Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Alumina-on-Alumina Total Hip Prostheses in Patients 40 Years of Age or Younger

To avoid the consequences of polyethylene wear in a high-risk population, 128 alumina-onalumina total hip arthroplasties have been done in 104 consecutive patients. The maximum age of patients was 40 years. The main preoperative diagnoses were osteonecrosis and sequellae of congenital hip dislocation (71% of the hips). The same titanium alloy cemented stem was implanted in all of the hips. Four types of alumina acetabular component fixations were used: a cemented plain alumina socket (41 hips), a screw-in ring with an alumina insert (22 hips), a press-fit plain alumina socket (32 hips), and a press-fit titanium metal back with an alumina insert (33 hips). Eight patients (11 hips) died during the followup period. Sixteen revisions have been documented, 12 for acetabular aseptic loosening, three for bipolar loosening (two of which were septic), and one for unexplained pain. Eighty-eight hips in 74 patients have been followed up radiologically for 2 to 22 years. Wear was unmeasurable. Four additional sockets showed definite migration. The respective survival rates after 7 years were 94.1% for the cemented cup, 88.8% for the screw-in ring, 95.1% for cementless press-fit plain alumina socket and 94.3% for the metal-back press-fit component. The 10-year survival rate was 90.4% for the cemented socket and 88.8% for the screw-in ring. The 15-year survival rate was 78.9% for the cemented socket. Grafting was the only prognostic factor, with a survival rate of 62.6% after 10 years for the hips with a bone graft and of 90.1% for hips without a graft.The alumina-on-alumina bearing surfaces seem to be a valuable alternative to the standard metal-on-polyethylene system for young patients. However, an improvement in socket fixation is required to lengthen the life span of the prosthesis to match the life expectancy of this demanding population.
Treatment of Lyme Borreliosis with Emphasis on Neurological Disease

We have studied 113 patients with neurologic Lyme borreliosis and meningitis who were treated with intravenous high-dose antibiotics (penicillin G, 12 g, mostly for 14 days in 47 patients; penicillin G, 9 g, mostly for 10 days in 58 patients; doxycycline, 200 mg, in 5 patients; and cefuroxime, 4.5-9 g, in 3 patients). Seventy percent of the patients had peripheral nerve symptoms and 13% had central nervous symptoms. Almost half of the patients were treated more than 4 weeks after the onset of symptoms and 15% of the patients had persisting or progressive symptoms between 4 and 11 months. There seemed to be clinical benefit as well as a decrease of spinal fluid pleocytosis and spinal proteins. No significant symptoms of Herxheimer reaction were demonstrated.
The Use of Facebook in Recruiting Participants for Health Research Purposes: A Systematic Review

Background Social media is a popular online tool that allows users to communicate and exchange information. It allows digital content such as pictures, videos and websites to be shared, discussed, republished and endorsed by its users, their friends and businesses. Adverts can be posted and promoted to specific target audiences by demographics such as region, age or gender. Recruiting for health research is complex with strict requirement criteria imposed on the participants. Traditional research recruitment relies on flyers, newspaper adverts, radio and television broadcasts, letters, emails, website listings, and word of mouth. These methods are potentially poor at recruiting hard to reach demographics, can be slow and expensive. Recruitment via social media, in particular Facebook, may be faster and cheaper. Objective The aim of this study was to systematically review the literature regarding the current use and success of Facebook to recruit participants for health research purposes. Methods A literature review was completed in March 2017 in the English language using MEDLINE, EMBASE, Web of Science, PubMed, PsycInfo, Google Scholar, and a hand search of article references. Papers from the past 12 years were included and number of participants, recruitment period, number of impressions, cost per click or participant, and conversion rate extracted. Results A total of 35 studies were identified from the United States (n=22), Australia (n=9), Canada (n=2), Japan (n=1), and Germany (n=1) and appraised using the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (CASP) checklist. All focused on the feasibility of recruitment via Facebook, with some (n=10) also testing interventions, such as smoking cessation and depression reduction. Most recruited young age groups (16-24 years), with the remaining targeting specific demographics, for example, military veterans. Information from the 35 studies was analyzed with median values being 264 recruited participants, a 3-month recruitment period, 3.3 million impressions, cost per click of US $0.51, conversion rate of 4% (range 0.06-29.50), eligibility of 61% (range 17-100), and cost per participant of US $14.41. The studies showed success in penetrating hard to reach populations, finding the results representative of their control or comparison demographic, except for an over representation of young white women. Conclusions There is growing evidence to suggest that Facebook is a useful recruitment tool and its use, therefore, should be considered when implementing future health research. When compared with traditional recruitment methods (print, radio, television, and email), benefits include reduced costs, shorter recruitment periods, better representation, and improved participant selection in young and hard to reach demographics. It however, remains limited by Internet access and the over representation of young white women. Future studies should recruit across all ages and explore recruitment via other forms of social media.
The ethical food movement : What does it mean for the role of science and scientists in current debates about animal agriculture ? 1

ABSTRACT: Contemporary animal agriculture is increasingly criticized on ethical grounds. Consequently, current policy and legislative discussions have become highly controversial as decision makers attempt to reconcile concerns about the impacts of animal production on animal welfare, the environment, and on the effi cacy of antibiotics required to ensure human health with demands for abundant, affordable, safe food. Clearly, the broad implications for US animal agriculture of what appears to be a burgeoning movement relative to ethical food production must be understood by animal agriculture stakeholders. The potential effects of such developments on animal agricultural practices, corporate marketing strategies, and public perceptions of the ethics of animal production must also be clarifi ed. To that end, it is essential to acknowledge that people’s beliefs about which food production practices are appropriate are tied to diverse, latent value systems. Thus, relying solely on scientifi c information as a means to resolve current debates about animal agriculture is unlikely to be effective. The problem is compounded when scientifi c information is used inappropriately or strategically to advance a political agenda. Examples of the interface between science and ethics in regards to addressing currently contentious aspects of food animal production (animal welfare, antimicrobial use, and impacts of animal production practices on the environment) are reviewed. The roles of scientists and science in public debates about animal agricultural practices are also examined. It is suggested that scientists have a duty to contribute to the development of sound policy by providing clear and objectively presented information, by clarifying misinterpretations of science, and by recognizing the differences between presenting data vs. promoting their own value judgments in regard to how and which data should be used to establish policy. Finally, the role of the media in shaping public opinions on key issues pertaining to animal agriculture is also discussed.
Steroid Hormones and Growth Factors in Breast Cancer

From studies on endometrial epithelial cells during the ovarian cycle, it was thought that estradiol directly stimulates DNA synthesis and cell division during the proliferative phase of the ovarian cycle. In the secretory phase, DNA synthesis and cell division are inhibited by progesterone, despite the fact that plasma levels of estradiol remain at the levels that promoted maximum DNA synthesis during the proliferative phase. In normal breast epithelium, the roles of the sex steroids cannot be explained so easily. For example, there is convincing evidence] that maximum DNA synthesis occurs in the middle of the secretory phase of the ovarian cycle. Furthermore, in our experience,? it is not possible to demonstrate consistent stimulation of DNA synthesis in primary cultures of breast epithelial cells by direct action of estradiol. Therefore, to improve our understanding of the regulation of growth of hormone-dependent breast cancers, it is necessary to examine the precise mechanisms by which estrogens and progesterone modulate breast epithelial cell division.
Using microenvironments to identify allosteric binding sites

Protein amino acid residues can be classified by their chemical properties and data mining can be used to make predictions about their structure and function. However, the properties of the surrounding residues contribute to the overall chemical context. This paper defines microenvironments as the spherical volume around a point in space and uses these volumes to determine average properties of the encompassed residues. The approach to index generation rapidly constructs microenvironment data. The averaged chemical properties are then employed in allosteric site prediction using support vector machines and neural networks. The results show that index generation performs best when microenvironment radius matches the granularity of the index and that microenvironments improve the classification accuracy.
Bildungsstandards für die Berufsbildung aus europäischer Perspektive am Beispiel Großbritannien: Darstellung, Einordnung und Konsequenzen für die deutsche Debatte

Bildungsstandards werden in diversen Landern der EU in Zusammenhang mit der beruflichen Bildung diskutiert. Der vorliegende Beitrag skizziert die Standardisierung am Beispiel eines schottischen Modulangebots (SVQs) und vergleicht die Befunde mit den Gegebenheiten im deutschen Dualen System. Im schottischen Kontext ist neben dem Zusammenhang von Standardisierung und Modularisierung auch auf die korrespondierenden Konzepte des „competence based approach“ und der „Outputorientierung“ einzugehen. Dabei wird deutlich, dass die Verwendung identischer Begriffe in verschiednen Landern wegen unterschiedlicher Bedeutungsinhalte zu Irritationen fuhren kann. Als Ergebnis lasst sich feststellen, dass die britisch-schottische Standardisierung outputorientiert ausgerichtet ist, Mindestanforderungen setzt und einen Fokus auf Testwerte besitzt. Hingegen ist das deutsche Dualen System auf den Input ausgerichtet, definiert Lernziele sowie Kompetenzen als ubergreifendes Konstrukt und fixiert damit ein eher durchschnittliches Erwartungsniveau. Weiterhin wird im internationalen Kontext fur eine weite Fassung und damit Definition des Begriffs der Standards bzw. Standardisierung pladiert, da eine alleinige Fokussierung auf Bildungsstandards andere wichtige Elemente der Normierung eines (Berufs-) Bildungssystems ausblenden wurde. Dieser Sachverhalt gilt auch vor dem Hintergrund neuster Entwicklungen auf EU-Ebene, wie der Entwicklung eines Europaischen Qualifikationsrahmens (European Qualification Framework, EQF) und eines Kreditpunktesystems (European Credit Transfer System in Vocational Education and Training, ECVET).
Etude du polymorphisme moléculaire des gènes HLA de classes I et II à l'échelle mondiale : analyse de la diversité nucléotidique dans les populations

L'axe principal de ce travail a consiste a analyser la diversite nucleotidique des genes HLA de classes I et II dans une centaine de populations humaines reparties a l'echelle mondiale. Ces genes sont les plus variables actuellement decrits chez l'Homme, et se sont reveles tres informatifs pour etudier l'histoire du peuplement humain. Nos resultats moleculaires apportent une description beaucoup plus fine du polymorphisme de ce systeme genetique, notamment a une echelle regionale, que les approches envisagees jusqu'a aujourd'hui se limitant aux distributions de frequences alleliques dans les populations. De plus, tenir compte des differences nucleotidiques entre alleles permet de mieux comprendre l'implication des mecanismes evolutifs (selection et conversion genique) proposes comme les principaux moteurs de generation et de maintien du polymorphisme. Nous avons notamment mis en evidence de potentielles traces anciennes de selection sur les alleles du gene HLA-DPB1, un locus suppose evoluer de maniere neutre selon la litterature scientifique.
Real-Time High-Fidelity Surface Flow Simulation

Surface flow phenomena, such as rain water flowing down a tree trunk and progressive water front in a shower room, are common in real life. However, compared with the 3D spatial fluid flow, these surface flow problems have been much less studied in the graphics community. To tackle this research gap, we present an efficient, robust and high-fidelity simulation approach based on the shallow-water equations. Specifically, the standard shallow-water flow model is extended to general triangle meshes with a feature-based bottom friction model, and a series of coherent mathematical formulations are derived to represent the full range of physical effects that are important for real-world surface flow phenomena. In addition, by achieving compatibility with existing 3D fluid simulators and by supporting physically realistic interactions with multiple fluids and solid surfaces, the new model is flexible and readily extensible for coupled phenomena. A wide range of simulation examples are presented to demonstrate the performance of the new approach.
Bayesian Estimation of Asymmetric Jump-Diffusion Processes

The hypothesis that asset returns are normally distributed has been widely rejected. The literature has shown that empirical asset returns are highly skewed and leptokurtic. The affine jump-diffusion (AJD) model improves upon the normal specification by adding a jump component to the price process. Two important extensions proposed by Ramezani and Zeng (1998) and Kou (2002) further improve the AJD specification by having two jump components in the price process, resulting in the asymmetric affine jump-diffusion (AAJD) specification. The AAJD specification allows the probability distribution of the returns to be asymmetrical. That is, the tails of the distribution are allowed to have different shapes and densities. The empirical literature on the "leverage effect" shows that the impact of innovations in prices on volatility is asymmetric: declines in stock prices are accompanied by larger increases in volatility than the reverse. The asymmetry in AAJD specification indirectly accounts for the leverage effect and is therefore more consistent with the empirical distributions of asset returns. As a result, the AAJD specification has been widely adopted in the portfolio choice, option pricing, and other branches of the literature. However, because of their complexity, empirical estimation of the AAJD models has received little attention to date. The primary objective of this paper is to contribute to the econometric methods for estimating the parameters of the AAJD models. Specifically, we develop a Bayesian estimation technique. We provide a comparison of the estimated parameters under the Bayesian and maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) methodologies using the S&P 500, the NASDAQ, and selected individual stocks. Focusing on the most recent spectacular market bust (2007–2009) and boom (2009–2010) periods, we examine how the parameter estimates differ under distinctly different economic conditions.
Strong human association with plant invasion success for Trifolium introductions to New Zealand

It has proven difficult, when focused only on biological determinants, to explain why some plant species become naturalized in or invade new locations, whereas others fail. We analyzed the invasion of Trifolium (true clover) species into New Zealand, assessing a range of human, biogeographic, and biological influences at three key invasion stages: introduction, naturalization, and spread. We used sparse principal component analysis (SPCA) to define suites of related attributes and aggregated boosted trees to model relationships with invasion outcomes. Human and biogeographic attributes were strongly associated with success at all stages. Whereas biogeographic attributes, notably large native range, were consistently associated with success, different human factors appeared to favor success at different stages, such as presence in early trade/immigration hotspots (introduction), intentional large-scale planting (naturalization), and frequent presence as a seed contaminant (relative spread rate). Biological traits were less strongly associated with success for introduction and spread and little if at all for naturalization; we found that tall perennials with long flowering periods were more frequently selected for introduction, whereas species with extended flowering in New Zealand spread more rapidly. In addition to causal relationships, the importance of human factors may reflect indirect associations, including ecological traits associated with both human use and invasion. Nevertheless, our results highlight key roles that humans can play in facilitating plant invasion via two pathways: (i) commercial introduction leading to widespread planting and concomitant naturalization and spread and (ii) unintentional introduction and spread of species associated with human activities, such as seed contaminants.
Essential oils: extraction, bioactivities, and their uses for food preservation.

Essential oils are concentrated liquids of complex mixtures of volatile compounds and can be extracted from several plant organs. Essential oils are a good source of several bioactive compounds, which possess antioxidative and antimicrobial properties. In addition, some essential oils have been used as medicine. Furthermore, the uses of essential oils have received increasing attention as the natural additives for the shelf-life extension of food products, due to the risk in using synthetic preservatives. Essential oils can be incorporated into packaging, in which they can provide multifunctions termed "active or smart packaging. " Those essential oils are able to modify the matrix of packaging materials, thereby rendering the improved properties. This review covers up-to-date literatures on essential oils including sources, chemical composition, extraction methods, bioactivities, and their applications, particularly with the emphasis on preservation and the shelf-life extension of food products.
Apoptosis and mitotic cell death: their relative contributions to normal-tissue and tumour radiation response.

The target-cell theory of tissue responses is reviewed with reference to the radiosensitivity of proposed target cells in bone marrow, intestine, epidermis, and spermatogenesis. The difficulties in precisely identifying target cells using histological/cell marker criteria, and hence determining the role of their mode of death in tissue responses, are being circumvented to some extent by the recent use of mice deficient in gene products required for radiation-induced apoptosis. In this case cell death results from 'mitotic cell death' and e.g. in the case of p53, any remaining p53-independent apoptosis. In the p53 null mouse, cell survival levels are increased in bone marrow and intestine but decreased in the testis. Different interpretations, based on the lack of p53-dependent apoptosis or the lack of a permanently induced G1-arrest in the case of marrow fibroblasts, can be applied to the results for different cell types. Hence both apoptosis and mitotic cell death can variously be involved as contributing to target-cell sensitivity and hence to early reactions in these tissues after irradiation. It is still unclear whether, or how, the mode of cell death (apoptotic versus mitotic) determines the radiosensitivity and response of tumours. In experimental tumours, the levels of radiation-induced apoptosis have been shown to correlate both with the in vivo response to radiation and the degree of spontaneous apoptosis in the tumours. Measurements of spontaneous apoptosis in human tumours, however, have yielded conflicting data with high apoptotic levels significantly correlating with both good and poor prognosis in different studies. There is one report of a lack of relationship between intrinsic radiosensitivity and spontaneous apoptosis in cervical cancers. In contrast several studies have reported correlations between apoptosis levels and the degree of tumour cell proliferation. Tumour hypoxia has also been shown to increase apoptosis. These data suggest that tumour apoptosis may be a reflection of intrinsic radiosensitivity, tumour cell proliferation and tumour hypoxia. Its relative importance will probably be tumour type, size and stage related.
Levels of TGF-alpha and EGFR protein in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma and patient survival.

BACKGROUND The most accurate predictor of disease recurrence in patients treated for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma is, at present, the extent of regional lymph node metastasis. Since elevated levels of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and of its ligand, transforming growth factor-alpha (TGF-alpha), have been detected in primary tumors of patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, we determined whether tumor levels of these proteins were of prognostic importance. METHODS Monoclonal antibodies specific for EGFR and TGF-alpha were used for immunohistochemical detection of each protein in tissue sections of primary tumors from 91 patients who were treated by surgical resection. Levels of immunoreactive EGFR and TGF-alpha were quantified by use of a computerized image analysis system and were normalized to appropriate standards. The logrank test and proportional hazards regression analysis were used to calculate the probability that EGFR and TGF-alpha levels were associated with disease-free survival (i.e., no recurrence of cancer) and cause-specific survival (i.e., patients do not die of their disease). All P values were two-sided. RESULTS When tumor levels of EGFR or TGF-alpha were analyzed as continuous variables, disease-free survival and cause-specific survival were reduced among patients with higher levels of EGFR (both P = .0001) or TGF-alpha (both P = .0001). In a multivariate analysis, tumor site, tumor level of EGFR, and tumor level of TGF-alpha were statistically significant predictors of disease-free survival; in a similar analysis, regional lymph node stage and tumor levels of EGFR and of TGF-alpha were significant predictors of cause-specific survival. CONCLUSION Quantitation of EGFR and TGF-alpha protein levels in primary head and neck squamous cell carcinomas may be useful in identifying subgroups of patients at high risk of tumor recurrence and in guiding therapy.