Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Fuzzy Inductive Algorithm for Modeling Dynamical Systems in a Comprehensible Way

In this paper, we propose the use of temporal fuzzy chains for the modeling of dynamical systems in a way that is comprehensible. We are interested in helping the overall understanding of the system execution, over and during a precise and finite time. To this end, we model its input/output behavior and how this has changed in the past. There is a double goal in mind: accuracy and interpretability. An inductive algorithm for analyzing finite continuous multivariate time series will be achieved, in which the use of fuzzy logic has been taken into account. The aim of the algorithm is to help us to find changes in a system, as well as to identify the causes of these changes in a linguistic form. The causes will be specified by means of a set of fuzzy transitions between consecutive states, which consist of fuzzy rules that model the system. The method suggested has been applied on a real life case, human walk modeling.
Liver Resections in a High-Volume Center: Form Standard Procedures to Extreme Surgery and Ultrasound-guided Resections.

Background: Liver resection (LR) is the treatment of choice for most benign and malignant focal liver lesions, as well as in selected patients with liver trauma. Few other therapies can compete with LR in selected cases, such as liver transplantation in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and ablative therapies in small HCCs or liver metastases. The present paper analyses a single center experience in LR, reviewing the indications of LR, the operative techniques and their short-term results. MATERIAL AND METHOD Between January 2000 and December 2016, in "Dan Setlacec" Center of General Surgery and Liver Transplantation were performed 3165 LRs in 3016 patients, for pathologic conditions of the liver. In the present series, liver resections for living-donor liver transplantation were excluded. The median age of the patients was 56 years (mean 58 years; range 1-88), with male/female ratio 1524/1492 and adult/pediatric patient ratio 2973/43. Results: Malignant lesions were the main indication for LR (2372 LRs; 74.9%). Among these, colorectal liver metastases were the most frequent indication (952 LRs; 30.1%), followed by hepatocellular carcinoma (575 patients, 18.2%). The highest number of resected tumors per patient was 21, and the median diameter of the largest tumor was 40 mm (mean 51 mm; range 3-250). Major resections rate was 18.6% (588 LRs) and anatomical LRs were performed in 789 patients (24.9%). The median operative time was 180 minutes (mean 204 minutes; range 45-920). The median blood loss was 500 ml (mean 850 ml; range 500-9500), with a transfusion rate of 41.6% (1316 LRs). The morbidity rate was 40.1% (1270 LRs) and the rate of major complications (Dindo-Clavien IIIa or more) was 13.2% (418 LRs). Mortality rate was 4.2% (127 pts). CONCLUSION LRs should be performed in specialized high-volume centers to achieve the best results (low morbidity and mortality rates).
The political economy of tourism: children's neglected role

Addressing the theme of tourism as a social force, this article approaches a subject upon which limited research has been undertaken: children's role as economic actors in tourism. As the concept of children as economic actors comes into antithesis with UN models of childhood as a care-free time, family business literature illustrates how children often do take on economic roles. Based on empirical research conducted in Crete, Greece in 2012, the ways in which the political economy of tourism shapes and is shaped by children's roles as economic actors is explored. A feminist economics angle is adopted, viewing productive and social reproductive elements as of equal importance for representations of the economic reality. Participant observation over a 3-month period and 14 ethnographic interviews with tourism microentrepreneurs who make handicrafts primarily for sale as souvenirs inform this article. Thematic analysis highlights how tourism's intense and seasonal nature accentuates cultural expectations and economic pressures, bringing about a metamorphosis in children's roles. Although when they are very young, children themselves constitute a major social reproduction task, when they are older, they have a significant input into the political economy of tourism as they transform into replacement entrepreneurs and domestic helpers during the busy peak season. Investigating how children's economic roles are seasonally formed and the effect children's economic activities have on their parents' gendered entrepreneurial roles, this article provides an exciting insight into children's roles within tourism labor
Strategies to Reduce Oxidative Stress in Glaucoma Patients

Background: Primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) is a multifactorial pathology involving a variety of pathogenic mechanisms, including oxidative/nitrosative stress. This latter is the consequence of the imbalance between excessive formation and insufficient protection against reactive oxygen/nitrogen species. Objective: Our main goal is to gather molecular information to better managing pathologic variants that may determine the individual susceptibility to oxidative/nitrosative stress (OS/NS) and POAG. Method: An extensive search of the scientific literature was conducted using PUBMED, the Web of Science, the Cochrane Library, and other references on the topic of POAG and OS/NS from human and animal model studies published between 2010 and 2017. Finally, 152 works containing relevant information that may help understanding the role of antioxidants, essential fatty acids, natural compounds and other similar strategies for counteracting OS/NS in POAG were considered. Results: A wide variety of studies have proven that antioxidants, among them vitamins B3, C and E, Coenzyme Q10 or melatonin, ω-3/ω-6 fatty acids and other natural compounds (such as coffee, green tea, bear bile, gingko biloba, coleus, tropical fruits, etc.,) may help regulating the intraocular pressure as well as protecting the retinal neurons against OS/NS in POAG. Conclusion: Based on the impact of antioxidants and ω-3/ω-6 fatty acids at the molecular level in the glaucomatous anterior and posterior eye segments, further studies are needed by integrating all issues involved in glaucoma pathogenesis, endogenous and exogenous risk factors and their interactions that will allow us to reach newer effective biotherapies for preventing glaucomatous irreversible blindness.
Concurrent chemotherapy and intensity-modulated radiation therapy for anal canal cancer patients: a multicenter experience.

PURPOSE To report a multicenter experience treating anal canal cancer patients with concurrent chemotherapy and intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT). PATIENTS AND METHODS From October 2000 to June 2006, 53 patients were treated with concurrent chemotherapy and IMRT for anal squamous cell carcinoma at three tertiary-care academic medical centers. Sixty-two percent were T1-2, and 67% were N0; eight patients were HIV positive. Forty-eight patients received fluorouracil (FU)/mitomycin, one received FU/cisplatin, and four received FU alone. All patients underwent computed tomography-based treatment planning with pelvic regions and inguinal nodes receiving a median of 45 Gy. Primary sites and involved nodes were boosted to a median dose of 51.5 Gy. All acute toxicity was scored according to the Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events, version 3.0. All late toxicity was scored using Radiation Therapy Oncology Group criteria. RESULTS Median follow-up was 14.5 months (range, 5.2 to 102.8 months). Acute grade 3+ toxicity included 15.1% GI and 37.7% dermatologic toxicity; all acute grade 4 toxicities were hematologic; and acute grade 4 leukopenia and neutropenia occurred in 30.2% and 34.0% of patients, respectively. Treatment breaks occurred in 41.5% of patients, lasting a median of 4 days. Forty-nine patients (92.5%) had a complete response, one patient had a partial response, and three had stable disease. All HIV-positive patients achieved a complete response. Eighteen-month colostomy-free survival, overall survival, freedom from local failure, and freedom from distant failure were 83.7%, 93.4%, 83.9%, and 92.9%, respectively. CONCLUSION Preliminary outcomes suggest that concurrent chemotherapy and IMRT for anal canal cancers is effective and tolerated favorably compared with historical standards.
The emergency first aid responder system model: using community members to assist life-threatening emergencies in violent, developing areas of need

Background As many as 90% of all trauma-related deaths occur in developing nations, and this is expected to get worse with modernisation. The current method of creating an emergency care system by modelling after that of a Western nation is too resource-heavy for most developing countries to handle. A cheaper, more community-based model is needed to establish new emergency care systems and to support them to full maturity. Methods A needs assessment was undertaken in Manenberg, a township in Cape Town with high violence and injury rates. Community leaders and successfully established local services were consulted for the design of a first responder care delivery model. The resultant community-based emergency first aid responder (EFAR) system was implemented, and EFARs were tracked over time to determine skill retention and usage. Results The EFAR system model and training curriculum. Basic EFARs are spread throughout the community with the option of becoming stationed advanced EFARs. All EFARs are overseen by a local organisation and a professional body, and are integrated with the local ambulance response if one exists. On competency examinations, all EFARs tested averaged 28.2% before training, 77.8% after training, 71.3% 4 months after training and 71.0% 6 months after training. EFARs reported using virtually every skill taught them, and further review showed that they had done so adequately. Conclusion The EFAR system is a low-cost, versatile model that can be used in a developing region both to lay the foundation for an emergency care system or support a new one to maturity.
Colors in mind: a novel paradigm to investigate pure color imagery.

Mental color imagery abilities are commonly measured using paradigms that involve naming, judging, or comparing the colors of visual mental images of well-known objects (e.g., "Is a sunflower darker yellow than a lemon"? ). Although this approach is widely used in patient studies, differences in the ability to perform such color comparisons might simply reflect participants' general knowledge of object colors rather than their ability to generate accurate visual mental images of the colors of the objects. The aim of the present study was to design a new color imagery paradigm. Participants were asked to visualize a color for 3 s and then to determine a visually presented color by pressing 1 of 6 keys. We reasoned that participants would react faster when the imagined and perceived colors were congruent than when they were incongruent. In Experiment 1, participants were slower in incongruent than congruent trials but only when they were instructed to visualize the colors. The results in Experiment 2 demonstrate that the congruency effect reported in Experiment 1 cannot be attributed to verbalization of the color that had to be visualized. Finally, in Experiment 3, the congruency effect evoked by mental imagery correlated with performance in a perceptual version of the task. We discuss these findings with respect to the mechanisms that underlie mental imagery and patients suffering from color imagery deficits.
Association of metabolic syndrome with coronary atherosclerosis in non-diabetic postmenopausal women

Abstract Objective We investigated the possible association of metabolic syndrome with arterial stiffness and coronary atherosclerosis in non-diabetic, postmenopausal women. Methods A total of 293 non-diabetic, postmenopausal women who visited the health promotion center for a routine health check-up were included in a cross-sectional study. Arterial stiffness was measured by brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity, and coronary atherosclerosis was detected using 64-row multi-detector computed tomography. Results Women with coronary atherosclerosis had a significantly higher proportion of metabolic syndrome than those without coronary atherosclerosis. The brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity was significantly higher in women who had metabolic syndrome compared to those who had no metabolic syndrome (1567.71 ± 211.81 vs. 1336.75 ± 159.62 cm/s, p < 0.001). In addition, the brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity was shown to increase with increasing number of metabolic syndrome components (p for trend < 0.001). Metabolic syndrome was associated with increased risk of coronary atherosclerosis (adjusted odds ratio 2.38; 95% confidence interval 1.01–5.06), after adjusting for confounding factors. Conclusions Metabolic syndrome increases the risk of coronary atherosclerosis in postmenopausal women. Increased arterial stiffness may partly explain an increased risk of coronary atherosclerosis in postmenopausal women with metabolic syndrome.
Progenitor Cell Therapy in Patients With Critical Limb Ischemia Without Surgical Options

Objective:To provide a review on progenitor cell therapy for critical limb ischemia. Summary Background Data:Critical limb ischemia is estimated to develop in 500 to 1000 individuals per million persons per year and has a major impact on the quality of life. Despite recent advances in surgical and radiologic vascular procedures, a large number of patients (∼40%) are not eligible for these revascularization procedures. New strategies for revascularization need to be explored. Recent evidence indicates that bone marrow-derived mononuclear cells are a potential new therapeutic target. Methods:A comprehensive review of all published literature on progenitor cell therapy in patients with critical limb ischemia was performed. Results:Twenty-five clinical studies that reported on the use of mononuclear cells or progenitor cells for the treatment of patients with critical limb ischemia have been published, of which 18 were included in this review. Seven studies were published in Chinese, Japanese, or Polish and, therefore, not included. Conclusions:Pioneering clinical studies report promising results for progenitor cell-based therapies for chronic limb ischemia, but no definite proof is available because the clinical studies thus far have been small and lacked double-blinded controls. Larger, randomized, blinded, placebo-controlled trials to investigate the potential clinical effects of bone marrow progenitor cell administration in patients with critical limb ischemia are needed.
The influence of age and sex on sleep latency in the MSLT-30--a normative study.

STUDY OBJECTIVES The Multiple Sleep Latency Test-30 (MSLT-30) is a variation of the Multiple Sleep Latency Test with a fixed duration of 30 minutes for each of 5 test sessions. It requires less effort for reliable recording and is not susceptible to on-line scoring errors. The aim of the study was to provide normative data for the clinical use of the MSLT-30 and to evaluate the influence of age, sex, and other sociodemographic variables. DESIGN An MSLT-30, along with measures of mood, objective, and subjective sleepiness was performed in a sample of healthy subjects in a balanced quota design. SETTING Sleep laboratory in a sleep disorders center. PARTICIPANTS One hundred subjects with no complaint of sleep disturbance or daytime sleepiness, 10 men and 10 women each from 5 age decades from 20 to 69 years. INTERVENTIONS None. RESULTS Mean latency to sleep stage 1 or any other sleep stage was 13.9 +/- 6.9 minutes. The SL-30 showed a clear quadratic association with age, with the shortest latencies in the middle age groups. No correlation was found between the mean latency to sleep stage 1 or any other sleep stage and sociodemographic variables or other measures of daytime sleepiness (Epworth Sleepiness Scale, vigilance test), mood scales, sleep quality (Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index), and amount of prior sleep. CONCLUSIONS Sleep latencies in normal subjects are age dependent in a quadratic fashion, with a minimum in middle-aged subjects. This reconciles the findings of a long mean sleep latency in the MSLT of adolescents and of an increase on the mean sleep latency with age in adults.
The Role of International Remittances in Health Outcomes in Ecuador: Prevention and Response to Shocks 1

This article evaluates the impact of remittances on health outcomes in Ecuador using an instrumental-variables approach. Although we do not find significant impacts on long-term child health variables, we find that remittances do have an impact on health expenditures, and on some preventive issues such as de-worming and vaccination. In addition, we find significant effects of remittances on medicine expenditures when illness occurs. In this regard, remittances are used for both preventive and emergency situations. Interestingly, we also find a significant and positive effect of remittances on health knowledge.
Regulation of inositol monophosphatase in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Inositol monophosphatase is a key enzyme in the de novo biosynthesis of inositol and in the phosphoinositide second‐messenger signalling pathway. Inhibition of this enzyme is a proposed mechanism for lithium’s pharmacological action in bipolar illness (manic depression). Very little is known about how expression of this enzyme is regulated. Because the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae has been shown to be an excellent model system in which to understand the regulation of inositol metabolism, we characterized inositol monophosphatase in this yeast. Lithium inhibited monophosphatase activity in vitro. Growth in the presence of inositol resulted in increased expression of the enzyme in vivo, although inositol had no effect on enzyme activity in vitro. The inositol effect was apparent when cells were grown in glucose but not in glycerol/ethanol. Monophosphatase activity was derepressed as cells entered stationary phase. This effect was apparent only during growth in glucose plus inositol. The results demonstrate that S. cerevisiae monophosphatase is inhibited by lithium and regulated by factors affecting phospholipid biosynthesis.
Targeting and Cellular Trafficking of Magnetic Nanoparticles for Prostate Cancer Imaging

Antibody-conjugated iron oxide nanoparticles offer a specific and sensitive tool to enhance magnetic resonance (MR) images of both local and metastatic cancer. Prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) is predominantly expressed on the neovasculature of solid tumors and on the surface of prostate cells, with enhanced expression following androgen deprivation therapy. Biotinylated anti-PSMA antibody was conjugated to streptavidin-labeled iron oxide nanoparticles and used in MR imaging and confocal laser scanning microscopic imaging studies using LNCaP prostate cancer cells. Labeled iron oxide nanoparticles are internalized by receptor-mediated endocytosis, which involves the formation of clathrin-coated vesicles. Endocytosed particles are not targeted to the Golgi apparatus for recycling but instead accumulate within lysosomes. In T1-weighted MR images, the signal enhancement owing to the magnetic particles was greater for cells with magnetic particles bound to the cell surface than for cells that internalized the particles. However, the location of the particles (surface vs internal) did not significantly alter their effect on T2-weighted images. Our findings indicate that targeting prostate cancer cells using PSMA offers a specific and sensitive technique for enhancing MR images.
Quinone-sensitized Steady-state Photolysis of Acetophenone Oximes Under Aerobic Conditions: Kinetics and Product Studies†

Abstract Oxidation of oximes via photosensitized electron transfer (PET) results in the formation of the corresponding ketones as the major product via oxime radical cations and iminoxyl radicals. The influence of electron-releasing and electron-accepting substituents on these reactions was studied. The observed substituent effect strongly supports formation of iminoxyl radicals from the oximes via an electron transfer–proton transfer sequence rather than direct hydrogen atom abstraction. Correlation of the relative conversion of the oximes with Hammett parameters shows that radical effects dominate for the meta-substituted acetophenone oximes (ρrad/ρpol = 5.4; r2 = 0.93), whereas the para-substituted oximes are influenced almost equally by radical and ionic effects (ρrad/ρpol = −1.1; r2 = 0.98). From these data sets we conclude that the follow-up reactions proceed through a number of intermediates with both radical and ionic character. This was confirmed by product studies with the use of an isotopically labeled nucleophile. In addition to the major oxidation product (ketone), a chlorine-containing product was often identified as well. Studies on the formation of this product show that the most likely pathway is either via a direct nucleophilic addition in a complex formed between the oxime radical cation and the chloranil radical anion or via a radical substitution (SH2) mechanism. These studies show that with the increasing use of oximes as drugs and pesticides, intake of these chemicals followed by enzymatic oxidation may result in the formation of a variety of reactive intermediates, which may lead to cell and tissue damage.
Hospital Compare and Hospital Choice: Public Reporting and Hospital Choice by Hip Replacement Patients in Texas

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services publicizes comparative performance data on Hospital Compare, a website maintained to support consumer decision making. Given the agency’s goal, this study investigates the relationship between public reporting and hospital choices of hip replacement patients in Texas. Estimating individual-level valuations of provider characteristics allowing for heterogeneity across patients, we find consumer selections and hospitals’ displayed performance vary together in time. Comparing associations involving public reporting with those associated with more readily observable hospital attributes, we conclude relationships coinciding with release of comparative performance data are modest, but not inconsequential. Our use of an empirical strategy novel for evaluation of public reporting has methodological implications, while the study’s affirmative result is of potential interest to policy makers and administrators.