Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Does delay in surgery after hip fracture lead to worse outcomes? A multicenter survey.

OBJECTIVE To estimate the impact of delays in surgery for hip fracture on short- and long-term outcomes. DESIGN ANALYSIS of inpatient hospital data integrated with national health plan data and Central Bureau Statistics. SETTING Seven major tertiary hospitals. Patients All consecutive elderly patients admitted with hip fracture during the years 2001-2005. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Time from the hospitalization to operation; one-year mortality. MAIN RESULT Study population comprise 4633 patients, older than 65 years. The conservative approach was chosen in 818 patients (17.7%), while 1350 patients (29.1%) waited >2 days from admission to the surgery. There was a substantial variation in median pre-operative stay among the hospitals (range 0-4 days). Patients who had surgery within 2 days had lower mortality (in-hospital, 1-month and 1-year) compared to those who waited for surgery >4 days (2.9%, 4.0%, 17.4% vs. 4.6%, 6.1%, 26.2%, respectively). A Cox proportional regression model of 1-year mortality in operated patients adjusted for background morbidity (Charlson index) showed that the length of operation delay has a gradual effect on increasing mortality (<2 days-reference group, 2-4 days-OR = 1.20, 5 days or longer, OR=1.50). The 818 (17.7%) non-operated patients suffered the highest 1-year mortality, 36.2%. CONCLUSIONS Delays in surgery for hip fracture are associated with significant increase in short-term and 1-year mortality. Variation among the hospitals was substantial and calls for prompt quality improvement actions.
Arm as a Touch-Screen

Popularity of mobiles devices increasing day by day due to the advantages like portability, mobility and flexibility.There are many advantages of small size mainly we can carry it with comfort, but the limited size gives very less interactive surface area. So we need a large interactive area to use but we want to easily carry it in our pocket. We cannot just make the device large without losing benefit of small size. A novel approach is presented in this paper which solves the size problem. We can use our skin which is largest part of our body as an input surface. Human body produces different vibrations when individual tap on different body parts. With the help of this unique property of human body, this technology uses different locations as different functions of small devices like mobile phones or music players. When user tap on itsbody part, some mechanical vibrations propagates through the body, those vibrations are captured by sensor array. The sensor array is mounted on armband which is interfaced with microcontroller. Microcontroller processes the data and finds the tapped location. Microcontroller is interfaced with mobile phone with the help of Bluetooth module. So according to the tapped location, desired operation is performed. This approach provides an always available, naturally portable, large, and on-body finger input system. Keyword-Acoustic, Human Computer Interface, Mobile Phones, Skin Input, SVM.
[Relations between smoking, alcohol intake, physical activity, sleeping hours and the metabolic syndrome in Chinese male aged 18 - 45 years old].

OBJECTIVE To analyze the relationship between prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MS) and behavior habits such as smoking, alcohol intake, physical activity, sleeping hours. METHODS A multi-stage stratified cluster sampling was conducted in 31 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities in China according to the program of National Nutrition and Health Survey. Questionnaire survey, interview, physical examination, measurement of biochemical indices, and dietary investigation were done. In total, 4937 men aged 18 to 45 years old were selected. RESULTS The MS prevalence was 6.9% (329/4937). The rate of drinking was 49.4% and smoking rate was 54.4%. The percentage of sleeping was hours from 7 to 8 was 70.5%. The percentage of spending time on physical activity over 420 minutes/week was as high as 41.9%. Data from single logistic regression showed volume of smoking more than 600 packs and alcohol intake were associated with high risk of MS and no significantly associations were found between MS and the duration of physical activity and the sleeping time. Multivariate logistic regression showed that the risk of MS in smokers with the volume more than 600 packs age increased significantly as compared to nonsmokers with the odds ratio as 1.443 (95%CI: 1.044 - 1.993) and 1.765 (95%CI: 1.150 - 2.708) in smokers with volume from 600 to 899 packs age, and more than 900 packs age respectively. Compared to the nondrinkers, the odds ratios were 1.525 (95%CI: 1.135 - 2.048), 2.322 (95%CI: 1.671 - 3.255) and 2.033 (95%CI: 1.478 - 2.796) in subjects volume of alcohol drinking as 1 to 2 times per week, 3 to 4 times per week and more than 5 times per week respectively. CONCLUSION Tobacco and alcohol were associated with high risks of MS.
Endophilic Anopheles Mosquitoes in Guinea Bissau, West Africa, in Relation to Human Housing Conditions

Abstract Environmental risk factors associated with increased malaria mosquito (Anopheles) abundance indoors were studied in a suburban area, Antula, of Guinea Bissau, during the rainy seasons of 1993–1995. All bedrooms in 30 houses were searched for resting mosquitoes three times each year. The most abundant mosquito was An. gambiae s.s. Significantly greater numbers of resting mosquitoes were present in rooms with open eaves and in houses with a well on the compound. Pigs were the most common domestic animals in Antula. Presence of pigs in a house was associated with increased mosquito abundance in the bedrooms of the same house. The abundance of female mosquitoes also increased with increasing human biomass per square meter of bedroom area.
Half-life of nitric oxide in aqueous solutions with and without haemoglobin

Nitric oxide (NO) has been linked to many regulatory functions in mammalian cells. Studies of NO release are hampered by the short half-life of the molecule. In the blood, NO disappears within seconds because it binds avidly with haemoglobin (Hb). The relationship between Hb concentration and NO disappearance, however, has not been described. In this study we utilized an amperometric NO sensor (WPI, Sarasota, FL) to monitor continuously the disappearance of NO from an aqueous solution when Hb (free or as red blood cells) was added. The calibration and linearity of the NO sensor was checked frequently using a chemical reaction to generate a known concentration of NO. An aliquot of NO solution (prepared from authentic gas) was added to a glass beaker containing 20 ml saline to generate NO concentration of approximately 1200 nM. Under our experimental conditions , NO concentration fell slowly over 20 min with a half-life of 445 s. However, when haemoglobin was added, NO disappeared rapidly in proportion to Hb concentration. The results suggest that rapid binding of NO to Hb occurs in a 4:1 ratio. The maximum rate constant of NO disappearance due to binding with Hb was . The 4:1 binding ratio between NO:Hb may be used as a tool to quantitate NO release in some biological assays. The study supports the notion that NO acts as an autocoid because it disappears rapidly in the presence of Hb and is not likely to act as a circulating humoral substance. The NO sensor was useful for monitoring of NO concentration in Hb free solutions, but its response time limits its use in blood. Keywords: nitric oxide, haemoglobin, rate constant, temperature, meter
Evaluation of the Official Match External Load in Soccer Players With Cerebral Palsy

Abstract Yanci, J, Castillo, D, Iturricastillo, A, and Reina, R. Evaluation of the official match external load in soccer players with cerebral palsy. J Strength Cond Res 33(3): 866–873, 2019—The aims of this study were to analyze the official match external loads (i.e., total distance, distance covered at different speeds, accelerations, decelerations, player load [PL], peak metabolic power, and changes of direction [CODs]) of football players with cerebral palsy (CP) and to determine the external loads according to playing time (i.e., <20, 20–40, and >40 minutes). The external load of 31 international football players with CP (23.0 ± 6.6 years; 69.1 ± 9.0 kg; 174.8 ± 7.3 cm) was analyzed during a World Championship Qualification Tournament (n = 8 matches, 58 individual observations). Results showed that the football players with CP covered less distance at high-intensity running and sprinting, performing a smaller number of moderate and high-intensity accelerations and decelerations, had a lower PL, and performed fewer CODs in official matches compared with conventional football players as reported in other studies. The number of minutes played by the players (i.e., <20, 20–40, and >40 minutes) could significantly influence the players' match external load (effect size = 0.3–5.5, small to extremely large). The impairments presented by football players with CP affect players' match external loads, especially in short-term high-intensity neuromuscular actions.
A Massively Parallel Face Recognition System

We present methods for processing the LBPs (local binary patterns) with a massively parallel hardware, especially with CNN-UM (cellular nonlinear network-universal machine). In particular, we present a framework for implementing a massively parallel face recognition system, including a dedicated highly accurate algorithm suitable for various types of platforms (e.g., CNN-UM and digital FPGA). We study in detail a dedicated mixed-mode implementation of the algorithm and estimate its implementation cost in the view of its performance and accuracy restrictions.
Association of VEGF and KDR single nucleotide polymorphisms with colorectal cancer susceptibility in Koreans

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and its receptor kinase insert domain‐containing receptor (KDR) play crucial roles in angiogenesis, which contributes to the development and progression of solid tumors. The aim of this study was to investigate the associations of VEGF (−2578C > A, −1154G > A, −634G > C, and 936C > T) and KDR (−604T > C and 1192G > A) polymorphisms with the development of colorectal cancer (CRC). A total of 882 participants (390 CRC patients and 492 controls) were enrolled in the study. The genotyping of VEGF and KDR polymorphisms was performed by polymerase chain reaction–restriction fragment length polymorphism assay. We found that the CT and TT genotype of the 936C > T was associated with an increased risk of CRC compared with the CC genotype as the dominant model for the T allele. In addition, we also found a increased CRC risk with TC + CC genotype of KDR −604T > C compared with TT genotype in CRC patients and control subjects. Similarly, KDR 1192G > A also showed significant association between 1192G > A variants and risk of CRC. In the haplotype analyses, haplotype −2578A/−1154A/−634G/936T of VEGF polymorphisms and haplotype −604C/1192G and −604C/1192A of KDR polymorphisms were associated with an increased susceptibility of CRC. Our results suggest that the VEGF 936C > T, KDR −604T > C, and KDR 1192G > A polymorphisms may be contribute to CRC risk in the Korean population. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Prospective Randomized Clinical Trial of Continuous Passive Motion After Total Knee Arthroplasty

The authors report the results of a prospective randomized clinical trial using continuous passive motion after total knee arthroplasty. One hundred twenty patients were assigned randomly to one treatment group: No continuous passive motion (Group I), continuous passive motion from 0 °to 50 °and increased as tolerated (Group II), and continuous passive motion from 70 °to 110 °(Group III). The continuous passive motion was initiated in the recovery room and was maintained for a maximum of 24 hours at which point all patients began identical postoperative physiotherapy regimens. Patients were assessed preoperatively, during their hospital stay, at 6 weeks, 12 weeks, 26 weeks, and 52 weeks after their surgery. There were no statistical differences between any of the treatment groups regarding cumulative analgesic requirements, range of motion at any measured interval, length of stay (Group I, 5.1 days; Group II, 5.2 days; Group III, 5 days) or Knee Society scores. The current study does not support the use of short-term continuous passive motion after total knee replacement. A standard and a high flexion continuous passive motion protocol failed to show any advantage over physiotherapy alone in the parameters evaluated.
La adopción de CMMI y metodologías ágiles en empresas brasileñas

─ There are countless studies, researches and theses in the area of quality, especially those related to software development. Some factors such as increased demand from customers, need to build more products with fewer resources and, especially, respond rapidly to changes demanded by the business makes it necessary, increasingly, to identify ways to improve processes in order to meet these market requirements. Thus, this exploratory study sought to identify the use of CMMI and agile methods in Brazilian companies once integrated, provide improvements in the processes of software development teams and therefore increase the quality of their products.
Retinal injury following intravitreal injection of a dexamethasone implant in a vitrectomized eye.

Research Institute for Convergence of Biomedical Science and Technology, Pusan National University Yangsan Hospital, Yangsan 50612, Korea Department of Ophthalmology, College of Medicine, Pusan National University, Yangsan 50612, Korea Biomedical Research Institute, Pusan National University Hospital, Busan 49241, Korea Correspondence to: Ik Soo Byon. Pusan National University Yangsan Hospital, 20, Geumo-ro, Mulgeum-eup, Yangsan 50612, Korea. isbyon@naver.com Received: 2016-05-02 Accepted: 2016-09-05
Textured surface identification in noisy color images

Automatic identification of textured surfaces is essential in many imaging applications such as image data compression and scene recognition. In these applications, a vision system is required to detect and identify irregular textures in the noisy color images. This work proposes a method for texture field characterization based on the local textural features. We first divide a given color image into n multiplied by n local windows and extract textural features in each window independently. In this step, the size of a window should be small enough so that each window can include only two texture fields. Separation of texture areas in a local window is first carried out by the Otsu or Kullback threshold selection technique on three color components separately. The 3-D class separation is then performed using the Fisher discriminant. The result of local texture classification is combined by the K-means clustering algorithm. The texture fields detected in a window are characterized by their mean vectors and an element-to-set membership relation. We have experimented with the local feature extraction part of the method using a color image of irregular textures. Results show that the method is effective for capturing the local textural features.
Torque ripple reduction in double-layer 18/16 TC-PMSMs by adjusting teeth widths to minimize local saturation

The saturation in the stator teeth of an 18-slots 16-poles TC-PMSM with sinusoidal current supply caused by the interaction of armature reaction fluxes and rotor-PM-produced fluxes is studied. It is found that under load some teeth are saturated deeper than others. An increase in the width of these teeth reduces the oversaturation, which locally prevents the decrease in the inductance and back-EMF, and, consequently, reduces the torque ripple in the machine. The proposed technique can also be applied to other types of TC-PMSMs.
[Study on complex system of Chinese materia medica GAP fulfilling].

OBJECTIVE To provide new model of thinking and management for Chinese Meteria Medica GAP fulfilling. METHOD After analyzing the problems of GAP fulfilling, and considering GAP a complex system, we had some initial discussions about the systematic structure, characteristics and the methods for fulfilling it. RESULT The GAP was a complex system which consisted of biological system, environment system and management system with its own characteristics and methods. CONCLUSION The GAP fulfilling still has some problems and needs the direction of systematic opinion of complex system.
Three-band high-efficiency modulator for envelope tracking power amplifier using class-B push-pull amplifiers

Envelope modulators for wideband and high- power envelope tracking or envelope elimination and restoration amplifiers are usually realized by combing a switching stage and a linear stage. The efficiency and bandwidth of the modulator is mainly limited by the linear stage. This paper proposes a method to improve the performance of the linear stage by adding another stage. The third stage is a push-pull amplifier biased in class-B mode. The push-pull amplifier can achieve a peak efficiency of 76%, and well above 60% over the envelope frequencies from 1MHz to 20MHz. By adding this push-pull amplifier, the three-band modulator can achieve a peak efficiency of 81% and an effective efficiency of 73% for 10MHz and 20MHz LTE signals with 30W output power. The linearity of the push-pull amplifier and the three-band modulator has been evaluated. The three-band modulator has also been tested by driving a class-E amplifier at 2.06GHz to validate the design.
Logics for the Semantic Web

This chapter introduces a number of formal logical languages which form the backbone of the Semantic Web. They are used for the representation of both ontologies and rules. The basis for all languages presented in this chapter is the classical First-Order Logic. Description Logics is a family of languages which represent subsets of first-order logic. Expressive description logic languages form the basis for popular ontology languages on the Semantic Web. Logic programming is based on a subset of first-order logic, namely Horn Logic, but uses a slightly different semantics and can be extended with non-monotonic negation. Many Semantic Web reasoners are based on logic programming principles and rule languages for the Semantic Web based on logic programming are an ongoing discussion. Frame Logic allows object-oriented style (frame-based) modeling in a logical language. RuleML is an XML-based syntax consisting of different sub-languages for the exchange of specifications in different logical languages over the Web.
Effect of a review course on emergency medicine residents' self‐confidence

Objectives: Several organizations offer review courses designed to guide final‐year (postgraduate year five) residents' study for their certification examination. The effect of these courses on residents' confidence is unknown. Self‐confidence has been positively linked with examination performance. The present study measures the impact of a review course on fifth‐year emergency medicine residents' overall confidence and confidence in their: (i) knowledge and its application; (ii) planned study strategies to master the knowledge/application; and (iii) recognition that mastery of knowledge/application had been achieved.
Chipless RFID Tag Exploiting Multifrequency Delta-Phase Quantization Encoding

A novel encoding paradigm for chipless radio frequency identification (RFID) tags based on phase quantization is presented. The most distinctive features of this approach are represented by the low requirement on bandwidth and by the encoding scheme. The former is achieved by using only a multifrequency reading without resorting to ultrawideband systems, whereas the latter relies on linking the information to the quantized difference between the TE and TM phase response of the tag. The encoding mechanism is described as well as the decoding procedure. The reliability of the illustrated approach is experimentally validated by measurements on fabricated prototypes.
Flocculation of Organic Matter and Aluminum in Water Using Chitosan-Inorganic Coagulant

Chitosan can be a potential substitute for aluminum salts and synthetic polyelectrolytes in water treatment because it can: (1) avoid the health effects from residual aluminum (III) and synthetic polymers; (2) produce biodegradable sludge; and (3) reuse the crab shell. In this study, the chitosan flocculation characteristics in water were studied firstly, and then the combined flocculation of chitosan and inorganic flocculant is tested. The results show that the chitosan has favourable coagulation behavior. But the optimum dosage of chitosan removing turbidity and organic matter is different by using chitosan alone. However, the combined flocculation can obviously promote their each coagulant behavior and remarkably enhance the effect of organic matter removal. More importance, the optimal effect of turbidity and organic matter removal can be achieved at the same time. Comparing the effect of three inorganic coagulants combined with chitosan, the effect of chitosan combined with polymeric aluminium-ferric is best, under optimum conditions, the rate of removing turbidity, CODMn and UV254 achieved 97¿, 44¿ and 55¿ respectively. And whether chitosan combining with inorganic flocculation or not, on the best conditions, the residual aluminum concentration is less than the examination methods limit in effluent water.
Mood disturbances and regional cerebral metabolic abnormalities in recently abstinent methamphetamine abusers.

BACKGROUND Mood disturbances in methamphetamine (MA) abusers likely influence drug use, but the neurobiological bases for these problems are poorly understood. OBJECTIVE To assess regional brain function and its possible relationships with negative affect in newly abstinent MA abusers. DESIGN Two groups were compared by measures of mood and cerebral glucose metabolism ([18F]fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography) during performance of a vigilance task. SETTING Participants were recruited from the general community to a research center. PARTICIPANTS Seventeen abstaining (4-7 days) MA abusers (6 women) were compared with 18 control subjects (8 women). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Self-reports of depressive symptoms and anxiety were measured, as were global and relative glucose metabolism in the orbitofrontal, cingulate, lateral prefrontal, and insular cortices and the amygdala, striatum, and cerebellum. RESULTS Abusers of MA provided higher self-ratings of depression and anxiety than control subjects and differed significantly in relative regional glucose metabolism: lower in the anterior cingulate and insula and higher in the lateral orbitofrontal area, middle and posterior cingulate, amygdala, ventral striatum, and cerebellum. In MA abusers, self-reports of depressive symptoms covaried positively with relative glucose metabolism in limbic regions (eg, perigenual anterior cingulate gyrus and amygdala) and ratings of state and trait anxiety covaried negatively with relative activity in the anterior cingulate cortex and left insula. Trait anxiety also covaried negatively with relative activity in the orbitofrontal cortex and positively with amygdala activity. CONCLUSIONS Abusers of MA have abnormalities in brain regions implicated in mood disorders. Relationships between relative glucose metabolism in limbic and paralimbic regions and self-reports of depression and anxiety in MA abusers suggest that these regions are involved in affective dysregulation and may be an important target of intervention for MA dependence.