Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Health‐Related Quality of Life in Patients with Ulcerative Colitis After a 10‐year Disease Course: Results from the IBSEN Study

Background: Ulcerative colitis (UC) negatively affects health‐related quality of life (HRQoL), but population‐based and long‐term data on this topic are scarce. Our aim was to determine the HRQoL in UC patients after a 10‐year disease duration. Methods: UC patients from a population‐based inception cohort met at a prescheduled 10‐year follow‐up visit. In addition to a clinical examination, interview, and blood samples, the patients completed the Short Form 36 (SF‐36) and the Norwegian Inflammatory Bowel Disease Questionnaire (N‐IBDQ). The SF‐36 scores were compared to scores from a general population sample using one‐sample t‐tests. Standardized scores were calculated and interpreted according to Cohen's effect size index. The associations between relevant clinical and demographic factors and HRQoL were examined through linear regression analyses. Results: A total of 196 patients completed the HRQoL questionnaires (response rate: 80%), of whom 54% were women; the mean age of all patients was 48 years (range: 22–86). The SF‐36 scores were comparable to those of the general population except for lower scores in the General Health dimension. The SF‐36 scores were significantly lower in the presence of current symptoms, in patients who had used corticosteroids, and in patients who reported not working. Overall N‐IBDQ scores were equivalent to scores of patients in remission. Female gender, work status (not working), current symptoms, and smoking were associated with significantly lower N‐IBDQ scores. Conclusions: SF‐36 scores were not reduced compared to the general population sample. The presence of current symptoms, the use of corticosteroids, work status (not working), female gender, and smoking had a negative impact on HRQoL. (Inflamm Bowel Dis 2012)
A survey of sudden death associated with the use of antipsychotic or antidepressant drugs: 49 cases in Finland

Phenothiazines have repeatedly been found to be associated with cases of sudden death, but the issue of causality has remained controversial. A survey of medicolegal autopsies performed in Finland over a 3‐year period revealed that sudden unexpected deaths of 31 women (mean age 44 years, range 25–69) and 18 men (mean age 40 years, range 26–62) were associated with either the use of antipsychotic or antidepressant drugs. Therapeutic use of phenothiazines was documented in all but 3 of these 49 cases and thioridazine was involved in over half of them. Thus, whereas thioridazine was the only antipsychotic drug associated with 15 cases, only 5 cases were associated with any of the other antipsychotic or antidepressant drugs. The differences between the subgroups of psychotropic drugs remained clear after adjustment according to the respective data on drug use in the population. Although there are several uncontrolled confounding factors, the overrepresentation of phenothiazines, especially thioridazine, among psychiatric patients who died suddenly is striking and, taken together with their well‐established arrhythmogenic effects, warrants further attention.
K channel activation by nucleotide diphosphates and its inhibition by glibenclamide in vascular smooth muscle cells

1 Whole‐cell and inside‐out patch recordings were made from single smooth muscle cells that had been isolated enzymatically and mechanically from the rabbit portal vein. 2 In whole‐cells the inclusion in the recording pipette solution of nucleotide diphosphates (NDPs), but not tri‐ or monophosphates, induced a K‐current that developed gradually over 5 to 15 min. Intracellular 1 mm guanosine 5′‐diphosphate (GDP) induced a slowly developing outward K‐current at − 37 mV that reached a maximum on average of 72 ± 4 pA (n = 40). Half maximal effect was estimated to occur with about 0.2 mm GDP. Except for ADP, other NDPs had comparable effects. At 0.1 mm, ADP was equivalent to GDP but at higher concentration ADP was less effective. ADP induced its maximum effect at 1 mm but had almost no effect at 10 mm. 3 In 14% of inside‐out patches exposed to 1 mm GDP at the intracellular surface, characteristic K channel activity was observed which showed long (> 1 s) bursts of openings separated by longer closed periods. The current‐voltage relationship for the channel was linear in a 60 mm:130 mm K‐gradient and the unitary conductance was 24 pS. 4 Glibenclamide applied via the extracellular solution was found to be a potent inhibitor of GDP‐induced K‐current (IK(GDP)) in the whole‐cell. The Kd was 25 nm and the inhibition was fully reversible on wash‐out. 5 (IK(GDP)) was not evoked if Mg ions were absent from the pipette solution. In contrast the omission of extracellular Mg ions had no effect on outward or inward (IK(GDP)). 6 Inclusion of 1 mm ATP in the recording pipette solution reduced (IK(GDP)) and also attenuated its decline during long (25 min) recordings. 7 When perforated‐patch whole‐cell recording was used, metabolic poisoning with cyanide and 2‐deoxy‐d‐glucose induced a glibenclamide‐sensitive K‐current. This current was not observed when conventional whole‐cell recording was used. Possible reasons for this difference are discussed. 8 These K channels appear similar to ATP‐sensitive K channels but we refer to them as nucleotide diphosphate‐dependent K channels (KNDP) to emphasise what seems to be a primary role for nucleotide diphosphates in their regulation.
Nutrition and public health in medical education in the UK: reflections and next steps

Abstract Objective Doctors play an important role in the identification of nutritional disorders and as advocates for a healthy diet, and although the key tenets of good nutrition education for medical students have been discussed, reports on implementation are sparse. The present commentary responds to a gap in UK medical students’ understanding of nutrition and public health and suggests ways to improve it. Design We review literature about nutrition education in medical schools and discuss a 6-week elective in public health nutrition for medical students. We discuss suggested competencies in nutrition and compare means of students’ confidence and knowledge before and after. Setting A nutrition and public health elective in a UK medical school, discussing advocacy, motivational interviewing, supplements, nutritional deficits, parenteral nutrition, obesity services. We utilised multidisciplinary teaching approaches including dietitians, managers and pharmacists, and students implemented a public health activity in a local school. Subjects Fifteen final-year medical students were enrolled; sixty school pupils participated in the public health activity. Results The students were not confident in nutrition competencies before and were taught less than European counterparts. Students enjoyed the course, had improved knowledge, and felt more confident in interviewing and prescribing supplements. Feedback from the local school was positive. Conclusions Students in our UK medical school were not confident in their required competencies within the confines of the current educational programme. An elective course can improve medical students’ knowledge. Similar courses could be implemented in other medical schools to improve nutrition and public health knowledge and practice in future doctors.
Treatment of Co-Occurring Psychotic and Substance Use Disorders

People with psychotic disorders and other serious mental illnesses, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and severe major depression, have high rates of co-occurring substance use disorder, which can wreak havoc in their lives. In this article the authors describe strategies for assessing substance use problems in people with serious mental illnesses, and then address the treatment of these co-occurring disorders. The authors review principles of treatment of co-occurring disorders, including integration of mental health and substance abuse services, adopting a low-stress and harm-reduction approach, enhancing motivation, using cognitive-behavioral therapy strategies to teach more effective interpersonal and coping skills, supporting functional recovery, and engaging the social network. The authors include a section on how social workers may play a key role in assessment, treatment, or referral for co-occurring disorders in a variety of settings. Throughout the article the authors emphasize that belief in the possibility of recovery from co-occurring disorders and instilling hope in clients, their family members, and other treatment providers, are vital to the effective treatment of co-occurring disorders.
Factories of the future: challenges and leading innovations in intelligent manufacturing

This paper reviews some of the most recently reported research into challenges and leading innovations in intelligent manufacturing for the Factories of the Future (FoF). Such research can be categorised as addressing five broad topic areas: manufacturing systems frameworks, theories and models; the pervasiveness of Cyber-Physical Systems (CPSs); the critical role of semantic technologies and interoperability; the Virtual Organisation (VO) of manufacturing systems and the servitisation of manufacturing systems. The paper analyses conceptual, theoretical, empirical and technological contributions from several leading authors in domain area. This paper identifies a wide range of research topics from the elaboration of manufacturing systems frameworks to models, from sensors to CPSs, to the application of semantic technologies and interoperability architectures of the data and information generated by manufacturing agents, how VOs are shaping manufacturing environments and the increasing challenge of deploying manufacturing systems to support servitisation. The paper concludes elaborating final considerations on the challenges and leading innovations in intelligent manufacturing for the FoF research area.
BMP4 and PTHrP interact to stimulate ductal outgrowth during embryonic mammary development and to inhibit hair follicle induction

The mammary glands develop initially as buds arising from the ventral embryonic epidermis. Recent work has shed light on signaling pathways leading to the patterning and formation of the mammary placodes and buds in mouse embryos. Relatively little is known of the signaling pathways that initiate branching morphogenesis and the formation of the ducts from the embryonic buds. Previous studies have shown that parathyroid hormone-related protein (PTHrP; also known as parathyroid hormone-like peptide, Pthlh) is produced by mammary epithelial cells and acts on surrounding mesenchymal cells to promote their differentiation into a mammary-specific dense mesenchyme. As a result of PTHrP signaling, the mammary mesenchyme supports mammary epithelial cell fate, initiates ductal development and patterns the overlying nipple sheath. In this report, we demonstrate that PTHrP acts, in part, by sensitizing mesenchymal cells to BMP signaling. PTHrP upregulates BMP receptor 1A expression in the mammary mesenchyme, enabling it to respond to BMP4, which is expressed within mesenchymal cells underlying the ventral epidermis during mammary bud formation. We demonstrate that BMP signaling is important for outgrowth of normal mammary buds and that BMP4 can rescue outgrowth of PTHrP-/- mammary buds. In addition, the combination of PTHrP and BMP signaling is responsible for upregulating Msx2 gene expression within the mammary mesenchyme, and disruption of the Msx2 gene rescues the induction of hair follicles on the ventral surface of mice overexpressing PTHrP in keratinocytes (K14-PTHrP). Our data suggest that PTHrP signaling sensitizes the mammary mesenchyme to the actions of BMP4, triggering outgrowth of the mammary buds and inducing MSX2 expression, which, in turn, leads to lateral inhibition of hair follicle formation within the developing nipple sheath.
Characteristics of Sn&#8211;Cu Solder Bump Formed by Electroplating for Flip Chip

Sn–Cu near eutectic solder bump was fabricated by electroplating for flip-chip, and its electroplating and bump characteristics were studied. A Si-wafer was used as a substrate and the under bump metallization (UBM) comprised 400 nm of Al, 300 nm of Cu, 400 nm of Ni, and 20 nm of Au sequentially from bottom to the top of the metallization. The electrolyte for plating Sn–Cu solder consisted of$hbox Sn^+2$(concentration of 30 g/L) and$hbox Cu^+2$(0.3 g/L) solutions with methasulfonic acid and deionized water. The experimental results showed that the plating ratio of the Sn–Cu increased from 0.25 to 2.7$mu/hbox min$with increasing current density from 1 to 8$hbox A/dm^2$. In this range of current density, the plated Sn–Cu maintained its composition nearly constant level as Sn-(0.9$sim$1.4)wt% Cu. The solder bump of typical mushroom shape with 120-$muhbox m$stem diameter and 75-$muhbox m$height was formed by plating at 5$hbox A/dm^2$for 2 h. The mushroom bump changed its shape to the hemispherical type of 140-$muhbox m$diameter by air reflow on a hot plate at 260$^circhbox C$. The homogeneity of element distribution in the solder bump was examined, and Sn content in the mushroom bump appears to be uneven changed to more uniform after the air reflow. The highest shear bond strength of the Sn–Cu hemispherical bump showed 113 gf by reflowing at 260$^circhbox C$for 10 s.
Adenocarcinomas of esophagogastric junction: multi-detector row CT to evaluate early response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy.

PURPOSE To prospectively evaluate multi-detector row computed tomography (CT) in the assessment of early response during neoadjuvant chemotherapy for adenocarcinoma of the esophagogastric junction (AEG). MATERIALS AND METHODS The study protocol was approved by the local ethics committee. Written informed consent was obtained from all patients. Thirty-one patients with an AEG (stage T3 N0/1 M0 or T4 N0/1 M0) were examined with multi-detector row CT before and 2 weeks after the initiation of chemotherapy. There were seven women and 24 men with a mean age of 62 years +/- 8.1 (standard deviation). The maximal transverse tumor diameter was measured and tumor volumetry was performed by three independent readers. The resulting changes were correlated with the histopathologic grade of regression in 21 patients. The differentiation of responders from nonresponders was assessed with receiver operating characteristic analysis in these 21 patients. Interobserver variability was determined in all 31 patients with the Spearman rank correlation. Survival without disease progression was estimated in all patients according to the Kaplan-Meier method. Statistical comparisons between different groups of patients were performed with the log-rank test. RESULTS The interobserver variability for the diameter measurements (R = 0.13-0.20) was higher than that for the volumetric measurements (R = 0.70-0.82). The correlation of histopathologic grades of regression with changes in diameter was not statistically significant for the three readers, whereas the correlation of volume changes with histopathologic grades of regression was statistically significant for two of the three readers (P = .01, .05, and .08). Results of receiver operating characteristic analysis revealed an optimal cutoff level for tumor volumetry at a reduction of volume of 14.8%, which resulted in a sensitivity of 100% (six of six patients) and a specificity of 53% (eight of 15 patients). Although the probability of progression was higher in the nonresponder group than in the responder group (61% vs 40%, respectively), the differences were not statistically significant. CONCLUSION Tumor volumetry based on multi-detector row CT can help predict early response to treatment 2 weeks after the initiation of neoadjuvant chemotherapy in patients with AEG; however, the classic approach of tumor diameter measurement failed to show significant correlation with histopathologic tumor regression.
An inhibitor of the toxicity of tumour necrosis factor in the serum of patients with sarcoidosis, tuberculosis and Crohn's disease

The activated macrophages present in the T cell‐dependent granulomata of sarcoidosis and tuberculosis are primed for enhanced release of cytokines including tumour necrosis factor (TNF or cachectin). Release of this cytokine can induce an acute‐phase response, fever, and necrosis in suitably prepared sites of inflammation; if chronic, its presence may contribute to weight loss. These clinical features are characteristic of tuberculosis, but not of sarcoidosis, though alveolar macrophages from both diseases release large quantities of TNF in vitro. We therefore postulated the presence in sarcoidosis patients of an inhibitor of TNF. We have studied levels of TNF inhibitory activity by determining the quantity of TNF required to give 50% kill of 1929 cells in the presence of 20% heat‐inactivated serum derived from various disease states (37 sarcoidosis, 13 tuberculosis, 13 Crohn's disease. 17 healthy donors). Normal sera used in this way do not inhibit significantly, but inhibition of TNF loxicity is caused by most sera from both sarcoidosis and tuberculosis. Used at 20%, five out of 37 sarcoidosis sera and one out of 13 tuberculosis sera caused complete inhibition of TNF, even when the latter was added at 100 times the concentration required to give 50% kill in control wells. This inhibitor may have an important physiological role.
Machine learning algorithm for retinal image analysis

Diabetic retinopathy is the most general diabetes complication that affects eyes and results in blindness. It's due to impairment of the arteries a veins located in the fundus of eye (retina) that are composed of light sensitive tissues. The aim of this research work is to design an efficient and sensitive tool for Diabetic Retinopathy using the images acquired from portable fundus camera. The screening tool is based on advanced machine learning and computer vision algorithm which includes patch level prediction. In patch level prediction algorithm will localize the diseased region in the Diabetic Retinopathy image like Hard Exudates and Hemorrhage. The patch level classification uses Support Vector Machine (SVM) machine learning classifier model to predict the potential patch of Hard Exudates and Hemorrhage. In this algorithm, the image is broken into regular rectangular patch. The feature for each patch along with the different class label based on the ground truth is computed and passed to strong classifier SVM. The data sets are split into training dataset and testing dataset. The classifier model is built on training dataset and tested against the test dataset. The performance results of rectangular patch level prediction using SVM the average performance for Hard Exudates was Accuracy 96 %, Sensitivity 94%, Specificity 96%. The average performance for Hemorrhage was Accuracy 85 %, Sensitivity 77%, and Specificity 85%.
Joining the incompatible: Exploiting purposive lists for the sample-based estimation of species richness

The lists of species obtained by purposive sampling by field ecologists are used to improve the sample-based estimation of species richness. The estimation criterion is a modification of the difference estimator in which the species inclusion probabilities are estimated by means of the species frequencies from incidence data. If the species list used to support the estimation is complete the estimator guesses the true richness without error. Moreover, contrary to the nonparametric estimators, our estimator provides values invariably greater than the number of species detected by the combination of sample-based and purposive surveys. A presumably asymptotically conservative estimator of the mean squared error is also provided. A simulation study based on two artificial populations is carried out in order to check the performance of the proposed estimator with respect to the familiar nonparametric estimators. Finally, the proposed estimator is adopted to estimate species richness in the Maremma Regional Park, Italy.
The Perception, Level of Safety Satisfaction and Safety Feedback on Occupational Safety and Health Management among Hospital Staff Nurses in Sabah State Health Department.

BACKGROUND This study aimed to determine the perception and level of safety satisfaction of staff nurses with regards to Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) management practice in the Sabah Health Department, and to associate the OSH management dimensions, to Safety Satisfaction and Safety Feedback. METHODS A cross-sectional study using a validated self-administered questionnaire was conducted among randomly respondents. RESULTS 135 nurses responded the survey. Mean (SD) score for each dimension ranged from 1.70 ± 0.68-4.04 ± 0.65, with Training and Competence dimension (mean [SD], 4.04 ± 0.65) had the highest while Safety Incidence was the least score (mean [SD], 1.70 ± 0.68). Both mean (SD) scores for Safety Satisfaction and Safety Feedback was high, 3.28 ± 0.51 and 3.57 ± 0.73, respectively. Pearson's correlation analysis indicated that all OSH dimensions had significant correlation with Safety Satisfaction and Safety Feedback (r coefficient ranged from 0.176-0.512) except for Safety Incidence. CONCLUSION The overall perception of OSH management was rather low. Significant correlation between Safety Satisfaction and Safety Feedback and several dimensions, suggest that each organization to put in place the leaders who have appropriate leadership and supervisory skills and committed in providing staff training to improve staff's competency in OSH practice. In addition, clear goals, rules, and reporting system will help the organization to implement proper OSH management practice.
Multi Feature Deconvolutional Faster R-CNN for Precise Vehicle Detection in Aerial Imagery

Accurate detection of objects in aerial images is an important task for many applications such as traffic monitoring, surveillance, reconnaissance and rescue tasks. Recently, deep learning based detection frameworks clearly improved the detection performance on aerial images compared to conventional methods comprised of hand-crafted features and a classifier within a sliding window approach. These deep learning based detection frameworks use the output of the last convolutional layer as feature map for localization and classification. Due to the small size of objects in aerial images, only shallow layers of standard models like VGG-16 or small networks are applicable in order to provide a sufficiently high feature map resolution. However, high-resolution feature maps offer less semantic and contextual information, which results in approaches being more prone to false alarms due to objects with similar shapes especially in case of tiny objects. In this paper, we extend the Faster R-CNN detection framework to cope this issue. Therefore, we apply a deconvolutional module that up-samples low-dimensional feature maps of deep layers and combines the up-sampled features with the features of shallow layers while the feature map resolution is kept sufficiently high to localize tiny objects. Our proposed deconvolutional framework clearly outperforms state-of-the-art methods on two publicly available datasets.
A General Equilibrium Approach to the Luxury Tax

Individuals care about appearances and buy luxury goods to signal a social status. A widespread opinion is that the production of conspicuous goods is socially undesirable, because it waste the resources of the economy to implement a sort of vanity game among individuals. A luxury tax could be designed to direct these resources towards more essential productions. The goal of the paper is to set a general equilibrium model, where the demand of conspicuous good is properly conceived as a signaling game, to compute an optimal luxury tax.