Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Ambulance use affects timely emergency treatment of acute ischaemic stroke.

INTRODUCTION For acute ischaemic stroke patients, treatment with intravenous tissue plasminogen activator within a 4.5-hour therapeutic window is essential. We aimed to assess the time delays experienced by stroke patients arriving at the emergency department and to compare ambulance users and non-ambulance users. METHODS We performed a prospective cohort study in a tertiary hospital in Hong Kong. All acute stroke patients attending the emergency department from January to June 2017 were recruited. Patients who were in hospital at the time of stroke onset and those who transferred from other hospitals were excluded. Three phases were compared between ambulance users and non-ambulance users: phase I, between stroke onset and calling for help; phase II, between calling for help and arriving at the emergency department; and phase III, between arriving and receiving medical assessment. RESULTS Of 102 consecutive patients recruited, 48 (47%) patients arrived at the emergency department by ambulance. The percentage of stroke patients attending emergency department within the therapeutic window was significantly higher for ambulance users than for non-ambulance users (64.6% vs 29.6%; P<0.001). For phases I, II and III, the median times were significantly shorter for ambulance users (77.5, 32 and 8 min, respectively) than for non-ambulance users (720, 44.5 and 15 min, respectively; all P<0.001). CONCLUSION Transport of patients to the emergency department by ambulance is important for timely and effective stroke treatment.
Nitric oxide and its role as a non‐adrenergic, non‐cholinergic inhibitory neurotransmitter in the gastrointestinal tract

NO is a neurotransmitter released from enteric inhibitory neurons and responsible for modulating gastrointestinal (GI) motor behaviour. Enteric neurons express nNOS (NOS1) that associates with membranes of nerve varicosities. NO released from neurons binds to soluble guanylate cyclase in post‐junctional cells to generate cGMP. cGMP‐dependent protein kinase type 1 (PKG1) is a major mediator but perhaps not the only pathway involved in cGMP‐mediated effects in GI muscles based on gene deletion studies. NOS1+ neurons form close contacts with smooth muscle cells (SMCs), interstitial cells of Cajal (ICC) and PDGFRα+ cells, and these cells are electrically coupled (SIP syncytium). Cell‐specific gene deletion studies have shown that nitrergic responses are due to mechanisms in SMCs and ICC. Controversy exists about the ion channels and other post‐junctional mechanisms that mediate nitrergic responses in GI muscles. Reduced nNOS expression in enteric inhibitory motor neurons and/or reduced connectivity between nNOS+ neurons and the SIP syncytium appear to be responsible for motor defects that develop in diabetes. An overproduction of NO in some inflammatory conditions also impairs normal GI motor activity. This review summarizes recent findings regarding the role of NO as an enteric inhibitory neurotransmitter.
X-Linked Sensorineural Hearing Loss: A Literature Review

Sensorineural hearing loss is a very diffuse pathology (about 1/1000 born) with several types of transmission. X-linked hearing loss accounts for approximately 1% - 2% of cases of non-syndromic forms, as well as for many syndromic forms. To date, six loci (DFNX1-6) and five genes (PRPS1 for DFNX1, POU3F4 for DFNX2, SMPX for DFNX4, AIFM1 for DFNX5 and COL4A6 for DFNX6) have been identified for X-linked non-syndromic hearing loss. For the syndromic forms, at least 15 genes have been identified, some of which are also implicated in non-syndromic forms. Moreover, some syndromic forms, presenting large chromosomal deletions, are associated with mental retardation too. This review presents an overview of the currently known genes related to X-linked hearing loss with the support of the most recent literature. It summarizes the genetics and clinical features of X-linked hearing loss to give information useful to realize a clear genetic counseling and an early diagnosis. It is important to get an early diagnosis of these diseases to decide the investigations to predict the evolution of the disease and the onset of any other future symptoms. This information will be clearly useful for choosing the best therapeutic strategy. In particular, regarding audiological aspects, this review highlights risks and benefits currently known in some cases for specific therapeutic intervention.
Human amylase gene copy number variation as a determinant of metabolic state

ABSTRACT Introduction: Humans have multiple genes encoding amylase that are broadly divided into salivary (AMY1) and pancreatic (AMY2) genes. They exhibit some of the greatest copy numbers of any human gene, an expansion possibly driven by increased dietary starch intake. Within the population, amylase gene copy number is highly variable and there is evidence of an inverse association between AMY1 copy number and BMI. Areas covered: We examine the evidence for the link between AMY1 and BMI, its potential mechanisms, and the metabolic effects of salivary and pancreatic amylase, both in the gastrointestinal tract and the blood. Expert commentary: Salivary amylase may influence postprandial ‘cephalic phase’ insulin release, which improves glucose tolerance, while serum amylase may have insulin-sensitizing properties. This could explain the favorable metabolic status associated with higher AMY1 copy number. The association with BMI is harder to explain and is potentially mediated by increased flux of undigested starch into the ileum, with resultant effects on short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), changes in gut microbiota and effects on appetite and energy expenditure in those with low copy number. Future research on the role of amylase as a determinant of metabolic health and BMI may lead to novel therapies to target obesity.
Correlates of elevated blood pressure in healthy children: a systematic review

The prevalence of hypertension in children is increasing globally. Addressing this will require a robust understanding of associated risk factors. To this end, we conducted a systematic review to identify correlates of elevated blood pressure (BP) in children. Literature searches were conducted using pre‐defined search terms from three academic databases. The abstract and full text of identified studies were screened for eligibility by two independent reviewers. A total of 100 studies were included in this systematic review. An assessment tool was first used to assess study quality; a narrative synthesis was then performed. We found a broad range of physiological, social and behavioural factors associated with elevated BP in children. The most common correlate observed was adiposity, suggesting that childhood obesity may be implicated in the increased prevalence of hypertension observed in children. However, the broad range of other factors identified underscores the multi‐factorial aetiology of hypertension. Data from a broad range of studies showed that the correlates of hypertension in children are multi‐factorial. Therefore, approaches aimed at preventing hypertension must in turn be multi‐factorial to ensure that the burden of hypertension in childhood is addressed.
Energy efficiency-spectral efficiency tradeoff in interference-limited wireless networks. (Compromis efficacité énergétique et spectrale dans les réseaux sans fil limités par les interférences)

HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access archive for the deposit and dissemination of scientific research documents, whether they are published or not. The documents may come from teaching and research institutions in France or abroad, or from public or private research centers. L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires publics ou privés. Energy efficiency-spectral efficiency tradeoff in interference-limited wireless networks Ahmad Mahbubul Alam
3D face recognition using multicomponent feature extraction from the nasal region and its environs

This thesis is dedicated to extracting expression robust features for 3D face recognition. The use of 3D imaging enables the extraction of discriminative features that can significantly improve the recognition performance due to the availability of facial surface information such as depth, surface normals and curvature. Expression robust analysis using information from both depth and surface normals is investigated by dividing the main facial region into patches of different scales. The nasal region and adjoining parts of the cheeks are utilized as they are more consistent over different expressions and are hard to deliberately occlude. In addition, in comparison with other parts of the face, these regions have a high potential to produce discriminative features for recognition and overcome pose variations. An overview and classification methodology of the widely used 3D face databases are first introduced to provide an appropriate reference for 3D face database selection. Using the FRGC and Bosphorus databases, a low complexity pattern rejector for expression robust 3D face recognition is proposed by matching curves on the nasal and its environs, which results in a low-dimension feature set of only 60 points. To extract discriminative features more locally, a novel multi-scale and multi-component local shape descriptor is further proposed, which achieves more competitive performances under the identification and verification scenarios. In contrast with many of the existing work on 3D face recognition that consider captures obtained with laser scanners or structured light, this thesis also investigates applications to reconstructed 3D captures from lower cost photometric stereo imaging systems that have applications in real-world situations. To this end, the performance of the expression robust face recognition algorithms developed for captures from laser scanners are further evaluated on the Photoface database, which contains naturalistic expression variations. To improve the recognition performance of all types of 3D captures, a universal landmarking algorithm is proposed that makes uses of different components of the surface normals. Using facial profile signatures and thresholded surface normal maps, facial roll and yaw rotations are calibrated and five main landmarks are robustly detected on the well-aligned 3D nasal region. The landmarking results show that the detected landmarks demonstrate high within-class consistency and can achieve good recognition performances under different expressions. This is also the first landmarking work specifically developed for the reconstructed 3D captures from photometric stereo imaging systems.
Innovative Use of Mobile Video Conferencing in Face-to-Face Collaborative Science Learning: The Case of Reflection in Optics

Multimedia learning environments facilitate the construction of certain forms of representations and allow users to combine forms of representation that address different modalities. A promising approach entails having students construct representations of the domain. The process of constructing a representation elicits self-explanation effects and consists of dynamic iterations and interactions between the constructed representations and mental representations, and therefore helps students to refine and disambiguate their domain knowledge. Because mobile multimedia learning environments have enabled numerous new forms of presenting and communicating information, this study restores interest in the method of adopting mobile video conferencing in learning, and proposes its use in face-to-face collaborative learning of the first law of reflection in optics with the aim of harnessing the synergy of both communication modes. A total of 34 junior high school students participated in the study. The results showed that the participants acquired a new aspect of learning regarding the law of reflection, and their metacognitive awareness increased as a result of using the mobile video, which regulated their explorative learning process. This study provided an unprecedented and meaningful learning experience to students and stimulated teachers to explore the full potential of technologies around them in education.
An mHealth intervention to improve nurses’ atrial fibrillation and anticoagulation knowledge and practice: the EVICOAG study

Background: There is a need to improve cardiovascular nurses’ knowledge and practices related to stroke prevention, atrial fibrillation and anticoagulation therapy. Aims: The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of EVICOAG – a novel mHealth, smartphone-based, spaced-learning intervention on nurses’ knowledge of atrial fibrillation and anticoagulation. Methods: Nurses employed in four clinical specialties (neuroscience, stroke, rehabilitation, cardiology) across three hospitals were invited to participate. In this quasi-experimental study, 12 case-based atrial fibrillation and anticoagulation learning scenarios (hosted by an mHealth platform) were delivered to participants’ smartphones over a 6-week period (July–December 2016) using a spaced timing algorithm. Electronic surveys to assess awareness and knowledge were administered pre (T1) and post (T2) intervention. Results: From 74 participants recruited to T1, 40 completed T2. There was a 54% mean improvement in knowledge levels post-intervention. The largest improvement was achieved in domains related to medication interaction and stroke and bleeding risk assessment. Post-intervention, those who completed T2 were significantly more likely to use CHA2DS2-VASc (2.5% vs. 37.5%) and HAS-BLED (2.5% vs. 35%) tools to assess stroke and bleeding risk, respectively (P<0.01). Conclusion: The EVICOAG intervention improved nurses’ knowledge of atrial fibrillation and anticoagulation, and influenced their uptake and use of stroke and bleeding risk assessment tools in clinical practice. Future research should focus on whether a similar intervention might improve patient-centred outcomes such as patients’ knowledge of their condition and therapies, medication adherence, time in the therapeutic range and quality of life.
Insect Bite-Like Reaction with Bullous Lesions Mimicking Bullous Pemphigoid in a Patient with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia

Patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) rarely exhibit an exaggerated insect bite-like reaction without a history of an arthropod bite. We report a case of an insect bite-like reaction in a 74-year old man with CLL. The patient presented with a 2-year history of recurrent itchy erythematous patches and blisters on the whole body. He had been diagnosed with CLL 2 years ago, and the skin lesions developed 1 month after remission. The result of a skin biopsy was consistent with insect bite. Immunohistochemical staining of the infiltrated cells showed positive reactions for CD3, CD5 and negative for CD20, CD23. Direct and indirect immunofluorescence revealed negative results. The patient was treated with oral prednisolone and dapsone, under the diagnosis of CLL-associated insect bite-like reaction, and showed marked improvement. Dermatologist should be aware of insect bite-like reaction associated with CLL as a distinct disease entity that is similar to insect bite or bullous pemphigoid.
Functional Polymorphism in the MSI1 Gene Promoter Confers a Decreased Risk of Lung Cancer in Chinese by Reducing MSI1 Expression

Background: Musashi1 (MSI1) is a characteristic stem cell marker that regulates the balance between cell self-renewal and differentiation. Evidence has identified MSI1 as a pivotal oncogenic regulator in diverse malignancies. However, little evidence uncovers the role of genetic variations of MSI1 gene in cancer etiology. Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the association between genetic variants in the MSI1 gene and lung cancer risk. Methods: Based on a two-stage retrospective study with a total of 1559 patients with lung cancer and 1667 healthy controls, we evaluated the relevance between three putative functional SNPs in the MSI1 promoter (i.e., -2696T>C[rs7959801], -2297T>C[rs3742038] and -1081C>T[rs34570155]) and lung cancer risk. Results: We found that the SNP rs7959801T>C was significantly associated with lung cancer susceptibility. Compared to those with rs7959801TT wild-genotype, individuals with CT/CC variant genotypes exerted consistently beneficial roles in lung cancer risk in the discovery set (adjusted odd ratios [OR] = 0.67; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.57-0.80), and in the validation set (OR=0.69; 95%CI=0.54-0.88). Functional assays indicated that the allele transformation from T to C in rs7959801 of MSI1 gene arrestingly decreased its transcription activity in vitro. Furthermore, the expression levels of MSI1 were significantly lower in the patients with CT/CC variants than in those who were with TT genotype. Conclusion: Our findings suggested that the rs7959801T>C polymorphism in the MSI1 promoter conferred a decreased risk to lung cancer by reducing the expression of MSI1 and it may be a promising indicator for lung cancer predisposition.
Analysis of latent CHIKV dynamics models with general incidence rate and time delays

ABSTRACT In this paper, we study the stability analysis of latent Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) dynamics models. The incidence rate between the CHIKV and the uninfected monocytes is modelled by a general nonlinear function which satisfies a set of conditions. The model is incorporated by intracellular discrete or distributed time delays. Using the method of Lyapunov function, we established the global stability of the steady states of the models. The theoretical results are confirmed by numerical simulations.
A Meta-Analysis of Therapeutic Efficacy and Safety of Gabapentin in the Treatment of Postherpetic Neuralgia from Randomized Controlled Trials

Objective The study aims to systematically evaluate the clinical effect of gabapentin in the treatment of postherpetic neuralgia (PHN). Method Data were retrieved electronically from PubMed, Embase, CNKI, the China Biomedical Database, and the Library of Clinical Database, beginning from the time of inception to April 2017, in order to collect data on randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of gabapentin and placebo in PHN treatment. Results A total of 11 RCTs (2376 people) were retrieved. The gabapentin group reported significantly reduced pain intensity [MD=−0.91, 95% CI −1.32 to −0.51, P<0.00001] compared with the placebo group. Those treated with gabapentin also experienced significantly improved sleep quality [SMD=−0.44, 95% CI −0.66 to −0.23, P<0.0001], but were more likely to experience incidence of adverse events, such as somnolence, dizziness, and peripheral edema. Results of the subgroup analysis showed that the source of heterogeneity may be related to the formulations of the drug. Conclusion Gabapentin can be used to effectively and safely treat PHN.
Intrarenal activation of adaptive immune effectors is associated with tubular damage and impaired renal function in lupus nephritis

Objectives Chronic renal impairment remains a feared complication of lupus nephritis (LN). The present work aimed at identifying mechanisms and markers of disease severity in renal tissue samples from patients with LN. Methods We performed high-throughput transcriptomic studies (Illumina HumanHT-12 v4 Expression BeadChip) on archived kidney biopsies from 32 patients with LN and eight controls (pretransplant donors). Histological staging (glomerular and tubular scores) and immunohistochemistry experiments were performed on the same and on a replication set of 37 LN kidney biopsy samples. Results A group of LN samples was identified by unsupervised clustering studies based on their gene expression features, that is, the overexpression of transcripts involved in antigen presentation, T and B cell activation. These samples were characterised by a significantly lower estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) at the time of biopsy (T0) compared with the other systemic lupus erythematosus samples. Yet, apparent disease duration at T0, double-stranded DNA antibody titres at T0 and other relevant characteristics (serum C3, proteinuria, histological scores, numbers of previous flares) were not different between groups. Immunohistochemistry studies confirmed the association between interstitial infiltration by adaptive immune effectors and decreased renal function in the same and in a replication group of LN kidney biopsies. This was associated with transcriptomic, histological and immunohistochemical evidence of renal tubular cell involvement. Conclusion Interstitial infiltration of LN kidney biopsies by adaptive immune effectors is associated with impaired renal tubular cell function and decreased eGFR. These results open new perspectives in evaluating and treating patients with LN, focusing on intrarenal mechanisms of immune cell activation.
Capturing Game Telemetry with Provenance

The outcome of a game session is derived from a series of events, decisions, and interactions that are made during the game. Many processes and techniques have been developed by the game industry in order to understand this outcome. A successful method is game analytics, which aims at understanding the player behavior patterns to improve game quality and enhance the player experience. However, the current methods for analytics are not sufficient to capture the underlying cause-and-effect influences that shape the outcome of a game session. These relationships allow developers and designers to better identify possible mistakes in the gameplay design or to fine-tune their games. In a recent work, Kohwalter et al. introduced a conceptual framework based on provenance to capture these relationships and manually instantiated such framework in some games. In this paper, we propose a concrete component for capturing provenance data and the cause-and-effect relationships among game objects, and for automatically building the correspondent provenance graph. This provenance data allows a more powerful support for the visual game analytics. We implemented our component in the Unity game engine and show two case studies over open-source games.
Vitamin D levels in actinic keratosis: a preliminary study*

Background Recent studies that investigated the effect of vitamin D on skin cancer risk have exhibited inconsistent results. Objective The aim of the study was to evaluate vitamin D status in patients with actinic keratosis. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted on 31 patients with actinic keratosis and 29 healthy controls. Serum vitamin D levels in the study group were determined by liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry. Results Serum 25(OH)D levels in patients with actinic keratosis were significantly higher than those of the healthy controls (P=0.04). Prevalence of 25(OH)D deficiency was significantly higher in the healthy controls (75.9%) compared to the patients with actinic keratosis (54.8%), but the difference was not statistically significant (P= 0.09). Study limitations The cross-sectional design of the study, data on smoking based on patient self-report, and subjects’ different dietary habits, which can influence 25(OH)D levels, are the study’s limitations. Conclusion Serum vitamin D level can be used as a marker for ultraviolet B radiation from sun exposure; therefore, it can be used in individuals at risk of actinic keratosis. Oral intake of vitamin D through diet or supplements is proposed instead of prolonged ultraviolet exposure to maintain adequate vitamin D serum levels. Further research is needed to elucidate the role of vitamin D in skin carcinogenesis.