Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Progestin treatment of atypical hyperplasia and well-differentiated adenocarcinoma of the endometrium to preserve fertility.

AIM To evaluate the outcome of a cohort of young women treated with progestin for fertility-sparing management of endometrial atypical hyperplasia (AH) and endometrial carcinoma (EC). This retrospective multicentre cohort study included women under the age of 40 years treated conservatively for AH and EC to preserve fertility using progestin for at least 3 months. Four inclusion criteria were defined: (i) the presence of AH or grade 1 EC confirmed by two pathologists (including a reference pathologist); (ii) the use of conservative management for fertility sparing; (iii) adequate radiological examination before conservative management; and (iv) a minimal follow-up time of one year. RESULTS Twenty-two patients fulfilled the inclusion criteria (8 had EC, and 14 had AH). After progestin treatment, 17 patients responded. Among the 17 patients who experienced remission, three also experienced disease relapse. One patient initially diagnosed with AH experienced progression of her disease to stage IIIA EC. Ten pregnancies were achieved in eight patients. CONCLUSION Fertility-sparing management using progestin offers the opportunity to fulfil maternal desires in young patients diagnosed with AH and EC. However, progression of the disease is possible and close follow-up is needed.
Iron transport and regulation, cell signalling and genomics: lessons from Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas

A variety of bacterial species secrete and take up chelating compounds that enable acquisition of iron (siderophores). It has become clear that a common feature in regulation of different iron acquisition systems is the involvement of alternative sigma factor proteins of the extracytoplasmic function (ECF) family. Two of these proteins, PvdS from Pseudomonas aeruginosa and FecI from Escherichia coli K‐12, have been studied extensively. PvdS directs transcription of genes required for the biosynthesis of a siderophore, pyoverdine, and FecI causes ex‐pression of genes for uptake of ferric citrate. FecI forms part of a signalling system that responds to the presence of ferric citrate. Here, we review recent advances in understanding of PvdS and of the Fec signalling system. PvdS and FecI are part of a distinct subfamily of ECF sigma factors involved in iron acquisition and hence named the iron‐starvation sigmas. Analysis of microbial genome sequences shows that Fec‐like signalling systems are present in a wide range of species and many such systems may be present in a single species. The availability of tools for large‐scale genome analysis is likely to lead to rapid advances in our understanding of this expanding family of proteins.
Bidirectional trust calculation in online social networks

Online Social networks are the best way of communication among users residing at different parts of the world. Users can share their videos, photos, posts etc. among their friends in blink of an eye. But every good thing comes with few bad aspects as well. Trust between any two users has always been an issue in OSNs. In this paper a system has been proposed for calculating trust between a user and his friends on the basis of actions like messages, comments, shares, likes, etc. The proposed system categorizes friends as Unprivileged, Privileged and Most_Trusted. These lists denote the access level of the listed friends to the user's resources.
Single Oral Dose of Azithromycin Versus 5 Days of Oral Erythromycin or No Antibiotic in Treatment of Campylobacter Enterocolitis in Children: A Prospective Randomized Assessor-Blind Study

Objective: To evaluate efficacy of a single oral azithromycin dose versus standard oral erythromycin regimen or no antibiotic for Campylobacter enterocolitis in children younger than or equal to 12 years of age. Patients and Methods: Randomized parallel group assessor-blind trial testing for inequality in efficacy between treatments was done. Patients (N = 120) were enrolled at less than or equal to 48 hours since disease onset to receive erythromycin 50 mg kg−1 day−1 for 5 days, single-dose azithromycin 20 mg/kg or 30 mg/kg, or no antibiotic (no treatment control) (1: 1: 1: 1). Antibiotics were commenced 8 to 10 hours after enrollment. Patients were assessed at 24-hour intervals for 6 days. Results: In the intent-to-treat analysis, Campylobacter eradication was achieved in 20 of 30 controls and in all of the patients treated with antibiotic. Incidence of clinical cure during the observed period was 15 of 30 in the control, 14 of 30 in the erythromycin, 20 of 30 in the lower, and 25 of 30 in the higher azithromycin dose group. With adjustment for age, sex, baseline disease severity, and disease duration before enrollment, only azithromycin 30 mg/kg was superior to no treatment: incidence ratio (IR) 1.76 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.11–2.87). It was also superior to erythromycin (IR 1.80, 97.5% CI 1.13–2.84). Regarding time to clinical cure, only azithromycin 30 mg/kg was superior to no treatment (adjusted hazard ratio [HR] 4.90, 95% CI 2.44–9.84). It was also superior to erythromycin (HR 4.17, 97.5% CI 1.91–9.09). All treatments were well tolerated. Conclusions: The administration of single oral dose of azithromycin 30 mg/kg early after disease onset effectively eradicates the pathogen and accelerates clinical cure in childhood Campylobacter enterocolitis. It is clinically superior to an early commenced 5-day erythromycin regimen, which apparently conveys no clinically relevant benefit over no antibiotic treatment.
A Steroidogenic Factor-1 Binding Site Is Required for Activity of the Luteinizing Hormone Subunit Promoter in Gonadotropes of Transgenic Mice (*)

Analysis of luteinizing hormone (LH) β subunit promoters from a broad range of species including teleosts and humans revealed strict conservation of a sequence homologous to the steroidogenic factor-1 (SF-1) regulatory element of cytochrome P-450 steroid hydroxylase genes. Interaction between SF-1 and this putative response element in the bovine LHβ promoter was confirmed by electrophoretic mobility shift assays. Furthermore, cotransfection of αT3-1 cells with an expression vector encoding SF-1 induced binding site-dependent transcription from the bovine LHβ promoter. Physiological significance of the LHβ SF-1 consensus sequence was established using transgenic mice containing either the wild type bovine promoter or a promoter with a site-specific mutation of this site. Mutation of the SF-1 binding site nearly eliminated promoter activity, and the mutant transgene remained inactive following induction of gonadotropin-releasing hormone accomplished by castrating male and female mice. Thus, increases of gonadotropin-releasing hormone within a physiological range did not compensate for the loss of the SF-1 binding site. Together, these findings indicate that the SF-1 binding site is a key regulator of LHβ promoter activity in vivo and implicate SF-1 as at least one of the transcription factors that acts through this site.
Lack of appetite in haemodialysis patients--associations with patient characteristics, indicators of nutritional status and outcomes in the international DOPPS.

BACKGROUND Identification of haemodialysis patients with problems related to lack of appetite should help prevent adverse outcomes. We studied whether a single question about being bothered by lack of appetite within the prior 4 weeks is related to nutritional status, inflammation and risks of death and hospitalization. Additionally, we assessed associations of lack of appetite with depression, dialysis dose and length of haemodialysis. METHODS This study is an analysis of baseline and longitudinal data from 14 406 patients enrolled in the Dialysis Outcomes and Practice Pattern Study. Cox regression was used to assess whether the degree (not, somewhat, moderately, very much, extremely) that patients were bothered by lack of appetite is an independent predictor of death and hospitalization. Logistic regression was used to identify baseline characteristics associated with being bothered by lack of appetite. RESULTS The risk of death was more than 2-fold higher [relative risk (RR) = 2.23; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.90-2.62] and the risk of hospitalization 33% higher (RR = 1.33; 95% CI = 1.19-1.48) among patients extremely bothered, compared with not bothered, by lack of appetite. These associations followed a dose-response fashion and remained statistically significant after adjustments for 14 comorbidities. Depression, shorter haemodialysis session, hypoalbuminaemia, lower concentration of serum creatinine and normalized protein catabolic rate, lower body mass index and higher leucocyte and neutrophil counts were independently associated with higher odds of being bothered by lack of appetite. CONCLUSIONS The data suggest that a single question about lack of appetite helps identify haemodialysis patients with poorer nutritional status, inflammation, depression and higher risks of hospitalization and death. The study calls attention to a possible beneficial effect of longer haemodialysis on appetite.
An Italian experience in the ICF implementation in rehabilitation: Preliminary theoretical and practical considerations

Purpose. The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) in its complete form cannot be adopted in clinical rehabilitative practice due to its complexity and size. Ongoing international research is aimed at validating and verifying the reliability of simplified instruments derived from the ICF (ICF Core Sets). An Italian multicentre study was recently conducted with these aims. The purpose of this article is to present some qualitative considerations on ICF Core Sets implementation. Method. A brief schedule purposely built to assess the difficulties encountered by the health professionals who administered the ICF Core Sets were sent them via e-mail. Due to the small size of the sample, a qualitative analysis was performed. Result. The main difficulties which emerged were: (i) To clearly translate the ICF categories' contents in a language easily understandable especially by patients with low education and concrete cognitive style, (ii) the process of assigning the qualifier to the given category, particularly with the ‘Activity and Participation’ and ‘Environmental factors’ components, and (iii) the influence of evaluators' different professional backgrounds on interview performance. Conclusion. Since the classification was designed to uniform language and to promote homogeneous ways of evaluation in extremely different healthcare and social contexts, more studies are necessary to improve reliability and to identify the best methods of using the ICF in daily clinical practice.
Interobserver agreement in ultrasonography of the finger and toe joints in rheumatoid arthritis.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the interobserver agreement of ultrasonographic assessment of finger and toe joints in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) by 2 investigators with different medical backgrounds. METHODS Ultrasonography and clinical examination were performed on 150 small joints of 30 patients with active RA. A General Electric LOGIQ 500 ultrasound unit with a 7-13-MHz linear array transducer was used. In each patient, 5 preselected small joints (second and third metacarpophalangeal, second proximal interphalangeal, first and second metatarsophalangeal) were examined independently on the same day by 2 ultrasound investigators (an experienced musculoskeletal radiologist and a rheumatologist with limited ultrasound training). Joint effusion, synovial thickening, bone erosions, and power Doppler signal were evaluated in accordance with an introduced 4-grade semiquantitative scoring system, on which the investigators had reached consensus prior to the study. RESULTS Exact agreement between the 2 observers was seen in 91% of the examinations with regard to bone erosions, in 86% with regard to synovitis, in 79% with regard to joint effusions, and in 87% with regard to power Doppler signal assessments. Corresponding intraclass correlation coefficient values were 0.78, 0.81, 0.61, and 0.72, respectively, while unweighted kappa values were 0.68, 0.63, 0.48, and 0.55, respectively. Ultrasonography showed signs of inflammation in 94 joints, while clinical assessment revealed tenderness and/or swelling in 64 joints. CONCLUSION An experienced radiologist and a rheumatologist with limited ultrasound training achieved high interobserver agreement rates for the identification of synovitis and bone erosions, using an introduced semiquantitative scoring system for ultrasonography of finger and toe joints in RA. Signs of inflammation were more frequently detected with ultrasound than with clinical examination. Ultrasonography may improve the assessment of RA patients by radiologists and rheumatologists.
Colonization of congenitally immunodeficient mice with probiotic bacteria

We assessed the capacity of four probiotic bacteria (Lactobacillus acidophilus, Lactobacillus reuteri, Lactobacillus casei GG, and Bifidobacterium animalis) to colonize, infect, stimulate immune responses in, and affect the growth and survival of congenitally immunodeficient gnotobiotic beige-athymic (bg/bg-nu/nu) and beige-euthymic (bg/bg-nu/+) mice. The bacteria colonized and persisted, in pure culture, in the alimentary tracts of both mouse strains for the entire study period (12 weeks). Although all adult and neonatal beige-euthymic mice survived probiotic colonization, some infant mortality occurred in beige-athymic pups born to mothers colonized with pure cultures of L. reuteri or L. casei GG. The probiotic bacteria manifested different capacities to adhere to epithelial surfaces, disseminate to internal organs, affect the body weight of adult mice and the growth of neonatal mice, and stimulate immune responses. Although the probiotic species were innocuous for adults, these results suggest that caution and further studies to assess the safety of probiotic bacteria for immunodeficient hosts, especially neonates, are required.
The Importance of Subterranean Mosquito Habitat to Arbovirus Vector Control Strategies in North Queensland, Australia

Abstract In north Queensland, 14 localities were surveyed for mosquito larvae (third and fourth instar) during summer/autumn and winter from 1996 to 1999. Absolute population numbers in subterranean habitats, mainly service manholes and pits (97%) but also some wells, septic tanks, storm drains, and sumps, were expressed as a proportion of total numbers in these sites plus surface sites within a 100-m radius. When correction factors were applied to subterranean samples, the 472,477 larvae mainly of Aedes tremulus (Theobald) group, Aedes notoscriptus (Skuse), and Aedes aegypti (L.) comprised 78% of the total population. In relation to the proportion of the overall immature mosquito population from subterranean habitats (propsub), linear regression coefficients for minimum temperature, relative humidity, and Mesocyclops copepod prevalence were significant for winter data; but for summer, only relative humidity was significant. Linear regression coefficients for Mesocyclops prevalence approached significance (P = 0.061) in summer. When multiple linear regression was used to model propsub, 68% of the variation was accounted for by relative humidity and the prevalence of Mesocyclops. In the drier and cooler towns, increased use of subterranean sites during winter was caused by reduced availability of surface oviposition sites because of the dry season. In the wetter coastal towns, no such restrictions applied and ambient conditions remained more equitable all year round. Mesocyclops were surprisingly common, particularly in these coastal towns. Release of known numbers of Mesocyclops indicated that 3-sweep netting in service manholes was sensitive down to densities of one Mesocyclops per 10 liters, and overall recovery varied from 1 to 4%. In relation to control, service manholes represent a stable habitat for mosquito (7% positive overall) and Mesocyclops populations. If they remained wet, service manholes positive for mosquito immatures or Mesocyclops during summer/autumn had 96% and 85% chance, respectively, of being positive the following winter. Even allowing for the effect of drying, a mosquito-positive manhole had a 79% chance of remaining positive the following winter. In view of the importance of these sites as refuges from adverse ambient conditions, it is proposed that a winter control strategy using Mesocyclops presents a cost-effective control option to reduce the recolonization of surface sites when conditions become more suitable.
Design and evaluation of a VR-user-interface based on a common tablet-PC

Virtual Reality systems are an essential element of the product development process, but common VR-user-interfaces still need intensive practice to be effectively used to solve tasks within Virtual Environments. This keeps especially non-expert-users from using the full potential of VR for evaluating virtual models during the product development process. In this article, we present a concept for an intuitive to use VR-user-interface based on a common tablet-PC. A rudimentary evaluation performed as a preliminary study showed an initial tendency for the usability of the implemented prototype.
How does academic achievement relate to cardiorespiratory fitness, self-reported physical activity and objectively reported physical activity: a systematic review in children and adolescents aged 6–18 years

Objective This report aimed to systematically review the evidence for a differential association between objective and self-reported physical activity and cardiorespiratory fitness on academic achievement. Design Systematic review. Data sources Studies were identified from searches in Embase, Education Resources Information Center, PubMed, PsycINFO, SPORTdiscus and Web of Science databases from January 2000 to December 2016. Eligibility criteria for selecting studies Eligibility criteria included cross-sectional, longitudinal and interventional study designs. Outcomes included students’ school grade or a standardised test or measure of academic achievement. Explanatory variables were cardiorespiratory fitness and objective and self-reported physical activity. Inclusion criteria included school-aged children and adolescents aged–18 years (or students from primary to secondary school when student’s participants age was not described) and articles published in English, Portuguese or Spanish. Results A total of 51 articles met inclusion criteria: 41 cross-sectional, 2 intervention and 8 longitudinal studies. Results from 11 studies were inconsistent regarding the relationship between objectively measured physical activity and academic achievement. Ten of the 16 articles reported positive associations between self-reported physical activity and academic achievement. From the 22 studies that analysed the relationship between cardiorespiratory fitness and academic achievement, it was verified that they all generally support the beneficial effect of cardiorespiratory fitness on students’ academic achievement. Conclusion Higher cardiorespiratory fitness may be important to enhance children and adolescents’ health and, additionally, academic achievement. Due to a lack of consensus across studies, methodological issues associated with the assessment of physical activity should be considered when investigating physical activity and academic achievement.
A Quad State-Paired QPSK Modulation for Higher Data Rate Communication

The demand for high data rate communication is continuously increasing. To address this, studies on bit error rate improvements, cooperative diversity and transmit diversity have been topics of interest. In this paper, a novel Quad State- Paired QPSK (QS-PQPSK) modulation scheme is proposed. The proposed technique is simulated and compared with other main PSK-based modulation schemes. Preliminary simulation results show that in the presence of only Additive White Gaussian Noise (AWGN), QS-PQPSK performs better than 8-PSK in terms of symbol error rate and effective throughput. In a Rayleigh flat fading channel with AWGN, QS-PQPSK outperforms 8-PSK in terms of bit and symbol error rates and effective throughput. The performance of the proposed method also surpasses the other main PSK-based methods in most cases. This highlights the proposed QS-PQPSK technique as a viable spectrally efficient modulation technique for high data rate applications.
Enlightenment of the New Economic Theory in the Sports Marketing

AbstrcatExperience economy is seen as a kind of newly description of economic situation. "Experience" is regarded as a kind of invisible goods, which can satisfy the increasing emotional demand of the consumers. The new theory of experience economy brings a new approach for the enterprises to conduct the marketing strategy. Sports economy typically embodies the characteristics of experience economy. Accordingly, it is very imperative for the sport market to incorporate with the new theory of experience economy timely, in order to promote the marketing level of Chinese sports to a higher level.
Explosive Preisentwicklung und spekulative Blasen auf Rohstoffmärkten / Explosive behavior and speculative bubbles on commodity markets

Zusammenfassung In dieser Studie wird untersucht, ob die Preisentwicklung auf Rohstoffmärkten statistische Anhaltspunkte für spekulative Preisblasen liefert. Diese Frage ist von zentraler Bedeutung in der wirtschaftspolitischen Debatte um die Regulierung des Handels von Rohstoffen. Es kann statistisch gezeigt werden, dass sich Rohstoffpreise gelegentlich explosiv verhalten. Die stärkste Evidenz für explosives Verhalten gibt es bei den Industrierohstoffen. Auch bei Nahrungsmittelpreisen können Phasen explosiven Verhaltens statistisch nachgewiesen werden. Eine wichtige Schlussfolgerung ist, dass die Ursachen explosiven Verhaltens auf Rohstoffmärkten und die Effekte von Preisblasen auf die Entscheidungen von Konsumenten und Investoren sowie Verteilungseffekte systematisch untersucht werden müssen. Summary This paper analyzes whether price developments on commodity markets support the hypothesis that commodity prices are subject to speculative behavior in certain time periods. This is an important research question within the ongoing debate on the regulation of commodity trading. It can be shown that commodity prices occasionally exhibit explosive behavior. In particular, this is found for raw industrials, but also for foodstuff. An important implication is that the reasons and the effects on consumers and investors of bubbles on commodity markets have to be investigated in greater detail. Additionally, the distributional effects of these findings should be analyzed in future research.