Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Systematic inclusion of clinical and laboratory data improves diagnostic accuracy of fine-needle aspiration biopsy in solitary thyroid nodules.

In this study, we identified clinical and laboratory markers of malignant thyroid nodules and determined whether systematic inclusion of these data could improve diagnostic accuracy of fine-needle aspiration biopsy in solitary thyroid nodules. The patients were 24 men and 105 women who underwent surgical removal of solitary thyroid nodules and had adequate fine-needle aspiration biopsy performed prior to surgery. Including fine-needle aspiration biopsy's diagnosis of suspected of malignancy in the same category as malignancy, the sensitivity and specificity of fine-needle aspiration biopsy were 71.4% and 85.1%, respectively, with an accuracy of 82.2%. Using stepwise linear regression analysis, clinical data, i.e. increasing age, irregular nodule surface, hard consistency of nodule, and high serum thyroglobulin concentration, were associated with an increased risk of malignancy when the cytological result was excluded. When cytology was also considered, male sex, irregular nodule surface and high serum thyroglobulin concentration were found to be associated with an increased risk of malignancy. The diagnostic value of clinical data alone, even in combination with cytology or laboratory data, was inferior to that of fine-needle aspiration biopsy alone. The specificity and accuracy of fine-needle aspiration biopsy could be increased to 98.0% and 90.7%, respectively, whereas its sensitivity was decreased to 64.3% when these variables were considered in combination. Therefore, of fine-needle aspiration biopsy, clinical and laboratory data, fine-needle aspiration biopsy alone has the highest diagnostic value, which can be increased only when both clinical characteristics and serum thyroglobulin concentration are systematically included.
Nasal Versus Oronasal Mask in Home Mechanical Ventilation: The Preference of Patients as a Strategy for Choosing the Interface

INTRODUCTION: In home mechanical ventilation (HMV), the mask is a key factor for patient comfort and therapeutic adherence. There is no evidence on the best strategy for choosing the mask in HMV. OBJECTIVE: To explore patient preference when prescribing the mask for HMV treatment and assess its relationship with effectiveness. METHODS: A prospective study with repeated measures in stable patients receiving home nocturnal ventilation. Alternating oronasal mask (ONM) and nasal mask (NM) were tested in day and overnight sessions, with arterial blood gas measured and SpO2 monitored. At the end of each evening session, patients rated interface comfort using a visual analog scale. At 3 months we evaluated adherence and effectiveness of the treatment. RESULTS: Twenty-nine subjects (mean ± SD age 65 ± 13 y, 44% male) completed the study. Initial functional values were PCO2 57.4 ± 5.2 mm Hg and time with SpO2 < 90% (T90) 81.5 ± 9.5%. Both ONM and NM significantly decreased PCO2 and T90. Over a third (38%) of our subjects preferred ONM, while NM was deemed more comfortable in general. At 3 months, effectiveness and adherence showed no differences between those treated with NM or ONM. CONCLUSIONS: Patient choice is an effective criterion for selecting the interface in HMV treatment.
Sanitizer resistance of biofilm-forming Salmonella isolated from meat products

Biofilm is a community of sessile microorganisms characterized by cells embedded in an extracellular matrix formed by exopolysaccharides that adhere to a surface (Donlan and Costerton, 2002). Its occurrence in the food industry is of great importance due to its potential as a chronic source of microbial contamination in food, in addition to contributing to an increased resistance to cleaning (Stepanovic et al., 2004). For these reasons, the presence of biofilm-forming microorganisms in the food industry, such as Salmonella, is a cause for concern on the part of animal product inspection and public health agencies. 
Effect of Vitamin D deficiency treatment on thyroid function and autoimmunity markers in Hashimoto's thyroiditis: A double-blind randomized placebo-controlled clinical trial

Background: The link between autoimmune thyroid diseases and Vitamin D deficiency has been reported. However, there are controversies in this regard. We conducted a double-blind randomized placebo-controlled clinical trial to investigate the effect of Vitamin D deficiency treatment on thyroid function and autoimmunity marker (thyroid peroxidase antibody [TPO-Ab]) in patients with Hashimoto's thyroiditis. Materials and Methods: Fifty-six patients with Hashimoto's thyroiditis and Vitamin D deficiency (25-hydroxyvitamin D level ≤20 ng/mL) were randomly allocated into two groups to receive Vitamin D (50000 IU/week, orally) or placebo for 12 weeks, as Vitamin D-treated (n = 30) and control (n = 26) groups, respectively. TPO-Ab, thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), parathormone, calcium, albumin, and creatinine concentrations were compared before and after trial between and within groups. The data were presented as mean (standard error [SE]) and analyzed by appropriate tests. Results: Mean (SE) of Vitamin D was increased in Vitamin D-treated group (45.5 [1.8] ng/mL vs. 12.7 [0.7] ng/mL, P = 0.01). Mean (SE) of TPO-Ab did not significantly change in both groups (734 [102.93] IU/mL vs. 820.25 [98.92] IU/mL, P = 0.14 in Vitamin D-treated and 750.03 [108.7] [IU/mL] vs. 838.07 [99.4] [IU/mL] in placebo-treated group, P = 0.15). Mean (SE) of TSH was not changed in both groups after trial, P = 0.4 and P = 0.15 for Vitamin D-treated and control groups, respectively. No significant difference was observed between two study groups in none studied variables (P > 0.05). Conclusion: Vitamin D treatment in Vitamin D deficient patients with Hashimoto's thyroiditis could not have significant effect on thyroid function and autoimmunity.
Switching robustness analysis for switched linear systems

This paper investigates the stability of switched linear systems with the perturbed switching. In premises of introducing the notions of common child-path and parent-path, we define distance between switching paths. A constructive procedure is proposed for finding common child-paths, then we reveal a relationship between common child-path and parentpath, and subsequently formulate the distance. Finally, distance between switching paths is extended to relative distance between switching signals, which is used to analyze the robustness for a class of switched linear systems.
Improvement of disease activity of rheumatoid arthritis patients from 2000 to 2006 in a large observational cohort study IORRA in Japan

The objective of this study was to show whether the disease activity of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients had improved in Japan, and whether the improvement of disease activity had resulted in a better outcome of patients. In a single-institute-based prospective observational cohort of RA patients (Institute of Rheumatology, Rheumatoid Arthritis, IORRA), a total of 7512 patients were enrolled, and their information was collected biannually. A cross-sectional data set A that included all patients in each phase was analyzed. From October 2000 to April 2006, disease activity score DAS28 significantly improved from 4.15 to 3.63, and the frequency of patients in remission (DAS28 < 2.6) increased from 8.5% to 21.5%. During this period, the frequency of methotrexate users increased from 33.9% to 58.7% and the average dosage of methotrexate also increased from 5.59 mg/week to 6.94 mg/week; on the other hand, there was no increase in any adverse reaction among the methotrexate users. To investigate the relationship between longitudinal disease control and progression of disability, a longitudinal data set B that included 712 patients who completed all phases of the study from 2000 to 2006 was selected and was analyzed. The disability index JHAQ of a poorly controlled group (average DAS > 5.1) increased (+34.8%), that of a moderately controlled group (average DAS 3.2–5.1) also increased (+14.0%), but that of a well-controlled group (average DAS < 3.2) decreased (–13.0%). In conclusion, by using a prospective observational cohort IORRA in Japan, we demonstrate that RA disease activity improved from 2000 to 2006, which correlates with an increased use of methotrexate. The suppression of disease activity resulted in a better outcome for patients.
The Ego and the Mechanisms of Adaptation *

The title of this paper is to remind us of two works that are of undisputed importance to the development of psychoana1ysis: Anna Freud's The Ego and the Mechanism of Defense (1936) and Heinz Hartmann's Ego Psychology and the Problems of Adaptation (1939). I hasten to add that neither the scope of this article nor the relevance of our consideration warrants any comparison with the two cited works. The relationship to Anna Freud's book is by analogy: I describe mechanisms, and call them mechanisms of adaptation, that are more or less firmly established in the ego of an adult and always run the same course unconsciously, just as Anna Freud describes the defense mechanisms. While the latter, however, are established in the ego to defend against undesired or disturbing drives, wishes and affects, the adaptation mechanisms I am talking about are meant to cope with active influences of the social environment. You will also find some analogies to Anna Freud's approaches in my arguments, and especially to her objectives. We have learned to understand the various defense organizations of the ego as an idiosyncratic form, even as the most important dynamically effective substratum of the ego; similarly the mechanisms of adaptation also seem to group themselves as an organization, which leads to idiosyncratic characteristics of social behavior, something like culture-specific ego variants.
Delivering Real-Time Information Services on Public Transit: A Framework

Public transit is described by a wide range of data, which include sensor data, open data, and social network data. Data come in large real-time streams, and are heterogeneous. How to integrate such data in real time? We propose MOBility ANAlyzer (MOBANA), a distributed stream-based framework. MOBANA deals with the integration of heterogeneous information, processing efficiency, and redundancy reduction. As far as integration is concerned, MOBANA integrates data at different layers, and converts them into exchangeable data formats. Specifically, to integrate feed information, MOBANA uses an improved incremental text classifier, based on Kullback Leibler distance. As far as efficiency is concerned, MOBANA is implemented by distributed stream processing engine and distributed messaging system, which enable scalable, efficient, and reliable real-time processing. Specifically, within the transport domain, MOBANA identifies the real-time position of vehicles by an as-needed adjustment of planned position against the real-time position, thus dropping network load. As far as redundancy is concerned, MOBANA filters tweets through a three-fold similarity analysis, which encompasses geo-location, text, and image. In addition, MOBANA is a complete framework, which has been tested as a pilot with real data in the city of Pavia, Italy.
ASyMov : fondation d'un planificateur robotique intégrant le symbolique et le géométrique

Les travaux presentes dans cette these portent sur la planification de tâches pour des systemes robotiques qui prennent en compte des contraintes geometriques, cinematiques et symboliques. Nous souhaitons notamment traiter des problemes necessitant la manipulation et l'assemblage d'objets par plusieurs robots mobiles manipulateurs dans un environnement contraint. Dans le cadre de cette these nous avons developpe un planificateur nomme "aSyMov" qui offre un cadre innovant pour combiner les techniques issues de la planification de mouvements et de la planification de tâches. Dans un premier temps nous faisons un etat de l'art des techniques de la planification de mouvements. Puis une nouvelle representation de l'espace de recherche et de nouvelles techniques de planifications seront developpees afin de generaliser et de combiner les algorithmes decrits dans l'etat de l'art. Dans un second temps nous abordons les techniques de la planification de tâches et definissons une maniere originale de lier le domaine geometrique au domaine symbolique. Puis nous presentons l'architecture et les algorithmes de notre planificateur. ASyMov effectue une recherche en avant dans l'espace d'etat. L'etat d'aSyMov a la particularite de representer l'ensemble des instanciations geometriques possibles pour un etat symbolique donne. La procedure de validation des actions va essayer de minimiser les instances geometriques a verifier. Ce ne sera que quand les actions vont contraindre la geometrie qu'une propagation arriere de ces contraintes sera faite pour trouver de nouvelles instances valides. Nous decrivons aussi comment il est possible de combiner a la fois l'apprentissage de la topologie de l'environnement et la recherche d'une solution avec les connaissances deja acquises. Pour finir nous presentons plusieurs problemes complexes qui ont ete resolus par aSyMov.
Tobacco Prevention Education in Schools for the Deaf: The Faculty Perspective

We report results of a survey of tobacco education practices and perspectives among faculty at four Schools for the Deaf participating in the trial of a tailored tobacco prevention curriculum. Few faculty (20.4%) included tobacco use among the three most important health problems facing their students, although 88.8% considered tobacco education to be worthwhile. Despite perceived unmet needs among their students, classroom or school-wide attention to tobacco prevention was limited. Only 13.9% reported delivering tobacco programming in the prior year, most often reporting lack of deaf-friendly curriculum and materials (60.9%), time (47.8%), and training (43.5%) as barriers to program delivery. Perceptions, attitudes, and institutional issues, including lack of tailored curriculum, were seen as contributing to the limited focus on this important health problem.
Gender Inequality and Job Quality in Europe

In this paper, I examine whether and to which degree the quality of work and employment differs between men and women and how these gender differences are shaped by societal beliefs about ‘gender equality. ’ Using data from the 2004 wave of the European Social Survey, I compare the jobs of men and women across a variety of measures of perceived job quality in 26 countries. Key findings are that job quality is gendered: Jobs of men are typically characterized by high training requirements, good promotion opportunities and high levels of job complexity, autonomy and participation. Jobs for women, in contrast, are less likely to pose a health or safety risk or to involve work during antisocial hours. However, contrary to expectation, the job profiles of men and women are not more similar in societies with gender egalitarian norms. While women are relatively more likely to be exposed to health and safety risks, work pressure and demands to work outside regular working time, in more gender-egalitarian societies their work is not, relative to men’s, more skilled, complex or autonomous. Neither do more egalitarian societies provide more opportunities for participation and advancement for women than less egalitarian societies.
Analyse statique modulaire des langages à objet.

Dans la these nous presentons un cadre pour l'analyse statique de langages orientes objets qui tient compte des proprietes de modularite de ces langages. Il y a plusieurs defis a relever pour obtenir une analyse statique efficace de langages orientes objet. Tout d'abord, elle doit gerer les particularites de ces langages telles que l'heritage, le polymorphisme et la resolution de methodes virtuelles. Deuxiemement, elle doit etre modulaire. En fait, les programmes orientes objet typiques sont fait de plusieurs milliers de classes et une analyse monolithique du programmes complet peut etre trop couteuse pour etre pratiquee. Troisiemement, la technologie orientee objet favorise la programmation par composants, en cela qu'un composant (une classe) est developpee une fois pour toute et utilisee dans de nombreux contextes differents. Aussi, une analyse statique efficace doit pouvoir inferee des proprietes des composants valides pour toutes les instantiations possibles de contextes. Dans cette these, nous presentons une analyse qui releve les defis esquisses ci-dessus. En particulier, nous nous concentrons sur une analyse qui peut inferer des invariants de classe. Un invariant de classe est une propriete d'une classe valide pour chaque instanciation, avant et apres l'execution de n'importe quelle methode de la classe. Notre analyse a plusieurs avantages. Elle est independante du langage, elle exploite la structure modulaire des langages orientes objet et elle gere les principales fonctionnalites de ces langages, a savoir l'heritage, le polymorphisme et l'encapsulation. Le cadre presente dans cette these est tres flexible. En particulier, il permet de regler finement l'analyse selon les trois axes orthogonaux suivants: - Domaine abstrait sous-jacent: une classe peut etre analysee en utilisant soit un domaine abstrait generique soit un domaine abstrait symbolique de facon a obtenir une analyse plus efficace mais moins precise. - Gestion de l'heritage: une sous-classe peut etre analysee soit directement, en expansant syntaxiquement la relation de sous-classe, soit indirectement, en utilisant l'invariant du parent afin d'eviter une explosion quadratique de la complexite. -Traitement des contextes d'instantiation: une classe peut etre utilisee soit independamment du contexte, afin d'obtenir un resultat valable dans tous les contextes, soit en utilisant une approximation du contexte afin d'obtenir un resultat plus precis mais moins general.
Self-efficacy for labor and childbirth fears in nulliparous pregnant women

In this secondary analysis, the relationship between self-efficacy for labor and childbirth fears in healthy nulliparous women was investigated during the third trimester of pregnancy. The sample consisted of 280 predominantly white, well-educated, middle-class nulliparae enrolled in childbirth classes. Consistent with Bandura's self-efficacy theory, outcome expectancies for childbirth were unrelated to childbirth fears while self-efficacy expectancies were significantly correlated with childbirth fears. When the sample was divided into a low-fear and a high-fear group, significant differences were found between groups on a number of psychological variables. The women in the high-fear group were characterized by significantly higher learned helplessness, chance health locus of control and powerful others health locus of control, and significantly lower self-esteem and generalized self-efficacy. The most common fears of the high-fear women were of losing control during delivery, of the birth itself, of something being wrong with the baby and of painful contractions.
Ekonomiczna analiza działalności naczelnych organów kontroli państwowej

Jednym z zagadnien, ktore stanowi przedmiot zainteresowan badaczy zajmujących sie problematyką wyboru publicznego, jest optymalna struktura wladzy w panstwie. Struktura ta określona w ustawie zasadniczej odpowiada ustalonemu przed wiekami modelowi trojpodzialu wladzy. We wspolczesnych wysokorozwinietych panstwach Ameryki Polnocnej i Unii Europejskiej środki masowego przekazu (koncerny telewizyjne, radiowe, prasowe) w sposob znaczący wplywają na scene polityczną. Stąd tez pojawia sie pogląd, iz środki masowego przekazu stanowią czwartą wladze. Niektorzy odnotowują istnienie piątej wladzy – kontrolnej. B. Constant nazwal ją wladzą neutralną, a jej zadaniem mialo byc przeciwdzialanie probom uzyskania przewagi przez ktorąkolwiek z wladz. Biorąc pod uwage atrybuty niezaleznej wladzy stwierdzic nalezy, ze jej istotą jest niezaleznośc od pozostalych wladz, a takze mozliwośc uzywania roznych środkow wladczych, zabezpieczających realizacje jej rozstrzygniec. Przyznanie kompetencji wladczych naczelnym organom kontroli panstwowej przeksztalciloby kontrole w nadzor. Pomijając jednakze atrybut wladzy – środki wladcze – a skupiając sie na mozliwościach wyegzekwowania określonego rozstrzygnie-
Intravenous Ibuprofen for Treatment of Post-Operative Pain: A Multicenter, Double Blind, Placebo-Controlled, Randomized Clinical Trial

Background Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are often used as components of multimodal therapy for postoperative pain management, but their use is currently limited by its side effects. The specific objective of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of a new formulation of intravenous (IV) ibuprofen for the management of postoperative pain in a European population. Methods and Findings A total of 206 patients from both abdominal and orthopedic surgery, were randomly assigned in 1:1 ratio to receive 800 mg IV-ibuprofen or placebo every 6 hours; all patients had morphine access through a patient controlled analgesia pump. The primary outcome measure was median morphine consumption within the first 24 hours following surgery. The mean±SEM of morphine requirements was reduced from 29,8±5,25 mg to 14,22±3,23 mg (p = 0,015) and resulted in a decrease in pain at rest (p = 0,02) measured by Visual Analog Scale (VAS) from mean±SEM 3.34±0,35 to 0.86±0.24, and also in pain during movement (p = 0,02) from 4.32±0,36 to 1.90±0,30 in the ibuprofen treatment arm; while in the placebo group VAS score at rest ranged from 4.68±0,40 to 2.12±0,42 and during movement from 5.66±0,42 to 3.38±0,44. Similar treatment-emergent adverse events occurred across both study groups and there was no difference in the overall incidence of these events. Conclusions Perioperative administration of IV-Ibuprofen 800 mg every 6 hours in abdominal surgery patient’s decreases morphine requirements and pain score. Furthermore IV-Ibuprofen was safe and well tolerate. Consequently we consider appropriate that protocols for management of postoperative pain include IV-Ibuprofen 800 mg every 6 hours as an option to offer patients an analgesic benefit while reducing the potentially risks associated with morphine consumption. Trial Registration EU Clinical Trials Register 2011-005007-33
Tumorigenesis and Neoplastic Progression Pirin Inhibits Cellular Senescence in Melanocytic Cells

Cellular senescence has been widely recognized as a tumor suppressing mechanism that acts as a barrier to cancer development after oncogenic stimuli. A prominent in vivo model of the senescence barrier is represented by nevi, which are composed of melanocytes that, after an initial phase of proliferation induced by activated oncogenes (most commonly BRAF ), are blocked in a state of cellular senescence. Transformation to melanoma occurs when genes involved in controlling senescence are mutated or si-lenced and cells reacquire the capacity to proliferate. Pirin (PIR) is a highly conserved nuclear protein that likely functions as a transcriptional regulator whose expression levels are altered in different types of tumors. We analyzed the expression pattern of PIR in adult human tissues and found that it is expressed in melanocytes and has a complex pattern of regulation in nevi and melanoma: it is rarely detected in mature nevi, but is expressed at high levels in a subset of melanomas. Loss of function and overexpression experiments in normal and transformed melanocytic cells revealed that PIR is involved in the negative control of cellular senescence
Plateletpheresis does not cause long‐standing platelet‐derived growth factor release into the donor blood

BACKGROUND: Recently, long‐standing elevations of soluble growth factors released from platelets (PLTs) after contact with artificial surfaces during dialysis were described. They could be jointly responsible for the high frequency of death from cardiovascular diseases in dialysis patients. There are no comparable data on the extent and the duration of a growth factor release by plateletpheresis procedures.