimal Decentralized Dynamic Policies for Video Streaming over Wireless Channels

The problem addressed is that of optimally controlling, in a decentralized fashion, the download of mobile video, which is expected to comprise 75 % of total mobile data traffic by 2020. The server can dynamically choose which packets to download to clients, from among several packets which encode their videos at different resolutions, as well as the power levels of their transmissions. This allows it to control packet delivery probabilities, and thereby, for example, avert imminent video outages at clients. It must however respect the access point's constraints on bandwidth and average transmission power. The goal is to maximize video "Quality of Experience" (QoE), which depends on several factors such as (i) outage duration when the video playback buffer is empty, (ii) number of outage periods, (iii) how many frames downloaded are of lower resolution, (iv) temporal variations in resolution, etc. It is shown that there exists an optimal decentralized solution where the AP announces the price of energy, and each client distributedly and dynamically maximizes its own QoE subject to the cost of energy. A distributed iterative algorithm to solve for optimal decentralized policy is also presented. Further, for the client-level QoE optimization, the optimal choice of video-resolution and power-level of packet transmissions has a simple monotonicity and threshold structure vis-a-vis video playback buffer level. When the number of orthogonal channels is less than the number of clients, there is an index policy for prioritizing packet transmissions. When the AP has to simply choose which clients' packets to transmit, the index policy is asymptotically optimal as the number of channels is scaled up with clients.
Crucial Role of Nucleic Acid Sensing via Endosomal Toll-Like Receptors for the Defense of Streptococcus pyogenes in vitro and in vivo

Streptococcus pyogenes is a major human pathogen causing a variety of diseases ranging from common pharyngitis to life-threatening soft tissue infections and sepsis. Microbial nucleic acids, especially bacterial RNA, have recently been recognized as a major group of pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) involved in the detection of Streptococcus pyogenes via endosomal Toll-like receptors (TLRs) in vitro. However, the individual contribution and cooperation between TLRs as well as cell-type and strain specific differences in dependency on nucleic acid detection during S. pyogenes infection in vitro have not been clarified in detail. Moreover, the role of particularly bacterial RNA for the defense of S. pyogenes infection in vivo remains poorly defined. In this study, we report that in all investigated innate immune cells involved in the resolution of bacterial infections, including murine macrophages, dendritic cells and neutrophils, recognition of S. pyogenes strain ATCC12344 is almost completely dependent on nucleic acid sensing via endosomal TLRs at lower MOIs, whereas at higher MOIs, detection via TLR2 plays an additional, yet redundant role. We further demonstrate that different S. pyogenes strains display a considerable inter-strain variability with respect to their nucleic acid dependent recognition. Moreover, TLR13-dependent recognition of S. pyogenes RNA is largely non-redundant in bone marrow-derived macrophages (BMDMs), but less relevant in neutrophils and bone marrow-derived myeloid dendritic cells (BMDCs) for the induction of an innate immune response in vitro. In vivo, we show that a loss of nucleic acid sensing blunts early recognition of S. pyogenes, leading to a reduced local containment of the bacterial infection with subsequent pronounced systemic inflammation at later time points. Thus, our results argue for a crucial role of nucleic acid sensing via endosomal TLRs in defense of S. pyogenes infection both in vitro and in vivo.
Factors Influencing Health Promoting Behaviours in Women of Reproductive Age in Iran: Based on Pender’s Health Promotion Model

INTRODUCTION: Health promotion behaviours are considered as preventives of non-communicable diseases and key determinants of maintaining and improving the health status. AIM: This study aimed to investigate and identify effective factors on health-promoting behaviours based on Pender model in women of reproductive age from February to April 2017, in Savojbolagh, Iran. METHODS: This cross-sectional study is conducted on 240 women aged between 15 to 49 years in Savojbolagh, Iran, in 2017. The questionnaire consisted of several items, including socio-demographic characteristics, health-promoting lifestyle profile-II (HPLP-II), self-efficacy, social support and constructs of Pender’s health promotion model. SPSS-18 software has been applied for statistical analysis. RESULTS: The mean age of the women was 31.10 ± 7.29 years. Total HPLP-II score was 106.64 ± 11.93. The highest and the lowest mean in the subscales were belonged to nutrition and physical activity, respectively. According to the bivariate analysis, the total HPLP-II score is significantly related to prior health-related behaviour (p = 0.000). There was a statistically significant relationship between stress management and the variables including perceived benefits, perceived barriers, prior health-related behaviour, situational influences, commitment to a plan of action (p < 0.05). Also, health responsibility had a statistically significant relationship with self-efficacy (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: According to our results, it can be inferred that there is a problem with the HPBs of women. Considering that health-promoting behaviours like physical activity had a low score, it is a necessity to plan and perform interventions for improving health promotion behaviours.
Meaningful representations emerge from Sparse Deep Predictive Coding

Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) are the state-of-the-art algorithms used in computer vision. However, these models often suffer from the lack of interpretability of their information transformation process. To address this problem, we introduce a novel model called Sparse Deep Predictive Coding (SDPC). In a biologically realistic manner, SDPC mimics how the brain is efficiently representing visual information. This model complements the hierarchical convolutional layers found in CNNs with the feed-forward and feed-back update scheme described in the Predictive Coding (PC) theory and found in the architecture of the mammalian visual system. We experimentally demonstrate on two databases that the SDPC model extracts qualitatively meaningful features. These features, besides being similar to some of the biological Receptive Fields of the visual cortex, also represent hierarchically independent components of the image that are crucial to describe it in a generic manner. For the first time, the SDPC model demonstrates a meaningful representation of features within the hierarchical generative model and of the decision-making process leading to a specific prediction. A quantitative analysis reveals that the features extracted by the SDPC model encode the input image into a representation that is both easily classifiable and robust to noise.
Utterance-level End-to-end Language Identification Using Attention-based CNN-BLSTM

In this paper, we present an end-to-end language identification framework, the attention-based Convolutional Neural Network-Bidirectional Long-short Term Memory (CNN-BLSTM). The model is performed on the utterance level, which means the utterance-level decision can be directly obtained from the output of the neural network. To handle speech utterances with entire arbitrary and potentially long duration, we combine CNN-BLSTM model with a self-attentive pooling layer together. The front-end CNN-BLSTM module plays a role as local pattern extractor for the variable-length inputs, and the following self-attentive pooling layer is built on top to get the fixed-dimensional utterance-level representation. We conducted experiments on NIST LRE07 closed-set task, and the results reveal that the proposed attention-based CNN-BLSTM model achieves comparable error reduction with other state-of-the-art utterance-level neural network approaches for all 3 seconds, 10 seconds, 30 seconds duration tasks.
Bergamottin exerts anticancer effects on human colon cancer cells via induction of apoptosis, G2/M cell cycle arrest and deactivation of the Ras/Raf/ERK signalling pathway

Introduction Accumulating evidence has shown the potential of bergamottin as an anticancer agent. The present study was undertaken to evaluate the anticancer affects of bergamottin (μM) against colon cancer cells. Material and methods Antiproliferative effects were evaluated by WST-1 cell viability assay. Apoptotic effects were studied by DAPI and Annexin V/PI staining. Cell cycle analysis was carried out by flow cytometry. Transwell assay was used to study the effects on cell invasion. Protein expression was estimated by the western blot method. Results The results showed that bergamottin suppresses the proliferation of all the human colon cancer cell lines. Nonetheless, the growth inhibitory effects of bergamottin on the HT-29 and RKO cells were more significant (IC50, 12.5 μM). The anticancer effects of bergamottin on the HT-29 and RKO cells were mainly due to apoptosis. Bergamottin could considerably increase the expression of Bax and reduce the expression Bcl-2. The cleavage of caspase-3, 8 and 9 was also enhanced upon bergamottin treatment of the colon cancer cells. Flow cytometric analysis showed that bergamottin also induced G2/M cell cycle arrest of the HT-29 and RKO cells. Additionally, bergamottin could also suppress the invasion of HT-29 and RKO cells. The Raf/MEK/ERK pathway is regarded as one of the essential pathways involved in the development and progression of cancers. Herein, it was observed that bergamottin could concentration dependently block this pathway in colon cancer cells. In vivo study revealed that bergamottin could also suppress the growth of tumours in xenografted mice models. Conclusions Taken together, bergamottin suppresses the proliferation of colon cancer cells and may be utilised in the development of chemotherapy for colon cancer.
Efficacy of oral montelukast in comparison of inhaled steroids for mild persistent asthma among children aged 1-5 years: A randomized clinical trial in Sri-Lanka

Background: In Sri Lanka, the incidence of asthma has been reported as 2.6% in children. Increased cost and poor adherence of Inhaled Corticosteroids (ICSs) put forward the advancement of leukotriene antagonists like montelukast. However, the efficacy of montelukast has not been studied fully in children of Sri Lanka. The aim of this study is to compare the efficacy of montelukast and ICS in children aged 1 to 5 years with mild persistent asthma. Methods: This randomized clinical trial was conducted from December 2011 May 2013. Children age 1-5 years having cough and wheeze were included. The endpoint of the study was to determine the effectiveness of montelukast in the improvement of asthma symptoms measured by asthma score in comparison to ICS. Participants were divided into 2 groups where group 1 was designated for ICS and group 2 for montelukast. Data was recorded daily in the symptom diary, while coded and analyzed on SPSS. This trial is registered with Sri Lanka Clinical Trial Registry under number: SLCTR/2011/006. Results: The study population of 81 children of which 64.2% were male, mean age was 40.12 ± 13.50 months and weight of 17.70 ± 21.65 Kg. Significant improvement in the mean asthma score was observed in both groups. As compared to ICS, nasal congestion was significantly reduced in montelukast group with mean score of 281.71 ± 27.05 (p = 0.034) and improvement in physical activities were equally achieved. Conclusion: Montelukast is equally effective as inhaled corticosteroids in prevention of mild persistent asthma among 1-5 years and additional significant benefit in controlling rhinitis. *Correspondence to: Jayawardena PP, Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ruhuna, Karapitiya, Galle, Sri Lanka, Tel: +94 777901662; Fax: +94 91 2222314; E-mail: pushpikaja@yahoo.com. au